In the early hours of Thursday, March 23, 2023, residents in the German town of Kronberg were woken from their sleep by several explosions.

Criminals had blown up an ATM located below a block of flats in the town center.

The attack caused severe damage to the building and forced the evacuation of its inhabitants. According to local media reports, witnesses saw people dressed in dark clothing fleeing in a black car towards a nearby highway.

During the heist, thieves stole 130,000 euros in cash. They also caused an estimated half a million euros worth of collateral damage, according to a report by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office, BKA.

Rather than staging dramatic and risky bank robberies, criminal groups in Europe have been targeting ATMs as an easier and more low-key target.

In Germany – Europe’s largest economy – thieves have been blowing up ATMs at a rate of more than one per day in recent years. In a country where cash is still a prevalent payment method, the thefts can prove incredibly lucrative, with criminals pocketing hundreds of thousands of euros in one attack.

Europol has been cracking down on the robberies, carrying out large cross-border operations aimed at taking down the highly-organized criminal gangs behind them.

Earlier this month, authorities from Germany, France and the Netherlands arrested three members of a criminal network who have been carrying out attacks on cash machines using explosives, Europol said in a statement.

Since 2022, the detainees are believed to have looted millions of euros and run up a similar amount in property damage, from 2022 to 2024, Europol said.

The criminal network used locations in France as “hideaway spots” and relied on getaway cars hired from a French rental company, according to the statement.

The arrests came as part of a wider operation by German, French and Dutch investigators, which also saw law enforcement search car rental companies whose vehicles had been used to flee crime scenes, in an “action day” across locations in the three countries.

Europol says that perpetrators have mostly been using solid explosives, mainly derived from fireworks, to explode the cash-filled machines – a dangerous tactic that results in heavy damage. In 2023, the lootings in Germany caused 28.4 million euros worth of secondary damage alone, according to BKA.

Often based in the Netherlands, the gangs “take extreme risks and act unscrupulously,” Europol says, both during the robberies themselves and the ensuing escapes in high-powered vehicles.

The chosen ATMs are often in quieter, residential areas – making them easier targets. According to Europol, this means that they pose a serious harm to buildings and residents. The attacks can crumble building facades and scatter shards of glass.

In some cases, they can even prove fatal.

On November 11, an ATM robbery in the town of Wiernsheim in the German state of Baden Württemberg ended in disaster. After stealing 40,000 euros in cash, a criminal trio from the Netherlands attempted a high-speed getaway in a VW Golf with stolen license plates, according to local media reports. Pursued by police, they drove the wrong way down Germany’s A6 motorway.

Two of the three criminals were caught at a rest stop, but the 30-year-old Dutch driver escaped and continued to drive against the traffic at speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour, until colliding head-on with a van.

The driver and passenger in the truck were both severely injured, with the passenger dying in hospital days later. The driver, who was also heavily injured, was arrested and later sentenced to life in prison.

A rising crime

Germany has become Europe’s prime target for ATM bombings. And with its penchant for cash payments, it’s not hard to see why.

The country has more than 51,000 ATMs. In comparison, the Netherlands has around 5,000. The majority of Germany’s 83.3 million citizens have to travel no further than one kilometer to reach their nearest ATM, according to the central bank, Bundesbank.

Unlike its European neighbors, who largely transitioned away from cash payments due to the Covid-19 pandemic, cash still plays a significant role in Germany. One half of all transactions in 2023 were made using banknotes and coins, according to Bundesbank.

Germans have a cultural attachment to cash, traditionally viewing it as a safe method of payment. Some say it allows a greater level of privacy, and gives them more control over their expenses.

A 2016 study by the Bundesbank found that cash is particularly prevalent among older generations of Germans, meaning lingering memories of the country’s turbulent recent history could play a role in Germany’s reluctance to go digital.

“Neither digitalisation nor the pandemic have been able to oust cash. When it comes to making payments, cash is still by far the most popular means in Germany,” Bundesbank’s Johannes Beermann said in a post-pandemic press release from 2022.

