PARIS — Faith leaders gathered with Olympic officials Sunday morning in front of Notre Dame Cathedral to celebrate how “faith and sport can complement each other,” in the words of International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.

The 2024 Paris Games got off to a rocky start with many religious groups around the world, including the Vatican. They criticized a scene in the opening ceremony seen as mocking Christianity by evoking “The Last Supper” and featuring drag queens, though the performers and the ceremony’s artistic director denied being inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s painting.

“We wanted to show that the most important thing is peace,” Catholic Bishop Emmanuel Gobilliard said at the gathering. It was modeled after the first such interfaith meeting, organized by modern Olympics founder Pierre de Coubertin in the 1924 Paris Games.

Far from the controversy, in an inconspicuous tent-like structure tucked away at the end of the athletes’ village in Paris, ordained and lay representatives from the five major global religions have taken up that mantle, providing spiritual comfort to Olympians.

Representatives of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism worked for months to set up a shared hall where the more than 10,500 athletes and their staff can find information about worship and speak with a chaplain.

For the first half of the Games, many seem to have found their way there to have a quiet moment away from the overwhelming pressure of competition.

“Some of the athletes who come to pray, I think they came to give up their pressure, to take some time to get out of their own heads,” said the Rev. Jason Nioka, a former judo champion who’s in charge of the largest contingent of Olympic chaplains, about 40 Catholic priests, nuns and lay faithful.

Each religion got 50 square meters (538 square feet) of the structure provided by the Paris Games organizing committee, with instructions to comply with France’s secularism laws that strictly prescribe the role of religion in public spaces.

What the faith leaders have done with the space is itself a wordless message of dialogue, tolerance and welcome — beginning with redistributing the size of the different rooms based on the expected number of faithful.

The door between the small Jewish room and the Muslim space, about twice its size but equally sparingly adorned, is often kept open.

“Here it’s very symbolic,” said Rabbi Moshe Lewin, vice president of the Conference of European Rabbis and one of the Jewish chaplains. “The conviviality, that’s the image that we should transmit.”

“People smile when they see an imam and a rabbi together,” added Najat Benali, president of the Coordination of Muslim Associations of Paris, who leads the Muslim chaplaincy. “We do ‘geo-fraternity,’ not geopolitics.”

The Hindu space also welcomes visitors with blessings by a small water fountain as chanting resounds from a volunteer’s cellphone. It’s the most exuberantly decorated space, with statues from India and a recreated temple structure in painted polyester foam.

In the middle is the Christian area, where Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox share an altar with a large Bible flanked by a cross and icons. Next to it hangs a poster with a quote about faith by U.S. star gymnast Simone Biles.

Last week, three athletics competitors from Australia, Finland and Jamaica walked in to pray, and faith leaders asked if they could join them.

“It was like a little Pentecost,” said Anne Schweitzer, who’s coordinating about three dozen Protestant chaplains.

She discovered one of the three athletes, a silver medalist, is also quoted in the Gospel edition called “More Precious than Gold,” created for the Games and available to visitors there and at churches across Olympic host cities.

Some Catholics, as well as volunteers in the village, have gone next door to meditate in the Buddhist space, said Luc Charles, a Zen monk with the Buddhist Union of France.

“It’s the occasion to get to know each other better,” he added.
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KYIV, Ukraine — The American-made F-16 is an iconic fighter jet that’s been the front-line combat plane of choice for the NATO alliance and numerous air forces around the world for 50 years.

Western countries have pledged F-16s to Kyiv, and some have arrived in Ukraine, officials in Washington and Ukraine confirmed to The Associated Press. The fighter jets are expected to start flying sorties in Ukrainian skies soon and will be a much-needed boost to the country’s current fleet of Soviet-era jets that are laboring to counter Russia’s invasion.

United States President Joe Biden gave the go-ahead in August 2023 for used F-16s to be deployed to Ukraine, though the U.S. won’t be providing any of its own planes. Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway have committed to providing Ukraine with more than 60 of them over coming months in what could be a slow trickle of deliveries.

Though Russia’s recent battlefield gains have been incremental, its steady forward movement is adding up as Ukraine gradually yields ground.

The F-16s will enhance Ukraine’s military strength, especially by upgrading its air defenses. But analysts say they won’t turn the tide of the war on their own.

Here’s what to know:

What can F-16s bring to the Ukrainian war effort?

The F-16s will likely have three core missions, says Federico Borsari of the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington.

They will seek to intercept Russian missiles and drones that have relentlessly bombarded Ukraine; suppress enemy air defense systems; and strike Russian troop positions and ammunition depots with air-to-ground missiles.

