Authorities in the city of Moscow are offering a record signing-on bonus for new recruits to fight in Ukraine, in the latest sign of a scramble to boost Russian troop numbers.

The financial sweetener comes as President Vladimir Putin struggles to recruit soldiers for his army as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine grinds on in its third year.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin introduced the one-time signing bonus of 1.9 million rubles (about $22,000) for city residents who join the military, according to a statement on Tuesday.

Anyone taking up the offer would earn as much as 5.2 million rubles ($59,600) in their first year of service, the statement added.

Those willing to join the fight in Ukraine can also receive one-time cash payments of about $5,690-$11,390 for injuries, “depending on the severity,” and the family of a soldier killed in action could be paid $34,150.

While Russia’s casualty numbers remain shrouded in secrecy, estimates say the death toll among troops is high. More than 70,000 soldiers were likely killed or wounded in May and June alone, the UK defense ministry said in an update on July 12, as the Russian army faced high losses on a new front in the Kharkiv region.

Social media is filled with video footage taken by drones of Russian troops being killed or left with life-changing injuries in what soldiers grimly call “meat grinder” battles against Ukrainian defenders. Ukrainian soldiers have often spoken of how their outnumbered forced face so-called human wave assaults from an enemy whose commanders appear happy to tolerate brutal attrition rates.

As personnel deaths mount, the Kremlin is looking all over the place to find fighters to send to the front.

Putin has ordered the country’s military to increase troop numbers by 170,000, which would take the overall number of Russian military personnel to more than 2.2 million, including 1.32 million troops, according to a decree published by the Kremlin in December.

That equates to boosting the Russian army’s size by 15% and marks the second such expansion of the army since Putin launched its invasion.

Putin initially ordered an immediate “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens in September 2022 following a string of defeats that caused recriminations in Moscow. The mobilization meant citizens who were military reservists could be called up and that those with military experience were subject to conscription.

The conscription campaign led to fierce demonstrations – particularly in Russia’s ethnic minority regions where mobilization efforts were concentrated – and has sparked an exodus of military-age men fleeing the country to avoid joining the war.

Although the mobilization campaign was suspended in November 2022 after officials said the target of recruiting 300,000 personnel had been met, Russia has been recruiting fighters beyond its borders to fight in Ukraine.

Trash-laden North Korean balloons were found on the grounds of South Korea’s presidential office compound, officials said Wednesday, the latest in a series of incidents that have raised tensions and rhetoric on the Korean Peninsula.

More than 3,000 North Korean balloons, often filled with garbage such as cigarette butts, discarded batteries and even manure have fallen in the South since May, according to South Korean officials – who have responded by resuming loudspeaker broadcasts of propaganda and entertainment like K-pop songs along the demilitarized zone (DMZ).

The discovery at the presidential office Wednesday came after South Korean authorities warned the public to beware of falling objects as suspected North Korean trash balloons moved south toward the northern area of Gyeonggi province.

“While monitoring trash balloons sent by North Korea in cooperation with the Joint Chiefs of Staff today, we identified trash that fell in the presidential office area in Yongsan,” the presidential security service said later in a statement.

“No harmful or contaminating substances were found from an analysis by the response team.”

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) has advised people not to touch fallen balloons and to report any found to authorities.

“North Korea’s actions clearly violate international law and seriously threaten the safety of our citizens,” JCS said in a statement after an earlier balloon incident. “All responsibility arising from the North Korean balloons lies entirely with North Korea, and we sternly warn North Korea to immediately stop its inhumane and low-level actions.”

Pyongyang has previously said it sent balloons south in response to a civilian campaign in South Korea to float balloons carrying anti-North Korean propaganda in the opposite direction.

For many years, South Korean activists and North Korean defectors have sent balloons to the North, loaded with material criticizing dictator Kim Jong Un and USB sticks filled with K-pop songs and South Korean television shows – all strictly prohibited in the impoverished, highly isolated nation.

