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ISIS Claims Responsibility for Attack on Istanbul Church That Killed 1 

Turkish police officers stand guard in a cordoned off area outside the Santa Maria church, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024. (AP)
Turkish police officers stand guard in a cordoned off area outside the Santa Maria church, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024. (AP)
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ISIS Claims Responsibility for Attack on Istanbul Church That Killed 1 

Turkish police officers stand guard in a cordoned off area outside the Santa Maria church, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024. (AP)
Turkish police officers stand guard in a cordoned off area outside the Santa Maria church, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Sunday, Jan. 28, 2024. (AP)

The ISIS group claimed responsibility for an attack on a Roman Catholic church in Istanbul during a Sunday Mass that killed one person, in a statement issued late Sunday.

The extremist group said that it attacked a gathering of Christian “unbelievers” during their ceremony inside the Santa Maria Church in the Buyukdere neighborhood in Istanbul on Sunday.

Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said shortly before midnight that two men he described as members of the ISIS extremist movement had been arrested for the attack. One of the suspects is from Tajikistan, and the other from Russia.

The statement claiming responsibility was published on Aamaq, the media arm of the militant group, along with photos of two masked men holding guns whom it identified as the attackers.

It described the attack as killing one person and wounding another, while Turkish authorities said no one was injured besides the person killed.

Yerlikaya said police had raided 30 locations and detained a total of 47 people as part of the investigation into the attack.

“We will never tolerate those who try to disrupt the peace of our country — terrorists, their collaborators, both national and international criminal groups, and those who aim at our unity and solidarity,” Yerlikaya said.

On Jan. 3 this year, 25 suspected ISIS members were arrested across Türkiye, accused of plotting attacks on churches and synagogues, according to state-run Anadolu Agency.

ISIS has not previously targeted places of worship in Türkiye, but the militant group has carried out a string of deadly attacks in the country, including a shooting at an Istanbul night club in 2017 that killed 39 people, and a 2015 bombing attack in Ankara that killed 109.

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World

Southeastern Europe Feels Effects of Heatwave, Wildfires Break Out

The thermometer reads 36 degrees Celsius in the center of Warsaw, Poland, 27 June 2026. EPA/Radek Pietruszka POLAND OUT
The thermometer reads 36 degrees Celsius in the center of Warsaw, Poland, 27 June 2026. EPA/Radek Pietruszka POLAND OUT
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Southeastern Europe Feels Effects of Heatwave, Wildfires Break Out

The thermometer reads 36 degrees Celsius in the center of Warsaw, Poland, 27 June 2026. EPA/Radek Pietruszka POLAND OUT
The thermometer reads 36 degrees Celsius in the center of Warsaw, Poland, 27 June 2026. EPA/Radek Pietruszka POLAND OUT

The Balkans felt the impact on Monday of the record-breaking heatwave that has caused hundreds of excess deaths and disrupted daily life across the continent for more than a week, with growing concerns over the spread of wildfires, said Reuters.

There was also a warning that the heat was likely to build again from the start of next week in countries such as France and Germany that bore the brunt over the past few days.

In Croatia, the weather service issued a red alert on Monday for regions including the capital Zagreb and the ‌tourist destinations of ‌Split and Dubrovnik.

Dozens of firefighters, assisted by four aircraft, battled ‌a wildfire ⁠burning pine forests ⁠on the tourist island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea, some 34 miles (55 km) southwest of Split.

In neighboring Serbia, the State Hydrometeorological Service (RHMZ) has warned temperatures would reach 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday.

Further south, Albania contained a wildfire that has consumed many hectares of bushes and olive trees near the southern village of Klos over the weekend.

Scientists have said the heatwave, which began on June 20, was the worst recorded in Europe, and the ⁠blistering conditions have disrupted power generation, damaged infrastructure and overwhelmed healthcare systems.

France ‌has reported 1,000 excess deaths during the heatwave. The ‌French public health agency said most of the heat-related fatalities involved older people and warned the number ‌was expected to rise.

The heatwave would have been "virtually impossible" without human-caused climate change, which ‌has made this week's soaring night-time temperatures 100 times more likely than they would have been just two decades ago, according to scientists.