“They will be able to affect some of the dynamics (of the war),” Borsari says.

A lot of information about the F-16 deployment is classified, including what Western governments allow them to hit and what weapons they will send with the aircraft.

The F-16s could carry United Kingdom-supplied Storm Shadow air-launched cruise missiles with a range of more than 250 kilometers, potentially striking targets inside Russia. They might also get long-range air-to-air missiles that would threaten Russian bombers and fighter jets. The plane’s advanced radars will allow Ukrainian pilots to pinpoint targets further away than they can in their MiG-29s, Su-27s and Su-24s.

Commanding the skies is an essential part of a war’s ground campaign, as planes offer air cover to troops. But supporting Ukrainian troop movements on the front line with ground attacks may be too risky for the F-16s, given Russia’s sophisticated air defense systems.

At the very least, the fighter jets could have a psychological effect on Russian pilots, and offer a morale boost for Ukrainians toiling against the Kremlin’s forces.

What are the challenges for Ukraine?

Marina Miron of the Defense Studies Department at King’s College London ticks off a long list of challenges the F-16s will bring for Ukraine.

The roughly nine-month training in the U.S. and Europe for Ukrainian pilots amounted to a crash course compared with the usual three-year course for Western pilots in what Miron calls “a very complex piece of machinery.” That will mean limitations on their performance.

The F-16s also require a large number of support personnel, such as skilled maintenance engineers, munitions loaders, intelligence analysts and emergency crews.

Ukraine must also establish a network of radar stations, reinforced hangars, a supply of spare parts and refueling systems. Quality airfields are also a must as the F-16 air intake is close to the tarmac and runs the danger of sucking debris and dirt into the engine.

“So many associated issues need to be sorted out,” Miron says.

Ukrainian pilots with no combat experience in F-16s may shy away from engaging in dogfights.

How will Russia react?

Russian President Vladimir Putin would savor the image that destroying F-16s from NATO countries would bring.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday the F-16s will not be a “magic pill” that changes the course of the conflict. He added that Russian authorities have already offered rewards to servicemen who destroy F-16s.

The Kremlin’s forces will likely try to destroy the F-16s on the ground with long-range missiles. They have already been targeting Ukraine’s limited number of suitable airfields.

The Ukrainians will need to park the F-16s in hardened hangars, disperse them between various locations, station decoy model aircraft and be ready to take off quickly in the event of an air raid warning, analysts say.

Ukraine has said it might keep some of the fighter jets at foreign bases to protect them from Russian strikes. That prompted a harsh response from Putin, who warned that any Western air base hosting the Ukrainian fighter jets would be a “legitimate target” for the Kremlin’s forces.

U.S. officials said the F-16s would be based in Ukraine.

In the air, the Ukrainian F-16s will be up against Russia’s formidable S-300 and S-400 mobile surface-to-air missile systems that can target multiple aircraft at a time. Russia’s military also has what are estimated to be several hundred operational fighter jets, as well as sophisticated air surveillance radars.

Russia’s Su-35 fighter jet will be one of the biggest threats to the F-16, Borsari of CEPA says. It has a long-range radar that allows it to track and engage up to eight targets at a time across a wide area.

Even so, the Russians are aware that they’ll be up against a more formidable aircraft than they have met so far in the war and will likely adopt a more careful approach.

How will Ukraine protect the F-16s?

Although Russian forces will try to strike the F-16s at the airbases where they are kept, Ukraine has robust defenses to protect the fighter jets against such attacks, says Ukrainian aviation expert Anatolii Khrapchynskyi.

Ukraine has robust capabilities “to protect its airfields with anti-aircraft defenses to deflect (Russian) attacks,” Khrapchynskyi told The Associated Press. “During the entire time since Russia has invaded Ukraine, it has been actively trying to hit Ukrainian airfields, but they have been somewhat unsuccessful.”

Khrapchynskyi said the F-16s will significantly increase the capabilities of the Ukrainian Air Force to protect the country’s air space from Russian attacks and increase the range that Ukraine can strike strategic targets in Russia.

“With the acquisition of F-16 aircraft, we will be able to solve a number of problems that are currently hurting Ukraine. These include: Russia’s massive missile attacks, its use of guided aerial bombs, and the deployment of S-300 installations in the border regions of Sumy and Kharkiv,” says Khrapchynskyi. “We are talking about receiving F-16 aircraft, in my opinion, this will significantly help Ukraine to cope with the Russian aggression that is taking place now.”
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CAMMARATA, Italy — On a scorching July afternoon, a municipal water truck rolls up in a cloud of dust on Liborio Mangiapane’s farm in southern Sicily. Some of the precious liquid gets transferred to a smaller cistern on a tractor that Mangiapane’s son will use to fill troughs for 250 cattle and sheep, but by tomorrow, all 10,000 liters from the truck will be gone.