In a statement carried by North Korean state media earlier this month, Kim Yo Jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, said dozens of balloons, “dirty leaflets” and other material sent from South Korea were again found in her country and near the border.

Despite repeated North Korean warnings, the South Korean activists were “not stopping this crude and dirty play” she said.

“It seems that the situation we cannot overlook is coming,” Kim Yo Jong said in a “stern warning” published by North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), adding there would be “a gruesome and dear price” to pay that could change the South’s “mode of counteraction” with the North.

While the balloons have been going across the border, North Korea has kept up a stream of criticism against military drills by the United States and South Korea on the peninsula, the latest of those being the deployment of US Marine Corps F/A-18 and F-35B fighter jets to Suwon Air Base for joint aerial training this week.

The South Korean Defense Ministry said the US planes will join with South Korean F-15, F-16 and FA-50 fighters in exercises that will end August 8.

A US Defense Department release said the Marine Corps jets were dispatched “to enhance their standard of readiness and lethality with our South Korean allies and joint forces.”

But a KCNA commentary claimed the joint maneuvers were an example of Washington “running high fever in its move to expand the overall structure of confrontation against” North Korea.

North and South Korea have been divided since 1953, when an armistice ended the Korean War three years after the North invaded the South. But a peace treaty has never been signed, so the two technically remain at war.

A reality show contestant who killed and ate a protected bird has been let off with a warning after New Zealand wildlife officials said cast members were tired, hungry and placed in a “unique” situation.

The weka, named on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of threatened species, is protected in mainland New Zealand, where the penalty for killing one is a prison sentence of up to two years or a fine of nearly $60,000.

“Race to Survive” pits nine teams of two contestants in a 150-mile race across New Zealand’s harsh terrain, in which they must find their own food and water to compete for a $500,000 prize, according to USA Network, which airs the show.

In a clip from the show, Jones apologizes and says he knew eating the weka was against the law, but he was desperate and hungry, RNZ reported.

Jones and his teammate Oliver Dev were disqualified after the incident.

New Zealand’s Department of Conservation said following an investigation it had issued written warnings to Jones and the show’s producers – but stopped short of tougher action.

“The unique set of circumstances – cast members were fatigued and suffering from significant hunger, in an unusual group dynamic situation – meant we felt a warning letter was prudent,” said Dylan Swain, the department’s team lead for investigations.

“Nonetheless, killing and eating a native protected species in this matter is unacceptable and the company is ‘on notice’ about the need for its program participants to adhere to conservation legislation.”

The weka has a “famously feisty and curious” personality, according to the department, and is known for its loud “coo-et” call, which is presented as a duet, with the male taking on the lower, slower part.

“Weka are usually heard, not seen,” the department says on its website.

Once widespread, its populations now fluctuate depending on food conditions, which had led to the bird’s legal protection in mainland New Zealand. The harvest of weka is legal on some of the country’s surrounding islands.

Swain said the producers of “Race to Survive” had a permit to film on public conservation land and were aware that protected species and plants could not be harvested or eaten.

In a statement, “Race to Survive” production said it alerted authorities as soon as they became aware of the weka incident.

“Contestants were all thoroughly briefed ahead of time, and reminded throughout the competition, of all of New Zealand’s wildlife rules and guidelines,” its statement said.

“It was determined that a contestant did in fact violate a rule, so appropriate action was taken, and the team was disqualified from the competition.”

Jones and Dev were favored to win before they were pulled off the course, according to USA Network.

New Zealand has a plethora of unique flora and fauna due to its long geological isolation from the supercontinent Gondwana, according to independent conservation organization Forest and Bird.

This long isolation and the absence of mammalian predators means many native species are defenseless against attack – including flightless birds like the weka.

Palestinian-American doctor Jiab Suleiman arrived in Jordan last month ahead of an emergency medical mission into Gaza, which he was due to oversee. The Ohio-born orthopedic surgeon had already led two trips into the besieged strip since the Israel-Hamas war broke out in October and was finalizing details for his third.

