Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first public comments Thursday on the plane crash believed to have killed Yevgeny Prigozhin, saying the Wagner leader was “talented” but made “serious mistakes in life.”

The crash Wednesday took place northwest of Moscow and killed all on board, said Russia’s aviation agency, including Prigozhin, chief of the mercenary group that gained prominence for its brutal methods worldwide and its battleground victories in the Ukraine war. Authorities are still identifying the bodies.

“First of all, I want to express my sincere condolences to the families of all the victims, this is always a tragedy,” said Putin.

“Indeed, if they were there, it seems … preliminary information suggests that Wagner Group employees were also on board,” Putin said during a meeting with the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) Denis Pushilin in the Kremlin. 

Speaking about Prigozhin in the past tense, Putin said he’d known the Wagner chief “for a very long time,” and that he was “a talented man, a talented businessman.”

“He was a man of difficult fate, and he made serious mistakes in life, and he achieved the results needed both for himself and when I asked him about it – for a common cause, as in these last months,” the Russian president said.

The crash of Prigozhin’s plane happened two months after Prigozhin and Wagner staged their insurrection, the biggest challenge to Putin’s authority during his long rule.

Just days after the mutiny, a furious Putin made it clear that he viewed the actions of Wagner as a form of treason. While he did not mention Prigozhin by name, he accused “the organizers of the rebellion” of betraying Russia itself.

A witness to the crash told Reuters he saw a wing fly off the plane before it headed toward the ground on Wednesday. “It glided down on one wing. It didn’t nose-dive, it was gliding,” he said.

Prigozhin’s apparent death follows a series of incidents in which Kremlin critics have died or had attempts made on their life.

No evidence has been presented that points to the involvement of the Kremlin or Russian security services in the crash. The cause of the crash is unknown and Russian authorities have launched a criminal investigation.

Putin pledged this investigation would be thorough. “But what is absolutely certain, the head of the Investigative Committee reported to me this morning. They have already launched a preliminary investigation into this incident. And it will be carried out in full and brought to completion,” Putin said. 

At the same time, people familiar with the intelligence do believe that the downing of the plane was deliberate and that the goal was to kill Prigozhin.

Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said the Pentagon “doesn’t have any information to indicate right now” that the plane Prigozhin was on was shot down by a surface-to-air missile, adding that the Defense Department’s belief that Prigozhin was indeed killed in the crash.

US President Joe Biden, prominent Russia critic Bill Browder and Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak have all suggested they believe Putin was behind the crash.

Some openly speculated about its cause. “He was killed by Putin, who does not forgive betrayal,” said Alexey from Moscow. “Putin was behind it or it could have been his Politburo but Putin knew and approved.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denied that his country was involved, Ukrainian state media reported.

“First, we have nothing to do with this situation, that’s for sure. But I think everyone realizes who has,” he said.

Three US Marines who died when their Osprey aircraft crashed during a military exercise in Australia have been identified by their unit.

Corporal Spencer R. Collart, 21, Captain Eleanor V. LeBeau, 29, and Major Tobin J. Lewis, 37, were among 23 Marines on board the MV-22B Osprey when it crashed on Melville Island around 9:30 a.m. local time Sunday.

Collart was the Osprey crew chief, LeBeau a pilot and Lewis the executive officer of Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 363 (VMM-363), their unit said Monday.

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of three respected and beloved members of the MRF-D (Marine Rotational Force-Darwin) family,” said Col Brendan Sullivan, their commanding officer of the unit. “Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families and with all involved.”

Of the other 20 Marines, three are still being treated in Royal Darwin Hospital. One of them is in critical condition, the other two are stable. The remaining 17 were treated for minor injuries and released.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin offered his condolences to the families of those killed and injured.

“These Marines served our country with courage and pride, and my thoughts and prayers are with their families today, with the other troops who were injured in the crash, and with the entire USMC family,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The aircraft that crashed was one of two US Marine Osprey aircraft that left Darwin Sunday morning and flew towards the Tiwi Islands, about 80 kilometers away, Australia’s Northern Territory Police Commissioner Michael Murphy said.