Crippling drought from a nearly rainless year, coupled with record-high temperatures, has burned out much of the region’s hay and is pushing farmers to the limit. For Mangiapane, every day is a struggle to find water, with frantic phone calls, long trips to faraway wells and long waits for municipal tankers.

If rain doesn’t come by the end of August, he’s afraid he’ll have to sell off his livestock.

“We are in a moment of extreme heat and therefore animals need a lot of water,” Mangiapane said. “It’s a constant anxiety to keep the animals from suffering, but also just to have a chance to wash ourselves.”

The worst year for rainfall in more than 20 years has sent fodder production down 70% across Sicily, according to Coldiretti, Italy’s primary farmers association. The main water basins are almost empty and authorities are strictly rationing water.

The region is one of Italy’s breadbaskets, producing 20% of the country’s durum wheat that goes into pasta. Coldiretti estimated that the drought could reduce production on the island by as much as 70%, leading to greater reliance on imports. In coming months, the dry year may hit olive oil and peach production. Hot weather has caused the grape harvest to start nearly four weeks early, though that crop is so far undamaged.

In May, the national government declared a state of emergency in Sicily and allocated 20 million euros ($21.7 million) to buy water tankers, dig new wells and fix leaky aqueducts. Coldiretti has donated 1.5 million tons of fodder and the regional government allocated subsidies for farmers forced to buy hay from third parties.

Parts of Sicily have had rainfall deficits of up to 60%, according to the meteorology department at Italy’s National Research Council. The regional meteorological service reported above-average temperatures throughout June, with highs frequently topping 40 degrees Celsius in many areas.

Farmers have seen basins, lakes and ponds that used to be reliable watering spots vanish.

Luca Cammarata watched as his sheep searched for water on his farm in the province of Caltanissetta, one of the hardest-hit parts of Sicily. The area has seen almost no rain for a year, reservoirs are all but empty, and wells and aquifers will have to be tapped at critical levels if it doesn’t rain soon.

“Here in this small basin, water has never been lacking,” Cammarata said, as his sheep’s bells tinkled as they searched for water in the place they used to find it. Soon, the animals would have to return to their barns to avoid the blazing sun.

Nearby Lake Pergusa used to be a haven for migratory birds — a natural basin with an area of 1.4 square kilometers and an average depth of about 2 meters. Now it looks like a puddle.

The story was the same on Mangiapane’s place, a little over an hour to the northwest near the municipality of Cammarata. He peered from his barn toward an area where rainwater usually collected in a large pond, providing water for his animals, but the pond was now “as dry as a football pitch.”

August typically brings the start of the winter rainy season, said Mangiapane, a longtime rancher who has gained a reputation as an outspoken supporter of natural grazing and small-scale cheese-making over industrial-scale agriculture.

“I wish it will be a bit better than the past season, because this year we had to make a huge effort, both economically and in terms of human resources, with zero profits,” he said. “We worked the whole year without profits. No wheat, nor fodder for the cows. And neither the regional government, nor the national one have taken strong measures.”

Local authorities have rushed to open new wells, fix desalination equipment and bring in water. In late July, the first Italian navy tanker ship docked in Licata to supply 12 million liters to the most affected areas.

The local water basin authority is tightly rationing water for almost a million residents, with water flowing as little as two to four hours a week in the most affected areas. While the taps are off, households and farms are being supplied by tankers since Sicily’s aqueducts lose up to 60% of the water they carry, according to local water company AICA.

As climate change has made rainfall more erratic and driven temperatures higher, there’s hope that aqueduct renovations, new reservoirs and deep wells will help Sicily adapt.

Giulio Boccaletti, scientific director of the Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, said Sicily is experiencing “the new normal” of climate change, and the region will have to examine whether its scarce water is used for the right things — including what farmers produce.
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DAKAR, Senegal — Two men claiming to be Russian nationals and saying they were taken captive in Niger by militants linked to al-Qaida appeared in a video published on a media platform affiliated to the extremist group.

The video, which appeared on the az-Zallaqa platform Friday night, showed two men who said they were seized by the militants while working in Baga in northeastern Niger.

