Reuters World News - Berlin Pride attack, India's exam scandal and D-Day beaches

Episode Date: July 26, 2026

Celebration turns to horror at a Berlin Pride event after a vehicle plows into a crowd. Families of Indian exam candidates who took their own lives after a paper leaked say the education minister's resignation won't bring back their children. US President Donald Trump's pledge on data center power supplies draws skepticism. And UNESCO recognizes the Normandy D-Day beaches. Watch the latest episode of On Assignment on Wildfires ⁠here⁠. Watch the episode of On Assignment on data centers here. Listen to the Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Visit the ⁠Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement⁠ for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool. It's Sunday, July 26. Today, Berlin is left reeling after a vehicle rams into pride celebrations. How an exam scandal in India sparked a student uprising. And what data centres could mean for your energy bills. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week. From celebration. to horror, after a vehicle plowed into a crowd at a Pride celebration in Berlin. The incident in the Teogarten Park near the city's Brandenburg Gate has left the German capital reeling, with more events for Christopher Street Day, one of Europe's biggest annual LGBTQ pride celebrations cancelled. At the time of recording, one person has been confirmed killed by

emergency services. And a manhunt is ongoing, with police identifying the suspected driver as Abdul B. and publishing his picture. Kirstly Knolla is our breaking news editor for Germany. According to police, this guy is 21 years old, a German citizen of Lebanese origin. The interesting part is he was already known to police and intelligence services as part of a so-called so-called Islamist spectrum. Sources told us that he apparently sought contract with Islamic State and that he had links to Islamist networks. The shocking part that security sources told us, he had actually been in jail, convicted

under Germany's anti-terrorism law for preparing an act of violence. But he was released from youth detention. just two months ago. This is what security sources told us. It's not confirmed. German broadcasters have reported that he tried to travel to Syria to join Islamic State and that was that he was arrested at Berlin-Brandenburg Airport at the end of last year when coming back from Lebanon.

Police here has warned the public not to approach this guy. They say he is possibly armed and dangerous. Wildfires continue to rage in Europe, with hundreds of thousands of people forced to evacuate in France and Spain. France's armed forces have been drafted in to help overwhelmed fire brigades as wildfires threaten the city of Bordeaux. On Saturday afternoon, an A400M military transport aircraft, the biggest in France's fleet,

join the effort by dumping liquid over a flame hit forest. Reuters reporter Manuel Alsluz filmed the footage of the operation from a helicopter above. So first off, when you're filming the fire from above, you really get to get a more global picture of how it's unfolding and evolving, because when you're on the ground, you have a lot of obstacles between you and the flames, you have trees, you have buildings, which really impede your understanding of how the whole area is affected. Once you're in the helicopter, you can really see a line of fire that's progressing through kilometers of forest. And finally, I'd say also you understand the logistics

that go into this whole effort, because there's not only firefighters on the ground, but there's also various aircraft that, both planes and helicopters that are either dousing the fire in water to put it out or spraying retardant on the forest so that the fire doesn't take hold in the forest. So it's really similar to what you could see on a battlefield where there's infantry fighting, but there's also, you know, air support for them to be able to achieve their objectives. This week's On Assignment podcast speaks to our other journalists about the difficulties in covering wildfires. You can check it out wherever you get your podcasts. The Aram War has broadened further now to the Caspian Sea, despite a pause.

in US strikes. Iran is accusing Ukraine of targeting one of its vessels in the Caspian. Tehran describing the attack as an act of aggression and saying it would defend its national interests accusing Kiev of seeking to expand the war in Ukraine. The comments came after Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelenskyy claimed Russia was passing on its satellite observations in the Middle East to Iran, to enable Tehran to direct strikes in the region. Celebrations have continued around India after the education minister announced his resignation. He was pushed to stand down after a wave of youth protests in the country, led by the Gen Z movement, the Cockroach Janter Party. But what motivated those protests goes back to May

when a high-profile medical college entrance exam was leaked, which meant to retest, for 2 million people. Please note this story contains details of self-harm. The prospect of that retake was too much for some students. One of them was 19-year-old Sheikhsana. The day before the retest, she wrote, I am sorry on a plain sheeted paper and took her own life. She was just to make her,

I can't, not, harm to, her. She said, she made me maddered. Her father, Sheikh Jafar Hussein, attending one of the protests in New Delhi, says it was the fear that killed her. She said, a father's doctor made. He's a dream of a boy. Krishna Kumar Chattavedi's daughter, Akangshar, also died by suicide after the leak,

with local media reporting that she also left a note, saying she did not feel the courage to take the exam. He says the Education Minister's resignation is not enough, and receiving compensation means nothing after losing his daughter. The government has not commented on the deaths of the exam candidates. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the reason for their deaths. At a joint press conference with two ministers, Cockroach Junta Party has announced it will end its protests

under an agreement that the government won't take any action against protesters. President Trump is pledging to shield U.S. consumers from rising electricity bills due to AI data centers. Because we're insisting that AI data centers and big tech companies pay their own way. And that's what they're doing. And they're happy to do it. Trump says U.S. tech companies and power producers will foot the bill. But consumer advocacy groups say it's an empty promise, as analysts predict electricity costs will jump more than 5%. next year as data centers strain power grid capacity. Our White House reporter Jarrett Renshaw explains.

First thing people should know, it's a voluntary pledge. So the enforcement really doesn't exist. It is self-enforcement. And what these companies have committed to is that, to the extent possible, they're not going to pass along the cost of building these data centers and the expansion of these power systems on the ratepayers. So that's the commitment they're at least publicly making. The truth is doing that is much more difficult.

Power rates, electric rates, your bill is very complicated. There's a set of regulation states. Every state sets rates differently. A lot of them are set by utility boards that explicitly allow power companies to pass along the cost of expanding their network. in a specific cost to ratepayers. So, you know, truth, time will tell whether they actually can live up to all these promises. Jarrett says political backlash to data centers has been so strong that politicians and companies can't ignore it.

These data centers are almost of a national security in board, right? So they talk to them in very those kinds of terms. You know, we need to compete with China. We need these data centers. So let's assume that's true. They're going to try to find a way to package these in a way that they can make it appetizing for the public. Check out another recent episode of On Assignment Podcast to hear more about the debate around data centers in local communities. We'll put a link in the pod description.

And finally, the Normandy D-Day beaches where Allied forces landed in 1944 have become a UNEAEA, protected world heritage sites. Troops landed there on June 6 to fight Adolf Hitler's Nazi troops and liberate France. The beaches are regularly the focus of commemorations featuring world leaders from the United States, Britain, Canada and France itself. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favourite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the

the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.