In terms of location, Germany is also an ideal target for cross-border crime: Neighboring the Netherlands and linked by motorways on some of which speed limits don’t apply. 

A decline in ATM machines in the Netherlands and the introduction of enhanced security measures to crack down on the crime – including the installation of glue protection systems that can render bank notes worthless – has also led Dutch criminals to look further afield, according to Reuters, citing Dutch police.

A 2023 BKA report notes that ATM robberies in Germany have been rising since 2005, although they dropped slightly from 2022 to 2023. Still, Germany counted a total of 461 such robberies in 2023 – the second-highest number since surveys began in 2005.

The report also found that, as with previous years, the number of thefts declined during the summer months in 2023 – when longer daylight hours provide a higher risk of being caught. The majority of the crimes took place on working weekdays, between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m., according to BKA.

“This extensive network has, in part, drawn organized criminal groups from abroad, seeing the density of ATMs and Germany’s demand for cash access as factors in their favor.”

German banks have invested over 300 million euros into enhanced security to tackle the issue, the spokesperson continued, including “alarm systems, ink staining solutions, reinforced locking mechanisms, and fogging technology.” However, certain techniques such as glueing systems to neutralize stolen cash are not currently permitted in Germany, the spokesperson added.

“These efforts, along with enhanced cooperation with police, have effectively reduced ATM attacks, with the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) reporting that 2024 figures are already ‘significantly below last year’s,’” the spokesperson said.

In July, the German government announced that ATM robberies would receive harsher punishment. Thieves must be sentenced to at least two years in prison, when the previous minimum sentence was one year. If the health of an uninvolved person or people is affected, perpetrators must receive prison time ranging from five to fifteen years, up from at least two years previously.

“Anyone who blows up ATMs risks the lives of uninvolved people,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said.

“We are dealing here with unscrupulous perpetrators and highly dangerous explosives. These acts must therefore be punished more severely.”

Polls opened Sunday in Japan’s general election, in a test for new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba as he seeks voter support for his scandal-hit party just weeks after taking the role.

Ishiba, the former defense minister, called a snap election immediately after winning the leadership contest of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a conservative political machine that has ruled Japan almost continuously since the party’s founding in 1955.

By calling an election, Ishiba, 67, is seeking a public mandate for the ruling LDP amid falling approval ratings and public anger over one of the country’s biggest political scandals in decades.

The funding scandal involved millions of dollars in undocumented political funds, and lawmakers allegedly lining their own pockets with kickbacks or failing to properly declare their income.

Former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida tried to contain the damage by replacing several cabinet ministers and dissolving LDP factions, essentially coalitions within the party. But he faced calls to resign and announced in August that he would not run for a second term.

His successor, Ishiba, also faces public discontent over increasing living costs, which have been exacerbated by the weak yen, a sluggish economy and high inflation.

The political veteran has pledged financial help to low-income households, a higher minimum wage, and regional revitalization, according to Reuters. He has also promised a “full exit” from Japan’s high inflation rates, vowing to achieve “growth in real wages.”

Ishiba has made strengthening Japan’s relations with the United States a priority and seeks deeper ties with allies amid growing security challenges in Asia, including an increasingly assertive China and belligerent North Korea.

Partnership with Japan has long been central to US strategy in the Asia-Pacific region, and Ishiba’s predecessor Kishida this year expanded Japan’s defense cooperation with its key ally. Ishiba has called for a more balanced relationship, including having greater oversight of US military bases in Japan, Reuters reports.

As defense minister, Ishiba was strong on deterrence as a security issue. He even proposed an Asian version of the NATO security bloc, an idea he has apparently dropped after it was rebuffed by the US.

Ishiba also supports legislation that could allow married women to keep their maiden names, and has said Japan should reduce its dependence on nuclear energy in favor of renewables.