The men, seated side by side and dressed in traditional local clothing, spoke into the camera. One identified himself as Yury, saying he is a geologist and was working for a Russian company when he was arrested by JNIM, the al-Qaida affiliated group in the region. The other man said his name, which was harder to make out, and said he’d been in Niger for a month.

The AP cannot independently verify the video or the date it was filmed. The men, who spoke in English, did not say when they had been detained.

A security source in Niger, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the pair were taken about a week ago while visiting gold mines.

This is the first known sighting of the men. If their account is confirmed, they would be the first Russians in the Sahel believed to be kidnapped by jihadis despite a strong and growing Russian presence across the region.

Russia has capitalized on the deteriorating relations between the West and coup-affected Sahel nations in West Africa to send fighters to the region and assert its influence. Wagner, Russia’s shadowy mercenary group, has been active in the Sahel — the vast expanse south of the Sahara Desert — as the mercenaries profit from seized mineral riches in exchange for their security services.

In recent months Niger has pulled away from its Western partners, notably France and the United States, turning instead to Russia for security. In April, Russian military trainers arrived in Niger to reinforce the country’s air defenses.

The video comes days after al-Qaida claimed and an attack that dealt Wagner its deadliest blow in recent years, when it ambushed and killed at least 50 fighters in Mali. At least two Russians were taken captive by rebels, who were also involved in the attack.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to AP’s request for comment about the hostages.

The abductions are a significant hit to Wagner’s efforts in Niger, said Wassim Nasr, a Sahel specialist and senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, a security think tank, who first reported the Russians had been taken. The fact that al-Qaida used the word “captives” and not hostages, in the video, points to a potential desire for a prisoner swap with jihadis being held by military regimes in the Sahel, he said.

Nasr said the hostages were taken on July 19 during a battle between jihadis and Niger’s military in Baga.

He said this based on a photograph sent to him by JNIM in the aftermath of the attack and showing the men’s faces, which he identified as the Russian captives in the video.

The jihadis also confirmed to him the date the men were taken and their nationalities.

The Russians are the only known foreign non-African hostages currently believed to be held by jihadi groups in the Sahel, he said.

Jihadi groups have been abducting hostages for ransom to fund their operations and expand their presence. At least 25 foreigners and untold numbers of locals have been kidnapped in the Sahel since 2015, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project.

French journalist Olivier Dubois was released last year after being kidnapped from northern Mali in April 2021 and the last known Western hostages were three Italians freed in February, after being kidnapped by jihadis from Mali in 2022. 
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Ukrainian tennis player Alex Dolgopolov was once ranked 13th in the world. But shortly after Russia invaded his homeland in 2022, he volunteered to fight on the front lines. Anna Kosstutschenko met with the tennis star turned drone operator. Camera: Pavel Suhodolskiy.
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KYIV, UKRAINE — Ukraine’s military said on Saturday it had attacked Russia’s Morozovsk airfield and several oil depots and fuel storage facilities in three Russian regions overnight.

The attack on the airfield hit an ammunition depot where Russian forces stored guided aerial bombs among other equipment, the military said.

“Russian combat aviation must be destroyed wherever it is, by all effective means. It is also quite fair to strike at Russian airfields. And we need this joint solution with our partners — a security solution,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Zelenskyy said on Saturday that Russian forces used over 600 guided aerial bombs to attack Ukraine in the past week. The attack on oil depots and fuel and lubricant storage facilities in Belgorod, Kursk and Rostov regions set fire to at least two oil tanks, according to the Ukrainian military report.

The Ukrainian president has repeatedly called on his Western allies for permission to use their weapons for long-range attacks on Russia, in addition to striking military targets close to the border.

In Russia, local officials reported that tanks at a fuel storage depot in the Kamensky district of Rostov region caught fire as a result of a drone attack.

The regional governor of Belgorod also said Ukraine-launched drones caused a fire at an oil storage depot there, adding that the fire was extinguished and no one was injured.

Ukraine has dramatically stepped up its use of long-range drones this year to attack Russian oil facilities, attempting to damage sites fueling Russian forces and the country’s economy in Moscow’s 29-month-old invasion.
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RABAT, Morocco — France has thrown its support behind Morocco’s autonomy plan for the disputed Western Sahara, shifting a decades-old position and adding itself to a growing list of countries to align with Morocco as a United Nations-mediated peace process remains stalled.

In a letter to King Mohammed VI, France’s President Emmanuel Macron called the plan that Morocco proposed in 2007 to offer the region limited autonomy under its sovereignty the “only basis” to solve the conflict. The shift deals a blow to the pro-independence Polisario Front, which has for decades claimed to be the legitimate representative of the indigenous Sahrawi people.

