Russian billionaire Valery Kustov, co-founder of the food company Efko, was arrested this week in Moscow on suspicion of large-scale fraud involving the production of drones for the Russian military. According to several Russian media outlets, several top executives from Efko and an official from the Ministry of Industry and Trade were also taken into custody.
Mountaineer and Netflix star Nirmal “Nims” Purja is missing after an avalanche on Broad Peak.
Trump backtracks after promises to Zelensky regarding Patriot missiles. “We have to be a little cautious,” he suddenly says, after earlier promises.
As massive wildfires have been raging in Spain for days, a firefighter wrote an open letter that is being widely shared around the world.
The U.S. Senate unanimously votes against a pardon for Ghislaine Maxwell.
Two Dutch nationals are barred from entering Indonesia following a controversy surrounding a running club in Bali that allegedly excluded local residents. The Indonesian immigration service has issued an entry ban against the men, aged 35 and 37, who are considered the organizers behind “Entourage Bali.” They left for Singapore at the end of July, even before the ban was officially announced, and are now on the blacklist.
Saudi Arabia is trying to stay out of Trump and Netanyahu’s war—but is being drawn deeper and deeper into the regional conflict.
Forest fires in Southern Europe are escalating. A massive fire is raging on the Greek island of Crete, which local media say is “out of control.”
The United States is banning the import of new Chinese humanoid robots. “An unacceptable risk to our national security,” officials say.
In Moscow, the hawkish faction is gaining strength: figures from the security services who want to accelerate the offensive in Ukraine. Within that group, the FSB—the successor to the KGB, from which Vladimir Putin also hails—is assuming an increasingly influential position. The agency is expanding its grip on military and political decision-making, from internet restrictions and propaganda in schools to criminal prosecutions.