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Middle East crisis live: US launches ‘heavy waves of strikes’ on Iran after days-long pause in attacks

Jordan’s military is saying it has foiled an Iranian attempt to target the kingdom with five missiles, the state news agency reports. On social media the agency quoted the armed forces as saying “interception measures” were carried out and there were no casualties. The military said it maintained “the highest levels of readiness to deal firmly with any threat targeting the security of the homeland and the safety of its citizens”, the Jordan News Agency said.

Artists find creative haven in Côte d’Ivoire’s ‘calm and soothing’ Grand Bassam

By the poolside of La Fourchette de Rōze hotel in Grand Bassam, a Côte d’Ivoire city sandwiched between the Ébrié lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean, a birthday party was in progress. On the second-floor gallery, the artist Nuits Balnéaires stood by a huge painting in one corner and looked out through the window towards the billowing waves of the Atlantic Ocean. “It’s poetic … that immense energy of the ocean, which also fuels my work,” the Ivorian visual artist said. “The natural elements are the very essence and foundation of my artistic practice,” he added, as he reflected on the way in which his name, which translates as “coastal nights”, matched the ambience. Many families in Abidjan, the commercial capital of the west African country, have often drifted to Grand Bassam, just 30 miles (45km) to the east, for Sunday relaxation, including Nuits Balnéaires, whose visits from childhood gave him a strong connection to the city. In July 2019 he moved there permanently from his family home in Abidjan. In the last decade, it has become a road well travelled. As rents continue to rise amid a cost of living crisis in Abidjan, residents there, especially artists, have been reconsidering their lives in the city. “It [is] increasingly difficult for many artists to maintain studio spaces in the city,” said the Abidjan-based art collector Ozong Agborsangaya-Fiteu. “As a result, they are seeking more affordable alternatives in places such as Grand Bassam, Bingerville, and increasingly even farther afield in Dabou and Jacqueville. Grand Bassam itself is becoming more expensive, prompting some artists to relocate even farther out.” The biggest beneficiary of the exodus from Abidjan has undisputedly been Grand Bassam, the country’s first capital where the colonial architecture was listed as a Unesco world heritage site in 2012. With its scenic beachfronts, fresher food, cheaper markets, proximity to the airport and a sense of nostalgia even in the abandoned colonial buildings, the city represents an easier pick than Abidjan, its livelier and more chaotic cousin. This, for the Guadeloupe-born artist Elladj Lincy Deloumeaux, makes it “a very calm and soothing place that’s conducive to working and finding inspiration”. Five years ago, he moved from Paris to Abidjan, and then two years ago to Grand Bassam, where he now has a studio and apartment. *** Once a centre of cultural trade and tourism, Grand Bassam lost some of its appeal over the years as Abidjan became more cosmopolitan and opportunities in arts and entertainment increased. A jihadist attack in 2016 that left 19 people dead also punctured the town’s reputation. These days, evidence of its renaissance abounds. Last year, the former colonial customs and post office building was reopened after a restoration project as La Maison de l’Art, a contemporary art museum with a sculpture garden and a cafe in the courtyard. At the launch, the culture minister, Françoise Remarck, said the collaboration between the private and public sector to protect local history and shine a spotlight on the country’s modern art was a “fresh breath of life” to the old city. “Today, we are doing much more than opening the doors of a space dedicated to art,” she said. “We are taking an act of recognition and appreciation of African artistic genius.” Other organisations in the vicinity are following the same route. La Fourchette de Rōze, a boutique hotel, has become a creative hub: in January 2023, it began an artist-in-residence programme that has brought in more than two dozen artists and musicians so far from all over the globe, including Nuits Balnéaires. La Cocoteraie des Arts, a creative space with an open-air art atelier and gallery in Mondoukou, only a few minutes outside the city, also offers artist residences. Across Grand Bassam, dozens of new studios are popping up across the city. Later this year, the Ivorian-French photographer Aïcha Fall will add another to that number. “I grew up in the French countryside and I’ve always loved a place that is calm,” said Fall, who moved to Grand Bassam on her return from Paris in 2023, despite an attachment to Abidjan where she had spent her early years. “Bassam represents all of that. It offers you time for reverie, unlike Abidjan, which is always effervescent.” Some enthusiastic followers of the art scene are predicting that the city could eventually upstage Abidjan as an art haven in the coming years, or at least rival it. Not everyone within the industry is as optimistic. Most of Côte d’Ivoire’s galleries and art institutions remain in Abidjan, as do many of the collectors, patrons and other important elements of the ecosystem. Festivals such as Abidjan art week, for example, still bring people in from across the continent and are yet to be replicated elsewhere in the country. “Rather than weakening the scene, this geographical shift has created a different dynamic,” Agborsangaya-Fiteu said. “Artists benefit from more affordable and inspiring places to work while remaining close enough to the city to participate in exhibitions, openings, and other cultural activities whenever needed.” As he sipped his coffee, legs crossed, Nuits Balnéaires agreed, before pointing out that the situation was a bit like having his cake and eating it. “One of the advantages is that in Bassam, you can feel very disconnected, yet at the same time, you’re not that far removed from what’s happening in Abidjan.”

