MVP quarterback Josh Allen married fiancée Hailee Steinfeld on Saturday in a luxurious ceremony in Ventura, California, photos from the couple’s big day show.
The Oscar-nominated actress, 28, stunned in a white, strapless gown with gloves while Allen, 29, looked dapper in a crisp black-and-white tuxedo.
Hailee Steinfeld and NFL quarterback Josh Allen are officially husband and wife. BACKGRID
The glitzy nuptials come less than a year after the couple got engaged.
Allen, who was first linked to Steinfeld in the spring of 2023 following a breakup with longtime girlfriend Brittany Williams, got down on one knee this past November.
He popped the question in front of a scenic ocean backdrop that featured a stunning flower arch and candles surrounding the space.
“The funniest thing was that we woke up and were getting ready for brunch and you jumped on the bed and said, ‘Can we get married already?!? What are you waiting for??!’” Allen recalled of the proposal as part of a Q&A with Steinfeld’s Beau Society newsletter.
“I replied, ‘Just give me a little more time.’ Little did you know I was about to propose to you…”
Allen, who was named league MVP after the 2024 season, credited Steinfeld for his stellar play in his seventh year with the Bills.
“She’s been a huge part,” Allen told the Associated Press. “The morale, the support. When I get home, she’s my biggest fan, my biggest supporter. She’s just the best.”
Steinfeld accompanied Allen to New Orleans in February when he picked up his MVP hardware at the 2024 NFL Honors.
“That’s MVP Josh Allen to you!” the “Sinners” star exclaimed on Instagram, to which Allen commented, “I love you.”
Allen threw 28 touchdowns and a career-low six interceptions through 17 regular-season games.
He also had 12 touchdowns on the ground in 2024.
The Bills reached the AFC Championship game in January but were bested by the defending champion Chiefs, 32-29.
MAJOR US airlines are reportedly charging certain passengers more when booking tickets, according to a travel expert.
Three of the country’s biggest airlines—American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta—charge solo travelers more compared to those traveling in a group, site Thrifty Traveler has claimed.
The practice isn’t widespread, but a team of flight deal analysts searched through hundreds of routes daily to confirm that it’s “real and undeniable.”
“Whether it’s been just days, months, or even years, it’s something that few everyday travelers may realize is happening … or how much it might be costing them,” wrote Kyle Potter.
As an example, a price for a one-way United flight from Chicago-O’Hare Airport to Peoria costs approximately $269.
However, if the traveler has about two to four passengers, the price plummets to almost a third of that.
“Just $181 apiece for that exact same standard economy ticket,” wrote Potter.
This dynamic pricing only appears to happen with one-way domestic flights, not round-trip fares or international bookings.
Potter also explained that the phenomena hasn’t been seen on other major US airlines like Alaska, JetBlue, or Southwest.
While it hasn’t been confirmed why solo travelers are being charged more, Potter believes it’s a way for the airlines to keep “segmenting” their customers, such as charging business travelers who pay with a corporate card more while giving a better deal to families or groups on the same flight.
Another example showed a possible solo flier having to shell out at least $422 for a one-way American Airlines flight from Charlotte, North Carolina, to Fort Myers, Florida, on October 13.
However, for two passengers, the ticket cost drops to $266 per person for the same flight.
The last example had a flight from Chicago-O’Hare to Lexington, Kentucky, giving a solo passenger $214 whether they fly from United or American, said Potter.
But two passengers only have to pay $108 each for the flight with a total cost of $215.
PRICE HIKE QUESTIONS
It’s unclear how this alleged pricing strategy began, however, Potter said that it’s a massive change in how airlines set prices, which will leave customers shocked.
Airlines don’t usually charge solo travelers more, and bulk discounts aren’t a common practice, but Potter believes it boils down to how airlines actually sell tickets.
“Carriers aren’t just selling economy, extra legroom, and first class tickets but an alphabet soup of different fare classes, each at a different price,” he wrote.
“If there’s only one fare available at the cheapest $118, searching for two would only yield fares at a higher, $199 price point.”
Potter believes airlines are trying to cater to different customers at once, as they’re more likely to be on business trips with their flights paid off by their employers, meaning they won’t care about paying extra.
“Of course, not all travelers booking solo tickets are charging flights to a corporate card. There are flyers heading out to attend to a family emergency,” said Potter.
“Friends booking flights separately. Spouses going on a trip who leave a day or two after one another. And many, many more.”
CUSTOMERS REACT
The story went viral on social media after travel influencer Brian Kelly shared it on Instagram to his over 416,000 followers.
“I personally think this is greed getting out of control and the airlines are just ASKING for government intervention,” he wrote in the caption.
There were thousands of comments from users, sharing their frustrations with the supposed price hike.
“I’m married, with a spouse in the army who is currently deployed,” wrote one person.
“I travel alone…a LOT. And this upsets me tremendously.”
Another person explained that solo travelers already have to pay more for accommodations and transportation.
“At least let us have the flights!”
A third person wrote: “A seat is a seat. Should cost the same per person regardless of 1 or or 4.”
ELON Musk showed up with a black eye as he said his final goodbyes to President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency in an Oval Office press conference on Friday.
Trump and the billionaire failed to acknowledge the injury as the president gushed over Musk’s 130 days of slashing federal spending.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk said his final goodbyes to President Donald Trump on FridayCredit: Reuters
At the beginning of their final press conference, Trump played a clip from CNBC where an anchor proclaimed that personal income has skyrocketed and tripled expectations.
The president then looked on Musk with pride as he listed the billionaire’s achievements, which included slashing many offshore projects said to be funded by USAID.
“He’s an incredible patriot,” Trump said after fuming over how the media criticized Musk.
Musk wore a black T-shirt with the words “The Dogefather” in the style of The Godfather emblazoned on the front as he smiled and nodded at Trump’s words.
But despite his sunny disposition, fans started to notice that the billionaire appeared to have a painful-looking black eye.
Viewers shared their concern for the Tesla founder and questioned what had left the painful-looking mark.
“Does Elon Musk have a black eye in the Oval Office right now?” wrote one viewer on X.
“Oh man, I can’t wait for the conspiracy theories.”
“Is no one going to ask why Elon Musk has a black eye,” said another person.
Another person wrote, “What is up with Elon Musk having a black eye at today’s White House Conference with President Trump?”
A reporter eventually asked Musk about his eye, and the billionaire quickly joked that he wasn’t “anywhere near France,” an apparent joke about French President Emmanuel Macron’s wife Brigitte, who was seen slapping her husband before they walked off an airplane.
Musk then revealed that his five-year-old son X had accidentally hit him when the two were playing.
“I was just horsing around with little X and I said, ‘Go ahead punch me in the face,’ and he did,” Musk explained.
Trump, who said he didn’t notice the black eye, smiled at the admission and said, “X could do it. If you knew X he could do it.”
Musk then said, “I didn’t really feel much at the time, and I guess it bruises up, but I was just horsing around with the kid.”
When asked about Musk’s future in the White House, the pair confirmed that he would always be on standby to give the president guidance.
END OF AN ERA
Earlier this week, Musk confirmed that he would soon be stepping down from his position and thanked the White House for having him.
“The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,” he said in the post.
Trump confirmed that Friday would be Musk’s last day, but insisted that the tech billionaire would “always be helping all the way.”
Questions still remain over who will lead the department in Musk’s absence, but White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt suggested it would be a group effort.
Musk made a lofty vow to save the government $1 trillion, and claims that DOGE has already slashed $160 billion in spending.
He’s also had a slew of viral moments since joining Trump’s campaign, like when he held up a massive “chainsaw for bureaucracy” on stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
In one presser with Trump, Musk set up a makeshift Tesla dealership outside the White House where the president gushed about the “computer” inside the cars.
And several times he was seen in the Oval Office with his four-year-old son X Æ A-Xii, whom he shares with his estranged ex Grimes.
Glaciers in the Alps have lost 50% of their area since 1950Image: Denis Balibouse/REUTERS
The collapse of a glacier in the Swiss Alps this week has underscored the impacts of a warming world on the ice-packed parts of planet Earth.
When the melting Birch Glacier on crumbled on Wednesday, it engulfed the picturesque village of Blatten in the country’s southern Wallis region. A mound of debris has clogged the path of the Lonza River, increasing the risk of flooding.
Glaciers and ice sheets store about 70% of the world’s freshwater reserves. High-altitude regions are often dubbed the world’s “water towers” because they gradually release meltwater in the summer, sustaining towns and farms downstream.
Two billion people globally rely on glacial melt for their day-to-day water needs, researchers say. Yet, as the world gets hotter, the ice is thawing.
Glaciers around the world are now melting at twice the rate measured just two decades ago. Between 2000 and 2023, they lost an ice mass equivalent to 46,000 Great Pyramids of Giza.
And this is affecting communities worldwide. Some regions are left with too little water, while others struggle with too much.
Glaciers are a crucial freshwater resource
The residents of the small western Peruvian town of Huaraz draw almost 20% of their annual water supply from melting ice. But Andean glaciers are thawing even faster than elsewhere.
This poses a risk of flooding. In a decadelong lawsuit, one resident of Huaraz sued a German energy company over the potential risk to his home from a mountain lake that is filling with meltwater at a rapid rate.
Meltwater damages infrastructure, makes mountains unstable
It’s not only in Peru that huge glacial lakes form when glaciers thaw. When they become too full, deadly floods can wash away buildings, bridges and wipe out fertile land, like in Pakistan, where a glacial lake burst in October 2023.
That same month in neighboring India, a lake of melted ice overflowed and killed 179 people. Scientists estimate that globally, at least 15 million people are vulnerable to sudden flooding from thawing ice, most of them living in India and Pakistan. Since 1990, the volume of water in mountain lakes there has increased by around 50%.
The collapse of the Birch Glacier in Switzerland caused a landslide of rock and ice that covered most of the 300-strong village of Blatten in mud. Though residents had been evacuated as a precaution, one man is missing in what scientists call the latest dramatic example of climate change’s impact on the Alps.
Dwindling water supply for agriculture, electricity generation
As glaciers shrink, they eventually reach a threshold — known as peak water — at which runoff declines. As a result, less meltwater flows downstream, with potentially far-reaching consequences.
Reduced water supply has forced local farmers, who traditionally grew corn and wheat, to change both their crops and water management. Some communities in the Andes have now switched to growing a bitter potato variety that is more resilient to drought.
Unstable water supply is also stalling electricity production. In Chile, 27% of power is generated by hydroelectric dams which critically depend on meltwater. In 2021, the Alto Maipo plant was shut down due to dwindling flow.
Melting ice sheets increasing sea levels
It’s not only glaciers in high altitudes that are melting, but also those in the ocean, like Thwaites Glacier in Western Antarctica. This frosty giant is the size of the US state of Florida and has been deemed “very unstable.” Scientists have said it is thawing on all sides.
The melting of sea ice crucially contributes to rising sea levels. Thwaites Glacier has been dubbed “doomsday glacier” for its potential impact on what some researchers call “abrupt” sea level rise.
In the last 25 years alone, melting glaciers have caused global sea levels to rise almost 2 centimeters (0.7 inches). This might not seem like much, but low-lying islands like Fiji and Vanuatu in the Pacific Ocean are at risk of disappearing under the waves.
In addition, more than 1 billion people in megacities like Jakarta, Mumbai, Lagos and Manila live within 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) of the coast. Protective dikes are only a temporary solution, as sea levels continue to rise.
Ice traditions under threat
Glaciers also hold spiritual and cultural significance.
Every year, tens of thousands of pilgrims gather at one of Peru’s most sacred glaciers, the Colquepunco, for a religious festival.
In the past, ice blocks were carved from the glacier and carried down to local communities who believed in their healing properties. But as the glacier vanishes, this ancient tradition has come under threat.
Less snowfall for Alpine ski resorts
The Presena Glacier in Italy, a popular destination for skiers, has reportedly lost a third of its volume since 1990. And natural snow in the European Alps is expected to decline by 42% by the end of the century. Scientists estimate that many ski resorts worldwide won’t be profitable in the future.
Trump says domestic steel production is a ‘matter of national security’Image: Patrick Pleul/picture-alliance/dpa
250 million bees escape after truck overturns in US
A commercial truck carrying an estimated 70,000 pounds (31,751 kilograms) of honeybee hives overturned in western United States, authorities said on Friday.
About 250 million bees are estimated to have been set free.
US Defense Secretary Hegseth warns of ‘imminent’ China threat
United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Saturday cautioned that China was “credibly preparing to potentially use military force” in a bid to reorder the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific.
Hegseth reassured Washington’s allies in the region that they would not be abandoned to tackle the growing military and economic pressures from Beijing.
Appeals court refuses to lift block on Trump’s mass firings at government agencies
The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to pause a judge’s ruling blocking President Donald Trump from carrying out mass layoffs of federal workers.
The firings were part of the White House’s plans to overhaul government and restructure federal agencies.
The appeals court ruling means that, for now, the Trump administration cannot proceed with plans to shed tens of thousands of federal jobs and shutter many government offices and programs.
US District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco on May 22 blocked the large-scale layoffs, saying that the president may only restructure agencies when authorized by Congress.
The Trump administration had sought an emergency stay of the injunction.
But the three-judge 9th Circuit panel denied the stay bid pending an appeal, which could take months to resolve.
The administration will likely now ask the US Supreme Court to pause the ruling.
PBS sues Donald Trump and administration officials over funding cuts
US television broadcaster PBS filed suit against President Donald Trump and members of his administration on Friday in an attempt to block what it says is overreach and a First Amendment violation.
Trump signed an executive order stripping Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) of all federal funding on May 1, calling it “radical, woke propaganda disguised as news” and claiming it was biased against him.
“PBS disputes those charged assertions in the strongest possible terms,” said PBS legal representative Z.W. Julius Chen.
“But regardless of any policy disagreements over the role of public television,” the suit charges, “our Constitution and laws forbid the President from serving as the arbiter of the content of PBS’s programming, including by attempting to defund PBS.”
PBS asserts the order “makes no attempt to hide the fact that it is cutting off the flow of funds to PBS because of the content of PBS programming and out of a desire to alter the content of speech. That is blatant viewpoint discrimination.”
Trump has been on a crusade against private and public media outlets, forcing massive payouts for supposed injustices and actively influencing corporate and editorial decision-making at news outlets, such as most recently at CBS.
National Public Radio (NPR) filed a similar suit on Tuesday.
Both PBS and NPR are non-profits that rely on partial public funding. The remainder of their revenue comes from corporate and individual sponsors as well as viewer donations.
Beyond news, PBS produces educational content for children and adults — the most famous examples of which are perhaps Sesame Street and Ken Burns.
PBS operates a 330-station system that often serves remote communities otherwise cut off from the rest of the country. They are also often the only source of critical information viewers have during emergencies.
Elon Musk listens to US President Donald Trump speak in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US on Feb 11, 2025. (File photo: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
US President Donald Trump said on Friday (May 30) that billionaire Elon Musk will remain a close adviser, even after the Tesla CEO departs the administration following a chaotic four-month tenure that saw him disrupt dozens of foreign agencies in his effort to slash government spending.
During a joint press conference in the Oval Office, Trump lauded Musk and defended his cost-cutting campaign as the head of the Department of Governmental Efficiency. The group has eliminated thousands of jobs and canceled billions of dollars in spending, including the majority of US foreign aid, but has thus far fallen far short of Musk’s lofty initial promises.
“Elon is really not leaving. He’s going to be back and forth,” Trump said from behind the Resolute Desk, as Musk stood to his right, wearing a black DOGE hat and a T-shirt that read “The Dogefather” in the style of the movie “The Godfather.”
The press conference appeared aimed at showing unity after Musk prompted frustration among White House officials this week by criticizing Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill as too expensive. Some senior aides, including Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, saw Musk’s remarks on the tax bill as an open break from the administration, with Miller particularly irked by the comments, a source familiar with the matter said.
Trump gave Musk a large golden key inside a wooden box bearing his signature, a gift he said he reserved only for “very special people.” Musk, in turn, admired the gold finishings that Trump has installed around the Oval Office.
The White House and senior aides had insisted earlier in Trump’s term that Musk, the world’s richest man, was a key figure who wasn’t going anywhere.
But more recently, they began pointing to the expiration of his 130-day mandate as a special government employee, which was set to end around May 30, as a natural endpoint.
Musk, meanwhile, has said he intends to devote most of his energy to his business empire, including Tesla and SpaceX, after some investors expressed concern that DOGE was occupying too much of his time.
He has also said he plans to ratchet back his political donations, after he spent nearly US$300 million backing Trump’s presidential campaign and those of other Republicans in 2024.
But he told reporters on Friday that he would continue to be part of Trump’s circle of advisers.
“I expect to remain a friend and an adviser, and certainly, if there’s anything the president wants me to do, I’m at the president’s service,” he said.
CUTS FALL SHORT
Musk initially claimed DOGE would slash at least US$2 trillion in federal spending. Four months into its efforts, DOGE now estimates it has saved US$175 billion.
But the details it has posted on its website, where it gives the only public accounting of those changes, add up to less than half of that figure.
US Treasury summaries reviewed by Reuters show that the agencies targeted by DOGE have cut about US$19 billion in combined spending compared to the same period last year, far below Musk’s original target and amounting to just about 0.5% of total federal expenditures.
Trump and DOGE have managed to cut nearly 12%, or 260,000, of the 2.3 million-strong federal civilian workforce largely through threats of firings, buyouts and early retirement offers, a Reuters review of agency departures found.
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong speaks during a press briefing with France’s President Emmanuel Macron in Singapore on May 30, 2025. (Photo: AFP/Ludovic Marin)
Israel may be breaching international law by restricting humanitarian aid to Gaza, Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Friday (May 30).
Speaking in a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron as part of the latter’s state visit to Singapore, Mr Wong said: “We have always said that Israel had a right to defend itself. Unfortunately, Israel’s response has gone too far and its actions have caused terrible humanitarian disaster; and the restrictions imposed on the delivery of humanitarian supplies are completely unacceptable.
“In our opinion, it may even be a likely breach of international humanitarian law. So it cannot be justified,” he added.
Earlier in May, Israel partially ended an 11-week long aid blockade on Gaza. Limited amount of relief has entered via the United Nations or the United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
“We join countries around the world to call for an immediate ceasefire; for the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid; for the protection of civilians; and also for the return of hostages,” said Mr Wong on Friday.
“Beyond the current crisis itself, Singapore also supports the right of the Palestinian people to their own homeland. This has to be done as part of a negotiated two-state solution, because that is the only way for a comprehensive, just and durable solution to this long-standing Israel-Palestine conflict.”
The prime minister noted international efforts on these fronts, including a United Nations conference which France and Saudi Arabia are co-hosting from Jun 17 to 20. It aims to lay out the parameters for a roadmap to a Palestinian state, while ensuring Israel’s security.
Singapore will participate in this conference and join the international community to work towards a durable solution, Mr Wong added.
Mr Macron meanwhile said during the presser that France could harden its position on Israel if it continues to block humanitarian aid to Gaza, according to Reuters.
“If there is no response that meets the humanitarian situation in the coming hours and days, obviously, we will have to toughen our collective position,” he said, speaking in French.
Reuters also reported Mr Macron saying the existence of a Palestinian state “is not just simply a moral duty but also a political necessity”.
On May 19, a joint statement by leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Canada also highlighted that Israel’s denial of humanitarian assistance risked breaching international humanitarian law.
When astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore approached the International Space Station (ISS) last year with failing thrusters on their Boeing Starliner capsule, they were unable to fly forward to dock.
And if they couldn’t dock, they didn’t know if they could make it back home again.
“Docking was imperative,” Mr Wilmore told BBC News, two months after he and Ms Williams finally made a successful return to Earth. “If we weren’t able to dock, would we be able to make it back? We didn’t know.”
The astronauts had been travelling on a test flight that was meant to last eight days. Instead, they ended up staying in space for nearly 10 months.
The first challenge was to dock safely and successfully at the ISS, which they managed to do within several minutes after Mission Control on the ground helped them restart the craft’s thrusters.
Mr Wilmore said that the possibility they might never see Earth again “definitely went through our minds”.
But both astronauts said they didn’t communicate the worst-case scenarios out loud in those moments, because they were trained to move on with solving problems.
“You sort of read each other’s mind and know where we’re going with all the failures,” Ms Williams told the BBC.
“These were not expected,” she admitted. But thoughts quickly turned to solutions: “At the same time, you know, we’re like, what do we have? What can we do?”
The pair’s saga began in June 2024. They were taking part in the first crewed test flight of the Starliner spacecraft, which was developed by aerospace company Boeing.
But after a number of technical problems during their flight, the option of Starliner carrying the astronauts home as planned was deemed to be a risk not worth taking – given that the pair could instead be brought back by another company, SpaceX.
For that reason, they stayed in space until they hitched a ride back on a SpaceX capsule. For its part, Boeing maintained that its own capsule was safe to use – and was proven right when the craft returned, uncrewed, in September 2024.
After months of experiments aboard the space station, Ms Williams and Mr Wilmore eventually returned to Earth on 18 March.
During this phase of their mission, the pair were repeatedly described as stranded, implying there was no means for them to get off the ISS.
But that was not the case, as the space station always has spacecraft attached to it – which could have acted in an emergency as a lifeboat to carry the astronauts back to Earth.
Nonetheless, the pair’s stay was longer than expected – though the Nasa pair embraced this.
“We knew nobody was going to just let us down… we knew everybody had our back and was looking out for us,” Ms Williams said.
While in limbo, the pair even found themselves in the middle of a political row, after US President Donald Trump blamed his predecessor Joe Biden for abandoning them in space.
But the astronauts said they ignored the politics and didn’t feel abandoned. “We can’t speak to that at all,” said Mr Wilmore. “We understand space flight is hard, human space flight is even harder.”
After two months back on the ground, both astronauts say they are feeling fit and well, because the workouts that they undertook while in their zero-gravity environment paid off.
Exercising in zero gravity means your body doesn’t need much time to recover from the daily squats and deadlifts, Mr Wilmore explained.
He said he performed squats and deadlifts “every single day for almost 10 months”, meaning that he returned to Earth “literally stronger than I’ve ever been in my life”.
Ms Williams agreed – she went running days after landing back on Earth and once ran a full marathon in space strapped to a treadmill – but said it’s not always easy to readjust to the weight of the world.
The US is becoming a difficult choice for Chinese students who want to study abroad
Xiao Chen turned up at the US Consulate in Shanghai on Thursday morning, hours after Washington announced that it would “aggressively” revoke the visas of Chinese students.
The 22-year-old had a visa appointment: she was headed to Michigan in the autumn to study communications.
After a “pleasant” conversation, she was told her application had been rejected. She was not given a reason.
“I feel like a drifting duckweed tossed in wind and storm,” she said, using a common Chinese expression to describe feeling both uncertain and helpless.
She had been hopeful because she already had the acceptance letter. And she thought she had narrowly escaped the bombshells in recent days.
First, Donald Trump’s administration moved to end Harvard University’s ability to enrol international students, a move that has since been blocked in court. And then it said it had stopped visa appointments for all foreign students.
But now, Chen is ready for plan B. “If I can’t get the visa eventually, I’ll probably take a gap year. Then I’ll wait to see if things will get better next year.”
A valid visa may still not be enough, she adds, because students with visas could be “stopped at the airport and deported”.
“It’s bad for every Chinese student. The only difference is how bad.”
It has been a bleak week for international students in the US – and perhaps even harder for the 280,000 or so Chinese students who would have noticed that their country has been singled out.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem accused Harvard of “co-ordinating with the Chinese Communist Party”.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the move against Chinese students in the US would include “those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields”.
That could hit a wide swathe of them given membership of the Communist Party is common among officials, entrepreneurs, business people and even artists and celebrities in China.
Beijing has called it a “politically motivated and discriminatory action”, and its foreign ministry has lodged a formal protest.
There was a time when China sent the highest number of foreign students to American campuses. But those numbers slipped as the relationship between the two countries soured.
A more powerful and increasingly assertive Beijing is now clashing with Washington for supremacy in just about everything, from trade to tech.
Trump’s first term had already spelled trouble for Chinese students. He signed an order in 2020 barring Chinese students and researchers with ties to Beijing’s military from obtaining US visas.
That order remained in place during President Joe Biden’s term. Washington never clarified what constitutes “ties” to the military, so many students had their visas revoked or were turned away at US borders, sometimes without a proper explanation.
One of them, who did not wish to be named, said his visa was cancelled by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) when he landed in Boston in August 2023.
He had been accepted into a post-doctoral program at Harvard University. He was going to study regenerative medicine with a focus on breast cancer, and had done his master’s degree from a military-affiliated research institution in China.
He said he was not a member of the Communist Party and his research had nothing to do with the military.
“They asked me what the relationship was between my research and China’s defence affairs,” he told the BBC then. “I said, how could breast cancer have anything to do with national defence? If you know, please tell me.”
He believes he never stood a chance because the officials had already made up their minds. He recalled one of them asking: “Did Xi Jinping buy your suitcase for you?”
What was surprising, or even shocking then, slowly turned normal as more and more Chinese students struggled to secure visas or admissions to study science and technology in US universities.
Mr Cao, a psychology major whose research involves neuroscience, has spent the past school year applying for PhD programs in the US.
He had graduated from top-tier universities – credentials that could send him to an Ivy League school. But of the more than 10 universities he applied to, only one extended an offer.
Trump’s cuts to biomedical research didn’t help, but the mistrust surrounding Chinese researchers was also a factor. Allegations and rumours of espionage, especially in sensitive subjects, have loomed over Chinese nationals at US universities in recent years, even derailing some careers.
“One of the professors even told me, ‘We rarely give offers to Chinese students these days, so I cannot give you an interview,” Mr Cao told the BBC in February.
“I feel like I am just a grain of sand under the wheel of time. There is nothing I can do.”
For those who did graduate from US colleges, returning home to China has not been easy either.
They used to be lauded as a bridge to the rest of the world. Now, they find that their once-coveted degrees don’t draw the same reaction.
Chen Jian, who did not want to use his real name, said he quickly realised that his undergraduate degree from a US college had become an obstacle.
When he first came back in 2020, he interned at a state-owned bank and asked a supervisor if there was a chance to stay on.
The supervisor didn’t say it outright, but Chen got the message: “Employees should have local degrees. People like me (with overseas degrees) won’t even get a response.”
He later realised that “there really weren’t any colleagues with overseas undergraduate background in the department”.
He went back to the US and did his master’s at Johns Hopkins University, and now works at Chinese tech giant Baidu.
But despite the degree from a prestigious American university, Mr Chen does not feel he has an edge because of the stiff competition from graduates in China.
What also has not helped is the suspicion around foreign graduates. Beijing has ramped up warnings of foreign spies, telling civilians to be on the lookout for suspicious figures.
In April, prominent Chinese businesswoman Dong Mingzhu told shareholders in a closed-door meeting that her company, home appliance maker Gree Electric, will “never” recruit Chinese people educated overseas “because among them are spies”.
“I don’t know who is and who isn’t,” Ms Dong said, in comments that were leaked and went viral online.
Days later, the CIA released promotional videos encouraging Chinese officials dissatisfied with the government to become spies and provide classified information. “Your destiny is in your own hands,” the video said.
The suspicion of foreigners as the US and China pull further away from each other is a surprising turn for many Chinese people who remember growing up in a very different country.
Zhang Ni, who also did not want to use her real name, says she was “very shocked” by Ms Dong’s remarks.
The 24-year-old is a recent journalism graduate from Columbia University in New York. She says she “doesn’t care about working at Gree”, but what surprised her was the shift in attitudes.
Taylor Swift has bought back the rights to her first six albums, ending a long-running battle over the ownership of her music.
“All of the music I’ve ever made now belongs to me,” said the star, announcing the news on her official website. “I’ve been bursting into tears of joy… ever since I found out this is really happening.”
The saga began in June 2019, when music manager Scooter Braun bought Swift’s former record label Big Machine and, with it, all of the songs from Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation.
Swift had personal objections to the deal, blaming Braun for complicity in the “incessant, manipulative bullying” against her by Kanye West, one of his clients.
On her website, Swift said that reclaiming the rights to her music had, for a long time, seemed unimaginable.
“To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,” she added, thanking fans for their support as the drama played out.
“I can’t thank you enough for helping to reunite me with this art that I have dedicated my life to, but have never owned until now.
“I almost stopped thinking it could ever happen, after 20 years of having the carrot dangled and then yanked away,” she wrote.
“But that’s all in the past now.”
In the music industry, the owner of a master recording controls the way it is distributed and licenced. The artist still earns royalties, but controlling the masters offers protection over how the work is used in future.
Reputation (Taylor’s Version) delayed?
Swift responded to the original sale of her masters by vowing to re-record those records, effectively diminishing the value of those master tapes, and putting ownership back in her hands.
To date, she has released four re-recorded albums – known as “Taylor’s Versions” – with dozens of bonus tracks and supplementary material.
In her letter, the star told fans she had yet to complete the project, after “hitting a stopping point” while trying to remake 2017’s Reputation album – which dealt with public scrutiny of her private life, and the fall-out of her feud with Kanye West.
“The Reputation album was so specific to that time in my life,” she explained. “All that defiance, that longing to be understood while feeling purposefully misunderstood…
“To be perfectly honest, it’s the one album in those first six that I thought couldn’t be improved by re-doing it… so I kept putting it off.”
Last week, the star previewed the new version of Reputation’s first single, Look What You Made Me Do, in an episode of The Handmaid’s Tale – but her letter suggested that a full re-recording would be delayed or even scrapped.
However, she promised that vault tracks from the record would be released at a future date, if fans were “into the idea”.
She also confirmed that she had re-recorded her self-titled debut, adding: “I really love how it sounds now”.
“Those two albums can still have their moments to re-emerge when the time is right,” she added.
“But if it happens, it won’t be from a place of sadness and longing for what I wish I could have. It will just be a celebration now.”
What is a master recording?
As the name suggests, a master recording is the original recorded performance of a song. Whoever owns it controls all the rights to exploit the music.
That includes distributing it to streaming services, pressing new physical CDs and vinyl, creating box sets, or licensing songs to movies or video games.
Swift, as the writer or co-writer of her music, always maintained her publishing rights, which meant she was able to veto attempts to license songs like Shake It Off and Love Story to other companies.
“I do want my music to live on. I do want it to be in movies. I do want it to be in commercials. But I only want that if I own it,” she told Billboard in 2019.
It is not known how much it cost Swift to acquire her masters, but the catalogue previously sold for $300m (£222m) in 2020.
The BBC understands that rumours she paid between $600m to $1bn are inaccurately high.
How did the sale of Taylor Swift’s masters happen?
When 14-year-old Taylor Swift moved to Nashville in 2004 to chase her dream of becoming a country pop star, she signed a record deal with Big Machine.
Label boss Scott Borchetta gave the unproven singer a big cash advance in exchange for having ownership of the master recordings to her first six albums “in perpetuity”.
This was fairly common practice in the era before streaming, when artists needed record label backing to get played on the radio, and for the manufacture and distribution of CDs.
Swift’s deal with Big Machine expired in 2018, at which point she left and signed with Republic Records and Universal Music Group (UMG).
A year later, Borchetta sold his label to Scooter Braun’s Ithaca Holdings.
Swift said she only learned about the deal when it was announced; characterising it as an act of aggression that “stripped me of my life’s work”.
She labelled Braun – who rose to prominence as the manager of Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande – as “the definition of toxic male privilege in our industry”.
She also expressed frustration that she had been unable to make a counter offer for her music.
“I spent 10 years of my life trying rigorously to purchase my masters outright and was then denied that opportunity,” she told Billboard, adding that: “Artists should maybe have the first right of refusal to buy.”
Braun later told Variety that the dispute had “gotten out of hand” after he and his family received death threats.
The music mogul later sold his stake in Swift’s back catalogue to Shamrock Holdings, a Los Angeles investment fund founded by the Disney family in 1978, in November 2020.
The multi-million dollar deal left Swift feeling betrayed again.
“This is the second time my music had been sold without my knowledge,” she said in a social media post.
While she was “open to the possibility of a partnership with Shamrock”, she subsequently learnt that, under the terms of the sale, Braun would “continue to profit off my old music” for years.
“I simply cannot in good conscience bring myself to be involved in benefiting Scooter Braun’s interests,” she wrote in a letter to the company, which she posted on X.
She began releasing her re-recorded albums in 2021, starting with her breakthrough, coming-of-age album Fearless.
Produced with forensic attention to detail, they were often indistinguishable from the originals – albeit with slightly cleaner mixes, and greater separation between the instruments.
But the big attraction was the bonus tracks, including the unabridged, 10-minute version of her break-up ballad All Too Well – described by Variety magazine as the “holy grail” of the star’s back catalogue.
The song went on to top the US charts, and made number three in the UK – where it is the longest song ever to reach the top five.
In the meantime, the singer continued to release original material, including the Grammy Award-winning albums Folklore and Midnights.
In 2023, Forbes magazine reported that Swift had become the first musician to make $1 billion (£740 million) solely from songwriting and performing.
Half of her fortune came from music royalties and touring, while the rest came from the increasing value of her music catalogue, including her re-recordings.
Revisiting the old material also inspired Swift’s career-spanning Eras tour, which made more than $2 billion (£1.48 billion) in ticket sales across 2023 and 2024.
In her letter, Swift said the success of the Eras tour “is why I was able to buy back my music”.
She added that she was heartened to see her struggle inspiring other artists.
The family of Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel recently revealed a heartbreaking diagnosis just months after the teen brain cancer survivor captured America’s hearts when he was sworn in as an honorary member of the Secret Service by President Trump.
DJ, who was given five months to live after being diagnosed with incurable brain and spine cancer in 2018, has “three new tumors,” his father, Theodis Daniel, told Fox 7 Austin last week.
“It’s rough, there isn’t a class that can teach you how to deal with it. You’re hearing that your child has a nasty disease,” the heartbroken dad said.
Devarjaye “DJ” Daniel after being sworn in as an honorary Secret Service agent during Trump’s address to Congress. REUTERS
“We’re just going around showing people, hey, you do care for one another. Let’s give compassion and let’s try to join and help each other get through things,” he added.
DJ, who dreams of becoming a police officer, was thrust into the national spotlight when he was sworn in as an honorary protector of Trump during the president’s address to a joint session of Congress on March 4.
The teen has nearly completed his quest to be sworn in by 1,000 law enforcement agencies across the country — which would be a Guinness World Record.
He already holds multiple records, including “the most keys to the city” and “most proclamation days.”
After his Secret Service honor, DJ got calls from law enforcement agencies throughout the country, including from Deputy Jeffrey Combs of the Williams County Sheriff’s Office in Texas.
“I saw Theodis pick his son up. I felt that unconditional love, and I just knew I had to find DJ, so it all worked out,” he told FOX 7 last week.
The teen has been keeping in good spirits: During the Williams County ceremony, DJ rubbed deputies’ bald heads for luck, the outlet reported.
