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Swedish police on Saturday confirmed that the victim of Friday's deadly school sword attack in Fagersta was a 17-year-old girl. An 18-year-old male student, armed with a sword, carried out the attack at the Brinell School northwest of Stockholm while classes were in session. The rampage left one dead and three minors injured. Two boys, aged 12 and 17, were severely wounded, while a third minor was slightly injured and has been discharged from the hospital, according to Swedish media. The suspect has been arrested on murder and attempted murder charges. Police fired shots during the operation but did not hit the attacker, and they believe there are no other perpetrators. While the motive remains unknown, investigators have conducted two house searches. The local state of emergency ended Saturday as around 70 residents gathered at a municipal memorial. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who visited the site alongside opposition leader Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democrats, expressed solidarity, stating, "What must never happen has happened again." With Sweden’s parliamentary election due in September, political parties suspended campaign events on Saturday, and Kristersson invited all party leaders to a briefing on the investigation. Sweden has experienced a series of school attacks over the years. Last year, 11 people, including the gunman, died at an Örebro education center in the country's worst mass shooting, leading to proposals for tougher gun laws. In 2022, an 18-year-old killed two female teachers with a knife and an ax in Malmö. In 2015, a 21-year-old local man stabbed three people to death in a racist hate crime targeting dark-skinned victims at Trollhättan’s Kronan school before police fatally shot him.

Georgia has decided not to join the latest sanctions imposed by the European Union on Iran, saying its foreign policy decisions are based solely on the country’s national interests, Georgian media says.Tengiz Sharmanashvili, a lawmaker from the ruling Georgian Dream party, said Georgia would not back any international policy that conflicts with its own priorities.“Whether Georgia will join any resolution or take steps related to international politics is determined by only one criterion: whether it is in Georgia’s interests at that moment or not,” Sharmanashvili said.“If a decision is against those interests, we do not care at all whose interests it serves afterwards,” Sharmanashvili said, according to media.With inputs from Al jazeera

An 18-year-old man armed with a sword attacked a school in central Sweden on Friday, killing one person and seriously injuring at least two others, police said. Police Chief Tommy Alriksson said the suspect was arrested after the attack at Brinell School in Fagersta, a town northwest of Stockholm. Police fired shots while apprehending the suspect. Authorities did not immediately say whether he was wounded, but confirmed that he remained in police custody and was not taken to a hospital. The attack occurred while classes were underway at the school, which had around 400 to 500 students at the time. Authorities have not disclosed a possible motive. "We have no reason at this time to believe that there are multiple perpetrators," Alriksson told reporters, adding that the investigation was continuing. National police said investigators had conducted two searches of properties linked to the suspect and planned to question a large number of witnesses. Alriksson said authorities were withholding some details to avoid affecting witness accounts as the investigation progresses. According to Sweden's TT news agency, Vastmanland County officials said the two seriously injured victims were boys aged between 12 and 17. Authorities did not immediately release information about the person who died. Police spokesperson Pelle Vamstad told TT that officers received an emergency call shortly after noon Friday. A large area around the school was sealed off as police responded to the incident. Several nearby schools were also placed under lockdown, while roadblocks were established in the area, officials said. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson expressed sorrow over the violence in Fagersta, which occurred shortly after students returned from their summer break. "We do not yet know what lies behind the act, but we know that the police are working very intensively," Kristersson said in a post on X. He added that his thoughts were with everyone affected. Fagersta's municipal authorities opened a crisis center at a nearby sports hall to provide support following the attack. Vastmanland County officials said many people had been affected by the incident, with police, firefighters and health care workers involved in the emergency response.