In a political culture that prizes conformity, Ishiba has long been something of an outlier, willing to criticize and go against his own party. That willingness to speak out has made him powerful enemies within the LDP but endeared him to more grassroots members and the public.

He sits on the more progressive wing of the conservative party. His political acumen and experience in domestic and foreign policy likely allowed him to secure the top job.

Voters on Sunday will choose who fills the 465-seat House of Representatives, Japan’s lower house of parliament.

Parties are vying to win a majority of 233 seats, but there are several other significant tallies they can achieve.

A so-called “absolute stable majority” of 261 seats means the winning party or coalition has a committee chair in all of the standing committees plus a majority of committee members. This enables smoother governance and policy-making for the ruling party.

Winning 244 seats would mean the party has the same number of committee members as the opposition.

The number of seats needed for a two-thirds majority to propose constitutional amendments is 310.

Ishiba’s LDP and the New Komeito Party have again agreed to form a coalition and, before parliament was dissolved ahead of Sunday’s election, the two parties controlled the chamber with a 279-seat majority.

The number of dead and missing in massive flooding and landslides wrought by Tropical Storm Trami in the Philippines has reached nearly 130 and the president said Saturday that many areas remained isolated with people in need of rescue.

Trami blew away from the northwestern Philippines on Friday, leaving at least 85 people dead and 41 others missing in in one of the Southeast Asian archipelago’s deadliest and most destructive storms so far this year, the government’s disaster-response agency said. The death toll was expected to rise as reports come in from previously isolated areas.

Dozens of police, firefighters and other emergency personnel, backed by three backhoes and sniffer dogs, dug up one of the last two missing villagers in the lakeside town of Talisay in Batangas province Saturday.

A father, who was waiting for word on his missing 14-year-old daughter, wept as rescuers placed the remains in a black body bag. Distraught, he followed police officers, who carried the body bag down a mud-strewn village alley to a police van when one weeping resident approaching him to express her sympathies.

The man said he was sure it was his daughter, but authorities needed to do checks to confirm the identity of the villager dug up in the mound.

In a nearby basketball gym at the town center, more than a dozen white coffins were laid side by side, bearing the remains of those found in the heaps of mud, boulders and trees that cascaded Thursday afternoon down the steep slope of a wooded ridge in Talisay’s Sampaloc village.

President Ferdinand Marcos, who inspected another hard-hit region southeast of Manila Saturday, said the unusually large volume of rainfall dumped by the storm — including in some areas that saw one to two months’ worth of rainfall in just 24 hours — overwhelmed flood controls in provinces lashed by Trami.

“The water was just too much,” Marcos told reporters.

“We’re not done yet with our rescue work,” he said. “Our problem here, there are still many areas that remained flooded and could not be accessed even big trucks.”

His administration, Marcos said, would plan to start work on a major flood control project that can meet the unprecedented threats posed by climate change.

More than 5 million people were in the path of the storm, including nearly half a million who mostly fled to more than 6,300 emergency shelters in several provinces, the government agency said.

In an emergency Cabinet meeting, Marcos raised concerns over reports by government forecasters that the storm — the 11th to hit the Philippines this year — could make a U-turn next week as it is pushed back by high-pressure winds in the South China Sea.

The storm was forecast to batter Vietnam over the weekend if it would not veer off course.

The Philippine government shut down schools and government offices for the third day on Friday to keep millions of people safe on the main northern island of Luzon. Inter-island ferry services were also suspended, stranding thousands.

Weather has cleared in many areas on Saturday, allowing cleanup work in most areas.

Each year, about 20 storms and typhoons batter the Philippines, a Southeast Asian archipelago which lies between the Pacific Ocean and the South China Sea. In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest recorded tropical cyclones, left more than 7,300 people dead or missing and flattened entire villages.

Nineteen people died and six others were injured when a bus crashed on a highway in Mexico’s central state of Zacatecas on Saturday, local authorities said.