Deadly strikes on Ukrainian cities after Zelenskyy warns of ‘massive’ Russian attack

A Russian missile strike killed at least six people in central Ukraine, including two girls, the head of Kryvyi Rih’s military administration said, while at least one person died in Kyiv, after the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, warned the country hours in advance of Moscow launching another massive attack. “In a village on the outskirts of Kryvyi Rih, a direct strike by an Iskander-M ballistic missile, launched from Voronezh, hit a private house where a large family lived, killing girls aged five and 12 and four adults,” said Oleksandr Vilkul, adding that a further eight people were wounded and that the death toll may rise. In Kyiv, “sadly, one death has been confirmed” the military administration for the capital city announced. The Kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko, reported fires in several districts. Earlier, he posted: “The enemy is attacking the capital with ballistic weapons. The threat of further attack remains present. Stay in shelters!” Elsewhere, residential buildings ⁠in ⁠the western city of Lviv ⁠were damaged ⁠by Russian ‌air ‌attacks, ‌mayor Andriy Sadovyi said on ‌Telegram, citing preliminary reports and ⁠asking people to seek shelter. Late on Wednesday, Zelenskyy had posted: “The Russians prepared a massive attack several days ago, and there is a high probability that the strike will be carried out tonight … Please, in all regions of Ukraine, pay attention to air raid alerts today and stay safe.” As the attacks took place, Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine, protectively scrambled fighter jets to protect its airspace, its armed forces said. “Fighter aircraft and an early warning ‌aircraft have begun operations while ground-based air defence systems and radar reconnaissance systems have reached a state of readiness.” Zelenskyy also repeated his request to Ukraine’s allies to supply Kyiv with the missiles its air defence system lacks. “It is important that our partners fully understand what is happening and that the protection of people’s lives depends directly on their willingness, or lack of willingness, to provide air defence missiles.” Meanwhile in Russia, a ⁠warehouse of ⁠online ⁠retailer Wildberries in the western ⁠city of ⁠Penza caught ‌fire from a Ukrainian ‌drone attack, ‌said the regional governor, Oleg Melnichenko. One person was injured and around ⁠200 people were evacuated from the site, he added. With Reuters and Agence France-Presse

Bird flu has reached Victoria and more wildlife deaths loom. How bad could it get?