But his preparation would ultimately be for nothing. The day before the team was set to cross into Gaza, Suleiman received notice that he had been denied entry by Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, or COGAT, the Israeli agency that manages policy for the Palestinian territories and the flow of aid into the strip.

“We have to actually tell people of Palestinian origin or Palestinian dual nationals that it is not possible for them to go in,” said Sameer Sah, director of programs at Medical Aid for Palestinians, an aid organization based in the United Kingdom. “We have to distinguish between Palestinians and non-Palestinians which is not ethically right, which is not right in terms of humanitarian laws, and it is not humane.”

“They said ‘you’re denied because of your Palestinian ID,’” said Suleiman, the medical mission lead at Rahma, a US-based humanitarian organization, referring to COGAT. “It’s very upsetting, annoying and disturbing to deny someone entry to a war zone to do a mission just because of the fact that they’re by genetics Palestinian.”

“I stopped recruiting or encouraging any Palestinian physician worldwide to come help, I just can’t recruit them because I lose a slot,” Suleiman added. “Even if it’s just one doctor or one nurse, I lose a slot knowing that they’re going to be denied and I need every single body, every physician to go into Gaza.”

The change in policy came after Israel launched a deadly ground offensive into Rafah in May, during which it seized control of the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza and destroyed the Palestinian side. Medical aid groups that relied on the Rafah crossing for entry into Gaza have been forced instead to use Kerem Shalom – a crossing previously used for commercial goods – to get from Israel into southern Gaza.

Before the war, Palestinian medics and medics of Palestinian heritage who held other passports could apply to Israel for entry into Gaza and have no issues getting approval. They would enter the strip through the Erez crossing, between Israel and northern Gaza, which has been closed since it was destroyed in the Hamas-led attacks on October 7.

International aid organizations are demanding that Israel drop the new restrictions affecting medical missions, pointing to the dire need for their teams to enter Gaza, which has had its healthcare system decimated by Israel’s war, launched in response to the Hamas-led attacks of October 7. Since then, more than 500 healthcare workers have been killed and 32 out of 36 hospitals have been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

In an email sent by a WHO regional office, teams were told that the new COGAT policy stated that anyone with Palestinian background or roots would be denied border crossing through Kerem Shalom.

“We reiterate that we STRONGLY advice (sic) against any attempt of entering Gaza with a Palestinian background/roots,” the email stated.

Another WHO email sent a few days later explained that rejections could also be simply due to ancestry, such as having “parents or grandparents who were born or formerly established in Palestine, with or even without Palestinian ID.”

“We are having HUGE problems with this, as COGAT keeps rejecting many people for this reason,” the email said.

In one WHO document from early June detailing updated guidance, aid groups were told that “it is not recommended that staff with dual citizenship (Palestinian) enter Gaza due to issues with permits.”

Thaer Ahmad, a Palestinian-American doctor from Chicago who went on a medical trip to Gaza in January, was in Cairo preparing for another trip in May when Israel seized the Rafah crossing, blocking humanitarian and medical aid groups from entering.

“I find it so heartbreaking and tragic that any connection to the land is used against healthcare workers trying to help,” said Ahmad, who walked out of a White House meeting with Muslim community leaders in April in protest of the Biden administration’s support of the war. “To be deprived of being able to put my skills to use for my people, at the height of their suffering and pain is especially cruel.”

“Because of the limited amount of seats that we have, we can’t risk it,” said Dr. Mustafa Musleh, the president of PAMA. “It is not necessarily something that we want, and we really prefer not to do that. But I don’t think we have a choice at this point.”

Another organization posted a recruiting ad on Instagram calling for surgeons to apply for its upcoming medical mission trip to Gaza. The ad disclosed that “applicants with a Palestinian ID or Palestinian roots are not allowed into Gaza.” The post has since been deleted.

