ABOLISH PRISON

Overcrowded French prison swelters in 'unbearable' heat

Seysses (France) (AFP) – Inmates at a prison in southwestern France are struggling to cope as a heatwave grips the region, with high temperatures set to persist through the weekend.


Issued on: 09/08/2025 

Experts say heatwaves are likely to become more frequent across Europe © Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP

Fans hummed in every corner, and sheets hung from windows at an overcrowded prison near the city of Toulouse, where inmates tried to cool down as temperatures pushed past 36 degrees Celsius, an AFP journalist observed on Thursday.

Southern France is in the grip of a heatwave, and for inmates at the Seysses detention centre, that heat is "unbearable", one detainee said.

But like many prisons in France, Seysses is overcrowded — in June, it held on average more than twice its capacity.

"Having two people per cell has become the exception," said one guard, whose name like all the detainees interviewed cannot be published.


With detention centres across the country at over capacity and facilities ill-suited to ever more frequent heatwaves, guards and inmates alike worry about the impact of the heat.

Heat can create security risks, with fights becoming "more frequent" as temperatures rise, the guard said.

"The slightest annoyance can spark a fight."

Temperatures this weekend are expected to hit 40C in some areas and Monday forecast to be the "hottest day nationwide," according to national weather service Meteo France.

At the prison, "you can really feel the 38 degrees. The walls absorb the heat. There's condensation," the detainee said, speaking from the 9-square-metre cell he shares with two other people.

"We're not going to ask for air conditioning, that's not going to happen, but we would like more ventilation or a larger cell," he said.

-'No choice'-

As the planet warms as a result of humanity's emissions of greenhouse gases, experts say heatwaves are likely to become more frequent across Europe.

For detainees at Seysses, a two-hour break in an asphalt courtyard with no trees offers little reprieve, with mist sprayers not due to be installed until next summer.

An inmate in the women's section of the prison said she and her fellow prisoners just stayed in their cells because it was too hot to go outside.

Guards say high temperatures can create security risks, with fights becoming more common © Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP


For the inmates who did venture into the recreation yard, most stayed in the shade, though a few did some push-ups or pull-ups even in the blistering heat.

Prison staff distributed free water and provided fans and hats to the most vulnerable individuals, including those over 75 years old or those with health issues.

But the prison's facilities, including a poorly ventilated library and a gym, with tiny windows and a single fan, offer little escape from the heat.

"It's hot in there, but when there are a lot of them, it gets very, very hot very quickly," said a guard, describing the workout room.

Even sleep brings little relief, said one recent arrival in the women's section of the prison, which is built for 40 people but holding 80.

The inmate, who shares her cell with two other detainees, said she has no alternative but to sleep on a mattress on the floor.

Sleeping is "difficult, because it's concrete and during the summer, it's quite hot," she said.

"But we have no choice."

Zimbabwe: Pressure mounts on platinum sector


Issued on: 09/08/2025 - 

The platinum sector is facing mounting pressure as miners claim they are owed millions in unpaid export earnings. Under government policy, 30% of foreign currency from exports must be converted into local currency. However, delays in those payments are hitting producers hard. France 24's Sharon Mazingaizo reports.

WHY D.E.I.

Pawol becomes first woman to umpire in Major League Baseball

Washington (AFP) – Jen Pawol made history by becoming the first woman to umpire in a regular-season Major League Baseball game on Saturday -- and she says she is aware of the "magnitude" of the moment.


10/08/2025 - FRANCE24

Jen Pawol makes an out call during her historic debut as the first female umpire in a Major League Baseball regular-season game as the Miami Marlins visited the Atlanta Braves © Brett Davis / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

The 48-year-old, who worked in more than 1,200 minor league games before getting the call-up this week, achieved the milestone at Truist Park in Atlanta in the first game of a double-header between the Braves and the Miami Marlins.

"I'm aware of the gravity. I'm aware of the magnitude," said Pawol, who worked at first base.

Pawol, whose cap from the historic outing will be donated to the Baseball Hall of Fame, will be calling balls and strikes behind home plate in Sunday's contest between the clubs.

"Just incredible. The dream came true. The dream actually came true today," Pawol said following the game. "And I'm still living in it."

The historic moment for Pawol came when Atlanta starting pitcher Hurston Waldrep threw the opening pitch. She later inspected Waldrep's hands for foreign substances as part of her game duties.

"Once I started umpiring, I was like, 'This is for me,'" Pawol recalled before the game. "I can't explain it. It's just in my DNA.

"This is a viable career, to become a professional umpire, for men and women, girls and boys. I'm able to make a living doing it and I'm passionate about it. I just work harder every day and get better before tomorrow."

In the game, Drake Baldwin singled in two runs and Michael Harris smashed a three-run home run in the seventh inning to lead the Braves over Miami, 7-1.
'Long, hard journey'

Pawol began working as an umpire in the rookie-level Gulf Coast League in 2016 and last year became the first woman umpire in a pre-season spring training game since Ria Cortesio in 2007 before making her historic breakthrough in a regular-season game.

"It has been a long, hard journey to the top here," Pawol said. "I'm just extremely focused on getting my calls right and I'm so grateful to all those along the way who have helped me become a better umpire every day."

MLB's addition of a female umpire comes 28 years after Violet Palmer became the first woman to referee an NBA game in October 1997.

Shannon Eastin was the NFL's first female on-field official, hired as a replacement when regular officials were locked out in a contract dispute in September 2012.

Three years later, Sarah Thomas became the NFL's first full-time female on-field official and last year, two women worked on the officiating crew of the same game for the first time.

Stephanie Frappart of France was the first woman to referee a men's World Cup match when she worked a group stage match in 2022.

© 2025 AFP

French scientists map plankton, the ocean’s mysterious oxygen factories

French scientists are mapping plankton across the Indo-Pacific – using Navy ships to study the microscopic organisms that produce half of Earth’s oxygen, feed the ocean and help regulate the planet’s carbon. The eight-year mission is charting life in remote waters to understand how these drifting ecosystems evolve – and why they matter.


Issued on: 09/08/2025 - RFI

A large phytoplankton bloom, visible from space, shows how these drifting ecosystems can stretch across hundreds of kilometres. © European Space Agency

Since 2022, Mission Bougainville has been turning French Navy ships into floating science labs.

Recent graduates from the Sorbonne are stationed on board as biodiversity cadets. They work alongside the crew, collecting and studying plankton as the ships patrol thousands of kilometres of open sea.

One of those ships, the Champlain, sailed in June to the Scattered Islands near Madagascar – a remote string of French territories the Navy supplies and protects. The vessel usually patrols for illegal fishing and drug trafficking. Now, it also carries young scientists and plankton-sampling gear.

