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France Arrests Russian Captain of Moscow-Linked Tanker

A French Navy vessel sails by the Russian oil tanker "Tagor", suspected of flying a false Cameroonian flag and boarded by the French Navy on May 31, 2026, as it arrives in Douarnenez Bay, western France on June 2, 2026. (AFP)
A French Navy vessel sails by the Russian oil tanker "Tagor", suspected of flying a false Cameroonian flag and boarded by the French Navy on May 31, 2026, as it arrives in Douarnenez Bay, western France on June 2, 2026. (AFP)
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France Arrests Russian Captain of Moscow-Linked Tanker

A French Navy vessel sails by the Russian oil tanker "Tagor", suspected of flying a false Cameroonian flag and boarded by the French Navy on May 31, 2026, as it arrives in Douarnenez Bay, western France on June 2, 2026. (AFP)
A French Navy vessel sails by the Russian oil tanker "Tagor", suspected of flying a false Cameroonian flag and boarded by the French Navy on May 31, 2026, as it arrives in Douarnenez Bay, western France on June 2, 2026. (AFP)

French authorities have taken into custody the Russian captain of a seized oil tanker believed to be part of Moscow's "shadow fleet", a prosecutor said Wednesday.

The French navy detained the Tagor on Sunday in international waters with British help on suspicion the ship was flying a false flag and after its captain refused to comply with orders.

It is the fourth ship that France has seized since September on suspicion of belonging to the "shadow fleet", which Russia is accused of using to circumvent Western sanctions.

The tanker arrived in a harbor in Brittany on Tuesday.

The captain was arrested on Tuesday and faces up to one year in prison and a 150,000-euro ($174,000) fine, said the prosecutor in the northwestern city of Brest, Stephane Kellenberger.

The owner of the vessel, currently being identified, may be subject to the same penalties, he added.

The Russian embassy in France said it had demanded "consular access be granted to the captain immediately", in a post on Telegram. It rejected what it called "baseless accusations" and urging the captain to be released "as soon as possible".

The Kremlin has likened the seizure to "international piracy".

The Tagor is suspected of carrying Russian or Iranian oil despite international sanctions. It is linked to shipping magnate Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani, according to open-source database Opensanctions.org.

Shamkhani is the son of Ali Shamkhani, who was a security adviser to the former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei. They were both killed on February 28, the first day of the US-Israeli attacks that started the Middle East war.

According to French authorities, the Tagor was on its way from Murmansk in northwestern Russia when it was boarded.

It was falsely flying a Cameroonian flag and was heading toward Limbe, a seaside city in the west of the African country, they added.

France previously detained two tankers in the Mediterranean, the Deyna in March and the Grinch in January, but they were freed after paying fines.

In another case, a French court in March issued a one-year jail sentence in absentia and a 150,000-euro ($177,000) fine against the Chinese captain of a tanker, the Boracay, for failing to comply with orders to stop in September last year off the coast of Brittany.

Several Western countries have imposed sanctions on hundreds of vessels believed to be part of Russia's "shadow fleet" over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Nearly 600 ships suspected of belonging to the fleet are subject to European Union sanctions.

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World

Ukrainian Drones Hit Warehouses and Other Sites Across Russia, Killing 9

This photograph shows smoke rising from a fire at the Russian e-commerce firm Wildberries' logistics complexes in the town of Elektrostal outside Moscow on July 18, 2026. (Photo by TATYANA MAKEYEVA / AFP)
This photograph shows smoke rising from a fire at the Russian e-commerce firm Wildberries' logistics complexes in the town of Elektrostal outside Moscow on July 18, 2026. (Photo by TATYANA MAKEYEVA / AFP)
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Ukrainian Drones Hit Warehouses and Other Sites Across Russia, Killing 9

This photograph shows smoke rising from a fire at the Russian e-commerce firm Wildberries' logistics complexes in the town of Elektrostal outside Moscow on July 18, 2026. (Photo by TATYANA MAKEYEVA / AFP)
This photograph shows smoke rising from a fire at the Russian e-commerce firm Wildberries' logistics complexes in the town of Elektrostal outside Moscow on July 18, 2026. (Photo by TATYANA MAKEYEVA / AFP)

Ukrainian drones struck two sprawling warehouses, one of them just east of Moscow, as part of attacks overnight and on Saturday afternoon that killed nine people and wounded more than 60, Russian officials said.

Kyiv's forces have pressed their relentless aerial campaign against energy infrastructure and military targets inside Russia, aiming to undermine Moscow’s war effort and make Russians feel the consequences of the Kremlin's all-out invasion of Ukraine that is well into its fifth year.

Two sprawling warehouses of Russia's major online retailer, Wildberries, were hit by Ukrainian drones overnight, according to Russian officials — one in the town of Kotovsk in the Tambov region, some 360 kilometers (220 miles) from the border with Ukraine, and another in the city of Elektrostal, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Moscow.

A Ukrainian drone also hit an oil depot in the city of Noginsk, just north of Elektrostal, sparking a fire and prompting evacuations of a nearby maternity hospital and a residential building, according to the governor of the Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov. Drone debris also hit a kindergarten building, The Associated Press quoted Vorobyov as saying, sparking a fire that has since been put out.

Seven night shift workers were killed at the warehouse in Kotovsk and 25 others were wounded, Tambov regional Gov. Yevgeny Pervyshov said. A total of 37 people were wounded in the Moscow region, Vorobyov said, adding that one of those later died in the hospital.