A series of Russian missile strikes hit Kyiv overnight Thursday, killing at least six people and leaving 33 others injured, Ukrainian officials said. The attacks struck 12 sites in the capital’s Darnytskyi, Sviatoshynskyi and Solomianskyi districts, damaging apartment buildings, a medical center and an educational facility. Rescue teams worked through the rubble to locate and free people who were trapped. In Solomianskyi district, the upper two floors of a nine-story residential building were destroyed, while fires erupted on several lower floors. Residents were also trapped inside two other apartment buildings and a school shelter. Ukraine’s Emergency Service said the air raid warning remained in place into the early hours of Thursday. The latest strikes come as Russia has increased its use of ballistic missiles against Kyiv, seeking to put further pressure on Ukraine’s already stretched air defense capabilities. Kyiv has only a limited number of systems able to intercept ballistic missiles, while supplies of ammunition for its U.S.-supplied Patriot systems remain tight. U.S. President Donald Trump had earlier approved Ukraine’s plans to secure licenses to manufacture Patriot air defense systems, but subsequently withdrew the authorization. Ukraine has responded by expanding its own long-range attacks on targets inside Russia, including weapons depots, military sites and other strategic facilities, in an effort to disrupt Moscow’s capacity to sustain its strikes on Ukrainian cities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed one of his senior officials on Wednesday as anti-corruption investigators named a deputy head of the presidential office among suspects in a money-laundering case. The developments came a day after Ukraine's recently dismissed defense minister called for national elections despite Russia's more than four-year-old invasion. Although Zelenskyy has not been implicated in the corruption investigation, the case could draw him into another political crisis and test his political resilience. Investigators provided few details but said they had identified a group of people suspected of laundering 150 million hryvnias ($3.4 million) to pay bail for a defendant in a major corruption case last year, according to the National Anti-Corruption Bureau. That case, involving the state-owned nuclear power company, led to the resignations of Ukraine's justice and energy ministers. The latest suspects include a former lawmaker, the chairperson of a state bank's board and the head of its supervisory board, as well as a deputy head of the presidential office, the agency said. Zelenskyy did not publicly comment on the investigation but issued a decree removing Iryna Mudra as deputy head of the Office of the President. Investigators have not identified Mudra as a suspect. Lawmaker Oleksii Honcharenko said investigators searched Mudra's office on Wednesday. Zelenskyy has continued to face scrutiny over high-level corruption investigations, although he has never been named as a suspect. Several officials close to him have been caught up in such probes. Last year, his chief of staff Andriy Yermak resigned and was later named as a suspect in a major corruption investigation linked to a luxury construction project, creating the biggest threat to Zelenskyy's government since Russia's 2022 invasion. The European Union has described deep-rooted corruption as one of the major obstacles to Ukraine's bid to join the bloc. Ex-defense minister calls for wartime electionZelenskyy is also facing pressure following his dismissal last month of Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, one of the longest-serving members of his team and a close ally who helped him win the 2019 presidential election. Seeking to ease tensions between the Defense Ministry's young, technology-focused reformers and Ukraine's experienced, Soviet-trained battlefield commanders, Zelenskyy reshuffled his wartime leadership. He removed both Fedorov, whose reforms to military procurement were aimed at reducing corruption, and commander-in-chief Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi. The move prompted sustained street protests in support of Fedorov. It marked the second time within a year that a decision by Zelenskyy had sparked strong public opposition, following his 2025 attempt to limit the authority of anti-corruption agencies. In a video address posted to YouTube late Tuesday, Fedorov called for national elections, appearing to directly challenge Zelenskyy, whose presidential term expired in 2024. Ukraine's constitution bars elections while martial law remains in effect. “We must find a legal, safe and realistic mechanism that will allow Ukraine to restore a full democratic process even amid a prolonged war,” Fedorov said. He argued that Ukraine is facing a governance crisis, saying the current system is focused on protecting itself and resisting change. He also criticized corruption among officials without naming individuals, saying it had weakened the country's ability to wage war. Zelenskyy's office did not immediately comment on Fedorov's remarks. It was also unclear whether the call for elections would gain broad support among Ukrainians. Meanwhile, lawmakers on Wednesday approved Zelenskyy's nominee, Maj. Gen. Yevhenii Khmara, as the new defense minister, effectively making