These minuscule organisms may be invisible to the naked eye, yet their role is immense. They absorb carbon dioxide, produce around 50 percent of the oxygen we breathe, and form the base of the marine food chain. Yet much remains unknown, especially how plankton responds to environmental change.

Mission Bougainville focuses on France’s vast Exclusive Economic Zones in the Indo-Pacific – a maritime area that spans from the Indian Ocean to the South Pacific and gives France one of the largest ocean territories in the world.

The project also has researchers aboard other Navy ships operating between French Polynesia and New Caledonia, territories that offer access to far-flung waters still largely unstudied.

Nations vow to cut shipping noise as sea life struggles to be heard

Charting life on the move

The mission builds on work by the Tara Ocean Foundation, which changed how scientists understand plankton. But Bougainville takes it further by using the Navy’s existing routes to access under-researched zones and collect data over time.

“The big difficulty with plankton is that you have to study it everywhere. It moves fast, adapts fast and you cannot understand it without worldwide study. It’s all interconnected,” said Colomban de Vargas, a marine biologist with France’s National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and co-founder of the mission.

Scientists have studied plankton for more than a century. But Bougainville’s scale and regularity are what set it apart.

Multiple Navy ships are now involved, including the Champlain and vessels operating in the South Pacific. The mission aims to gather around 100 samples per ship each year through to 2030 – enough to build a global database covering millions of square kilometres.

Laurine, a French scientist, collects a plankton sample aboard the Navy vessel Champlain. © RFI / Titouan Allain


A major focus is what researchers call the “island effect”. The Indo-Pacific is dotted with islands and underwater mountains. In many parts of the ocean, nutrients are scarce. But land masses release material that acts like fertiliser – triggering blooms of phytoplankton.

These blooms can float for weeks and are large enough to be seen from space.

“Islands change the composition of plankton over tens, hundreds of kilometres. They create an ecosystem that moves through the ocean for weeks before disappearing, then being created again. They’re like moving forests,” said de Vargas.

These ecosystems move across the ocean, then vanish and reappear elsewhere. Scientists are now trying to understand how they form, whether they follow patterns, and how they change over time.

Plankton don’t choose where they go – they drift with the currents. That makes each island a kind of natural lab. “Each of these islands is a test tube, ideal terrain for science,” said de Vargas.

Niue, the tiny island selling the sea to save it from destruction

Climate and geopolitics

By taking repeated samples across different seasons and locations, researchers can learn how plankton adapt to changing conditions – from rising temperatures to shifts in ocean chemistry.

“Differences in plankton composition will affect the entire ecosystem, consequently affecting the economy of different territories and therefore global geopolitics,” said de Vargas.

But researchers stress that this work is still in its early stages. It will take years of sampling and analysis before the full picture becomes clear.

“You have to understand the basic functional aspects of plankton before talking about its evolution or adaptation,” de Vargas added.

Mission Bougainville is set to continue through to 2030.

Starvation spreads from camps to besieged Sudanese city of El-Fasher

Months after famine was declared in nearby displacement camps, the besieged Sudanese city of El-Fasher is now seeing starvation deaths of its own, with no food aid entering and the UN’s World Food Programme warning of worsening conditions for the 300,000 people still trapped inside.


Issued on: 09/08/2025 - RFI

Internally displaced women wait in a queue to collect aid from a group at a camp in Gadaref, after fleeing the Darfur town of El-Fasher. AFP - -

By: Melissa Chemam with RFI


After nearly 28 months of siege, the UN’s children agency Unicef and the World Food Programme (WFP) say famine could soon take hold in El-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur.

“The situation in El Fasher is completely catastrophic; the city's population is on the verge of starvation,” said Leni Kinzli, WFP’s spokesperson in Sudan, speaking to RFI this week

“It is besieged, cut off from the rest of the country, and humanitarian access is extremely difficult.”

WFP says it has not been able to deliver food to the city for over a year. In the meantime, it has carried out cash transfers, but the blockade has made those nearly useless.

“Since the city is under blockade, the prices of basic necessities have skyrocketed, and people cannot even buy enough to make one meal a day,” Kinzli said.

Some residents are reportedly now eating animal feed and rubbish to survive. “And this is despite the fact that we are ready to intervene with food trucks if we are allowed to pass,” Kinzli added.

WFP is again calling for aid convoys to be allowed through.

Two years of devastation: Sudan’s war claims thousands and displaces millions

'Skin and bones'

The Sudanese army, at war with the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 2023, recaptured Khartoum state in May, but widespread hunger continues to grip the heart of Africa's third-largest country.

Many children in Sudan are now “skin and bones”, UN officials said this week, and thousands of families in El-Fasher, more than 1,000 kilometres west of Khartoum, are at risk of starving.

“Everyone in El-Fasher is facing a daily struggle to survive,” said Eric Perdison, WFP’s regional director for eastern and southern Africa, on Tuesday.

RSF forces have surrounded the city since May. It is the last major urban area in Darfur still under army control.

“People's coping mechanisms have been completely exhausted by over two years of war,” Perdison said in a statement. “Without immediate and sustained access, lives will be lost.”

WFP says food prices in El-Fasher are now 460 percent higher than in the rest of the country. Soup kitchens have shut down, and aid remains blocked.

Unicef’s Sheldon Yett, who recently visited Sudan, warned of growing malnutrition.

“Malnutrition is rife, and many of the children are reduced to just skin and bones,” he said. Around 25 million people across Sudan face severe food insecurity, according to the UN.

UN urges action on Sudan's 'forgotten war' as humanitarian crisis takes hold

Acute hunger, limited access

Famine was first declared in the surrounding displacement camps last year, especially in Zamzam. The UN said the crisis would likely spread to the city itself by May.

Only a lack of reliable data has prevented a formal famine declaration for the wider region.

Aid agencies say insecurity is making it nearly impossible to act. In June, five humanitarian workers were killed when their UN convoy to El-Fasher was attacked.

“We have not had access to the horrible situation unfolding in El-Fasher, despite trying for months and months and months,” said Yett. “We have not been able to get supplies there.”

Nearly 40 percent of children under five in the area are acutely malnourished, UN data shows.

Residents often shelter in makeshift bunkers to avoid shelling as the RSF continues its push to take full control of Darfur.

This child got tested for malnutrition at World Food Programme (WFP) camp at El Fasher, in Darfur, Sudan, on 27 March 2025, here seen in a screengrab obtained from a video. via REUTERS - WFP

In April, an RSF attack on Zamzam camp killed hundreds and forced hundreds of thousands to flee to el-Fasher and the nearby town of Tawila. A deadly cholera outbreak is now spreading there.