This photo, released by Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov's official telegram channel, shows a building damaged during a Ukrainian drone attack in Elektrostal, Moscow region of Russia, on Saturday, July 18, 2026. (Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyov's official telegram channel via AP)

One more person was killed and another wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia's Belgorod region on Saturday afternoon, according to local authorities.

Both warehouses caught fire, Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim said, and the blaze in Kotovsk was put out. Images and footage released by Russian online outlets showed a fire raging at the Elektrostal facility, with massive plumes of smoke towering over it.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post on Saturday that Ukrainian long-range strikes hit two “significant logistical facilities in the Moscow and Tambov regions."

“These facilities were used by the aggressor to supply sanctioned components for the production of drones and navigation equipment,” he wrote. An oil facility was also hit, he said.

In the city of Vladimir, some 180 kilometers (110 miles) east of Moscow, a Ukrainian drone hit a residential building, sparking a brief fire, Vladimir Gov. Alexander Avdeyev said. There were no casualties, he added.

Ukrainian special operations also conducted strikes against targets in the Sea of Azov and in occupied territory, Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine’s General Staff said in a statement on Saturday that the fuel depot in Noginsk that was targeted overnight supplied the Russian armed forces. It also reported hitting two tankers, two floating cranes and a tugboat in the Black and Azov seas, saying the vessels were used to transport oil, fuel and military cargo.

Separately, the military said it struck a Project 10410 Svetlyak-class patrol ship in Kerch, describing it as the second vessel of that class hit in two days, as well as a railway bridge over the Bila River near Sabivka in the occupied Luhansk region that it said Russia uses for military logistics.

Overall, the Russian Defense Ministry said its air defenses overnight intercepted 379 Ukrainian drones over 19 Russian regions, as well as the illegally annexed Crimea, the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

World

Iran’s Supreme Leader Warns of ‘Unforgettable Lessons’ if US Continues Attacks

Mourners chant slogans as one of them holds a poster of the Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, in a ceremony commemorating the late Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, in Tehran, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Mourners chant slogans as one of them holds a poster of the Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, in a ceremony commemorating the late Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, in Tehran, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
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Iran’s Supreme Leader Warns of ‘Unforgettable Lessons’ if US Continues Attacks

Mourners chant slogans as one of them holds a poster of the Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, in a ceremony commemorating the late Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, in Tehran, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Mourners chant slogans as one of them holds a poster of the Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, in a ceremony commemorating the late Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, in Tehran, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei warned on Saturday of ‘unforgettable lessons’ if US continues attacks.

A new statement attributed to Khamenei, still unseen since the war began, was read out on state television.

He also called US President Donald Trump’s signature “worthless and invalid,” after an Iranian negotiator earlier Saturday said Tehran was suspending its commitments to the interim deal signed by both countries about a month ago.

The deal was aimed at permanently ending the war.

Khamenei said ⁠the ⁠United States should know that the Iranian nation and the "resistance front" had "unforgettable lessons" for it.

Washington and Tehran have exchanged strikes after a ceasefire agreement fell apart last week, raising fears of a return to all-out war.

The US Central Command said early Saturday that its seventh straight night of strikes hit “surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.”

The US has violated its commitments under the deal that was signed about a month ago and now Iran is “no longer implementing them,” Kazem Gharibabadi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, told state TV.

The most significant damage from Iranian strikes on Saturday occurred in Kuwait, where a water desalination plant and an oil facility were hit, according to the Kuwait authorities and the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.

The strikes injured several people at the oil facility and caused a fire at the desalination plant, forcing several power generation units offline. It was the second attack against a desalination plant in two days.

Several firefighters and a worker were injured while battling two other blazes sparked by Iranian strikes, according to the Kuwait Fire Force. Kuwait briefly closed its airspace due to missile threats, and Kuwait Airways said it was rescheduling most flights to and from the capital.

Meanwhile, Iraq said it shot down attack drones over the city of Irbil. Jordan’s state-run Petra news agency said the kingdom’s air defense systems had downed Iranian missiles, while air sirens sounded multiple times in Bahrain throughout the day.

World

Mamdani Says He May Order Netanyahu's Arrest

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivers remarks during a ceremony marking the 250th anniversary of US independence at City Hall in New York on July 3, 2026. (Photo by Anna CONNORS / POOL / AFP)
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivers remarks during a ceremony marking the 250th anniversary of US independence at City Hall in New York on July 3, 2026. (Photo by Anna CONNORS / POOL / AFP)
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Mamdani Says He May Order Netanyahu's Arrest

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivers remarks during a ceremony marking the 250th anniversary of US independence at City Hall in New York on July 3, 2026. (Photo by Anna CONNORS / POOL / AFP)
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivers remarks during a ceremony marking the 250th anniversary of US independence at City Hall in New York on July 3, 2026. (Photo by Anna CONNORS / POOL / AFP)

Mayor Zohran Mamdani said his administration was still discussing whether to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he comes to New York as expected for the UN General Assembly in September.

“I believe that Prime Minister Netanyahu belongs in The Hague,” Mamdani told Lulu Garcia-Navarro this week on “The Interview,” a New York Times show, referring to the home of the International Court of Justice.

“He’s a war criminal who has been charged by the International Criminal Court,” Mamdani added. “And what you will find is that is an opinion that is held by many, purely because of what his actions have wrought over these last many years.”

According to NYT, the mayor said it was unclear to him whether he has the legal authority to order the Police Department, which he oversees, to detain a foreign leader like Netanyahu.

He said he was in “an active conversation” with the city’s Law Department about the matter.

“Whatever the law allows me to do in New York City, that’s what we will do, but we won’t be writing our own laws to that end,” Mamdani added.