Fedorov's return to the post unlikely in the near future. Parliament also approved Andrii Sybiha to remain foreign minister after serving in an interim capacity. Political turmoil follows Ukrainian battlefield gainsThe political uncertainty comes after a number of recent Ukrainian successes on the battlefield. Using advanced drone technology, Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russian oil facilities, contributing to fuel shortages. Ukrainian forces have also struck warehouses belonging to Wildberries, Russia's largest online retailer, and slowed Moscow's advances along the front despite Russia's larger military. However, Zelenskyy has struggled to make progress in US-led peace efforts, while Ukraine remains vulnerable to Russian ballistic missile attacks because additional US-made Patriot interceptors are unavailable amid limited global supplies. Russian President Vladimir Putin has also resisted negotiating a peace agreement directly with Zelenskyy. In the latest reported attack, a Ukrainian drone struck an oil refinery in Ufa in Russia's Bashkortostan region, according to Gov. Radiy Khabirov as quoted by Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. Ufa has three oil refineries, all of which have previously been targeted. Russia's Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted 453 Ukrainian drones overnight over several regions, as well as Russian-controlled Crimea and the Black Sea. The ministry also said Russian forces struck a bulk carrier in the Black Sea southeast of Odesa on Tuesday, alleging it was carrying military equipment. On Wednesday, Russian forces struck fuel and lubricant storage facilities for the Ukrainian military at the southern port of Chornomorsk, it said. In southern Ukraine, a Russian drone struck a minibus in Kherson on Wednesday, killing four people and injuring four women, according to regional military administration head Oleksandr Prokudin. Another Russian drone hit a civilian vehicle in the regional capital, killing a woman, he said. Amid the continuing fighting, Russia and Ukraine exchanged 103 prisoners of war, according to Zelenskyy and Russia's Defense Ministry.

Ukraine launched one of its largest drone attacks on Russia since Moscow began its full-scale invasion more than four years ago, while a Russian missile strike on a village in northeastern Ukraine killed at least 10 people, officials said Tuesday. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted 791 Ukrainian drones overnight across several regions, including annexed Crimea and the Black and Azov seas. The attack came just two days after another large-scale Ukrainian drone assault. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said more than 600 drones were detected heading toward the Moscow region, with 180 of them intercepted. No deaths or major damage were immediately reported in the capital region, although three people were injured, according to regional Gov. Andrei Vorobyov. Three others were wounded in the neighboring Ryazan region, where three private houses were damaged, Gov. Pavel Malkov said. The overnight drone barrage also sparked a fire at a warehouse belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, in an industrial area. The company said the facility suffered only minor damage. Ukraine has previously targeted Wildberries, alleging that it supports supplies for the Russian military, a claim denied by Moscow. The latest attacks reflect an escalating campaign of long-range strikes by both sides as neither has made significant gains along the roughly 1,250-kilometer frontline. Ukraine has increasingly relied on domestically produced long-range drones to strike targets deep inside Russia, seeking to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to peace talks. “Putin continues to drag out the war instead of accepting Ukraine’s realistic ceasefire proposals and ending the bloodshed,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X. Meanwhile, a Russian missile strike hit the village of Pechenihy in the Kharkiv region, killing at least 10 civilians and injuring 17, regional military administration chief Oleh Syniehubov said. The attack destroyed or damaged 10 homes, a cafe, a post office, a store and at least seven vehicles, according to Syniehubov. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the strike as a “brutal attack” and vowed a response. Separately, Russian attacks killed three people and injured three others in Ukraine’s Sumy region over the past 24 hours, according to Ukraine’s National Police. Russian state television largely did not report the massive drone attack on Moscow and surrounding areas in its morning news bulletins. However, several state and pro-Kremlin media outlets carried reports about the assault on their websites. Britain meanwhile reaffirmed its support for Ukraine after Moscow warned of unspecified consequences over Kyiv’s reported use of British-made drones in attacks on Russian territory. “We are providing support so that Ukraine can defend itself,” British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said, adding that Britain’s position remained unchanged. The Sunday Times reported that two British companies had manufactured drones used by Ukraine to strike targets in Russia. The Russian Embassy in Britain said London’s actions would “inevitably carry consequences.”

