Ukraine claims drone strike on oil refinery in Russia
NewsFeed Video shows a massive explosion at a Russian oil facility in Novokuybyshevsk, 1,000km from the Ukrainian border. Ukraine’s military says it used drones to target several sites inside Russia, including refineries, an airfield, and an electronics plant. Published On 3 Aug 20253 Aug 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
What’s the fallout from Trump’s new batch of tariffs?
The US has hit many countries with new levies, causing shock and confusion. Around the world, countries are scrambling to cope with the latest wave of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. More than 60 countries are on the list, some with levies as high as 50 percent. The move has unleashed shock, confusion and financial volatility. The US also stock market took a hit and a jobs report revealed slower than expected economic growth. Trump didn’t take the news well: He promptly fired the head of the US Labour Statistics agency – accusing her of “manipulating” the data. But beyond that, how will these tariffs affect the global economy? And will this controversial foreign policy tool backfire on Trump? Presenter: Adrian Finighan Guests: Harry Broadman – Economist at RAND Corporation and a former US assistant trade representative and chief of staff of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers Seijiro Takeshita – Professor of management at the University of Shizuoka in Japan Steve Hanke – Professor at Johns Hopkins University, distinguished senior scholar at the Mises Institute, and a former senior economist on President Ronald Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers Adblock test (Why?)
Hamas denies it expressed willingness to disarm, slams Witkoff’s Gaza trip
Palestinian group says right to resist Israeli occupation ‘cannot be relinquished until full national rights restored’. Hamas has rejected reports that it expressed a willingness to disarm during Gaza ceasefire negotiations with Israel, stressing that it has a “national and legal” right to confront the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory. The Palestinian group responded on Saturday to recent remarks purportedly made by United States President Donald Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, during a meeting with relatives of Israeli captives held in Gaza. Citing a recording of the talks, Israeli news outlet Haaretz reported that the US envoy told the families that Hamas said it was “prepared to be demilitarised”. But in a statement, Hamas said “the resistance and its weapons are a national and legal right as long as the [Israeli] occupation persists”. That right “cannot be relinquished until our full national rights are restored, foremost among them the establishment of a fully sovereign, independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital”, it said. Witkoff met the Israeli captives’ families in Tel Aviv on Saturday, one day after he visited a US and Israeli-backed aid distribution site run by the controversial GHF in Gaza. Hamas had earlier slammed the US envoy’s trip as a “staged show” aimed at misleading the public about the situation in the enclave, where an Israeli blockade has spurred a starvation crisis and fuelled global condemnation. More than 1,300 Palestinians also have been killed trying to get food at GHF-run sites since the group began operating in the bombarded Palestinian territory in May, the United Nations said earlier this week. But the Trump administration has stood firmly behind GHF despite the killings and growing criticism of the group’s operations in Gaza. In June, Washington announced that it approved $30m to support GHF. Advertisement Witkoff’s comments on disarmament also come amid a widening international push to recognise a Palestinian state amid the scenes of starvation in Gaza. The United Kingdom announced at a two-day United Nations conference in New York this week that it may follow France in recognising a Palestinian state in September. Echoing an earlier statement by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said London would proceed with recognition if Israel did not meet certain conditions, including implementing a ceasefire in Gaza. The UN meeting also saw 17 countries, plus the European Union and the Arab League, back a seven-page text on reviving a two-state solution to the conflict. The text called on Hamas to “end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, with international engagement and support, in line with the objective of a sovereign and independent Palestinian State”. Adblock test (Why?)