And the youngster was just as upbeat at another recent swearing-in, this one in Polk County, Florida.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meets with U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine May 30, 2025. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights
Ukraine resisted U.S. and Russian pressure to commit to attending another round of peace talks on Monday, saying it first needed to see Russian proposals, while a leading U.S. senator warned Moscow it would be “hit hard” by new U.S. sanctions.
U.S. President Donald Trump has urged Moscow and Kyiv to work together on a deal to end their three-year-old war, and Russia has proposed a second round of face-to-face talks with Ukrainian officials next week in Istanbul.
Kyiv has said it is committed to the search for peace, but that it was waiting for a memorandum from the Russian side setting out their proposals.
“For a meeting to be meaningful, its agenda must be clear, and the negotiations must be properly prepared,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on X on Friday after hosting Turkey’s foreign minister for talks in Kyiv.
“Unfortunately, Russia is doing everything it can to ensure that the next potential meeting brings no results,” he said, citing the lack of a document from Russia.
Delegations from the two countries met in Istanbul on May 16 but the session yielded little other than an agreement for a prisoner exchange.
Zelenskiy said he and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Friday discussed in a phone call the conditions under which Ukraine would participate in the Monday meeting proposed by Russia.
“There must be a ceasefire to move further toward peace. The killing of people must stop,” Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.
“We share the view that this meeting cannot and should not be empty,” Zelenskiy said.
He did not commit Ukraine to attending on Monday, although he said he and Erdogan did discuss the possibility of organising a four-way meeting with the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United States.
Erdogan said it was important that Russia and Ukraine send strong delegations to Istanbul and added that a leaders’ meeting could contribute to the peace process, the Turkish presidency said.
Some Republicans in the U.S. Congress and White House advisers have urged Trump to finally embrace new sanctions on Russia to put pressure on Moscow.
Influential Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on a visit to Kyiv the Republican-led U.S. Senate is expected to move ahead with a bill on sanctions against Russia next week.
Graham, who met Zelenskiy in Kyiv, told a news briefing he had talked with Trump before his trip and the U.S. president expects concrete actions now from Moscow.
Graham accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to drag out the peace process and said he doubts the Istanbul meeting will amount to more than a “Russian charade.”
“The game that Putin has been playing is about to change. He is going to be hit, and hit hard by the United States, when it comes to sanctions,” Graham said.
Trump told reporters on Friday that both Putin and Zelenskiy were stubborn and that he had been surprised and disappointed by Russian bombing in Ukraine while he was trying to arrange a ceasefire. Trump made no mention of sanctions.
The war, the biggest in Europe since World War Two, began with a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Expectations for the talks are modest because the positions staked out so far by the two sides are far apart and work between them has yet to begin in earnest on narrowing the gap.
Nevertheless, both Kyiv and Moscow are keen to demonstrate to Trump they support his peace efforts. Kyiv wants more U.S. military aid, while Moscow hopes Trump will ease existing economic sanctions on Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian delegation would be travelling to Istanbul and ready for talks with Ukraine on Monday morning.
“Everyone is focused on the direct Russia-Ukraine negotiations. A list of conditions for a temporary truce is being developed,” Peskov said.
Moscow has said its delegation for Istanbul would be led by Vladimir Medinsky, a Kremlin aide who led the previous round on May 16.
NO MORE NATO ENLARGEMENT?
Reuters reported this week that Putin’s conditions for ending the war include a demand that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging NATO eastwards.
Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said on Friday that Russia’s concern over the eastward enlargement of NATO was fair and Washington did not want to see Ukraine in the U.S.-led military alliance.
Commenting on Kellogg’s statement, Peskov said: “We are pleased that these explanations by the president are understood, including in Washington.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told reporters in Kyiv that the next step after talks in Istanbul would be to try to host a meeting between Trump, Putin, and Zelenskiy.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said Kyiv needed to see the Russian proposals in advance for the talks to be “substantive and meaningful,” without spelling out what Kyiv would do if it did not receive the Russian document or a deadline for receiving it.
The U.S. plan for Gaza, seen by Reuters on Friday, proposes a 60-day ceasefire and the release of 28 Israeli hostages – alive and dead – in the first week, in exchange for the release of 1,236 Palestinian prisoners and the remains of 180 dead Palestinians.
The document, which says the plan is guaranteed by U.S. President Donald Trump and mediators Egypt and Qatar, includes sending humanitarian aid to Gaza as soon as Hamas signs off on the ceasefire agreement.
The aid will be delivered by the United Nations, the Red Crescent and other agreed channels.
The White House said on Thursday that Israel had agreed to the U.S. ceasefire proposal.
Israeli media said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the families of hostages held in Gaza that Israel had accepted the deal presented by Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. The prime minister’s office declined to comment.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas said it had received the Israeli response to the proposal, which it said “fails to meet any of the just and legitimate demands of our people” including an immediate cessation of hostilities and an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Hamas official Basem Naim said the Israeli response “fundamentally seeks to entrench the occupation and perpetuate policies of killing and starvation, even during what is supposed to be a period of temporary de-escalation”.
However, he said Hamas’ leadership was carrying out a “thorough and responsible review of the new proposal”.
The U.S. plan provides for Hamas to release the last 30 of the 58 remaining Israeli hostages once a permanent ceasefire is in place. Israel will also cease all military operations in Gaza as soon as the truce takes effect, it shows.
The Israeli army will also redeploy its troops in stages.
Deep differences between Hamas and Israel have stymied previous attempts to restore a ceasefire that broke down in March.
Israel has insisted that Hamas disarm completely, be dismantled as a military and governing force and return all 58 hostages still held in Gaza before it will agree to end the war.
Hamas has rejected the demand to give up its weapons and says Israel must pull its troops out of Gaza and commit to ending the war.
Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas attack in its south on October 7, 2023, that killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 Israelis taken hostage into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
A Palestinian woman reacts in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City, May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Ebrahim Hajjaj TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Purchase Licensing Rights
The subsequent Israeli military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, Gaza health officials say, and has left the enclave in ruins.
MOUNTING PRESSURE
Israel has come under increasing international pressure, with many European countries that are usually reluctant to criticise it openly demanding an end to the war and a major relief effort.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Friday that Israel is blocking all but a trickle of humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, with almost no ready-to-eat food entering what its spokesperson described as “the hungriest place on earth”.
Witkoff told reporters on Wednesday that Washington was close to “sending out a new term sheet” about a ceasefire by the two sides in the conflict.
“I have some very good feelings about getting to a long-term resolution, temporary ceasefire and a long-term resolution, a peaceful resolution, of that conflict,” Witkoff said then.
The 60-day ceasefire, according to the plan, may be extended if negotiations for a permanent ceasefire are not concluded within the set period.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Thursday the terms of the proposal echoed Israel’s position and did not contain commitments to end the war, withdraw Israeli troops or admit aid as Hamas has demanded.
AID DISTRIBUTION
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private group backed by the United States and endorsed by Israel, said it had distributed a total of more than 1.8 million meals this week and it expanded its aid distribution to a third site in Gaza on Thursday. GHF plans to open more sites in coming weeks.
The group, heavily criticised by the United Nations and other aid groups as inadequate and flawed, began its operation this week in Gaza, where the U.N. has said 2 million people are at risk of famine after an 11-week blockade by Israel on aid entering the enclave.
There were tumultuous scenes on Tuesday as thousands of Palestinians rushed to distribution points and forced private security contractors to retreat.
Kylie Jenner opened up to Dazed about her style evolution. Dazed
Once a baddie, always a baddie.
Kylie Jenner may be keeping mum about her relationship with Timothée Chalamet, but she’s not afraid to hit back at theories that she’s dressing more demure since snagging an Oscar-nominated boyfriend.
In her new Dazed cover story, the reality star, 27, denied switching up her style for Chalamet’s sake. When asked if fans should be “mourning a baddie,” she answered, “That’s so funny, I’ve seen that before too, and I’m always like, first of all, the baddie never left.”
“I wear a latex dress at least once a week. Like, where do you guys think the baddie went?” she asked. “People saw me in a flowy dress once in my life, and they were like, ‘She’s gone!’ I wore a sundress once in Palm Springs, you know – like, can a girl wear a sundress once?”
The Kylie Cosmetics founder joked she was “taking a break from slaying” in 2023 after fans noticed she was dialing back her glam.
Paige DeSorbo even took a swing during a “Giggly Squad” podcast episode, saying, “I do want to say about the Kardashians, every boyfriend they get, they take — they start to look like them. It’s like one of the weirdest things.”
The “Summer House” star likened the phenomenon to “when dogs start to look like their owners.”
That same year, Jenner was also compared to Sofia Richie and her “quiet luxury” sensibility after the makeup mogul wore a parade of ladylike outfits while on a European vacation.
In a 2024 New York Times interview, Jenner acknowledged she was “stripping down a little bit” when it came to her style.
“I don’t have this thick mane down to my butt, I don’t have lash extensions, I don’t have these long claws,” she said.
But when asked if it had to do directly with Chalamet, she responded cagily, “I don’t know how I feel about that. I just don’t want to talk about personal things.”
In another interview, Jenner said she’s simply grown out of the “King Kylie” aesthetic of her teen years as she’s come into her own as a mother of two.
“That era will always be a part of who I am, but it’ll never be what it was when I was younger. I probably would never wear lash extensions and thick eyebrows [now]. There are just certain trends that I’ve grown out of,” she told Elle last year.
“I’ve definitely had some moments of quiet luxury, as they would say, but I’m always experimenting. At the root of my authentic style, I think I’m more dark feminine.”
Elon Musk allegedly fathered a child with a Japanese pop star — and told an ex that he would offer his sperm to “anyone.”
Ashley St. Clair, who allegedly shares son Romulus with the Tesla CEO, made the bombshell claims in a new article published by the New York Times Friday.
“Ms. St. Clair said that Mr. Musk told her he had fathered children around the world, including one with a Japanese pop star,” the article alleges. “He said he would be willing to give his sperm to anyone who wanted to have a child.”
Elon Musk allegedly fathered a child with a Japanese pop star, his ex claimed in a new article from the New York Times. Getty Images
St. Clair further claimed that Musk had a deep concern for the declining birth rate, which he has been vocal about on his social media platform, X.
“He made it seem like it was just his altruism,” she alleged to the outlet. “He generally believed these people should just have children.”
St. Clair also claimed that while she was giving birth to Musk’s alleged child back in September, he allegedly told her “over disappearing Signal messages” that he wanted to keep his paternity, as well as their relationship, under wraps.
The right-leaning writer even claimed that she had to pretend she didn’t know Musk when they both went to Mar-a-Lago to celebrate President Trump’s election victory.
Musk, 53, allegedly offered her $15 million — and an additional $100,000 a month until their son turned 21 — if she kept her mouth shut, according to documents obtained by the newspaper.
St. Clair refused to let the tech billionaire buy her silence, however, and she went public with the news of his alleged paternity in February. She also sued him for child support and sole custody, later accusing him of “substantially” reducing his child support after she filed the lawsuit.
Back in March, Musk shared on X that although he had questions about the infant’s paternity, he was still sending St. Clair millions of dollars and payments of over “$500k/year.”
WSJ previously reported that test results from Labcorp showed that there is a “99.9999%” certainty Musk is Romulus’ father.
Faizan Zaki wins 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee (@BeenThereCap/X)
13-year-old Faizan Zaki of Dallas, Texas, won the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee by accurately spelling the difficult French word “claircissement” in an exciting climax that had the audience on the edge of their seats. His significant victory included the coveted Scripps Cup trophy, a commemorative medal, and a $50,000 cash reward.
Faizan, a seventh-grader at C.M. Rice Middle School, started his spelling journey at the age of 7. What began as a fun family activity quickly turned into a serious passion. “He just enjoys learning new words,” said his mother, Arshia Quadri. “It’s something that came naturally to him.”
His father, Zaki Anwar, recalled, “We just wanted him to enjoy the experience of competing at the bee. If he could spell a few words and achieve a few rounds, that would be great. But this is amazing!”
This year’s spelling bee was especially significant, marking its 100th anniversary. The competition saw 243 participants aged 8 to 14 from around the world gather at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, from May 27 to 30. Only nine made it to the final round.
Faizan spelled his winning word in the 21st round. As confetti rained down, he dropped to the floor in disbelief, living the moment. “I’m going to be having nightmares about that tonight,” he said, still overwhelmed by the victory.
Fourth Time’s The Charm
This was Faizan’s fourth time participating in the national bee. Last year, he was narrowly defeated in a tiebreaker round by his friend, Bruhat Soma, who jokingly said, “I think he cared too much about his aura.”
Nepal’s government said on Tuesday it has a “duty to protect” the Himalayas from the risks presented by climate change and the growing numbers of climbers attempting to scale the region’s summits, especially Everest. Associated Press video shot by Pasang Rinjzee Sherpa, Jenjen Lama, Kunga Sherpa and Vinayak Jaya Malla
Hundreds of climbers and their Sherpa guides scaled Mount Everest this month in Nepal, struggling against harsh weather to make it to the summit of the world’s highest mountain before the climbing season finishes at the end of May.
Though several climbers did manage to reach the summit in mid-May, weather conditions deteriorated for days, forcing a retreat to base camp for many, including Kami Rita Sherpa, who was attempting to break his own record by scaling the peak for a 31st time.
He did manage to scale the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) peak on May 27, but several climbers were not so lucky.
Kami Rita Sherpa, third left, who holds the record for most ascents to Mount Everest, prays with other mountaineers at Everest Base Camp before beginning his ascent to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)
The route to the summit is equipped with ladders and ropes but these are removed at the end of May, marking an end to the climbing season before the monsoon brings heavy rainfall and bad weather.
According to Nepal’s Department of Mountaineering, 468 foreign climbers from 57 countries were given permits to climb Everest by the end of May, along with a roughly equal number of Nepalese mountain guides.
Mount Everest, right, is seen from the Khumbu region which lies on the way to the summit, in Nepal, May 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)An aerial view shows Camp 1 on the way to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, Thursday, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)A climber rests early morning inside a tent at the Everest Base Camp in Nepal, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)A member of the kitchen crew of an expedition to the summit of Mount Everest collects ice for drinking water at Camp 1, Nepal, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)A sherpa hands vodka, that was earlier offered to the Gods, to a climber after a ritual for a safe climb at Everest Base Camp before beginning his ascent to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)
Because of the limited windows of good weather near the summit, large numbers of climbers lined up, attached to the single safety rope, which is known as the “Everest traffic jam.”
“Overall on Everest, weather is the key and it was not same as the forecast. And secondly, it was crowded because both professionals and beginners were there at the same time,” said Pasang Rinji Sherpa, a guide, adding that because of some of the novice climbers, movement was slow.
Mountaineers ascend to Camp 2 on their way to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, May 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)
Pasang Rinji has already climbed the peak twice but was forced to retreat this time because he got sick on the mountain.
He said there were many cases of flu and the “Khumbu cough,” named after a region on Everest, that affects climbers at high altitudes. Some climbers and guides abandoned or postponed their ascent, he said.
A mountaineer is silhouetted against Mount Ama Dablam on his way to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, April 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)A mountain guide uses a radio at Camp 2 on the way to the summit of Mount Everest in Nepal, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)
He said that only selected or qualified climbers should be allowed to climb the peak to make the experience safer and easier.
“Right now there are beginners with no experience or knowledge and professional at the same time and this is causing the problem,” he said. “There should be basic knowledge for the climbers to use gear properly and be safe while climbing Everest.”
Indian Army personnel take part in a training session at Everest Base Camp before beginning their ascent to Mount Everest in Nepal, April 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Pasang Rinzee Sherpa)
Donald Trump recently posted a meme thart declares he is on a “mission from God” that includes an alt-right symbol. (AP)
Co-opting a famous phrase from the 1980 John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd classic The Blues Brothers, Donald Trump posted a cryptic meme on Wednesday night declaring that he is “on a mission from God” which also features an alt-right symbol in the background.
Showing the president walking down a dark city street, the image includes the caption “nothing can stop what is coming.” While the meme itself could be interpreted as the president’s response to the U.S. Court of International Trade striking down the majority of his “Liberation Day” tariffs, it was the image’s inclusion of Pepe the Frog – and the fact that it originated from a “groyper” account – that has drawn the most attention.
Additionally, this latest meme from the president may have boosted a meme coin associated with the far-right movement.
With members of his administration likening the court ruling that Trump “exceeded his authority” on tariffs to a “judicial coup,” the president seemingly fired back at the three-judge panel with memes on his Truth Social account. One image the president posted featured a billboard emblazoned with the slogan, “Trump was right about everything.”
And then there was the Blues Brothers-themed post, which piggybacks on an overarching MAGA theme that God has anointed the president to save the country, a belief among Christian conservatives that ramped up after last July’s assassination attempt and has only increased since Trump’s election. In fact, the president himself has repeatedly suggested he was “saved” by Christ because he is the chosen one.
At the same time, the “mission from God” meme parrots the long-running belief among QAnon adherents that Trump has been given a calling to secretly root out a cabal of cannibalistic pedophiles from within the government and liberal ruling class, and that soon the “storm will be coming” that will see the mass arrests of prominent Democrats and celebrities.
Trump, who has regularly posted memes and video clips that were created by QAnon conspiracists and far-right extremists, appears to have done the same thing with this particular post.
The far-right corner of the meme tags the Truth Social account @FruitSnacks, who appears to be a “groyper,” otherwise known as a supporter of notorious white supremacist Nick Fuentes. The person, who also has an account on X with the same FruitSnacks handle, has regularly reshared posts from Fuentes and a news account associated with the virulent antisemite. Of course, Trump infamously dined with Fuentes and Hitler-boosting rapper Kanye West at Mar-a-Lago in 2022.
At the same time, in recent months, it appears that FruitSnacks has grown increasingly jaded with the president following Trump’s return to the White House, echoing Fuentes and other far-right MAGA supporters who have sounded off over the administration’s perceived lack of action on their pet conspiracy theories.
“There will be no arrests or tribunals. It would have happened by now. Trump is in office, so… what is he waiting for?” FruitSnacks wrote on Truth Social earlier this month, adding in another post about the FBI files on deceased sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein: “Soooo… how about that Epstein client list?”
Meanwhile, the inclusion of Pepe the Frog, a cartoon figure that has been appropriated by “groypers” and the alt-right in recent years, sparked excitement in the fever swamps of the internet – and also may have contributed to a slight spike in the crypto market.
$PEPE, a meme coin named for the alt-right symbol, surged 8.5 percent overnight following the president’s Truth Social post. While it dropped 5 percent after the spike, the frog-themed token still showed an increase of nearly six percent over a 24 hour period and now has a market cap over $6 billion.
Trump posting a Pepe meme and potentially sparking a crypto rush created quite a bit of chatter on X among the far-right crowd, many of whom have the frog as their avatars. “Vision of PEPE OF THE UNITED STATES X is here to restore memerican greatness,” one account, which goes by the handle PEPE OF THE UNITED STATES, reacted. “Trump vibes. Pepe power. Full degen energy.”
Earlier this month, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reported that as many as fifty of the invitees to Trump’s controversial meme coin gala – which featured 220 guests who had spent the most on the president’s $TRUMP cryptocurrency – were also holders of the Pepe the Frog coin and other assets linked to far-right extremism.
“The most wallets on the list, 45 in all, held assets named for Pepe the Frog as of May 12—the day winners were finalized—but holdings may have changed since they were analyzed,” CREW noted.
Before they allegedly kidnapped and tortured an Italian tourist at a swanky Soho townhouse, high-rolling crypto bros John Woeltz and William Duplessie were rolling up to Manhattan’s trendiest nightclubs with their own security detail — and looking for “Instagram baddies” flaunting Brazilian butt lifts, according to two women who partied with them.
A nightlife source claimed that the pair — who have been arrested on charges including the kidnapping and assault of Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan — were using Charlie Zakkour, a club kid turned crypto trader who is one of the stars of the upcoming Bravo reality show “Next Gen NYC,” as a connection to set them up at exclusive clubs.
The source alleged that Zakkour reached out to her in early March to say he knew “big” crypto guys who were staying at the Mercer Hotel and wanted to spend around $30K at Paul’s Baby Grand, the lounge opened by actress Chloë Sevingy’s brother, Paul Sevigny.
Before they allegedly kidnapped and tortured an Italian tourist at a swanky Soho townhouse, high-rolling crypto bros William Duplessie (left) and John Woeltz (right) were rolling up to Manhattan’s trendiest nightclubs with their own security detail. TMZ / BACKGRID
But Woeltz, 37, and Duplessie, 33, “ended up changing their mind and picked a sh–ty commercial club, Nebula, because they just wanted to be seen — to just be flashy. Nebula is extravagant.”
At Nebula, the source claimed, the duo spent “$100K on bottles. They had the front table.”
Duplessie immediately got comfortable at the nightclub, the source alleged: “The first time I met Will at Nebula, he was shirtless with sunglasses and smoking a cigar.”
And the duo “had four security guards with them at all times. I met Kate Moss and even she doesn’t do that,” the source sniffed. “You could tell they were trying to prove something.You can tell they’re posers.”
An attorney for Duplessie had no comment. Woeltz’s lawyer did not respond to a request for comment, and The Post has attempted to reach Zakkour.
The source claimed that, while with Duplessie and Woeltz — who reportedly calls himself the “Crypto King of Kentucky” and has boasted of holding $100 million in digital currency — she “saw a lot of blow … Tusi, ketamine.”
The source was also asked to wrangle other girls to hang out with the duo.
“They wanted Instagram baddies with tons of followers and BBLs [Brazilian butt lifts]. They wanted girls who were not drinking age, like 19,” the source alleged, adding that she roped in six female friends to hang out with Woeltz and Duplessie.
But things “got weird,” the source said, when “Charlie just started being so rude — saying [the girls] were not hot enough. This was Charlie on [Woeltz and Duplessie’s] behalf. This was around the time I started questioning my friendship with him.
“Will and John always had other people doing the talking for them. Will didn’t really talk to a girl unless he wanted to hook up with her. John was always giving me a creepy vibe. He didn’t seem really happy to be there.”
When the two did speak, the source said, “Pretty much all they talked about was how much money they have.”
Another party girl who hung out with Woeltz and Duplessie told The Post that she met them when a promoter from The Box invited her and some other young women to an April after-party at the Soho townhouse Woeltz was renting.
It’s also where Carturan claims he was held against his will for 17 days, from May 6 to 23, and allegedly tortured for the password to his $30 million Bitcoin wallet.
“The promoters put us all in this Sprinter van. When we got to the apartment, there was security everywhere. There was a girl doing coat check. I’ve never seen anything like that. Workers serving the food and drinks — Don Julio 1942, Grey Goose,” the party girl claimed.
There were even velvet ropes keeping guests from parts of the townhouse: “The kitchen was roped off, the dining room was roped off, the stairs were roped off.”
Duplessie — who was shirtless — was DJing, the party girl said, when “a girl I was with took a selfie. I don’t know if it was Will or a security guard, but someone immediately jumped at her and said, ‘You can’t take any pictures.’ It was a big deal.”
But there was plenty of illicit behavior to photograph, she claimed. “There was a big metal platter on a table in the basement. Will brought a freezer bag full of cocaine and poured it all on as if it was nothing and walked away. It was actually insane. It was a freezer bag of cocaine worth my tuition in college or more.”
North Korea helped Russia to ramp up its missile attacks on key Ukrainian civilian infrastructure through the shipment of thousands of soldiers and artillery shells — with Pyongyang getting sanctions-busting air defense weapons and military equipment in return, officials revealed Thursday.
The Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team, a group comprising 11 United Nation members observing the sanctions against Pyongyang, found that Russia and North Korea had violated UN sanctions to bolster their military ambitions.
Moscow received more than 12,000 North Korean troops to help retake the Russian region of Kursk from Ukraine earlier this year. The Kremlin also got as many as nine million rounds of artillery and rocket launcher ammunition from North Korea, the MSMT confirmed in its first report.
Russia made use of North Korean munitions to ramp up its attacks against Ukraine, the Multilateral Sanctions Monitoring Team found. Ukrainian State Emergency Service/AFP via Getty Images
Even before Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un formally signed a new military alliance last year, Pyongyang had shipped ballistic missiles, self-propelled artillery, long-range multiple rocket launchers to the Kremlin, the MSMT added.
“Pyongyang contributed to Moscow’s ability to increase its missile attacks against Ukrainian cities, including targeted strikes against critical civilian infrastructure,” the report said.
In return for the men and weapons, Russia gifted Kim at least one Pantsir mobile air defense system, a medium-range surface-to-air interceptor and anti-aircraft weapon, officials said.
North Korea also received a Pantsir-class combat vehicle, electronic warfare jamming devices and other military equipment to bolster Kim’s defense systems, according to the report.
MSMT found that Moscow also “supported North Korea’s ballistic missile programs by providing data feedback… leading to improvements in missile guidance performance.”
Along with the military trades, the MSMT found that Pyongyang and Moscow were engaging in financial transactions through North Korea-owned bank accounts in South Ossetia, a city in the nation of Georgia.
Neither North Korea nor Russia have publicly confirmed the exchange of military equipment or technology under their mutual defense pact, which Putin and Kim signed last year.
Elon Musk arrived in the nation’s capital with the chain saw-wielding swagger of a tech titan who had never met a problem he couldn’t solve with lots of money, long hours or a well-calibrated algorithm.
President Donald Trump was delighted to have the world’s richest person — and a top campaign donor — working in his administration, talking about how he was “a smart guy” who “really cares for our country.”
Musk was suddenly everywhere — holding forth in Cabinet meetings while wearing a “tech support” shirt and black MAGA hat, hoisting his young son on his shoulders in the Oval Office, flying aboard Air Force One, sleeping in the White House. Democrats described the billionaire entrepreneur as Trump’s “co-president,” and senior officials bristled at his imperial approach to overhauling the federal government.
After establishing Tesla as a premier electric automaker, building rockets at SpaceX and reshaping the social media landscape by buying Twitter, Musk was confident that he could bend Washington to his vision.
Now that’s over. Musk said this week that he’s leaving his job as a senior adviser, an announcement that came after he revealed his plan to curtail political donations and he criticized the centerpiece of Trump’s legislative agenda.
It’s a quiet exit after a turbulent entrance, and he’s trailed by upheaval and unmet expectations. Thousands of people were indiscriminately laid off or pushed out — hundreds of whom had to be rehired — and some federal agencies were eviscerated.
But no one has been prosecuted for the fraud that Musk and Trump said was widespread within the government. Musk reduced his target for cutting spending from $2 trillion to $1 trillion to $150 billion, and even that goal may not be reached.
In Silicon Valley, where Musk got his start as a founder of PayPal, his kind of promises are known as vaporware — a product that sounds extraordinary yet never gets shipped to market.
Trump said Thursday on his Truth Social platform that he would hold a press conference Friday with Musk. “This will be his last day, but not really, because he will, always, be with us, helping all the way,” Trump added. “Elon is terrific!”
Musk’s position was always designed to be temporary, and he had previously announced his intention to dedicate more of his time to his companies. But he also told reporters last month that he was willing to work part-time for Trump “indefinitely, as long as the president wants me to do it.”
Musk got a seat at Trump’s table and put $250 million behind his campaign
It was clear that Musk wouldn’t be the typical kind of presidential adviser around the time that he showed the world his belly button.
Racing on stage at a campaign rally one month before the election, he jumped for joy next to Trump, his T-shirt rising to expose his midriff. Musk had already sold Trump on his idea for a Department of Government Efficiency while also putting at least $250 million behind his candidacy.
The plan called for a task force to hunt for waste, fraud and abuse, a timeworn idea with a new twist. Instead of putting together a blue-ribbon panel of government experts, Trump would give his top donor a desk in the White House and what appeared to be carte blanche to make changes.
Musk deployed software engineers who burrowed into sensitive databases, troubling career officials who sometimes chose to resign rather than go along. Trump brushed off concerns about Musk’s lack of experience in public service or conflicts of interest from his billions of dollars in federal contracts.
Their unlikely partnership had the potential for a generational impact on American politics and government. While Musk dictated orders for government departments from his perch in the White House, he was poised to use his wealth to enforce loyalty to the president.
His language was that of catastrophism. Excessive spending was a crisis that could only be solved by drastic measures, Musk claimed, and “if we don’t do this, America will go bankrupt.”
But even though he talked about his work in existential terms, he treated the White House like a playground. He brought his children to a meeting with the Indian prime minister. He let the president turn the driveway into a makeshift Tesla showroom to help boost sales. He installed an oversized screen in his office that he occasionally used to play video games.
Sometimes, Trump invited Musk to sleep over in the Lincoln Bedroom.
“We’ll be on Air Force One, Marine One, and he’ll be like, ‘do you want to stay over?’” Musk told reporters. The president made sure he got some caramel ice cream from the kitchen. “This stuff’s amazing,” Musk said. “I ate a whole tub of it.”
Looking back on his experience in government, he described it as a lark.
“It is funny that we’ve got DOGE,” an acronym that references an online meme featuring a surprised-looking dog from Japan. “How did we get here?”
Musk did not give federal workers the benefit of the doubt
From the beginning, Musk treated federal workers with contempt. At best, they were inefficient; at worst, they were committing fraud.
His team offered them a “fork in the road,” meaning they could get paid to quit. Probationary employees, generally people new on the job without full civil service protection, were shown the door.
Anyone who stayed faced escalating demands, such as what became known as the “five things” emails. Musk wanted every government employee to submit a list of five things they accomplished in the previous week, and he claimed that “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
Some administration officials curtailed the plan, concerned that it could jeopardize security in more sensitive areas of the government, and it eventually faded, an early sign of Musk’s struggle to get traction.
But in the meantime, he continued issuing orders like thunderbolts.
One day in February, Musk posted “CFPB RIP,” plus an emoji of a tombstone. The headquarters of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created after the Great Recession to protect Americans from fraud and deceptive practices, was shut down and employees were ordered to stop working.
Musk had already started gutting the U.S. Agency for International Development, a pillar of the country’s foreign policy establishment and the world’s largest provider of humanitarian assistance.
“Spent the weekend feeding USAID into a wood chipper,” he bragged.
Thousands of contacts were cut off, pleasing conservatives who disliked the agency’s progressive initiatives on climate change and gay rights.
Musk rejected concerns about the loss of a crucial lifeline for impoverished people around the globe, saying, “no one has died.” However, children who once relied on American assistance perished from malnutrition, and the death toll is expected to increase.
The lawsuits began piling up. Sometimes workers got their jobs back, only to lose them again.
The Food and Drug Administration, which is responsible for ensuring the safety of everything from baby formula to biotech drugs, planned to lay off 3,500 employees. But again and again, the agency was forced to rehire people who were initially deemed expendable, including laboratory scientists, travel bookers and document specialists.
Commissioner Marty Makary, who started his job after many of the cuts took place, told attendees at a recent conference that “it was hard and my job is to make sure we can heal from that.”
Only 1,900 layoffs took place, but another 1,200 staffers took buyouts or early retirement. Experts fear the agency has lost much of its institutional knowledge and expertise in areas like vaccines, tobacco and food.
There are also concerns about safety on public lands. The National Park Service has been bleeding staff, leaving fewer people to maintain trails, clean restrooms and guide visitors. More cuts at the Forest Service could undermine efforts to prevent and fight wildfires.
The Environmental Protection Agency faces a broad overhaul, such as gutting the Office of Research and Development, which was responsible for improving air pollution monitoring and discovering harmful chemicals in drinking water.
Not even low-profile organizations were exempt. Trump ordered the downsizing of the U.S. Institute of Peace, a nonprofit think tank created by Congress, and Musk’s team showed up to carry out his plan. The organizations’ leaders were deposed, then reinstated after a court battle.
Musk made little headway at the top sources of federal spending
The bulk of federal spending goes to health care programs like Medicaid and Medicare, plus Social Security and the military.
Unfortunately for Musk, all of those areas are politically sensitive and generally require congressional approval to make changes.
Thousands of civilian workers were pushed out at the Pentagon, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is reducing the ranks of top generals and looking to consolidate various commands. A plan to downsize an office for testing and evaluating new weapons systems could save $300 million per year. Hegseth recently asked employees to submit one idea per week for cutting waste.
However, the Pentagon budget would increase by $150 billion, for a total of more than $900 billion, under Trump’s spending proposal working its way through Congress. The money includes $25 billion to lay the groundwork for Trump’s “golden dome” missile defense program and $34 billion to expand the naval fleet with more shipbuilding.
Another $45 million is expected to be spent on a military parade on June 14, which is the 250th anniversary of the Army’s founding and Trump’s 79th birthday.
Musk also faced blowback for targeting Social Security, which provides monthly benefits to retirees and some children. He suggested that the popular program was “a Ponzi scheme” and the government could save between $500 billion and $700 billion by tackling waste and fraud.
However, his estimates were inflated. Social Security’s inspector general said there was only $71.8 billion in improper payments over eight years. Nor was there any evidence that millions of dead people were receiving benefits.
Changes to Social Security phone services, pitched as a way to eliminate opportunities for fraud, were walked back after an outcry from lawmakers and beneficiaries. But the agency could still shed 7,000 workers while closing some of its offices.
Musk’s popularity cratered even though Americans often agreed with his premise that the federal government is bloated and wasteful, according to polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Just 33% of U.S. adults had a favorable view of Musk in April, down from 41% in December. In addition, 65% said Musk had too much influence over the federal government.
People on a hill overlooking Yantian port in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China May 9, 2025. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
President Donald Trump’s trade war has cost companies more than $34 billion in lost sales and higher costs, according to a Reuters analysis of corporate disclosures, a toll that is expected to rise as ongoing uncertainty over tariffs paralyzes decision making at some of the world’s largest companies.
Across the United States, Asia and Europe, companies including Apple (AAPL.O), Ford (F.N), Porsche and Sony (6758.T), have pulled or slashed their profit forecasts, and an overwhelming majority say the erratic nature of Trump’s trade policies has made it impossible to accurately estimate costs. Reuters reviewed company statements, regulatory filings, conference and media call transcripts to pull together for the first time a snapshot of the tariff cost so far for global businesses.
The $33 billion is a sum of estimates from 32 companies in the S&P 500, three companies from Europe’s STOXX 600 (.STOXX), and 21 companies in Japan’s Nikkei 225 (.N225), indices. Economists say the cost to businesses will likely be multiple times what companies have so far disclosed.
“You can double or triple your tally and we’d still say … the magnitude is bound to be far greater than most people realize,” said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, professor at the Yale School of Management.
The ripple effects could be worse, he added, citing the potential for lower spending from consumers and businesses, higher inflation expectations.
While a recent pause in Sino-US trade hostilities has offered some relief and Trump has backed down from tariff threats against Europe, it is still not clear what the final trade deals will look like. A U.S. trade court on Wednesday blocked Trump’s tariffs from going into effect. In this environment, strategists say companies will look to strengthen supply chains, boost near-shoring efforts, and prioritize new markets – all of which will push up costs.