Sullivan thanked the Australian forces and other groups who helped the Marines following the incident.

“We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the Australian Defence Force, Northern Territory Police, Northern Territory Government, CareFlight Air and Mobile Services, NT Health, National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, and Tiwi Island Government, who have come together to assist us in this difficult time,” Sullivan said.

The crash comes just a month after four Australian army aircrew members died after an MRH-90 Taipan helicopter crashed into the sea near Hamilton Island off the east coast of Australia during an exercise that was part of joint drills with the United States.

A history of crashes

July 20, 1992: Seven people are killed during testing when an Osprey crashes in Virginia.

April 8, 2000: A crash during training in Arizona kills 19 Marines. The crash is blamed on pilot error, with investigators concluding the pilot tried to land too fast and at too steep an angle, causing a loss of lift.

December 11, 2000: Four Marines are killed when an Osprey crashes in North Carolina. The accident is later blamed on problems with a hydraulic part and a software anomaly in the aircraft’s computer system.

April 8, 2010: US Air Force Osprey crashes in southern Afghanistan, killing three US service members and one civilian employee.

April 11, 2012: Two US personnel are killed in an Osprey crash in Morocco.

June 13, 2012: An Air Force CV-22 Osprey crashes during a routine training mission north of Navarre, Florida, injuring five.

May 17, 2015: A Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey crashes at Bellows training ground on Oahu, Hawaii, leaving two Marines dead.

December 13, 2016: An MV-22B Osprey lands in shallow waters off Okinawa, Japan, injuring two.

August 5, 2017: An MV-22B Osprey crashes off the coast of Australia, leaving three Marines dead.

September 28, 2017: A Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey crashes in Syria, injuring two service members.

March 18, 2022: Four US service members are killed when the MV-22 Osprey they are traveling in crashes during NATO training exercises in Norway.

June 8, 2022: Five US Marines die after an MV-22 Osprey crashes during a training mission Wednesday near Glamis, California.

When leaders of the BRICS nations gathered for group photos at the end of their summit in Johannesburg last week, it offered a glimpse of the contours of the new world order Beijing is trying to shape.

Standing at the front and center was Xi Jinping, China’s powerful leader, surrounded by a stage of leaders from emerging markets and developing countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The summit was the largest the BRICS have ever held, with more than 60 countries attending alongside member nations Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Flanking the current BRICS leaders were counterparts from Argentina, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates – who had just been invited to join the club.

The development is a big win for Xi, who has long pushed to expand the bloc and its clout despite reservations from other members such as India and Brazil.

The expansion, the first since South Africa was added in 2010, is set to more than double the group’s membership and significantly extend its global reach – especially in the Middle East.

“This makes China the clear winner,” said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute at the University of London. “Getting six new members is a significant move in its preferred direction of travel.”

For Beijing, as well as Moscow, the expansion is part of its drive to forge the loose economic grouping into a geopolitical counterweight to the West – and Western institutions such as the G7.

That mission has become all the more urgent over the past year given China’s escalating rivalry with the United States, as well as the ramifications of the Ukraine war – which saw Beijing further estranged from the West over its support for Moscow.

As shown by the BRICS expansion and the long waiting list to join, Xi’s offer of an alternative world order is finding receptive ears in the Global South, where many countries feel themselves marginalized in an international system they see as dominated by the US and its wealthy allies.

Echoing their demand for a larger say in global affairs, the BRICS leaders’ declaration repeatedly called for “greater representation of emerging markets and developing countries” in international institutions – from the United Nations and its Security Council to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

Xi, who peppered his speeches at the summit with criticism of US “hegemony,” hailed the expansion as “historic” and “a new starting point for BRICS cooperation.”

Happymon Jacob, a professor of international studies at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, said the expansion highlights a shift in global geopolitical fault lines.

“Being a leader of non-Western forums and the Global South, which in general is dissatisfied with the US-led institutions, will invariably help China become a counterweight to the US and the world order led by the US,” he said.

