Morning bird: France faces sabotages in energy. Stalin has a new statue in Moscow
The French Riviera is struggling with extensive power outages. The cause is arson attacks. In Moscow, Stalin's monument has been restored. The sculpture of the mass murderer is causing controversy among Russian citizens. World scientific centers want to welcome scientists expelled from the US by the Trump administration, which is canceling their grants and job positions. Russia carried out the largest missile attack on Ukraine during an agreed prisoner exchange.
Extensive power outages in France likely caused by arsonists
After a nighttime fire at a substation in Nice, which authorities say was caused by a deliberate act, there has been a second power outage on the French Riviera in two days. The fire broke out on Sunday around 02:00 local time and affected at least 45,000 households, a day after nearby Cannes was hit by a major power outage, which was attributed to suspicion of sabotage. Police in Nice stated that "tire tracks" were found and the substation doors in the western part of the city were "broken" according to local media.
Before electricity supplies were restored later in the morning, Nice Airport, the tram network and the neighboring towns of Saint-Laurent-du-Var and Cagnes-sur-Mer were affected. It happened the day after Cannes was struck by a widespread power outage during the international film festival. According to authorities, it could be caused by an arson attack on a substation. Approximately 160,000 households in the city and surrounding area lost power, according to the BBC.
Stalin's monument is a gift to citizens, it stirs controversy among them
The monument of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin erected in the Moscow subway provokes discussion: some Russians welcome it as a historical tribute, while others argue that it is wrong to remember someone who was in charge of mass murder. During Stalin's great terror from 1937-38, in political processes and purges of real or suspected enemies, almost 700,000 people were executed. Many more Soviet citizens were sent to the gulag, a grim network of prison camps.
A life-size statue on the wall of Moscow's Taganskaya metro station depicts Stalin standing in Red Square in Moscow, surrounded by a crowd of Soviet citizens admiringly looking at him, and is a reconstruction of the monument that was unveiled at the same station in 1950, three years before Stalin's death. The Moscow metro said that the original Stalin monument was "lost" in 1966 when the Taganskaya metro station was rebuilt. City officials label the sculpture as a "gift to citizens", reported CNN.
The world is thirsty for American scientists driven out by the Trump administration
When the Trump administration cut federal funding for scientific research by billions of dollars, thousands of scientists in the USA lost their jobs or grants. Governments and universities around the world noticed the opportunity. The "Canada Leads" program, which was launched in April, wants to support a new generation of innovators by bringing emerging biomedical researchers north of the border.
The University of Aix-Marseille in France launched the "Safe Place for Science" program in March and pledged to "welcome" scientists from the USA who "may feel threatened or prevented in their research". The Australian "Global Talent Attraction Program", announced in April, promises competitive salaries and relocation packages, the AP agency wrote.
Russia launched the biggest missile attack on Ukraine during an agreed exchange of prisoners
On Sunday, Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds more prisoners, which was the third and final part of a large exchange, reflecting a rare moment of cooperation in otherwise unsuccessful efforts to reach a ceasefire in the more than three-year-old war.
A few hours earlier, the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other regions became the target of a massive attack by Russian drones and missiles, in which at least 12 people were killed and dozens were injured. Ukrainian officials declared it the largest aerial attack since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, said the agency AP.
Sources: AP, CNN, BBC