“Every day the conflict continues in Sudan, innocent lives are lost, communities are torn apart, and trauma continues to haunt generations,” said Radhouane Nouicer, the UN's expert on human rights in Sudan. “The ongoing war has devastated civilian lives and turned daily survival into a constant struggle.”
Children in crisis

Relative calm has returned to Khartoum, but children there still have only "limited, but growing access to safe water, food, healthcare and learning", according to Unicef's Yett.

In the two hardest-hit areas of Khartoum state, Jebel Awliya and Khartoum proper, "children and families in the neighbourhood are sheltered often in small, damaged or unfinished buildings", he added.

"We are on the verge of irreversible damage to an entire generation of children."

The war, now in its third year, has killed tens of thousands across Sudan, displaced millions and left the country's healthcare system in ruins.

The UN describes the conflict as the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis.

(with newswires)

Landmark EU media law enters into force, aims to provide protection for journalists

Copyright AP Photo

By Sandor Zsiros
08/08/2025 -

According to the EU, media freedom is a cornerstone of democracy and therefore needs protection in all member states.

The EU's landmark Media Freedom Act (EMFA) entered into force Friday, with the aim of providing better protection for the press and making media ownership more transparent.

The law also aims to limit the use of spyware against journalists, enhance the transparency of state advertising, and strengthen the independence of public media.

The new rules also increase protection for journalists and for their sources. Social media platforms should also refrain from arbitrarily deleting or restricting content from independent media under the new regime.

The law was drafted by the European Commission and supported overwhelmingly by the European Parliament in a plenary vote in 2024.

“With the European Media Freedom Act entering into application, media and journalists across the EU gain unprecedented safeguards, and citizens can trust that the news they receive is driven by facts, not by business or political agenda,” European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law Michael McGrath said.

“The entry into application of the EMFA is a landmark for press freedom in the EU. But its true value will be measured in action, not words," said Sabine Veheyen, a German EPP MEP, who chairs Parliament’s working group scrutinising the law’s implementation.

"Now begins the real work: ensuring every member state implements the EMFA fully and faithfully. Media freedom is not negotiable - it is the backbone of our democracy,” Veheyen added.

Nela Riehl, a German MEP from the Greens/EFA group and the chair of the Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education, said member states should adhere to the rules.

“With the Media Freedom Act, Europe has set the benchmark for the protection of press freedom and journalistic work. This is a great achievement," Riehl said.

"But it is only meaningful if we adhere to it. I am looking with concern at the decline in press freedom in different parts of Europe and call on all member states to implement it dutifully.”

The European Commission proposed the new rules against a backdrop of declining media freedom in many member states.

Recent EU rule of law reports have highlighted ongoing concerns about media freedom and pluralism across the EU, noting a worrying decline in media freedom and safety of journalists in some member states, notably in Hungary, Poland and Greece.

Meanwhile, investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Malta and Ján Kuciak in Slovakia were assassinated because of their work within the last eight years.

Under the new rules, governments may only use spyware on journalists as a last resort, if national security is in danger. Earlier, both Hungary and Poland allegedly used Pegasus spyware on journalists.

A new EU body, called the European Board for Media Services, will oversee the implementation of the laws. The Media Freedom Act is the first-ever EU regulation related to the press.

How the UK’s Green Man Festival has managed to stay independent

Copyright Atmos - Patrick Gunning

By Jonny Walfisz
Published on 09/08/2025 

Ahead of this year's festival, Green Man Festival owner and director Fiona Stewart explains the importance of independent festivals as corporations take over the industry.

Amid the tranquil verdant hills of the Brecon Beacons in south Wales, one of Europe’s most special music festivals finds its home.

While many festivals might turn their sites into cacophonous blurs of hedonism and noise, Green Man Festival is a little different.

Sure, there’s plenty of noise. After all, this year’s line-up includes Northern Irish rap group Kneecap, electro legends Underworld and indie rockers Wet Leg... But what sets apart Green Man is its community-led independent focus.

Ahead of the sold-out 2025 edition (14-17 August), Euronews Culture caught up with festival director Fiona Stewart.

Green Man - 2024 Nici Eberl

Started in 2003, the festival saw Stewart come on board in 2006. She has seen the festival’s profile grow to one of the most acclaimed in the UK. All 25,000 tickets sold out within 35 seconds when they went online in October last year.

About a 10th the size of Glastonbury, fans of Green Man come for its curated line-up of artists, its family and queer-friendly atmosphere, and its stunning placement in one of Wales’ most picturesque national parks.

“I love looking at people’s faces,” Stewart says of the Green Man audience. “We spend all year thinking about things which are going to entertain them and surprise them, so actually seeing them react to it and enjoy it. I get such a massive kick out of it.”

Green Man Festival - 2024 Patrick Gunning

What fans might not know is that Green Man is one of the biggest festivals that can still claim to be fully independent.

While other major music events have been bought out by large companies, Green Man is run entirely by its own team. Keeping Green Man independent has always been of great importance to Stewart, whose title isn’t just Director but also owner.

Prior to Green Man, Stewart worked for The Big Chill, and she learned from her experiences with the English festival.

“That was a lovely festival. A really, really beautiful festival,” she tells Euronews Culture. “And I saw that become very damaged over time.”

Indeed, The Big Chill went into voluntary liquidation in 2009 and was then sold to Festival Republic, who cancelled the festival outright after its 2011 edition.

Festival Republic owns multiple major UK festivals including Reading and Leeds, Latitude, Wireless and Download, as well as Longitude in Ireland and Germany’s Lollapalooza. Between 2002 and 2012, they also were the operators of Glastonbury.

Part of Live Nation Entertainment – the entertainment company that has been criticised for its widespread control of music venues and ticketings – Festival Republic runs efficient, enjoyable but, crucially, profit-driven events.

“They're about market share and shareholders and investment, and it's not their fault. Legally, they have to be generating money. And they do some amazing events. They do lots of things I couldn't do, and they employ a lot of people, so it's not all bad, but it's run in a very different way,” Stewart says.

Stewart still has to make sure Green Man is profitable enough to continue running, but without the same shareholder chain-of-command of a mega corporation like Live Nation, she’s more free to make decisions that benefit the atmosphere of the festival.

Green Man Festival - 2024 Kirsty McLachlan

Fundamentally, being independent allows Green Man to court the artists they please, choosing quality and experience over established star power. Discovery is at the heart of the experience, wandering between the charming walled garden stage into tents to find the next Self Esteem or Michael Kiwanuka.

For many acts across the weekend, Green Man is a potential launchpad.

That doesn't mean to say they don’t attract big names. This year’s line-up also includes heavy hitters like Beth Gibbons, Perfume Genius, Panda Bear and CMAT, as well as critically acclaimed emerging talents like Nilüfer Yanya, English Teacher and Been Stellar.