Musleh emphasized that there are significant advantages to including medical workers with the same background and roots as the populations they are treating in mission teams, since it means they can understand the language and culture.

Palestinians have faced decades of tight restrictions on their movement by Israel, imposed through a complex system of permits, walls, checkpoints and border crossings. Unlike Israeli settlers – who can generally move freely without restriction – Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are required to obtain special permits from the Israeli government.

According to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights organization, Palestinians face “an arbitrary, entirely non-transparent bureaucratic system” in which many permits are denied or revoked without explanation.

For Palestinian doctors hoping to provide care for their people, Israel’s decision to deny them entry to Gaza has left them in despair.

“Your hands are tied, and you feel hopeless,” Suleiman lamented. “I don’t understand these people, how they decide to do this to someone that’s just going in for two weeks to serve the purpose of helping people.”

“It does not feel right being denied just because of the place you were born and being treated different than other US citizens,” Musleh said.

A powerful and rapidly intensifying typhoon is barreling toward Taiwan, disrupting ongoing military drills and prompting authorities to close financial markets, schools and offices.

Typhoon Gaemi is expected to strengthen into a super typhoon before making landfall on Taiwan’s northeastern coast Wednesday evening.

It is then forecast to continue toward China’s Fujian province on Thursday, bringing more strong winds and downpours to a country already hit hard by weeks of extreme rain and deadly flooding.

Gaemi is currently the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane in the Atlantic, with maximum sustained winds of 220 kilometers per hour (140 miles per hour), according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC).

It will land near the epicenter of April’s earthquake in Hualien county. The 7.4 magnitude quake was the largest Taiwan had seen in 25 years, injuring more than 1,000 people and collapsing buildings.

Taiwan is often struck by typhoons and has a generally strong track record in preparing for the damaging winds and downpours they can bring, especially in the cities. The more at risk populations tend to be more remote and mountainous areas, especially on the east side of the island, where landslides can be pose a major danger.

Taiwan’s Central Meteorological Agency has issued a sea and land typhoon warning for the entire main island as Gaemi’s powerful winds are expected to strengthen further to 240 kph (150 mph).

Heavy rain hit Taiwan ahead of the storm’s landfall on Wednesday, with the island’s mountainous areas already reporting rainfall approaching 200 millimeters (8 inches). Rainfall well over 500 mm (20 inches) is possible for the central mountains of Taiwan, according to the CMA.

Typhoon Gaemi is strengthening in Pacific waters that have been at their warmest temperatures on record. Scientists have found that hotter oceans caused by the human-caused climate crisis are leading storms to intensify more rapidly.

Gaemi, the first typhoon of the season to affect Taiwan, has strengthened by 96 kph (60 mph) in the last 24 hours, well exceeding the definition of rapid intensification which is 56 kmh (35 mph) in 24 hours.

Most Taiwanese cities, including the capital Taipei, chipmaking hub Hsinchu and the southern city of Kaohsiung, closed schools and offices on Wednesday while Taiwan Railways suspended some rapid train services.

Dozens of flights have also been canceled for Wednesday and Thursday, with three of Taiwan’s largest carriers – EVA Air, China Airlines and Starlux Airlines – announcing disruptions due to the typhoon.

Taiwan’s defense authorities said they had to modify ongoing annual five-day Han Kuang War Games due to the typhoon. The live-fire drills are the biggest annual military exercises of their kind in Taiwan, where the armed forces are increasingly vigilant against the threat of invasion from China.

“We will adjust some of the air and naval elements given the typhoon situation,” defense ministry spokesperson Sun Li-fiang told reporters in Hualien.

Typhoon Gaemi has also forced the closure of schools and government offices in the Philippines as heavy rains hit the Manila capital region and the main island of Luzon. Some flights have been canceled and the Philippine Stock Exchange said it would cease all trading Wednesday.

