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Concern over the security of Europe’s largest nuclear plant has been rife since Russia launched its full-scale war on Ukraine nearly five years ago.

A drone strike close to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in occupied southeastern Ukraine has killed one nuclear specialist and wounded 17, according to Russian reports.

Moscow asserted on Tuesday that the drone was launched by Ukraine. The security of Europe’s biggest nuclear plant has provoked significant global concern amid the full-scale war on Ukraine that Russia launched in February 2022.

Most of those injured by the strike were employees of the plant, according to a Telegram update by the Russian management of the nuclear facility. It asserted that the attack constituted one of the most serious incidents in the plant’s history.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) earlier confirmed reports that the strike hit staff members at a bus stop.

“No nuclear safety or security damage was reported,” the IAEA, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, said on social media.

However, it called “on military commanders responsible for these actions as well as all others aiming on nuclear power plants and/or their staff to put an immediate stop to these unacceptable actions”, citing the “great risks to nuclear safety”.

The Zaporizhzhia plant was seized by Russian forces a month after Moscow launched its invasion. The facility has been under Russian management since.

The safety of the plant – and the potential consequences of a hit amid the hostilities – have been a concern since the start of the war.

Zaporizhzhia’s six reactors can produce nearly six gigawatts of electricity, and the plant was crucial to supplying power to Ukraine’s national grid. All of the reactors have been shut down since Russia captured the plant, but a strike could cause damage and potentially cause serious leaks of radioactive material.

Tuesday’s strike came ahead of a scheduled visit by IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi to assess nuclear safety. It’s not clear if that visit will still take place.

A Russian strike on a thermal power plant was reported in central Ukraine a few hours later, forcing a halt to operations, according to DTEK, Ukraine’s largest energy provider and the company that operates the plant.

No casualties were reported, but DTEK stated on social media that the attack caused “significant damage to equipment”.

Russia has attacked the company’s thermal plants 230 times since the start of the war, according to DTEK’s Telegram channel, as it wages a campaign to destroy Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

Aug. 14 (UPI) — U.S. health officials said they have begun inspections at the Mexican processing plant of the U.S. food distributor Taylor Farms as they deal with a continuing cyclosporiasis outbreak that has spread across 17 states.

The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday they have “initiated an onsite inspection and sampling” at Taylor Farms de Mexico’s facility in Guanajuato, Mexico, located about 185 miles northwest of Mexico City.

Taylor Farms, based in Salinas, Calif., voluntarily recalled all iceberg lettuce from that area on July 17, including shredded lettuce used in Taco Bell products and in salad kits sold in some grocery stores.

Taco Bell also said it was removing shredded lettuce supplied by Taylor Farms in affected states.

The illnesses, most of which began before July 17, have reached 9,481 cases reported across 17 states as of Thursday, the FDA said.

The latest total included two new states since the previous update issued last week — Maine and Massachusetts. The other affected states include Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire and North Carolina.

“FDA remains confident that all recalled iceberg lettuce related to this specific Cyclospora outbreak is off the market,” the agency said Thursday. “FDA will continue to work with federal and state partners to investigate this multistate outbreak.”

Including the current outbreak, the CDC has registered reports of 13,895 cases of cyclosporiasis since May 1, and is also tracking of at least 10,455 additional cases of cyclospora infection requiring further investigation and analysis.

The situation has angered Democratic lawmakers who are demanding answers from Taylor Farms and the Trump administration.

On July 27, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, called on Taylor Farms CEO Bruce Taylor to explain his company’s role in the outbreak and whether it “used its political donations and White House connections to interfere with the Food and Drug Administration’s investigation into the contaminated food supply.”

“Evidence points to Taylor Farms products as a source of the outbreak, but reports indicate that your company may have attempted to influence the ongoing [FDA] investigation into the matter, obfuscate Taylor Farms’ role in a public health crisis, and mislead consumers trying to keep their families safe,” Garcia wrote.

And on Wednesday, the Food Safety Coalition, a group including consumers, scientists and government watchdogs, urged the Senate Republicans to rescind a measure instituted last year which “prevents the [FDA] from implementing traceability requirements for high-risk foods, including leafy greens, until July 2028.”