Companies themselves are uncertain about the final cost. As the corporate earnings season draws to a close, Reuters found at least 42 companies have cut their forecasts and 16 have withdrawn or suspended their guidance. For instance, earlier this month, Walmart (WMT.N), declined to provide a quarterly profit forecast and said it would raise prices, drawing a rebuke from Trump. Volvo Cars (VOLCARb.ST), one of the European automakers most exposed to U.S. tariffs, withdrew its earnings forecast for the next two years and United Airlines (UAL.O), gave two different forecasts, saying it was impossible to predict the macro environment this year.
Trump has argued that tariffs will cut America’s trade deficit and prompt companies to move operations to the country, bringing jobs back home. Tariffs will also force countries including Mexico to stop the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into the United States, Trump has said.
“The Administration has consistently maintained that the United States … has the leverage to make our trading partners ultimately bear the cost of tariffs,” said White House spokesperson Kush Desai.
TARIFF TALK
On earnings conference calls for the January to March quarter, 360 companies, or 72%, in the S&P 500 index mentioned tariffs, up from 150 companies, or 30%, in the previous quarter. Executives at 219 companies listed on the STOXX 600 mentioned tariffs, compared with 161 in the prior quarter. Of the Nikkei 225 companies in Japan, that number was 58, up from 12 earlier.
“I don’t think corporations have an awful lot of visibility about anything in the future,” said Rich Bernstein, CEO of Richard Bernstein Advisors in New York. Referring to withdrawn forecasts, he said, “If you take into account this uncertain world and you can’t guide anybody to a number, it’s safer not to guide.”
Wall Street is expecting net profit for companies in the S&P 500 index to grow at an average 5.1% per quarter through April through December, versus a growth rate of 11.7% a year earlier, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Automakers, airlines and consumer goods importers have been among the worst hit. Levies on raw material costs and parts including aluminum and electronics have risen, and tariffs on multiple countries are making assembling cars more expensive because of far-flung supply chains. Moving any production to the United States will also raise labor costs.
Kleenex tissue maker Kimberly Clark (KMB.N), slashed its annual profit forecast last month and said it would incur about $300 million in costs this year as tariffs push up its supply-chain costs. A few days later the company said it would invest $2 billion over five years to expand its manufacturing capacity in the U.S., a number not included in the Reuters tally. Companies including Apple and Eli Lilly have this year announced investments in the United States.
Online speculation suggests the new artwork may be in Marseille, France
Banksy’s latest piece of grafitti art has been revealed to the world – but where it was painted remains a mystery for now.
Images posted on the elusive artist’s Instagram depict a lighthouse stencilled on a drab, beige wall, along with the words: “I want to be what you saw in me”.
A false shadow appears to have been drawn on the pavement from a nearby bollard, giving the illusion that the lighthouse is itself a silhouette of the mundane street furniture.
But unlike a lighthouse, the post gives little away as to the artwork’s location. A second, wider shot showing two people walking their dogs offers little more.
Geoguessers on social media have speculated that the street art may lurk in Marseille, in the south of France, while others debate how to interpret the work’s meaning.
Another image of the art circulating online shows a blurred person riding a scooter in front of the piece, with a graffiti tag seemingly reading “Yaze” further along the wall.
The tag matches that used by a Canadian graffiti artist Marco The Polo, whose Instagram account features photos of his own work but who has called Banksy an inspiration.
Banksy has kept his true identity a secret throughout his career, and it is only through the Instagram account that works are identified as genuine.
Often imbuing his works with a political message, his previous pieces have alluded to immigration, the war in Ukraine and homelessness, among other things.
Israel resumed its military offensive against Hamas in Gaza in mid-March following the collapse of a two-month ceasefire
A senior Hamas official has told the BBC the Palestinian armed group will reject the latest US proposal for a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal.
The White House said on Thursday that Israel had “signed off” on US envoy Steve Witkoff’s plan and that it was waiting for a formal response from Hamas.
Israeli media cited Israeli officials as saying it would see Hamas hand over 10 living hostages and the bodies of 18 dead hostages in two phases in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
The Hamas official said the proposal did not satisfy core demands, including an end to the war, and that it would respond in due course.
The Israeli government has not commented, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly told hostages’ families on Thursday that he accepted Witkoff’s plan.
Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza and resumed its military offensive against Hamas on 18 March following the collapse of a two-month ceasefire brokered by the US, Qatar and Egypt.
It said it wanted to put pressure on Hamas to release the 58 hostages it is still holding, at least 20 of whom are believed to be alive.
On 19 May, the Israeli military launched an expanded offensive that Netanyahu said would see troops “take control of all areas” of Gaza. The next day, he said Israel would also ease the blockade and allow a “basic” amount of food into Gaza to prevent a famine.
Almost 4,000 people have been killed in Gaza over the past 10 weeks, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The UN says another 600,000 people have been displaced again by Israeli ground operations and evacuation orders, and a report by the UN-backed IPC warns that about 500,000 people face catastrophic levels of hunger in the coming months.
At a news conference in Washington DC on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked whether she could confirm a report by Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya TV that Israel and Hamas had agreed a new ceasefire deal.
“I can confirm that Special Envoy Witkoff and the president submitted a ceasefire proposal to Hamas that Israel backed and supported. Israel signed off on this proposal before it was sent to Hamas,” she said.
“I can also confirm that those discussions are continuing, and we hope that a ceasefire in Gaza will take place so we can return all of the hostages home,” she added.
However, a senior Hamas official later said the deal contradicted previous discussions between the group’s negotiators and Witkoff.
The official told the BBC that the offer did not include guarantees the temporary truce would lead to a permanent ceasefire, nor a return to the humanitarian protocol that allowed hundreds of trucks of aid into Gaza daily during the last ceasefire.
Nevertheless, he said Hamas remained in contact with the mediators and would submit its written response in due course.
Earlier, Israel’s Channel 12 TV reported the Netanyahu told hostages’ families at a meeting: “We agree to accept the latest Witkoff plan that was conveyed to us tonight. Hamas has not yet responded. We do not believe Hamas will release the last hostage, and we will not leave the Strip until all the hostages are in our hands.”
His office later issued a statement accusing one of the channel’s reporters of trying to “smuggle” a recording device into the room where the meeting took place. But it did not deny that he had agreed to the US proposal.
Netanyahu has previously said that Israel will end the war only when all the hostages are released, Hamas is either destroyed or disarmed, and its leaders have been sent into exile.
Hamas has said it is ready to return all of those held captive, in exchange for a complete end to hostilities and full Israeli pull-out from Gaza.
Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response Hamas’ cross-border attack on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
Another four people, two of them dead, were already being held captive in Gaza before the conflict.
The suspect could face life in prisonImage: Peter Powell/PA Wire/empics/picture alliance
UK authorities on Thursday charged a 53-year-old man with ramming a car into a crowd celebrating Liverpool’s Premier League title earlier in the week.
The suspect, from the West Derby area of Liverpool, was charged with intentionally causing grievous bodily harm, dangerous driving and five other counts covering variations of causing grievous bodily harm.
He was arrested on Monday and has been remanded into custody to appear before the Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
Seventy-nine people aged 9 to 78 were injured when the Ford Galaxy plowed into supporters as they celebrated their club’s record-equaling 20th English top-flight title. There were no fatalities.
Suspect facing life sentence
Prosecutor Sarah Hammond said the suspect would face a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.
Hammond said the agency had authorized police to charge the man following a “complex and ongoing investigation.”
“Prosecutors and police are continuing to work at pace to review a huge volume of evidence,” Hammond said.
“This includes multiple pieces of video footage and numerous witness statements. It is important to ensure every victim gets the justice they deserve.”
Car allegedly followed ambulance
Police previously said they believed that the suspect had dodged a roadblock by tailing an ambulance responding to a report of a person in cardiac arrest.
Although the suspect was also arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and driving under the influence of drugs, neither of those offenses were listed as charges.
The charges also did not indicate how many victims the counts were tied to, as Hammond said all charges “will be kept under review as the investigation progresses.”
With the investigation still at an early stage, police are continuing to review a large volume of evidence, including video evidence from the suspect’s car, body-worn camera footage from several police officers and eyewitness statements.
A doctor was sentenced to 20 years in prison for assaulting nearly 300 patients. DW spoke with survivors and family members who want action to address “institutional failures” — and better protection for children.
Many survivors say they’re disappointed by the sentence handed down to Joel Le Scouarnec, which is the maximum allowed under French lawImage: Damien Meyer/AFP
Joel Le Scouarnec is not the name on everyone’s lips in the western French seaside town of Vannes, where this week the former surgeon was sentenced to 20 years in prison for raping and sexually abusing nearly 300 of his patients — most of them children — over more than three decades.
His face was not on the front page of the local newspaper the morning after his conviction, and, as the weather oscillated between grey rainy skies and bright May sunshine, people mulling around the boat festival at Vannes harbor — a 10-minute walk from the courtroom — preferred not to talk about one of France’s most prolific abusers.
“It’s the shame of the Brittany region,” 83-year-old pensioner Joelle Leboru said. “He started everything here.”
“How could he get away with it for so long?”
Anatomy of a web of abuse
That’s the question that’s been keeping people in Vannes up at night: Under the authorities’ noses, dressed in a white medical coat of respectability, and in the heart of middle-class society, Le Scouarnec sexually abused hundreds of children. The crimes in the latest case against him spanned from 1989 to 2014 and were committed in a dozen hospitals in western France.
Le Scouarnec often violated victims while they were under anesthesia or waking up from surgery. He wrote graphic descriptions of hundreds of these instances of rape or sexual assault against children — and animals — in his journals, which police discovered when they raided his apartment in 2017 after he was accused of sexual abuse against a child who lived next door.
“I’m a major pervert. I’m at once an exhibitionist, voyeur, sadist, masochist. I’m scatological, a fetishist, a pedophile. And I’m very happy about it,” he wrote in one 2004 entry quoted in Le Monde. Police also found a collection of dolls, some the size of a baby, some the size of toddlers, around the apartment — according to the French newspaper.
Missed opportunities?
The 2017 knock on Le Scouarnec’s door came over a decade after his first brush with the law. The surgeon was charged and convicted in 2005 of possessing child sexual abuse material. He received a four-month suspended sentence, but was able to continue practicing medicine — including working with children — until he retired years later.
During the recent trial, hospital administrators who kept him on staff and later hired him elsewhere after his 2005 conviction denied direct responsibility. Since the court had not issued a professional ban or a prohibition on working with minors, they argued they were not obligated to impose additional restrictions.
Le Scouarnec worked primarily in rural, relatively resource-strapped hospitals, where the loss of a surgeon could have spelled closure for a whole department.
Questions were also raised during the trial about whether anyone else — in particular his ex-wife — knew about the abuse and failed to act. She denied any knowledge. Further legal proceedings are expected, as survivors push for accountability beyond Le Scouarnec himself.
‘Major institutional failures’
Unlike in most criminal cases, in which police identify suspects based on victims’ reports, this case unfolded in reverse: Investigators uncovered reams of evidence and then sought out victims — many of whom had no memory of the abuse and learned only from a call or visit from the police.
Among them was 35-year-old Louis-Marie, who stood outside the Vannes courthouse on sentencing day with other survivors. Together, they unfurled a banner adorned with hundreds of sheets of paper, each printed with a silhouette representing one of Le Scouarnec’s victims. Some of the figures were accompanied by names and ages — some of them under five. Many were labeled “anonymous.”
“We’ve realized there were major institutional failures, which to this day haven’t been recognized,” Louis-Marie told DW as he rallied with other survivors.
Le Scouarnec admitted guilt on all counts and asked for “no leniency” in his sentencing. He apologized to most of his victims, asking for forgiveness, in a way some of them described as merely mechanical. Le Scouarnec does not plan to appeal.
In a statement after Wednesday’s verdict, the French National Medical Council (CNOM) vowed to “conduct all reforms needed to ensure that such a tragedy never arises again.” France’s health minister also promised to work with the Justice Ministry to better protect children and other patients from being exposed to predators.
Maximum jail time
The guilty verdict was not a surprise. Regine, the mother of one abuse survivor, told DW before the reading that she was simply “exhausted.”
“As parents, we’re considered secondary victims. But it’s hard, knowing we left our children in the hands of this monster,” she said. “That’s something I’ll regret forever. It won’t disappear. For us, it’s for life.”
But not for Le Scouarnec. Under French law, the maximum sentence for aggravated rape — whether it involves one victim or hundreds — is 20 years. And that’s exactly what judges handed down to the 74-year-old former doctor in Vannes on Wednesday — with presiding judge Aude Buresi taking time to point out she was bound by her country’s legal limits. Now, advocacy groups are calling for legislative reform, pushing for tougher sentences for serial rapists.
Calls for reform
The court also imposed additional restrictions on Le Scouarnec, including measures to keep him away from children and animals and a ban on medical pracitce, should he ever be released.
And that’s a real possibility. Le Scouarnec has already spent several years in jail on pre-trial detention for separate convictions — including raping four children, two of whom were his nieces.
Unlike in the United States, French jail sentences are not cumulative — meaning that some of his 20-year term is already considered served and he could be eligible for early release in the 2030s, subject to judicial approval.
Judges on Wednesday decided against taking the exceptional step of confining Le Scouarnec to a secure psychiatric facility after his release, citing his age and stated willingness “to make amends.”
And that has left some survivors and family members shocked and bitterly disappointed. Xavier Vinet, whose son was abused by Le Scouarnec as a child, shook with anger as he spoke to DW outside the court.
“We should have lifelong jail time, given that we don’t have the death penalty here. We should bring it back — that’s what’s needed for men like him,” he said.
Lost before justice was served
Vinet’s son Mathis will never see justice served. He died in 2021 of an overdose which his family says was suicide.
“He was a joyful kid before all of this,” Vinet said. “He got on so well with his grandfather and with me.”
In 2018, like so many others, Mathis and his family heard from police that Le Scouarnec had written about abusing him during a hospital stay when he was 10.
“Then everything changed. Then he destroyed himself. That’s what I can say about him,” Vinet added.
Le Scouarnec admitted in court that he bore “responsibility” for the deaths of Mathis and another of his young victims who died in 2020.
A Long March-3B Y110 rocket carrying Tianwen-2 probe takes off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, China on May 29, 2025. Photo: China Daily via Reuters
China launched a spacecraft that promises to return samples from an asteroid near Mars and yield “groundbreaking discoveries and expand humanity’s knowledge of the cosmos,” the country’s space agency said.
The Tianwen-2 probe launched early Thursday (May 29, 2025) from southern China aboard the workhorse Long March 3-B rocket. The probe will collect samples from the asteroid 2016HO3 and explore the main-belt comet 311P, which lies even further from the Earth than Mars, according to the China National Space Administration.
Shan Zhongde, head of the CNSA, was quoted as saying the Tianwen-2 mission represents a ”significant step in China’s new journey of interplanetary exploration” and over its decade-long mission will “yield groundbreaking discoveries and expand humanity’s knowledge of the cosmos.”
Samples from 2016HO3 are due to be returned in about two years. The asteroids, chosen for their relatively stable orbits, hopefully will offer clues into the formation of earth, such as the origins of water.
China earlier returned rock samples from the moon’s far side back to Earth in a historic mission and has welcomed international cooperation. However, any cooperation with the U.S. hinges on removing an American law banning direct bilateral cooperation with NASA.
The near side of the moon is seen from Earth and the far side faces outer space. The far side also is known to have mountains and impact craters and is much more difficult to reach.
China also operates the three person-crewed Tiangong, or “Heavenly Palace,” space station, making the country a major player in a new era of space exploration and the use of permanent stations to conduct experiments in space, especially since the station was entirely Chinese-built after the country was excluded from the International Space Station over U.S. national security concerns.
China’s space program is controlled by the People’s Liberation Army, the military branch of the ruling Communist Party.
The crypto bigwig accused of sadistically torturing an Italian businessman for his Bitcoin password left a trail of debt in his wake before landing in the Big Apple – where he became known in the club scene as a hard-partying big spender, The Post has learned.
William Duplessie, 33, owed hundreds of thousands of dollars on luxury homes and cars in Florida and wracked up criminal trouble in Switzerland for allegedly beating his fiancée, according to public records and law-enforcement sources.
But those legal woes apparently didn’t slow down Duplessie’s hedonistic lifestyle once he started shacking up in a posh SoHo townhouse with fellow crypto trader John Woeltz, 37, sometime after arriving in New York City in February, the sources said.
The duo’s extravagant lifestyle has come under scrutiny as details emerge about the harrowing ordeal Carturan endured in a SoHo townhouse. TMZ / BACKGRID
The hulking Duplessie became a regular at chic hot spots such as the The Box — an exclusive erotic nightclub where photos obtained by The Post showed him partying shirtless — and often roped socialites and fellow clubbers to his pad for parties.
The glitzy façade came crashing down May 23, when a barefoot Michael Valentino Teofrasto Carturan — a 27-year-old crypto millionaire from Italy — ran from the Prince Street townhouse and told a traffic cop that he had been held captive inside.
Carturan had been subjected to horrific tortures — including being Tased while standing in water and cut by a chainsaw — over nearly three weeks in a bid to gain his Bitcoin password, prosecutors said.
Woeltz, a seemingly mild-mannered Kentucky crypto king worth $100 million, was quickly arrested and ordered held without bail.
But Duplessie remained on the loose, allegedly partying it up in the Hamptons over the Memorial Day holiday weekend before he surrendered to cops Tuesday, according to sources. He, too, is being held without bail on charges that include kidnapping and assault.
Many details about the depraved scheme remain unclear, as do certain specifics about the alleged sick suspects’ backgrounds.
But court records from Miami, Florida, where Duplessie hails from, outline a spate of eye-watering debts he had allegedly racked up over extravagant purchases.
His former landlord sued him in 2023 for failing to pay $234,000 in rent and a security deposit on a swanky, palm-shaded home in Miami’s Brickell neighborhood, a hub of crypto investors where peacocks walk the streets.
The home was left in “much physical disrepair,” the lawsuit noted.
Neighbor Sylvia Rayneri said her daughter used to own the home before selling it to the landlord who rented it to Duplessie.
She was shocked to hear about its connection to the alleged torture case.
“I don’t remember this guy,” she said Wednesday. “That’s so crazy. Mostly it’s families who rent this place. I remember in that year sometimes hearing music, but nothing crazy.”
Duplessie faced another 2023 lawsuit for allegedly failing to make his $3,700-a-month lease payments on a 2018 Lamborghini Huracan — a flashy sports car with a price tag starting at $210,000.
The lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed within days of filing, records show.
A source in Palm Beach’s society scene said Duplessie hung out in the wealthy enclave during its peak winter season during February or March, “with the pretty young set going to places like Mary Lou’s and trying to make business contacts.”
Another source said they spotted both Duplessie and Woeltz at Mary Lou’s, a hip nightclub in West Palm Beach.
“William (Duplessie) was wilder and the other guy was quieter,” the source said.
Duplessie’s ambitions — and legal troubles — apparently extended far outside sunny Florida.
He has a potential criminal conviction in Switzerland, where he had founded the Pangea Digital Asset Group and Pangea Blockchain Fund, prosecutors revealed during his arraignment.
Sources said Duplessie had been accused of beating up his fiancée there.
A final Miami-Dade County lawsuit against Duplessie was filed in December by a motorist who contends the crypto big crashed a Porsche into his car, injuring him.
The summons for Duplessie, however, couldn’t be served because the court didn’t have his latest address: 38 Prince Street.
Duplessie and Woeltz started showing up in New York City’s wild club scene in February, sources said.
A passerby outside the Prince Street home — which law-enforcement sources said was being rented out for between $30,000 and $40,000 a month — said Duplessie was a regular at Gospël, a SoHo house music bastion.
“I’ve seen him drop $160,000,” the passerby said.
Another source said Duplessie would spent $100,000 on tables at The Box and Hearsay, an exclusive Meatpacking District club.
During bleary late nights partying, Duplessie spun tales about working for the CIA, sources said.
One party photo depicting three bottles of Ace of Spades champagne — a brand owned by Jay-Z — was taken in Nebula, a cavernous Midtown mega-club.
“They were spending lots and lots of money on Ace of Spades,” one source said. “We kept watching more and more bottles coming in such a short time. William was in pajamas.”
The signs of decadent boozing could be seen — and heard — outside the Prince Street townhouse.
Neighbors called in three separate noise complaints about partying early April 5, 311 data shows.
A SoHo street vendor who called himself “Dutch” said he regularly spotted Woeltz cart plastic bags full of empty liquor bottles to the sidewalk.
“I am talking maybe 50, 60 bottles — wine, vodka,” Dutch said. “Big bottles in plastic bags on the sidewalk.
A federal court on Wednesday blocked President Donald Trump from imposing sweeping tariffs on imports under an emergency-powers law, swiftly throwing into doubt Trump’s signature set of economic policies that have rattled global financial markets, frustrated trade partners and raised broader fears about inflation intensifying and the economy slumping.
The ruling from a three-judge panel at the New York-based U.S. Court of International Trade came after several lawsuits arguing Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs exceeded his authority and left the country’s trade policy dependent on his whims.
Trump has repeatedly said the tariffs would force manufacturers to bring back factory jobs to the U.S. and generate enough revenue to reduce federal budget deficits. He used the tariffs as a negotiating cudgel in hopes of forcing other nations to negotiate agreements that favored the U.S., suggesting he would simply set the rates himself if the terms were unsatisfactory.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai said that trade deficits amount to a national emergency “that has decimated American communities, left our workers behind, and weakened our defense industrial base — facts that the court did not dispute.”
The administration, he said, remains “committed to using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American Greatness.”
But for now, Trump might not have the threat of import taxes to exact his will on the world economy as he had intended, since doing so would require congressional approval. What remains unclear is whether the White House will respond to the ruling by pausing all of its emergency power tariffs in the interim.
Trump might still be able to temporarily launch import taxes of 15% for 150 days on nations with which the U.S. runs a substantial trade deficit. The ruling notes that a president has this authority under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974.
The ruling amounted to a categorical rejection of the legal underpinnings of some of Trump’s signature and most controversial actions of his four-month-old second term. The administration swiftly filed notice of appeal — and the Supreme Court will almost certainly be called upon to lend a final answer — but it casts a sharp blow.
The case was heard by three judges: Timothy Reif, who was appointed by Trump, Jane Restani, named to the bench by President Ronald Reagan and Gary Katzman, an appointee of President Barack Obama.
“The Worldwide and Retaliatory Tariff Orders exceed any authority granted to the President by IEEPA to regulate importation by means of tariffs,” the court wrote, referring to the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
The ruling left in place any tariffs that Trump put in place using his Section 232 powers from the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. He put a 25% tax on most imported autos and parts, as well as on all foreign-made steel and aluminum. Those tariffs depend on a Commerce Department investigation that reveals national security risks from imported products.
It was filed in the U.S. Court of International Trade, a federal court that deals specifically with civil lawsuits involving international trade law.
While tariffs must typically be approved by Congress, Trump has said he has the power to act to address the trade deficits he calls a national emergency.
He is facing at least seven lawsuits challenging the levies. The plaintiffs argued that the emergency powers law does not authorize the use of tariffs, and even if it did, the trade deficit is not an emergency because the U.S. has run a trade deficit with the rest of the world for 49 consecutive years.
Trump imposed tariffs on most of the countries in the world in an effort to reverse America’s massive and long-standing trade deficits. He earlier plastered levies on imports from Canada, China and Mexico to combat the illegal flow of immigrants and the synthetic opioids across the U.S. border.
His administration argues that courts approved then-President Richard Nixon’s emergency use of tariffs in 1971, and that only Congress, and not the courts, can determine the “political” question of whether the president’s rationale for declaring an emergency complies with the law.
A KJ-500 early warning plane along with Y-20 transport aircraft are parked on the tarmac of an airfield on Woody Island, in the disputed Paracel archipelago, which is known in China as Xisha Islands, South China Sea, May 19, 2025. MAXAR TECHNOLOGIES/Handout via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights
Satellite imagery shows China landed two of its most advanced bombers in the disputed Paracel islands in the South China Sea this month – a gesture that some analysts described as Beijing’s latest signalling of its growing military capabilities to rivals.
The deployment marks the first time the long-range H-6 bombers have landed on Woody Island in the Paracels since 2020, and the movement of the now upgraded aircraft comes amid tensions with the Philippines, operations near Taiwan and ahead of the region’s biggest defence forum this weekend.
“China’s long-range bombers don’t need to be on the Paracels so it does appear to be omni-directional signalling by Beijing – against the Philippines and against the U.S. and other things that are going on,” said Collin Koh, a defence scholar at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
French President Emmanuel Macron is due to open the three-day Shangri-La Dialogue forum in Singapore with a speech on Friday while U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth will outline the Trump administration’s approach to the region on Saturday.
A British aircraft carrier is expected in the South China Sea on a rare deployment next month, diplomats say. Satellites captured two H-6 planes flying over the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal, also in the South China Sea, just ahead of Hegseth’s visit to the Philippines in late March, when he reaffirmed the United States’ “ironclad commitment” to its treaty ally.
Regional diplomats and analysts say deployments of the jet-powered H-6 are closely scrutinised, given the way its Cold War-era airframe has been modernised to carry anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles, while some of the planes are capable of launching nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles.
A potential threat to U.S. bases in the region, H-6 bombers were deployed in wargames around Taiwan in October, and in July flew close to the U.S. mainland for the first time.
Neither China’s defence ministry nor the Philippines’ maritime and national security council immediately responded to Reuters’ requests for comment.
China’s occupation of the Paracels is disputed by Vietnam, whose foreign ministry also did not immediately respond for comment.
SOVIET DESIGN
Echoing the development of the U.S. B-52, the basic H-6 dates back to 1950s Soviet designs but it remains China’s most advanced long-range bomber having been re-fitted with improved engines and modern flight systems along with its state-of-the-art weaponry.
Images provided to Reuters by Maxar Technologies show two H-6 bombers on a runway on Woody Island on May 19.
Another Maxar image on the same date show two Y-20 transport aircraft and an KJ-500 early warning plane – an aircraft that is seen as vital to China being able to control and secure increasingly complex air and sea operations.
Some analysts said the planes may have first arrived on May 17 and been present until May 23.
Ben Lewis, founder of open source data platform PLATracker, said they thought it was unlikely that the H-6s would be deployed long-term on Woody Island or be permanently based there.
“The ability to cycle forces through the bases, especially higher level assets like the H-6, provides the PLA with a force protection mechanism,” he said, referring to China’s People’s Liberation Army.
China’s Southern Theatre Command, which covers the South China Sea, maintains two regiments of the bombers, according to the London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies.
The bombers are generally kept at heavily fortified bases on the Chinese mainland, where they would have more protection in a conflict from U.S. attacks in conflict scenarios.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy walk to attend a press conference, following their talks at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, May 28, 2025.REUTERS/Annegret Hilse Purchase Licensing Rights
President Vladimir Putin’s conditions for ending the war in Ukraine include a demand that Western leaders pledge in writing to stop enlarging NATO eastwards and lift a chunk of sanctions on Russia, according to three Russian sources with knowledge of the negotiations.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said he wants to end the deadliest European conflict since World War Two and has shown increasing frustration with Putin in recent days, warning on Tuesday the Russian leader was “playing with fire” by refusing to engage in ceasefire talks with Kyiv as his forces made gains on the battlefield.
After speaking to Trump for more than two hours last week, Putin said that he had agreed to work with Ukraine on a memorandum that would establish the contours of a peace accord, including the timing of a ceasefire. Russia says it is currently drafting its version of the memorandum and cannot estimate how long that will take.
Kyiv and European governments have accused Moscow of stalling while its troops advance in eastern Ukraine.
“Putin is ready to make peace but not at any price,” said one senior Russian source with knowledge of top-level Kremlin thinking, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The three Russian sources said Putin wants a “written” pledge by major Western powers not to enlarge the U.S.-led NATO alliance eastwards – shorthand for formally ruling out membership to Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova and other former Soviet republics.
Russia also wants Ukraine to be neutral, some Western sanctions lifted, a resolution of the issue of frozen Russian sovereign assets in the West, and protection for Russian speakers in Ukraine, the three sources said.
The first source said that, if Putin realizes he is unable to reach a peace deal on his own terms, he will seek to show the Ukrainians and the Europeans by military victories that “peace tomorrow will be even more painful”.
The Kremlin did not respond to a request for comment on Reuters’ reporting. Putin and Russian officials have repeatedly said any peace deal must address the “root causes” of the conflict – Russian shorthand for the issue of NATO enlargement and Western support for Ukraine.
Kyiv has repeatedly said that Russia should not be granted veto power over its aspirations to join the NATO alliance. Ukraine says it needs the West to give it a strong security guarantee with teeth to deter any future Russian attack.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s administration did not respond to a request for comment.
NATO has also in the past said that it will not change its “open door” policy just because Moscow demands it. A spokesperson for the 32-member alliance did not respond to Reuters’ questions.
Putin ordered tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in February 2022 after eight years of fighting in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops.
Russia currently controls just under one fifth of the country. Though Russian advances have accelerated over the past year, the war is costing both Russia and Ukraine dearly in terms of casualties and military spending.
Reuters reported in January that Putin was growing concerned by the economic distortions in Russia’s wartime economy, amid labour shortages and high interest rates imposed to curb inflation. The price of oil, the bedrock of Russia’s economy, has declined steadily this year.
Trump, who prides himself on having friendly relations with Putin and has expressed his belief the Russian leader wants peace, has warned that Washington could impose further sanctions if Moscow delays efforts to find a settlement. Trump suggesting on social media on Sunday that Putin had “gone absolutely CRAZY” by unleashing a massive aerial attack on Ukraine last week.
The first source said that if Putin saw a tactical opportunity on the battlefield, he would push further into Ukraine – and that the Kremlin believed Russia could fight on for years no matter what sanctions and economic pain were imposed by the West.
A second source said that Putin was now less inclined to compromise on territory and was sticking to his public stance that he wanted the entirety of four regions in eastern Ukraine claimed by Russia.
“Putin has toughened his position,” the second source said of the question of territory.
NATO ENLARGEMENT
As Trump and Putin joust in public over the outlook for peace in Ukraine, Reuters could not determine whether the intensification of the war and the toughening of positions heralds determination to reach a deal or the collapse of talks.
In June last year, Putin set out his opening terms for an immediate end to the war: Ukraine must drop its NATO ambitions and withdraw all of its troops from the entirety of the territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed and mostly controlled by Russia.
In addition to Crimea, which it annexed in 2014, Russia currently controls almost all of Luhansk, more than 70% of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. It also occupies a sliver of the Kharkiv and Sumy regions, and is threatening Dnipropetrovsk.
Former U.S. President Joe Biden, Western European leaders and Ukraine cast the invasion as an imperial-style land grab and have repeatedly vowed to defeat Russian forces.
Putin casts the war as a watershed moment in Moscow’s relations with the West which he says humiliated Russia after the Soviet Union fell in 1991 by enlarging NATO and encroaching on what he considers Moscow’s sphere of influence.
At the 2008 Bucharest summit, NATO leaders agreed that Ukraine and Georgia would one day become members. Ukraine in 2019 amended its constitution committing to the path of full membership of NATO and the European Union.
Trump has said that previous U.S. support for Ukraine’s NATO membership bid was a cause of the war, and has indicated that Ukraine will not get membership. The U.S. State Department did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Putin, who rose to the top Kremlin job in 1999, has repeatedly returned to the issue of NATO enlargement, including in his most detailed remarks about a possible peace in 2024.
In 2021, just two months before the Russian invasion, Moscow proposed a draft agreement, opens new tab with NATO members that, under Article 6, would bind NATO to “refrain from any further enlargement of NATO, including the accession of Ukraine as well as other States.” U.S. and NATO diplomats said at the time that Russia could not have a veto on expansion of the alliance.
Russia wants a pledge on NATO in writing because Putin thinks Moscow was misled by the United States after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall when U.S. Secretary of State James Baker assured Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990 that NATO would not expand eastwards, two of the sources said.
There was such a verbal promise, former Central Intelligence Agency Director Director William J. Burns said in his memoires, but it was never formalised – and it was made at a time when the collapse of the Soviet Union had not occurred.
A screengrab shows according to the Israeli Army, Hamas Gaza chief Mohammed Sinwar, taken from a handout video, released December 17, 2023. Israeli Army/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that Mohammad Sinwar, Hamas’ Gaza chief and the younger brother of the Palestinian militant group’s deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack, Yahya Sinwar, had been killed.
Mohammad Sinwar had been the target of an Israeli strike on a hospital in southern Gaza earlier this month and Netanyahu said on May 21 that it was likely he was dead.
The Israeli leader announced that Sinwar had been “eliminated” in an address to the Israeli parliament as he listed off names of other Hamas officials that Israel had killed over the past 20 months, including Sinwar’s brother Yahya.
“In the last two days we have been in a dramatic turn towards a complete defeat of Hamas,” he said, adding that Israel was also “taking control of food distribution”, a reference to a new aid distribution system in Gaza managed by a U.S.-backed group.
Hamas has yet to confirm Sinwar’s death.
Netanyahu’s announcement comes as the Israeli military has intensified its war campaign in Gaza after breaking a fragile ceasefire with Hamas in March. Israel has said it aims to dismantle Hamas’ governing and military capabilities and secure the release of hostages that are still held in Gaza.
The war erupted on October 7, 2023 when Hamas-led militants stormed out of Gaza, rampaging through southern Israeli communities and killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
More than 250 were captured and taken as hostages into Gaza.
Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has decimated the coastal territory, killing more than 53,000, according to health officials in Gaza, and displaced over 2 million Palestinians.
Gazan health officials have said most of those killed have been civilians but have not said how many militants have died. Israel believes it has killed tens of thousands of militants but has not provided any evidence to support those claims.
Israeli military chief Eyal Zamir on May 26 said Hamas had lost many assets, including its command and control centre.
Sinwar was elevated to the top ranks of the Palestinian militant group last year after Israel killed his brother Yahya in combat.
Billionaire Tesla (TSLA.O), CEO Elon Musk is leaving the Trump administration after leading a tumultuous efficiency drive, during which he upended several federal agencies but ultimately failed to deliver the generational savings he had sought.
His “off-boarding will begin tonight,” a White House official told Reuters late Wednesday, confirming Musk’s departure from government. Musk earlier on Wednesday took to his social media platform X to thank President Donald Trump as his time as a special government employee with the Department of Government Efficiency draws to an end.
His departure was quick and unceremonious. He did not have a formal conversation with Trump before announcing his exit, according to a source with knowledge of the matter, who added that his departure was decided “at a senior staff level.”
While the precise circumstances of his exit were not immediately clear, he leaves a day after criticizing Trump’s marquee tax bill, calling it too expensive and a measure that would undermine his work with the U.S. DOGE Service.
Some senior White House officials, including Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, were particularly irked by those comments, and the White House was forced to call Republican senators to reiterate Trump’s support for the package, a source familiar with the matter said.
While Musk remains close to the president, his exit comes after a gradual, but steady slide in standing.