The new members

But a wider membership also raises questions about the cohesion and coherence of BRICS, whose existing members already differ widely in political systems, economic prowess and diplomatic goals.

“I am skeptical in terms of the effectiveness of the organization after the expansion, and whether in the end the expansion is more symbolic than substantive,” said Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington.

“The more members there are, the more interests the organization needs to reconcile and accommodate.”

That is particularly true for a consensus-based organization like BRICS, where decisions are only made if all members agree.

The new joiners are a somewhat disparate group. Two are very much struggling economies. Argentina, a serial defaulter that has long struggled with inflation and currency crises, is the biggest borrower from the IMF. Egypt, which is facing its own economic crisis, is the IMF’s second largest debtor.

Ethiopia, the second most populous country in Africa and once one of the continent’s fastest-growing economies, is reeling from the devastation of a two-year civil war in the country’s Tigray region, which ended in December, amid evidence of widespread human rights abuses.

The enlarged bloc will also include three of the world’s largest oil exporters: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Iran.

The former two are traditionally close allies of America, but have recently fostered closer ties with China which has stepped up its presence in the region amid a perceived power vacuum left by the US.

Iran and Saudi Arabia are arch rivals, though earlier this year they restored diplomatic ties in a deal brokered by China.

That contrasts heavily with a more unified bloc like the G7 which is comprised of like-minded democracies with large industrialized economies.

Helena Legarda, lead analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies, a think tank in Berlin, said it is unclear to what extent the BRICS expansion will increase the value and influence of the group.

“Without a shared ideology and clear overarching goal, it is likely that the addition of six new members may instead make BRICS a more divided group.”

Internal divisions

A key dividing issue is the anti-US agenda pushed by China and Russia, which has been strengthened with the inclusion of Iran.

India and Brazil have expressed concerns about the bloc potentially becoming too anti-Western and dominated by Beijing, and some of the new members may be similarly skeptical, according to Legarda.

“Despite the clear geopolitical objectives that China has for the group, many other developing and emerging economies don’t see BRICS as an exclusively geopolitical body. They are also motivated by economic opportunities and the chance of securing privileged access to the Chinese and other markets,” she said.

But China is battling its own economic woes at home – from a spiraling property crisis and mounting local government debt to record youth unemployment and an ageing population. Many economists believe the world’s second largest economy is entering an era of much slower growth, which can have a profound impact on the global economy.

The BRICS expansion is also likely to fuel competition – and potential friction – between China and India, whose ties have already been strained by a simmering border conflict.

“Sino-Indian competition for the leadership of the Global South is now bound to sharpen with China having a clear advantage,” said Jacob in New Delhi.

“While India does have good relations with all of the new BRICS members, China’s deep pockets and its ability to fill the post-American vacuum especially in the Middle East would mean that China will be able to influence the institution far more than India could,” he added.

The rivalry and tensions between China and India, as well as between Iran and Saudi Arabia, mean that issues they can agree upon and jointly act upon are unlikely to be significant in number and in nature, said Sun with the Stimson Center.

“The expansion certainly builds an image of a growing coalition vis-a-vis the West, but having more countries in one organization does not equate to more effectiveness.”

The presidents of Spain’s regional soccer federations are calling for the resignation of Luis Rubiales, the suspended president of the National Football Association, in a statement published Monday following an emergency meeting.

Rubiales was suspended by FIFA, the world’s governing soccer body, on Saturday after he forcibly kissed a female player during the women’s team’s World Cup victory celebrations.

“After the recent events and the unacceptable behaviours that have seriously damaged the image of Spanish football, the presidents request that, immediately, Mr. Luis Rubiales submits his resignation as president of the RFEF [Royal Spanish Football Federation],” the RFEF said on behalf of the committee of regional presidents.

All 19 regional presidents are unanimously supporting the interim RFEF president, Pedro Rocha, “to lead a new stage of dialogue and reconciliation with all of the football institutions,” the statement read. Rocha replaced Rubiales after his FIFA suspension.

“We will urge the corresponding bodies to carry out a wholesale, immediate and organic restructuring process in strategic positions of the Federation in order to bring in a new management role in Spanish football,” the officials added in their statement.