The hobbled traceability rules, the coalition said, has contributed to “a crisis in consumer confidence, in part due to Taylor Farms’ … failure to provide information to the public required under the FDA rule in its recall communications.”

Romania’s military detonated part of the Danube riverbed to redirect water towards the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant after prolonged drought and extreme heat pushed the river to record-low levels.

July 19 (UPI) — The United Nations’ nuclear energy agency said Sunday it’s investigating Iran’s allegation that the U.S. military struck a nuclear power plant under construction as part of renewed fighting after the deaths of two U.S. service members.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said it reached out to the Iranian government about the reported attacks on the Darkhovin Power Plant in southern Iran on Sunday morning. Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said U.S. forces hit the site, which was under construction.

“The facility is in the very early stages of construction and contained no nuclear material when last visited by the IAEA,” the agency said in a post on X.

“While the reported attack is not believed to pose any radiological risk, [IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi] reiterates call for military restraint in the vicinity of all nuclear-related sites.”

Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization first began work on the Darkhovin Power Plant in 2022, but construction didn’t officially start until March 2026, CNN reported, citing the World Nuclear Association.

The United States ordered fresh airstrikes on Iranian targets Saturday after two U.S. service members were killed in Iranian attacks Friday in Jordan. A third service member was missing.

The U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan, warned U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to the international airport or seaport in Aqaba, and all military bases in Jordan. Jordan’s military said Sunday afternoon it intercepted three Iranian missiles, and a third landed in a remote area.

Aqaba is situated on Jordan’s southern coast, within a few miles of the border with Israel. The Israeli military warned of potential spillover of Iranian attacks into Israel, The Times of Israel reported Sunday morning.

“There may be spillover into Israeli territory as a result of the fire,” the military said.

The inability of a munitions plant in Mesquite, Texas, to build a key part set back the U.S. Army’s plans for ramping up production of 155mm shells to 100,000 rounds per month, according to a scathing new report by the War Department’s Office of Inspector General (DOWIG). Despite receiving close to $500 million from the U.S. Army funded through supplemental spending bills from Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GD-OTS), failed to make a single subcomponent needed to produce the badly needed shells as of last March.

“Without the 30,000 additional projectile metal parts anticipated from the Mesquite facility, the Army will be unable to reach its monthly capability goal of 100,000 155-mm artillery rounds,” the report concluded. “As of March 2026, the CPE A&E [Capability Program Executive Ammunition & Energetics] officials have not developed a plan to produce the additional rounds that are supposed to be produced at the Mesquite facility.”

At present, the Army is only producing 36,000 rounds per month, inspectors revealed.

Through modernization efforts and two new facilities, the Army expects to exceed the 100,000-round-per-month goal significantly by the end of next year. The initial goal was established by Congress in the wake of the U.S. providing millions of rounds to Ukraine.

Still, the report highlights the challenges U.S. arms makers face in trying to meet tighter timelines to produce more weapons. This all comes as the U.S. is increasingly concerned about stockpiles of a wide array of munitions after heavy usage in past and current conflicts and donations to partners like Ukraine, as well as foreign military sales. These are issues that we raised long before and during the current war with Iran, but they have become major headlines in the aftermath of the initial stages of that conflict.

The plant at the center of this new report is the Universal Artillery Projectile Line owned and operated by General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems. It opened in May 2024 to great fanfare and high hopes.

According to the IG report, more than three million 155mm shells were donated to Ukraine, more than 111,000 rounds were used over the past four years on training and testing, and nearly 218,000 rounds were sold to foreign customers. Combined, U.S. stocks were depleted by more than 3.6 million rounds since the start of the war in Ukraine.

The Mesquite plant was opened to help replenish the supply. However, according to DOWIG, it failed to live up to expectations.

“The DoW increased its capability and capacity to produce 155-mm artillery ammunition but did not reach the 2025 National Defense Industrialization Strategy Implementation Plan goal of 100,000 rounds per month by October 2025,” the DOWIG report pointed out.