Stewart doesn’t handle the curation directly (“I'm too old, quite frankly”) but entrusts it to a team of curators, each covering music, spoken word, comedy, performing arts and more. They are all totally immersed in their areas with great relationships in the industry.

“I just say, as long as we can afford it and you and it's not gonna cause a problem, then you can book it.”

Kneecap performs in Finsbury Park - 5 July 2025, London AP Photo

Opening the weekend this year, Northern Irish rap group Kneecap have been the only source of a potential problem.

The group have been at the centre of multiple controversies after footage emerged of them allegedly calling for MPs to be killed. Band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh was also charged by the Metropolitan Police with a terror offence after allegedly displaying the flag of proscribed organisation Hezbollah at a gig.

The Welsh government condemned their actions, but many artists – including those on this year’s line-up – have signed letters in favour of Kneecap’s freedom of expression. Ó hAnnaidh, known by his stage name Mo Chara, is set to next appear in court on 20 August, three days after Green Man Festival finishes for 2025.

Due to the ongoing legal proceedings, Green Man declined to comment on Kneecap’s inclusion on the line-up.

Green Man’s silence still puts the festival at odds with other festivals and venues. Kneecap were quickly dropped from line-ups at German festivals Hurricane and Southside, Hungary's Sziget festival, as well as multiple dates in the UK - including TRNSMT in Scotland.

The Bright Side: Spanish firefighters praised for saving historic Cordoba mosque-turned-cathedral

Firefighters were being praised on Saturday for rapidly containing a fire a day after it threatened to destroy a historic mosque-turned-cathedral in the southern Spanish town of Cordoba. The spectacular blaze, which broke out on Friday, was captured on video and widely shared on social media, evoking memories of the 2019 fire that almost razed France's famed Notre-Dame cathedral to the ground.

Issued on: 09/08/2025 -

By: FRANCE 24

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire which broke out in the historic mosque-turned-cathedral in the southern Spanish city of Cordoba on August 8, 2025

. © Madero Cubero, AFP

A historic mosque-turned-cathedral in Cordoba in southern Spain reopened on Saturday, a day after a blaze that was quickly contained by firefighters, a spokesman for the site said.

Considered a jewel of Islamic architecture, the site opened at 10am (0800 GMT) and will close at 7pm – its regular hours – with only the area where the fire broke out cordoned off to the public, he told AFP by telephone.

The spectacular blaze broke out on Friday at about 9pm, raising fears for the early medieval architectural gem and evoking memories of the 2019 fire that ravaged Notre Dame cathedral in Paris.

Widely shared videos had shown flames and smoke billowing from inside the major tourist attraction, visited by two million people per year.


Read moreThe Bright Side: Gabon's ancient caves shed light on 27,000 years of human history

Firefighters quickly contained the blaze and Cordoba's mayor, Jose Maria Bellido, told Spanish media said the monument was "saved".

Luckily, the rapid and magnificent intervention of the Cordoba firefighters averted a catastrophe. The fire is now out, and tonight firefighters and local police teams will remain on site to avoid any risk," he added on X late on Friday.

The Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba is pictured next to the Roman bridge on June 11, 2023. © Cristina Quicler, AFP

Officials are expected to give an update on the extent of the damage later on Saturday.

ABC and other newspapers reported that a mechanical sweeping machine had caught fire in the site.

The site was built as a mosque – on the site of an earlier church – between the 8th and 10th centuries by the southern city's then Muslim ruler, Abd ar-Rahman, an emir of the Umayyad dynasty.

After Christians reconquered Spain in the 13th century under King Ferdinand III of Castile, it was converted into a cathedral and architectural alterations were made over following centuries.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Wildfires rage across southern Europe amid record temperatures

Copyright AP Photo/Manu Fernandez

By Emma De Ruiter
Published on 09/08/2025 

France, Spain, Greece and Turkey are all battling wildfires as a new heatwave brings record temperatures surpassing 42 degrees Celsius.


Firefighters are battling wildfires across southern Europe as extreme heat grips the region with record-breaking temperatures.

In France, About 1,400 firefighters were deployed on Saturday in France's southern Aude region to prevent the country's largest wildfire in decades from reigniting, as all residents were allowed to return to their homes.

Aude prefect Christian Pouget said the fire has been contained since Thursday after burning more than 160 square kilometres this week in the wooded region, known for its wineries.

All roads have been reopened but authorities issued a strict ban on accessing the forest, Pouget said at a news conference on Saturday.


“The fight is continuing, firefighters are still working on (fire) re-ignition,” he said.

Burned trees are pictured during one of the largest wildfire in decades in Fontjoncouse, southern France, Friday, Aug.8, 2025. AP Photo/Manu Fernandez

The blaze left one person dead and 25 people have been injured, including 19 firefighters, Pouget said.

High temperatures in the coming days are expected to complicate firefighters' efforts.

“The fire won’t be extinguished for several weeks,” Col. Christophe Magny, director of Aude firefighters department, said, pointing to several “hot spots” that are being closely monitored.

France’s national weather agency Meteo France placed the southern half of France under “high vigilance” alert for heat wave, with temperatures expected in the Aude region of up to 39°C on Saturday.

Fires continue in Spain and Greece

Firefighters also continued to battle an active wildfire in Avila province, central-western Spain on Saturday.

The fire began on Friday afternoon, with the Spanish Military Emergencies Unit (UME) working through the night in an effort to bring it under control and prevent it from approaching roads and train lines.

With temperatures reaching close to 39°C in parts of Spain and Portugal, fire risk is extremely high.

The current period of extreme temperatures is expected to continue until at least next Wednesday, according to Spain's national weather service AEMET.

A helicopter flies through smoke from a fire at Keratea, outskirt of Athens, on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis

In Greece, a large wildfire that erupted on Friday afternoon in Keratea, some 40 kilometres southeast of Athens, continued to rage across eastern and southern Attica through the night, causing significant damage to homes and claiming one life.

Authorities issued evacuation orders as the blaze approached residential areas while firefighters battled strong winds.

At least 260 firefighters, supported by 77 vehicles, were working to contain the blaze, with numerous volunteers and civilians assisting in the affected areas.

Wildfire in Turkey under control

Wildfires in the central districts of Canakkale and the Bayramic area in western Turkey have been largely brought under control, according to Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli.

Yumakli stated that firefighting teams worked throughout the night to halt the advance of the blazes. He confirmed that the spread of the fires had been stopped and that cooling efforts are ongoing.

The fire, which broke out on Friday near Yigitler village and spread to a forested area under strong winds, had prompted precautionary evacuations in the villages of Sacakli, Ahmetceli, Doganca, Zeytinli, and Pitirelli.