Firefighters were battling a massive wildfire in eastern Belgium on Sunday after flames swept through about 30 square kilometers (12 square miles) of the High Fens nature reserve, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of residents. Authorities ordered around 600 people living in the nearby municipalities of Waimes and Bütgenbach, in Liège province near the German border, to leave their homes Saturday as shifting winds pushed smoke and flames closer to populated areas. Tourists were also advised to leave the region, while a local gymnasium was opened as an emergency shelter for evacuees. More than 250 emergency personnel, including over 100 Belgian and German firefighters, were deployed to tackle the blaze, according to Liège provincial governor Hervé Jamar. Police, military personnel and civil protection teams were also assisting the operation. Firefighting helicopters operated by Belgium's federal police and the Netherlands were supporting crews on the ground. René Dahmen, chief engineer at the Department of Nature and Forest, said the fire continued to spread Sunday in difficult terrain that was challenging for firefighters to access. He said a stretch of the fire line at least one kilometer long was slowly moving toward a municipal forest, making it a priority for firefighting teams. "The situation is extremely difficult," Dahmen said, stressing the need for continued helicopter support. No homes had been damaged as of Sunday morning, officials said. However, the fire remained near residential areas and thick smoke continued to blanket parts of the region. Authorities urged residents and visitors to stay away from the affected area, warning that unnecessary traffic could obstruct emergency vehicles and hamper firefighting efforts. European countries provide assistance Belgium activated the European Union's civil protection mechanism to seek international assistance as firefighters struggled to contain the blaze. EU crisis management commissioner Hadja Lahbib said Belgium was receiving support from other European countries. Sweden sent two water-bombing aircraft, while three helicopters — two from the Netherlands and one from the Czech Republic — were also being deployed to assist Belgian and German crews. The wildfire comes after weeks of unusually hot and dry weather in Belgium. The High Fens, which contains large areas of heathland and peat bogs, has proved particularly difficult to fight because of the terrain and dry vegetation. Another intense heat wave affected Belgium this week, with temperatures reaching around 37 C (98.6 F) in parts of the country on Friday.

Ukraine launched one of its largest drone attacks on Russia since the start of the war on Sunday, killing at least six people and sending hundreds of drones toward Moscow and other areas, Russian officials said. Russia’s Defence Ministry said its air defences intercepted and destroyed 822 Ukrainian drones overnight. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said around 600 drones were detected heading toward the Russian capital, with about one-third of them destroyed over the Moscow region. An 83-year-old man was killed when a Ukrainian drone struck a private home in the Moscow region, regional Governor Andrey Vorobyov said. Vorobyov also said a Ukrainian drone attack sparked a fire at a warehouse belonging to Russian retail giant Wildberries. Images circulated by Russian media showed thick columns of black smoke rising over the town of Podolsk, where the warehouse was located. Five other people were killed in Russia’s southern Rostov region, according to regional Governor Yury Slyusar. He said three towns in the region came under attack, though further details were not immediately available. The scale of Sunday’s attack highlighted Ukraine’s growing use of long-range drones against targets deep inside Russian territory as the war continues.

At least 12 people were killed and 10 others seriously injured when a passenger bus carrying Polish tourists overturned on a highway in Hungary early Sunday, police said. The accident occurred around 1am on the eastbound lanes of the M3 motorway near Mezokeresztes, about 140 kilometres (87 miles) east of Budapest. Police said the bus veered off the highway and plunged into a ditch before overturning. Preliminary investigations indicated that the driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel. The driver was taken into custody, authorities said. Hungary’s National Directorate for Disaster Management said 57 passengers and two drivers were on board when the crash occurred. Several passengers were trapped beneath the overturned vehicle and had to be rescued. Polish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maciej Wewiór told Polish news agency PAP that everyone aboard the bus was a Polish citizen. The passengers were from Poland’s southeastern Podkarpackie region and were returning from a pilgrimage to Bosnia-Herzegovina, according to the regional government in Rzeszow. Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar said at least 10 people sustained serious injuries in the crash. He expressed condolences to the families of those killed and thanked emergency responders for their efforts at the accident site. Polish President Karol Nawrocki also expressed deep sorrow over the tragedy and offered his sympathy to the victims’ families and loved ones.