Along with the mounting pressure to resign, Rubiales also faces an investigation that could end in sexual aggression charges from Spanish prosecutors.

Mother starts ‘hunger strike’ in church

Earlier, Rubiales’ mother locked herself in a church and went on hunger strike to protest the “inhumane, bloodthirsty hunt” of her 46-year-old son, Spanish media reported.

Ángeles Béjar reportedly said Monday that she would remain in the church in Motril, near Granada in southern Spain, “indefinitely, day and night” until justice was served toward Rubiales.

The soccer boss and the RFEF have been embroiled in controversy ever since he kissed 33-year-old attacker Hermoso on the lips after Spain won its first Women’s World Cup title with victory against England.

Rubiales said that he made a mistake but called the kiss consensual, while Hermoso said that she did not give her permission to be kissed and felt violated.

“I felt vulnerable and a victim of an impulse-driven, sexist, out of place act without any consent on my part,” she said on social media. “Simply put I was not respected.”

In a defiant speech on Friday, Rubiales refused to resign from his position and vowed to “fight to the end” – a stance that prompted a wave of heavy criticism from teams, players, politicians, union officials and even the United Nations.

When asked to comment on the incident during a press conference Monday, the United Nations Secretary General’s spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said: “I mean how difficult is it not to kiss someone on the lips?”

“There’s a critical issue of sexism that remains in sports and we hope that Spanish authorities and the Spanish government deal with this in a manner that respects the rights of all female athletes,” he added.

Ongoing fallout

On Saturday, FIFA said it was suspending Rubiales from “all football-related activities at national and international level” for 90 days while disciplinary proceedings are underway.

In response to Rubiales’ refusal to step down, RFEF vice president Rafael del Amo and 11 members of the Spanish national women’s soccer program have resigned.

Hermoso and her World Cup teammates said that they would not play again for Spain until Rubiales has been removed from his position.

The RFEF, however, is standing behind its chief, accusing Hermoso of lying about the incident and threatening legal action against her and others.

The president of Spain’s High Council of Sport (CSD), Victor Francos, has expressed worry that the controversy will hurt Spain’s bid to co-host the 2030 World Cup alongside Portugal and Morocco.

“I am worried about the World Cup,” Francos said in a press conference on Monday. “Two weeks ago we were in a better position for the 2030 World Cup than we are today. But we are a stubborn government.”

Francos said he has been in touch with the governing bodies to explain to them that “Spanish sport isn’t like what we’ve been seeing these days and Spanish football isn’t what you’ve seen these days,” referring to the Rubiales incident.

Protesters took to the street Monday to demand Rubiales’ resignation.

Among them was 27-year-old Ella from Northern Ireland, who told Reuters, “We cannot express our joy as women without having some man interrupt it and spoil it and take it for his own. This was meant to be a celebration of women’s sports, the improvements that we have made.”

Another protester, Guadaluper Martin told the news agency that the incident was “terribly disgusting.”

“First of all, before you could see up close the kiss he gave her without consent, all that hugging and touching was completely out of place. In front of all these international representatives at the World Cup, he was touching and rubbing the players.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to “intensity efforts” to deescalate tensions at their contested border, in a rare face-to-face meeting since a deadly clash strained relations more than three years ago.

Modi and Xi, who are in Johannesburg for the BRICS economic group meeting, had a conversation on the sidelines of the summit, India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra told reporters Thursday, one day after the Chinese leader mysteriously skipped a key event.

Face-to-face meetings between the leaders of India and China, the world’s two most populous nations, are rare.

The disputed border has long been a source of friction between New Delhi and Beijing, with the agitation spilling into a 1962 war that ended in a Chinese victory. In the ensuing years, an ill-defined de facto border called the Line of Actual Control (LAC) has split the two nuclear powers.

“(Modi) underlined that the maintenance of peace and tranquility in the border areas, and observing and respecting the LAC are essential for the normalization of the India-China relationship,” Kwatra said.

In a statement Friday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the two leaders “had a candid and in-depth exchange of views on current China-India relations” among other interests.

