外媒每日新闻 Royal Succession & Drone War Edition

At least 37 people were killed in a Russian strike near Kyiv, officials said Saturday, making it one of the deadliest attacks in Ukraine this year. The attack hit a warehouse in the village of Myla in Bucha district, west of Kyiv, igniting a fire that spread to nearby homes and damaged at least 50 residential buildings, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv region's military administration. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said a warehouse was struck "followed by a detonation," and noted that Ukrainian law prohibits storing ammunition near civilian housing, with criminal proceedings opened. "Those who allowed this to happen must answer for their decisions," Zelenskyy said. Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi drew parallels to a July attack on Vyshneve that killed 22: "In the fifth year of a full-scale invasion, making the same mistakes is criminal negligence." Russia's Defense Ministry said it struck a warehouse in Myla containing long-range drone components and accelerators, and also attacked ports at Mykolaiv and Izmail. The bombardment of Kyiv entered its third day of near-continuous attacks, strangling the capital's economy and disrupting civilian life. A separate Russian attack on the Kherson region killed 2 and wounded 27. Ukraine, meanwhile, has intensified long-range strikes against Russian military and energy infrastructure, with Zelenskyy saying Kyiv aims to reach 1,000 drone launches per day, up from the current average of over 300.^[1]

Heavy gunfire and explosions were heard overnight into Saturday morning in Niamey, Niger's capital, including near the main airport and in an area housing the presidential palace, according to an Associated Press witness and local media. Sustained gunfire began past midnight at the premises of Diori Hamani International Airport, which hosts a major military base. It is the third time this year the airport has experienced unrest. Local media also reported gunshots ringing out from the Plateau administrative district, where the Presidential Palace and key institutions are located. The ruling military council, the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, said defense forces had been mobilized: "Our Defence and Security Forces are mobilized for the Defense of the Fatherland. Let us remain united, vigilant and supportive." It was not immediately clear what caused the gunfire and explosions, though a local lawmaker called it a "cowardly attack." The airport area had been attacked twice by jihadists in recent months as pressure mounts on Niger's struggling military junta, which seized power in 2023, ousting the country's democratically elected president and pivoting toward Russia.^[2]

President Donald Trump presented the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the four Artemis II astronauts who flew around the moon in April, at a ceremony at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Friday. Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Canada's Jeremy Hansen became the first astronauts to travel to the moon in more than half a century, coming within 4,067 miles of the lunar surface while test-driving NASA's new Orion capsule atop a 30-story moon rocket. Trump used the occasion to sign an executive order creating the U.S. Space Academy for the Space Force, NASA and the commercial space community. "Space is the hot thing," the president told the crowd, adding that the academy's location has yet to be determined. Only 30 astronauts had received this prestigious honor before them, beginning with Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong in 1978. Trump said Americans will land back on the moon before his term ends, with Mars following "very shortly." NASA Deputy Administrator Matthew Anderson declared: "The second space race has begun," as the agency plans a sustainable moon base near the lunar south pole where frozen water could be turned into rocket fuel. After the ceremony, Trump called the International Space Station from Mission Control — the first call to the station by a sitting president.^[3]

President Donald Trump announced Friday that his administration has entered a sweeping agreement with Venezuela that could give the U.S. access to 65 billion barrels of the South American country's untapped oil reserves at cost. "The United States of America has just entered into an Agreement with the Country of Venezuela on, THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!" Trump wrote on social media. The deal, negotiated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodríguez, involves the development of 17 fields with a proven potential of 65 billion barrels. Rodríguez said the agreement could draw $100 billion in investment and yield over $209 billion in taxes for Caracas. Under the deal, the U.S. partners with an unnamed private operator to create a new company that would hold 100-year rights to develop the oil fields. The U.S. receives 55% effective output, including an ownership stake and rights to buy oil at cost. The company would become the second-largest corporate holder of proven reserves after Saudi Aramco. The announcement comes nine months after U.S. forces captured then-President Nicolás Maduro, and as Trump faces mounting pressure over gas prices averaging $4.09 per gallon — up from $3.21 a year ago. Experts warn that a production boost will not happen quickly given decades of dilapidated infrastructure, and ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods previously called Venezuela "un-investable."^[4]