After Trump’s inauguration, the billionaire quickly emerged as a powerful force in Trump’s orbit: hyper-visible, unapologetically brash and unfettered by traditional norms. At the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, he brandished a red metallic chainsaw to wild cheers. “This is the chainsaw for bureaucracy,” he declared.
On the campaign trail, Musk had said DOGE would be able to cut at least $2 trillion in federal spending. DOGE currently estimates its efforts have saved $175 billion so far, a number Reuters was not able to independently verify.
Musk did not hide his animus for the federal workforce, and he predicted that revoking “the COVID-era privilege” of telework would trigger “a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome.”
But some cabinet members who initially embraced Musk’s outsider energy grew wary of his tactics, sources said. Over time, they grew more confident pushing back against his job cuts, encouraged by Trump’s reminder in early March that staffing decisions rested with department secretaries, not with Musk.
Musk clashed with three of Trump’s most senior cabinet members – Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. He called Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks.” Navarro dismissed the insults, saying, “I’ve been called worse.”
At the same time, Musk began to hint that his time in government would come to a close, while expressing frustration at times that he could not more aggressively cut spending.
In an April 22 Tesla conference call, he signaled he would be significantly scaling back his government work to focus on his businesses.
Elon Musk listens to U.S. President Donald Trump speak in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 11, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
“The federal bureaucracy situation is much worse than I realized,” Musk told The Washington Post this week. “I thought there were problems, but it sure is an uphill battle trying to improve things in D.C., to say the least.”
DOGE GOES ON
Musk’s 130-day mandate as a special government employee in the Trump administration was set to expire around May 30. The administration has said DOGE’s efforts to restructure and shrink the federal government will continue.
Several cabinet secretaries are already discussing with the White House how to proceed without further alienating Congressional Republicans. But even as department heads will keep some DOGE infrastructure in place, they will likely move to reassert control over budgets and staffing, sources have told Reuters.
“The DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government,” Musk said.
Trump and DOGE have managed to cut nearly 12%, or 260,000, of the 2.3 million-strong federal civilian workforce largely through threats of firings, buyouts and early retirement offers, a Reuters review of agency departures found.
At the same time, DOGE has hit a number of roadblocks, with federal courts at times propping back up agencies shortly after DOGE had moved to eliminate them. In some cases, staff and funding cuts have led to purchasing bottlenecks, increased costs and a brain drain of scientific and technological talent.
The most recent source of friction came on Tuesday when Musk criticized the price tag of Republicans’ tax and budget legislation making its way through Congress.
“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” Musk told CBS News.
One source said the billionaire’s decision to trash Trump’s bill on television deeply upset senior White House aides.
His political activities have drawn protests and some investors have called for him to leave his work as Trump’s adviser and more closely manage Tesla, which has seen falls in sales and its stock price.
Musk, the world’s richest person, has defended his role as an unelected official who was granted unprecedented authority by Trump to dismantle parts of the U.S. government.
The Swiss village of Blatten has been partially destroyed after a huge chunk of glacier crashed down into the valley.
Although the village had been evacuated some days ago because of fears the Birch glacier was disintegrating, one person has been reported missing, and many homes have been completely flattened.
Blatten’s mayor, Matthias Bellwald, said “the unimaginable has happened” but promised the village still had a future.
Local authorities have requested support from the Swiss army’s disaster relief unit and members of the Swiss government are on their way to the scene.
The disaster that has befallen Blatten is the worst nightmare for communities across the Alps.
The village’s 300 inhabitants had to leave their homes on 19 May after geologists monitoring the area warned that the glacier appeared unstable. Now many of them may never be able to return.
Appearing to fight back tears, Bellwald said: “We have lost our village, but not our heart. We will support each other and console each other. After a long night, it will be morning again.”
The Swiss government has already promised funding to make sure residents can stay, if not in the village itself, at least in the locality.
However, Raphaël Mayoraz, head of the regional office for Natural Hazards, warned that further evacuations in the areas close to Blatten might be necessary.
Climate change is causing the glaciers – frozen rivers of ice – to melt faster and faster, and the permafrost, often described as the glue that holds the high mountains together, is also thawing.
Drone footage showed a large section of the Birch glacier collapsing at about 15:30 (14:30 BST) on Wednesday. The avalanche of mud that swept over Blatten sounded like a deafening roar, as it swept down into the valley leaving an enormous cloud of dust.
Glaciologists monitoring the thaw have warned for years that some alpine towns and villages could be at risk, and Blatten is not even the first to be evacuated.
In eastern Switzerland, residents of the village of Brienz were evacuated two years ago because the mountainside above them was crumbling.
Since then, they have only been permitted to return for short periods.
In 2017, eight hikers were killed, and many homes destroyed, when the biggest landslide in over a century came down close to the village of Bondo.
Men look around on alert in the wake of gunfire shots as displaced Palestinians receive food packages from a US-backed foundation pledging to distribute humanitarian aid in western Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 27, 2025. (Photo: AFP)
Around 47 people were injured, largely due to gunshots fired by the Israeli military, during chaotic scenes at a new aid distribution centre in Gaza, a senior UN official said on Wednesday (May 28).
The Israeli military said afterwards that its soldiers did not fire at civilians at the aid distribution point.
Thousands of Palestinians rushed into the centre run by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) on Tuesday, AFP journalists reported, as Israel implemented a new distribution system that bypasses the United Nations.
The incident in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip came days after the partial easing of a total aid blockade on the Palestinian territory that Israel imposed on Mar 2, leading to severe shortages of food and medicine.
“From the information we have, there are about 47 people who have been injured” in Tuesday’s incident, Ajith Sunghay, the head of the UN Human Rights Office in the Palestinian territories, told the UN correspondents’ association in Geneva.
He added that “most of those injured are due to gunshots” and based on the information he has, “it was shooting from the IDF” – the Israel Defence Forces.
Sunghay stressed that his office was still assessing and gathering information on the full picture of events.
“The numbers could go up. We are trying to confirm what has happened to them”, in terms of how seriously people were injured, Sunghay added.
“We are checking information from the UN. At the time we are speaking, we have no information on this matter,” Israeli military spokesman Colonel Olivier Rafowicz told AFP, referring to the wounded civilians.
Israeli soldiers “fired warning shots into the air, in the area outside” the centre managed by the GHF, he said, adding that “in no case (did they fire) towards the people”.
Rafowicz added that “Hamas is doing everything to prevent humanitarian aid”.
Sunghay also expressed concern about the possible medical aid injured people would be able to access.
“Getting medical aid has never been easy in Gaza or in the West Bank because hospitals have been attacked, ambulances have been attacked, health workers have been attacked,” he said.
The Israeli military said its troops “fired warning shots in the area outside” the distribution compound on Tuesday, and that it had re-established “control over the situation”. A senior military official said the distribution was nonetheless “a success”.
GHF NOT “VIABLE SOLUTION”
Little is known about the GHF, which surfaced in early May.
The foundation has faced accusations of helping Israel fulfil its military objectives while excluding Palestinians, bypassing the UN system, and failing to adhere to humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence.
“We have raised numerous concerns with this mechanism,” Sunghay said.
He said large parts of the Gazan population would not travel all the way to the far south to collect food – while the elderly, sick, disabled and those looking after children would not be able to do so in any case.
There were also concerns within the population that they would be detained, or not allowed to return to northern Gaza.
Youth brawls, including one involving primary school children in Depok (centre), captured on social media. (Images: Instagram/hisnu_tangsel, Instagram/Seputar_Purwakasi, Instagram/fron17jakarta)
A video that went viral in Indonesia this month showed about 20 students of primary school age, some wielding iron rulers, chasing one another in Depok city on the outskirts of Jakarta.
They were later found to be from two different primary schools located nearby.
The students were fishing at a river near their schools and one group began to mock the other, according to Masrokan, a sports teacher at one of the schools.
They decided to resolve their conflict after school on May 10.
“They chased each other, and people living nearby saw it,” said Masrokan, who goes by one name.
“So the adults chased the students and told them to stop the brawl.”
The incident sent shockwaves across Indonesia due to the age of the children – ranging from 10 to 12 – involved.
It also came on the back of several deadly brawls involving older students in recent months.
In Pati regency in Central Java, a 17-year-old died after a brawl involving students from two high schools broke out on May 9.
In Southeast Maluku in March, two people died and over a dozen were injured in a clash between two youth groups wielding air rifles, arrows and machetes.
While not a new phenomenon in Indonesia, these and other recent cases have prompted the authorities to vow a crackdown on trouble-makers and find alternative outlets for them to channel their energy.
CNA takes a look at the root causes of such brawls in Indonesia and what can be done to prevent them.
MARGINALISED COMMUNITIES = MORE BRAWLS, SAY EXPERTS
Youth brawls and hooliganism are hardly unique to Indonesia and are complex problems that have persisted for generations, experts told CNA.
Ichsan Malik, a lecturer on peace and conflict resolution from the Indonesia Defense University in Bogor, West Java, said the first brawl reported by a national newspaper was one involving high school students in Jakarta in 1968.
He said a brawl in Indonesia is commonly understood to involve the use of weapons. If no weapon is used, in Indonesia, it is usually labelled a fight.
Brawls are more common among high school students because it is during adolescence when one is forming one’s identity, which may manifest in the teenagers being “more easily frustrated and aggressive”, said Ichsan.
The brawl in Depok involving primary school students could have happened because children nowadays are exposed to many things from an early age with the rise of social media, said Ichsan.
Educational expert Doni Koesoema from Multimedia Nusantara University in Tangerang, Banten, said that brawls also took place when he was in junior high school in Surabaya in 1986.
However, the brawls in those days were not so violent, he said.
In the past, brawls tended to happen between students from different schools in Indonesia but, these days, they also happen between groups of young adults from different neighbourhoods, said sociologist Bagong Suyanto from Surabaya’s Airlangga University.
He shared Ichsan’s view that brawls tend to happen more in marginalised or poor, homogeneous neighbourhoods with unemployment or poor employment prospects.
Parts of Manggarai sub-district in Jakarta, for instance, are notorious for brawls between residents from different neighbourhoods, which have taken place for decades.
According to informal parking attendant Muhammad Lutfi, 24, who is a resident there, the brawls have become more frequent since the area became busier with the revamp of Manggarai train station in recent years.
Fights these days are usually due to tussles over who gets to work informally at a particular commercial space or the quest for domination in a certain area, he said.
The rise of online shopping has also made weapons such as machetes and knives more accessible, said Lutfi.
Lutfi himself became caught in a tussle earlier this month.
He was taking a nap at a parking lot on the evening of May 4 when more than a dozen young people came storming towards him and hit his head with a sickle.
“I think the brawl here happened because they want to work as a parking attendant or earn money,” said Lutfi, who was rescued by others at the parking lot who intervened and took him to the hospital.
He was left with a scar on his head from the attack.
POLICE PATROLS AND OTHER MEASURES
Brawls among youths or students escalate when enforcement is lax, said Ichsan.
For years, no real solution has been introduced to eradicate the violence, but several authorities have recently vowed to tackle the problem.
Minister of Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Arifah Fauzi said the brawling children in Depok were victims of an inadequate system, and her ministry would ensure they undergo mentoring.
“All Indonesian children are our children who should be in a safe environment … We all certainly agree that brawls involving elementary school-aged children are a violation of the basic principles of child protection,” said Arifah on May 12.
Following the incident, the students, their parents, teachers and the police met at one of the schools on May 15.
The students signed a statement saying they would not take part in brawls again.
The police will also regularly patrol the area around schools, especially after school hours.
“This will not just happen at the two schools but everywhere in this area (in) Cimanggis, Depok,” police chief Jupriono, who oversees the subdistrict, told CNA.
At the provincial level, West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi wants to send students involved in brawls to military barracks.
Taking a religious and cultural approach is Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung, who wants to introduce a programme called Manggarai Bershalawat, which means “Manggarai praying for blessings”.
“People who are fighting, having disagreements, must have a reason. What is the main cause? The main cause must be sought,” said Pramono last Friday (May 23) during a prayer session where he also launched the programme in Manggarai.
“One of them is that the youth’s energy here is not being channelled properly. There are no sports facilities,” he said, handing out badminton and futsal equipment for the sub-district’s residents’ use.
French President Emmanuel Macron was scolded by wife Brigitte Macron after she aggressively shoved his face in a shocking moment that has since gone viral.
Brigitte allegedly called the politician a “loser” after their uncomfortable squabble that unfolded on an airplane during their state visit to Vietnam Sunday, a lip reader told The Express in an article published Wednesday.
“As the aircraft door opens, President Macron is seen turning toward Brigitte,” the expert explained. “In an unexpected moment, she pushes him in the face. Realizing the door is already open and staff are witnessing the interaction, Emmanuel appears uncomfortable and quickly raises his hand with a forced ‘Hi.’
Emmanuel Macron was called a “loser” by wife Brigitte Macron after she shoved his face this weekend, according to a professional lip reader. AFP via Getty Images
The analyst claimed that Emmanuel, 47, attempted to compose himself and stepped closer to his spouse, 72, before crossing to the other side of the plane. He then signaled his wife to follow him by telling her, ‘Let’s go.’
“He thanks the pilot and waves at the cameras, trying to recover the public-facing image,” the analyst explained.
While Emmanuel was momentarily calm, the analyst claimed “things turn[ed] icy again” when the couple was seen descending the stairs to the tarmac.
“He offers his arm; she ignores it, clinging to the railing instead,” the analyst shared. “As she passes, she appears to mutter … ‘Dégage, espèce de loser,’ translated in English, ‘Stay away, you loser.’”
Emmanuel apparently replied to her name-calling by saying, “Essayons, s’il te plaît,” which translates in English to “Let’s try, please?” to which she allegedly answered in her native tongue, “No.”
“His closing expression, and the phrase lipread as ‘Je vois,’ translated in English [to] ‘I see,’ says it all,” the analyst added.
The expert completed the analysis by offering a “hot take.”
“A rare unguarded exchange that hints at deeper tensions between the couple. One to watch, especially with a packed diplomatic schedule ahead.” the lipreader said.
Brigitte and Emmanuel’s volatile exchange was captured on camera over the weekend after they touched down in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, Sunday.
Emmanuel was seen standing close to the plane’s exit door when Brigitte lunged at his head with both her hands and pushed him with full force.
The president appeared shocked before attempting to shake it off by waving at the media filming the interaction.
Shortly after, they exited the aircraft side-by-side but notably did not touch or hold hands.
Emmanuel released a statement shutting down the allegation that they were “squabbling” and chalked it up to a moment of “joking
“Everyone needs to calm down,” he said, noting that the public was turning the moment into “a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe.”
“People are saying all sorts of nonsense,” he claimed.
A source close to the French leader alleged that Emmanuel was “decompressing” ahead of the trip by “joking around.”
“It’s a moment of togetherness. No more was needed to feed the mills of the conspiracy theorists,” the source said.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former stylist Deonte Nash testified that the disgraced music mogul would consistently hurl degrading insults at Casandra “Cassie” Ventura.
Nash told prosecutors during the ongoing sex-trafficking trial Wednesday that Combs would refer to his now-ex-girlfriend — whom he dated on and off from 2007 to 2018 — as “baby girl, CC, bitch, slut, ho,” per People.
Nash went on to tell the court that Combs called Ventura a bitch “quite a bit.”
“That was his fave,” he claimed.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former stylist Deonte Nash testified that the rapper would often call Casandra “Cassie” Ventura “baby girl, CC, bitch, slut, ho.” FilmMagic
The stylist, who worked for Combs from 2008 to 2018, further claimed, “He would say, ‘She was nothing but a slut anyway.’”
When asked how Ventura responded to the abusive nicknames, Nash testified that the singer would feel “sad” and “go into a depression.”
Nash claimed he heard Combs threaten to “beat [Ventura’s] ass” or “send her sex tapes out.”
“It drove her crazy. She would be super emotional. She might stay in the house for days,” he added.
Nash is one of several witnesses who have testified about the disgraced music mogul’s alleged physical and emotional abuse of Ventura.
Last week, singer Dawn Richard — who is also suing the Bad Boy Records founder for sexual abuse— testified that Combs “owned” Ventura and would often become violent toward her when she “would speak up for herself.”
“He would drag her and kick her and punch her in the mouth,” she told the jury.
Cassie’s mother, Regina Ventura, testified that she and her husband were blackmailed by Combs for $20,000 over the “Me & U” singer’s brief relationship with Kid Cudi. (Cassie previously testified in court that Combs was jealous of their romance).
A pregnant Cassie took the stand earlier this month to testify about her decade-long relationship with Combs and her participation in his infamous “Freak-Off” parties — which at times lasted up to four days and caused her “painful” medical issues.
The “Long Way to Go” hitmaker also answered questions about the 2016 surveillance footage of his physical attack at a hotel and her allegation that Combs raped her in 2018 which was mentioned in her 2023 bombshell lawsuit.
A TEENAGER’S driving lesson ended in horror after a deadly plunge off a cliff.
The crash killed the young girl’s father, who was teaching her how to drive, according to police.
64-year-old James Politoski was killed in a crash during his teenage daughter’s driving lesson
It happened on Memorial Day in Laguna Beach, California, just fifty miles from Los Angeles.
A 15-year-old girl was behind the wheel with her 64-year-old dad, James Politoski, in the passenger seat, according to police.
The lesson took place in an upper parking lot of a closed Gelson’s Market, cops said.
At some point, the teen drove through a fence, and the car careened off a 40-foot embankment.
The vehicle flipped and landed upside down on the sidewalk below Coast Highway, authorities said.
“It appeared to be on a permitted driver, a 15-year-old female driver with her father out, essentially, in a driving lesson sort of situation,” Lieutenant Jesse Schmidt of Laguna Peach told NBC local affiliate WSAZ.
“Gas pedal, brake pedal confusion, and tumbled over a 40-foot cliff on the Coast Highway,” Schmidt said.
Cops were able to confirm the teen had a valid driver’s permit.
Her father died at the scene, according to first responders.
Paramedics rushed the girl to the hospital with major injuries.
She was in stable condition as of Wednesday, May 28, police said, and is expected to survive her injuries.
“It is always difficult when an accident leads to the loss of life, especially under circumstances where a parent was simply trying to do the right thing by teaching their child a valuable life skill,” Schmidt said in a statement to The U.S. Sun.
“What began as an act of care and guidance ended in unimaginable sorrow.”
Aerial footage from CBS local affiliate KCAL showed the mangled car upside down near the highway.
Police believe the teen may have accidentally hit the gas pedal instead of the brake.
The car tore through a fence before it went airborne, landing hard below.
“It’s a tragic incident,” Schmidt said.
“The community is shaken by this because someone lost their life by being a good parent.”
Authorities said the investigation into the crash is still ongoing.
“Tragically, an adult male passenger in the vehicle was pronounced deceased at the scene,” the department said in a statement.
Titled “Rally for Establishing Youth Political Rights”, the event will see BNP chief’s speech.
A massive political rally commenced in Dhaka this afternoon by three affiliated organisations of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) – Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal, Jubo Dal, and Swechchhasebak Dal – even as interim government advisor Muhammad Yunus embarked on a four-day Japan visit.
The rally, titled “Rally for Establishing Youth Political Rights”, will see BNP’s Acting Chairman Tarique Rahman to addressing the rally virtually as the chief guest. The organisers say lakhs of supporters are expected to congregate at the BNP’s central office in Nayapaltan Mr Rahman’s address will be closely watched as he has been critical of the Yunus-led interim government.
A BNP delegation had met Mr Yunus at the State Guest House Jamuna on May 24 and demanded a clear and immediate roadmap for elections, which should be held by December.
The BNP has often expressed its opposition on the interim government taking decisions on matters that have long-term implications for Bangladesh and wants it to focus on primarily holding elections and transfer power to a democratically elected government. The party had stated that the people of Bangladesh do not believe that an interim government has the jurisdiction to make such nationally important and long-term policy decisions.
The BNP has told Mr Yunus that when it comes to decisions on the Rohingya corridor and Chattogram port, the government’s statements and activities should have been in accordance with national interests.
Mr Yunus, who has been facing protests over several issues, left for Tokyo on Wednesday on a four-day official visit to Tokyo to attend the 30th Nikkei Forum. He is also expected to hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on May 30 to strengthen Bangladesh-Japan ties. Seven Memorandums of Understanding MoUs are expected to be signed in the areas of investment, energy and technology.
Protests have been taking place in Bangladesh, including at the heavily-guarded secretariat, over a move by the interim government in Bangladesh to clamp down on dissent by government employees.
The interim government had issued an ordinance on Sunday allowing the Ministry of Public Administration to dismiss public servants for misconduct without lengthy procedures, which are seen as safeguards against arbitrary dismissals. This sparking outrage across the bureaucracy, with government employees calling the ordinance “repressive” and demanding its immediate rollback.
SABRINA Carpenter is being eyed up for a starring role in Mamma Mia 3.
The chart-topping singer, 26, is wanted to feature in the upcoming feel-good film.
Sabrina Carpenter is being eyed up for a starring role in Mamma Mia 3Credit: The Mega Agency
Producer Judy Craymer, who had the idea for the original stage show — and has finished a script for a third movie — said: “She’d be a goddess or some relation who would look very much like Meryl Streep.”
Speaking about the project, 67-year-old Judy told Hollywood news site Deadline: “Well, we know what we want to do with the movie, and it will happen.
“And I mean, we brought together this amazing group of movie stars that were all connected through it, and huge friendships evolved.”
The first film came out in 2008 and had an all-star cast, including Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan.
It was adapted from the 1999 West End musical — made up of Abba hits.
The original movie and 2018 sequel Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again have made more than $1billion at the box office.
Espresso singer Sabrina is known to be a big Abba fan and has covered some of their songs on her Short n’ Sweet tour.
She also has cats called Benny and Björn — and last month met the real Björn Ulvaeus, 80, in Stockholm.
Amanda Seyfried, 39, who plays Sophie the films, previously said she could see Sabrina playing her daughter, despite an age gap of just 13 years.
SEAN “Diddy” Combs threatened Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura that he would send her “freak-off” videos to her parents to get them fired from their jobs, a stylist and friend of the singer testified.
Combs’ trial descended into chaos early after his defense team demanded a mistrial, claiming prosecutorial misconduct over questioning of the destroyed evidence from Kid Cudi’s car firebombing.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs watches on during the cross-examination of Los Angeles Police Department Officer Christopher Ignacio on WednesdayCredit: Reuters
Marc Agnifilo, Combs’ lead attorney, argued the prosecution made an “outrageous” suggestion when they claimed the music executive, 55, could have played a part in the destruction of fingerprint evidence from Cudi’s arson investigation.
The defense claimed the suggestion was raised to the jury during the prosecution’s questioning of arson investigator Lance Jimenez.
Jimenez was testifying about his investigation into Cudi’s car bombing and said that the fingerprint evidence recovered from the bottle of the Molotov cocktail was destroyed without his knowledge in 2012.
Jimenez told the courtroom that the DNA evidence was destroyed on orders from the Los Angeles Police Department, who was not part of his team.
After the judge called for a brief 10-minute break and the jury was escorted out of the courtroom, Agnifilo said the remarks “implied that someone in this courtroom was responsible for the destruction of the fingerprint cards.”
Combs’ defense team urged Judge Arun Subramanian to declare a mistrial, citing prosecutorial misconduct.
However, the motion was quickly denied.
Judge Subramanian agreed to strike the questions and responses about the fingerprint evidence from the record.
The judge then instructed the jury to disregard all the information disclosed about the DNA evidence, saying the questions and responses were irrelevant to the case.
FREAK-OFF VIDEO THREATS
Deonte Nash, Ventura’s friend and a celebrity stylist, testified about the repeated threats Combs allegedly made against his then-girlfriend.
Nash told the courtroom how during one phone conversation, Combs threatened Ventura that he would release the videos of her participating in “freak-offs” on the internet.
When asked what Ventura said about the recorded sexual encounters, Nash said she told him “she didn’t want to” have sex with the men.
Combs also warned Ventura that he would send a copy to her parents’ workplace to get them fired from their jobs, Nash said on the stand.
Nash testified how he saw bruises on Ventura’s body “quite often.”
The day began with testimony from an officer with the Los Angeles Police Department, who responded to the break in at the property of rapper Kid Cudi, born Scott Mescudi, in December 2011.
VICTIM #4 EXPECTED TO TESTIFY THURSDAY
The prosecution is expected to call forth Victim #4, who is being identified in court only by the pseudonym “Mia,.”
Mia is a former employee of Combs, who prosecutors say was coerced into sex with him.
During opening statements, prosecutor Emily Johnson described Mia as a former personal assistant whom Combs worked “to the bone for years.”
Johnson said that at some point, Combs allegedly forced himself on her sexually, coerced her to perform oral sex on him, and even snuck into her bed to have sex with her against her will.
On Tuesday, Capricorn Clark, who worked for Combs on and off between 2004 and 2018, testified about her former boss’ violent and arduous demands that led her to develop stress-induced alopecia.
The Starship is designed to eventually be fully reusable and launch at low cost, carrying Elon Musk’s hopes of making humanity a multi-planetary species.
Elon Musk vowed to pick up the pace for next launch
Billionaire Elon Musk’s commercial space flight company, SpaceX, suffered another setback on Sunday after its ninth Starship test flight exploded over the Indian Ocean just 30 minutes after the uncrewed rocket was launched into space from Texas. The ambitious project is central to Musk’s dream of colonising Mars, who hoped to release a series of mock satellites following liftoff, but that got nixed because the door of the rocket failed to open all the way.
In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Musk acknowledged that both the mission’s progress and the technical issues that led to the failure, but noted the test was a “big improvement” and has given them “lots of good data to review”.
Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over last flight! Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent.
Leaks caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and re-entry phase. Lot of good data to review.
“Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over last flight! Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent. Leaks caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and re-entry phase. Lot of good data to review,” he wrote.
Musk, however, vowed to pick up the pace. “Launch cadence for the next 3 flights will be faster – approximately one every 3 to 4 weeks,” he said, congratulating the SpaceX team for “great achievement.
The billionaire CEO was scheduled to deliver an update on his space exploration ambitions in a speech from Starbase following the test flight, billed as a livestream presentation about “The Road to Making Life Multiplanetary.” Hours later, he had yet to give the speech.
Musk’s Mars Mission
The 400-foot tall (122 meter) Starship rocket system is the core of Musk’s goal of sending humans to Mars. It is designed to eventually be fully reusable and launch at low cost, carrying the billionaire’s hopes of making humanity a multi-planetary species.
The rocket lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase in Texas and flew beyond the point of two previous explosive attempts earlier this year. For the latest launch, the upper-stage cruise vessel was lofted to space atop a previously flown booster – a first such demonstration of the booster’s reusability.
But SpaceX lost contact with the 232-foot lower-stage booster during its descent before it plunged into the sea, rather than making the controlled splashdown the company had planned. Starship, meanwhile, continued into suborbital space but began to spin uncontrollably roughly 30 minutes into the mission. The errant spiralling came after SpaceX cancelled a plan to deploy eight mock Starlink satellites into space – the rocket’s “Pez” candy dispenser-like mechanism failed to work as designed.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE avoided high tariffs imposed by the US government. In the past, international companies often set up anew in low-tariff nations to avoid higher prices. Will it happen in the Middle East too?
US media reports say some of the world’s largest technology companies have been scouting sites for new factories in Saudi ArabiaImage: Fayez Nureldine/AFP via Getty Images
“Made in Saudi Arabia” — the suggestion has been hyped ever since US President Donald Trump imposed high tariffs on goods produced in China and other Asian countries.
“Saudi Arabia should be sending their trade representatives to the Trump administration right now, asking, ‘what was China providing you? Tell us what it is and we will make it in Saudi Arabia’,” Ellen Wald, a historian and author of the 2018 book “Saudi, Inc.: The Arabian Kingdom’s Pursuit of Profit and Power,” told media outlet Middle East Eye last month.
China and other countries, including Vietnam and Thailand, are all major centers for manufacturing with many multinational companies, from Adidas to Apple, making everything from laptops to tracksuits there. But in April, the Trump administration imposed higher tariffs on them.
Other nations managed to escape the toughest Trump tariffs though. Most Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, were only landed with 10% tariffs.
One of the options companies have used to avoid high tariffs in the recent past has been to pivot to manufacturing in low-tariff nations. For many international businesses, this started a few years ago as US-China trade tensions grew — it’s part of the reason why Vietnam and Thailand have been doing so well in this sector.
Next “pivot countries” in the Middle East?
Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been trying to diversify their economies away from oil and to advance manufacturing, especially in the high-tech sector. The UAE has Operation 300bn, which was launched in 2021 and refers to increasing the local industrial sector’s contribution to national income to 300 billion UAE dirhams (€72 billion). Saudi Arabia has Vision 2030, with a similar focus on growing local manufacturing and industry.
There have already been reports about some of the world’s largest technology companies, including US brands Dell and HP, scouting sites for new factories in Saudi Arabia. Chinese firm Lenovo is building a computer and server assembly factory there and Saudi company Alat — state funded to the tune of around $100 billion (€88 billion)— is collaborating with Japan’s Softbank Group on industrial robotics, that could later be used on assembly lines, addressing local labor shortages. The Saudis have apparently also been wooing China’s Foxconn, a major supplier of Apple’s iPhones, and Taiwan’s Quanta, who make computers and computer parts for the likes of Dell.
“Dozens of countries are pitching to take advantage of high tariffs on Asian countries that export to the US, in the hope that they will be able to penetrate the US market,” David Butter, an associate fellow at the UK think tank Chatham House, told DW.
Pivot has positives, negatives
“And countries like Saudi Arabia could position themselves as relative safe havens for businesses seeking to escape higher tariffs or mitigate the uncertainties surrounding them,” Nader Kabbani, director of research at the Qatar-based Middle East Council on Global Affairs, or ME Council, explained.
Saudi Arabia has a lot of attributes that could help make that happen, Kabbani continued.
“It has abundant natural resources, including and in addition to oil. It has a large domestic market. It is centrally located, serving as a bridge between Asia, Africa, and Europe,” he told DW. “And its government actively supports economic diversification efforts. It also has reasonably well-developed infrastructure [and] is willing to attract migrant workers at all skill levels.”
The region does have some advantages, agreed Frederic Schneider, an independent policy consultant and a senior non-resident fellow, also at the ME Council. He added to Kabbani’s list of advantages, the Gulf states’ large logistics industry, low- or no-tax regimes and the fact that local currencies are pegged to a weakening US dollar, meaning their exports may become cheaper and therefore more competitive.
But there’s an equally long list of potential disadvantages, including some tough competition.
“Existing manufacturing is still relatively underdeveloped and largely confined to sectors adjacent to the hydrocarbon sector,” Schneider told DW. If the Saudis want to compete in high-tech manufacturing, they’ll be up against countries like China, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Germany and Switzerland. In lower-tech sectors, they’re competing against Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam.
“And while these countries suffer from different disadvantages … they have decades of experience, an existing infrastructure and large domestic market and human capital pool,” Schneider pointed out.
There are other negative factors too, Schnieder continued. That includes growing cultural issues as more foreigners work in previously conservative Gulf communities, climate change causing the region to heat up faster than others, and ongoing geopolitical uncertainty around possible conflicts between, for example, Iran and the US.
“Project risks are also sizeable,” Schneider added. “While the region is keen to sport technological ‘firsts,’ many do not materialize.” He pointed to unsuccessful drone taxis and travel via hyperloop as well as cryptocurrency investments gone wrong and abandoned or downsized construction projects.
There has also been heavy criticism of Saudi Arabian plans by a group called Never Neom. “What exists [of Saudi plans] are vague investment announcements — mostly tied to foreign partnerships and projects still on paper,” Never Neom writes on its website.
The activist group, which protests grand plans for futuristic Saudi city, Neom, previously had a Facebook page blocked for “inauthentic behavior” connected to political opponents of the Saudi government. Still, the group’s statements offer some of the only counter-arguments to all the more dominant paid content online about Saudi manufacturing prowess.
Trade war trumps all
So is it all just hype? The answer likely lies in the middle somewhere.
Governments in Saudi Arabia and the UAE are certainly building more factories and seeing non-oil activities contribute more to national income every year.
But even if there is a pivot of some sort to Gulf states, higher international tariffs and a possible trade war would still undermine any benefits, experts argue.
Thai Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said the situation has been resolved and that both sides did not intend to open fire at each otherImage: Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP/Getty Images
A Cambodian soldier was killed during clashes with the Thai army along a disputed stretch of border, Cambodia’s military said on Wednesday.
“One of our soldiers died during the fight, and there were some injuries, but we don’t have detailed figures yet,” said Cambodian Royal Army spokesperson Mao Phalla.
Border skirmish lasted 10 minutes
Phalla confirmed “there were clashes,” but said Thai soldiers had attacked Cambodian troops who had been on a routine border patrol in the northern Preah Vihear province, which borders Ubon Ratchathani on the Thai side.
“Our soldier died in the trenches. The Thais came to attack us,” he alleged.
Thailand’s Royal Army at the same time said the clash took place after Cambodian soldiers began firing first.
The Thai army said in a statement that its soldiers fired back in response to fire from Cambodia’s border force.
This, it said, led to an exchange lasting around 10 minutes before the Cambodians requested a ceasefire, according to the Thai army statement.
Thai Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai said the situation has been resolved and that both sides did not intend to open fire at each other.
Merz has plunged into diplomatic efforts to try to secure a ceasefire and keep Western support for Ukraine intact since becoming Germany’s leaderImage: Kay Nietfeld/dpa/picture alliance
Merz calls providing Ukraine with Taurus missiles ‘within the realm of possibility’
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz did not rule out a delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.
“It is certainly within the realm of possibility,” he said in response to a question on the ZDF public broadcaster.
Merz pointed out that it would take several months to train Ukrainian soldiers to use the system.
According to Merz, a delivery in six months or a year would be “of no use to Ukraine today.” This is why military support for Ukraine is increasing, he added.
Earlier in the day, during his meeting with Merz in Berlin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy once again expressed his hope that the Taurus cruise missiles would be delivered.
Zelenskyy first requested the missiles, which have a range of 500 kilometers, from Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government two years ago
However, Scholz refused because he feared it would draw Germany into the war. At the time, Merz criticized Scholz, saying that he favors delivering the Taurus.
Ukraine says it expects Russia to present its peace terms in advance
Ukraine has said that it is ready for more direct talks with Russia, but has demanded that Moscow provide its peace terms in advance to ensure that the meeting is productive.
“We are not opposed to further meetings with the Russians and are awaiting their memorandum,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said in a post on X.
“The Russian side has at least four more days before their departure to provide us with their document for review,” he added.
Rustem reiterated that Russia had previously promised to hand over the ‘memorandum’ immediately after the biggest-ever prisoner exchange between Russian and Ukraine, which took place over the weekend.
Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung has a wide lead in pollsImage: Kwak Kyung-keun/Matrix Images/IMAGO
With South Koreans due to vote for a new president in the first week of June, analysts warn that the winner of the vote will immediately face challenges in the international arena from friends and rivals alike.
Seoul is already under pressure on trade and security issues from the US administration of President Donald Trump, its most important ally against the regime in North Korea.