The accident occurred in the early morning hours when the bus carrying the victims collided with the back of a tractor-trailer carrying corn, which had come loose.

Zacatecas Governor David Monreal earlier on Saturday had initially reported a preliminary death toll of 24 people, but the state attorney general’s office later revised the tally in a statement.

The attorney general’s office said it was “carrying out investigations to arrest the driver” of the tractor-trailer.

Efforts were ongoing on Saturday morning to recover some of the bodies that had fallen into a ravine, a local government official who asked not to be named told Reuters.

Video footage showed rescue teams and security forces, including military personnel, securing the area while rescuers worked to recover the bodies.

The bus was headed for Ciudad Juarez, a city on the US-Mexico border in the state of Chihuahua. The victims did not include migrants, according to the attorney general’s office.

Georgia’s most powerful man claimed victory in an election on Saturday but the opposition called on the ruling party to admit defeat, setting the stage for a confrontation over the future of the South Caucasus country.

Georgian Dream’s billionaire founder Bidzina Ivanishvili, the opposition, and foreign diplomats had cast the election as a watershed moment that would decide if Georgia moves closer to the West or leans back towards Russia amid the war in Ukraine.

Early official results with 70% of precincts counted, showed the ruling party had won 53% of the vote, the electoral commission said, but the deeply divided pro-Western opposition parties said that they had collectively clinched a majority.

Rival exit polls gave sharply different projections for the election. The Georgian Dream-supporting Imedi TV channel showed the ruling party winning 56%. Exit polls by the pro-opposition channels showed major gains for the opposition parties.

Ivanishvili, the ruling party’s reclusive billionaire founder and onetime prime minister, claimed victory and praised the Georgian people. But the opposition also celebrated victory and said Ivanishvili should concede.

Tina Bokuchava, leader of the United National Movement party of former President Mikheil Saakashvili, told Reuters that the opposition had won by a good margin of 10%.

“Against that backdrop most people will be taking Bidzina Ivanishvili’s claims of a government majority with a large bucket of salt,” Bokuchava said.

“We believe the Georgian public has voted clearly for a future at the heart of Europe and no amount of posturing will change that.”

Crucial vote

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili – a one-time ally of the ruling party turned fierce critic whose powers are mostly ceremonial – and independent domestic election monitors had alleged Georgian Dream was engaged in widespread vote-buying and other forms of electoral abuse in the lead-up to the vote.

Georgian Dream did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ivanishvili, who made his fortune in Russia in the 1990s, came to power in 2012 advocating pro-Western views, alongside a pragmatic policy towards Russia.

He has since soured on the West, accusing a “Global War Party” of seeking to drag Georgia into war with Russia, even as he insists Georgia is on course to join the EU.

Some Georgians told Reuters that they wanted change.

“I voted for freedom and for the European choice,” said voter Irakli Andronikashvili in Tbilisi on Saturday, adding that he wanted a government which was “more progressive, less corrupt and more common-sense.”

Georgia was once one of the most pro-Western states to emerge from the chaotic aftermath of the Soviet Union’s collapse. The road leading from Tbilisi’s airport is named after former US President George W. Bush.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Tbilisi’s relations with the West have taken a sharp downward turn. Unlike many Western allies, Georgia declined to impose sanctions on Moscow, while Georgian Dream’s rhetoric has become increasingly pro-Russian.

Georgian Dream has drawn the ire of its Western allies for what they cast as its increasingly authoritarian bent. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban congratulated Georgian Dream for an “overwhelming victory.”

The pro-opposition Formula exit poll said that the ruling party would be the single largest party but that the four main opposition parties combined would have 83 seats.

Georgia’s four main opposition blocs are deeply divided, and it is unclear if they will be able to work together if they deprive Georgian Dream of its majority.

Sandro Dvalishvili, a 23-year-old Georgian Dream activist, told Reuters last week that Georgia would face “danger” if his party of choice was defeated at the polls.