Tens of thousands of mourners paid their respects to Norway's King Harald V on Saturday, placing flowers and condolence cards in front of the royal palace in Oslo, a day after the monarch died at age 89. A sea of colorful flowers covered Slottsplassen, the square in front of the palace, as a steady stream of Norwegians filed by. Palace workers collected cards and dried them after a nightly downpour to preserve mourners' messages for posterity. "It's special, intimate, and lovely. I'm placing my right hand on my chest in gratitude to him and the royal family," Roni Ervik, 46, told broadcaster NRK. Crown Prince Haakon, 53, became King Haakon VIII, adopting the motto "All for Norway," which dates back to his great-grandfather. His wife became Queen Mette-Marit, while his eldest child became Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, the new heir to the throne. Haakon had stepped in as regent multiple times as his father's health declined. The new king faces the challenge of shoring up support for the monarchy following controversies over his wife's past contacts with deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his stepson's rape conviction. The country has entered a period of official mourning, with some postponing weddings and baptisms. Haakon is expected to address the nation in his first speech as king in the coming days.^[6]

A tornado and hailstorm struck Cremona, a historic city in northern Italy known for Stradivari instrument making, injuring dozens and causing widespread damage on Saturday. The storm hit while the city was holding a local festival, damaging festival pavilions and forcing emergency responders to manage dozens of arrivals at once. Italy's fire brigade said it received more than 500 emergency calls, and ten churches, including the city's main cathedral, were damaged. A spire fell from one cathedral tower, altering the city's most famous landmark. Twelve families were evacuated after their homes were damaged by flying debris or loss of roofs. Hundreds of trees fell, and approximately 10,000 cars were damaged by hail and falling trees. Several barns were heavily damaged, and low-lying roads were flooded. The city government said damage costs are expected to reach millions of euros. Tornadoes are relatively rare in Italy, and the civil protection agency said no watches or warnings had been issued. The storm comes as Italy swelters under its fifth heatwave of the summer, part of a relentless period of extreme weather across Europe. The forestry department was inspecting the so-called "violin forests" from which the city's famous instruments are crafted.^[7]

SpaceX has pulled off its biggest salvage operation yet, recovering its most recently launched Starship from the Indian Ocean and beginning the process of shipping it back to its home base in Texas — a trip expected to take several months. Starship — the biggest and most powerful rocket in the world — blasted off July 24 from Starbase, Texas, on its 13th test flight. Unlike all previous flights, it survived the hourlong space-skimming journey and remained floating and intact, marking a significant milestone in the company's quest for full reusability. SpaceX shared pictures of the recovery effort near Christmas Island late this week, showing engineers inspecting the spacecraft and loading it onto a semisubmersible ship. "Congratulations to the entire SpaceX Recovery team for battling through challenging conditions to give our engineers access to a wealth of data to continue rapidly developing Starship," the company said via X. Starship is how Elon Musk intends to transport people and equipment to Mars, where he hopes to build a city. NASA is also counting on Starship, alongside Jeff Bezos' Blue Moon lander, to return astronauts to the lunar surface as early as 2028. President Trump endorsed both destinations — moon and Mars — during his visit to Johnson Space Center on Friday.^[8]

A new narrative has taken shape since Nvidia's earnings report this week: the company's competitive advantage goes far beyond GPUs. As AI compute grows to the gigawatt scale, orchestration has become an increasingly complex task, and Nvidia has built much of the state-of-the-art hardware to handle it. The company is currently rolling out its Vera Rubin architecture, which pairs the Rubin GPU with a collection of other specialized units, including the Vera CPU, the Groq 3 LPX inference accelerator, and similar racks for storage and networking. "Vera is important because there's only so much memory that you can put in a single server," said Jason Hardy, Nvidia's VP of storage technology. The Vera CPU focuses on orchestrating data — getting the right data to the GPU at the right time. Hardy reported "upwards of 3x improvement in these operations" with the Vera CPU's acceleration, enabling flash storage to reach its full potential without bottlenecking. This shift represents a new layer of infrastructure competition: building a rival GPU matters less than being able to make the entire system work efficiently. Even OpenAI's Jalapeño chip follows similar logic, minimizing data movement to increase efficiency. While the competition has moved to this new layer, Nvidia appears to have a commanding lead in the early stages.^[9]