Ukraine says defence sector corruption scheme uncovered
Anticorruption agencies arrest four suspects after government forced to backtrack on push to strip them of autonomy. Ukrainian authorities have detained several officials over a “large-scale corruption scheme” in the defence sector, just days after lawmakers restored the independence of the country’s two main investigative bodies. The National Anti-Corruption Agency (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) said in a joint statement on Saturday that they made four arrests in connection with the scheme, which involved the procurement of military drones and signal jamming systems. “The essence of the scheme was to conclude state contracts with supplier companies at deliberately inflated prices,” they said, adding that the suspects had received kickbacks of up to 30 percent of the contract amounts. NABU and SAPO said they had caught a sitting lawmaker, two local officials and an unspecified number of National Guard personnel taking bribes. The suspects were not identified in Saturday’s statement. The Ministry of Internal Affairs also said it had suspended the suspected National Guard members. The announcement comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came under criticism last month for trying to take away the anticorruption agencies’ independence and place them under the control of his prosecutor-general. The agencies regained their autonomy after Zelenskyy’s move sparked the first antigovernment demonstrations in Ukraine since Russia invaded in 2022. Zelenskyy, who enjoys far-reaching wartime powers, initially said he needed to bring the agencies under his control because they were inefficient and under “Russian influence”. Advertisement But he then said he had heard people’s anger and submitted a bill restoring the agencies’ independence, which was passed by lawmakers on Thursday. “It is important that anticorruption institutions operate independently, and the law passed on Thursday guarantees them all the tools necessary for a real fight against corruption,” Zelenskyy said. Ukraine’s European allies praised the about-face, having voiced concerns about the original defanging of the agencies. Top officials had told Zelenskyy that Ukraine was jeopardising its bid for European Union membership by curbing the powers of its antigraft authorities. In a statement about Saturday’s arrests, Zelenskyy said he was “grateful to the anti-corruption agencies for their work”. Adblock test (Why?)
Nigeria kills her sun: Death and vindication for Ken Saro-Wiwa, Ogoni Nine
Lagos, Nigeria – “Lord, take my soul, but the struggle continues,” the man said, before his body went limp. It swung gently from the makeshift gallows, hurriedly built a few days earlier. Before that morning, the prison had last enforced a death sentence 30 years earlier, during British rule. It was November 10, 1995. For weeks, local activists from the small Ogoniland settlement in Nigeria’s lush Niger Delta region had been protesting against oil spills seeping into their farmland and the gas flares choking them. The Niger Delta, which produces the crude that earned Nigeria 80 percent of its foreign revenues, teemed with gun-carrying soldiers from the military dictatorship of the feared General Sani Abacha. They responded to the protests with force. That day, the loudest Ogoni voice – renowned playwright and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa – faced his fate. A week earlier, a military tribunal had declared his sentence. And just the day before, five executioners tasked with carrying it out had flown in from the northern city of Sokoto. At 5am that morning, Saro-Wiwa and the eight other Ogoni activists accused alongside him of murder were moved from the army camp where they had been held to the prison grounds in Port Harcourt, the regional hub a few hours drive from Ogoniland. There, they were herded into a room and shackled. Then, one after the other, they were led out to the gallows. Saro-Wiwa went first. It took five attempts to kill him. After one failed tug, the activist cried out in frustration: “Why are you people treating me like this? What kind of country is this?” Advertisement On the final attempt, the gallows finally functioned as they were supposed to. By 3:15pm, all nine men had been executed. Their bodies were placed in coffins, loaded into vehicles and escorted by armed guards to the public cemetery. On the streets, thousands of horrified people watched the procession as soldiers fired tear gas into the air to quell any thoughts of rebellion. No relatives of the nine men were allowed into the cemetery. There were no dignified burials, no parting words from loved ones. Thirty years later, on June 12 this year, Nigeria’s Democracy Day, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu pardoned Saro-Wiwa and the others – the Ogoni Nine as they had become known. He went on to call them heroes and awarded them prestigious national titles. For Saro-Wiwa’s daughter Noo Saro-Wiwa, who is now aged 49, and other relatives of the executed men, the pardons were moving but insufficient. In Ogoniland, it reopened old wounds