As of March 2026, “the Army had increased its monthly production from 14,000 to 36,000 rounds because of expansion and modernization efforts at both the projectile metal parts and the load, assemble, and pack facilities,” the IG report noted. “However, at a contractor-owned, contractor-operated facility in Mesquite, Texas, the contractor has been unable to produce any projectile metal parts that meet contract specifications.”

According to an Army news release about the plant opening, it was built to “feature high-volume production capabilities for large-caliber metal parts and is equipped with long-stroke, high-tonnage forging capabilities.”

“The facility’s 155mm metal parts production lines also meet Army modernization goals by incorporating high levels of automation, modern manufacturing practices, and digital-data-capture ability. It will offer the flexibility to produce a variety of metal parts ranging from 60mm to 155mm, with minimal changeover requirements,” the Army added.

The Army “planned for the Mesquite Texas facility to produce 30,000 rounds per month,” the report added. “With only three facilities producing the required projectile metal parts, the DoW will reach only 71,000 rounds per month, or 71 percent of its monthly production capacity goal for 155-mm artillery rounds.”

We’ve reached out to General Dynamics and the Army for comment and will update this story should the company respond.

The main issue inspectors found was that the plant adapted equipment used to make parts for M107 155mm shells to produce parts for M795 155‑mm shells. The latter is an upgraded version of the munition that is slightly heavier and longer, and has an extended range.

As a result of this adaptation, several factors came into play, according to DOWIG. Army officials knew that the concept of trying to produce the more advanced 155mm shells using equipment not designed for that was risky. However, officials felt that would pay off because that machinery was already available. In addition, the report stated that the existing Scranton plant’s past work with GD-OTS on ammunition production was a factor in deciding to take a chance on what turned out to be a flawed assumption.

The report states, in part:

• According to the Army’s CPE A&E, “ACC issued the contract and CPE A&E accepted the risk associated with the contractor’s plan to purchase and adapt M107 metal part production equipment to produce a newer variant of the 155-mm projectile metal parts at different specifications.”
• “According to CPE A&E officials, the Mesquite facility was a high-risk, high-reward opportunity, and CPE A&E is realizing some of that risk now because the facility has been unable to produce acceptable rounds.”
• “CPE A&E accepted the contractor’s proposal to acquire and adapt unique production equipment and an unproven production process because equipment was already available. According to the CPE A&E official, obtaining and adapting the available production line equipment was expected to be faster than obtaining new M795 production line equipment.”

• “The contractor has been working since the original contract task order was issued in November 2022 to produce the contracted 155-mm projectile metal parts. However, according to CPE A&E officials, acquiring the equipment and adapting it to produce M795 155-mm projectile metal parts resulted in significant challenges.” The report redacted specific examples.
• “In addition, according to CPE A&E officials, CPE A&E recommended the contractor for the Mesquite facility because the contractor has 20 years of experience producing 155-mm projectile metal parts at the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant.”
• “Scranton Army Ammunition Plant officials stated that despite the contractor’s years of experience, the Scranton facility encountered separate ongoing problems with the contractor in terms of responsiveness, equipment maintenance, and timeliness.”
• “Those officials expressed concern to the evaluation team that ACC did not open the contract for the Mesquite facility to competition from other contractors.”
• “In addition, according to ACC officials, the contract for the Mesquite facility was issued as a task order under the property management contract for the Scranton Ammunition facility and not as a separate contract.”

The Army did not dispute that the Mesquite factory was not producing the needed parts.

“The Capability Program Executive Ammunition & Energetics will correct issues identified in this report, and develop and implement a corrective action plan,” CPE A&E responded.

The “United States Army concurs with the report as written,” the Assistant Secretary of the Army, Acquisition, Logistics and Technology stated.

Army Contracting Command (ACC), however, took issue with how the relationship between the Scranton and Mesquite plants was characterized. In its response, ACC stated that no one reached out to them to question GD-OTS’s plan and that it had received sign off from higher authorities to execute the contract without Congressional approval. Moreover, ACC added that it did not need to open up competition for the new plant.