A total of 654 residents were relocated to safe zones. Authorities reported that four suspects have been taken into custody as part of the ongoing investigations into the cause of the fires.

Smoke rises from the rubble following a fire in Sacakli, Canakkale province, northwest, Saturday, Aug. 9, 2025. Berkman Ulutin/Dia Photo via AP

A new normal

Southern Europe has seen multiple large fires this summer. Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires.

This week, the UN World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) released a report detailing the impact of extreme heat worldwide.

The report indicated that extreme temperatures caused approximately 489,000 heat-related deaths annually between 2000 and 2019, with 36% occurring in Europe

In this record-breaking July, Turkey recorded an extreme new national high of 50.5°C, it said. Sweden and Finland also experienced unusually long spells of temperatures above 30°C.

The WMO warns that countries need to act faster to adapt to climate change and limit global warming, in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement.

“Extreme heat is sometimes called the silent killer, but with today’s science, data and technologies, silence is no longer an excuse. Every single death from extreme heat is preventable,” said WMO Deputy Secretary-General Ko Barrett.

The organisation estimates that scaling up heat-health warning systems in 57 countries alone could save nearly 100,000 lives annually.

“This is not just a climate issue, it’s a public health emergency,” said Joy Shumake-Guillemot, lead of the WHO-WMO Climate and Health Joint Programme and co-lead of the Global Heat-Health Information Network (GHHIN).

Huge wildfire breaks out on Mount Vesuvius with flames visible from Naples

Copyright Vigili del Fuoco

By Euronews
Published on 09/08/2025 

A huge fire has broken out in the Vesuvius National Park with smoke visible over the city of Naples. Whilst over 100 firefighters and volunteers work to put out the blaze.


A huge fire has erupted in Vesuvius National Park in Italy’s western Campania region. The Campania Civil Protection deemed the situation critical, and has called in the Army to help manage the situation and guard roads, open access routes, and supply water to the tankers.

The National Civil Protection Department is also sending a support team to the Terzigno coordination centre and providing air support.

"In order to fight the flames and ensure the greatest possible air coverage for the extinguishing activities, six Canadairs of the national fire-fighting air fleet, coming from different regions and at work from the first light of dawn, are operating on the vast fire. In addition to the state fleet, airborne resources from the regional fleet are also operating on the fire,' the Civil Protection Service wrote in a statement issued on Saturday.

Over one hundred firefighters and volunteers working to extinguish the flames

Around 100 firefighters and Civil Protection volunteers have been battling the blaze relentlessly, working through the night from Friday to Saturday. Rising temperatures and unfavourable weather have made the task even more difficult.

Now in its fourth day, the fire has ravaged the Terzigno pine forest and spread into the neighbouring municipalities of Ottaviano and San Giuseppe Vesuviano. The flames are so intense they can be seen from across Naples and much of the surrounding province.

The mayor of Terzigno, Francesco Ranieri, described the past night as “very critical,” though the efforts of rescuers prevented the flames from reaching homes. However, some of the area’s most beautiful vegetation, behind the municipal stadium, has been destroyed.

The cause of the fire is considered suspicious. Mayor Ranieri voiced concern that it may be arson, recalling the devastating blazes of 2017 and suggesting there may be a “criminal hand” behind this one as well. At present, the fire front is moving from the Terzigno pine forest towards the Tirone–Alto Vesuvio reserve — an area of particular concern for emergency crews. The Park Authority estimates that around 200 hectares have already been affected.

Over 50 fires in Campania over the weekend

The crisis extends far beyond Vesuvius. The regional Civil Protection also tackled two other major blazes — one in Mercato San Severino, in the province of Salerno, and another in Frasso Telesino, in the province of Benevento. On Friday alone, more than 50 fires were recorded across Campania, underlining the severity of the situation.

Los Angeles: Firefighters make progress against blaze that forced thousands to flee


Issued on: 09/08/2025 - FRANCE24

Firefighters in a mountainous area north of Los Angeles made good progress in their battle against a brush fire that has forced thousands of people to evacuate, officials said on August 8.

Video by: Catherine VIETTE

Armenia, Azerbaijan sign US-brokered peace deal, agree to open ‘Trump Route’ transit corridor

Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev, US President Donald Trump and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan hold up copies of the historic peace deal signed in the White House on August 8. / primeminister.am

By Clare Nuttall in Glasgow August 9, 2025

The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a landmark peace agreement at the White House on August 8. Officials said the US-brokered deal will end decades of conflict and open a strategic transit corridor that is set to reshape trade flows in the South Caucasus.

The agreement, reached after months of US-led talks, commits the two countries to formally end hostilities and reopen transport links severed during decades of conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. It includes the creation of a major transit route through southern Armenia linking Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave bordering Turkey, a project named the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” (TRIPP).

“This is a great honour for me,” US President Donald Trump said at the signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. “I didn’t ask for this,” he added, according to a White House statement, saying that the name of the route was proposed by the Armenian side.

Aliyev and Pashinyan shook hands in the White House’s East Room as Trump reached over to clasp both their hands, in a symbolic gesture intended to draw a line under the lengthy conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since the early 1990s.

“For more than 35 years, Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought a bitter conflict that resulted in tremendous suffering for both nations… With this accord, we’ve finally succeeded in making peace,” Trump said.

The leaders of both Azerbaijan and Armenia were effusive in their thanks to the US president. 

“It’s a day which will be remembered by the people of Azerbaijan with a feeling of pride and gratitude to President Trump… Within several months, he managed to put an end to conflicts in Asia, in Africa, and now in South Caucasus — what we could not achieve for more than 30 years,” said Aliyev, as quoted in a White House statement.

“We will turn the page of standoff, confrontation, and bloodshed, and provide a bright and safe future for our children.” 

“Today, we have reached a significant milestone in Armenia-Azerbaijan relations,” said Pashinyan, according to the Armenian Prime Minister’s Office. “We are laying the groundwork for a better history than the one we have had in the past. This groundbreaking progress simply would not have been possible without President Trump's personal involvement and his unwavering commitment to peace in our region.” 

Alongside the peace declaration, both Yerevan and Baku signed separate agreements with Washington to deepen cooperation in energy, technology, and trade, though the White House did not immediately disclose details.

According to the joint declaration, the TRIPP project will guarantee “unhindered connectivity” between Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan, while providing “mutual benefits for the Republic of Armenia in terms of international and domestic connectivity”. There must now be an excellent prospect of Azerbaijan's close ally Turkey fully reopening its border to Armenia.

The agreement comes almost two years after Azerbaijan retook full control of Nagorno-Karabakh in a 2023 offensive that prompted the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians from the enclave.

Azerbaijan's long-standing demand for a land corridor to Nakhchivan – known in Baku as the Zangezur corridor – had been a key sticking point in talks. Armenia had resisted the proposal, citing sovereignty concerns.