“President Xi stressed that improving China-India relations serves the common interests of the two countries and peoples,” it added. “The two sides should bear in mind the overall interests of their bilateral relations and handle properly the border issue so as to jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border region.”

The meeting, which will be seen as a step toward mending their fraught relationship, comes one week after India and China engaged in their 19th round of talks to resolve their border issue.

“The two sides had a positive, constructive and in-depth discussion on the resolution of the remaining issues along the LAC in the Western Sector,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

Modi and Xi attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Uzbekistan in September last year, but did not engage diplomatically. They had a brief conversation weeks later on the sidelines of the Group of 20 (G20) leaders’ meeting in Bali, Indonesia.

Tensions between the two countries soured significantly after a deadly clash in Aksai Chin-Ladakh in 2020, and escalated last December when a brawl between troops from both sides in the Tawang sector of India’s northeastern territory of Arunachal Pradesh resulted in minor injuries.

In April, India’s defense minister told his Chinese counterpart that violations of their shared border erode the “entire basis” of relations between the two neighbors.

Since the 2020 clash, India has taken several steps to push back against perceived threats from China, including banning social media platform TikTok and other well-known Chinese apps, saying they pose a “threat to sovereignty and integrity,” while also moving to block Chinese telecoms giants Huawei and ZTE from supplying its 5G network.

More recently, the two countries have seemingly cracked down on reporters and have few or no accredited journalists on the ground in each other’s territory.

Amid rising nationalism in both countries, concerns in New Delhi of Beijing’s increasing assertiveness has also bolstered India’s relationship with the United States, including via the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad – a grouping of Japan, the US, India and Australia widely seen as a counterweight to China.

China earlier this year boycotted a G20 tourism meeting hosted by India in the Himalayan territory of Jammu and Kashmir, citing its opposition “to holding any kind of G20 meetings in disputed territory.” India and Pakistan both claim the disputed Kashmir region in its entirety.

India’s decision to host this year’s SCO virtually meant that Modi and Xi did not have an opportunity for a face-to-face meeting. Xi is also expected to attend the G20 leaders’ summit in New Delhi next month.

Tropical Storm Idalia is expected to strengthen into a hurricane Monday and could bring potentially catastrophic winds, heavy rain and flooding to Florida’s Gulf Coast as a powerful Category 3 storm later this week, prompting evacuations and school closures in parts of the state.

Idalia was packing 70 mph winds and was roughly 20 miles southwest of Cuba’s western tip, the National Hurricane Center said Monday evening.

And the storm is predicted to continue getting rapidly stronger until it makes landfall in Florida, turning into a “major hurricane” by late Tuesday, the center warned.

Idalia will likely make landfall Wednesday along Florida’s Big Bend – a natural, storm surge-prone divot along the coast stretching from Tampa to just south of Tallahassee. Up to 12 feet of storm surge is forecast there.

Mandatory and voluntary evacuations were issued for at least eight counties with less than 48 hours before the storm is expected to make landfall in the state. And more than 5,000 National Guard members were activated to help respond to the storm.

“This is going to be a major impact,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said in a Monday news conference.

Follow live updates: Idalia forces evacuations as it heads toward Florida.

Key points:

Idalia could arrive as soon as Tuesday

Impacts from Idalia will be felt from the Florida Keys to portions of the state’s western coast as soon as Tuesday. Wind speeds will increase across the Florida Keys and the state’s southwestern coast as early as Tuesday morning. Gusty winds are likely across a large portion of Florida, including inland areas, by Tuesday night as Idalia’s outer bands lap inland.

A large swath of Florida is expected to experience impacts from Idalia, but the worst of what the storm has to offer will stretch from Tampa northward through the Big Bend region and into portions of the Panhandle.

Conditions will deteriorate rapidly in these areas Tuesday overnight into Wednesday morning as landfall draws closer.

Idalia’s life-threatening storm surge ‘our biggest concern’

Life-threatening storm surge up to 12 feet is possible in Florida’s Big Bend which will only be worsened by waves driven by hurricane-force winds in excess of 100 mph.