The ACC response says:

• “It is unclear what parties or organization are being referred to by ‘SCAAP officials,’ so it cannot confirm the accuracy of this information, however, ACC-RI would like to clarify that at no point did anyone question or raise concerns to ACC in terms of the acquisition strategy to award this effort to the contractor under the existing Scranton facility effort. Further, ACC-RI did document the contract file with a Determination of Contractor Responsibility in accordance with FAR 9.104 prior to award of these task orders.”
• “ACC-RI received concurrence and approval on the acquisition strategy to execute these efforts on a sole source basis under W52P1J-19-D-0075 from the requiring activity, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army-Procurement, and the Office of General Counsel, with notification provided to Congress prior to execution.”
• “ACC-RI would like to clarify that while some might refer to W52P1J-19-D-0075 as the ‘Property Management contract for the Scranton Ammunition facility,’ the scope of the contract states that it covers operation, maintenance, and modernization; includes Production Based Support projects; and doesn’t require active operation at Scranton.” 
• “The contract states that ‘The Property Management of SCAAP can be accomplished either through active operation of the Government-Owned, Contractor-Operated facility or layaway maintenance’ and allows the contractor to operate the contract at a privately-owned facility. As such, ACC-RI already determined it in scope to execute the Universal Artillery Projectile Line requirement as separate task orders under W52P1J-19-D-0075 and documented such in-scope determinations in memorandums within the contract file.”

Problems with the plant were emerging even before the DOWIG released its report.

In February, Brent Ingraham, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics, and Technology, complained to lawmakers about the inability of the plant to produce needed parts.

“First, let me start by saying I’m not happy with where we are at Mesquite either, right?” he testified. “So I’m in the same boat you are.” 

The Army was considering scrapping GD-OTS’s contract to manage the production lines in Mesquite, but Ingraham said the service ultimately did not go through with it, according to Breaking Defense. The Army is still in negotiations with the company, he said at the time.

“I anticipate you will see an investment from the company themselves, from the industry partner themselves, to ensure they can continue to build out that facility that would make rounds that would primarily be supported by the [foreign military sales],” Ingraham said. “But we are currently in negotiation [on] what that looks like, both from a line perspective, a quantity perspective, and hopefully we’ll have that wrapped up soon.”

A month ago, General Dynamics announced it would “invest $200 million of its own money and unwind a partnership with Turkish defense contractor Repkon in a bid to finally start producing 155mm artillery shells at a Texas plant that’s been beset by delays,” Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The factory “has joined a long list of US defense programs that have failed to meet the lofty goals set out for them,” the publication added.

Munitions manufacturing equipment provided by Repkon “had failed to meet required standards and will be replaced by hardware and management from Deterrence Defense, a privately-held company based in Fremont, Calif.,” Bloomberg added. “General Dynamics and the US Army ‘have reached an agreement on a path forward, which includes additional investment,’ the company said in a statement without disclosing the amount.”

As we noted earlier in this piece, despite the problems at the Mesquite plant, the Army projects that it will turn things around by next year.

“According to Army officials, the Army did not reach its goal for increased capability and capacity to load, assemble, and pack 155-mm artillery ammunition,” investigators found. “However, through the modernization of the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant and the addition of two new facilities in Kansas and Arkansas, the Army is on track to increase its capability and capacity to load, assemble, and pack 140,000 155-mm artillery rounds per month by December 2027. This exceeds the NDIS Implementation Plan goal by 40,000 rounds per month.”

Still, that’s more than a year away and, as we noted earlier in this story, about 14 months later than the Army was expecting to receive these shells. Whether it can meet these revised goals remains to be seen.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

Iranian officials say US strikes across Bushehr province damaged civilian infrastructure, including areas near the Bushehr nuclear power plant, airports, logistical facilities and fishing wharfs where several fishing boats caught fire. The US says strikes were aimed at military targets.

Police arrested pro-Palestine activists for blockading a UK facility operated by UAV Engines Ltd, a subsidiary of Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems, and one of the world’s largest drone engine manufacturers. Activists say Elbit’s weapons are used in Israel’s war on Gaza.

For nearly a century, Sparkletts bottled its water in a vast building on Lincoln Avenue designed to look like a Moorish palace, or maybe an industrial oasis.