“If it turns out that we don’t win, for me that’ll be very bad. Because I don’t see another force that will bring peace and stability to our country,” he said.

Commonwealth leaders, ending a week-long summit in Samoa, said on Saturday the time had come for a discussion on whether Britain should commit to reparations for its role in the transatlantic slave trade.

Slavery and the threat of climate change were major themes for representatives of the 56 countries in the group, most with roots in Britain’s empire, at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting that began in the Pacific Islands nation on Monday.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose country has long rejected calls for financial compensation for nations affected by slavery, said summit discussions were not “about money.”

On slavery, the leaders said in a joint statement they had “agreed that the time has come for a meaningful, truthful and respectful conversation towards forging a common future based on equity.”

The push for ex-colonial powers such as Britain to pay reparations or make other amends for slavery and its legacies has gained momentum worldwide, particularly among the Caribbean Community and the African Union.

The statement also made reference to “blackbirding”, a term for people from places including the Pacific Islands being deceived, coerced or kidnapped to work on plantations in Australia and elsewhere.

Those opposed to reparations say countries should not be held responsible for historical wrongs, while those in support say the legacy of slavery has led to vast and persistent racial inequality.

The joint statement did not mention what form reparations should take.

Starmer told a press conference the joint statement did two things: “It notes calls for discussion and it agrees that this is the time for a conversation.

“But I should be really clear here, in the two days we’ve been here, none of the discussions have been about money. Our position is very, very clear in relation to that,” he said.

Professor Kingsley Abbott, director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London, said the statement was a sign of a potentially historic breakthrough on the issue.

“The commitment to conversations on reparatory justice wedges open the door for dialogue, and now the hard work really begins,” said Abbott, who attended the summit.

The joint statement also referred to concern about “the severe consequences of the climate crisis, including rising temperatures and sea levels.”

In a boost for Pacific Islands such as Tuvalu under threat from rising seas, they issued the Commonwealth’s first Oceans Declaration, affirming that a nation’s maritime boundaries should remain fixed even if climate change causes small island states to be submerged.

Fixing maritime boundaries means atoll nations can continue to reap the economic benefit of vast fishing grounds, even if populations must migrate as dry land area is significantly reduced. The declaration bolsters momentum for international law to recognise the perpetual statehood of sinking island states.

More than half of the Commonwealth’s members are small nations, many of them low-lying islands at risk from rising sea levels caused by climate change.

Georgia’s President Salome Zourabichvili has condemned “deeply troubling incidents of violence unfolding at various polling stations” as the country votes in a crucial parliamentary election.

Voting opened early Saturday in the election, seen as a stark choice between Russia and the West. The ruling Georgian Dream party, which has in recent years taken a sharp authoritarian turn and stalled the country’s progress toward potential European Union membership, is bidding for re-election.

Activist and monitoring groups shared footage that they said showed ballot stuffing at a polling station in Marneuli, southern Georgia.

Another video showed a man, identified in local media as Azad Karimov – head of the opposition United National Movement (UNM) party’s regional organization – being assaulted by several men outside the polling station in Marneuli’s 69th precinct. Photos showed Karimov with a bloody nose and cuts to his face.

In an emergency briefing, the head of the CEC called on Marneuli’s election officials to investigate the incident and take appropriate action.

“This is troubling information, and the election administration, if confirmed, will not allow such isolated, controlled, or manipulative incidents to undermine the many months of efforts we have put forth into the election day,” Giorgi Kalandarishvili said.

Zourabichvili, a pro-Western figure whose powers are largely ceremonial, said she had been unable to reach the minister of internal affairs and that “the official government lines are not working.” Before the election, Zourabichvili urged Georgians to vote against Georgian Dream.

Responding to the reports from Marneuli, Georgian Dream politician Givi Mikanadze said “anyone who hinders the election process” will be punished, but appeared to blame the opposition for the incident.

“The opposition has no tangible factor other than to stage provocations, because they know that they will lose the elections,” he said, according to Imedia Media, a Georgian outlet.