that remained as deep as when they were first inflicted all those years ago. Protesters march to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, the city where he was put to death [File: Sunday Alamba/AP] Saro Wiwa, accidental environmental activist Before his death at age 54, Saro-Wiwa wanted to be known as a great writer. A bundle of energy, he dabbled in many things, but books were his true love. More than two dozen books, poems and essays bore his name. His radio dramas and TV plays were wildly successful, particularly one that mocked the corrupt Nigerian elite, which took over after independence in 1960. In the short story Africa Kills Her Sun, Saro-Wiwa eerily warned of his killing: A man condemned to death pens a long letter to his lover, Zole, on the eve of his execution, telling her not to grieve. Saro-Wiwa’s execution made him a martyr for the Ogoni people – the man whose death drew international attention to their plight. In 1958, when Nigeria discovered oil in the southern Niger Delta, of which Ogoniland is a part, a 17-year-old Saro-Wiwa wrote letters to the government and oil companies questioning how delta communities would benefit from oil dollars. Later on, his essays highlighted how Ogoniland still lacked infrastructure – roads, electricity, water – despite the oil. In October 1990, Saro-Wiwa led the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP), which he cofounded, to present the Ogoni Bill of Rights to the Nigerian government. In it, the Ogoni people denounced the dominance of the majority tribes (Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo) and the sidelining of minorities like the Ogoni. They called for political autonomy and direct control of oil profits, saying: Advertisement “Thirty years of Nigerian independence has done no more than outline the wretched quality of the leadership of the Nigerian majority ethnic groups and their cruelty as they have plunged the nation into ethnic strife, carnage, war, dictatorship, retrogression and the greatest waste of national resources ever witnessed in world history, turning generations of Nigerians, born and unborn into perpetual debtors.” It marked Saro-Wiwa as a thorn in the side of the military dictators, and from 1992 to 1993, he was arrested without charge several times. Still, he continued to condemn the slow death he said Ogonis were sentenced to. “I accuse the oil companies of practising genocide against the Ogoni,” he wrote in one article. The Nigerian government, he said, was complicit. Saro-Wiwa’s fervour took hold in Ogoniland. About 300,000 Ogonis, out of a population of half a million, marched with him in January 1993 to peacefully protest against the Nigerian government and Shell, the oil company that they said bore particular responsibility for the oil spills in their part of the delta. It was one of the largest mass demonstrations Nigeria had ever seen at the time. Protesters carried signs with messages like: “Assassins, go home.” The protests were so large that the world began to notice the Ogonis and the slight, articulate man speaking for them. Soon, he was speaking at the United Nations, presenting the Ogonis’ case there. Environmental rights groups like Greenpeace noted and supported his activism. By the end of that year, riots were breaking out, and angry protesters had destroyed oil pipelines worth billions of dollars. Shell was forced to suspend operations. The government promptly deployed a special task force to suppress what is
Manhunt for ex-US soldier suspected of killing 4 in Montana bar
Police have told residents to stay home and not approach the suspect, who could be ‘armed and dangerous’. A manhunt is under way for a former United States soldier suspected of carrying out a shooting in a bar in the US state of Montana, which has left four people dead. The shooting happened on Friday at about 10:30am (16:30 GMT) at The Owl Bar in Anaconda, with four people pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation. The suspect has been identified as 45-year-old military veteran Michael Paul Brown. Brown lived next door to the bar, according to public records and owner David Gwerder. Gwerder, who was not there at the time of the incident, said a bartender and three patrons were killed before Brown fled the scene. “He knew everybody that was in that bar. I guarantee you that,” Gwerder said. “He didn’t have any running dispute with any of them. I just think he snapped.” Brown’s home in Anaconda – a town of about 9,000 people, located in southwest Montana about 109 miles (175km) west of the city of Bozeman – was cleared by a SWAT team. Montana Senator Steve Daines said a “massive manhunt” is under way, aided by drones. Authorities said Brown was last seen in the Stump Town area, just west of Anaconda, and he is “believed to be armed and dangerous”. He should not be approached if seen, the Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Law Enforcement Center said in a social media post, while Anaconda residents have been instructed to stay home and lock their doors. More than a dozen police officers have converged on Stump Town, locking it down so no one is allowed