Storm surge, which is when a storm blows the ocean onshore, is one of the deadliest aspects of a hurricane and the reason behind most storm evacuations.

“It happens quickly and can endanger you, your family & your home,” the Florida Division of Emergency Management agency warned.

During Hurricane Ian, 10 to 15 feet of storm surge wiped buildings off their foundations in Fort Myers Beach, Florida. From Idalia, 8 to 12 feet of surge was predicted, something Michael Brennan, the National Hurricane Center’s director, called “our biggest concern.”

“These are areas you don’t want to be in if you’ve been asked to evacuate,” Brennan said.

A storm surge warning – which means there’s a life-threatening danger from rising waters – is in effect from Englewood, Florida, all the way north to Indian Pass, including Tampa Bay.

Evacuations ordered in Florida

Mandatory and voluntary evacuations were issued in multiple Florida counties Monday morning, which DeSantis warned would expand.

“There are going to be evacuation orders issued in all these Gulf Coast counties in the A and B zones (and) all the barrier islands places that are low-lying on the coast,” DeSantis said.

Mandatory evacuations were ordered Monday for Pasco, Manatee, Hernando, Taylor, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Sarasota and Citrus counties for low-lying coastal areas and vulnerable structures.

The evacuation orders in Hillsborough County include parts of the Tampa area.

“If and when the governor issues an evacuation order, that means your life is in danger,” Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw warned.

Tampa International Airport announced it would cease all commercial operations by 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. The airport announced it aimed to reopen Thursday morning, after taking stock of what damage the storm left behind.

DeSantis expanded an emergency declaration to 46 of 67 Florida counties on Monday morning.

Power companies will also start staging personnel on Monday, the governor said.

“If you are in the path of the storm, you should expect power outages so please prepare for that,” the governor told residents.

The University of Florida announced its campus will close and classes will be canceled starting at noon on Tuesday and through Wednesday.

Florida State University said its Tallahassee campuses will be closed Wednesday and classes will be canceled. Florida A&M University also announced its Tallahassee main campus will be closed Wednesday.

Schools across the region also canceled class in preparation for the severe weather. Hillsborough County Public Schools announced all classes and activities will be canceled Tuesday and Wednesday.

Georgia, too, was preparing for Idalia’s arrival. Gov. Brian Kemp activated the State Operations Center Monday.

“Georgia will be prepared for whatever Idalia will bring,” Kemp said. “Rest assured, though the system will likely weaken before crossing our border, we’re not taking anything for granted.”

A surfer is fighting for his life in the hospital after he was attacked by a shark off Australia’s east coast, police said Friday.

The 44-year-old man was surfing near Lighthouse Beach, Port Macquarie when a shark launched a “sustained and prolonged attack,” New South Wales (NSW) police said in a statement.

Police said a bystander applied a tourniquet before paramedics transferred the surfer to Port Macquarie Hospital in critical condition.

“[He is in] a serious condition with life threatening injuries, sustained from the lower leg injuries, and also significant blood loss,” NSW Police Chief Inspector Martin Burke said.

A witness told 9News the scene was “really scary”.

“I have never seen anything like it,” the unnamed teenager said. “His foot ripped off and basically he was bleeding everywhere.”

Lighthouse Beach will remain closed for at least 24 hours, Port Macquarie Hastings ALS Lifeguards said on Facebook. Meanwhile, a drone will be used to conduct surveillance flights and monitor shark activity in the area, the group said.

Experts from the Department of Primary Industries (Fisheries) have begun an investigation into the incident, according to Surf Life Saving NSW.

Australia ranked behind only the United States in the number of unprovoked shark encounters with humans last year, according to the Florida Museum’s International Shark Attack File.

The museum describes “unprovoked bites” as incidents in which a bite on a human takes place in the shark’s natural habitat with no human provocation of the shark. “Provoked bites” are classified as when a human initiates interaction with a shark in some way.

According to the Australian Shark Incident Database, there were 10 shark encounters in New South Wales in 2022, resulting in seven injuries and one death.