After casting his ballot early Saturday, Georgia’s Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze told reporters that Georgian Dream will secure 60% of the vote and called on opposition parties to recognize these results. Government critics have questioned how Kobakhidze could know the results in advance.

The CEC reported voter turnout at 50.6% at 5 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET), which Zourabichvili said was “very high.”

At 10 p.m. local time (2 p.m. ET), the CEC will announce preliminary results based on 90% of votes counted.

After Israel’s attack on Iran Saturday, US officials were quick to caution both countries against perpetuating the cycle of violence, but analysts say lasting de-escalation is not a foregone conclusion.

The airstrikes “should be the end of this direct exchange of fire between Israel and Iran,” a senior US administration official said after the attacks.

After reports emerged of explosions heard in Tehran, Israel in a statement said it launched what it described as “precise strikes on military targets in Iran” early Saturday. The strikes were in response to Iran’s barrage of missiles fired at Israel on October 1, in retaliation to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others.

Iran said Israel “attacked parts of military centers” on Saturday in the provinces of Tehran, Khuzestan and Ilam, causing “limited damage” in some areas.

Iran appeared to have downplayed the Israeli strike, Iranian experts said. State media broadcast images showing calm on the streets of Tehran, with traffic moving and people going about their daily business.

Iran’s foreign ministry condemned the attack, calling it “clear violation” of international law. The ministry added that Iran “considers itself entitled and obligated to defend itself” after the Israeli strikes.

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington, DC, said Iran’s downplayed response may be “more reflective of their desire to de-escalate than a true assessment of the damage Israel inflicted on Iran,” like Israel’s attempts to hide damage caused by Iran’s October 1 attack.

Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense for Democracies, also based in DC, said Iran’s downplayed response may be “a strategic move to save face and keep US constraint on Israel.”

After several hours of strikes Saturday, the Israeli military said it had targeted manufacturing sites used to produce missiles that Iran has fired at Israel over the past year. Israel also said it hit Iranian aerial defense systems early Saturday to allow its aircraft to attack the other targets.

Israel’s decision to strike early Saturday morning came after weeks of deliberations within its security cabinet about the nature and scope of such an attack, Israeli officials said.

American officials have been keen to show the extent to which Israel’s attack was retrained and precise, especially as the US pushed Israel not to attack Iran’s energy infrastructure, for fear of igniting a broader conflict, a request Israel seems to have heeded, according to preliminary reports.

After Israel’s retaliatory strikes against Iran ended, National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said the White House urges “Iran to cease its attacks on Israel so that this cycle of fighting can end without further escalation.”

But Israel has not always met the demands of its American ally. Throughout the war, Israel has defied the US’ calls for restraint – on the Rafah operation in southern Gaza, and more recently on a ground war in southern Lebanon.

Disagreements between the two governments culminated in an October 13 letter from the US to Israel, demanding the Jewish state act to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza within the next 30 days or risk violating US laws governing foreign military assistance, suggesting US military aid could be in jeopardy.

Danny Citrinowicz, a research fellow with the Iran Program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv and a retired Israel Defense Intelligence officer who specialized in Iran, said it was too early to predict how the coming hours and days will unfold. “But one thing is clear,” he said, “Israel and Iran came closer than ever last night to the brink of direct war.”

“The ball is now in the Iranian leadership’s court,” Citrinowicz said on X, adding that the Iranian regime likely faces a familiar dilemma: to strike back for reputational gains, or take Israel’s attack as an end to the direct conflict.

Parsi of the Quincy Institute said that “if Iran chooses to exercise restraint… then this chapter may be closed, yet the conflict will remain very much alive.”

When Iran chose restraint after Israel’s retaliation in April, it emboldened the Jewish state to take out key Hezbollah leaders in Beirut, which triggered the next cycle of aggression.

Experts say that while Israel presses on with its wars in Gaza and Lebanon, any pause in direct fighting between Iran and Israel is likely to be short-lived.