in or out as police search for Brown in a wooded, mountainous area. Advertisement Randy Clark, a retired police officer who lives in the area, said a police helicopter hovered over a nearby mountainside as officers moved among the trees. A US army spokesperson said Brown served as an armour crewman from 2001 to 2005 and was deployed to Iraq from early 2004 until March 2005. Brown was also in the Montana National Guard from 2006 to 2009. Montana Governor Greg Gianforte said in a social media post that he was “closely monitoring the situation involving an active shooter in Anaconda”. Our hearts are with the community of Anaconda, Montana, where four lives were lost in a senseless bar shooting. Law enforcement is actively searching for the suspect, Michael Paul Brown, who remains at large and is considered armed and dangerous. We stand with the brave officers… pic.twitter.com/nHmlib8D2o — National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) (@GLFOP) August 1, 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Tottenham captain Son Heung-min to leave Premier League club
Son Heung-min captained Tottenham Hotspur to the Europa League title last season but will leave the club this summer. After 10 years with Tottenham Hotspur, captain Son Heung-min announced on Saturday that he plans to leave the English Premier League club. At a media conference in Seoul, Son, appearing at times to be holding back tears, said his decision to leave the Spurs was ’the most difficult” of his career and said the club was supporting him as he looks to move on to another team. Spurs will face Newcastle United in a preseason friendly on Sunday in Seoul in what could be the final match of Son’s time at Spurs. “Before we start the press conference, I just want to share the information that I have decided to leave this club in this summer,” Son said. “Respectfully, this club is helping me to my decisions. So I just wanted to share this information before we start the conference. “I came to North London as a kid, 23 years old, very young age, a young boy came to London who even didn’t speak English and leaving this club as a grown man is a very, very proud moment.” He continued his tribute by thanking Tottenham fans. “So I just want to say thank you to all of the Spurs fans that gave me so much love and felt like it was my home,” he said. “It was one of the toughest decisions I ever made. So I hope the goodbye is always also in a good timing you know. But I think it’s the right time to make this decision.” Son was asked in Korean on his future playing plans, and he replied: ’I don’t think I have an answer yet.” He also confirmed in Korean that he would play for South Korea at the World Cup next year in North America. Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min lifts the trophy with teammates after winning the Europa League final [Andrew Couldridge/Reuters] In May, Son finally won his first title in Europe as Tottenham defeated Manchester United in the Europa League final. Advertisement “I felt the pressure. I wanted it so badly,” Son said after that match. “The last seven days, I was dreaming about this game every single day. It finally happened, and I can sleep easy now.” The 33-year-old Son has been one of the biggest stars of the Premier League, scoring 173 goals in 454 competitive appearances for Tottenham. He was made captain in 2023 by former head coach Ange Postecoglou and helped the club lift its Europa League title, a first trophy since 2008. Son added that the team’s recent success was a factor: “ Winning the Europa League made me feel I had achieved everything I could here. I need a new environment for a fresh challenge.” Son has been heavily linked with a move to the United States and there is reported interest from Saudi Arabian clubs. Thomas Frank succeeded Postecoglou in June and the Danish coach paid tribute to Son on Saturday. “He is truly a Spurs legend in every aspect,” Frank said. “One of the best players to ever play in the Premier League, in my opinion, as a winger. I think it is probably the perfect timing, going out on a high.” Later in the media conference, Son reiterated that he has not decided on where he will play next. But he said next year’s World Cup was his priority for his home country. “I don’t think I have an answer yet,” he said of his future playing choices. “I think I can share more about my future after tomorrow’s game once things become more certain. “My most important priority right now is the World Cup. It’s likely to be my last World Cup and I want to give everything I have in that environment … I want to be able to play football happily, which I think will play the biggest role in my future decision-making. I am still trying to organise my thoughts around that.” Adblock test (Why?)
West Bank mourns Palestinian man killed in Israeli settler arson attack
NewsFeed Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral for 40-year-old Khamis Ayyad, who died from smoke inhalation after an Israeli settler arson attack in the occupied West Bank. His death follows a surge in settler violence this year. Published On 1 Aug 20251 Aug 2025 Adblock test (Why?)