The hashtag #RIPKingHarald dominated global conversation on X on Saturday as tens of thousands of mourners gathered in Oslo to pay tribute to King Harald V, who died Friday at 89. Images of flower-covered Slottsplassen went viral, with one aerial photo shared over 200,000 times. The most-shared thread came from a Norwegian journalist: "He was our anchor through WWII memories, through oil wealth debates, through terror attacks. He was the constant in a changing Norway." King Harald's 1990 New Year's speech — in which he said "We are a nation of immigrants, but we are all Norwegians" — was widely reshared as a counterpoint to rising nationalism across Europe. The announcement that Crown Prince Haakon had adopted the motto "All for Norway" was met with both celebration and scrutiny. Critics amplified the controversies surrounding Queen Mette-Marit's past contacts with Jeffrey Epstein and the stepson's rape conviction, with one viral post reading: "A new king deserves a clean slate, but the royal family cannot escape its Epstein problem." Norwegian constitutional experts weighed in on X, explaining that Haakon had already been serving as regent during his father's illness, making the transition "seamless but bittersweet." International leaders from King Charles III to Canadian PM Mark Carney posted condolences.^[10]

The hashtag #KyivUnderAttack trended globally on X as Russia's near-continuous bombardment of the Ukrainian capital entered its third day, with the Bucha district strike killing at least 37. The most harrowing viral content showed firefighters battling warehouse blazes while damaged residential buildings smoldered behind them. A thread by a Kyiv resident went viral: "Day 3. No sleep. The air raid siren has become our lullaby. My 6-year-old asks if the sky is 'safe' yet. I don't know what to tell her." Ukrainian President Zelenskyy's announcement that Kyiv aims to reach 1,000 long-range drone launches per day — up from the current 300+ — sparked fierce debate. Military analysts on X split into two camps: optimists argued this showed Ukraine's drone production had reached a turning point, while skeptics questioned whether 1,000 was achievable given supply chain constraints. One defense analyst's thread went viral: "300 to 1,000 is not a 3x increase — it's a paradigm shift. Russia is also scaling. This is becoming an industrial war of attrition, and Ukraine's survival depends on who can outproduce the other." The revelation that Ukrainian officials allowed ammunition storage near civilian housing — after a similar incident in Vyshneve killed 22 in July — drew particular outrage, with one post reading: "22 dead in July wasn't lesson enough? Now 37 more? This isn't Russian aggression alone — it's Ukrainian criminal negligence."^[11]

The hashtag #VenezuelaOilDeal trended across business and political circles on X after President Trump announced the agreement to secure U.S. control over 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves, calling it "THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY." The announcement immediately polarized opinion. Energy analysts on X debated whether the deal could actually lower U.S. gas prices — currently averaging $4.09 per gallon. One oil industry analyst's thread went viral: "65 billion barrels sounds enormous, but Venezuela's infrastructure is in ruins. ExxonMobil's CEO called it 'un-investable' months ago. This deal won't move pump prices for years." Others noted the strategic dimension: the deal comes as the Iran war enters its sixth month with the Strait of Hormuz disrupted, and U.S. strategic petroleum reserves have fallen below 300 million barrels. A former State Department official's analysis was widely shared: "This isn't about oil — it's about geopolitics. Trump is building a Western Hemisphere energy bloc to counter Iran and Russia. Venezuela is the keystone." The 100-year development rights granted to the new private company drew particular scrutiny, with legal experts questioning the unprecedented timeframe. Critics pointed out that Maduro was captured by U.S. forces nine months ago and remains jailed, raising questions about the legitimacy of the acting government that signed the deal. Senator Rubio's post calling it "a huge win for both the American and Venezuelan people" was met with skepticism from Venezuelan exiles on X, who questioned whether the deal truly benefits ordinary Venezuelans.^[12]