As long as those regional wars persist, the overall trajectory of the Israel-Iran conflict will escalate. “While we may see some tactical de-escalation, the trajectory remains escalatory,” Parsi said, adding “a new exchange of fire between Israel and Iran will only be a question of time,” with the next round likely to be “more ferocious.”

Israel has long tried to push Iran and other Iranian proxies back into deterrence.  But experts say Israel’s strategy may not be entirely effective.

“It doesn’t de-escalate through escalation,” he said, “which is the most incredible thing I’ve heard.”

Emmy, Grammy, and Tony award-winning, American actor Billy Porter and celebrated South African television presenter Bonang Matheba have been tapped to host the fourth annual Earthshot Prize Awards in South Africa on November 6.

The Earthshot Prize is an ambitious environmental initiative founded by Prince William back in 2020 that seeks to offer green solutions to some of the world’s most pressing problems.

Porter, who described co-hosting the evening as an “honor,” said in a statement: “I’m so inspired by the Earthshot community, and I can’t wait to be part of an evening that celebrates creativity, human ingenuity, and artistry in all its different forms.”

Matheba said she was “excited to celebrate these incredible innovators who are making a significant impact on our planet.”

The star-studded, eco awards ceremony – set to take place in Cape Town, South Africa in early November – will also include special performances and appearances from Nigerian singer-songwriter Davido, Tanzanian musician Diamond Platnumz, South African composer Lebo M alongside the Ndlovu Youth Choir and internationally acclaimed DJ and producer, Uncle Waffles.

The 15 Earthshot Prize finalists hail from six continents, with France, Ghana, Indonesia, Kazakhstan and Nepal all having teams in contention for the first time. The winners will be selected by the Prince of Wales and a panel of experts including José Andrés, Queen Rania of Jordan and David Attenborough. Each of the five winners will receive a prize of £1 million (about $1.3 million) to scale up their solutions.

Since the scheme launched, it has delivered more than £75 million (around $100 million) in direct funding and in-kind support, according to organizers. The competition has five categories: “Protect and Restore Nature,” “Clean Our Air,” “Revive Our Oceans,” “Build a Waste Free World,” and “Fix Our Climate.”

Supermodel and TV host Heidi Klum, actor and activist Nina Dobrev, Canadian model Winnie Harlow and performer Tobe Nwigwe will be on hand to announce the five category winners.

While celebrating the work of global environmental innovators, the event also intends to spotlight innovation from across the African continent.

The star-studded ceremony will be available to watch globally through a special partnership with YouTube. Earthshot Week runs November 4 to 7, culminating with the Earthshot Prize Awards on November 6.

Israel said on Saturday it had struck military targets inside Iran in response to earlier Iranian attacks, again raising fears that the long-running confrontation between the two powerful militaries could escalate into an all-out regional war that draws in the United States.

The Israeli military said it had targeted Iranian missile manufacturing sites and aerial defense systems in what appeared to be a highly calculated response that avoided critical energy infrastructure, such as oil fields and nuclear facilities.

Iran appeared to downplay the impact of the attack, claiming its air defenses had successfully countered the strikes in three provinces – Tehran, Ilam and Khuzestan – and that the damage was “limited.”

The US meanwhile described the attack as “an exercise in self-defense” that “specifically avoided populated areas and focused solely on military targets.”

Israel had vowed Iran would pay for its large-scale missile attack on October 1 that saw around 200 missiles fired at Israel, forcing people across the country to take cover in bomb shelters. For weeks Israeli leaders have been deliberating on the nature and scope of such a response.

Here’s what we know.

What happened?

In the early hours of Saturday local time, Israel launched direct airstrikes against Iran, conducting what it said was “precise strikes on military targets.”

The Israeli military said its air force struck “missile manufacturing facilities” that it said were used to produce the missiles that Iran had fired at Israel over the last year.