Prosecutors want PSG and Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi to face rape trial
Paris Saint-Germain which the Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi denies the alleged rape of a woman in 2023. French prosecutors on Friday called for Paris Saint-Germain star Achraf Hakimi to face trial for the alleged rape of a woman in 2023, which the Moroccan international denies. The Nanterre prosecutor’s office told the AFP news agency that they had requested that the investigating judge refer the rape charge to a criminal court. “It is now up to the investigating magistrate to make a decision within the framework of his order,” the prosecutor’s office told AFP in a statement. Hakimi, 26, played a major role in PSG’s run to their first Champions League title, with the full-back scoring the opener in the 5-0 rout of Inter Milan in the final in May. Hakimi, who helped Morocco to their historic run to the semifinals of the 2022 World Cup, was charged in March 2023 with raping a 24-year-old woman. Hakimi allegedly paid for his accuser to travel to his home on February 25, 2023, in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt while his wife and children were away on holiday. The woman went to a police station following the encounter, alleging rape and was questioned by police. Although the woman refused to make a formal accusation, prosecutors decided to press charges against the player. She told police at the time that she had met Hakimi in January 2023 on Instagram. On the night in question, she said she had travelled to his house in a taxi paid for by Hakimi. She told police Hakimi had started kissing her and making non-consensual sexual advances, before raping her, a police source told AFP at the time. Advertisement She said she managed to break free to text a friend who came to pick her up. Contacted by AFP after Friday’s development, Hakimi’s lawyer Fanny Colin described the call by prosecutors for a trial as “incomprehensible and senseless in light of the case’s elements”. “We, along with Achraf Hakimi, remain as calm as we were at the start of the proceedings. “If these requisitions were to be followed, we would obviously pursue all avenues of appeal,” she added. “My client welcomes this news with immense relief,” Rachel-Flore Pardo, the lawyer representing the woman, told AFP. Hakimi, born in Madrid, came through the youth system at Real Madrid before joining Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund in 2018. He went on to make 73 appearances for the German club. He moved to Inter Milan in 2020 and then on to PSG in 2021, where he has established himself as an integral part of the team. In Qatar, Hakimi was a cornerstone of the Morocco team that became the first African or Arab nation to reach the semifinals of a World Cup. Adblock test (Why?)
India rock England on Day Two of latest fractious Test
Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj took four wickets each as India fought back in the fifth and deciding Test against England at the Oval on Friday. India roared back into contention on an exhilarating day two of the final Test on Friday as their seamers restricted England to a 23-run lead after the hosts had threatened to run away with a match that the tourists need to win to square the series. After mopping up India’s brittle tail in less than 30 minutes in the morning, openers Zac Crawley and Ben Duckett raced to 92-0 in 12 overs in a blistering return of Bazball. However, continuing the back-and-forth theme of the entire series, India responded as their bowlers ran in relentlessly to peg England back to 247. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal then scored quickly in a potentially awkward last 90 minutes, ending unbeaten on 51 with India closing on 75-2, 52 runs ahead to leave the pivotal match fascinatingly poised. Another fabulously undulating day began with India resuming at 204-6, but soon skittled for 224 as pace bowler Gus Atkinson took five wickets in his first Test since May. It was an all-too-familiar collapse by the tourists this summer as Karun Nair fell lbw for 57 and Washington Sundar was caught for 26. Atkinson then bowled Mohammed Siraj and had Prasidh Krishna caught behind, both for ducks, to finish with 5-33. England set about their reply in their usual, swashbuckling fashion, exemplified by Duckett’s extraordinary “reverse hook” for six off Akash Deep. Akash Deep of India puts his arm around Ben Duckett of England after dismissing him for 43 [Shaun Botterill/Getty Images] They reached 50 in seven overs – the fastest 50 opening partnership England have ever managed in a Test – but fell just short of the 100 as Duckett was caught behind reversing for 43. Advertisement They were 109-1 at lunch, and England looked poised to take command, but India, as they have all summer, refused to buckle as Crawley (64) and Ollie Pope (22) quickly departed. Joe Root brought his usual calm to proceedings until Siraj nipped one back at him for an lbw on 29, with Jacob Bethell going the same way soon after. Krishna finished off the session in style by having Jamie Smith brilliantly caught in the slips for eight by KL Rahul, then getting Jamie Overton lbw for nought and followed up with the wicket of Atkinson to finish with 4-62. Harry Brook had a late flurry either side of a rain delay before becoming Siraj’s fourth victim when bowled for 53 as England, with injured Chris Woakes absent, were all out for 247. India’s openers quickly erased that and pushed on well beyond, with Jaiswal looking particularly enterprising en route to a quickfire 51 – though he was badly dropped in the deep on 40. Rahul departed tamely for seven off Josh Tongue, and Sai Sudharsan followed, lbw to Atkinson for 11, leaving Deep not out four. With good weather forecast for Saturday, another Oval full house will turn up in expectation of more fireworks, and what has been one of the most entertaining series for years is still in the balance. Adblock test (Why?)