At the same time, South Korea aims to keep essential trade ties with US rival China. Furthermore, its relations with another regional player — Japan — could show cracks depending on the outcome of the vote.
Most recent polls put Democratic Party (DP) candidate Lee Jae-Myung in favor with 49.2% of voters, significantly ahead of his People Power Party (PPP) rival Kim Moon-soo, at 36.8%. The PPP party’s image has been tarnished by now-impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol who is on trial over his attempt to impose martial law in December.
Kim has been narrowing the gap, however, and a third party, the conservative New Reform Party, currently boasts 10.3% support, possibly giving it a say in the make-up of the new government.
“The winner is going to face a lot of big issues very quickly,” said Choo Jae-woo, a professor of foreign policy at Kyung Hee University in Seoul.
“My feeling is that the incoming president will have to first of all engage with Trump and hope to take the rest of his policies from there,” he told DW. “For Korea, the most serious worry is the tariffs on exports to the US and the changing role of the military alliance, including the US forces in Korea.”
Dealing with an ‘incoherent’ US
Seoul is in talks with Washington on trade and there have been suggestions that a deal could be within reach, although it is not clear whether all tariffs will be lifted.
The question of US troops stationed in South Korea is even more delicate, with reports in recent weeks suggesting that the Pentagon is considering withdrawing more than 4,000 troops from the present 28,000 stationed.
The US has played down the reports — but Trump has repeatedly threatened to pull troops out unless Seoul paid more for their presence.
Removing any troops from the peninsula would hand a strategic win for both North Korea and China, Choo said.
Dan Pinkston, a professor of international relations at the Seoul campus of Troy University, said Seoul is struggling to manage the “incoherent” decisions that are emerging from Washington on trade and security matters.
“Whoever comes in has to find a way to manage those relationships with the US and return to some sort of predictability or stability as they are all over the place at the moment and that makes planning and moving forward impossible,” he said.
The threat from the North
North Korea will also be a major concern for a new administration, after President Yoon’s government decided to effectively ignore Pyongyang and halt most efforts to communicate with Kim Jong Un. During Yoon’s tenure, Pyongyang forged an alliance with Russia that saw North Korean troops deploy in Russia and Ukraine. Moscow allegedly returned the favor by giving North Korea fuel and military technology that was previously beyond its reach due to UN sanctions.
Bolstered by the alliance with Moscow, Kim Jong Un has now severed all communications with the South and constructed additional defenses on the already heavily fortified border.
“If Lee wins, I am sure he will try to reset ties with the North, but it takes two to tango, and I think it is very unlikely that Kim will do anything to reciprocate,” said Pinkston. “Those bridges have been burned. Lee will try, but it will be very difficult.”
Choo agrees that Kim will continue to give the South “the cold shoulder” because Seoul is perceived as an ally of the US and still hostile to the North.
Consideration for China
Relations with Beijing are also tense, despite China being South Korea’s top trading partner. Last year, China imported around $133 billion (€117.3 billion) of South Korean goods, or 19.5% of South Korea’s total exports, edging out the US with $128.4 and 18.8%.
But Choo points out that Seoul and Beijing are currently bickering over an old oil rig that China has placed within disputed waters in the Yellow Sea.
China claims the facility is part of a fishing project, which is permitted under an existing bilateral agreement, but South Korea fears it is being used to encroach further into the disputed waters and enforce Beijing’s claims to more sea territory.
“It is delicate and will put the president in a dilemma because Chinese Premier Xi Jinping is expected to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum that South Korea is hosting in Gyeongju later this year,” Choo pointed out.
“The new government will not want to stir up anti-Chinese sentiment out of concern that Xi might cancel his attendance at the summit,” he said. “The new president will on this issue as well be walking a very fine line.”
Thousands of Palestinians have overrun an aid distribution site in Gaza set up by a controversial US and Israeli-backed group, a day after it began working there.
Videos showed crowds walking over torn-down fences and earth berms at the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s (GHF) compound in the southern city of Rafah.
The group said that at one point its team fell back because the numbers seeking aid were so great. The Israeli military said troops nearby fired warning shots.
The GHF, which uses armed American security contractors, aims to bypass the UN as the main supplier of aid in Gaza, where experts have warned of a looming famine after an 11-week Israeli blockade that was recently eased.
The UN said the videos from Rafah were “heartbreaking” and that it had a detailed plan ready to get enough aid to the “desperate population” of 2.1 million.
The UN and many aid groups have refused to co-operate with GHF’s plans, which they say contradict humanitarian principles and appear to “weaponise aid”.
They have warned that the system will practically exclude those with mobility issues, force further displacement, expose thousands of people to harm, make aid conditional on political and military aims, and set an unacceptable precedent for aid delivery around the world.
Israel has said an alternative to the current aid system is needed to stop Hamas stealing aid, which the group denies doing.
The GHF said it had given out the equivalent of 462,000 meals through a partnership with local non-governmental organisations.
However, it added Palestinians had experienced several hours of delays in accessing one site “due to blockades imposed by Hamas”, without providing evidence.
US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio support “bold” and “out-of-the-box efforts” to make life better for the people of Gaza, said a senior Trump administration official.
On Tuesday afternoon, Israeli and Palestinian media shared videos showing thousands of men, women and children streaming into one of the distribution sites. In one clip, some people are seen running and ducking as what appear to be gunshots ring out.
Witnesses described a scene of chaos as people seized food parcels and other aid. They also said Israeli troops stationed nearby had opened fire.
“The situation was extremely difficult. They only allowed 50 people to cross at a time,” one man told BBC Arabic’s Middle East daily radio programme. “In the end, chaos broke out – people climbed over the gates, attacked others, and took all the [aid].”
“It was a humiliating experience,” he added.
A woman said “people are exhausted – willing to do anything, even risk their lives – just to find food and feed their children.”
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said its troops had fired “warning shots in the area outside the compound”.
“Control over the situation was established, food distribution operations are expected to continue as planned, and the safety of IDF troops was not compromised,” it stated.
Gaza’s Hamas-run Government Media Office said Israel’s efforts to distribute aid had “failed miserably”. It also denied that Hamas had tried to stop civilians reaching the GHF’s sites.
At a news conference in New York, UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric called the footage “heartbreaking”.
“We and our partners have a detailed, principled, operationally sound plan supported by member states to get aid to a desperate population. We continue to stress that a meaningful scale-up of humanitarian operations is essential to stave off famine and meet the needs of all civilians wherever they are,” he added.
The US state department’s spokeswoman called the UN’s criticism “the height of hypocrisy”.
“It is unfortunate, because the issue here is giving aid to Gaza, and then suddenly it moves into complaints about style or the nature of who’s doing it,” Tammy Bruce told reporters.
Challenged by the BBC about the independence and neutrality of the GHF, Bruce acknowledged there are “some disagreements” about how the distribution of food and aid into the region is “being implemented”.
But she added: “I think that most of us would agree that this is good news… the real story here is that there’s food aid going in.”
The GHF aims to feed a million people, just under half the population of Gaza, by the end of this week
The GHF sites are meant to be secured by American contractors, with Israeli troops patrolling the perimeters. To access them, Palestinians are expected to have to undergo identity checks and screening for involvement with Hamas.
UN and other aid agencies have insisted they will not co-operate with any scheme that fails to respect fundamental humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality.
On Sunday night, Jake Wood resigned as the GHF’s executive director, saying the group’s system could not work in a way that would be able to fulfil those principles.
The GHF’s board rejected the criticism and accused “those who benefit from the status quo” of being more focused on “tearing this apart than on getting aid in”.
The group also alleged on Monday that Hamas had made death threats to NGOs supporting its distribution sites and attempted to block civilians from accessing the aid.
Hamas has publicly warned Palestinians not to co-operate with GHF’s system.
Israel imposed a total blockade on humanitarian aid and commercial supplies to Gaza on 2 March and resumed its military offensive two weeks later, ending a two-month ceasefire with Hamas. It said the steps were meant to put pressure on the armed group to release the 58 hostages still held in Gaza, up to 23 of whom are believed to be alive.
On 19 May, the Israeli military launched an expanded offensive that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would see troops “take control of all areas” of Gaza. The plan reportedly includes completely clearing the north of civilians and forcibly displacing them to the south.
Netanyahu also said Israel would temporarily ease the blockade and allow a “basic” amount of food into Gaza to prevent a famine, following pressure from allies in the US.
Since then, Israeli authorities say they have allowed at least 665 lorry loads of humanitarian aid, including flour, baby food and medical supplies, into Gaza.
However, more than 400 loads were on the Gazan side of the Kerem Shalom crossing awaiting distribution by the UN as of Tuesday evening, according to the Israeli military body in charge of aid co-ordination, Cogat. It called on the UN to “do its job”.
There was no immediate comment from the UN, but it said last week that its teams faced significant challenges in collecting supplies due to insecurity, the risk of looting and co-ordination issues with Israeli forces.
Meg Caldwell, centre left, died of a suspected nitrous overdose at 29
Nitrous oxide – known colloquially as “laughing gas” – has many uses, from a painkiller during dental procedures to a whipping agent for canned whipped cream.
While its euphoric side effects have long been known, the rise of vaping has helped create a perfect delivery vehicle for the gas – and a perfect recipe for an addiction, experts warn.
Meg Caldwell’s death wasn’t inevitable.
The horseback rider from Florida had started using nitrous oxide recreationally in university eight years ago. But like many young people, she started to use more heavily during the pandemic.
The youngest of four sisters, she was was “the light of our lives,” her sister Kathleen Dial told the BBC.
But Ms Caldwell’s use continued to escalate, to the point that her addiction “started running her life”.
She temporarily lost use of her legs after an overdose, which also rendered her incontinent. Still, she continued to use, buying it in local smoke shops, inhaling it in the car park and then heading straight back into the shop to buy more. She sometimes spent hundreds of dollars a day.
She died last November, in one of those car parks just outside a vape shop.
“She didn’t think that it would hurt her because she was buying it in the smoke shop, so she thought she was using this substance legally,” Ms Dial said.
The progression of Ms Caldwell’s addiction – from youthful misuse to life-threatening compulsion – has become increasingly common. The Annual Report of America’s Poison Centers found there was a 58 % increase in reports of intentional exposure to nitrous oxide in the US between 2023-2024.
In a worst-case scenario, inhalation of nitrous oxide can lead to hypoxia, where the brain does not get enough oxygen. This can result in death. Regular inhalation can also lead to a Vitamin B12 deficiency which can cause nerve damage, degradation of the spinal column and even paralysis. The number of deaths attributed to nitrous oxide poisonings rose by more than 110% between 2019 and 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Possession of nitrous oxide was criminalised in the UK in 2023 after misuse among young people increased during the pandemic. But while many states have also outlawed the recreational use of the product in the US, it is still legal to sell as a culinary product. Only Louisiana has totally banned the retail sale of the gas.
Galaxy Gas, a major manufacturer, even offers recipes for dishes, including Chicken Satay with Peanut Chili Foam and Watermelon Gazpacho on their website. With flavours like Blue Raspberry or Strawberries and Cream, experts warn this loophole – as well as major changes in packaging and retail – has contributed to the rise in misuse.
Until recently users would take single-use plain metal canisters weighing around 8g and inhale the gas using a balloon. But when usage spiked during the pandemic, nitrous oxide manufacturers began selling much larger canisters online – as large as 2kg – and, eventually, in shops selling electronic vapes and other smoking paraphernalia.
Companies also began to package the gas in bright colourful canisters with designs featuring characters from computer games and television series.
Pat Aussem, of the Partnership to End Addiction, believes these developments are behind increased misuse:
“Even being called Galaxy Gas or Miami Magic is marketing,” she said. “If you have large canisters, then it means that more people can try it and use it and that can lead to a lot of peer pressure.”
The BBC reached out for comment to both Galaxy Gas and Miami Magic but did not receive a response. Amazon, where the gas is sold online, has said they are aware of customers misusing nitrous oxide and that they are working to implement further safety measures. In a response to reporting from CBS News, the BBC’s news partner in the US, Galaxy Gas maintained that the gas was intended for culinary use and that they include a message on their sites warning against misuse.
Concern about nitrous oxide misuse increased last year, after several videos of people using the product went viral online.
On social media, videos of young people getting high on gas became a trend. A video uploaded in July 2024 by an Atlanta-based fast-food restaurant featured a young man inhaling Strawberries and Cream flavoured nitrous oxide saying “My name’s Lil T, man”, his voice made deeper by the gas. To date the clip has been viewed about 40 million times and spawned thousands of copies.
Misuse also featured heavily in rap music videos and Twitch streaming. Guests tried it on the Joe Rogan Show and rappers including Ye (formerly Kanye West) spoke about abusing the substance publicly. Ye has since sued his dentist for “recklessly” supplying Ye with “dangerous amounts of nitrous oxide”.
In response to the trend, TikTok blocked searches for “galaxy gas,” and redirected users to a message offering resources about substance use and addiction. Rapper SZA also alerted her social media followers about its harms and slammed it for “being MASS marketed to black children”.
In March, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an official alert warning against inhaling the gas after it “observed an increase in reports of adverse events after inhalation of nitrous oxide products”.
The FDA told the BBC that it “continues to actively track adverse events related to nitrous oxide misuse and will take appropriate actions to protect the public health”.
But for some, these warnings came too late.
In 2023, the family of a 25-year-old woman, Marissa Politte successfully sued Nitrous Distributor United Brands for $745m in damages after the radiology technician was killed by a driver high on nitrous oxide. The jury found the company responsible for selling the product in the knowledge that it would be misused.
“Marissa Politte’s death shouldn’t have happened in the first place, but my God, it should be the last,” Johnny Simon, the Politte family’s lawyer, said at the time. In the years since there have been several fatal traffic accidents involving the gas both in the US and the UK.
Timothée Chalamet is perhaps the most animated celebrity fan in the front row during Knicks games — and he’s the best dressed, too.
Forget tunnel ‘fits; Timothée Chalamet is making Celebrity Row his runway.
The native New Yorker has been a fan of the Knicks his entire life, long before hitting it big in Hollywood. But this playoff season, he’s taking things seriously — and suiting up accordingly.
Chalamet, 29, was just 3 years old the last time his hometown basketball team was in the NBA Championship; now, they’re just a few games away from tasting the finals, should they win the current series against the Indiana Pacers.
And while the tracksuits and work boots the Oscar nominee’s been wearing courtside might seem casual at first glance, there’s more to his game-day looks most than meets the eye.
Take his shoes, for example. On May 16, Chalamet hit Madison Square Garden wearing a pair of Timberland boots stamped with crosses in Knicks blue and orange — a custom creation from ultra-exclusive, ultra-expensive brand Chrome Hearts commissioned by the actor’s stylist, Taylor McNeill.
While a pair of standard-issue Timberlands retail for under $200, similar pairs from the brand’s Chrome Hearts collaboration will set you back anywhere from $19,000 to $30,000 on resale site Grailed.
For Game 6 of the semifinals series against the Celtics — which the Knicks won, advancing them to the Eastern Conference Finals — Chalamet teamed his boots with a custom navy velour tracksuit finished with orange stripes and the brand’s signature crosses.
He layered an orange-and-blue striped polo — collar popped — for a touch of prep reminiscent of his “Call Me By Your Name” wardrobe.
Chalamet wore the statement-making shoes again on May 22, this time with bright orange Chrome Hearts jeans accented with tonal red crosses; a similar style’s currently going for a casual $22,000 on Grailed.
On May 23, for Game 2 against the Pacers, he called for divine intervention in a custom Miracle Academy T-shirt by Nahmias and a blue-and-orange Chrome Hearts hat worth around $2,000.
And Chalamet traveled to Indianapolis on March 25, clad in a $4,200 Chrome Hearts shirt and an electric blue version of his wildly pricey jeans.
With just 10 brick-and-mortar stores in the United States and only a few small items available to buy online, Chrome Hearts is famous for its eye-watering price tags — but it’s the thirst for resale that truly takes the rock-and-roll brand’s mystique to absurd heights.
On Chrome Hearts’ website, one can pick up a three-pack of socks for $220 or a singular pair of boxer briefs for $85. The label offers homeware too, having partnering with Baccarat on $3,825 crystal decanters and $2,815 ashtrays.
A-list fans of the brand include the entire Kardashian-Jenner family, with Kim wearing a custom leather Chrome Hearts gown to the 2025 Met Gala, Kourtney pushing baby Rocky in a gothic black leather stroller and Kylie — Chalamet’s girlfriend — bringing a cross-covered leather tote worth $36,000 to the beach.
According to data shared with Page Six Style by eBay experts, Chrome Hearts was among the top-performing brands on the site in 2024 when it comes to average pre-owned sales price growth over the past five years, ranking alongside names like Dior, Gucci, Fendi, Off-White and Louis Vuitton.
President Trump is pardoning “terrific people” Todd and Julie Chrisley, who are serving time in separate federal prisons for tax evasion and bank fraud.
Trump gave the couple’s children the news via a personal phone call shared on X Tuesday, saying, “It’s a terrible thing. It’s a terrible thing. But it’s a great thing because your parents are gonna be free and clean, and I hope we can do it by tomorrow. It that OK? We’ll try getting it done tomorrow.”
He added, “I don’t know them, but give them my regards and wish them a good life.”
The Chrisleys’ youngest son, 19-year-old Grayson Chrisley, was heard saying, “Mr. President, I just wanna say thank you for bringing my parents back,” to which Trump replied, “Yeah, well, they were given a pretty harsh treatment based on what I’m hearing. Pretty harsh treatment.”
President Trump is pardoning Todd and Julie Chrisley, who are serving time in separate federal prisons for tax evasion and bank fraud. JIM LO SCALZO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
He then asked the couple’s 27-year-old daughter, Savannah Chrisley, who was on the call, “Was your brother fighting also for this release, right?”
Grayson responded, “I go to the University of Alabama, and I saw you speak, and I thought, ‘That’s the greatest presidential speech I’ve ever heard in my life.’”
Flattered, POTUS returned the praise, saying, “What a great group of people. If you were in the audience, you have to be good. What a good school it was, and I love Alabama, you know? I love Alabama.”
He continued, “That school is really — that was very impressive when I was there. Yeah, I think I did a good job. I got a lot of good comments on that one, so I love doing that with great young people.”
Savannah — who spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention, where she publicly thanked Trump for standing up against political prosecutions and fighting for families like hers — then jumped in to say that her brother “got kicked out of class for defending” Trump, calling it “pretty interesting.”
Trump, 78, was “surprised” to hear that since he believes “90 percent” of the college’s students would vote for him.
“But anyway, you keep fighting,” he urged the pair. “Congratulate your parents. I hear they’re terrific people. That should not have happened, so you just take care.”
After Savannah thanked the president again, he responded, “Boy, they have good children! You’re no longer children, but I’ll say it anyway. They have good children, don’t they, huh?”
Todd and Julie’s attorney Alex Little told Page Six in a statement, “This pardon corrects a deep injustice and restores two devoted parents to their family and community. President Trump recognized what we’ve argued from the beginning: Todd and Julie were targeted because of their conservative values and high profile. Their prosecution was tainted by multiple constitutional violations and political bias.”
Little, a partner at Litson PLLC, went on, “Todd and Julie’s case is exactly why the pardon power exists: to correct misguided prosecutions and reaffirm basic constitutional protections. Thanks to President Trump, the Chrisley family can now begin healing and rebuilding their lives.”
According to Little, the “Chrisley Knows Best” stars’ pardon petition detailed serious misconduct by the government, including an illegal raid, reliance on tainted evidence and a trial that featured false testimony from a key government witness.
He also pointed out that both Todd, 56, and Julie, 52, have demonstrated exemplary conduct during their respective incarcerations.
The Chrisleys were found guilty in June 2022. Their accountant, Peter Tatantino, was also convicted of a series of related charges, including aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns.
Todd was sentenced to 12 years, and Julie received a seven-year sentence.
“The Chrisleys have built an empire based on the lie that their wealth came from dedication and hard work,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum in November 2022.
“The jury’s unanimous verdict sets the record straight: Todd and Julie Chrisley are career swindlers who have made a living by jumping from one fraud scheme to another, lying to banks, stiffing vendors and evading taxes at every corner.”
Tour groups walk at Harvard University on Apr 17, 2025 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Photo: Sophie Park/Getty Images/AFP)
When the Trump administration escalated its standoff with Harvard University, revoking its ability to enrol new international students, even ordering thousands of current foreign students to transfer or leave the United States, fear and confusion spread rapidly.
Now, after an intense backlash and a lawsuit by Harvard, the Trump’s administration’s plan to bar foreign students at Harvard has been blocked. For now.
A judge has issued a temporary restraining order, pending a set of hearings this week.
Some observers caution that the Harvard ban might prove to be a temporary tempest – a politically motivated stunt that could be reversed with time. After all, the US has seen abrupt policy shocks before that were later softened (think of the trade tariffs on allies and rivals alike).
Could the Harvard saga be another such episode? Possibly. But the damage may already be done. While the intensity of the storm could potentially ease, the days of unfettered US-Asia academic exchange may not fully return to the old normal.
Singapore and its neighbours must therefore prepare for a world where American universities are a less automatic choice and where Asia needs more self-reliance in training top talent.
FUTURE LEADERS LEFT IN LIMBO
It’s undeniable that the Trump administration’s clampdown, targeting a crown jewel of American higher education, marks an alarming escalation of politics intruding into academia.
The Trump administration has justified this unprecedented move by accusing Harvard of “fostering violence” and “antisemitism” and even of ties to China’s Communist Party.
The university in its lawsuit blasted the action as “unlawful” retaliation for its rejection of “the government’s demands to control Harvard’s governance, curriculum and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students”.
On Sunday (May 25), US President Donald Trump defended the ban, saying that the home countries of some of Harvard’s international students are “not at all friendly to the United States”.
“We want to know who those foreign students are, a reasonable request since we give Harvard BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, but Harvard isn’t exactly forthcoming. We want those names and countries,” he said in a post on Truth Social.
Why does this matter to Singapore and Asia? Because for decades, an acceptance letter from a top US university was a ticket to unparalleled learning and networks.
US institutions, particularly Harvard, have helped shape generations of ministers, diplomats and civil servants from Asia and beyond. For instance, Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong holds a master’s in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. Meanwhile, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong and recently retired ministers Heng Swee Keat and Teo Chee Hean are also Harvard alumni.
About 6,800 international students – including 151 Singaporeans – are enrolled at Harvard in its current academic year, accounting for 27 per cent of the student body, according to university figures.
If Harvard, which has produced eight US presidents and is arguably the most prestigious of all the Ivy League schools, is off limits, many Asian elites may rethink going to the US at all. They may question if it’s worth investing in an American education if the welcome can be rescinded on a whim.
Indeed, US officials have warned that other universities could face similar bans. “This should be a warning to every other university to get your act together,” Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem said last week.
For Singapore, this has tangible implications. The country sends thousands of students to US universities annually. Many are on government scholarships or self-funded with hopes that an Ivy League pedigree will vault them into leadership tracks.
If those plans are now in doubt, Singapore’s public sector talent pipeline may need to adjust.
We could see more Singaporean scholars head to the United Kingdom, Europe or Australia instead, or remain at home for education.
AN OPPORTUNITY FOR SINGAPORE UNIVERSITIES?
Asia’s rise over the past decades has in part been fuelled by sending its best students westward; that option now comes with caveats. Singapore and its neighbours must therefore invest even more in developing regional centres of excellence.
This is already happening. China has poured resources into its C9 League universities, India is seeking to reform its higher education, and Singapore and South Korea boast some of the finest schools in the world. The trend can accelerate, spurred by necessity.
As global education becomes collateral in larger political fights, Singapore could emerge as a neutral academic waypoint.
The city has long punched above its weight in education. Its universities are world-class. Education here is not subject to partisan reversals. Institutions can plan across decades, not election cycles.
The outcome of the recent general election reinforces this stability.
With geopolitical tensions rising and US-China ties under strain, Singapore’s non-aligned stance and multicultural fabric make it an ideal meeting ground for scholars of all stripes.
We already see this in initiatives like the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, which was established in collaboration with Harvard but has come into its own as a training ground for future leaders from over 90 countries. Its faculty is ranked among the top 2 per cent of the world’s scientists.
A TIME TO LEAD BY EXAMPLE
The education of international students has been America’s “greatest soft power resource”, a term coined by Professor Joseph Nye of Harvard University, because when those students spend formative years immersed in American ideals and later become leaders back home, they naturally help align their countries’ outlooks with the US.
The Harvard ban will have consequences that outlast the current political theatre. Yet, as with previous storms, this too shall pass – if not fully, then partially. Policies can change, doors can reopen.
US President Donald Trump makes an announcement regarding the Golden Dome missile defence shield in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on May 20, 2025. (File photo: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday (May 27) that Canada could join his proposed “Golden Dome” missile defence system for free – but only if it becomes part of the United States.
Otherwise, it would cost Canada US$61 billion to be part of the system, said Trump, who has repeatedly called for the US’ northern neighbor to become the 51st state.
Canada has expressed interest in joining the missile system, plans for which Trump unveiled last week to defend against a wide array of enemy weapons, but has firmly rejected any loss of sovereignty.
“I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost US$61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation,” Trump posted on his Truth Social network.
“But (it) will cost ZERO DOLLARS if they become our cherished 51st State. They are considering the offer!”
There was no immediate response from Canada to Trump’s claims.
Trump announced plans for the “Golden Dome” system a week ago, saying it would eventually cost around US$175 billion and would be operational by the end of his term in 2029.
Experts say the scheme faces huge technical and political challenges, and could cost far more than he has estimated to achieve its goals.
Trump also said at the time that Canada was interested in joining the missile system. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney then confirmed that his country had held “high-level” talks on the issue.
NATO members Canada and the US are partners in continental defence through the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
But the scheme now seems set to add to the tensions that Trump has sparked with Canada.
EV owner Abdul Haqqim with his vehicle at Jurong Lake Gardens on May 23, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Lauren Chian)
When 32-year-old Abdul Haqqim was deciding last year whether his new car should be an electric vehicle (EV) or an internal combustion engine (ICE) car, among his topmost concerns was its resale value.
There are multiple claims online that an EV’s resale value would tank due to factors such as battery degradation and the speed at which newer technologies emerge.
“Back then, the information that I had was not much, (and) there was hearsay that potentially the resale value would not be as high as a normal petrol car,” said Mr Haqqim, who is an account manager in an advertising firm.
Before he bought his car in May last year, he thoroughly researched EVs and their resale value. To that end, he was comforted that the EV he purchased came with a six-year battery warranty.
This allowed for a one-to-one swap to a new battery should the original battery fall below a certain capacity.
On whether new EV technology might render his vehicle outdated or redundant, lowering its resale value, he said “core technologies” such as battery life and charging have likely “plateaued”.
Other updates, such as ventilated seats, did not bother him as much.
“It’s more of a good-to-have than a necessity, just like how the difference between an iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 is just a bit,” he said.
But not everyone shares his optimism, even though EVs have grown in popularity in Singapore.
A total of 5,947 EVs were registered in the first four months this year, comprising about 40 per cent of new car registrations, according to the latest Land Transport Authority (LTA) data.
The data also showed that China’s BYD has overtaken Toyota as the top-selling car brand in Singapore, selling 3,002 cars and making up about 20 per cent of total vehicle sales in Singapore in the first four months this year.
Toyota sold 2,050 cars in that same period, while its main EV competitor Tesla sold 535 cars.
BYD’s growth has been exponential – from three cars in 2020, to 89 the following year, 786 in 2022 and 1,416 in 2023. Last year, its sales figure went up to 6,191.
Tesla’s sales have also boomed in the last four years, albeit at a slower pace. From 20 cars in 2020, it grew to 924 in 2021, then 875 the following year and 941 in 2023. Last year, it sold 2,384 cars.
CONCERNS OVER RESALE VALUE
Although sales of new EVs have increased quickly, some drivers remain sceptical of their resale value. Comments on online forums discussing the viability of EVs have raised such concerns.
“There isn’t much demand in the market for secondhand EVs, and in time to come, when EVs with newer or better technology are available, your resale value will tank even more,” read one comment on a Reddit thread discussing considerations drivers should have before buying an EV.
Mr Anson Lee, director of car dealer Euro Performance Asia, said he has found it “extremely hard to sell” secondhand EVs compared with ICE cars.
Of the 20 he has attempted to sell so far, he has only managed to move three. Some have been sitting in his shop for over a year.
For the three that he sold, all of them were about a year old, and he had to sell them at about 40 per cent below their initial price, he said, adding that he was able to sell similar ICE vehicles at about 10 to 15 per cent below their initial price.
One reason for the low demand for used EVs is that drivers see them as a “gadget”, he said.
Using a mobile phone analogy, he said: “If you compare it to an iPhone, for example, if you are using an iPhone 13, and the iPhone 15 comes out, will you still buy an iPhone 13?”
He added: “Even if you look at Tesla, when the Model Y came out, everyone sold away their Model 3, and people no longer wanted a Model 3.”
The Tesla Model 3 was first released in Singapore in 2021, and the newer Model Y was released the following year.
He added that the difference in functionality between secondhand and new EVs is “not that far off”, but drivers “want to buy the latest model”.
Secondhand car marketplace SGcarmart has also seen slower sales for used EVs.
Its editorial manager, Mr Desmond Chan, said that EVs tend to take around a third longer to sell than ICE cars.
According to statistics compiled by SGcarmart last year, 56 per cent of used EVs took more than 42 days to sell, while this figure was 44 per cent for used ICE cars.
Drivers who CNA spoke to shared concerns that their EVs might draw low resale values, with many buying EVs with the plan to use them for 10 years – the duration of the Certificate of Entitlement (COE).
In Singapore, a COE is required to own and use a vehicle. Drivers must bid for these certificates in open bidding exercises conducted twice a month.
“A LOT OF MISINFORMATION”
With these concerns at the top of some prospective buyers’ minds, could this prove a hurdle for Singapore’s EV push?
Among the government’s medium-term green goals is for all new car and taxi registrations to be of cleaner-energy models by 2030.
Responding to queries from CNA, an LTA spokesperson said that the EV resale market is “relatively new and evolving”, and prices have yet to achieve the “stable equilibrium” seen in the long-established ICE car market.
“While the high adoption of new EVs will eventually lead to a larger resale market, it is likely that the used EV market will experience a period of adjustment before reaching the same level of maturity as the ICE car market,” added the spokesperson.
One transport analyst said that there is “a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding” about the EV resale market.
Associate Professor of Economics at Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS) Walter Theseira said he is “not sure” if claims of poor resale values are supported by data, particularly for EVs designed and built after 2020.
“A good EV from 2020 is still very competitive in functionality to one designed in 2025,” he said.
“While early adopters may have suffered great reductions in resale value, it is much less likely that today’s EVs will be surpassed significantly within a few years.
“The narrative of low resale value has, I think, been driven by vested interests, particularly in the resale car space where the majority of the trade is non-EVs and where there is little expertise in handling EVs,” he added.
Consumers and dealers lack understanding of some EV functions such as charging, battery degradation and EV tax policy, he said.
“Actually, it’s quite a lot of information, so I can understand why (dealers) are reluctant … If the buyer asks questions, they may not feel confident to answer,” he said.
He added that a lot of what buyers ask for is “model specific information”.
“So just because (dealers know about) some BYD and Tesla models, it doesn’t mean they can answer a question about another EV.”
BATTERY HEALTH
It has not hindered sceptics, and the analogy some go back to is that of a mobile phone’s battery health.
“The battery will degrade and it will deplete just like your handphone,” said Mr Lee, the car dealer.
If you keep “fast charging” the battery of an EV with a 300km range, it will “maybe drop to 250km, 230km”, he added.
While it is true that the batteries of an EV will degrade over time, the way that it does so is “far better than those of an iPhone”, said Associate Professor Zhou Yi from the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT).
For example, the EV battery standard in China stipulates that it retains a minimum “state of certified energy” of 70 per cent after eight to 10 years.
EV batteries have advanced power management systems that regulate charging and discharging, he noted.
He said that EV charging infrastructure in most countries, including Singapore, is well regulated, maintained, and of “good standard”.
“EV batteries are far better in design, management, charging and maintenance than those of phones,” he added.
Agreeing, Prof Tseng King Jet from SIT said that most mobile phones are not expected to be used beyond four years. That is why reputable mobile phone brands do not have batteries lasting beyond that time.
“EVs, on the other hand, are generally expected to last up to 10 years,” he said.
“Hence, reputable EV manufacturers are currently ensuring this expectation can be met by offering 10-year warranties.”
Some EV distributors in Singapore have rolled out 10-year warranties for brands such as South Korea’s Hyundai and Kia, and Chinese brands Aion, XPENG, Zeekr, Skyworth and BYD.
TECHNOLOGY ADVANCING TOO FAST?
The fear that technology would advance and make his car outdated was one that 57-year-old Ronnie Loh had when he purchased his EV in May.
He had chosen to buy an EV in part due to the attractive incentives by the government to encourage EV adoption, which helped him save S$40,000.
However, the project manager in a commercial food service equipment firm told CNA he had his doubts.
“When I bought this EV car, I told myself that if I changed it (before 10 years), no one would want to buy my car,” he said.
He added, for example, that there is a perception that battery technology has been advancing quickly, with batteries in newer EV models seen as safer and being able to charge fully in a shorter time.
These changes may lead potential buyers to perceive his car as outdated, he added.
He has not calculated the expected loss in value as the EV market is evolving, but he is prepared for the worst.
“The resale market seems very bad, so once I buy my EV, I will have to be stuck with it, so I have mentally prepared (myself). If the situation demands it, and I have to sell for a very big loss, then so be it,” he added.
Assoc Prof Theseira said that when EVs were still nascent in the 2010s, it was true that resale models from that era would not be competitive in today’s market.
“Basically, almost no EVs designed and built in the 2010s are competitive to those built today, as those built today are cheaper to make, and have greater capabilities (such as) better range, efficiency,” he said.
However, he said changes in technology and prices have slowed down dramatically.
Tesla models from the early 2020s still have functionality that is “extremely similar” to current-generation EVs, he added.
“The resale value (is) hurt primarily by price cuts in current-gen EVs due to manufacturing cost reductions,” he said.
However, he acknowledged that there have been cases of EVs that have suffered high depreciation in resale value due to improving technology and cost changes.
Technological advancements, economies of scale and changes to COE prices have led to some newer EV models being cheaper, and this can dampen demand for older EV models.
One example was the first batch of Tesla Model Ys that were launched locally in 2022. They were priced high and that was when COE prices also peaked, said Assoc Prof Theseira.
“They have depreciated very significantly due to a combination of COE prices falling significantly and new Model Y pricing falling,” he said.
The Model Y was priced from S$142,471 without COE when it was released in 2022, while the new Model Y released this year was priced from S$103,476, according to Tesla’s website.
WHAT ABOUT GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES?
Another reservation that some EV drivers shared about selling their cars is the seemingly lower deregistration returns compared with a similar petrol car.