“The present and future of Western Sahara fall within the framework of Moroccan sovereignty,” Macron wrote in a letter made public on Tuesday. “France intends to act consistently with this position at both national and international level.”

Macron’s move is unlikely to change the key tenets of the territorial dispute but could deepen France ties with Morocco, which has long blamed it for drawing the colonial borders it sees as the root of the conflict. France signaled earlier this year that it was open to investing in Moroccan projects in the disputed territory.

The move could strain diplomatic relations in North Africa, further alienating both France and Morocco from Algeria, which supports the Polisario Front’s claims and allows it to operate as a self-declared government in exile from refugee camps within its borders.

It follows similar shifts from the United States, Israel, Spain and a growing list of African nations that have established consulates in the territory.

In a statement, Moroccan King Mohammed VI’s Royal Cabinet called France’s shift “a significant development.” A high-ranking Moroccan official who spoke on the condition of anonymity noted France’s role as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and called it “a game-changer” amid an international shift toward Morocco’s position.

The move was preemptively rebuked by both Algeria and the Polisario Front in the days leading up to the publication of letter, which Algeria said it was made aware of by France in the days prior.

The Polisario’s Mohamed Sidati accused France of acting at odds with international law and backing Moroccan expansionism as its influence wanes throughout Africa.

“Whatever hardships Morocco tries to impose on us with the support of France, the Sahrawi people will continue to stubbornly defend their rights until they obtain the definitive departure of the Moroccan aggressor from their territory and general recognition of the legitimacy of their struggle for self-determination and independence,” Sidati, the Foreign Minister of the self-declared Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, said in a statement on Monday.

Algeria called Morocco and France “colonial powers, new and old” and announced it would withdraw its ambassador from Paris.

“The French decision is clearly the result of a dubious political calculation, a morally questionable judgement and legal interpretations that are neither supported nor justified,” Algeria’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement last week.

Western Sahara is roughly the size of Colorado, encompassing a stretch of desert rich in phosphates and sitting along an Atlantic coastline rich in fish. Morocco annexed the former Spanish colony in 1975, sparking a regional conflict and putting it at odds with the pro-independence Polisario Front over the region that the United Nations considers a “non-self-governing territory.”

Morocco quickly moved to occupy the majority of the land, fighting off guerilla warfare from the Polisario until the U.N. brokered a 1991 cease-fire and established a peacekeeping mission to monitor the truce and help prepare a referendum on the territory’s future. Disagreements over who is eligible to vote prevented the referendum from taking place.

Morocco has long sought political recognition of its claim from its other nations, while the Polisario has prioritized fighting legal battles to assert the people of the region’s right to self-determination.

Sporadic violence has ensued since the Polisario renewed armed conflict in 2020, ending a 29-year truce. Morocco has since embarked on expansive economic development efforts, constructing ports, highways and hotels.
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london — Protesters attacked police and started fires in the northeast English city of Sunderland on Friday as violence spread to another northern city following Monday’s killing of three children in Southport. 

Anti-immigrant demonstrators threw stones at police in riot gear near a mosque in the city before overturning vehicles, setting a car on fire and starting a fire next to a police office, the BBC said. 

“The safety of the public is our utmost priority and when we became aware that a protest had been planned, we ensured there was an increased policing presence in the city,” Northumbria Police Chief Superintendent Helena Barron said in a statement.  

“During the course of the evening those officers were met with serious and sustained levels of violence, which is utterly deplorable.” 

Three police officers were hospitalized for treatment, and eight people have so far been arrested for offenses such as violent disorder and burglary, Barron added. 

The protest in Sunderland was one of more than a dozen planned by anti-immigration activists across the U.K. this weekend, including in the vicinity of at least two mosques in Liverpool, the closest city to where the children were killed. 

Several anti-racism counterprotests were also planned. 

British police were out in force on Friday across the country and mosques were tightening security, officials said. 

A 17-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of the girls in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance workshop in the northwestern seaside town of Southport, a crime that has shocked the nation. 

Violent incidents erupted in the following days in Southport, the northeastern town of Hartlepool, and London in reaction to false information on social media claiming the suspect in the stabbings was a radical Islamist migrant. 

In an attempt to quash the misinformation, police have emphasized that the suspect  was born in Britain. 

Earlier on Friday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer made a second visit to Southport since the murders.  

“As a nation, we stand with those who tragically have lost loved ones in the heinous attack in Southport, which ripped through the very fabric of this community and left us all in shock,” he said in a statement. 