Now Sparkletts has moved out, the owners aren’t talking and L.A. city officials, hoping to save the building, have named the site a historic-cultural monument.

“We’ve always had an eye on the building because it’s such an icon in the community,” said Frank Parrello, Landmarks and Advocacy chair for the Eagle Rock Valley Historical Society. “We want to make sure that whatever happens in the future, the building is considered.”

The plant, which drew water from subterranean springs and bottled it for distribution through Southern California, went up in 1929 on E. Lincoln Avenue along the Eagle Rock-Highland Park border, filling the block between N. Avenue 45 and N. Avenue 46. Designed by architect Richard D. King, its main building features arches, towers and domes, a white-washed brick exterior and wrought-iron lanterns.

The L.A. Conservancy calls it a bold example of Moorish Revival industrial style and a prime illustration of “the industrialization of drinking water in Los Angeles.”

Neighbors call it “the Taj Mahal,” resident Anthony Carmona says.

The Sparkletts building, built in 1929, was designed in a Moorish Revival style. The building, idle since 2025, has been added to the L.A. City Historical-Cultural Monument list.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

Questions about the building’s future began to multiply in 2025, when Sparkletts ceased operations on the site. A 4.4-acre portion of the property was listed for sale, then for lease. The L.A. Conservancy warned that the building was “at risk of redevelopment.”

The Instagram site Save Iconic Architecture also sounded an alarm, saying the Sparkletts building “tells the story of Los Angeles’ innovation, design, and relationship with its most precious resource: water.”

Meanwhile, the Eagle Rock Valley Historical Society nominated the building as a historic-cultural monument, which led to a site visit and votes by the city of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission and City Council.

On June 24, the council voted to protect the building as a monument. The designation “does not guarantee that the building cannot be demolished,” but it does allow city officials to delay demolition for up to 360 days “to allow for time to preserve the monument.”

The city Planning Department staff report on the historic monument nomination lists the owners as Sparkletts Drinking Water Corporation and Foremost Water Corporation. Neither commented to the city on the monument nomination and Primo Brands (Sparkletts’ parent company) did not respond to requests for information Monday.

The city’s staff report on the site says the architect may have been influenced by a Moorish design trend in the 1920s that included the film “The Thief of Bagdad” (1924). The El Capitan Theater on Hollywood Boulevard and Shrine Auditorium near USC, both completed in 1926, are also known for their Moorish features.

Architectural historians David Gebhard and Robert Winter included the Sparkletts building in their “Architectural Guidebook to Los Angeles,” noting its mosque-like presence and saying “the best remaining element” is the tiled mosaic oasis scene over the entrance.

The building has seen some changes. As the Eagle Rock Valley Historical Society nomination notes, the building’s largest Sparkletts sign was removed in July 2025. City records show that decades ago, in the course of repairs after the 1971 San Fernando earthquake, at least one minaret was removed.

The entrance, however, remains largely intact, featuring three arches and a set of steps framed by a pair of tall palm trees. Just above the front door and beneath a surviving Sparkletts sign hangs the tilework that Gebhard and Winter enjoyed.

Moreover, “it’s very impressive inside,” Parrello said. “It’s a big open industrial floor plan, which could be used for a lot of things.”

The Sparkletts building, idle since 2025, has been added to the L.A. City Historical-Cultural Monument list.

(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)

If public agency or nonprofit is able to play a role in the property’s future, Parrello added, “it could become a housing complex, or a community center for a housing complex.”

A similar answer came from Carmona, 51, a restaurant worker who lives in an RV about a block away from the Sparkletts building. Carmona said he’d love to see it become a gathering place where neighbors can trade products, services, ideas, “lemons, oranges, whatever.” In a perfect world, Carmona said, “there should be free water for everyone, but of course that’s not going to happen.”

The city of L.A. began designated historic-cultural landmarks in 1962 and has given that status to more than 1,000 buildings and other structures.

The closure of the Eagle Rock Sparkletts operation followed a 2024 merger between Sparkletts’ parent company, Primo Water, and another bottled water company, BlueTriton, to from Primo Brands.

