Axios

Cyprus on Saturday asked European Union countries for help fighting a forest fire that has been consuming a western mountainous region, AP reports.

The state of play: A Cyprus government spokesperson told AP that the fire dimensions are "concerning," and added that the country will be receiving help from Greece and Israel, who are sending firefighting planes. The head of the Cypriot forestry department said it was impossible to extinguish the fire without outside help, the Cyprus Mail notes

Lithuania has declared a state of emergency due to an influx of migrants over the last few days from Belarus, AP reports.

The big picture: Lithuania’s Interior Minister Agle Bilotaite said Friday that the decision is not because of an increased threat to the country, but to implement a more robust system to handle migrants who are entering.

At least 43 migrants drowned and 84 others were rescued off the coast of Tunisia on Saturday after their boat capsized, the Tunisian Red Crescent said, per AP.

Driving the news: The boat, which was carrying 127 migrants, departed Libya's coastal city of Zuwara on Friday to cross the Mediterranean Sea toward Italy, Mongi Slim, head of the Tunisian Red Crescent, told AP.

Namibian 18-year-old sprinters Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi will not be allowed to compete in the women's 400 meters at the Tokyo Olympics due to having naturally high testosterone levels, according to the Namibia National Olympic Committee.

Driving the news: The sprinters now join South African runner Caster Semenya, who is banned from competing after World Athletics ruled in 2018 "that to ensure fair competition, women with high natural testosterone levels must take medication to reduce them to compete in middle-distance races," CNN writes.

United States and United Kingdom intelligence agencies said in a report Thursday that Russian military hackers over the last three years have tried to access the computer networks of "hundreds of government and private sector targets worldwide" and warned that those "efforts are almost certainly still ongoing."

Why it matters: The security agencies cautioned that the military cyber unit, best known for hacking the Democratic National Committee and other political targets during the 2016 election, is still focusing on political consultants, political parties and think tanks, though they did not specify any targets by name.

South Africa's highest court agreed to hear former president Jacob Zuma's challenge to the 15-month jail sentence that he received for failing to attend a corruption hearing, Reuters reports.

Driving the news: Zuma asked the court to reverse his sentence on grounds that it is excessive and could expose him to COVID-19, per Reuters.

A Russia-based hacking group known as REvil has compromised the computer systems of at least 1,000 businesses by targeting managed service providers, according to to the cybersecurity firm Huntress Labs Inc.

Why it matters: It's a large-scale ransomware campaign — the full scope of which is not yet known — and comes on the heels of several other high-profile ransomware attacks this year.

A Vatican judge on Saturday indicted 10 people, including a Cardinal, on charges including abuse of office, fraud, extortion and embezzlement in connection to a London real estate scandal, AP reports.

Driving the news: The indictments followed a two-year investigation into how the Secretariat of State manages its funds, which come from donations that investigators said were allegedly "used for purposes other than the charitable purposes for which they were intended," per the Vatican News.

The Biden administration launched an initiative to find deported U.S. veterans and bring them and their families back to America "to ensure they are able to obtain VA benefits to which they may be entitled," the Departments of Homeland Security and Veteran Affairs announced Friday.

Why it matters: Legal immigrants can and do join the U.S. military, and potentially hundreds of people have been deported after serving, according to the Washington Post.

India's government announced Friday that the coronavirus pandemic has killed at least 400,312 people in the country and has infected more than 30 million, though experts believe deaths and cases have been undercounted, according to the Washington Post.

The big picture: India has been attempting to manage a spring surge in new cases driven by the Delta variant of the virus, which is rapidly spreading in Africa, Asia and parts of the United States.

Prisoners taken in the years-long conflict in eastern Ukraine have experienced systematic torture, sexual violence and other abuses, the United Nations human rights agency said in a report released Friday.

The big picture: Prisoners' abuse was especially severe during the early stages of the separatist conflict, but abuses persist today, according to the report issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

The number of new coronavirus cases in Africa is doubling every three weeks as the continent faces a wave of Delta variant infections, the World Health Organization announced Thursday.

Why it matters: The COVID-19 variant first discovered in India has been reported in 16 African countries and is dominant in South Africa, which accounted for over half of Africa’s cases for the week ending in June 27.

President Biden cut off reporters on Friday after three consecutive questions about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, where the intelligence community has warned the government could collapse as soon as next year amid a creeping offensive by the Taliban.

Why it matters: News had broken hours earlier that the U.S. military has departed Bagram Airfield, the center of its war to oust the Taliban and search for the al-Qaeda perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The U.S. military has departed Bagram Airfield, the center of its war to oust the Taliban and search for the al-Qaeda perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, AP reports, citing two U.S. officials.

The big picture: The airfield was handed over to the Afghan National Security and Defense Force entirely, a clear indication that the remaining U.S. troops have left the region or are planning departure ahead of President Biden’s promise that they would be gone by Sept. 11, per AP.

Donning a gray Mao suit and gazing out onto Tiananmen Square, Xi Jinping pledged Thursday that the Chinese people "will never allow any foreign force to bully, oppress or enslave" them.

Why it matters: On the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party, its most powerful leader in generations was unrepentant about authoritarian China's place in the world.