The TRIPP is essentially the same route, but US officials said the initiative would be implemented in coordination with Armenia and “mutually agreed third parties”.

The TRIPP corridor is expected to boost trade along the “Middle Corridor” route linking China and Europe via Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, and Turkey, offering an alternative to Russian and Iranian transit networks.

Both Azerbaijan and Turkey are expected to benefit from faster cargo routes, while Armenia could gain new economic opportunities from participation in a major international transit system.

However, it is expected to erode Iran and Russia’s influence in the region. The new route and increased US engagement in the region face strong opposition from Iran. Tehran has repeatedly warned against any new transit arrangements that could marginalise it from regional trade flows.

Russia, historically a security guarantor in the South Caucasus, has seen its role diminish amid strained relations with both Yerevan and Baku. Armenia has moved closer to the European Union after the Russia-led CSTO security alliance failed to intervene during Azerbaijani incursions, while Azerbaijan’s ties with Moscow have been tested by recent diplomatic incidents.

Russia Cautious on Armenia-Azerbaijan Deal, Iran Rejects Border Corridor

Moscow, once the main power broker in the Caucasus, is now bogged down in its offensive in Ukraine, diverting political and military resources into the grinding conflict of attrition.

by AFP | Aug. 10, 2025

US President Donald Trump meets with President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia, Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in the Cabinet Room. (Official White House Photo by Daniel Torok)

Content
Waning influence
Repackaging for Trump?
Share
Flip


Russia cautiously welcomed a US-brokered draft deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Saturday, but Moscow’s regional ally Iran rejected the idea of a new border corridor backed by President Donald Trump.

The two former Soviet republics signed a peace deal in Washington on Friday to end a decades-long conflict, though the fine print and binding nature of the deal remained unclear.

The US-brokered agreement includes establishing a transit corridor through Armenia to connect Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan, a longstanding demand of Baku.


The United States would have development rights for the corridor – dubbed the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” – in the strategic and resource-rich region


But Russia’s ally and the warring parties’ southern neighbour Tehran said it would not allow the creation of such a corridor running along the Iranian border.

“With the implementation of this plot, the security of the South Caucasus will be endangered,” Akbar Velayati, an advisor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the Tasnim news agency.

The planned corridor was “an impossible notion and will not happen,” while the area would become “a graveyard for Trump’s mercenaries,” he added.

In a similar tone, Moscow said it would “further analyze” the corridor clause, noting there were trilateral agreements in place between Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, from which no one had yet withdrawn.

Russian Strike Sets Central Ukraine Train Station Ablaze
A video shared by the chairman of Ukraine’s state-owned rail operator showed a train station engulfed in flames overnight after a Russian strike, sending sparks into the night sky.

“It should not be ignored that Armenia’s border with Iran is guarded by Russian border guards,” said Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

Moscow, previously a key backer of Armenia, still has a military base there. Embroiled in its Ukraine operation, launched in 2022, it did not intervene in the latest conflict.

This has strained the historically warm ties between Yerevan and Moscow, home to a large and influential Armenian diaspora, triggering Armenia’s drift towards the West.
Advertisement

Waning influence

Christian-majority Armenia and Muslim-majority Azerbaijan went to war twice over their border and the status of ethnic enclaves within each other’s territories.

Moscow, once the main power broker in the Caucasus, is now bogged down in its more than three-year offensive in Ukraine, diverting political and military resources into the grinding conflict of attrition.

Both Armenia and Azerbaijan praised the US efforts in settling the conflict. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev even said he would back President Donald Trump’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The US-led NATO alliance welcomed the deal as a “significant step forward.”

But in Moscow, Zakharova refrained from even calling it a deal, referring to it merely as “the meeting of the leaders of the South Caucasus republics in Washington” – adding, however, that it still deserved “a positive assessment.”
Repackaging for Trump?

Analysts also sounded a note of caution, with the International Crisis Group pointing out that the deal left “a lot of questions unanswered.”
Advertisement

7 Miraculous Military Repairs Under Fire
The 'Impossible' Repair Mission
When experts said 'can't be fixed'
German technicians achieved what Raytheon deemed impossible - repairing a critically damaged Patriot radar system essential for Ukraine's defense.


The two countries went to war twice over the disputed Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in a lightning 2023 offensive, sparking the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians.

Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed on the text of a comprehensive peace deal in March.

Much of the White House agreement was a “repackaging” of that, which helped both countries get on Trump’s good side “by giving him a role,” the Crisis Group’s senior South Caucasus analyst Joshua Kucera said.

Azerbaijan later added a host of demands to that March deal, including amendments to Armenia’s constitution to drop territorial claims for Karabakh, before signing the document.

Pashinyan has announced plans for a constitutional referendum in 2027, but the issue remains deeply divisive among Armenians, with Kucera warning that this could yet derail the process.

Kucera called the corridor “one potentially significant development” from the White House meeting, but added that missing key details could prove “serious stumbling blocks.”

The US-brokered deal was “definitely a testament to the fact that Russia has been losing its influence” as its Ukraine operation had “diverted its attention and resources from some other areas of its traditional interest,” Olesya Vardanyan, an independent analyst on the South Caucasus, told AFP.

Iran angered by US-backed plan to develop Armenian trade corridor

A view shows the positions of the Armenian and Azerbaijani armies on the heights above the village of Khnatsakh in Syunik Province, Armenia May 13, 2025.

Tehran has condemned US plans to develop Armenia’s Zangezur corridor as part of a peace deal with Azerbaijan, branding it a challenge to regional security, a senior Iranian diplomat said.

On Friday, Armenia and Azerbaijan signed a deal at the White House to settle a longtime dispute over the corridor, a strip of land which became a flash point in the two rivals’ decades-long conflict.

The deal gives Washington leasing rights to develop the transit corridor, which would connect Azerbaijan with its exclave, Nakhchivan. It will be renamed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP). Though it will operate under Armenian legal jurisdiction, the US will lease the land to a private American company to manage construction and logistics.

“The Islamic Republic will not easily overlook the issue of Zangezur,” Ali Bagheri Kani, the secretary of Iran's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, told state broadcaster IRIB on Saturday evening in reaction to the US-brokered peace deal.

The Strategic Council on Foreign Relations is responsible for formulating strategies and policies and coordinating all foreign affairs activities. Its members and chair are appointed by the Supreme Leader.

Russia’s foreign ministry had also taken a position and said other countries would not remain silent, Bagheri Kani added.

Russia, a traditional ally and broker in the strategically vital South Caucasus, was excluded from the deal, despite its border guards stationed on the Armenia-Iran border.