June 22 (UPI) — An explosion at Qatar’s largest natural gas plant killed 13 people and injured about 66, authorities said.

The blast, caused by a technical malfunction, took place Sunday as the facility restarted its natural gas production after a shutdown caused by the Iran-U.S. war, authorities from the interior ministry said. It took place in the Ras Laffan industrial zone. The nearby Ras Laffan Port is the largest artificial harbor in the world and was targeted by Iranian strikes earlier this year, BBC News reported.

Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, Qatar’s energy minister, said that the explosion would not affect the country’s exports and that it was an accident and “not sabotage or hostile in nature.”

All of those killed were workers at the plant, The New York Times reported. They were all from India or Pakistan, BBC News said.

“We convey our deepest condolences to the families of those who have unfortunately passed away in the sad incident at Ras Laffan Industrial City last night,” the Embassy of India in Doha said in a social media post.

Liquified natural gas is important to Qatar’s economy, and the country is one of the world’s largest exporters of it. Ras Laffan is the largest site in the country for producing LNG. Qatar had ceased production earlier in the Iran-U.S. war and has said damage from attacks during the conflict could take years to repair.

The blast turned the city’s skyline orange and was felt by residents more than 43 miles away, BBC News said.

Ukraine says facility a ‘critical component’ in defence production as local Russian authorities confirm attack.

Ukraine’s military has said it struck a plant producing electronics for missiles in Russia’s Voronezh region, as well as the Dubna satellite communications centre in the Moscow region.

In a statement on Telegram on Monday, the Ukrainian General Staff said it had used air-launched cruise missiles to hit the plant in Voronezh, which it described as a “critical component” in Russia’s defence production.

Alexander Gusev, the Voronezh governor, said a production plant was damaged and three people were injured in the attack, without specifying the nature of the facilities.

Gusev said in a post on Telegram that air defence forces had destroyed several high-speed targets in the skies over Voronezh and warned residents of the danger of missile attacks.

The Ukrainian military also said it struck Russia’s Dubna satellite communications centre in the Moscow region, adding that heavy smoke was observed at the site and the extent of the damage was being assessed.

Eighty-four drones headed for Moscow were downed in the past 24 hours, the city’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram.

He said emergency services had been dispatched to the areas where drones were downed, but gave no further information.

The airports of Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo, as well as Zhukovskiy near the Russian capital, had temporarily suspended flights, the aviation watchdog said separately.

In total, Russian defence systems downed 301 drones overnight, local news agencies said, citing the Ministry of Defence. That tally included Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.

The latest raids follow a drone attack that hit Moscow’s sole oil refinery last week, in one of the biggest air attacks on the city since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Teenager killed in Ukraine

In Ukraine, authorities said a Russian drone attack early on Monday in the Sumy region killed a 13-year-old boy, his 36-year-old father, and his 73-year-old grandmother.

Regional governor Oleh Hryhorov said the 73-year-old was the mother of the man’s roommate.

Russian drone attacks in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia overnight and early on Monday killed two people and injured a further seven, Ukraine’s emergency services said.

Russia also hit the southern Odesa region with an Iskander ballistic missile on Sunday evening, killing one and injuring three people, regional governor Oleh Kiper said on Telegram. Vehicles and fuel storage tanks caught fire after the strike hit an agricultural facility, he said.

Elsewhere, the city of Sevastopol in Russian-annexed Crimea cancelled all open-air public events on Monday and will keep streetlights switched off, its governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev said, as he called on people to curb electricity usage.

Russian drones hit a Turkish dry cargo vessel, the Victress, which was sailing under the Panamanian flag, Ukraine’s navy said.

Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Kuleba said a 58-year-old Egyptian cook was killed and eight other crew members, including Turkish and Indian nationals, had to evacuate on a lifeboat.

The leaders of Europe’s top military powers will meet on Wednesday in Berlin to discuss the Ukraine conflict and an upcoming NATO summit.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz plans to host the leaders of France, Britain, Italy and Poland, a spokesman said Monday, adding that the resignation announcement of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had not changed those plans.