It also said the Israeli military struck “surface-to-air missile arrays and additional Iranian aerial capabilities, that were intended to restrict Israel’s aerial freedom of operation in Iran.” It is unclear if those manufacturing facilities also produced missiles launched by Iranian proxies Hezbollah, Hamas and Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Iran later confirmed the attack but said the strikes caused only “limited damage” in some areas, while images broadcast on state media showed the calmness on the streets of the capital Tehran.

Iran’s state news agency reported strikes targeting “military centers in the provinces of Tehran, Khuzestan and Ilam” had been “successfully intercepted.”

Several explosions were heard west of Tehran around 2:15 a.m. local time (7 p.m. ET Friday), according to the state news agency. Iranian officials said blasts heard around the country were related to air defense systems being deployed.

The initial strikes were closely followed by a second wave, as video posted to social media by Tehran residents showed tracer fire and explosions illuminating the Iranian capital’s sky as dawn neared. A third and final wave then followed.

By about 6 a.m. local time, the Israeli military said it has concluded its operation, saying the “mission was fulfilled” and Israeli jets “have safely returned home.”

How did we get here?

Saturday’s strikes are part of Israel’s long-awaited retaliation to Iran’s missile attack earlier this month, as the ongoing war in the Middle East continues to escalate to dangerous new levels.

On October 1, Iran launched 200 projectiles towards Tel Aviv and Israeli military bases in what it said was a response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and others, its largest ever such attack.

That missile barrage came about 24 hours after Israel launched a ground war in Lebanon, opening a new front in its war against Iranian-backed militants.

Israel and Iran have been fighting a shadow war through proxies and covert actions for decades. In April, that war came out into the open when Iran launched a wave of drones and missiles at Israel in an unprecedented attack in response to a suspected Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria.

In recent weeks, Israel has ramped up its attacks against Iran’s proxies, including launching strikes targeting the Houthis in Yemen, and militants in Syria.

But it’s in Lebanon where Israel has refocused its operations after tit-for-tat strikes across the border escalated after Israel eliminated the leadership of Iran-backed Hezbollah in series of assassinations and airstrikes.

Hezbollah leader Nasrallah was killed in an Israeli strike on his underground headquarters in Beirut in September. Netanyahu had previously said his killing was “a necessary step” toward changing “the balance of power in the region for years to come.”

Israel’s war in Lebanon has since killed more than 2,500 people, displaced 1.2 million and created a unprecedented humanitarian crisis, according to Lebanon’s leader and international health officials.

In a statement issued at the outset of Saturday’s actions, the Israeli military accused Iran and its regional proxies of relentlessly attacking Israel beginning with last year’s 7 October attack by Iran-allied Hamas, during which more than 1,200 Israelis were killed and another 250 abducted.

Following the October 7 attacks, Israel declared war on Hamas and launched military operations in Gaza that have killed more than 42,000 people.

The UN’s human rights chief warned Friday that “one of the darkest moments” of the war is unfolding in the north of Gaza where the Israeli military is “subjecting an entire population to bombing, siege and starvation.”

What happens next?

A major concern of increasing military escalations is that Israel and Iran will become entangled in a full-scale war, one that risks drawing the US – Israel’s closest ally and biggest weapons supplier – into the fray.

A senior US administration official said President Biden has “encouraged” Netanyahu last week to “design” a retaliatory attack that would “deter future attacks against Israel.”

In recent weeks, the US and other allies have urged Netanyahu to exercise restraint and avoid striking Iran’s nuclear and oil assets.

The White House said the US “was not a participant in this operation” and urged “Iran to cease its attacks on Israel so that this cycle of fighting can end without further escalation.”

By refraining from attacking Iran’s oil or nuclear sites, Israel has potentially left room for de-escalation. But it is unclear whether Iran will respond to this latest attack.

Israel’s top military spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said after the conclusion of strikes that if Iran were to begin “a new round of escalation,” Israel will be “obligated to respond.”