Australia has entered a new phase in dealing with the incursion of deadly H5N1 bird flu, with authorities confirming on Wednesday that local transmission had taken place, and Victoria confirming first case of the highly virulent strain Thursday. “We have had what is suggestive of local transmission for the first time,” Julie Collins, the federal minister for agriculture, fisheries and forestry, said on Wednesday afternoon, after 11 suspected detections were reported in South Australian birds. “We will expect to see increased evidence and deaths of wildlife … given there has been some local transmission,” she said. “This small shift in the situation will be very disappointing to many, but is certainly not an unexpected development as the last continent to detect H5 bird flu.” On Thursday morning, South Australia reported 13 more cases in greater crested terns. Now that authorities believe transmission of H5 strain is occurring locally, what does this mean for Australia’s wildlife, and how bad could things get? What’s the current status of H5N1 bird flu in Australia? On Thursday, South Australian authorities announced 13 new suspected bird flu detections in greater crested terns, including five cases at Seal Bay on Kangaroo Island, home to a population of endangered Australian sea lions. Victoria also detected its first case of the virus, in a greater crested tern in Portland. Once the new cases are confirmed, that would bring Australia to a total of 41 cases. Julie Collins, the agriculture minister, said the Consultative Committee on Emergency Animal Diseases – comprising federal and state and territory authorities – had met on Wednesday and agreed that “some local transmission has occurred between a number of greater crested terns that are resident in South Australia”. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Dr Beth Cookson, Australia’s chief veterinary officer, said genetic sequencing showed all confirmed cases detected to date were related to subantarctic strains of the virus. Clare Scriven, the SA minister for primary industries, said earlier on Wednesday: “This is concerning but not unexpected. We knew that eventually when bird flu arrived in Australia it would spread. It has spread on every other continent around the globe.” To date, there have been no H5 detections in poultry or agricultural industries in Australia. “The risk to human health remains low,” Collins said. How could bird flu affect wildlife on Kangaroo Island? Six of the Kangaroo Island bird flu detections have been at Seal Bay, home to the country’s third-largest Australian sea lion population. Conservationists have expressed fears for the sea lion population there. Alexia Wellbelove, campaigns director at the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS), said Australian sea lions were “now on the frontline of the potential wildlife crisis”. About 80% of the Australian sea lion population is found in South Australia. The endangered mammal has seen populations decline by 60% in four decades, with remaining numbers about 12,000. “In South America, this virus killed 30,000 sea lion pups in just six months following transmission from birds to marine mammals,” Wellbelove said. “On our own Heard Island, it killed more than 13,000 elephant seal pups in a single season … we now have to face the very real possibility of similar devastation here at home, in a species already teetering on the edge.” Scriven said on-beach tours at Seal Bay were temporarily paused to keep people separate from the “very vulnerable” animal population and to reduce the risk of spreading infection. What can be done to stop the spread of bird flu? Not much, unfortunately. Cookson said on Wednesday: “We do know from the overseas experience that once the virus becomes more widespread in wild bird populations it will not be possible to avoid losses in susceptible wildlife in the natural environment.” Authorities had anticipated the arrival of H5N1 in Australia through migratory birds “for a number of years”, she said. They will continue to focus on surveillance, to confirm where the virus is circulating and to “reduce the impacts where possible”. Collins said the federal government had invested more than $113m preparing for the virus’s arrival. “We have also, working with states and territories, now released a further $24m.” Without listing specific animals, Cookson said the government was taking “a number of actions in high-priority conservation species, including site- and species-specific planning”. There would also be a focus on protecting captive breeding populations, and implementing farm biosecurity measures to “limit contact between wild birds and poultry”. Groups including the AMCS and the Invasive Species Council have called on the federal government to establish a $200m national wildlife resilience fund, “focused on emergency protection and recovery for our most at-risk species”. How bad could bird flu get in Australia? Worldwide, the H5N1 variant has caused “unprecedented levels of ongoing outbreaks”, killing millions of wild birds and tens of thousands of mammals. Large-scale deaths have not yet occurred in Australia, but the major concerns relate to potential wildlife impacts: more than 150 native bird species have been assessed as being at “very high risk” of extinction or major decline if they are infected – including the red goshawk, fairy tern, plains-wanderer, shy albatross, black swan and western hooded plover. More than 10 mammal species are at very high risk, including the Australian sea lion, the subantarctic fur seal and the Australian fur seal. There could also be significant impacts on the poultry industry. Globally, an estimated 140m farmed birds have died or been culled since January last year. In the United States, the virus was linked to a 220% spike in egg prices in the first quarter of 2025. Western Australia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry has warned that if the virus were to reach commercial flocks, it could push egg prices above $10 a carton. Mass culls could be necessary, and the RSPCA has called for fast-tracked research into more humane killing methods, such as the use of nitrogen in gas or foam. Human-to-human transmission of the virus is not common, but since 2003 there have been 1,000 reported cases of H5N1 in humans globally, with a 48% fatality rate.

