An airliner heading from Dublin to Rome was rerouted to France on Thursday after a bomb threat, the French government said.

The flight was diverted to a French base in Évreux in Normandy where it landed safely, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s office said.

All 151 passengers and six crew members were safe and military bomb disposal teams were examining the plane, it added.

According ‌to flight-tracking website Flightradar24, an ​Aer Lingus aircraft turned near Paris and was circling over the Évreux ​area after declaring an ​in-flight emergency.

The incident came as about 20 flights were hit by a third day of hoax bomb alerts across Europe, authorities and airlines said.

The EU on Thursday said it was not yet clear whether the spate of hoax bomb alerts targeting European flights were connected, and that it was following events closely with national authorities.

“Any threats against civilians are unacceptable,” EU transport commissioner Apostolos Tzitzikostas posted on X, adding that it was “too early to draw conclusions on whether the reported incidents are linked.”

Earlier this week, around 10 European flights were targeted by bomb threats, forcing the brief closure of a Warsaw airport and the scrambling of air force planes in Rome, according to authorities.

Planes forced to land in Belgium, Bulgaria

Belgian ⁠media on Thursday reported that an airliner forced to land at Brussels’ Zaventem airport belonged to the Polish airline LOT.

Meanwhile Bulgarian officials reported three aircraft making emergency ‌landings due to bomb threats.

Airplanes flying from Copenhagen and Madrid landed in Sofia, the ​interior minister said, according to broadcaster bTV.

A third aircraft, from London, landed in Plovdiv, local media said.

Czech police said they deployed at Prague’s Vaclav Havel Airport to prepare for the landing of four planes after receiving a threat of explosive devices on board. Police said that “all necessary security measures have been activated”.

A ​Finnair plane from Helsinki was safely escorted to ‌its scheduled landing in Rome by the Italian air force, a source close to the matter said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to speak publicly.

An emailed bomb threat had been received, and security clearance procedures by police bomb disposal experts were completed, with no explosives found, the official said.

Also on Thursday, ANSA ​news agency ​reported that two ​planes ​affected by bomb alerts, an ‌Aegean ⁠Airlines ‌flight from Thessaloniki, and ⁠a Ryanair ​flight from ‌Porto, had landed ‌safely ​at their destination at Milan’s Malpensa ​airport. ​

On Tuesday, seven flights and a cruise ​ship in Europe received bomb threats on Tuesday, causing disruption at airports although no devices ⁠were discovered.

The flights included Polish airline LOT, Scandinavian Airlines, Wizz Air and Ryanair. The hoax threats came a day after a plane headed for Bulgaria was diverted to Hungary following a similar bomb threat while in the air. No one was injured.

While no country has attributed blame for the threats, they come at a time ​when European officials have been blaming both Russia and Iran for what they describe as “hybrid attacks” and acts of sabotage. Moscow and Tehran both deny any such campaign.

This week, unidentified hackers ⁠shut down fridges in supermarkets in several European countries. Some experts said hoax bomb ⁠threats could ​be part of a similar pattern of low-cost, deniable disruption efforts.

Source: Reuters

A Russian drone strike triggered a major fire and explosions at a warehouse on the outskirts of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, killing at least 27 people and forcing hundreds to evacuate, ⁠regional governor Tymur Tkachenko said on Saturday.

Writing ​on ‌the Telegram messaging app, he ‌added that ​42 people were also wounded and that ​more than ​380 ​were being evacuated from ​the strike area in the Bucha ⁠district.

A fire broke out and was “accompanied by explosions”, Tkachenko said.

“More than 200 people have already been evacuated from the scene, including children.”

Russia and Ukraine have for several months been intensifying their long-range strikes, increasingly targeting civilian infrastructure such as logistics warehouses and oil and port facilities.

These attacks are causing a growing number of civilian casualties.

The prosecutor’s office opened an investigation for “negligence” regarding storage conditions at the premises after the attack, which took place shortly after 8pm (1700 GMT) Friday in the village of Myla in the Bucha district.

The prosecutor’s office specified that its investigation would focus on “the legality of the … storage of explosive objects and materials on the enterprise’s grounds”, as well as whether the company, which was not named, had the “necessary permits and approvals”

Prime Minister Sergiy Koretsky expressed regret that a “lesson” had not been learned after a previous deadly attack in July in Vyshneve near Kyiv on a munitions depot.

That investigation revealed serious failings on the part of the state-owned company, which did not comply with standards despite the proximity of residential buildings.

“In the fifth year of the full-scale invasion, making the same mistakes over and over is criminal negligence,” he said on Telegram.