When an EV is deregistered before the COE expires, it typically has a lower deregistration incentive – known as the Preferential Additional Registration Fee (PARF) rebate – compared with ICE cars.
When a car is registered in Singapore, drivers have to pay an Additional Registration Fee (ARF), which is a percentage of the vehicle’s open market value.
When they deregister their car before it is 10 years old, they may get a PARF rebate. The rebate is calculated based on the age of the car and the amount of ARF paid.
Newly registered EVs typically have lower ARF values than ICE cars, as drivers enjoy up to S$40,000 off the initial fee:
They are eligible for the EV Early Adoption Incentive. Up to the end of this year, they can receive rebates of up to 45 per cent off the ARF, capped at S$15,000.
A Vehicular Emissions Scheme rebate of S$25,000 will also apply to most electric cars until the end of the year, which would be subtracted from the ARF.
Since the ARF determines the PARF rebate, the lower the ARF, the lower the PARF rebate an EV driver would get upon deregistration.
For example, drivers Mr Loh and Mr Haqqim received the maximum S$40,000 off the ARF. This meant they did not have to pay the fee when they registered their EVs.
This means that upon deregistering their car, they would not get a PARF rebate.
This could lead to the perception that EVs have an inherently lower resale value, which is not true, said Assoc Prof Theseira.
“The difference here with an EV vs an ICE car is that the PARF is much lower for an EV due to up-front rebates,” said Assoc Prof Theseira.
He said that what is important to look at is not resale value but depreciation.
“Many EVs have low resale value for a car of their type, but that is because they received high up-front EV subsidies and also had low original purchase prices,” he said.
“Hence, their depreciation may be comparable to that of many peer ICE vehicles.”
He added that the majority of cars have little “residual value” at the end of their COE lifespans. Residual value refers to what dealers and exporters would pay for the car’s body.
“It is negligible for mass market cars regardless of fuel type … prices for cars close to the end of the 10-year COE are typically the paper value plus a few thousand dollars for the body, as well as COE-based adjustments,” he said.
“Thus, the correct expectation for most car owners should be that they would get very little for their car in 10 years’ time, save the PARF (rebate).”
Merz discussed Ukraine, Gaza and other topics during a press conference with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri OrpoImage: Roni Rekomaa/Lehtikuva/REUTERS
Israel forcing Germany to reconsider support, says former Israeli ambassador to Berlin
Shimon Stein, who served as Israel’s ambassador to Germany from 2001 to 2007, spoke to DW about German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s recent shift in tone towards Israel.
Israel’s European allies have grown increasingly frustrated over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and the worsening humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave.
Merz has said that Germany cannot remain silent if Israel continues to break international law in its war with Hamas. In Merz’s coalition government, some have called for a halt on arms exports to Israel.
“We have reached a point when German interests are not being upheld the way it understands its interest with respect to whatever Israel does,” Stein said.
He highlighted Israel’s military objectives in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “undefined total victory” and the “crazy plan” proposed by US President Donald Trump to turn “Gaza into a Riviera and evict two million Palestinians.”
Germany’s top diplomat heads to US for talks on Ukraine, Mideast, trade
Germany’s new foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, is set to travel to Washington for talks with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio focused on the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts, NATO ties, and strained trade relations.
In his first visit to the United States since taking office, Wadephul said the longstanding German-American partnership had been vital to his country’s postwar freedom and prosperity.
“We Germans owe almost no other country as much as the United States,” he said in a statement before departure.
Wadephul said his top priority was ending the war in Ukraine through an immediate ceasefire and lasting peace.
Calling Russia “the greatest threat to Euro-Atlantic security for the foreseeable future,” Wadephul emphasized that Europe is assuming greater responsibility for its own defense.
He reiterated Germany’s support for a NATO proposal to boost combined defense and security-related spending to 5% of GDP — split between 3.5% for defense and 1.5% for infrastructure and related areas.
On the Middle East, Wadephul said Germany stands by Israel’s security but also recognizes “the unbearable suffering of the people in Gaza.” He urged progress toward a ceasefire, the release of hostages, and a major scale-up in humanitarian aid.
Addressing trade tensions following US President Donald Trump’s return to office, Wadephul pushed for dialogue. “We don’t want to erect new tariff barriers, but rather build stable bridges of partnership and trust,” he said, voicing support for a negotiated EU-US solution to reduce unnecessary trade obstacles.
“Only in this way will we succeed in preserving prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic and strengthening our economic security,” he added.
German army must spend new funds responsibly — federal auditors
The massive boost in German defense spending must be wisely utilized, and the German army should implement major reforms to ensure this is the case, Germany’s federal auditors said on Tuesday.
In a report, the Bonn-based Bundesrechnungshof said the Bundeswehr must focus on its core mission of defending Germany and its allies and reduce administrative processes despite receiving the increased funding.
“‘Whatever it takes’ must not become ‘money doesn’t matter!'” said Kay Scheller, president of Bundesrechnungshof. “It is crucial that these funds are used responsibly to significantly increase the effectiveness of defense spending.”
Germany drastically reformed strict constitutional rules on deficit spending in March, allowing the new government to boost military expenditure in view of the changed security landscape in Europe caused largely by Russia’s aggression and the Trump administration’s pivot away from support for the continent.
However, the auditors warned that “a permanent and solid financing of Germany’s defense capability is not guaranteed by a budget that is heavily financed by debt and therefore structurally unsustainable.”
The report also said that the German military had become “top-heavy” and required a greater number of
regular soldiers.
Talks between the US and Iran seem to pivot towards a new nuclear deal albeit an interim one
According to US President Donald Trump, nuclear talks with Iran last Friday showed “some real progress, serious progress.”
“We’ve had some very, very good talks with Iran,” Trump told reporters in northern New Jersey before returning to Washington on Sunday.
“And I don’t know if I’ll be telling you anything good or bad over the next two days, but I have a feeling I might be telling you something good,” Trump said.
“Both the US and Iran are taking the current negotiations very seriously,” Sina Azodi, assistant professor of Middle East policy at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University and an expert on international relations with a focus on Iran’s foreign policy and nuclear non-proliferation, told DW. “They want to reach an agreement,” she said.
According to Azodi, a deal with Iran is of great importance to the US government. “There are three central foreign policy issues for the White House: the war in Ukraine, the war in Gaza and Iran’s nuclear program. An agreement with Iran would be considered a major foreign policy success,” she said.
Meanwhile, the government in Iran is keen on a possible deal, Azodi adds. Iran is running out of time for the negotiations as the so-called snapback mechanism, a clause in the current agreement, is coming closer by the hour, she added.
In this case, all UN sanctions against Iran could come back in full force if no agreement is reached.
Secondly, Israel would not attack Iran without the consent of the US. As long as negotiations between the US and Iran continue, such an attack is unlikely, politicians in Tehran believe.
“Thirdly, the economic crisis in Iran continues to worsen,” Azodi told DW. Sanctions are having a massive impact and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has promised to work towards lifting them. However, so far, nothing has been achieved.
New interim agreement?
Under the mediation of Oman, the US and Iran began talks on a possible new nuclear agreement in mid-April. As the United States and Iran have not maintained diplomatic relations since 1979, they have only held talks via third countries.
The first four rounds of talks were unsuccessful as Washington and Tehran were unable to reach an agreement on uranium enrichment. Tehran insists on being allowed to continue enriching uranium for civilian purposes, while the US insists on a complete halt to enrichment.
According to reports in the Italian daily newspaper La Republica, Oman’s foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi proposed an interim agreement, which is now being drafted.
Also, a high-ranking US official told the Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom that the possibility of a provisional agreement had been discussed. This would involve freezing uranium enrichment for an initial period of three years in return for the sanctions being partially lifted.
It would not be the first provisional agreement between the US and Iran. Both sides had already signed an interim agreement in Geneva in November 2013. The negotiations subsequently led to Iran’s nuclear agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, in 2015.
However, that JCPOA agreement was terminated by US President Trump in 2018 during his first term in office. Back then, Trump said that he wanted to “get a better deal” with Iran than his predecessor Barack Obama. The Iranian response was to gradually distance itself from the agreement.
Today, the country is closer to building a nuclear bomb than ever before, experts claim.
Israel views the Iranian nuclear program as a threat to its existence. The Iranian leadership does not recognize Israel and regularly threatens to eliminate it.
Officially, however, Tehran emphasizes that its nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes. But the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has expressed concerns. According to IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, Iran is the only non-nuclear weapon state enriching to this level.
A face-saving solution
The physicist Behrooz Bayat says that Iran needs a face-saving solution in order to navigate the issue of uranium enrichment. Bayat worked as an external consultant for the IAEA and is considered an expert on Iran’s nuclear program.
In his view, one option for Iran could be to form a consortium of Middle Eastern countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These countries would then work together on uranium enrichment.
According to the British newspaper The Guardian, Iran also proposed in early May to involve the Gulf states in its enrichment program in order to refute US objections that Iran does not provide transparency.
However, it remains unclear how such a model could be implemented in practice, emphasizes Bayat. For Iran, it would be a face-saving solution that would mean it could continue to formally enrich uranium, even if its implementation is highly unlikely.
Regional support
Meanwhile, the Gulf states support the current talks between Iran and the US. “For the countries in the region, it is very important that there is no new war in the Middle East,” Sina Azodi told DW. “Anyone investing in growth and progress needs security and stability,” she added.
In 2019, as tensions between the US and Iran increased during Donald Trump’s first presidency, the Yemeni Houthi rebels, who are allied with Iran, attacked Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil and gas company, Aramco.
“After the attack, Riyadh expected a clear reaction from the US as its most important ally. But this failed to materialize,” Azodi recalls. “Saudi Arabia came to the realization that stronger ties with Iran could be strategically more advantageous,” she said.
In turn, bilateral relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have changed significantly in the past years. In October 2024, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and met Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
This image, supplied to media by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, shows its trucks entering the Gaza StripImage: Gaza Humanitarian Foundation/REUTERS
A US-backed aid group has started operations in Gaza amid widespread criticism from the humanitarian sector, international observers, and its own executive director, who has already resigned.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has been tasked with distributing aid in the Gaza Strip, a process that reportedly commenced on Monday.
It potentially marks the most substantial distribution of food supplies in Gaza since Israel began blocking aid agencies from entering the region at the beginning of March.
However the privately-run GHF has only been allowed to operate in the Gaza Strip with the endorsement of Israel and the United States. Other long-established humanitarian groups, including the UN’s own network of aid agencies, remain blocked from entering the region.
Because of this, GHF’s operation has come under widespread condemnation for not operating under humanitarian principles.
What is the GHF and what has it done so far?
The GHF is registered in Geneva, Switzerland and, according to the Reuters news agency, operates with private security and logistics operators UG Solutions and Safe Reach Solutions.
It is the centerpiece of a US and Israel-backed plan to distribute aid in Gaza.
Communications from the GHF indicated it will establish four distribution sites to deliver food and medical supplies to Gazans, distribute 300 million meals within its first 90 days of operation and reach one million Palestinian people within a week.
Around two million Palestinians live in Gaza.
GHF’s operation began on Monday, May 27, just hours after its executive director, former US Marine Jake Wood resigned.
Wood had been the face of the organization since it was thrust into the spotlight as the aid provider of choice for the US and Israel. He previously ran disaster relief efforts through Team Rubicon, which he co-founded in 2010.
In a statement, Wood said GHF was unable to conform “to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon.”
The GHF plan is criticized from across the humanitarian sector
Wood’s resignation comes after weeks of the UN, independent aid organizations and humanitarian experts criticizing the plan for GHF to distribute aid in Gaza with Israel’s endorsement and involvement.
“Aid has to be delivered by neutral parties who are not engaged in conflict,” said Thea Hilhorst, a humanitarian aid researcher at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
“In this case, Israel takes control, Israel is not neutral, [it] is an occupying force and a warring party.”
Central to concerns about the GHF plan has been where aid distribution will take place.
Last week, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outlined a three-step plan, which included the use of its defense force to secure aid distribution and “creating a sterile zone in the south of the [Gaza] Strip, to which the civilian population will be evacuated.”
So far, four GHF hubs have been committed in the south, where relatively few Palestinians live. Israel has said this method would prevent aid from being acquired by Hamas. Israel has been engaged in an ongoing war with the militant group following a major terror attack on October 7, 2023, which killed around 1,200 and led to the capture of 250 hostages.
Reports indicate those seeking aid would need to pass through military guard to access the aid.
These measures have been flagged as a move to potentially displace people from the region’s highly populated north. Netanyahu has said that in his aid plan, Palestinians entering a southern sterile zone “don’t necessarily go back [to the north].”
Hilhorst told DW that move would amount to ethnic cleansing, particularly as humanitarian principles require aid to be directed to where people are, without forcing them to travel great distances to receive it.
“He’s using this as a kind of tool to remove people from the Gaza Strip, that is the instrumentalization of aid for war purposes,” Hilhorst said.
“The only thing [Netanyahu] should do at this moment [is] opening the borders for assistance. He’s not using that, so it is using hunger as a weapon of war.”
The UN’s Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher told the UN Security Council on May 13 that this tactic appeared about “placing the objective of depopulating Gaza before the lives of civilians.”
Hamas on Monday warned Palestinians in Gaza to not cooperate with the GHF, in a statement to media saying the proposed system replaces would “replace order with chaos, enforce a policy of engineered starvation of Palestinian civilians, and use food as a weapon during wartime.”
UN-coordinated aid restricted from entering Gaza
In the wake of GHF starting its operations, other aid agencies have again called for full humanitarian service to resume.
Jonathan Fowler, a spokesperson for the UN Palestinian refugees agency UNRWA, told DW “there is a tried and tested international humanitarian system that respects international humanitarian law around the world.”
“It did not need to be reinvented. It could work to capacity to bring in aid if it was allowed to do and it’s not being allowed to.”
Nevertheless, as humanitarian groups warn of famine in Gaza, the supply of food aid is a necessary and needed intervention.
But while GHF’s distribution of food supplies is now underway, vehicles controlled by independent humanitarian organizations are still prevented from entering Gaza.
That non-food aid is restricted from by supplied amounts to an ongoing siege, said Sarah Schiffling, deputy director of the Finland-based Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Research Institute.
“A siege is cutting off territory from the outside and that’s what we’re seeing here from a supply situation,” Schiffling told DW.
Smoke rises from an explosion at a chemical plant in Weifang in eastern China in this screengrab taken from a social media video, May 27, 2025 [Reuters]At least five people have been killed and 19 injured in a huge chemical plant explosion in eastern China, according to state media reports.
Six people were still missing following the explosion at the plant operated by Shandong Youdao Chemical in the city of Weifang in Shandong province late on Tuesday morning, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV and state-run Xinhua agency reported.
The plant, situated in an industrial park, manufactures chemical components for use in pesticides and pharmaceuticals, they said.
Videos circulating on Chinese social media and verified by the Reuters news agency showed plumes of orange and black smoke billowing into the sky.
Windows of nearby buildings were ripped from their hinges by the explosion, one of the videos showed.
Authorities launched a large response to the explosion and the blaze it ignited, with officials sending more than 230 responders to the scene, according to CCTV.
Drone video posted by The Beijing News, a government-run publication, showed smoke emerging from the chemical plant and from a second, unidentified facility nearby.
Baidu Maps, a navigation app, shows other manufacturing companies next to Youdao’s plant, including a textile company, a machinery company and a firm that makes industrial coating materials.
The Weifang Ecological Environment Bureau dispatched staff to test the site of the blast, but said no results were available yet. It advised nearby residents to wear face masks in the meantime, The Beijing News reported.
A local resident, who did not wish to be identified for fear of repercussions, said in a video that his home, more than 7km (4.3 miles) from the plant, shook from the impact of the explosion, The Associated Press news agency reported.
A statement from China’s emergency response authority urged response crews to quickly contain the fire and establish the number of people affected.
Shandong Youdao Chemical was established in August 2019 in the Gaomi Renhe chemical park in Weifang, according to the company’s website. The plant covers about 47 hectares (116 acres) and has more than 300 employees.
Blasts at chemical plants in China in recent years have included one in the northwest region of Ningxia in 2024 and another in the southeastern province of Jiangxi in 2023.
EMMANUEL Macron and his wife Brigitte have put on a united front for the world’s cameras a day after the shocking face slap drama.
Viral footage that has overshadowed the start of the couple’s Southeast Asia tour shows the French leader’s wife shoving him in the mouth and jaw after landing in Vietnam.
French President Emmanuel Macron (R) and his wife Brigitte Macron (L) arrive to the University of Science and TechnologyCredit: EPA
Furious Macron attempted to downplay the incident last night by claiming the pair were “squabbling and, rather joking”.
He added that the unbelievable incident has been overblown into “a sort of geo-planetary catastrophe”.
The French leader also argued that the clip and viral reaction to it offered a cautionary tale about disinformation in the social media age.
Today, Macron and the First Lady were captured arm-in-arm after arriving at Hanoi’s University of Science and Technology for the French president to make a speech.
The couple were pictured together a few hours after Macron claimed “crackpot” conspiracy theorists were trying to heighten speculation on what their marriage might look like behind closed doors.
Footage of the shove was initially denied by Macron’s office as being an AI-generated fake – but were forced to retract their statement and admit it was genuine.
His office said: “It was a moment where the president and his wife were decompressing one last time before the start of the trip by horsing around.
“It’s a moment of complicity. It was all that was needed to give ammunition to the conspiracy theorists.”
The unbelievable moment captured at Hanoi airport showed Macron facing his wife – who is out of the frame – as the plane’s doors opened.
Despite Brigitte not being visible, her arms are soon seen raised as she shoves a stern-looking Macron in the face.
Appearing shocked, the French leader immediately notices the doors open and quickly turns to wave at the sea of cameras at the bottom of the plane steps.
Despite Macron’s attempts to defuse claims that they weren’t in a heated argument, the couple’s body language immediately after the push seems to suggest otherwise.
Brigitte and Macron emerge together from the aircraft and walk down the staircase, with the French leader extending his arm to his wife.
But she takes hold of the handrail of the walkway for support instead, potentially due to an explosive argument they could have had inside.
The French leader has repeatedly been targeted by conspiracy theories and deepfakes.
He previously had to deny “false and fabricated” rumours his wife was born a man, dubbing the transgender claims as being typified misogynistic online attacks on women.
And recently he blasted a fake Russian claim that he had a bag of cocaine on the table when he was pictured on his way to Kyiv with Keir Starmer and Germany’s Friedrich Merz.
Drawing comparison with the shove video and the cocaine tissue claim, Macron said in Vietnam last night: “For three weeks, there have been people who have watched videos and who think that I shared a bag of cocaine, that I had a mano-a-mano with a Turkish president and now that I am having a domestic dispute with my wife.
“In these three videos, I took a tissue, shook someone’s hand and just joked with my wife, as we do quite often. Nothing more.
“None of this is true. So everyone needs to calm down.”
The politician was just 15 when he started a relationship with the then mother-of-three, his French literature teacher.
Macron is in Hanoi to begin a week-long tour of Southeast Asia, where he will also visit Indonesia and Singapore.
DONALD Trump has taken another swipe at Putin, warning that he is “playing with fire” as his frustration with the reckless Russian bubbles over.
Furious rhetoric from the US president has intensified over the past few days as Russia has blitzed Ukraine and shown signs of preparing for a major onslaught.
Trump warned Putin he is ‘playing with fire’Credit: Getty
In a Truth Social post, Trump seethed: “What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD.
“He’s playing with fire!”
Kremlin mouthpiece Dmitry Medvedev responded by saying the only truly bad thing to worry about was World War Three.
He said: “Regarding Trump’s words about Putin ‘playing with fire’ and ‘really bad things’ happening to Russiam I only know of one REALLY BAD thing: WWIII.
“I hope Trump understands this!”
Putin has been stalling peace negotiations for weeks and cranking up the heat in Ukraine rather than de-escalating – playing Trump for a fool.
On Tuesday it was revealed that Vlad’s marauding forces had snatched another four villages in Ukraine’s Sumy region.
This was the area from which Ukraine launched its surprise invasion to take Russian land in Kursk, which Moscow only recently reclaimed.
Sumy governor Oleh Hryhorov wrote in a post: “The enemy is continuing attempts to advance with the aim of setting up a so-called buffer zone”.
He said the villages of Novenke, Basivka, Veselivka and Zhuravka had been overrun and the resident evacuated.
Trump’s bash at Putin on Tuesday was the latest in a series that charts his growing irritation.
Russia launched a cloud of 367 drones and missiles at cities across Ukraine over the weekend – the largest of the war so far – prompting Trump to brand him “crazy”.
He said: “I don’t know what’s wrong with him. What the hell happened to him? Right? He’s killing a lot of people. I’m not happy about that.”
And later posted online: “I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him.
“He has gone absolutely CRAZY! He is needlessly killing a lot of people, and I’m not just talking about soldiers.
“Missiles and drones are being shot into Cities in Ukraine, for no reason whatsoever.”
He added: “I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!”
The Kremlin sought to lower the temperature – although hinted that Trump was merely being “emotional”.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “We are really grateful to the Americans and to President Trump personally for their assistance in organising and launching this negotiation process.
“Of course, at the same time, this is a very crucial moment, which is associated, of course, with the emotional overload of everyone absolutely and with emotional reactions.”
At least 13 Ukrainians were killed in the weekend strikes, including three children.
Trump’s comments also come amid reports that Russia is amassing a 50,000-strong force on the border with Ukraine, in preparation for a renewed onslaught.
Putin is reportedly preparing for a major push to take more land in the north east.
Military analysts believe he is trying to press home his advantage and capture more Ukrainian land.
They warn that Putin only has a “four-month window” to get a breakthrough in Ukraine this year.
And this could be the beginning of Russia’s summer offensive targeting the border city of Kharkiv – the “fortress” city of Ukraine which put up the maximum resistance at the start of the invasion.
Reacting to the reports, German Chancellor Freidrich Merz predicted that peace was still a long way off.
FBI deputy director Dan Bongino’s years-old theory about cocaine found in the White House is resurfacing after the agency announced it would re-investigate the incident.
Bongino, who on Monday announced the new probe into the mystery drugs, previously alleged that there is “zero” chance the Biden family wasn’t involved in bringing the substance into the building.
An old theory by the FBI director Dan Bongino has resurfacedCredit: AFP
“There’s absolutely ZERO chance anyone other than a family member brought that cocaine inside the White House complex,” he posted on X two years ago.
“No chance that would make it past the mag/security checkpoints.
“Family bypasses those.”
Bongino posted his suspicions on X two years ago, following the discovery of a dime-sized bag inside a cubby near an entrance to the West Wing on July 2, 2023.
The substance inside the bag tested positive for cocaine, leading many people to allege that Biden’s son, Hunter, was responsible for it.
There is no evidence to suggest the drugs was linked to Hunter or any other member of the Biden family.
The former president’s son had previously struggled with crack cocaine addiction and was seen leaving the White House just two days before the drugs were found.
Hunter, 53 at the time, was visiting the Capitol to celebrate Independence Day with his family.
Despite his years of addiction, Biden’s youngest son says he’s completely sober.
“Makes sense. I cannot imagine a staffer bringing drugs into the White House, even in the Biden Admin,” one woman replied to Bongino’s post.
“That would be beyond idiotic.”
The Secret Service closed its investigation just 10 days after the drugs were found in 2023, citing a lack of evidence.
“Without physical evidence, the investigation will not be able to single out a person of interest from the hundreds of individuals who passed through the vestibule where the cocaine was discovered,” the agency said at the time.
In February 2025, Trump echoed Bongino’s hunch about the Biden family, questioning why there was no substantial proof found.
Trump assumed that there were usually “hundreds and even thousands” of fingerprints on the locker where the drugs were found, but there weren’t when investigators arrived.
“And when they went to look at it, it was absolutely stone cold, wiped dry,” Trump told The Spectator.
Since stepping back into the White House, Trump said he’s even more convinced “either Joe or Hunter” was behind the scandal.
While the owner of the mysterious bag of cocaine has yet to be named, that may be changing soon.
On May 26, Bongino announced that the FBI would investigate the case, along with a couple of other instances that displayed “potential public corruption.”
File photo of US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the G20 leaders summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Nov 30, 2018. (Photo: Reuters/Marcos Brindicci)
US President Donald Trump called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin “crazy” on Sunday (May 25) after Moscow launched a deadly barrage of drones against Ukraine, even as the warring countries completed a large-scale prisoner exchange.
At least 13 people were killed when Russia launched a record number of drones against Ukraine overnight to Sunday.
“I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform.
“I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!” he added.
His comments marked a rare rebuke to Putin, whom he often speaks of with admiration. The US leader has, however, expressed increasing frustration with Moscow’s position in deadlocked truce negotiations with Kyiv.
Earlier Sunday, Trump told reporters he was “not happy” about the latest attack on Ukraine and that he was “absolutely” considering increasing sanctions on Moscow.
“I’ve known him a long time, always gotten along with him, but he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” he said.
“TERROR”
Ukraine’s emergency services described Sunday an atmosphere of “terror” in the country after a second straight night of massive Russian air strikes, including on the capital Kyiv.
Those killed in the latest Russian strikes included victims aged eight, 12 and 17 in the northwestern region of Zhytomyr, officials said.
“Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media.
“The silence of America, the silence of others around the world only encourages Putin,” he said, adding: “Sanctions will certainly help.”
In his social media post, Trump also criticised Zelenskyy, a frequent target of his ire, accusing him of “doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does”.
“Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop,” he said.
The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, also called for “the strongest international pressure on Russia to stop this war”.
“Last night’s attacks again show Russia bent on more suffering and the annihilation of Ukraine,” she said on social media.
DENMARK PM: MOSCOW NOT INTERESTED IN PEACE
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Monday (May 26) that the attacks on Ukraine over the weekend prove that Moscow is not interested in peace.
“During the day, Putin talks about negotiations, then he bombs Ukraine during the night,” Frederiksen told reporters at a meeting of Nordic leaders in Finland.
Frederiksen said the Nordic leaders had agreed their countries would support Ukraine for as long as it takes, adding the support could mean military aid, investments in Ukraine’s defence industry and cooperation with Ukrainian companies.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul also denounced the attacks.
“Putin does not want peace, he wants to carry on the war, and we shouldn’t allow him to do this,” he said. “For this reason, we will approve further sanctions at a European level.”
MAJOR PRISONER EXCHANGE
The massive strikes on Ukraine came as Russia said it had exchanged another 303 Ukrainian prisoners of war for the same number of Russian soldiers held by Kyiv – the last phase of a swap agreed during talks in Istanbul on May 16.
That marked their biggest prisoner swap since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, with 1,000 captured soldiers and civilian prisoners in total sent back by each side.
US President Donald Trump makes an announcement regarding the Golden Dome missile defence shield next to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in the Oval Office of the White House. (File photo: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
North Korea slammed on Tuesday (May 27) United States President Donald Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile shield plan as a “very dangerous” threat that could spark nuclear war in space, state media said.
Trump announced new details and initial funding for the missile shield system last week, calling it “very important for the success and even survival of our country”.
The initiative faces significant technical and political challenges, according to analysts, and could come at a hefty price tag.
In a statement shared by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Pyongyang’s foreign ministry slammed the “very dangerous ‘threatening initiative’ aimed at threatening the strategic security of the nuclear weapons states”.
The US is “hell-bent on the moves to militarise outer space,” the foreign ministry said.
“The US plan for building a new missile defence system is the root cause of sparking off global nuclear and space arms race by stimulating the security concerns of nuclear weapons states and turning the outer space into a potential nuclear war field,” it added.
Washington – Seoul’s key security ally – has in recent years ramped up joint military exercises and increased the presence of strategic US assets, such as an aircraft carrier and a nuclear-powered submarine, in the region to deter the North.
Pyongyang has repeatedly declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear weapons state and routinely denounces joint US-South Korea drills as rehearsals for invasion.
Hong Min, a senior analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, told AFP that Pyongyang saw Trump’s “Golden Dome” as a threat.
“The North’s strong reaction suggests it views the Golden Dome as capable of significantly weakening the effectiveness of its nuclear arsenal, including its ICBMs,” he said.
“If the US completes its new missile defence programme, the North will be forced to develop alternative means to counter or penetrate it,” he added.
CHINA, RUSSIA MODERNISING WEAPONS
China has similarly expressed strong concerns about Washington’s Golden Dome plan, accusing the US of undermining global stability.
Beijing is closing the gap with Washington when it comes to ballistic and hypersonic missile technology, while Moscow is modernising its intercontinental-range missile systems and developing advanced precision strike missiles, according to a 2022 Pentagon review.
The Kremlin has said Trump’s initiative would require consultations with Russia but was otherwise a “sovereign matter” for the US, softening its tone after also previously slamming the idea as destabilising.
93-year-old William Thong bowling at Starbowl in HomeTeamNS Bukit Batok on Apr 15, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Lan Yu)
On a Tuesday morning at a Bukit Batok bowling alley, the sound of clattering pins echoes off the walls.
At one end, a couple of youngsters celebrates strikes exuberantly. At the opposite, a group of older men are racking up the points in more stoic fashion.
And then there is Mr William Thong.
A familiar fixture – he bowls here multiple times a week – Mr Thong has his own locker, his own bowling shoes and a flask of teh-o to keep him going.
Mr Thong stands out from the other amateur bowlers.
His gait is slower and his technique guided more by feel than vision, but he is no less adept at picking up the odd strike or two.
Eyes locked on the target, Mr Thong sends an eight-pound ball swirling down the lane. This time, there are still a few stubborn pins left standing, but he keeps at it for the next hour or so.
After all, what keeps the 93-year-old going is not the score flashing on the electronic screen, but his love for the sport.
BOWLING WITH HALF AN EYE
In his younger days, Mr Thong was an all-rounder in sports, who ran cross-country and played basketball and football.
His foray into bowling only began in his early 20s, after joining an American firm.
“I wanted to please the president (of the company) that I could I also bowl. I joined him and he was happy,” he recalled.
He eventually grew into the sport and competed at local amateur tournaments.
“I enjoy getting strikes, getting spares. Especially the speed (of the ball),” said Mr Thong.
According to Mr Alfred George Pillay, a fellow bowler who has known Mr Thong for close to a decade, the latter was also a bowling captain in his fourties.
“He used to have national bowlers under his team,” recalled Mr Pillay, who has partnered Mr Thong in several competitions.
But a glaucoma diagnosis about three decades ago threatened to put a stop to things.
Mr Thong would eventually go completely blind in one eye. He was told by a doctor there was a “50-50” chance of going blind in his other eye, if he did not take appropriate care.
“I always prayed that I could see and that it would not deteriorate (further),” he said.
Mr Thong has continued to bowl, relying on his one good eye which he guessed to now have about 55 per cent vision left.
Asked how he does it, he said: “You just estimate … (the pins are) ‘dead’, waiting for you to bowl the ball.”
But it has not been without difficulty. There were three or four times when Mr Thong tripped on the lane. “I had to break the fall (with my hand),” he said.
These days, he stands further away from the foul line so he does not slip on the oiled flooring.
“Closing one eye and bowling is near-impossible. I don’t know how he does it,” said Mr Pillay, 61.
“(Initially) I didn’t know he (was using just) one eye because he used to wear sunglasses … The day he took out his glasses, I got a shock.”
“BOWL UNTIL 100”
Mr Thong has other passions. He uses the computer regularly, and is a fixture in his church choir.
“Every Sunday I sing in church, I like singing,” he said. “They like my voice.”
The nonagenarian still looks as sprightly as he is active. He attributed this to a diet which he keeps to fastidiously.
“Fish, eggs and chicken,” he revealed. “I take fruits every day too: Papaya, bananas and oranges.”
But nothing comes close to bowling for Mr Thong. He visits the alley up to five days a week, going for about three to five games each time.
He typically travels by bus from his home in Choa Chua Kang, a journey of about 30 minutes. “(I’m) not tired and my body is not aching. It’s okay,” he said.
In the past, his wife would often accompany him, but now that she has dementia, she stays at home with their domestic helper.
“(She came) all the time … She would ask: ‘Why you miss the ball?’ … She was like an adviser!” said Mr Pillay.
“She was always here supporting him. They would sometimes argue and she would tell him: ‘Your ball is too slow, your ball is too fast’, that kind of thing. The two of them looked very cute together.”
Mr Thong and Mr Pillay now have each other for company in the bowling alley.
“He told me most of his friends have all passed on. He’s got not many friends that he can relate to. We share things, we talk about things, we are friends,” said Mr Pillay.
“He’s an inspiration to me … I hope that I can bowl until at least 70. You’re never too old to do the things that you love.”
Mr Thong does see himself as an ambassador for the sport.
“(Bowling) is to reach out to people. This is how you start a conversation with people who do not know anything about bowling,” he said. “Some of them ask me: ‘What do you eat?'”
In this picture taken in Beijing on Mar 11, 2023, a large video screen shows an image of President Xi Jinping taking his oath after his re-election as China’s leader. (Photo: AP/Andy Wong)
As much as China sees almost every aspect of life as an issue of national security, it has never published a white paper on the topic – unlike the United States where each administration typically puts out at least one National Security Strategy. That changed on May 12.
China released its first national security white paper, articulating official positions and strategic priorities. Rooted in the “comprehensive national security” concept President Xi Jinping introduced in 2014, it reflects continuity rather than a departure from past practices.
But if it’s an ongoing practice, why did China feel the need to release it as an official document now?
It’s not hard to see why. As the world undergoes unprecedented changes, China aims to project strength, to promote itself as a stabilising force and legitimate counterweight to the US that is shaking up the established international order.
The white paper tells us that even though China has repeatedly said it will “never seek hegemony”, it still wants to remind the world of the rules it plays by.
Since Mr Xi came to power, China’s definition of national security has become broad and all-encompassing, extending over some 20 domains. Beyond traditional domains like politics and the military, non-traditional fields are also seen as risks to national security – from the economy, food and culture to resources, outer space and artificial intelligence. In 2023, China briefly considered a law to ban clothing that “hurts national feelings”.
Still, the white paper – titled China’s National Security In The New Era – offers valuable insight into how Chinese leaders perceive national security, how these concerns shape national interests, and how the government intends to address emerging challenges.
ASIA-PACIFIC AS ARENA OF BIG POWER CONTEST
China sees the Asia-Pacific as the focal point of great power competitions.
Despite previously advocating that the region should not be “an arena for big power contest”, Chinese leaders now recognise that it has become an inevitability. Compared to the Biden era, US President Donald Trump’s confrontational and unilateralist approach presents a frontal challenge to China’s position in Asia.
The direct threat posed by the US is a dominant theme throughout. US efforts to strengthen regional alliances and expand military presence are depicted as exacerbating existing conflicts and territorial disputes involving China. The white paper also blamed the US’ Asian allies for participating in so-called “exclusive cliques” led by Washington.
To counter these, China is positioning itself as a champion of free trade and multilateralism. It calls for leveraging the United Nations as a platform for resolving differences, advocates deeper strategic ties with Russia, and closer engagement with European countries and Global South nations.