Images show roads and streets in Manila flooded by rains brought by Typhoon Gaemi, as people wade through knee-deep water.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. earlier said more than 770,000 people have been affected by the typhoon and southwest monsoon in the country’s southern regions, and 4,500 personnel were on standby to assist with search and rescue operations.

More extreme weather misery for China

Because the storm is strengthening prior to hitting Taiwan, Gaemi will also be stronger than previously expected when it hits China Thursday afternoon local time (early Thursday morning ET).

Though weakened, Gaemi is expected to make landfall in China as the equivalent to a strong Category 1 or low-end Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 145 to 160 kph (90 to 100 mph.)

The worst of the winds are expected to occur in coastal areas of Fujian province, but heavy rain will spread across Fujian, southern Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces for the rest of the week.

By the weekend, the remnants of Gaemi will likely spread heavy rainfall farther north into areas of China like Henan, Shanxi and Hebei provinces which have been hit hard by flooding in recent days.

For many in China, the prospect of another major storm bringing more water is a big concern.

In the past two weeks, tens of thousands of people have been evacuated across multiple provinces in China following deadly floods and landslides, which have blocked highways, destroyed homes and caused devastating financial losses as they wiped out crops and livestock.

Torrential rainfall hit southern, central and eastern parts of the country and led to major emergency response efforts in a flood season that has started some two months ahead of its typical schedule.

In Henan province, the flooding came after a period of scorching temperatures that complicated efforts to grow and irrigate vital crops in parts of central China’s agricultural heartland. Then, extreme rain inundated tens of thousands of acres of cropland and forced more than 100,000 people to evacuate their homes, according to state media.

The flooding in Henan and surrounding provinces – and the double hit of arid heat and floods in a matter of weeks – has prolonged what has already been a devastating period of extreme weather across China that’s forecast to continue.

An interim deal to smooth deliveries to Philippine marines marooned on a ship at a hotly disputed reef in the South China Sea appears to be in doubt after Manila and Beijing gave opposing accounts over what they had agreed to.

Fears of a conflict with global implications have risen in recent months following a series of increasingly violent clashes between Chinese coast guard vessels and Philippine ships at Second Thomas Shoal in the contested Spratly Islands, where Manila grounded a navy ship in 1999 to press its claims.

Following de-escalation talks, Manila and Beijing both said they had reached a “provisional arrangement” on the resupply of necessities to Philippine marines stationed aboard the BRP Sierra Madre – without either side conceding their maritime claims.

But analysts were skeptical about whether the temporary deal would hold after the two sides provided conflicting details of what their agreement entails.

Here’s what you need to know.

What’s in the deal?

Neither Manila nor Beijing has released the text of the temporary agreement reached on Sunday to cool tensions at the reef, known as Ayungin Shoal in the Philippines and Ren’ai Jiao in China, which is located about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the Philippine island of Palawan.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Monday that Beijing had agreed to allow Manila to resupply its personnel on the Sierra Madre with living necessities “in a humanitarian spirit.”

Those resupply missions could only take place “if the Philippines informs China in advance and after on-site verification is conducted,” spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular news briefing.

“China will monitor the entire resupply process,” she added.

Those remarks met pushback in Manila.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement on X that the country would continue to assert its rights in the South China Sea, noting the provisional agreement with Beijing had been reached “without compromising national positions.”

Therefore, the Chinese statement “regarding prior notification and on-site confirmation is inaccurate,” the DFA said.

The Philippines made the deal in good faith, was ready to implement it, and urged China to do the same, the statement added.

How did we get here?

Beijing claims “indisputable sovereignty” over almost all of the 1.3 million-square-mile South China Sea, and most of the islands and sandbars within it, including many features that are hundreds of miles from mainland China. The Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei and Taiwan also hold competing claims.

In 2016, an international tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines in a landmark maritime dispute, which concluded that China has no legal basis to claim historic rights to the bulk of the South China Sea.

