Mazzaltov World News provides you with the latest live coverage of Current Affairs, Sports, Health, Weather, Entertainment, Business and Travel News from around the world.
Here’s where things stand on Friday 4 July 2025:
- Ukraine: Kyiv said Russia fired a record 539 drones and 11 missiles.The strikes came hours after a call between US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, after which Trump said he was “disappointed” that Putin was not ready to end the war against Ukraine.
- Serbia: As Serbia’s anti-corruption protests enter their ninth month, they show no sign of abating – and are instead changing in their leadership, composition and tactics. Officers also arrested high school students, triggering a protest by parents in front of a central Belgrade police station until their children were released.
- Russia has become the first country to formally recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan, sparking outrage from opposition figures.
- Spain: The death of Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota in a car crash aged 28 has left the football world in shock.Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, both died after the Lamborghini they were travelling in crashed in the Spanish province of Zamora.
Ukraine: Kyiv hit by barrage of drone strikes as Putin rejects Trump’s truce bid
One person has been killed and 26 others were injured after a night of intensive Russian strikes on almost every district in Kyiv, officials say.
A pall of acrid smoke hung over the Ukrainian capital on Friday morning following hours of nightfall punctuated by the staccato of air defence guns, buzz of drones and large explosions. Ukraine said Russia fired a record 539 drones and 11 missiles.
The strikes came hours after a call between US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, after which Trump said he was “disappointed” that Putin was not ready to end the war against Ukraine.
Moscow says the war will continue for as long as it is necessary to reach its objectives.
Russia’s overnight air strikes broke another record, Ukraine’s air force said, with 72 of the 539 dronespenetrating air defences – up from a previous record of 537 launched last Saturday night.
Air raid alerts sounded for more than eight hours asseveral waves of attacks struck Kyiv, the “main target of the strikes”, the air force said on the messaging app Telegram.
Footage shared on social media by Ukraine’s state emergency service showed firefighters battling to extinguish fires in Kyiv after Russia’s overnight attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the strikes as one of the most “demonstratively significant and cynical” attacks of the war, describing a “harsh, sleepless night”.
Noting that it came directly after Putin’s call with Trump, Zelensky added in a post on Telegram: “Russia once again demonstrates that it does not intend to end the war”.
He called on international allies – particularly the US – to increase pressure on Moscow and impose greater sanctions.
Later on Friday, Zelensky and Trump held a phone call regarding the supply of US weapons, which the Ukrainian leader said was a “very important and fruitful conversation”. It came after Washington decided to halt some shipments of critical weapons to Ukraine, including those used for air defences.
“We spoke about opportunities in air defence and agreed that we will work together to strengthen protection of our skies,” Zelensky said on X.
Serbia: Roadblocks replace rallies as Serbian protesters demand new elections
As Serbia’s anti-corruption protests enter their ninth month, they show no sign of abating – and are instead changing in their leadership, composition and tactics.
At the climax of last weekend’s 140,000-strong protest in Belgrade’s Slavija Square the students who led the protests since November declared that they would no longer spearhead the rallies.
They had set a deadline of Saturday for the government to call for fresh elections.
When that was not met, they invited other groups to take on the protest mantle – and called for a campaign of “civil disobedience” from anyone opposed to the leadership of President Aleksandar Vucic and his long-governing Progressive Party (SNS).
Since then roadblocks have been popping up in cities across Serbia this week and people have been deploying dustbins, chairs and other improvised barriers to block junctions in major cities including Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis. Local residents’ associations – known as “citizens’ assemblies” – have been heavily involved.
As soon as the police dismantle one blockade, another one pops up somewhere else.
Police crackdown triggers backlash
In recent days there have been dozens of arrests – along with complaints of excessive police force. A number of students were treated in hospital – one with a broken collarbone – after Gendarmerie members entered Belgrade University’s Law Faculty on Wednesday.
Officers also arrested high school students, triggering a protest by parents in front of a central Belgrade police station until their children were released.
A striking range of voices have condemned the police conduct. Complaints by the journalists’ association and the opposition Centre Party were matched by statements from the Bar Association and even Serbian Orthodox Church Archbishop Grigorije Duric. The EU, for its part, decried the “acts of hatred and violence” and called for calm.
Meanwhile, in Belgrade, the pop-up roadblocks continue – and so does the ensuing travel chaos for commuters.
One resident, while ruefully noting that she had to walk 5km (3 miles) to and from work, described the mood as more like a series of street parties than a protest.
But many observers doubt whether this approach will be any more effective than the months of rallies, faculty blockades and half-hearted general strikes.
The 2024 Novi Sad railway disaster
The protest movement started with a relatively simple purpose: to ensure accountability for last November’s disaster at Novi Sad railway station, when a concrete canopy at the recently renovated facility in Serbia’s second city collapsed, killing 16 people who were standing beneath it.
The outpouring of grief was instant – and the outrage swiftly followed.
Much of it has been directed at President Vucic.
A large section of Serbians have long been uneasy with his “strongman” style of leadership, since he came to power in 2012. But others have accepted his party’s firm grip on state institutions and much of the media as a trade-off for strong economic growth and improvements in infrastructure.
Russia becomes first state to recognise Afghanistan’s Taliban government
Russia has become the first country to formally recognise the Taliban government in Afghanistan, sparking outrage from opposition figures.
The decision marks a major milestone for the Taliban almost four years after they swept into Kabul and took power.
Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said he hoped it would serve as an example to other countries, which have been reluctant to recognise a regime which implements a version of Sharia law along with severe restrictions on women and girls.
Others have decried the move, with former Afghan politician Fawzia Koofi saying “any move by any country to normalise relations with the Taliban will not bring peace it will legitimise impunity”.
Koofi went on to warn “such steps risk endangering not just the people of Afghanistan, but global security”.
Meanwhile, the Afghan Women’s Political Participation Network said it legitimised “a regime that is authoritarian, anti-women, and actively dismantling basic civil rights”.
The Taliban government has previously said it respects women’s rights in accordance with their interpretation of Afghan culture and Islamic law.
But since 2021, girls over the age of 12 have been prevented from getting an education, and women from many jobs. There have also been restrictions on how far a woman can travel without a male chaperone, and decrees on them raising their voices in public.
Foreign Minister Muttaqi said Moscow’s recognition, which came on Thursday, was “a new phase of positive relations, mutual respect, and constructive engagement”, describing the decision as “courageous”.
Russia’s foreign ministry said it saw the potential for “commercial and economic” co-operation in “energy, transportation, agriculture and infrastructure”, and that it would continue to help Kabul to fight against the threats of terrorism and drug trafficking.
Spain: Death of Liverpool forward Jota leaves football world in shock
The death of Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota in a car crash aged 28 has left the football world in shock.
Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, both died after the Lamborghini they were travelling in crashed in the Spanish province of Zamora.
The 28-year-old Jota was on his way back to Liverpool for pre-season training, making the trip by car and ferry because he had undergone minor surgery so doctors advised him against flying.
Jota married his long-term partner Rute Cardoso, with whom he had three children, just 11 days before the fatal crash.
Liverpool said Jota’s death is a “tragedy that transcends” the club, while fans gathered outside Anfield to lay tributes.
Reds manager Arne Slot said Jota was “the essence of what a Liverpool player should be”.
A wake for Jota and his brother will take place on Friday afternoon before their funeral on Saturday in Porto, Portugal.