Ukraine war briefing: F-16 crashes while chasing Russian air targets

An F-16 fighter jet crashed on a frontline mission with its pilot ejecting safely, Ukraine’s air force announced on Wednesday. The aircraft ‌was on duty intercepting Russian airborne targets when it malfunctioned. The pilot was ‌found safe and taken for medical treatment. Experts were examining the crash site. Ukraine has received F-16s from Nato countries including the Netherlands and Denmark. The director and founder of a Russian drone manufacturer was shot and wounded early on Wednesday in what prosecutors described as an “attempted murder”. Andrei Cherezov is head of the Russian Air Transport Laboratory, most famous for developing the “Ovod” family of combat drones. Cherezov was returning home from work at about 1am when he was attacked by an unknown assailant in Tula, about 150km (90 miles) south of Moscow, Russia’s Izvestia newspaper reported. Ukrainian forces hit two of Russia’s biggest oil refineries over Tuesday night: a Lukoil refinery in Russia’s Perm region, more than 1,500km (900 miles) from Ukraine, and a refinery in Ryazan, about 400km (180 miles) from the border. Ukraine’s security service and military general staff announced the strikes. The refineries have a combined annual production capacity of around 220m barrels of oil, according to Ukraine. The Russian online retailer Wildberries, which Ukraine has targeted in recent days, said it evacuated employees from a facility in Ryazan. Russia’s largest ⁠lender, Sberbank, is scrambling to restructure loans and cover lending losses because of Ukrainian drone attacks on the e-commerce company. Sberbank said the credit quality of online retailers and vendors had deteriorated following the attacks, with ⁠about 300 companies seeking to restructure loans. Sberbank lends to both Wildberries and rival Ozon, whose facilities have ‌not been targeted. The Russian rouble weakened by another 1.9% against the US ⁠dollar on Wednesday ⁠to its lowest since 3 April, market data showed. It has fallen by 14% against the dollar since ‌20 May, and has also fallen against the Chinese yuan, Russia’s most traded foreign currency. Ukrainian units have struck 201 Russian vessels over the past three weeks in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov, which border both countries, a senior military official said. The tally does not include vessels hit by Ukraine’s security service and other military groups. Ukrainian forces also struck a naval base used by Russia’s Black Sea, according to the military general staff. It reported other strikes on a radar station in Russia’s Bryansk region on the border and on a drone launch site and a road bridge in the occupied part of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. Russian glide bombs struck the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and 17 other places in the region of the same name over the previous 24 hours, wounding 11 people, said the head of the regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov, on Wednesday. In Ukraine’s Kherson a man was killed and another three people injured in a Russian drone attack, local authorities said. Russian officials have charged Pavel Durov, the founder and chief executive of the messaging app Telegram, with aiding terrorism. The 41-year-old Russian-born billionaire, who lives in the UAE, has proven adept at resisting Kremlin efforts to bring the internet and digital communications under its control. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) accuses Telegram of failing to remove “numerous channels, chats and bots” allegedly used by Ukrainian agencies and organisations against Russia. Russian journalist Darya Shipacheva pleaded guilty to ⁠treason at a Moscow court and was sentenced on Wednesday to 12 ⁠years in ⁠a penal colony, the Interfax news agency reported. The charges stemmed ‌from an ‌alleged money transfer to Ukraine, Interfax said. According to Mediazona, Shipacheva specialised in science and medical journalism and worked for several prominent Russian media organisations. The Committee to Protect Journalists says at least 29 journalists are imprisoned in Russia in connection with their work. France has ordered Russian media commentator Xenia Fedorova to leave the country, the interior ministry said on Wednesday, accusing her of churning out Kremlin propaganda. Fedorova was placed under house arrest, according to a source close to the case. Fedorova used to run the French arm of the Kremlin propaganda channel RT, now banned in France. She appears on the CNews television channel and Europe 1 radio, and writes for Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper, spreading Kremlin talking points about Ukraine and the West. The French newspaper Liberation cited the expulsion order as accusing Fedorova of acting “as a conduit for disinformation campaigns orchestrated by the Russian authorities” with the aim of “destabilising public order” in France. Fedorova’s lawyer Emmanuel Piwnica told AFP on Wednesday that his client would “immediately” file an appeal. In a joint statement, Canal+, owner of CNews, and Lagardere, which owns Europe 1, said diversity of opinion was important for democratic debate. Members of the centrist Renew group in the European parliament have called on the European Union to impose sanctions on Fedorova, describing her as a “well-known Russian propagandist”. Ukraine said it had appealed against the International Olympic Committee’s decision to ease restrictions on Russian athletes, arguing the move is premature and violated the Olympic Charter. The IOC lifted its suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee earlier this month, while simultaneously scrapping a range of restrictions on Russian athletes introduced over Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Body found in suitcase in Athens is that of 38-year-old British woman