China has ignored the ruling: Manila says Beijing continues to send its maritime militia and coastguard vessels to Mischief Reef and Scarborough Shoal in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.

Under President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr, the Philippines has taken increasingly assertive steps to protect its claim to shoals in the South China Sea, leading to several confrontations off the Philippine islands.

They include standoffs between Chinese boats and tiny wooden Philippine fishing vessels; Chinese attempts to block the resupply of the BRP Sierra Madre with water cannons; and a bold move by a lone Filipino diver armed with a knife to sever a massive floating Chinese barrier.

In a major escalation on June 17, the Philippines and China blamed each other for a clash near Second Thomas Shoal in which a Philippine serviceman lost a thumb.

Footage released by the Philippine military showed Chinese coast guard officers brandishing an axe and other bladed or pointed tools at the Filipino soldiers and slashing their rubber boat, in what Manila called “a brazen act of aggression.”

The clash took place just weeks after President Marcos warned that the death of any Filipino citizen at the hands of another country in the South China Sea would be “very close” to an act of war.

What’s at stake?

The resource-rich South China Sea is widely seen as a potential flashpoint for global conflict, and Western observers say tensions could erupt if China, a global power, decides to act more forcefully against the Philippines, a US treaty ally.

Washington and Manila are bound by a mutual defense treaty signed in 1951 that remains in force, stipulating that both sides would help defend each other if either were attacked by a third party.

The US is not a claimant to the South China Sea, but says the waters are crucial to its national interest of guaranteeing free passage through seas worldwide.

The US Navy regularly conducts freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) in the South China Sea, saying the US is “defending every nation’s right to fly, sail, and operate wherever international law allows.”

Beijing denounces such operations as illegal.

In remarks at the Aspen Security Forum on July 19, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States would “continue to support the Philippines and stand behind them as they take steps” to resupply the Sierra Madre.

“The most important thing right now is to see de-escalation and to see the ability of the Philippines to do resupplies. We believe that is achievable, and we’re going to drive to make that happen,” Sullivan said.

What happens next?

Analysts have cast doubt on whether the temporary deal between Manila and Beijing will ever be implemented.

Gregory Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, said both sides may have withheld the written details to allow them to save face – and their differing interpretations could undermine the agreement.

“We’ll only know for sure when we see how China reacts to the next Philippine resupply mission,” he said.

“If the resupply gets through unmolested despite the fact that the Philippines certainly won’t tell China in advance or allow any inspection of the cargo, then that will be a victory for Manila’s strategy over the last two years. And it will certainly be a relief to the United States.”

Derek Grossman, a senior defense analyst at the US-based RAND Corporation think tank, said the deal did not address the underlying territorial disputes and appeared to have failed before it had even started.

“The China-Philippines deal is already falling apart, probably because Beijing wishes to keep the appearance of diplomatic engagement while continuing to uphold its bottom line interests – a low-risk and highly effective strategy,” he said.

At least six people are dead and seven missing after a fishing vessel carrying 27 onboard sank in the South Atlantic about 200 miles off the coast of the Falkland Islands.

The fishing vessel, FV Argos Georgia, requested assistance soon after it began sinking east of the islands at about 4 p.m. local time Monday, the Falkland Islands government said in press release Tuesday.

The crew abandoned ship and some managed to board life rafts, the government said.

Some of those who boarded the life rafts have since been rescued, but a search is continuing for those still missing, the statement said.

Citing British and Spanish maritime authorities, the Associated Press reported that 14 people had made it onto a life raft and were rescued by nearby fishing boats. It said at least six people had died and seven remained missing. At least 10 of the crew members were identified as Spaniards, the AP reported.

Those who have been rescued will be taken to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital in the capital Stanley for medical assessments, according to the Falkland Islands government.

A search and rescue operation involving helicopters and vessels began on Monday and will continue throughout the night on Tuesday.