While supporting the summit, Moscow urged that solutions be developed by regional countries themselves with support from their immediate neighbors—Russia, Iran, and Turkey—warning against the “sad experience” of Western mediation in the Middle East.

Kayhan calls plan a 'betrayal'

Bagheri Kani's remarks followed a sharply worded piece in Kayhan, a daily under the supervision of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, which described the agreement to build the Zangezur corridor as “a great betrayal” and warned that it “must not go unanswered” by the Islamic Republic.

“Iran should use the levers at its disposal to confront them and, as a first step, can invoke the Geneva and Jamaica conventions to ban the passage of US- and Israeli-affiliated vessels through the Strait of Hormuz,” wrote the daily on Sunday.

'Corridor will fail,' Khamenei advisor says

Ali Akbar Velayati, senior adviser to Khamenei, also rejected the project, warning Iran would stop its establishment “even without Moscow’s help” and accusing Washington of trying to reshape the South Caucasus.

“Mr Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Velayati told the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency on Saturday.

“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries," he said, referring to Azerbaijan and Armenia. "It will become their graveyard."

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed the US-brokered peace accord at the White House with US President Donald Trump.

The deal grants Washington exclusive development rights to a strategic route across Armenia linking mainland Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan exclave, bypassing both Iran and Russia

.

US President Donald Trump holds the hands of Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as they shake hands between each other during a trilateral signing event, at the White House, in Washington, DC, August 8, 2025.

The White House has promoted the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” as a boost to energy exports and trade in the South Caucasus.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought repeated wars over Nagorno-Karabakh since the late 1980s, most recently in 2023 when Baku regained full control of the enclave. While Russia mediated previous agreements, its sway has diminished since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

In spite of the hardliners' reactions, Iran’s foreign ministry on Saturday welcomed the peace text as an important step toward stability. However, it cautioned that projects near its borders must proceed “within the framework of mutual interests, with respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and without foreign interference.”

Unimaginable peace: Azerbaijan and Armenia sign historic agreement after decades of conflict

Copyright AP Photo

By Sasha Vakulina
 09/08/2025 - 

After almost four decades of a bloody conflict that until recently had no end in sight, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a peace agreement in the presence of the US President Donald Trump. Notably absent in this historic moment is Russia, which no longer plays a central role in the South Caucasus.

Leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan Nikol Pashinyan and Ilham Aliyev signed a peace agreement on Friday in the presence of US President Donald Trump in Washington, after almost four decades of a bloody Karabakh conflict.

“We are today establishing peace in the South Caucasus,” Azerbaijan's President Aliyev said. "Today we writing a great new history."

Armenian Premier Pashinyan added that this agreement represented "opening a chapter of peace". "(We are) laying foundations to a better story that the one we had in the past," he added.

"The countries of Armenia and Azerbaijan are committing to ending all fighting forever," Trump said at a joint press conference with the two leaders.

"They suffered greatly for so many years, many tried to find resolution, the European Union, the Russians, never happened," he added. "But with this accord we finally succeeded making peace."

In September 2023, Azerbaijan reclaimed full control of the Karabakh region after a lightning military campaign, and over the past year, Baku and Yerevan have been making progress in normalising their relations.

Although the Friday’s signing ceremony included not only Pashinyan and Aliyev, but also Trump, the former adversaries managed to mend fences only when there was no third party involved any more, including Washington and Moscow. But unlike Russia, the US will benefit from the peace agreement.

Meanwhile, the EU said it welcomed the deal and called the signing a "way to lasting, sustainable peace for both countries and across the entire region, also culminating years of EU efforts."

The EU also called for the" implementation of the agreed steps" to ensure steady and smooth progress towards full normalisation of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

'Trump route' in South Caucasus

Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to create a major transit corridor that will be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity.

It will connect mainland Azerbaijan and its Nakhchivan region, which borders Baku's ally Turkey via Armenian territory.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said the new transit corridor will “allow unimpeded connectivity between the two countries while respecting Armenia's sovereignty and territorial integrity and its people.”

Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan are separated by a 32-kilometre patch of Armenia’s territory.

For Baku, the corridor offers a direct land connection to Nakhchivan, strengthens ties with Turkey and consolidates post-war gains through infrastructure diplomacy.

It also strengthens Azerbaijan’s position as a crucial transport and logistics hub on a global scale. Initially, Azerbaijan did not want to have any third party involved and preferred to have it under Baku’s control, without the US, Europe or Russia's involvement.

For Yerevan the transport route provides an opportunity to further integrate into wider trade networks, diversify its battered economy and attract foreign investment. Geopolitically, it would also help Armenia normalise relations with its neighbours.

Yerevan was concerned it could threaten Armenian sovereignty and wanted it to remain under Armenian control.

The new Trump route will be operated according to Armenian law, and the US will sublease the land to a consortium for infrastructure and management, the officials said.

Trump previewed much of Friday’s plan in a social media post Thursday evening, saying the two leaders would sign economic agreements with the US that would “fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus region.”

“Many leaders have tried to end the war, with no success, until now, thanks to Trump,” the US president said on his Truth Social site.

Former allies

Armenia and Azerbaijan have also signed a document on dissolving the OSCE's Minsk Group.

“If we are closing the page on the conflict, then why do we need a format that deals with its settlement," Pashinyan said earlier this week.

Established in 1992, the OSCE Minsk Group was meant to facilitate the resolution of the Karabakh conflict, and it has been chaired by France, the US and Russia.

Its dissolution not only marks the end of the Karabakh conflict, but also formalises Baku and Yerevan distancing themselves from Moscow, especially given the fact that the two leaders have jointly made the formal request in Washington.

Signing the peace agreement in Washington alongside the US president sends a strong signal to Moscow regarding the two countries' commitment to finding a solution among themselves, but also redirects their foreign policy focus to the West.

Moscow has been trying to repair the cooperation with both Baku and Yerevan, offering "mediation" and launching disinformation campaigns against Yerevan.

In recent days, Russia-state-controlled media have issued massive criticism and numerous attacks on Pashinyan, accusing him of “trading” Armenian sovereignty for personal financial gains and even calling him a “puppet”.

Earlier Moscow had also launched disinformation campaigns against Yerevan with false allegations of “a bio weapons facility in Armenia orchestrated by the Americans”.

Moscow had repeatedly made similar claims about US bio-weapons facilities in Ukraine before the full-scale invasion. Russia has also made similar false claims about Georgia in the past.

Russia’s attempts to repair its ties with Baku were entirely destroyed when an Azerbaijani airliner crashed in Kazakhstan in December, killing 38 of 67 people aboard.

As exclusively reported by Euronews, investigations into the incident revealed that the Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243 was shot at by Russian air defence over Russia's Grozny and rendered uncontrollable by electronic warfare.