British police chiefs have agreed to deploy officers in large numbers over the weekend to deter violence. 

“We will have surge capacity in our intelligence, in our briefing, and in the resources that are out in local communities,” Gavin Stephens, chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, told BBC Radio. 

“There will be additional prosecutors available to make swift decisions, so we see swift justice.” 

Mosques across the country are also on a heightened state of alert, the Muslim Council of Britain said. 

Zara Mohammed, the council’s secretary general, said representatives from hundreds of mosques agreed to strengthen security measures at a briefing on Thursday. Many at the meeting also reported concerns for the safety of their worshippers after receiving threatening and abusive phone calls. 

“I think there’s a sense within the community that we’re also not going to be afraid, but we will be careful and cautious,” Mohammed said. 

Police in Southport, where on Tuesday evening protesters attacked police, set vehicles alight and hurled bricks at a mosque, said they were aware of planned protests and had “extensive plans and considerable police resources” on hand to deal with any disorder. 

Police in Northern Ireland also said they were planning a “proportionate policing response” after learning of plans by various groups to block roads, stage protests and march to an Islamic Centre in Belfast over the weekend. 
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PARIS — The stands at Champs de Mars filled up quickly. One fan dressed in a white martial arts uniform waved a French flag back and forth. A woman next to him held up a poster with the face of one of the biggest sports stars in France. Crowds of people bounced up and down so excitedly it shook the floor of the arena, where judo is being played in the 2024 Paris Olympics.  

Many of them were there to see Teddy Riner, the hometown judo icon who delivered once again for France on Friday. He capped his incredible career by becoming the second three-time individual Olympic gold medalist in judo history in one of the most electrifying events of the Paris Games so far. The 35-year-old heavyweight defeated Korea’s Min-jong Kim for the gold in his fifth Olympics.  

An 11-time world champion and four-time Olympic gold medalist, Riner is one of the most popular and beloved figures in any sport from France.  

Riner was France’s flag bearer during the opening ceremony and joined retired French track and field sprinter Marie-José Pérec in lighting the cauldron at the end of the night.   

Riner is widely considered the greatest judoka the sport has ever seen. He had a 10-year unbeaten streak in which he dominated opponents with his imposing size and athleticism.  

Riner had the opportunity to match Olympic history with three gold medals three years ago in Tokyo but that chance evaporated with a surprising loss to Russian Tamerlan Bashaev in the quarterfinals. Riner rallied for a bronze medal and still took home gold in the mixed team event. He turned that moment of disappointment into hope for the future, with his next opportunity only three years away.  

With a first-round bye, Riner rolled through the second round and quarterfinals Friday afternoon, setting up a much-anticipated semifinal against Temur Rakhimov of Tajikistan.  

He drew the loudest cheers from the crowd at Champs de Mars, which roared when he walked onto the red-and-yellow tatami, and cheered even louder when he finished Rakhimov with an ippon that secured his spot in the final.  

Riner joins a trio of French stars at the home Olympics. Basketball phenom Victor Wembanyama is the leader of the country’s men’s basketball team that is hoping to challenge the defending champion United States for gold. Léon Marchand has dominated in the pool with three gold medals.  

France, one of the world’s top judo nations, still has the mixed team competition on Saturday, looking for its second straight gold in the event after defeating rival Japan to win its first mixed team tournament in Tokyo.  

The French judo team was already off to a hot start. Luka Mkheidze and Shirine Boukli won France’s first two medals of the Paris Olympics last weekend, with Mkheidze claiming silver and Boukli winning bronze.  

After another masterful ippon in the final, Riner shook his head in triumph. The crowd chanted his name. He fell to his knees with his arms stretched wide above him, ending the night where he’s been so many times before. On top.
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LONDON — Several suspects arrested in violent protests that erupted after the fatal stabbing of three children in northwest England were due in court Friday as officials braced for more clashes that Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned and blamed on “far-right hatred.”

Starmer vowed to end the mayhem and said police across the United Kingdom would be given more resources to stop “a breakdown in law and order on our streets.”

Demonstrations are being promoted online over the coming days in towns and cities that include Sunderland, Belfast, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester, using phrases such as “enough is enough,” “save our kids” and “stop the boats.”

John Woodcock, the British government’s adviser on political violence and disruption, said there was a “concerted and coordinated” attempt to spread the violence.

“Clearly, some of those far-right actors have got a taste for this and are trying to provoke similar in towns and cities across the U.K.,” he told the BBC.