China aims to expand security cooperation with ASEAN member states, to offset the impact of the US’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, which it characterises as the “Asia-Pacific version of NATO” designed to contain China.
There are four “red lines” that the US must not cross: “the Taiwan issue, democracy and human rights, China’s path and institutions, and the country’s right to development”.
The last point in particular has gained importance given the spate of US tariffs and export controls, with China affirming a forceful response to any effort to stifle its development, vowing to confront “tariff wars, trade wars, technology wars and public opinion wars”.
The favourable outcome of recent US-China trade negotiations appears to have hardened Beijing’s resolve to stand firm in future conflicts with Washington.
INTERNAL SECURITY THREATS ARE BLAMED ON EXTERNAL FORCES
The white paper emphasised the interconnectedness of global and domestic security environments, but it is far better at describing the external forces than the internal threats.
Notably, the document placed the blame for China’s internal security challenges on alleged foreign conspiracies and ideological infiltration. It warned against increasing subversion efforts as the China-US rivalry intensifies.
Political security was named the “lifeline of national security”. At the core of this is the leadership role of China’s Communist Party.
Rehashing hackneyed party lines and longstanding official rhetoric, the white paper claimed that without strong party leadership, China risked political fragmentation and internal disarray with dire consequences for the nation and its people. It cautioned against efforts to divide, westernise, or destabilise China through so-called “Colour Revolutions”.
In response, there must be reinforcement of the party’s authority, suppression of separatist movements, improvements in living standards, economic development, and a more assertive defence of China’s territorial integrity.
STATE CONTROL IS BOUND TO GROW
By incorporating all aspects of public life under the national security umbrella, the state’s influence is bound to expand. The future plans outlined in the white paper confirmed this.
National security decision-making will become more centralised under Mr Xi and the party’s Central Committee. New national security legislations and regulatory frameworks will be developed to govern critical emerging fields.
The government plans to increase investment in building up national security institutions and human capital, likely leading to an expansion of both the state security and public security apparatus. National security awareness campaigns and academic research will be promoted, potentially bolstering the whole-of-society approach to counterintelligence.
New legislations and regulatory policies – building on existing national security, intelligence, and counterespionage laws – are expected to elevate the importance of national security across the board, possibly reinforcing an unwelcoming climate for foreign businesses.
State security surveillance capabilities will be upgraded, while national security campaigns targeting the public – particularly the youth – will be launched to promote ideological uniformity.
A 53-year-old British man plowed a minivan into a crowd of Liverpool soccer fans who were celebrating the city’s Premier League championship Monday, injuring more than 45 people as shouts of joy turned into shrieks of terror.
The driver arrested was believed to be the only one involved and the crash was not being investigated as an act of terrorism, police said.
Ambulances took 27 people to the hospital, including two with serious injuries, and another 20 people were treated at the scene for minor injuries, said Dave Kitchin of North West Ambulance Service. At least four children were injured.
Four of the victims, including a child, were trapped under the van and firefighters had to lift the vehicle to free them. A paramedic on a bicycle was also struck but was not injured.
“It has cast a very dark shadow over what had been a joyous day for the city,” City Council leader Liam Robinson said at a late night news conference.
As the parade was wrapping up, a gray minivan turned onto the parade route and plowed into the sea of fans wrapped in their red Liverpool scarves, jerseys and other memorabilia. A video on social media showed the van strike a man, tossing him in the air, before veering into a larger crowd, where it plowed a path through the group and pushed bodies along the street before coming to a stop.
“It was extremely fast,” said Harry Rashid, who was with his wife and two young daughters as the minivan passed by them. “Initially, we just heard the pop, pop, pop of people just being knocked off the bonnet of a car.”
Rashid said the crowd charged the halted vehicle and began smashing windows.
“But then he put his foot down again and just plowed through the rest of them, he just kept going,” Rashid said. “It was horrible. And you could hear the bumps as he was going over the people.”
Rashid said it looked deliberate.
“My daughter started screaming, and there were people on the ground,” he said. “They were just innocent people, just fans going to enjoy the parade.”
Liverpool fans had come out in the hundreds of thousands to celebrate the team winning the Premier League this season for a record-tying 20th top-flight title.
Peter Jones, who had traveled from Isle of Man, said he heard the car smash into the crowd and saw at least a half-dozen people down.
“We heard a frantic beeping ahead, a car flew past me and my mate, people were chasing it and trying to stop him, windows smashed at the back,” Jones said. “He then drove into people, police and medics ran past us, and people were being treated on the side of the road.”
Police said they were conducting extensive inquiries to establish what led to the collision and asked people not to speculate or share “distressing content online.”
Police identified the suspect as white, in a possible decision to prevent misinformation from flooding social media.
Last summer, a teen in the nearby town of Southport killed three girls in a stabbing rampage at a dance class and wounded 10 others, including two adults. An incorrect name of the suspect was spread on social media and people said he was an asylum seeker. In fact, he had been born in the U.K. Rioting spread across England and Northern Ireland, targeting Muslims and refugees in hotels of asylum seekers and lasted about a week.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the scenes appalling and hailed the bravery of rescuers.
“Everyone, especially children, should be able to celebrate their heroes without this horror,” Starmer said. “The city has a long and proud history of coming together through difficult times. Liverpool stands together and the whole country stands with Liverpool.”
Liverpool Football Club’s legacy is overshadowed by a disaster 36 years ago when 97 of its fans were killed in a stadium crush during a match against Sheffield at Hillsborough Stadium. The tragedy was compounded by a coverup into the cause and missteps by police.
Supporters were denied the chance to publicly celebrate the club’s last league title in 2020 due to restrictions in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Joe Biden’s aides were willing to do “undemocratic things” to cover up the former president’s mental decline and keep him in power for another four years, the author of a bombshell book revealed Sunday.
Biden’s team of unelected staffers felt justified in “picking up the slack” for the faltering commander in chief and shielding him from the public because they viewed President Trump as an “existential threat” to democracy, Alex Thompson, co-author of “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” told Fox News’ Shannon Bream.
Biden staffers felt justified in taking “undemocratic” measures to ensure the president remained in power, Alex Thompson, who co-authored “Original Sin” with Jake Tapper, claimed. Getty Images
“Who would have been running the White House in a second Biden term?” Bream asked Thompson, after noting that he quoted a long-time Biden aide in his book “basically admitting he shouldn’t be running again.”
“Well, this person went on to say that when you’re voting for a president, you’re voting for the aides around him,” the author and Axios journalist revealed.
“But these aides were not even Senate-confirmed aides,” Thompson pointed out. “These are White House aides, these were unelected people.”
Bream highlighted a passage from Thompson’s book, where one anonymous aide argued Biden “just had to win, and then he could disappear for four years. He’d only have to show proof of life every once in a while … His aides could pick up the slack.”
Thompson explained that in his reporting for the book with co-author Jake Tapper, it became clear that many in Biden’s orbit were willing to go to extreme lengths if it meant keeping Trump out of the Oval Office.
“If you believe — and I think a lot of these people do sincerely believe that Donald Trump was and is an existential threat to democracy — you can rationalize anything, including sometimes doing undemocratic things, which I think is what this person is talking about,” Thompson told Bream.
In his book, Thompson referred to the small group of people in Biden’s inner circle running the White House as the “Politburo,” noting that the term was also used by some within the administration.
At least 54 Palestinians have been killed – most of them in a school building sheltering displaced families – during Israeli air strikes on Gaza overnight, hospital directors have told the BBC.
Fahmi Al-Jargawi School in Gaza City was housing hundreds of people from Beit Lahia, currently under intense Israeli military assault. At least 35 were reported to have been killed when the school was hit.
Gaza’s Hamas-run Civil Defence said multiple bodies, including those of children, were recovered – many severely burned, after fires engulfed two classrooms serving as living quarters.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had targeted “a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command and control centre” there.
A girl stands in the ruins of the school building in Gaza City that was hit by an air strike
The IDF said the area was being used “by the terrorists to plan… attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF troops”, and accused Hamas of using “the Gazan population as human shields”.
Video footage shared online showed large fires consuming parts of the school, with graphic images of severely burned victims, including children, and survivors suffering critical injuries.
Faris Afana, Northern Gaza ambulance service manager, said he arrived at the scene with crews to find three classrooms ablaze.
“There were sleeping children and women in those classrooms,” he said. “Some of them were screaming but we couldn’t rescue them due to the fires.
“I cannot describe what we saw due to how horrific it was.”
Local reports said the head of investigations for the Hamas police in northern Gaza, Mohammad Al-Kasih, was among the dead, along with his wife and children.
Separately, a strike on a house in Jabalia in northern Gaza killed 19 people, according to the director of al-Ahli hospital Dr Fadel el-Naim. The Israeli military has not yet commented on what was being targeted.
The twin attacks are part of a broader Israeli offensive that has escalated in the northern part of the enclave over the past week.
The IDF said it hit 200 targets across Gaza in 48 hours as it continued its operations against what it called “terrorist organisations”.
Meanwhile, a senior Hamas official told the BBC on Monday that the group had agreed to the latest ceasefire proposal offered by US special envoy Steve Witkoff.
However, Witkoff told Reuters that what he had seen was “completely unacceptable” and that the proposal being discussed was not the same as his.
A Palestinian official familiar with the talks said the plan agreed to by Hamas includes the release of 10 Israeli hostages held by the group in two phases.
In exchange, there would be a 70-day truce, a gradual partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the release of an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners, including several hundred serving long or life sentences.
The BBC has approached the Israeli government for comment on the proposal. Israeli media quoted anonymous Israeli officials as saying the plan would be rejected.
As mediation efforts continued, an Israeli strike on the home of a Palestinian doctor in Gaza killed nine of her 10 children on Friday. Dr Alaa al-Najjar’s 11-year-old son was injured, along with her husband, Hamdi al-Najjar, who is in critical condition.
The nine children – Yahya, Rakan, Raslan, Gebran, Eve, Rival, Sayden, Luqman and Sidra – were aged between just a few months old and 12. The Israeli military has said the incident is under review.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said two of its staff were killed in a strike on their home in Khan Younis the following day.
The killing of Ibrahim Eid, a weapon contamination officer, and Ahmad Abu Hilal, a security guard at the Red Cross Field Hospital in Rafah “points to the intolerable civilian death toll in Gaza”, the ICRC said, repeating its call for a ceasefire.
On Sunday, the head of a controversial US and Israeli-approved organisation planning to use private firms to deliver aid to Gaza resigned.
In a statement by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), executive director Jake Wood said it had become apparent that plans to set up distribution hubs would not meet the “humanitarian principles” of independence and neutrality.
The UN and various humanitarian organisations have said they will not co-operate with the GHF, accusing it of being discriminatory over who will receive food.
Israel imposed a total blockade on Gaza on 2 March that lasted 11 weeks before it allowed limited aid to enter the territory in the face of warnings of famine and mounting international outrage.
The Israeli military body responsible for humanitarian affairs in Gaza, Cogat, said 107 lorries carrying aid were allowed into Gaza on Sunday. The UN says much more aid – between 500 to 600 lorries a day – is needed.
A Palestinian official said on Monday that Hamas has agreed to a proposal by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff for a Gaza ceasefire, only for an Israeli official to deny that the proposal was Washington’s and add that no Israeli government could accept it.
Witkoff also rejected the notion that Hamas had accepted his offer for a hostage deal and a ceasefire in Gaza, telling Reuters that what he had seen was “completely unacceptable” and the proposal being discussed was not the same as his.
The Palestinian official, who is close to Hamas, had told Reuters that the proposal would see the release of 10 hostages and a 70-day ceasefire and was received by Hamas through mediators.
“The proposal includes the release of 10 living Israeli hostages held by Hamas in two groups in return for a 70-day ceasefire and a partial withdrawal from the Gaza Strip,” the source said.
It also included the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners by Israel, including hundreds serving lengthy prison terms.
An Israeli official dismissed the proposal, saying no responsible government could accept such an agreement and rejecting the assertion that the deal matched one proposed by Witkoff.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said in a recorded message on social media he “hoped very much” he would be able to deliver developments on the subject of Israel’s fight against Hamas and releasing the hostages, “today and if not today then we will tomorrow”.
His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the video.
On March 18, Israel effectively ended a January ceasefire agreement with Hamas and renewed its military campaign in Gaza. Hamas and allied factions began firing rockets and attacks two days later.
Hamas has said it is willing to free all remaining hostages seized by its gunmen in attacks on communities in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, and agree to a permanent ceasefire if Israel pulls out completely from Gaza.
Netanyahu has said Israel would only be willing to agree to a temporary ceasefire in return for the release of hostages, vowing that war can only end once Hamas is eradicated.
Israel launched an air and ground war in Gaza after the Hamas-led militants’ cross-border attack, which killed 1,200 people by Israeli tallies, with 251 hostages abducted into Gaza.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he is considering taking $3 billion of previously awarded grant money for scientific and engineering research away from Harvard University and giving it to trade schools.
His comments on his social media platform Truth Social come less than a week after his administration sought to block the Ivy League school from enrolling foreign students as part of Trump’s extraordinary effort to seize some government control of U.S. academia.
Trump, a Republican, has frozen some $3 billion in federal grants to Harvard in recent weeks, complaining that it has hired Democrats, “Radical Left idiots and ‘bird brains'” as professors. Harvard, a private university, has sued to restore the funding, saying the cuts are an unconstitutional attack on its free speech rights and unlawful.
Most of that grant money is appropriated by Congress for the National Institutes of Health to disburse to fund biomedical research after a lengthy application process by individual scientists, work that is not typically done at trade schools.
It was not clear whether Trump was referring to Harvard grants his administration has already frozen. Harvard has said it was told that virtually all of its federal grant awards were revoked earlier in May, in a series of letters by the NIH, the U.S. Forest Service, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and other agencies.
The letters each said the grants were being suspended because they “no longer effectuate agency priorities.”
Harvard did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. The White House did not respond to questions about the specific funds Trump wants to repurpose or how it could be reallocated to trade schools under the law.
On Friday, a U.S. judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from revoking Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign students, a policy the university said was part of Trump’s broader effort to retaliate against it for refusing to “surrender its academic independence.”
The order provides temporary relief to thousands of international students, who were faced with potentially having to transfer under a policy that the university in Cambridge, Massachusetts called a “blatant violation” of the U.S. Constitution and other federal laws.
It said the move would have an “immediate and devastating effect” on the university and more than 7,000 visa holders.
Harvard enrolled nearly 6,800 international students in its current school year, representing 27% of total enrollment and a significant chunk of its revenue from tuition fees.
The move was the latest escalation in a broader battle between Harvard and the White House, as Trump seeks to compel universities, law firms, news media, courts and other institutions to align with his agenda. Trump and fellow Republicans have long accused elite universities of left-wing bias.
Unlike China, India is seen as slow-playing its Arctic card, choosing to cooperate with the Council and present itself as a ‘responsible stakeholder’ by engaging with all sides on key issues.
The Arctic holds nearly 20 per cent of the world’s freshwater reserves (File).
The race to ‘conquer’ the world’s final frontier is gathering steam and India is gently but firmly positioning itself in that contest, one which China has also entered and which has been given added urgency by Russian military actions in 2014 (the Crimean War) and 2022 (invasion of Ukraine).
The ‘rewards’ are staggering though – from oil and minerals to drinking water, from access to faster shipping routes to a possibly decisive upper hand in the global geopolitical and military arena.
A remote and largely inhospitable region of the world, the Arctic has emerged as the next global geopolitical and geostrategic hotspot, possibly even the next battlefield, thanks to climate change and the warming of polar ice caps. But its strategic importance has never really been in doubt.
It has, for the most part, been a question of access, specifically terrain so bleak it made extracting oil and other natural resources, navigating the waters, or maintaining military bases near-impossible.
Where is the Arctic?
What we identify as the Arctic is the northernmost region of our planet. The common definition is that area within the Arctic Circle, a line of latitude about 66.5 degrees north of the Equator.
Within this area are the Arctic Ocean and the polar ice caps, and over four million people from eight countries – the United States, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia.
There are also an estimated 500,000 people from indigenous tribal communities.
Together, these countries and communities inside the Arctic make up the Arctic Council and “carry the role as stewards of the region”, and whom India has been ‘engaging’ for several years.
In 2013 India was made an ‘observer nation’ of the Council.
What is in the Arctic?
Compressed into approximately 14.5 million square kilometres, the Arctic holds 13 per cent of the world’s undiscovered oil and 30 per cent of all undiscovered natural gas stores.
That amounts to 90 billion barrels of oil, 1,670 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 44 billion barrels of natural gas liquids, which are hydrocarbons extracted from natural gas or crude oil.re
It also contains vast reserves of coal, iron, copper, zinc, nickel, bauxite, diamonds, and sulphides, and also millions of tons of phosphate used to make fertilisers.
The Arctic also holds an estimated 20 of the world’s freshwater reserves, which is a commodity that could well become more valuable than any other in the not-too-distant future.
There is gold too; the Fort Knox Gold Mine in Alaska is one of the largest in the world.
And Arctic shipping routes could allow maritime trade to cut down on 8,000 km as they ferry the estimated billions of tons of cargo shipped annually between the Europe and Asia.
Why is the Arctic important now
Because it is melting, at a rate nearly four times faster than anywhere else in the world
Ice levels in September 2017, for example, was 25 per cent smaller than end-of-summer averages from 1981 to 2010, and has been melting at an unprecedented rate – over 12 per cent per decade.
Global warming means the Arctic’s ice caps and the vast stretches of frozen ice that otherwise make it impossible for most ships to pass – certainly not without an ice-breaker plowing a path.
Melting polar ice caps are an existential crisis for humanity; rising sea levels will flood coastal cities and low-lying areas, including Bangkok, Amsterdam, Ho Chi Minh City, and even parts of London.
But they open the door to begin extracting those billions of barrels of oil, a treasure trove countries doing the extraction, for example, could use to reduce dependence on West Asian suppliers.
It also opens the door to millions of tons of coal and precious metals under the ice.
Overall, the melting of the ice caps has woken the world to the natural resources and strategic importance of the Arctic, both of which interest countries beyond the Council, including India.
In fact, in May 2025, the Observer Research Foundation and the Arctic Circle, a 60-nation “network of international dialogue and cooperation” met in Delhi to discuss Asia’s involvement in Arctic affairs.
India v China for the Arctic
Back in 2018, China’s first Arctic Policy spoke of a “mutually beneficial polar partnership”, which would have included linking its Belt Road Initiative to the Northern Sea Route to create the ‘Polar Silk Route’.
The resulting passageway, Beijing said, would shorten maritime travel time to Europe by 40 per cent.
The longer route, in use now, sees Chinese ships sail down south, through the Malacca Strait (between the Malay Peninsula and Indonesia, a chokepoint that allows the Indian Navy to monitor maritime traffic off its coastline), across the Indian Ocean, and then back up through the Suez Canal.
Since then, i.e., since articulating its Arctic Policy, China has been called itself as a ‘near-Arctic state’, and has sought a seat at the Arctic Council, something that is not likely to be granted.
However, Beijing too was given ‘observer nation’ status.
For China the Arctic quest is more about trade, really, than anything else.
As one of the world’s largest manufacturers (of pretty much everything), it needs fast and reliable distribution routes, and ships are generally cost-effective compared to planes.
And the Malacca chokepoint isn’t ideal, particularly if there should be military conflict with India.
Faster maritime trade is a big attraction for India too.
India’s involvement with the Arctic dates back to 1920, when the Svalbard Treaty was signed in Paris. And today it is one of a handful of nations to have a permanent base in the Arctic.
Set up in 2008 and called ‘Himadri’, it is in the Norwegian territory of Svalbard, roughly 1,200km from the North Pole, and has provided field and laboratory support to scientists back home.
KILLER camouflage drones the size of insects could be used by Russia and China to commit untraceable murders, an ex-Google futurist warns.
Tracey Follows, who has also worked with Amazon and Meta, warned they could even carry deadly pathogens and be used to spy on the UK.
Could China and Russia really use insect-size drones?
And it is a prediction which is a chilling echo of the Black Mirror episode “Hated in the Nation”.
The near future sci-fi show envisioned of world where robot bees designed to pollinate flowers could be hijacked to commit murder.
The Future of You author told The Sun: “In time, one expects a drone to have the situational awareness to carry out an attack autonomously without a human in the loop.
“The big question is what’s the payload on these drones, what are you actually attaching to the drone?
“Increasingly, over the last four or five years, I’ve been reading about viruses and how you can potentially attach a pathogen to these sorts of weapons.
“So not only can you identify somebody personally, you can then attack them with a virus, for example.”
Terrifyingly, she warned it could open the door for rogue nations like Russia to assassinate targets on UK soil without leaving a trace.
Moscow was infamously accused of poisoning ex-Russian spy, Sergei Skripal, in Salisbury in 2018.
Skirpal and his daughter, Yulia, survived but local woman Dawn Sturgess was inadvertently killed when she sprayed what she thought was perfume on her wrists. Russia denies any involvement.
Before that, Skripal was convicted of spying for Britain in 2006 and jailed for 13 years.
But in future, drone attacks could make it impossible to identify a culprit.
Follows, who founded consultancy service Futuremade, said: “If you can camouflage these micro weapons, and if you’ve got technology that’s so advanced that the enemy country doesn’t know what’s happened, you can’t really trace exactly what’s happened.
“If you’re adding a virus as a payload onto a drone, it could be a completely new virus.
“You may not know what that virus is in your country and it’s attacked somebody individually because it’s autonomously targeted and activated against that person.”
Follows, ranked in the world’s Top 30 Futurists by Global Gurus, added: “I don’t think it’s just Russia and China that one has to worry about.
“I think it’s anybody, in any country, in any region who is starting to integrate AI into the military and into these lethal weapons.”
Drone technology continues to advance at an alarming rate as the AI explosion shows no signs of slowing down.
This month, chilling images emerged of a new Chinese “mothership” drone carrier that can launch swarms of mini-drones.
The small drones would then work together to “swarm” enemies. State broadcaster CCTV said its inaugural mission will launch on Monday.
Follows warned that not only are drones becoming better at identifying targets, but people are simply becoming easier to track down.
She said: “I spoke to Erik Prince. He’s the biggest kind of private military contractor in the world, and the founder of Blackwater.
“Among other things, he co-founded a company called Unplugged, which brings privacy to your mobile phone. So it doesn’t collect any data.”
She added: “So he’s very aware of communications technologies and how they can be used for surveillance.
“He talked to me about the way in which drones can do precision targeting now if the data is available on your AI, a sort of advertising ID, if you like.
“So if you’ve got stuff on your phone and you’ve got an identification on your phone, if you’re carrying that with you, the drone can identify that and that can be set to attack.”
As technology continues to advance rapidly, so too do security and privacy concerns.
Follows warns that drones may also pave the way to record personal conversations without consent.
Worse, they could even film us without us being aware we’re being filmed at all.
That would therefore spark a race with the technology used to detect them.
Asked if drones the size of flies will one day be able to film us, she added: “They probably will be able to, yes.
“DARPA (a US military research agency) used to have a program called SHRIMP and they put it out as a competition for researchers, engineers and computer scientists to come back and say, how could you do these tiny micro drones?
“The problem was with the energy as they’re so small. You can’t get the energy in them for them to be transported for a long enough distance or carry out the actions you want them to.
“So they had this short range micro micro robotics program. And that was in 2019, and it’s all gone very quiet since then.
KING Charles yesterday took his initial steps on a “diplomatic tightrope” on his first trip to Canada since his crowning.
Charles — also the giant nation’s monarch — and Queen Camilla landed in Ottawa, where the couple were saluted by the military and given a Guard of Honour.
King Charles took his first trip to Canada since his crowningCredit: EPA
Their trip, on which Charles will be the first monarch to open the country’s Parliament since 1957, follows Donald Trump’s call for Canada to become the US’s 51st state.
Experts hailed the packed two-day trip as a “clever” move designed to signal to the US President that Britain stands by its Commonwealth ally.
Charles, 76, has praised the realm since its dispute with Mr Trump, 78, but has also invited the US leader for a second State visit.
Royal commentator Ingrid Seward said: “This is a diplomatic challenge for Charles. He takes his obligations as King of Canada and Head of the Commonwealth very seriously.
“He is walking a tightrope, but he has so far found the right words and actions to navigate it. I think he will stay away from saying anything inflammatory, but he will handle whatever is thrown at him.”
Charles and Camilla, who were also greeted by an indigenous tribe elder, were taken from the airport to meet locals at a party on the city’s Lansdowne Park.
Some made trips of up to eight hours to get there.
Charles dropped a puck to start a street hockey game as royal fans waved Canadian and Union flags and cheered “God save the King”.
The royals also participated in a tree planting at Government House.
Charles, still having cancer treatment, will give a speech today in English and French, Canada’s official languages, as he opens parliament.
Dr Dexter Govan, director of research for the Constitution Society, said it is “certainly no coincidence” that Charles is doing so.
He said: “The King must balance his role as Head of State of both the UK and Canada, while also refraining from commenting directly on politics.
“When President Trump suggests Canada should become the 51st state, that becomes even more challenging. By opening Parliament, the King’s continuing a long constitutional tradition where a monarch uses a symbolic gesture to make their point.”
“He takes his obligations as King of Canada and Head of the Commonwealth very seriously
Prof Damien Claude Bélanger, expert in Canadian-US relations, added: “The visit is designed to show that Canada has close, intimate ties, with one of the world’s great powers, and that we’re not alone in the face of the US or American power.”
Prof Robert Hazell, expert in Government and the Constitution at University College London, said: “Undoubtedly King Charles’s visit has political significance.
THE FBI has launched a fresh investigation into the mysterious discovery of cocaine in President Joe Biden’s White House that saw the entire building evacuated.
The Secret Service stumbled upon the dime-sized bag inside a cubby near an entrance to the West Wing on July 2, 2023, but a suspect still hasn’t been found.
The FBI has launched a fresh investigation into the cocaine found in Joe Biden’s White House in 2023Credit: Getty
On Monday, Dan Bongino, the FBI’s deputy director, announced several probes that he says showed signs of “potential public corruption.”
“We made the decision to either re-open, or push additional resources and investigative attention to these cases,” he wrote on X.
“These cases are the DC pipe bombing investigation, the cocaine discovery at the prior administration’s White House, and the leak of the Supreme Court Dobbs case.”
Bongino explained that he would receive weekly briefings regarding the FBI’s progress in investigating these cases and asked people close to the matter to send tips.
Mystery still hangs in the air after the cocaine was found near the entrance that’s commonly used for tours.
Just 10 days after the discovery, the Secret Service closed its investigation and blamed a lack of evidence in the surveillance footage they reviewed.
“Without physical evidence, the investigation will not be able to single out a person of interest from the hundreds of individuals who passed through the vestibule where the cocaine was discovered,” the agency said at the time.
Many lawmakers felt the case could be cracked wide open if investigators found who had access to the cubby and called for a fresh look.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump suggested that someone in the Biden family was responsible for the drugs.
He questioned the lack of fingerprints on the lockers and guessed that there were normally “hundreds and even thousands” of prints.
“And when they went to look at it, it was absolutely stone cold, wiped dry,” Trump told The Spectator in February.
After stepping back into the White House, Trump said he was convinced that “either Joe or Hunter” was behind the massive flub.
Hunter was addicted to crack for years, and many of his drug-fueled antics were caught on videos leaked from his laptop.
The former first son said that he is now completely sober.
What unsolved White House mysteries is the FBI investigating?
White House cocaine discovery – On July 2, 2023, a dime-sized bag of cocaine was found in a locker near a White House entrance. The Secret Service closed its investigation 10 days later and said there wasn’t enough physical evidence to hone in on a suspect.
Supreme Court Roe decision leak – On May 3, 2022, Politico published a report that revealed justices’ decision to overturn Roe v Wade. Investigators are looking into how the draft of the decision was obtained by the outlet.
White House pipe bombing – A suspect placed pipe bombs near the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters the night before the US Capitol riots. Footage of the suspect has been released, but investigators still haven’t tracked down an identity.
PROBES LAUNCHED
Bongino has also questioned the May 3, 2022, report published by Politico that revealed the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade.
Before justices could announce their majority opinion to put abortion rights into the hands of state legislators, a draft of the decision was obtained by the outlet.
Trump called the leak “terrible” and feared the breach into the Supreme Court was unprecedented.
“It’s pretty unique I guess. Maybe it’s happened before, but people don’t remember anything like it,” he told a radio show in Ohio.
“And I think it was demeaning and not good.”
The FBI is now also setting its sights on the suspect who placed pipe bombs near the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters the night before the US Capitol riots.
Officials have released surveillance footage of the disturbing act and are offering a $500,000 reward for information, but no one has been captured.
FURIOUS Iran would face a devastating invasion if it followed through on threats to assassinate Donald Trump, a former US advisor has warned.
Dr Kenneth Katzman, a retired Middle East analyst for the US Congressional Research Service, even warned of a “full-scale invasion” with special forces storming the streets of Tehran.
Iranian soldiers take part in a military paradeCredit: AFP
He spoke after Trump’s former security advisor, John Bolton, said the US President is “at the top” of an “assassination list” from the Middle East nation.
Bolton, who claimed he is also on the hit list, said it would be revenge for a US airstrike in 2020 in Iraq that killed military leader Qasem Soleimani, ordered by Trump.
But Dr Katzman warns Iran would face a response so dramatic it would overthrow its regime.
Analysts have previously warned such a conflict would be a devastating quagmire.
US historian Max Boot predicted would take up to 1.6million troops for the US to fully invade and occupy Iran.
The US forces would face a war that spill across the Middle East as they tried to battle Iran’s wide-ranging proxy forces.
Other forecasts have predicted smaller attacks – such as the long mulled joint-strike with Israel on Iran’s nuclear sites.
Dr Katzman told The Sun: “If Trump were to be assassinated, there would be many targets in Tehran that would be attacked.
“Islamic Revolutionary Guard Guard Corps (IRGC) headquarters is in Tehran, the besieged headquarters, all the security forces I’m sure would be attacked.
“If they assassinated the US president you could even see, conceivably, US ground operations in Iran if that happens.
“It would be just so dramatic. You could even see US special forces operations in Iran and infantry operations in Iran, the marketplace is wide open.
“The objective of troops in Iran? To take the regime out.
He added: “If they assassinated a US president, a full-scale invasion is very much an option.”
In November last year the Justice Department said it charged a man, Farhad Shakeri, 51, for his alleged role in a plot to assassinate Trump, tasked by the Iranian regime.
Iran, where the suspect is now believed to be, denies this.
Dr Katzman also warned that Bolton’s comments may have been a cry for help over an “active plot”
He continued: “I think he’s trying to highlight that he feels threatened. Trump withdrew the security protection for some of these guys that served in the first term that I mentioned, including Bolton.
“So I think Bolton, by bringing this up again, is trying to signal that he feels he needs security, there is still a threat, still an active plot.”
“Iran knows full well that that’s the kind of thing that could bring a massive US intervention, on enough scale that the regime is gone.”
But Dr Katzman believes the extent of the retaliation will deter Iran from following through with any threats.
Instead, he believes the threats serve as leverage to intimidate the US.
He added: “What’s always puzzled me and other experts like me: what is Iran hoping to achieve here? Because the retaliation presumably would be so dramatic.
“No one could quite figure out what the percentage is for Iran in actually going ahead with these types of operations.
“The retaliation is sure to be dramatic, but I think the sense is that Iran feels that these operations do give it a certain leverage and ability to intimidate, an ability to exert leverage.
“That’s the way Iran sees it. I don’t think anybody here necessarily sees it that way, but that’s how Iran sees it.
“There have been no policy changes by the threat of Iranian assassination attempts in the United States.
“These threats have not caused any change in policy more favorable to the regime, so it’s a mystery what Iran is really thinking with these plots.”
More than 3,500 people have been killed in Gaza since Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas in March, according to the Gaza Health MinistryImage: Dawoud Abu Alka/REUTERS
US-backed group begins aid distribution in Gaza
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a group that is backed by Israel and the Trump administration, said Monday that it has started distributing food in the Gaza Strip.
In a statement, the GHF said it had “commenced operations in Gaza today, delivering truckloads of food to its Secure Distribution Sites, where distribution to the Gazan people began.”
More trucks with aid will be delivered on Tuesday, the group said, adding that the flow of aid would increase “each day.”
The Geneva-based organization, which was established in February, has pledged to distribute 300 million meals in its first 90 days of operating.
But the United Nations and international aid agencies have refused to work with the GHF amid allegations that the group is collaborating with Israel without any Palestinian involvement.
The UN has said the plan allows Israel to use food as a weapon, as it will force civilians to walk miles through Israeli military lines to find food.
Israel has faced rising global condemnation because of the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where it has waged a military campaign in response to an attack in October 2023 by Hamas.
After a ceasefire collapsed in March, Israel imposed a two-month blockade on the Palestinian enclave, sparking fears of a famine in Gaza.
The GHF, meanwhile, has accused Hamas of trying to block its operations, condemning the Islamist group for making “death threats targeting aid groups.”
“It is clear that Hamas is threatened by this new operating model, and will do everything in its power to see it fail,” it said.
The group has also faced internal turmoil after its executive director Jake Wood resigned Sunday saying the new aid program would not allow him to do his job independently.
“It is clear that it is not possible to implement this plan while also strictly adhering to the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence, which I will not abandon,” he said in a statement.
PARANORMAL fanatics have spoken out after baseless rumors surrounding the disappearance of the supposedly haunted doll Annabelle went viral.
Social media has been rife with conspiracy theories claiming the red-headed toy had vanished or been stolen.
The doll burst onto the big screen via The Conjuring Universe horror franchise, but its real-life story dates back to the 1970s.
Baseless rumors have been swirling on TikTok that the real-life version of Annabelle escaped from its box, or went missing in Texas and Chicago.
Tourists in Louisiana claimed the doll went missing after it failed to show up at an exhibition as part of the Devils on The Run Tour, as reported by the Fox affiliate WFLD-TV.
The speculation has even prompted the New England Society for Psychic Research to speak about the doll’s whereabouts.
A TikTok video revealed Annabelle is still housed in the Warren’s Occult Museum in Connecticut.
The video showed the doll sitting in a case.
“Annabelle’s not missing. She’s not in Chicago,” the man in the video, known only as Dan, said.
Those who approach Annabelle’s glass box are instructed not to touch it based on a note.
The doll has been blamed for a blaze that gutted the Louisiana mansion, the Nottoway Plantation.
And, it has been bizarrely linked to a jailbreak that saw 10 inmates escape a New Orleans lockup.
The Raggedy Ann doll was given to student nurse Donna in 1970 as a present from her mom.
She claimed the doll inexplicably moved to different locations within her and her roommate’s homes.
Donna recalled on one instance she put the doll on the couch before leaving work only to discover that it was on the bed.
The doll apparently left notes and even turned violent against one of the student’s friends.
One of the notes said: “Help us,” while another reportedly said: “Help Lou,” according to the New England Society for Psychic Research.
Lou was a friend of the nurse and her mom.