“Everyone responsible, without exception, must face severe punishment so that such situations never happen again.”

Source: AFP

Russian bombardments killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens in Ukraine’s capital and its surrounding region overnight, authorities said on Thursday.

The foes have ramped up long-range attacks in recent months, driving up the civilian death toll on both sides in the four-and-a-half-year war.

The massive missile attack on Kyiv struck residential areas and warehouses, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram Thursday.

A medical facility and an educational institution were also damaged, according to the city’s military administration.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later wrote on X that the death toll in the capital had risen to 12 and that 40 people had been wounded.

“The Russians had been preparing for a long time, combining different types of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones, aiming to cause as much damage as possible to civilian infrastructure,” he wrote.

An attack in the Brovary district of the broader Kyiv region killed one man and wounded another, Kyiv regional governor Tymur Tkachenko said.

“One industrial facility has been damaged. All relevant services are on site, working to extinguish the fire,” he added.

Ukrainian air forces said on Telegram that Russia launched dozens of ballistic, ​cruise, ‌and ⁠hypersonic missiles, as well ‌as 168 drones in ⁠its overnight attack on the country.

It ​said that air ‌defence units downed 145 drones and ‌most of the cruise ​missiles but none of the missiles that ​run on ballistic trajectory.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Telegram that it hit facilities producing drone components, a military depot and a logistics hub.

Ukraine’s air force had earlier warned of Russian “Kalibr” missiles in the vicinity of the village of Kagarlyk within the Kyiv region, heading towards the capital.

The attacks also prompted security responses in neighbouring NATO member states.

Poland’s military command said it had mobilised aircraft and activated air defences aimed at protecting Polish airspace, particularly in areas bordering Ukraine.

Romania’s defence ministry said radar systems detected aerial targets near the Ukrainian border overnight, prompting the scrambling of two Spanish fighter jets deployed on NATO missions and a Romanian air force helicopter.

The ministry said a drone entered Romanian airspace near Galati before crashing in an unpopulated area in Tulcea county.

Russia also reported a large Ukrainian drone attack.

Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 250 drones had flown towards the Moscow region between Wednesday night and Thursday morning, with most destroyed at a significant distance from the capital itself.

“Twenty-eight drones were destroyed in the Moscow region,” Sobyanin added.

While Kyiv has faced near-nightly attacks, Ukraine has also escalated its retaliatory strikes on Russia in recent months, in part to attempt to pressure Moscow into coming to the negotiating table to end Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.

Source: Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed a senior aide amid a new corruption investigation; one day after his former defence minister warned of a “crisis of governance” and called for a wartime presidential election.

Iryna Mudra, a deputy chief of staff in the presidential office, was removed by decree on Wednesday. Ukrainian media reported that investigators were searching her home as part of an alleged money-laundering inquiry.

The case has been described as involving a group of people alleged to have laundered 150 million hryvnias ($3.4 million) to pay bail for a defendant in a major graft case last year, according to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.

The case, which involves the state-owned nuclear power company, brought the resignations of Ukraine’s justice and energy ministers earlier this year.

A former lawmaker, the chairperson of a state bank’s board, the head of the bank’s supervisory board, and a deputy head of the presidential office have now been added as new suspects in the case.

The scandal follows earlier resignations and investigations that damaged the president’s standing, including the departure of former chief aide Andriy Yermak.

Mudra’s dismissal came a day after the former defence minister called for elections.

Former defence minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who was recently ousted, warned in a video address released late on Tuesday that the country was facing “a crisis of governance” and needed to hold a presidential election.

Zelensky showed no direct reaction to Fedorov’s statement or his election demand, and instead thanked Ukraine’s parliament for voting to confirm Fedorov’s replacement, Yevhen Khmara, as the new defence minister.

For weeks, Ukrainians have protested Zelensky’s dismissal of Fedorov, gathering daily in Kiev. The protests reflect public frustration with frequent reshuffles and a perceived lack of transparency in Zelensky’s administration.

His dismissal became a rallying point for those demanding effective leadership and innovative solutions to address Ukraine’s increasing shortage of young army-age personnel, which has strained the regime’s ability to sustain its war effort.

In the video, Fedorov blamed Zelensky for widespread corruption, saying the actor-turned-president lacked the competence to eradicate the problem from its root.

“Corruption is only a symptom. The main problem runs much deeper. We have a systemic crisis of governance,” Fedorov said in the nine-minute video posted online Tuesday.

The former defence minister said it was possible to “restore a full democratic process even amid a prolonged war.”