The attack Monday on children at a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday dance class shocked a country where knife crime is a long-standing and vexing problem, although mass stabbings are rare.

Seventeen-year-old Axel Rudakubana was charged with murder over the attack that killed Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, in the seaside town of Southport in northwest England. He was also charged with 10 counts of attempted murder for the eight children and two adults wounded.

A violent demonstration in Southport on Tuesday was followed by others around the country — fueled in part by online misinformation that said the attacker was Muslim and an immigrant. Rudakubana was born in Britain to Rwandan parents and lived close to the scene of the attack.

Suspects who are under 18 are usually not named in the U.K., but judge Andrew Menary ordered that Rudakubana could be identified, in part to stop the spread of misinformation.

Far-right demonstrators have held several violent protests, ostensibly in response to the attack, clashing with police outside a mosque in Southport on Tuesday and hurling beer cans, bottles and flares near the prime minister’s office in London the next day.

Merseyside Police, which is responsible for Southport, said it had made seven arrests so far and had a team of specialists reviewing hundreds of hours of footage to identify anyone involved.

“If you took part in this disorder, you can expect to receive a knock on your door by our officers,” Detective Chief Inspector Tony Roberts said.

Police officers were pelted with bottles and eggs in the town of Hartlepool in northeast England, where a police car was set ablaze. Seven men ages 28 to 54 were charged with violent disorder and were due in court Friday, the local Cleveland Police force said.

At a news conference Thursday, the prime minister said the street violence was “clearly driven by far-right hatred” as he announced a program enabling police to better share intelligence across agencies and move quickly to make arrests.

“This is coordinated; this is deliberate,” Starmer said. “This is not a protest that has got out of hand. It is a group of individuals who are absolutely bent on violence.”

Starmer said his so-called National Violent Disorder Program would enable police to move between communities — just as the “marauding mobs” do. Officers will harness facial recognition technology to identify culprits and use criminal behavior orders often imposed on soccer hooligans that prevent them from going to certain places or associating with one another.

Starmer put some of the blame on social media companies, although he didn’t announce any measures to address that and said there was a balance to be struck between the value they offer and the threat they can pose.

“Violent disorder, clearly whipped up online, that is also a crime. It’s happening on your premises,” he said.
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KYIV — A Russian drone hit a bus in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region early on Friday, injuring six construction workers, including one who was in a critical condition, the regional governor said.

Governor Oleh Syniehubov said the incident took place near the town of Derhachi, about 40 km (25 miles) from Hlyboke one of the border settlements where Russia opened a new front in the war in May.

Ukraine’s military halted the Russian offensive there, rushing in reinforcements after Russia pushed up to 10 km (six miles) into the border areas.

Thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine February 2022.

 
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ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey’s communications authority blocked access to the social media platform Instagram on Friday, the latest instance of a clampdown on websites in the country.

The Information and Communication Technologies Authority, which regulates the internet, announced the block early Friday but did not provide a reason. Sabah newspaper, which is close to the government, said access was blocked in response to Instagram removing posts by Turkish users that expressed condolences over the killing of Hama political leader Ismail Haniyeh.

It came days after Fahrettin Altun, the presidential communications director and aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, criticized the Meta-owned platform for preventing users in Turkey from posting messages of condolences for Haniyeh.

Unlike its Western allies, Turkey does not consider Hamas to be a terror organization. A strong critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, Erdogan has described the group as “liberation fighters.”

The country is observing a day of mourning for Haniyeh on Friday, during which flags will be flown at half-staff.

Turkey has a track record of censoring social media and websites. Hundreds of thousands of domains have been blocked since 2022, according to the Freedom of Expression Association, a nonprofit organization regrouping lawyers and human rights activists. The video-sharing platform YouTube was blocked from 2007 to 2010.
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Americans Paul Whelan, Alsu Kurmasheva, Evan Gershkovich, and others are freed from Russian prisons in a deal involving 16 political prisoners exchanged for eight individuals requested by the Kremlin. With Liam Scott and Cristina Caicedo Smit, Jessica Jerreat reports. Patsy Widakuswara contributed. Cameras: Martin Bubenik, Krystof Maixner, Hoshang Fahim.
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London — A British organization that focuses on bringing more transparency to ties between China and the United Kingdom says one of the country’s biggest China institutes at a top university, King’s College London, received almost all of its funds from one single donor — a wealthy Hong Kong businessman who has ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

In a report released Sunday, UK-China Transparency said 99.9% of funding for the Lau China Institute, or LCI, came from Lau Ming-wai, who has served as an adviser to the Hong Kong government working on Hong Kong “integration” with China. He was also given a formal role at a body overseen by the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department, the report said.