One year after catastrophic floods devastated swathes of Pakistan, some 4 million children in the South Asian nation remain without access to safe water, the United Nations children’s agency has warned.

In a news release Friday, UNICEF said it estimates that there are 8 million people in the country, around half of whom are children, who continue to live in flood-affected areas without clean water.

“Vulnerable children living in flood-affected areas have endured a horrific year,” Abdullah Fadil, UNICEF Representative in Pakistan, said in the statement.

“They lost their loved ones, their homes and schools. As the monsoon rains return, the fear of another climate disaster looms large. Recovery efforts continue, but many remain unreached, and the children of Pakistan risk being forgotten.”

Flooding caused by record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in Pakistan’s northern mountain regions last year claimed the lives of nearly 1,600 people – more than a third whom were children – and impacted an estimated 33 million more.

The floods submerged a third of the country, with the force of the floodwater washing away homes, leaving tens of thousands stranded on the road without any food to eat or clean water to drink.

About 30,000 schools, 2,000 health facilities and 4,300 water systems were damaged or destroyed, UNICEF said.

“The climate-related disaster deepened pre-existing inequities for children and families in affected districts,” UNICEF said in the statement. “One third of children were already out of school before the floods, malnutrition was reaching emergency levels and access to safe drinking water and sanitation was worryingly low.”

As the floodwater began to recede, a plethora of water-related diseases began to infect thousands – many of whom were children. Parents desperately tried to seek help as their children became infected with diarrhea, dysentery, dengue fever and malaria.

The flooding came as Pakistan was already grappling with a severe economic crisis, further compounding the economic misery of millions, pushing families into poverty and leaving many unable to afford essentials such as food, fuel and medicines.

The country’s predicament has been further complicated by political turmoil that has engulfed the nation in recent months after former Prime Minister Imran Khan was arrested on corruption charges, sparking deadly protests.

Khan was dramatically ousted from power in a no-confidence vote last year, after numerous accusations of bad governance, including economic mismanagement. He claims the allegations against him are political and being steered by the country’s powerful military.

Last month, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a $3 billion bailout for Pakistan, giving the cash-strapped country a moment of reprieve in what has been a tumultuous year.

Until recently, the government had imposed tight import and dollar outflow controls, which stifled private sector activity, according to an April report by the World Bank.

But one condition of the IMF loan was that Pakistan let the country return to a market-based exchange rate, “which suggests the authorities now have limited room or appetite for currency intervention,” according to Shivaan Tandon, emerging Asia economist at Capital Economics.

Analysts say this may have contributed to a crash in Pakistan’s rupee this week, with the currency currently trading at 301 to the US dollar.

“We see the unfortunate consequence of a panic run when IMF terms force the government to open up trade,” said Stephen Innes, managing partner of SPI Asset Management.

Tandon also said the country was seeing higher imports, which was “likely to have put some pressure on the currency as demand for [US] dollars rose.”

“Several emerging market currencies have come under pressure as dollar-denominated assets became more attractive due to the jump in US bond yields. Pakistan’s rupee is particularly vulnerable to risk aversion among investors due to elevated inflation, unfavorable fiscal dynamics and a wide external financing gap.”

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s poverty rate has reached a staggering 21.9%, covering more than one fifth of the population, according to IMF data.

The crushing poverty has driven many to flee the nation. Widespread hunger and rising prices have caused stress, anxiety and despair. In April, during Islam’s holy month of Ramadan, hundreds of people lined up on the streets for a single bag of free flour, leading to deadly stampedes and chaos.

UNICEF also warned earlier this month that the effects of the climate crisis and other extreme weather phenomenons are having a devastating impact on children in South Asia.

Nearly half a billion children in the region are exposed to extreme high temperatures as life-threatening heat waves caused by the climate crisis become stronger and more frequent, it said.

Its analysis of 2020 data showed an estimated 460 million children in countries including Afghanistan, India and Pakistan were exposed to temperatures where 83 or more days in a year exceeded 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) – making South Asia the hardest-hit region for those under age 18.

