ROME (AP) — A driver plowed into pedestrians in the northern Italian city of Modena on Saturday, injuring eight people, four of them critically, before trying to flee and being detained by police, local authorities said. They said the man was known to officials for having mental disorders.
Authorities identified the driver as Salim El Koudri, a 31-year-old second-generation Italian born in Bergamo and living in the province of Modena. El Koudri, who holds a degree in economics, is unemployed, authorities said. He was detained and questioned at police headquarters in Modena as investigators tried to determine whether he acted deliberately.
Investigators said at a press conference Saturday evening there was no immediate indication the man was under the influence of drugs or alcohol. His home was searched as part of the investigation.
Modena Prefect Fabrizia Triolo said el Koudri had been known to local mental health services for schizoid disorders, while officials stressed that early findings pointed to possible mental instability but required further verification. No links to extremist groups emerged.
Mayor Massimo Mezzetti said no one was killed in the dramatic crash but four victims were in serious condition. He said a woman was pinned against a shop window and required the amputation of both legs.
Mezzetti said the vehicle entered one of the city’s main streets and the man “drove onto the sidewalk, sending several people flying,” before crashing into the shop window.
Victims were taken to hospitals in Modena and Bologna, including by helicopter for the most critical cases.
El Koudri attempted to flee but was stopped first by some of the citizens involved in the crash and then by police and taken to headquarters for questioning.
Witnesses reported the man was holding a knife, but he did not manage to stab anyone, the mayor said, adding that investigators are still working to determine whether the act was deliberate or linked to other causes.
“Whatever the nature, it is a very serious act,” Mezzetti said. “If it were an attack, it would be even more serious.”
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni called the incident “extremely serious” in a social media post and expressed solidarity with the victims and their families.
Meloni thanked citizens who intervened to help stop the suspect and praised law enforcement, adding she was in contact with local authorities and expected the suspect to be held fully accountable.
Emergency services, including police, carabinieri and financial police, responded to the scene, which was cordoned off as ambulances treated victims in the street.
Blood is seen next to a destroyed car on a street of Modena, Italy, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Lapresse via AP)
Financial Police patrol a scene after a car incident in a street of Modena, Italy, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (Lapresse via AP)
PARIS (AP) — Ukrainian fighter pilots and troops took pride of place in France's national Bastille Day celebrations Tuesday as a massive parade showcased support for Ukraine and symbolically flexed European military muscle.
On President Emmanuel Macron’s last Bastille Day as president, he hosted around 30 other leaders for an event that appeared aimed at showing both Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump that Europe is united and stepping up to defend itself.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was given an ovation from the assembled European leaders as he arrived and his country's troops got the biggest cheers of the day from crowds on the tree-lined Champs-Elysees avenue. Zelenskyy and Macron shared repeated hugs at the end of the parade.
France's biggest national holiday coincided with raging forest fires and a red-alert heat wave that forced the cancellation of traditional fireworks and firefighters’ balls.
Here’s what to know about Bastille Day this year.
It’s celebrated on July 14 because that’s the day Parisians stormed the Bastille fortress and prison in 1789, helping spark the French Revolution that overthrew the monarchy and sent King Louis XVI and his queen Marie-Antoinette to the guillotine.
Bastille Day holiday is central to the French calendar and national identity. Presidents use it to vaunt France’s accomplishments, mayors across the country host village festivals and families gather for holiday meals.
The centerpiece is the Paris parade beneath the Napoleon-era Arc de Triomphe and along the Champs-Elysees avenue, which inspired Trump to stage his own parade last year.
A huge French tricolor flag hanging below the monumental arch rippled in the wind as a military band on horseback rode down the tree-lined avenue followed by Macron standing in an open military vehicle to kick off the parade.
Spectators wore hats and brandished small fans to fend off the heat as a formation of air force planes roared overhead trailing red, white and blue smoke.
Zelenskyy joined Macron along with some 30 other heads of state or government in the special viewing area for the parade.
Ukrainian troops marched along the cobblestoned avenue, and Ukrainian co-pilots trained in France were on board two Mirage 2000B fighter jets alongside French air force pilots.
“I feel very proud for the fact that they’re here and for the fact that we’re marching alongside of them and I think it as well it will create better ties with them and NATO and to be a part of that history,” 21-year-old U.K. soldier Lance Cpl. Patrick Risso said of the Ukrainian involvement.
On the ground, the parade opened with around 500 troops from the ″coalition of the willing″ grouping of countries that have pledged to help with Ukraine’s postwar security.
Macron said Monday night that it’s a ″great honor″ to welcome to the parade ″all the partners in the coalition of the willing and our Ukrainian friends who will march with us and illustrate its strategic reawakening and our unity.″
The foreign fighters in combat fatigues and dress uniforms marched with their national flags, in a break with tradition — usually only one foreign country is invited to take part in the parade. It was the first time in some 20 years that British troops took part. Ukrainian forces got the loudest cheers from the crowd.
In the skies, aircraft from Germany, the United Kingdom, Croatia, Poland, Denmark, Greece, Sweden, Norway, Spain and Italy were taking part.
The parade set a record in terms of number of troops: The Paris military governor said 7,600 troops were marching this year, compared with 5,810 in 2025. Thousands of soldiers started taking up positions early Tuesday, many taking selfies as helicopters flew overhead.
Forest fires are raging in the Fontainebleau forest south of Paris and in areas of southern France, as the country suffers through its third heat wave this year.
As a result, authorities in some regions — including the French capital — banned fireworks and firefighters' balls customarily held around Bastille Day.
The Eiffel Tower's fireworks and drone show was maintained, however, and held Monday night, including a drone formation shaped like the Statue of Liberty — a gift from France to the United States that arrived in New York in 1885 to mark the U.S. centennial, the end of the American Civil War, and friendship between the two countries.
Associated Press writers Sylvie Corbet and Angela Charlton in Paris contributed.
French soldiers march during the Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue, in Paris, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
Jets from the acrobatic Patrouille de France fly during the Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, centre right, greets Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy before the start of the annual Bastille Day military parade in Paris, France, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (Benoit Tessier/Pool Photo via AP)
French President Emmanuel Macron, left, stands in the command car with General Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces Fabien Mandon during the annual Bastille Day military parade on the Champs-Elysees avenue in Paris, France, Tuesday, July 14, 2026. (Benoit Tessier/Pool Photo via AP)
Fireworks and drones illuminate the Eiffel Tower in Paris, during the eve of Bastille Day celebrations late Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
Fireworks and drones illuminate the Eiffel Tower in Paris, during the eve of Bastille Day celebrations late Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
Fireworks and drones illuminate the Eiffel Tower in Paris, during the eve of Bastille Day celebrations, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla)
French President Emmanuel Macron delivers his traditional address to the armed forces on the eve of the Bastille Day parade at the Ministry of Defense in Paris, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, Pool)
French President Emmanuel Macron greets senior military officers after his traditional address to the armed forces on the eve of the Bastille Day parade at the Ministry of Defense in Paris, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Thomas Padilla, Pool)