The United Front Work Department coordinates domestic and foreign influence campaigns for the Chinese Communist Party and is part of a broader effort known as “United Front” work that aims to co-opt individuals and silence opposition to the party.

Lau received his bachelor’s and doctorate degrees from King’s College London and donated at least $14.1 million to support the institute, according to the report.

UK-China Transparency said it has sought information from King’s College under the Freedom of Information Act about the details of Lau’s collaboration with the Institute and any terms or restrictions on Lau’s donation. It also asked whether Lau has any requirements for the appointment of the institute’s director.

The university confirmed Lau’s donations but declined to provide the other information.

UK-China Transparency then complained to the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office, which supported King’s College’s position. The organization has since appealed to a body known as the First-tier Tribunal to try to force the college to disclose more information.

A British government spokesperson told VOA that it is the responsibility of higher education providers to ensure “they have adequate governance and risk management procedures in place, including on the acceptance of donations.”

“We expect the sector to be alert to security risks when collaborating with international partners, conducting appropriate due diligence to comply with legislation and consider risks, including potential threats to freedom of speech and academic freedom,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement Thursday.

The LCI was established in 2011 as part of the School of Global Affairs at King’s College London. The institute has 76 members, including 30 doctoral students and 11 core members. Its projects include several topics that are considered sensitive by the Chinese Communist Party.

Kerry Brown, director of the LCI, received an award from a Chinese government-owned think tank in 2020 for “telling Chinese stories and spreading Chinese voices.”

Brown is a former British diplomat who previously worked for the China Section of his country’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office and as first secretary of the U.K. Embassy in Beijing. He is a frequent contributor to Chinese state media.

VOA contacted Brown for comment but did not receive a response at time of publication.

However, Brown said in an interview with VOA last year that while there were legitimate security reasons that made the U.K. have reservations about Chinese investment, the U.K.’s options would be greatly reduced if China was rejected altogether.

“You either accept that China poses problems and you try and deal with them, or you accept that you can’t deal with China and you don’t take any of the economic benefits that come from that,” he said. “It’s about the conversation. It’s about embracing how complex this could be.”

In a summary report released in 2020, the LCI thanked Lau for his continued support, noting that the institute works with several institutions around the world, including Transparency International, the World Bank, BHP Billiton and the G20. The LCI has become an important source of information for policymakers and the public to discuss China, the report said.

A spokesperson for King’s College London told VOA that as a matter of policy, all of its institutes operate independently from donors, who have no influence over the focus of any research undertaken by the institutes.

“We are proud of the work of our global institutes in bringing together leading academics to critically examine and deliver country-focused research and expertise that helps shape and inform global understanding,” the spokesperson said.

The close ties between U.K. universities and China have been under the spotlight in recent years, particularly in the economic and educational sectors.

A report by the U.K. Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee last year warned that “China has taken advantage of the policy of successive British governments to boost economic ties between the U.K. and China, which has enabled it to advance its commercial, science and technology, and industrial goals in order to gain a strategic advantage.”

In February, a British government spokesperson told VOA, “We continue to talk to the sector to ensure advice, and measures on tackling security risks in international collaboration remains relevant and proportionate.”

The spokesperson said China was added in May 2023 to a list of countries subject to export controls on certain items with potential military uses.

In April, Oliver Dowden, the U.K. deputy prime minister at the time, said the government would impose stricter oversight of higher education institutions, thereby strengthening protection for sensitive technology and reducing reliance on foreign funding. The move aims to prevent foreign interference in national security, especially from countries that “ignore the rules-based international order.”

Observers said the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act is an important tool for that purpose. However, the Labour Party’s education secretary announced this week that the bill’s implementation would be halted to ensure the “financial stability” of the higher education sector.

Brown said last year that his colleagues at King’s College London were well aware of the problems that arose in their interactions with Chinese students and were not naive. He believes it is important to understand and listen to the voices of Chinese students in the U.K., as they are an important part of the academic community.

At the same time, he stressed that cooperation with China is still necessary, especially in areas such as life sciences and medical research, as these are common global issues.

VOA’s Adrianna Zhang, Yu-wen Cheng and Daniel Schearf contributed to this report.
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Solar panels, battery stations and generators have become allies for Ukrainian homeowners as they start getting ready for another winter of Russian attacks on their nation’s power grid. Lesia Bakalets reports from Kyiv. (Camera: Vladyslav Smilianets)
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