Azerbaijan's Aliyev recently announced that his country is preparing to file lawsuits in international courts against Russia regarding the Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash.

Referring to the investigation into the Malaysian airline Boeing case, shot down by Russian militants over the Russia-occupied Donetsk region of Ukraine, Aliyev said Baku is ready to wait as long as it takes.

“We are ready to wait 10 years, but justice must win. And unfortunately, the situation, which is currently in limbo, does not contribute to the development of bilateral relations between Russia and Azerbaijan," he explained.

Last month, Azerbaijan and Russia engaged in another rare escalation. Baku detained the executive director and editor-in-chief of Russia's state-run news agency Sputnik following Moscow’s raids of the Azeri community in Yekaterinburg.

Two people died during the raid by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), and 50 more were detained.

Armenians Caught Between Hope and Distrust After Accord with Azerbaijan

The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan met Friday and signed a peace treaty under the watch of US President Donald Trump.

by AFP | Aug. 10, 2025

US President Donald Trump (C), Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (L) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan display the agreement they signed in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC on August 8, 2025. ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP

Content
‘Acceptable’
‘Endless concessions’
‘More stability... in the short term’

The streets were almost deserted in Yerevan Saturday because of the summer heat, but at shaded parks and fountains, Armenians struggled to make sense of what the accord signed a day earlier in Washington means for them.

The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, two Caucasian countries embroiled in a territorial conflict since the fall of the USSR, met Friday and signed a peace treaty under the watch of US President Donald Trump.

In Yerevan, however, few of the people asked by AFP were enthusiastic.

‘Acceptable’

“It’s a good thing that this document was signed because Armenia has no other choice,” said Asatur Srapyan, an 81-year-old retiree.

He believes Armenia hasn’t achieved much with this draft agreement, but it’s a step in the right direction.

“We are very few in number, we don’t have a powerful army, we don’t have a powerful ally behind us, unlike Azerbaijan,” he said. “This accord is a good opportunity for peace.”

Maro Huneyan, a 31-year-old aspiring diplomat, also considers the pact “acceptable,” provided it does not contradict her country’s constitution.

“If Azerbaijan respects all the agreements, it’s very important for us. But I’m not sure it will keep its promises and respect the points of the agreement,” she added.
‘Endless concessions’

But Anahit Eylasyan, 69, opposes the agreement and, more specifically, the plan to create a transit zone crossing Armenia to connect the Nakhchivan region to the rest of Azerbaijan.

At least six European journalists have been expelled or denied re-entry into Georgia recent months, sparking fears of a Russian-style crackdown on press freedoms.

“We are effectively losing control of our territory. It’s as if, in my own apartment, I had to ask a stranger if I could go from one room to another,” she explains.

She also hopes not to see Russia, an ally of Armenia despite recent tensions, expelled from the region.”

Anahit also criticizes Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for “making decisions for everyone” and for his “endless concessions to Azerbaijan.”

“We got nothing in exchange, not our prisoners, nor our occupied lands, nothing. It’s just a piece of paper to us,” she fumes.

Shavarsh Hovhannisyan, a 68-year-old construction engineer, agrees, saying the agreement “is just an administrative formality that brings nothing to Armenia.”

“We can’t trust Azerbaijan,” Hovhannisyan asserted, while accusing Pashinyan of having “turned his back” on Russia and Iran.

“It’s more of a surrender document than a peace treaty, while Trump only thinks about his image, the Nobel Prize.”
‘More stability... in the short term’

According to President Trump, Armenia and Azerbaijan have committed “to stop all fighting forever; open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations; and respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

For Olesya Vartanyan, an independent researcher specializing in the Caucasus, the Washington agreement “certainly brings greater stability and more guarantees for the months, if not years, to come.”

But given the long-lasting tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan, “I fear that we will have to plan only for the very short term,” she said.

World welcomes Armenia-Azerbaijan move towards peace, after “larger than life” White House meeting

10 August 2025
commonspace.eu editorial team

The meeting of president Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, and prime minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia in the White House on 8 August 2025 has been described many times as being “historic”, and in many ways it was. However the presence and active participation of the president of the United States made it “special”.

However, Donald Trump managed to make the event “larger than life”. Trump was on his best behaviour. He was relaxed and happy. He piled profuse compliments on his two guests, and they replied in kind, indulging in flattery that at times was embarrassing. But you can excuse them. Never have two foreign leaders been so warmly welcomed in the White House.

The substance was thin: the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan was initialed but not signed; much of what was included in the Joint Declaration was aspirational, requiring further negotiations. But the symbolism and imagery was powerful. And in this case, it mattered.

The world has scrambled to welcome the Armenia-Azerbaijan meeting in Washington. The European Union was first: Commission president Ursula von der Leyden and Council president, Antonio Costa, issued a statement within minutes. Various other EU personalities followed on Saturday. There was an important statement by Turkey, followed by UK, Netherlands, Georgia, Saudi Arabia, Poland, UAE, France, Israel, the Central Asian countries and others. Statements were also issued by the UN, NATO, OSCE, Council of Europe, NATO PA and others.

The reaction from Russia came late on Saturday and was muffled. It was left to Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova to say

"It should be remembered that the current stage of normalization of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations began with the direct support and central role of Russia, with the adoption of a trilateral statement at the highest level on November 9, 2020, on a ceasefire and all military operations in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone. A Russian peacekeeping contingent has been deployed in the region, which has made an irreplaceable contribution to stabilizing the situation. We will always remember our peacekeepers who died in the performance of their duties," the diplomat emphasized.

Reconciliation between Azerbaijan and Armenia should be integrated into the regional context and based on a balance of interests, said Zakharova. She noted that the meeting of the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan held in Washington with the mediation of the United States deserves a positive assessment. The involvement of regional players in the search for solutions in the South Caucasus should not create new dividing lines, Zakharova emphasized.

The Russian Federation will further analyze Washington's statements on the unblocking of regional communications in the South Caucasus. Trilateral agreements with the participation of the Russian Federation in the field of unblocking of communications in the South Caucasus remain relevant, Zakharova noted.

The emperor is naked. Russia is loosing the South Caucasus and Zakharova is clutching to straws in an attempt to hide facts.

Domestic reaction is subdued

Reaction in Azerbaijan, and particularly in Armenia, has been subdued.

The president of the influential APRI Centre in Yerevan, Lara Setrakian, said, “Once the peace agreement is implemented it will turn Armenia firmly toward the West. It will also likely mean a reorientation of regional power dynamics, giving the United States strategic influence in Russia’s neighborhood and a foothold on the doorstep of Iran. The US wins big, with technology, critical minerals, and energy deals ahead. ”

But in the end the world reaction matters. And for the moment Aliyev and Pashinyan bask in it.

Source: commonspace.eu