A body found in a suitcase in an abandoned building in central Athens has been identified as that of a 38-year-old British woman. Eleven days after the find, and following an appeal to foreign law enforcement agencies, Greek police shed some light on the mystery of the body that until Wednesday had remained unidentified. “The remains, we can confirm, have been identified as belonging to a British woman,” one well-placed source said. “Her next of kin have been informed.” They added that it had been ascertained the victim had been born in Scotland in 1988. Late on Wednesday, Greek media named the victim as Elizabeth Jane Ross. She had been staying in the city with friends, who reported seeing her for the last time on 15 July. Adding to the mystery surrounding the circumstances of her death, it was revealed that her mobile phone had been fully operational until news of her identification was released. Police were alerted after a homeless man discovered the suitcase on 18 July in a derelict building in Kypseli, a district popular among foreign nationals in downtown Athens, according to the public broadcaster ERT. Ross had reportedly flown to the region from the US, arriving in Greece, on 29 June, from Cyprus. Greek homicide officers sent fingerprints to Interpol after drawing a blank on local databases. US authorities had provided evidence on the basis of the DNA that police released on Wednesday. Detectives cordoned off the building on Evelpidon Street as they investigated the circumstances of Ross’s death. A police spokesperson, Konstantina Dimoglidou, had previously said CCTV was being examined to try to trace Ross’s movements before her death. Authorities were treating the incident “as a criminal act, given how the body was found”, she told Skai TV. Airlines are also believed to have been approached as investigators try to reconstruct Ross’s journey to Greece and determine whether she was travelling alone. Officials in Greece and Cyprus were scouring flight logs and hotel bookings. Local media, citing the results of a postmortem, said Ross had been dead for eight days before the discovery. There was “no evidence” of a struggle or signs of injury. Greek officials did not rule out UK investigators joining the inquiry. A British Foreign Office spokesperson said: “Our thoughts are with Elizabeth’s family during this difficult time. We are providing consular support and are in contact with the local authorities.” Greece is no stranger to British tourists dying in what is a popular holiday destination – often by drowning or as a result of road accidents – “but incidents like this are very rare”, officials said.

Three firefighters killed on Crete and in mainland Greece as Europe battles wildfires