The Falkland Islands said that a search and rescue helicopter had unsuccessfully attempted to rescue crew members on Monday evening but was thwarted due to “extremely challenging weather conditions and very limited time on scene due to range.”

“The helicopter returned to Stanley Airport to refuel prior to a second attempt but the weather worsened further, and rotary wing SAR operations were suspended,” it added.

In addition to the Falkland Islands government, the search and rescue operation involves the government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, HQ British Forces South Atlantic Islands, the UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency, the management company of the fishing vessel, and other fishing vessels at sea.

“The Falkland Islands government sends their thoughts to all the families involved,” it added.

Argentina’s Navy said it had also attempted search and rescue operations after being alerted about the ship’s sinking.

The Falkland Islands, which lie about 300 miles east of the tip of South America, are a British-ruled overseas territory over which Britain and Argentina fought a brief war in 1982. Britain won that war but Argentina continues to claim the islands, which it refers to as Las Malvinas.

According to the Associated Press, the Argos Georgia is managed by Argos Froyanes Ltd, a privately-owned joint British-Norwegian company, and was sailing under the flag of St Helena, another British overseas territories in the South Atlantic.

“This accident highlights the harshness of fishing activity and the sacrifice and risk that sea professionals experience,” said Carmen Crespo, chair of the Committee on Fisheries, for the European Parliament in a statement on Tuesday.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Two people were killed and at least 13 injured Tuesday when an elevated walkway collapsed in a condemned Italian slum notorious for its links to organized criminal groups.

The Italian Fire Brigade said a 29-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman were killed in the collapse at the Le Vele housing slum in the Neapolitan suburb of Scampia.

More than 800 people were living as squatters in the apartment complex at the time, including 300 children, according to the fire brigade. All have been evacuated to tent camps set up by the country’s civil protection agency.

The complex was made famous in Roberto Saviano’s “Gomorrah” book, film and television series, which detailed the exploits of the Camorra, a powerful Neapolitan mafia-like group.

Several criminal groups tied to the Camorra operated out of the apartments and wings, many of which were protected behind heavy fencing and bullet-proof glass, according to local police who regularly raided the buildings. It was also notorious as a venue for drug deals.

The housing complex, built in the 1970s and 1980s, originally consisted of four apartment buildings shaped like sails (“vele”) joined by elevated walkways. But in 2020 regional authorities ordered the site to be cleared and razed. Since then, three of the buildings have been demolished and only one now remains.

The cause of the collapse at that one remaining building is not yet clear, but the structure has been condemned for years and amenities like running water, electricity and gas are all brought in illegally.

In recent years, the complex has been inhabited by people who lost their homes during a devastating earthquake in 1980 that killed nearly 2,500 people and left 250,000 homeless. Many of those people moved to the complex while waiting for new homes promised by the national government that never materialized.

After the order to clear the complex in 2020, the local municipality launched a redevelopment project to house those still living at La Vele. That project is still ongoing but remains unfinished.

Naples mayor Gaetano Manfredi expressed his condolences to those affected by the collapse and offered assistance to those who still live there.

“Now is the time to think about the victims – but I want to reiterate that our redevelopment project will not stop and our commitment to Scampia will be even stronger than before,” Manfredi said.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also expressed sadness at the news.

“In this hour of pain, my condolences go to the victims’ families together with a thought of closeness for the wounded and their loved ones,” she wrote on social media. She also thanked emergency services for their help.

French authorities conducted a search of the man’s residence under an administrative order, during which they unearthed evidence he was preparing, “events likely to lead to destabilization during the Olympic Games,” the prosecutor’s office said.

He was placed under preliminary investigation and detained Tuesday under suspicion of: “intelligence with a foreign power with a view to provoking hostilities in France,” the prosecutor’s office added.

If convicted, the crime carries a maximum sentence of 30 years imprisonment.

The prosecutor’s office released no further details as to what the man was allegedly planning.