Zelensky’s five-year term as president has been extended indefinitely, as presidential elections are suspended under martial law following Russia’s launch of its special military operation in Donbas in February 2022.

At least six people were killed in Russian strikes on Ukraine overnight into Thursday, including three in the city ​of ‌Balakliia in the Kharkiv region and another three in the northern region of Sumy, local authorities said. Russia ⁠also struck ​two ​dry cargo vessels near Ukraine’s ​Black ‌Sea ⁠port ‌of Odesa ⁠late on Wednesday.

Rescuers worked ​on Thursday to douse fires and clear debris in Ukraine’s eastern city ​of ‌Balakliia after Russian strikes ⁠on homes killed three overnight, authorities said ‌on the Telegram messaging app.

Three ⁠people were also killed overnight and at least 19 wounded ​in Russian attacks on ‌settlements in the northern region of Sumy. Twelve more were wounded in ‌the city of Sumy itself, following an attack ​with guided aerial bombs, the Ukrainian police said on Telegram.

A drone attack ​on a van wounded ​six in the southern ​region of Kherson, the regional administration said ​on Telegram. Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in the war triggered by Russia’s invasion of ⁠Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia ⁠also struck ​two ​dry cargo vessels near Ukraine’s ​Black ‌Sea ⁠port ‌of Odesa ⁠late on Wednesday, ​TASS ‌news agency reported, citing ‌the ​Russian Defence Ministry.

The vessels were ​transporting ​military ​goods, the ​ministry said.

Russia says it downed 605 Ukrainian drones overnight

Russia shot down 605 Ukrainian drones during the night over its territory and the annexed Crimean Peninsula, the defence ministry said Thursday.

“During the night … air defence systems intercepted and destroyed 605 Ukrainian aerial drones,” the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry flagged attacks in the Tver region about 180 kilometres northwest of Moscow, where local authorities reported a logistics centre belonging to the e-commerce giant Wildberries had been damaged.

Regional governor Vitaly Korolyov said air defence systems had repelled the Ukrainian attack.

“As a result of the fall of debris from one of the drones, the facade of the Wildberries logistics centre was slightly damaged,” he wrote on Telegram, adding that no one had been wounded.

Ukraine has repeatedly struck sites belonging to Wildberries – a popular online commerce platform often described as Russia’s Amazon – across the country since mid-July.

Mikhail Yevrayev, governor of the Yaroslavl region around 250 kilometres north of Moscow, reported the “most massive attack” against his region, saying 92 drones had been shot down.

Debris caused fires in houses and damaged cars, he added on Telegram.

More than four years after the start of Russia’s large-scale offensive against Ukraine, diplomacy is at a standstill and the two countries are ramping up long-range strikes, causing a growing number of civilian casualties.

Source: AFP

German police searched on Sunday for a suspect believed linked to Islamist circles after a car ploughed into a crowd near Berlin’s Gay Pride celebrations, killing one person and wounding 16 others.

The incident shattered what had been a day of celebration for hundreds of thousands attending Christopher Street Day, one of Europe’s largest Pride events, and left revellers fleeing a central Berlin park as sirens echoed through the night.

Police told AFP the suspected vehicle was later found abandoned a few hundred metres from the heart of the festivities in Tiergarten park.

A manhunt involving helicopters and officers from several German states was under way across the capital on Sunday.

A suspect, believed to have links to “Islamist circles” had been “identified” but not yet arrested, police spokesman Florian Nath said.

An eyewitness near the main Pride stage at Brandenburg Gate told AFP that celebrations abruptly ended when police instructed people to leave.

“Go home, please,” officers told participants as the crowd streamed away from the park, where emergency crews rushed to treat victims.

The attack occurred shortly before 10:00 pm (2000 GMT) on Saturday.

“A vehicle entered the Tiergarten park and hit several people,” police said.

One person died and 16 others were injured, including three with life-threatening injuries, according to Berlin fire department spokesman Dominik Pretz.

Around 30 more people were treated for shock at the scene.

Police spokesman Nath said investigators had identified a suspect but not yet made an arrest, adding that investigators believed he had links to “Islamist circles”.

The search was widened to “the whole city” after the vehicle was discovered abandoned in the vast Tiergarten park.

The vehicle appeared to be “akin to a minivan or small SUV”, Nath said.

The attack immediately revived memories of a series of deadly assaults that have shaken Germany in recent years and fuelled fierce debate over security.

Chancellor Friedrich Merz vowed that those responsible would face justice.

In a statement, Merz described the incident as a “horrific act” and said he and Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt were being kept informed of developments.