Fadil from UNICEF said the agency has called on the government of Pakistan and its partners to “increase and sustain investment in basic social services for children and families.”

He added: “We cannot forget the children of Pakistan. The flood waters have gone, but their troubles remain, in this climate volatile region.”

A top Ukrainian official has detailed for the first time how a Russian helicopter pilot defected by flying his Mi-8, along with unsuspecting crew members, to Ukraine.

In an interview with Radio Liberty, which is set to air later this week, the head of the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, described how the incident unfolded.

“We were able to find the right approach to the man,” he told the news outlet.

“We were able to create conditions to get his whole family out undetected, and eventually create the conditions so that he could take over this aircraft with a crew that did not know what was happening.

“Two more people were with him – a full crew of three persons in total. When they realized where they had landed, they tried to escape. Unfortunately, they were eliminated. We would prefer (to take) them alive, but it is what it is.”

Budanov added: “The pilot feels great, everything is fine. He has two options, but he is leaning towards staying here.”

“No one has done this before, but I hope we can now scale it up.”

One unofficial Russian Telegram channel had reported that an Mi-8 helicopter had flown into Ukraine and landed in the central region of Poltava by mistake.

Another said it had diverted to the Ukrainian town of Vovchansk just across the Russian border in Kharkiv, which would be more likely than flying all the way to central Ukraine.

The Russian Telegram Voenniy Osvedomitel said Ukrainian intelligence had lured the pilot to Ukrainian territory and that the helicopter was carrying spare parts for Su-30SM and Su-27 fighters. It also reported the deaths of the other two crew members as they tried to escape.

Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov, who has well-established contacts in the Defense Ministry, said the Mi-8 had flown to a Ukrainian base. He reported that “the helicopter is fully intact and will be added to the Ukrainian Armed Forces after a detailed examination of its equipment.”

France will ban schoolchildren from wearing abayas ahead of the upcoming academic year, the government has said, the latest in a series of contentious restrictions in the country on clothing associated with Muslims.

French Education Minister Gabriel Attal said the long, robe-like garments often worn by Muslim women wouldn’t be permitted in the nation’s schools from the new term, which starts in September.

“Schools of the Republic are built on very strong values and principles, especially laïcité,” he told TV network TF1 on Sunday, using a French term referring to the separation of state institutions and religions, but which some argue has been hijacked to justify anti-Islam positions.

“For me, laïcité, when put in the framework of a school, is very clear: you enter a classroom and you must not be able to identify the religious identity of students just by looking at them,” Attal said.

But the move was criticized by a number of opposition lawmakers. Danièle Obono, a prominent opposition politician, attacked the move as a “new Islamophobic campaign” on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a far-left firebrand, who placed third in France’s 2022 presidential election, described his “sadness to see the return to school politically polarized by a new absurd entirely artificial religious war about a woman’s dress.”

“When will there be civil peace and true secularism that unites instead of exasperating?” Mélenchon asked.

France has pursued a series of controversial bans and restrictions on items of customarily Islamic dress in recent years, which have frequently drawn the ire of Muslim countries and international agencies.

Last year lawmakers backed a ban on wearing the hijab and other “conspicuous religious symbols” in sports competitions. The amendment was proposed by the right-wing Les Républicains party, which argued the hijab could risk the safety of athletes wearing it while playing sports.

France’s earlier ban on the niqab – full-face veils worn by some Muslim women – violated the human rights of those who wore it, the United Nations Human Rights Committee said in 2018.

“This type of policy stands in opposition to the liberal core of the 1905 Law on Separation of Church & State – a law we’ve been distorting and weaponizing since the ’90s,” Rim-Sarah Alouane, a French legal scholar and commentator, wrote of the latest abaya ban on X.

“Such policies fuel the nation’s fractures,” she added.

Attal was asked on TF1 whether guidelines on hijabs would be enforced in schools, but refrained from commenting on those garments, and instead continued to discuss abayas.

“During my meetings with (the school heads) this summer, I sensed their need for a clear rule on the national level on the issue of abayas, so the rule is now here,” the education minister said.