The Olympic Games begin this week with the official opening ceremony due to be held in central Paris on Friday evening.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said last week that some 4,000 people had been refused permission to attend events tied to the Olympics, with authorities “paying particular attention to Russian and Belarusian citizens.”

Striking dancers threaten opening ceremony

The news came amid reports that the opening ceremony had been put in jeopardy by a possible strike action by more than 200 dancers who were due to take part.

On Monday, some 220 dancers stopped a rehearsal along the banks of Paris’ River Seine – along which the opening ceremony is due to take place – to protest inequalities in pay and housing conditions between the dancers.

“The ceremony is in danger in a sense, yes. But it will depend on solidarity because the strike is an individual decision,” Sorin said.

She said that the dancers were negotiating with Paris 2024 and their employers to obtain higher salaries and a sum of money for the “most precarious” performers.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Violence against women and girls in England and Wales has reached “epidemic levels,” UK police have warned, saying forces should prioritize their response to the issue in the same way as they do terrorism and organized crime.

In a major report, police estimate that at least one in every 12 women will be a victim of violence against women and girls (VAWG) every year, amounting to 2 million victims. Meanwhile, at least one in every 20 adults will be a perpetrator of this violence.

Crimes including rape, domestic abuse, stalking and harassment increased by 37% in the past five years, the report found – a “staggering” increase that has prompted the UK Home Office to classify VAWG as “a national threat to public safety.”

The figures were revealed Tuesday in a 70-page report – the first national analysis of the scale of VAWG by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).

Maggie Blyth, the NPCC’s lead for VAWG, said the situation had become “a national emergency,” and that violence has reached “epidemic levels … in terms of its scale, complexity and impact on victims.”

“We need the support and direction of government to intervene and address the current problems within the criminal justice system and lead the way on a whole-system approach to VAWG,” she said.

Keir Starmer, the new prime minister, announced his government will bring forward plans to halve violence against women and girls.

The report identified five “critical threats” to women and girls which make up an estimated 3,000 VAWG-related crimes recorded across England and Wales each day.

In the year ending March 2023 in England and Wales, police recorded more than 100,000 rape and serious sexual offenses, more than 400,000 domestic abuse-related crimes, some 436,000 stalking and harrassment offenses, and more than 40,000 child sexual abuse and exploitation offenses, committed against girls aged between 10 and 17.

“These are cautious estimates as we know much crime goes unreported and in policing, we often only see the tip of the iceberg,” the report said.

Of the 2 million women and girls who experience violence each year, 1.4 million are subjected to domestic abuse, according to the report. In the year ending March 2023, one in every six homicides were domestic abuse-related.

In cases of rape and serious sexual offenses, suspects are more likely to be an ex- or current partner (38%) or individuals known to the victim (29%) compared to a stranger (26%).

The average suspect age in reported instances of rape and serious sexual offense in England and Wales is 37, the report said, though the recorded age range of suspects is from 10 years old to 100.

There has been a 435% increase in child sexual abuse and exploitation in England and Wales between 2013 and 2022, the report said. Of these crimes, 93% involve contact sexual offenses and sexual grooming.

The average age of victims in these cases is 13 years old, while the average age of suspects is 15 years old, it said. More than half of child sexual abuse and exploitation cases reported between January and July 2023 were also committed by children.

The police report also acknowledged that, while crimes against women and girls are increasing in number, perpetrators are often not punished for their actions.

As of March 2023, only 4.4% of domestic abuse cases recorded by police resulted in the perpetrator being convicted, the report said. The reasons for this include limited prison capacities and huge backlogs in courts.

The UK’s Minister for Safeguarding Jess Phillips wrote in a post on social media that the report’s findings show that VAWG is a “national emergency” and a “threat” to Britain’s security and prosperity.

Blyth added that the NPCC is “absolutely determined to turn the tide on violence and abuse faced by women and girls and will continue to work tirelessly to do better for victims.”

“We need the support and direction of government to lead the way on a whole-system approach to VAWG,” Blyth said.