Three Greek firefighters have died while tackling wildfires on the island of Crete and in the south of the mainland, the Greek fire department has said, as extreme heat hinders efforts to control blazes ravaging southern Europe. The arc of brutal fires, which runs from the Atlantic coast to the eastern Mediterranean, and from the Scottish Highlands to the south of Spain, has alarmed experts because many of the fires have been out of control and burning close to towns and cities. Temperatures exacerbated by the climate crisis reached 38C on Wednesday in Bordeaux in France, where firefighters kept a huge blaze in nearby pine forests from reaching the suburbs, and 37C in Madrid, west of which Spain’s largest wildfire on record had been “technically stabilised”, according to the interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska. Dozens of ground crews had managed to contain the Madrid fire overnight, emergency services for the region said on Wednesday morning, but a separate fire near València, where temperatures will peak at a cooler 32C, is still out of control. In televised comments from the Navalcarnero command centre on Wednesday morning, the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the situation near the capital was improving but stressed it was the first time in Spanish history that a wildfire had been raised to “operational level 3”, with the national government taking over the disaster response. “I believe the next 12 hours will be very important,” he said. “They are going to be decisive in consolidating the work done by the national civil protection system.” Accompanied by strong winds, the fourth heatwave of western Europe’s scorching summer has alarmed firefighters, who warn it makes blazes harder to quell and raises the risk of fires restarting in areas that have been stabilised. New fires also prompted evacuations in Greece and Turkey. French authorities benefited from a calm night on Tuesday that allowed flare-ups to be swiftly extinguished but warned of “unfavourable” developing weather conditions that could hamper progress. The prefecture of Gironde said 126 firefighters had been injured since the start of the fire but the total burned area remained stable at 42,000 hectares (104,000 acres) on Wednesday morning. Wildfires have burned a record-breaking area of France, data from the European Forest Fire Information System shows, while France and Spain have experienced record-breaking numbers of fires for this time of year. More than 330,000 people in southern Europe have been forced to flee their homes and hotels. Officials began to lift evacuation orders on Tuesday as fires were brought under control, allowing tens of thousands of people living in towns near Bordeaux, Madrid and València to go back to their homes. Some of them returned to find burnt-out buildings and charred belongings. José Fernández, a 74-year-old pensioner, told AFP he had “no money, no documents, no home” after he came back to the remains of what used to be his house in Pelayos de la Presa, in the Community of Madrid. “This place has been reduced to a total ruin.” Europe’s wildfire season is growing hotter and longer as carbon pollution heats the continent twice as fast as the global average. Repeated heatwaves this year have dried vegetation and turned forests and shrubland into tinderboxes, alarming EU officials, who have said wildfires could still be burning in November. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, thanked firefighters for their “courage and commitment” on Wednesday. “As the fires in France and Spain continue to ravage, European solidarity knows no limit,” she said in a social media post. “Romania and Greece have decided to extend their missions, continuing their support to the affected regions. And from Saturday, Poland will join the fray.” Earlier this week, the European Commission said it had sent France seven planes and four helicopters from countries as far away as Sweden and Turkey, while in Spain, it said it had mobilised six planes from Greece, Italy and Turkey, along with 134 personnel and 41 vehicles from Portugal. A Super Puma helicopter from Serbia was expected to arrive in Madrid on Wednesday, according to Spain’s interior ministry, with 40 personnel and 18 vehicles to shortly follow. The European Union’s crisis management team said on Wednesday it expected difficult weeks ahead, fearing a further outbreak of wildfires in Italy and Greece later in the summer. Maria Zuber, a senior official at the EU’s emergency response coordination centre (ERCC) in Brussels, which coordinates the dispatch of firefighting planes, equipment and teams to countries that have asked for help, said the next few days would be “very difficult” for France and that “now we see it will go to Greece”. Moisés Galán Santano, a wildfire expert at the ERCC, said more needed to be done to prevent wildfires and that it would be a task for many years. “The [emergency] response is not only the answer. It’s the last answer. But it’s not all the answer. We need to focus on prevention.” Earlier this year, a policy paper from the European Commission set out how countries could better prevent and recover from wildfires that are expected to become bigger and more damaging across the continent. It promoted measures such as more extensive grazing, the restoration of wetlands, rivers and floodplains, better data on forest fires and raising public awareness of risky behaviour and safe evacuation. Scientists say western Europe’s scorching summer has been deadly, costly and exacerbated by fossil fuel pollution. Rapid analyses have found June’s heatwave would have been “virtually impossible” in a world without climate breakdown, while the recent level of soil dryness in western Europe – a driver of bigger blazes – was made five times more likely. The heatwaves are estimated to have claimed at least 10,000 lives and cost grain farmers €2bn in lost crops. Vula Tsetsi, a co-chair of the European Green party, called on European institutions to take action on Wednesday and noted the European Commission had not yet published its heating and cooling plan, which was expected in April. “Climate-driven heatwaves and wildfires are already claiming lives, destroying homes and ravaging forests at a record pace,” she said. “There is a widening gap between the scale of Europe’s heatwaves – literally hitting every EU country – and the absence of decisive European action.”