Berlin Mayor Kai Wegner condemned what he called a brutal attack on “a gathering for a tolerant and peaceful Berlin”.

Police had deployed more than 2,000 officers to secure the event.

Following the incident, additional personnel from across Germany joined the search operation, supported by helicopters equipped with thermal-imaging cameras.

An AFP journalist at the scene saw numerous emergency vehicles lining a nearby road and a large tent erected as police combed the area.

Violent attacks

Earlier Saturday, hundreds of thousands of people took part in the event, called Christopher Street Day in Germany, which is one of the biggest Pride events in Europe.

The march ended next to the Brandenburg Gate, which has been the venue for concerts since Friday.

Germany has in recent years seen several violent attacks at public spaces, including a stabbing in February 2025 at Berlin’s Holocaust memorial, a stone’s throw from the scene of Saturday’s incident, in which a Spanish tourist was seriously injured.

A Syrian man named only as Wassim Al M. was jailed in March for 13 years for that attack, with the court finding he acted in the name of the so-called Islamic State group.

Last month Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, a 51-year-old Saudi psychiatrist, was sentenced to life in prison for killing six people and wounding more than 300.

He drove a rented SUV through a crowded Christmas market in 2024 in the easter city of Magdeburg.

The deadliest such attack in recent years was a truck rampage at a Berlin Christmas market in December 2016 that killed 12 people.

Saturday’s incident came two months before voters in Berlin elect a new state assembly.

Polls indicate that the centre-right CDU, to which Merz and Wegner both belong, will face a stiff challenge from both the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the far-left Linke parties.

Wegner himself said earlier this month he would not run for re-election after months of criticism over his handling of a major blackout in January apparently caused by sabotage.

Source: AFP

More than one million undocumented migrants in Spain have sought legal status under a scheme that has defied a wider European crackdown on irregular immigration, the government said on Tuesday, the final day for submissions.

The vast scheme was predicted to benefit around 500,000 people, most from Latin America, when the left-wing government launched it in April.

“The more than one million applications submitted… show how necessary this recognition of rights and responsibilities was,” Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told an event in Madrid.

Sanchez has become a standard bearer of more open immigration policies as his European neighbours – including some Socialist peers – toughen measures in response to pressure from ascendant far-right parties.

He has long argued that immigrants are needed to sustain the economy, the welfare state and pensions amid Spain’s ageing population and depopulation in rural regions.

The number of applications submitted does not necessarily indicate the number of migrants who will secure their legal status.

Applicants must prove they have a clean criminal record and spent at least five consecutive months in Spain before January 1.

The authorities have three months to process their paperwork and decide whether to issue a work and residence permit only valid in Spain.

“When we condemn a person to invisibility, I think we make our country a worse country. We all lose,” Sanchez explained, saying his government aimed to “offer an opportunity and future” to migrants.

“We want the world to view Spain as a country that respects, protects and upholds human rights.”

Economic boost

For Juana Hernandez, a 59-year-old Cuban who has lived in Spain for two and a half years and whose application was recently approved, the plan “is a huge opportunity”.

She told AFP she had paid a lawyer roughly €200 ($225) to handle the administrative formalities “to be on the safe side”, as well as receiving help from a migrant aid association.

Although she was “a little worried” at the start, the English degree holder now aims to work at Madrid’s airport.

A land of emigrants for centuries, Spain is a key entry point into the European Union for tens of thousands of undocumented asylum seekers and migrants, alongside Italy and Greece.

Many come via a long and perilous Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands, although numbers dropped last year after peaking in 2024.

Since April, streams of men, women and children have queued in the streets to obtain documents and attend appointments for their regularisation, in addition to online applicants.

Although fears arose of a saturation of the services handling the scheme, Mohamed, a Moroccan who lives in the northern region of Cantabria, felt the administrative journey was “relatively easy”.

The 23-year-old jobseeker, who declined to give his surname, has been in Spain irregularly for about four years and hopes “to be able to work legally, to pay contributions”.

Gaining legal status will also spare him from unscrupulous employers who “take advantage” of irregular migrants “by paying low salaries, without any rights or… don’t pay at all,” he told AFP.

Sanchez, who has presided over one of the world’s fastest-growing developed economies in the last few years, has touted the benefits of immigration for sectors such as construction that need to boost their workforce.

Spanish business leaders have welcomed the regularisation drive but the conservative and far-right opposition are furious about a policy they claim will encourage more irregular immigration.

While accepting “tensions” and “challenges” linked to immigration and integration, Sanchez on Tuesday accused the right of “fuelling fear (and) stirring up xenophobic discourse that does not solve any problem”.

Source: AFP