HEAT TO RISE AGAIN FURTHER WEST

Luca Mercalli, the president of Italy's Meteorological Society, said temperatures were set to soar again from July 5-6.

"The areas affected look ‌broadly the same as in the first wave, including France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland and to some extent Britain," he told Reuters.

"With ⁠the extreme heat ⁠the risk of forest fires increases, but we are also seeing a lot of rainstorms, which obviously mitigates that risk," he added, noting that storms were very localized so rainfall amounts could vary greatly.

Further tragedies related to the heat were reported at the weekend.

Two boys aged 8 and 10 from Bulgaria were found dead in a hot car in Cyprus on Sunday afternoon, police said. Cyprus is currently experiencing temperatures of around 38 C, which is not classified as a heatwave on the east Mediterranean island for the time of year.

Two cyclists, a 30-year-old and a 71-year-old, died while taking part in an event in the Poland Bike Marathon series in Marki near Warsaw on Sunday.

Temperatures in Poland reached a new record high on Sunday at 40.5 C.

World

Congo: Number of Confirmed Ebola Cases at 1,274, Including 360 Deaths

FILE - Health workers attend to an Ebola patient at the Rwampara treatment Center in Ituri, Congo, Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, file)
FILE - Health workers attend to an Ebola patient at the Rwampara treatment Center in Ituri, Congo, Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, file)
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Congo: Number of Confirmed Ebola Cases at 1,274, Including 360 Deaths

FILE - Health workers attend to an Ebola patient at the Rwampara treatment Center in Ituri, Congo, Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, file)
FILE - Health workers attend to an Ebola patient at the Rwampara treatment Center in Ituri, Congo, Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa, file)

The Democratic Republic of Congo said late on ⁠Sunday that confirmed ⁠Ebola ⁠cases in the country had reached 1,274, including 360 deaths.

US health authorities on Friday activated the highest level of response to the Ebola outbreak in Congo, while announcing the shipment of experimental treatments to the region.

"Our assessment (is) that the risk to the United States continues to remain low," said Satish Pillai, who is leading the Ebola response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The leading US public health agency nevertheless announced a Level 1 response -- the highest level -- as it did for the worst-ever Ebola epidemic in 2014.

The heightened response level is an "internal cue" indicating that the outbreak is a top priority for the agency, a CDC official said.

"We will mobilize staffing and additional resources as efficiently and rapidly as possible," he added.

World

Iran Cyberattacks on Israel Surged in 2026, Israeli Cyber Chief Says

Iran usually denies launching cyberattacks against other countries while announcing attacks it suffers (Archive - Reuters)
Iran usually denies launching cyberattacks against other countries while announcing attacks it suffers (Archive - Reuters)
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Iran Cyberattacks on Israel Surged in 2026, Israeli Cyber Chief Says

Iran usually denies launching cyberattacks against other countries while announcing attacks it suffers (Archive - Reuters)
Iran usually denies launching cyberattacks against other countries while announcing attacks it suffers (Archive - Reuters)

The number ‌of Iranian cyberattacks against Israel has shot up since the launch of the US-Israeli offensive against Iran this year, a senior Israeli security official was quoted as saying on Monday.

Yossi Karadi, Director General of Israel's National Cyber Directorate, told German newspaper Die Welt that in June 2025 during Israeli military ‌operations against ‌Iran, Israel's authorities registered around ‌1,600 ⁠hostile cyber incidents.

During ⁠the same month in 2026, the number had jumped to some 4,800 incidents, he told the paper.

"Some groups are very skilled," Karadi said, according to the German text of ⁠the interview. "We can handle ‌them, but we have ‌to take them seriously. Unlike in ‌the kinetic realm, there's no ceasefire in ‌cyberspace."

Karadi said the attacks were directed against systems used by Israel's critical infrastructure, central organizations, small to medium-sized companies and ‌the public, citing law practices and accounting firms as among the ⁠smaller ⁠ones hit.

"So far — and hopefully it stays that way — we've managed to fend off attacks on critical infrastructure," he said.

Companies that were easier to penetrate often ended up having their computer systems wiped, he said, without mentioning any names.

Iran typically denies carrying out hacking campaigns against other countries while reporting attacks on itself.