A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday, killing at least 111 people and damaging hundreds of buildings, President Abelardo de la Espriella said. The president declared a state of emergency to speed up funding for recovery efforts and said he would travel to the disaster zone, which is centered in the rural Choco region. The earthquake’s epicenter was in San Jose del Palmar, a community of about 4,800 people in Choco, roughly 250 miles (400 kilometers) west of Bogota, according to the U.S. Geological Survey and Colombia’s geological agency. The USGS said the quake struck at a depth of 66 miles (107 kilometers). Tremors were also felt in neighboring Ecuador and Panama, although only limited damage was reported there. Before the death toll was revised to 111, local authorities had confirmed at least 40 deaths in Risaralda, where the badly affected city of Pereira is located, and 27 in Valle del Cauca, home to Colombia’s third-largest city, Cali. At least three of those killed in Valle del Cauca were children, the governor said. Authorities also reported nine deaths in Choco, two in Caldas and one involving a 73-year-old man in Antioquia. Many others were injured across the country. The earthquake devastated cities in western Colombia, including Pereira, Quibdo, Cali and Manizales. Residents and rescue crews searched through the rubble of collapsed buildings as authorities warned of possible aftershocks. Colombia’s interior minister said more than 20 municipalities had been affected. The Pacific region around the quake’s epicenter lies along the “Ring of Fire,” a belt of seismic faults surrounding the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes occur. Choco is among Colombia’s poorest regions, and much of the densely forested area is rural and accessible only by boat or plane, potentially making it difficult for authorities to determine the full extent of the damage and casualties. Strongest earthquake in Colombia in a decade Jorge Moncayo, a 64-year-old taxi driver in Cali, said he saw clouds of dust rising across the city as buildings collapsed. Residents and rescue workers were searching through the debris for survivors. “My entire house shook. I’ve never lived through such a powerful earthquake,” he said. “We’re thanking God we’re alive.” Colombia’s Geological Service said the quake was the strongest recorded in the country over the past decade. It was followed by two aftershocks measuring 2.8 and 4.8 in magnitude. Authorities also suspended flights at airports in Manizales, Quibdo, Armenia, Cartago, Buenaventura and Pereira. The disaster further unsettled Colombians following two consecutive earthquakes that devastated neighboring Venezuela in late June, destroying hundreds of buildings and killing more than 5,000 people. As buildings collapsed in Colombia, families in Venezuela were still searching through the ruins for the remains of loved ones. In Pereira, photos and videos published by local media showed sections of the airport ceiling collapsing onto travelers who had taken shelter, while people screamed and ran through the debris. Pereira Mayor Mauricio Salazar told a local radio station that at least 18 people had died and many others were trapped beneath “a massive quantity of collapsed buildings.” In nearby Manizales, a city in Colombia’s coffee-producing mountains, one of the towers of the neo-Gothic cathedral collapsed onto the nave. Mayor Jorge Eduardo Rojas urged residents to remain outside because of the risk of aftershocks. Authorities in rural Choco, where the earthquake was centered, reported injuries and damage to buildings in the regional capital but provided few details. In Cali, a city of about 2 million people, Mayor Alejandro Eder said residents were trapped in at least 19 collapsed buildings. Powerful earthquakes rare in Colombia Small earthquakes, locally known as “temblores,” are common in central and western Colombia, but quakes above magnitude 6.0 are rare. A 6.2-magnitude earthquake near Armenia in 1999 killed more than 1,100 people. President de la Espriella said Monday that he had personally taken charge of the government’s response to the emergency in San Jose del Palmar. “You are not alone. The state is present and taking action,” he said. The earthquake response represents the first major challenge for de la Espriella, a Trump ally who was sworn in as president over the weekend. Messages of support came from leaders across the Americas, including Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, El Salvador and the United States. “The Trump administration is closely monitoring the large earthquake that struck Colombia and stands ready to support the people of Colombia,” U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X. Several countries offered assistance, while U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the United Nations was “ready to help as needed.”