The male friend claimed he woke up to a feeling of being strangled and had scratches on his body.
Meanwhile, the doll just stared at him as he was being allegedly attacked.
CHILLING BACKSTORY
The nurse and her mom called a medium, who revealed the story about a girl named Annabelle Higgins who was found dead at the age of seven.
The nurse called paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren and they probed the claims whether Annabelle was indeed haunted.
Legend has it that Annabelle was responsible for a man who died after visiting the museum.
The man apparently banged on the doll’s case – despite being warned not to touch it.
He then smashed into a tree while riding back from the museum with his girlfriend.
Rumors about the doll mysteriously escaping the Warren’s Occult museum circulated in 2020.
Tony Spera, the Warrens’ son in law, debunked the rumors.
“I don’t know if you’re going to want to hear this or not, but Annabelle did not escape,” he emphatically said in a YouTube video.
“Annabelle’s here in all her infamous glory. She never left the museum.
Saudi Arabia, an ultra-conservative country, is planning to legalise alcohol at 600 tourist spots ahead of hosting the 2034 World Cup. It will allow the sale of wine, beer, and cider at licensed locations, such as five-star hotels. Saudi Arabia believes that allowing alcohol at certain tourist sites will help the country compete with the UAE and Bahrain.
Meraki Riyad is a pop-up bar in Riyadh, offering non-alcoholic bellinis and spritzes, which have been popular in Saudi Arabia. (Image: Getty)
Saudi Arabia, once an ultra-conservative country, is planning to legalise alcohol use at 600 tourist spots ahead of hosting the 2034 World Cup football, according to reports. The country has already taken a liberal turn under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and allowed women to drive, reopened cinemas and hosted music concerts. But allowing alcohol, beer, wine and cider by a Muslim country would be quite a radical step.
Saudi Arabia will allow the sale of wine, beer, and cider at licensed locations, including five-star hotels, luxury resorts, and expat-friendly compounds at 600 tourist sites, according to a report in The US Sun.
Saudi authorities believe allowing alcohol at certain tourist sites would help the country compete with the UAE and Bahrain, where alcohol is allowed at some tourist hotspots.
Drinks and liquor with more than 20% alcohol content will remain banned, according to a report by the UK-based Metro, which quoted local Saudi media.
Though Saudi Arabia is allowing soft alcohol with an eye on tourism, the general ban on booze in public, homes, and shops will remain, according to The Sun report.
SAUDI TO END 73-YEAR-OLD ALCOHOL BAN?
The move to allow beer and wine ahead of the 2034 World Cup will in effect bring to an end Saudi Arabia’s 73-year ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol, said The UK’s Metro.
Saudi Arabia was founded in 1932 under Abdulaziz Al Saud with a legal system based on Wahhabi Islam, a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam.
It followed Sharia law and alcohol was always forbidden, but the actual state-level enforcement and legal ban on alcohol sales and consumption was formalised in 1952.
FIRST ALCOHOL STORE OPENED IN RIYADH IN 2024
The store is in Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter. It caters exclusively to non-Muslim diplomats and currently stocks liquor, wine, and a limited selection of just two types of beer, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Access is restricted to customers with valid diplomatic identification.
Upon entry, mobile phones must be sealed in pouches. Purchases are managed through a mobile app that operates on an allotment system, according to a diplomat familiar with the process.
Alcohol had been available only through diplomatic mail or on the black market.
MBS GIVING LIBERAL TURN TO SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi Arabia, under the leadership of Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), is writing a story of transformation, giving up its traditional image and ushering in a new era of openness and modernity. One of the reasons is to diversify its oil money-based economy to tourism.
NORTH Korea has arrested three shipyard bosses after a humiliating warship launch flop that Kim Jong-un called a “criminal act”.
The 5,000-tonne destroyer – hailed as a symbol of military might – ended up crushed and listing in the harbour during a high-profile launch in the port city of Chongjin last Wednesday.
A satellite image of the ship covered with a blue tarp after an accident at the shipyard in Chongjin, North Korea
State media on Sunday said three officials – chief engineer Kang Jong Chol, hull workshop head Han Kyong Hak, and deputy manager Kim Yong Hak – were detained over the “serious accident”.
Kim Jong-un, who watched the botched launch unfold in person, reportedly fumed that the fiasco had “damaged the country’s dignity”.
The Pyongyang tyrant has since ordered the ship to be restored by next month’s ruling party meeting, with repairs already under way.
KCNA said the incident was “a criminal act caused by absolute carelessness” and insisted those involved “can never evade their responsibility for the crime”.
Satellite images showed the vessel lying on its side, covered in blue tarps.
The stern appeared to have slipped into the water while the bow remained on the shipway – a spectacle experts say amplified the embarrassment for the regime.
“No matter how good the state of the warship is, the fact that the accident is an unpardonable criminal act remains unchanged,” KCNA added.
South Korea’s military, citing joint analysis with US intelligence, said Pyongyang’s side-launch attempt of the ship had failed and left it crippled.
But North Korean state media claimed an “underwater and internal inspection” showed “no holes made at the warship’s bottom”, calling the damage “not serious”.
Despite the regime’s insistence, insiders say Kim is hunting for scapegoats as part of a high-stakes purge.
The manager of the Chongjin shipyard, Hong Kil Ho, has also been summoned by law enforcement and could face similar repercussions.
The failed destroyer is believed to be the same class as the newly unveiled Choe Hyon warship – a 5,000-tonne behemoth reportedly capable of carrying nuclear-capable cruise missiles.
Analysts believe Russian help may have gone into its development, possibly in exchange for North Korean troops aiding Moscow in Ukraine.
International relations expert Edward Howell previously told The Sun the warship fiasco was a double blow for Kim.
“It’s an obstacle, nonetheless, to North Korea’s further development of its navy, the modernisation of its navy and its broader military modernisation,” he said.
He added that it also dented the regime’s “sense of status and prestige. All great powers have strong navies, and Kim Jong-un wants to make sure that North Korea isn’t left out in that regard.”
While it’s unclear what exact punishment awaits the detainees, North Korea’s grisly track record suggests it could be fatal.
In the past, top officials have been executed by anti-aircraft guns or killed for infractions like falling asleep during rallies attended by Kim.
One source told NK News the fact that the incident was publicly reported likely means “North Korea is going to lose some of its best naval engineers.”
The ship’s hull reportedly suffered scratches and seawater entered through a rescue channel, with repairs expected to take around 10 days – though Kim has demanded it be fixed before June.
AT least 10 people have been taken to hospital after a Memorial Day Weekend celebration turned to chaos.
The Atlantic Beach Bike Festival in South Carolina was shut down by cops after panicked concert-goers caused a stampede on Saturday night.
Concert goers fled in panic on Saturday night after an alleged argument began at the Black Bike Week eventCredit: WPDE
It is believed that an argument sparked the sudden reaction with shoes and personal belongings left scattered on the floor as people fled.
Police have said they are investigating a “mass casualty event” with further updates expected later on.
Atlantic Beach Interim Police Chief Carlos Castillo told ABC affiliate WPDE that he would answer questions at some point but there would be no immediate comment.
It is claimed by a witness that an argument on the street caused festival goers to surge towards the stage, per Myrtle Beach Online.
Hilton Dewitt told the outlet that the incident occured around 1 am on Sunday.
“They started panicking. It was a stampede,” Dewitt said.
The scene was quickly attended by cops and ambulances who rushed to help the injured.
At least 10 injured people were taken to hospital, according to reports.
The severity of their injuries has not yet been shared and there is no confirmation about what exactly took place.
It is not known if the annual Memorial Day weekend event will continue following the incident.
Those at the scene have reported watching vendors packing up on Sunday morning.
Road closures and diversions have been enforced with emergency services reportedly still at the scene.
This year is the 45th anniversary of the Black Pearl Cultural Heritage and Bike Festival, also known as Black Bike Week which is traditionally celebrated on Memorial Day weekend.
Bikers flood the streets and celebrate with food, live music, and parties.
Over 400,000 people were expected to attend the event this weekend.
Ahead of his first Atlantic Beach Bike Week, Nick Beard from Virginia, shared his excitement for the event with WPDE.
“It’s about the people and the connections you make with the people, and everyone enjoying themselves and smiling,” he said.
“The world is hard enough as it is. come out here for a couple of days or a week in my case, and see everyone smiling, it’s a greatest thing.”
US President Donald Trump spoke with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen by phoneImage: Alex Brandon/AP/picture alliance
US President Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he was suspending planned 50% tariffs on the European Union until July 9.
He made the announcement on his Truth Social network.
That agreement came after a call Sunday with Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.
“Good call with @POTUS,” Von der Leyen wrote on X. “The EU and US share the world’s most consequential and close trade relationship. Europe is ready to advance talks swiftly and decisively. To reach a good deal, we would need the time until July 9.”
What did Trump say?
Von der Leyen said “talks will begin rapidly,” Trump posted regarding his phone call with the European Commission president on his Truth Social platform, adding that it was his “privilege” to agree to the “extension.”
Speaking to reporters on Sunday before boarding the US presidential aircraft Air Force One, Trump said Von der Leyen had “asked for an extension on the June 1 date, and she said she wants to get down to serious negotiation.”
How did we get to this stage?
Authorities in Brussels and Washington have been negotiating to avoid a trade war sparked by Trump’s April announcement that he would slap tariffs on most of the US’ trading partners.
Trump threatened a 20% tariff on most EU goods, before halving it to 10% with a deadline of July 8.
On Friday, Trump said he would impose a 50% tariff on the EU from June 1 because trade talks with the bloc were “going nowhere.”
Now, he has agreed to an “extension” to the original July deadline announced last month.
The bloc, which Trump has repeatedly accused of having “taken advantage” of the US, has been hit with three rounds of tariffs: a 25% tax on imports of steel and aluminum and cars, a 20% “reciprocal” tariff on all imports, which has been lifted while trade talks are ongoing. A “universal” baseline 10% tariff, however, remains in place.
The EU, for its part, has said it will tax US goods in response.
Europeans call for “respect” not “threats”
Maros Sefcovic, the EU’s trade commissioner, has said Brussels is “committed” to reaching an agreement but insisted that the transatlantic relationship be based on “mutual respect” instead of “threats.”
On Sunday, Germany’s Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said he was hoping for “serious negotiations” with the White House but urged against “further provocations,” adding that he had discussed the issue with his American counterpart Scott Bessent.
Malaysia’s Minister for Investment, Trade and Industry Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz speaks at a press conference during the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 25, 2025. (Photo: CNA/Fadza Ishak)
Easier trade among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as with the regional bloc’s top economic partner, China, is on the horizon as the grouping pushes ahead with “bolder” moves to stave off the threat of steep US tariffs.
ASEAN has concluded negotiations on upgrading the ASEAN Trade In Goods Agreement (ATIGA) and the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (CAFTA), with the enhanced deals set to be signed in October, Malaysia’s Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz told reporters on Sunday (May 25) ahead of the 46th ASEAN summit.
“We remain confident that these milestones will serve as a pivotal enabler for ASEAN’s sustained growth and competitiveness,” Tengku Zafrul said after chairing an ASEAN Economic Community Council Meeting.
“The successful conclusion of these negotiations is expected to enhance the region’s economic integration and generate significant economic benefits for ASEAN as we continue to navigate an increasingly volatile global economic landscape.”
As the rotating chair for ASEAN this year, Malaysia has urged the bloc to diversify its trading partners in the face of sweeping tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.
Speaking on Sunday, Tengku Zafrul warned the bloc against staying still at a time of economic uncertainty.
“ASEAN would need to break away from a business-as-usual approach,” he said.
“We need to adopt bolder, more agile and more forward-looking strategies. We need to safeguard and advance ASEAN socioeconomic interests.”
ASEAN has reaffirmed its commitment to stand by the principles of multilateralism and a rules-based global trading order, even as it continues to maintain a policy of non-retaliation against the US tariffs, Tengku Zafrul said.
“We don’t plan to have any measures that will represent a retaliation to what has been introduced,” he said.
Tengku Zafrul said every ASEAN member is a “sovereign nation” and should be supported in pursuing bilateral tariff negotiations with the US.
“But it’s important that in all these meetings, we also reiterate the ASEAN position,” he added.
At the summit on Monday and Tuesday, ASEAN is expected to explore the expansion of regional free trade agreements alongside engaging other economic blocs and dialogue partners, measures which Tengku Zafrul said were discussed at the economic council meeting.
FACILITATING TRADE WITHIN ASEAN
“We also discussed how ASEAN can improve trade within,” the minister added, noting that intra-ASEAN trade accounts for approximately 23 per cent of the bloc’s total trade.
“There’s a lot of room for improvement. When we look at other economic blocs, they trade with each other internally more than what ASEAN is doing today.”
ATIGA is aimed at achieving a free flow of goods between ASEAN member states, resulting in lower business costs, increased trade, and a larger market and economies of scale for businesses.
The upgraded agreement targets the further lowering of tariffs and the removal of non-tariff barriers among member countries.
It will feature “forward-looking and commercially meaningful provisions aimed at further boosting regional trade, enhancing supply chain resilience, and also boosting deeper economic integration within ASEAN”, Tengku Zafrul said.
Singapore, which chaired the upgrade negotiations, said it will continue to work with ASEAN and global partners to secure the bloc’s long-term growth, competitiveness, and shared prosperity.
The successful conclusion of the upgrade negotiations “demonstrates ASEAN’s commitment to building a more seamless and resilient economic region, as well as to preserve a rules-based trading environment to better support businesses’ operations in the ASEAN region amidst an uncertain global economic climate”, Singapore Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong, also the country’s deputy prime minister, said in a statement on Sunday.
Earlier on Sunday, Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan highlighted that ASEAN nations are among those most heavily hit by US tariffs.
“We must seize this moment to deepen regional economic integration, so that we can better shield our region from external shocks,” he said in opening remarks at a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers.
The US-China trade war is “dramatically disrupting” production and trade patterns worldwide, Mohamad said, cautioning that a global economic slowdown was likely to happen.
TAKING ASEAN-CHINA TRADE FORWARD
ASEAN is China’s largest trading partner, with the value of total trade reaching US$234 billion in the first quarter of 2025, according to Chinese customs data.
The so-called 3.0 version of CAFTA will “promote the deep integration of the production and supply chains of both sides”, China’s commerce ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, when it announced the completion of negotiations.
The upgraded pact will also “inject greater certainty into regional and global trade and play a leading and exemplary role for countries to adhere to openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation”, the ministry said.
China has intensified engagement with ASEAN since Trump announced hefty import tariffs on countries around the world and targeted China with even heavier levies. Some of the levies have since been delayed while China and the US agreed this month to pause some of their tariffs.
Meghan Markle wanted to appear on the cover of both US and UK Vogue in September 2022, says a source. Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
The alleged rift between Megan Markle and former British Vogue editor Edward Enninful goes deeper than him reportedly being unable to accommodate her for a cover in 2022, we hear.
The former royal gave the fashion maven an impossible list of demands, and even tried to also appeal to US Vogue’s Anna Wintour, a source tells Page Six.
The Daily Mail reported this week that Markle and Enniful had plans for a UK Vogue September 2022 issue that would include Markle’s keynote appearance at the One Young World Summit in Manchester, and “involved extensive features across the magazine and its digital editions.”
The outlet reported that Markle wanted the cover, but Enniful already had a star, Linda Evangelista, booked — causing Markle to pull the plug and causing a falling out between the former friends.
But we hear scheduling wasn’t the only reason the cover never materialized.
A source tells us Markle wanted a “global cover,” appearing on the covers of UK and US Vogue simultaneously, along with a list of demands.
“Meghan asked for control over [the] photographer, writer, final edit, photos, cover lines, and wanted a global issue,” says a source.
We hear there was no way any editor would agree.
“Nobody gets that. Not even Beyoncé,” says the source.
We hear Markle even set up a personal Zoom call with Wintour in order to try and pitch her on the idea.
“Anna wasn’t interested,” says the source, adding the mag already had its own cover star, Serena Williams.
While Markle was not in the running, the source tells us: “Meghan asked for a Zoom with her to reconsider, and Anna did it to be polite.”
Adele is the only celebrity to appear on both US and UK covers simultaneously for the November 2021 issues.
However, another source insisted that Markle never sought a cover from Vogue, and that the mag had actually approached her multiple times after her wedding to Prince Harry.
Enninful had previously asked Markle to be on the cover of British Vogue’s 2019 “Forces for Change” issue, but she chose to guest edit instead, the source said.
Markle did wind up getting a September 2022 cover, at the time she was promoting her now failed “Archetypes” podcast.
She appeared on the digital cover of New York magazine’s the Cut, which also featured another digital cover with Megan Thee Stallion.
She was also slated to appear on the cover of Variety that month, but it was held a month after Queen Elizabeth II passed away.
Sources told Daily Mail that Markle and Enninful — who quit British Vogue in February — are no longer on speaking terms.
“The duchess and her team had high expectations and were expecting she might get a print cover or at least a digital cover out of it, but Enninful was not able to meet those expectations. He already had a magazine cover in the bag for that month,” an insider said.
“Edward was furious to have lost the project, as were the powers that be at Condé Nast,” said the source.
“The whole process became very difficult. Edward could only promise her a big showy feature inside the magazine and online — but she turned it down,” they added.
Sean “Diddy” Combs won’t be popping Cîroc bottles this Memorial Day.
The “Act Bad” rapper, who is currently behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, NY, will be celebrating the holiday Monday differently than he’s used to.
The disgraced hip-hop mogul will spend Memorial Day engaging in friendly competition with his fellow inmates, playing 3-on-3 basketball, dominoes, spades and board games, according to TMZ.
The “Act Bad” rapper will be spending his first Memorial Day behind bars in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, NY. AFP via Getty Images
The outlet reported that Combs, 55, will have plenty of food items to choose from throughout the day, starting with fruit and cereal for breakfast.
For lunch, the dad of seven will dine on BBQ chicken, macaroni and cheese, mixed veggies and a holiday dessert, while dinner will consist of chicken and rice, pinto beans, canned corn and whole wheat bread.
Page Six has reached out to Combs’ rep for comment but did not immediately hear back.
Combs is currently on trial, facing three charges: racketeering conspiracy; sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and transportation to engage in prostitution.
The “I’ll Be Missing You” emcee has pleaded not guilty and denied all culpability.
Several witnesses have testified about Combs’ alleged physical abuse against his ex Casanda “Cassie” Ventura, including Dawn Richard.
The former Danity Kane singer, 41, claimed she saw the Revolt co-founder get “violent or volatile” toward the “Me & U” songstress.
“He would drag her and kick her and punch her in the mouth,” she told the jury last Monday, alleging that Ventura, 38, would be attacked when she “would speak up for herself.”
U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday expressed deep unhappiness at Russia’s weekend bombing of Ukraine, saying of Russian President Vladimir Putin, “I’m not happy with Putin.”
“I don’t know what’s wrong with him. What the hell happened to him? Right? He’s killing a lot of people. I’m not happy about that,” Trump told reporters at the airport in Morristown, New Jersey, as he prepared to return to Washington.
Trump spoke in reaction to a Russian barrage of 367 drones and missiles at Ukrainian cities overnight on Sunday, including the capital Kyiv, in the largest aerial attack of the war so far, killing at least 12 people and injuring dozens more.
REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov Purchase Licensing Rights
Trump has been trying to get both sides to agree to a ceasefire in the three-year-old war in Ukraine and he spoke for more than two hours with Putin last week.
He raised the possibility of imposing more sanctions on Russia in response to the ongoing attacks.
There is no excitement as the camera passes. The children barely glance. What can surprise a child who lives among the dead, the dying, the waiting to die? Hunger has worn them down.
They wait in queues for scant rations or for none at all. They have grown used to my colleague and his camera, filming for the BBC. He witnesses their hunger, their dying, and to the gentle wrapping of their bodies – or fragments of their bodies – in white shrouds upon which their names, if known, are written.
For 19 months of war, and now under a renewed Israeli offensive, this local cameraman – who I do not name, for his safety - has listened to the anguished cries of the survivors in hospital courtyards.
His physical distance is respectful, but they are on his mind, day and night. He is one of them, trapped in the same claustrophobic hell.
This morning he is setting out to find Siwar Ashour, a five-month-old girl whose emaciated frame and exhausted cry at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis affected him so much, when he was filming there earlier this month, that he wrote to tell me something had broken inside him.
She weighed just over 2kg (4lb 6oz). A baby girl of five months should be about 6kg or over.
Baby Siwar needs a special milk formula because of an allergic reaction
Siwar has since been discharged and is now at home, my colleague has heard. That is what brings him to the street of pulverised houses and makeshift shelters of canvas and corrugated iron.
He conducts his search in difficult circumstances. A few days ago I messaged to ask how he was doing. “I am not okay,” he replied. “Just a short while ago, the Israeli army announced the evacuation of most areas of Khan Younis… We don’t know what to do – there is no safe place to go.
“Al-Mawasi is extremely overcrowded with displaced people. We are lost and have no idea what the right decision is at this moment.”
He finds a one-bedroom shack, the entrance formed of a floral patterned, grey and black curtain. Inside there are three mattresses, part of a chest of drawers, and a mirror which reflects sunlight across the floor in front of Siwar, her mother Najwa and her grandmother, Reem.
Siwar is quiet, held secure by the protective presence of the two women. The baby cannot absorb regular milk formula because of a severe allergic reaction. Under the conditions of war and an Israeli blockade on aid arrivals, there is a severe shortage of the formula she needs.
Najwa, 23, explains that her condition stabilised when she was in Nasser hospital, so doctors discharged her with a can of baby formula several days ago.
Now at home, she says the baby’s weight has started to slip again. “The doctors told me that Siwar improved and is better than before, but I think that she is still skinny and hasn’t improved much. They found her only one can of milk, and it [has] started running out.”
Flies dance in front of Siwar’s face. “The situation is very dire,” says Najwa, “the insects come at her, I have to cover her with a scarf so nothing touches her”.
Siwar has lived with the sound of war since last November when she was born. The artillery, the rockets, falling bombs – distant and near. The gunfire, the blades of Israeli drones whirring overhead. Najwa explains: “She understands these things. The sound of the tanks, warplanes, and rockets are so loud and they are close to us. When Siwar hears these sounds, she gets startled and cries. If she is sleeping, she wakes up startled and crying.”
Doctors in Gaza say many young mothers report being unable to breastfeed their babies due to lack of nutrition. The pressing problem is food and clean water.
Najwa was malnourished herself when Siwar was born. She and her mother Reem still find it difficult to get anything to eat themselves. It is the struggle of every waking hour. “In our case, we can’t provide milk or diapers because of the prices and the border closure.”
On 22 May Israeli military body Cogat said there was no food shortage in Gaza. It said “significant quantities of baby food and flour for bakeries” had been brought into the enclave in recent days.
The agency has repeatedly insisted that Hamas steals aid, while the Israeli government says the war will continue until Hamas is destroyed and the Israeli hostages held in Gaza are released. According to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, 20 hostages seized by Hamas in the 7 October 2023 attacks are believed to be alive and up to 30 others dead.
Aid agencies, the United Nations and many foreign governments, including Britain, reject Cogat’s comment that there is no food shortage. US President Donald Trump has also spoken of people “starving” in Gaza.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres described the amount of aid Israel has allowed into Gaza as “a teaspoon”. He said Palestinians were “enduring what may be the cruellest phase of this cruel conflict” with restricted supplies of fuel, shelter, cooking gas and water purification supplies.
Joseph Neumeyer, 28, was detained in Israel after the attack and deported to the United States, where he was arrested on arrival, court documents and a Justice Department statement said.
Joseph Neumeyer was also accused of issuing assassination threats against Donald Trump.
A dual US-German citizen was charged in a New York court Sunday on suspicion he tried to firebomb the United States’ mission in Tel Aviv earlier this week, the US Justice Department said.
Joseph Neumeyer, 28, was detained in Israel after the attack and deported to the United States, where he was arrested on arrival, court documents and a Justice Department statement said.
He was also accused of issuing assassination threats against US President Donald Trump.
US Attorney General Pam Bondi said her department would “prosecute this defendant to the fullest extent of the law.”
If convicted, Neumeyer faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, with a maximum fine of $250,000, the Justice Department said.
Neumeyer had traveled to Israel last month, according to statements from the Justice Department and the US attorney’s office in New York.
On May 19, he had posted on his Facebook account an invitation to “join me as I burn down the embassy,” the statements said.
“Death to America, death to Americans, and f—k the west,” he wrote, before going to the US diplomatic mission in Tel Aviv — a branch of the US embassy, which was moved to Jerusalem in 2018.
There, Neumeyer spit on a guard as he walked past the mission, and when the guard attempted to detain him, he broke free and ran off, leaving behind his backpack, the statement from the US attorney’s office said.
“Law enforcement recovered from Neumeyer’s backpack several bottles that had been turned into improvised incendiary devices, commonly known as ‘Molotov cocktails’,” it said.
Law enforcement, which confirmed the presence of flammable fluid in the devices, later tracked Neumeyer to his hotel and arrested him.
After being deported to New York on Saturday, he appeared at a federal courthouse in Brooklyn Sunday afternoon, where he was ordered detained pending trial.
US authorities highlighted threatening posts alleged to have been posted by Neumeyer on social media.
“This defendant is charged with planning a devastating attack targeting our embassy in Israel, threatening death to Americans, and President Trump’s life,” US Attorney General Bondi said.
“This despicable and violent behavior will not be tolerated at home or abroad,” said FBI director Kash Patel.
FBI arrested two Pakistani nationals in Texas in visa fraud and money laundering case.
Two Texas residents have been arrested for allegedly operating a criminal racket that exploited the US immigration system through fraudulent visa applications, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced this on Friday.
Abdul Hadi Murshid, 39, and Muhammad Salman Nasir, 35, both originally from Pakistan, were taken into custody following a joint investigation led by FBI Dallas and federal law enforcement partners.
The duo now faces multiple federal charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, visa fraud, money laundering conspiracy and Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) conspiracy.
The charges were announced by Acting US Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, Chad E Meacham. Murshid and Nasir are also accused of unlawfully obtaining and attempting to obtain US citizenship.
According to the indictment, the accused, along with the Law Offices of D Robert Jones PLLC and Reliable Ventures, Inc., allegedly orchestrated a large-scale visa fraud scheme for financial gain.
Investigators claim they submitted false and fraudulent applications on behalf of non-citizens – referred to in the indictment as “visa seekers” – to help them enter and remain in the US illegally.
In an interview with British tabloid The Sun following her return to the UK, Magee expressed disappointment with the pageant’s environment, stating that it did not align with her expectations of ‘beauty with a purpose’.
Credit: X/@MillaMagee
Controversies continue to plague the international Miss World pageant, which the Telangana government has been hosting with great fanfare to promote the state globally. Following an earlier uproar over local women washing the feet of beauty pageant contestants during their visit to the iconic Ramappa Temple, another controversy has cast a shadow over the competition as one contestant has withdrawn from the event.
Miss England 2024 Milla Magee has withdrawn from the ongoing Miss World 2025 pageant being hosted in Telangana, citing personal and ethical concerns for her decision. The 24-year-old, who arrived in Hyderabad on May 7, returned to the UK on May 16, ending her participation in the global beauty competition.
In an interview with British tabloid The Sun following her return to the UK, Magee expressed disappointment with the pageant’s environment, stating that it did not align with her expectations of “beauty with a purpose.” However, Miss World organisers have refuted her claims. Following her exit from the competition, Miss England runner-up Charlotte Grant has stepped in to replace her.
According to The Sun, Milla Magee reportedly “fled the competition,” citing “superficial treatment and lack of respect toward contestants.” She claimed to have quit the Miss World beauty pageant because she felt organisers were exploiting her.
“I went there to make a difference, but we had to sit like performing monkeys. It’s stuck in the past. Morally, I couldn’t be a part of it,” Magee told The Sun.
The publication also reported that Magee said she “felt like a prostitute” and was “farmed out for entertainment” by Miss World organisers. She said she decided to take a stand after being paraded in front of wealthy male sponsors.
“Contenders were told to wear make-up 24/7 and ball gowns all day, including at breakfast,” she said in the interview.
According to The Sun, Magee said the final straw came when contestants were told to entertain middle-aged men as a “thank you” for their financial support of the show.
“There were two girls assigned to each table of six guests. We were expected to sit with them for the whole evening and entertain them as a thank you. I found that unbelievable. I remember thinking, ‘This is so wrong.’ I didn’t come here to be farmed out for people’s entertainment. Miss World is supposed to have the same values, but it’s outdated and stuck in the past. They made me feel like a prostitute,” The Sun quoted Magee as saying.
“I went out to make a difference, to help create a different future, perhaps inspire young people. Never in a million years did I expect to find myself in that situation. We were there to please these people and sit like performing monkeys. I couldn’t stand it.”
She also claimed that one official reprimanded contestants for being “boring” after an event.
Responding to Magee’s allegations, Miss World Organisation CEO and Chairperson Julia Morley CBE’s office stated that earlier this month, Milla Magee had requested to leave the competition due to a reported family emergency involving her mother’s health. As a mother and grandmother herself, Julia Morley CBE, Chairwoman of Miss World, said she responded to Magee’s situation with compassion and immediately arranged her return to England, prioritising the well-being of the contestant and her family.
Following Magee’s departure, Charlotte Grant, the first runner-up of Miss England, stepped in to represent her country. Charlotte arrived in India on Wednesday and has since been welcomed into what the organisation calls “the Miss World sisterhood.”
“Unfortunately, it has come to our attention that certain UK media outlets have published false and defamatory statements, allegedly made by Milla Magee, regarding her experience in India. These claims are completely unfounded and inconsistent with the reality of her time with us. In response, the Miss World Organisation is releasing unedited videos recorded during Milla’s stay in India, in which she expresses gratitude, joy, and appreciation for the experience. These videos reflect her own words and sentiments and serve as a direct contradiction to the recent false narratives,” the organisation stated.
A satellite image shows a North Korean warship covered with a blue tarp after an accident that occurred during its launch at the shipyard in Chongjin, North Korea, May 23, 2025. (Photo: 2025 Planet Labs PBC/Handout via REUTERS)
North Korea has detained three people over an accident that occurred during the launch of a new warship this past week, state media reported early Sunday (May 25).
The failed launch that crippled the 5,000-tonne warship was witnessed by leader Kim Jong Un who said the accident damaged the country’s dignity and vowed to punish those found responsible, calling it a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness”.
The mishap likely occurred in front of a large crowd at the northeastern port of Chongjin, increasing the public humiliation for Kim who tried to show off military might, experts say.
Those detained are Kang Jong Chol, the chief engineer at the Chongjin shipyard; Han Kyong Hak, head of the hull construction workshop; and Kim Yong Hak, deputy manager for administrative affairs, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
The KCNA report said the three were “responsible for the accident”.
Satellite imagery shows the warship, covered in blue tarps, lying on its side, with the stern swung out into the harbour, but the bow remaining on the side slipway, according to the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
South Korea’s military said US and Seoul intelligence authorities assessed that North Korea’s “side-launch attempt” of the ship failed, and the vessel was left listing in the water.
KCNA, however, reported that an “underwater and internal inspection of the warship confirmed that, unlike the initial announcement, there were no holes made at the warship’s bottom”, calling the extent of the damage “not serious”.
Kim has ordered the ship restored before a ruling party meeting in June. KCNA said the rehabilitation plan was pushing ahead.
Based on its size and scale, the South Korean military said the newly built warship is believed to be similarly equipped to the 5,000-ton destroyer-class vessel Choe Hyon, which North Korea unveiled last month.
Pyongyang has said the Choe Hyon is equipped with the “most powerful weapons”, and that it would “enter into operation early next year”.
Seoul’s military has said the Choe Hyon could have been developed with Russian help – possibly in exchange for Pyongyang deploying thousands of troops to help Moscow fight Ukraine.
Myanmar is caught in a scramble for minerals. Their exploitation is causing deaths and environmental harm in the country’s Kachin State, activists tell DW. Can the region’s independence movement make a difference?
Rare-earth mining has exploded in Myanmar’s Kachin region, making it the world’s largest source of supplyImage: Supplied by a Global Witness partner
Lahtaw Kai draws an imaginary mountain into the air with her hands and uses her fingers to dot it with holes.
“At the top of the mountains, they drill holes and then pour chemicals like ammonium nitrate into the ground to extract the rare earth minerals at the bottom,” the Myanmar environment activist told DW.
Lahtaw Kai — whose name we’ve changed for security reasons — was illustrating the so-called in-situ leaching technique, which has been applied for decades in mining rare earths in Myanmar’s northern Kachin state.
The process begins at the top of the mountains, where chemicals are injected into the earth through a network of pipes. As the solution tracks downslope, it gathers rare earth elements, which are then collected in large ponds.
At hundreds of mining sites in the region, in-situ leaching is proving to be a huge risk to both the environment and local villagers.
“The rare earth sludge dries out in wood-fired kilns, and areas close to the mining sites constantly smell bad,” said Lahtaw Kai, adding that she and her research team cannot stay there for more than 30 minutes because it’s hard to breathe.
“But people are working there without gloves and masks. Companies don’t provide protection. So, the workers get sick and then [the company] fires them and brings in new workers,” she added.
Seng Li, a human rights activist currently based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, has researched mining sites in Myanmar’s north and says the mountains used to be green before mining started.
“Now those mountains are very ugly, the river turned red. Some of the chemicals they use in the mining pools, they just dump into the waters,” he told DW.
DW met both Lahtaw Kai and Seng Li on the sidelines of a recent tour of Europe, where they were campaigning for support of their cause. They want to make Europeans aware of what happens at the beginning of global supply chains that finally lead to products such as electric vehicles, wind turbines, medical equipment, and even weapons.
Rare earth elements crucial industrial inputs?
Julie Klinger, assistant professor at the University of Delaware in the United States, explains that the term rare-earth elements refers to 17 chemically similar elements in the so-called periodic table of elements.
“The thing that distinguishes these elements is their fantastic, magnetic and conductive, and in some cases thermal properties,” she told DW.
Also called the “spice of industry,” rare earths can be used in relatively small quantities to enhance industrial processes.
Dysprosium, for example, is used as a catalyst in petrochemical refining, said Klinger, and can be found in Myanmar’s north. The element with a metallic silver luster is essential for battery production, increasing their heat efficiency and longevity, making it a key component for the green energy transition.
Dysprosium is also used in producing permanent magnets capable of maintaining a constant magnetic field needed for modern power generators in electric vehicles or wind turbines.
Nonprofit organization Global Witness reported in 2024 that Chinese producers of permanent magnets are sourcing rare earths from Myanmar.
Among the customers of China-made rare-earths products specifically named by the report are global auto giants Volkswagen, Toyota, Nissan, Ford and Hyundai, as well as wind power firms like Siemens Gamesa and Vestas.
Another report compiled by Adams Intelligence— a consultancy for strategic metals and minerals based in Toronto, Canada — found Germany to be China’s biggest customer for sourcing permanent magnets in 2024.
A call for responsible mining
China has reduced domestic mining for rare-earth elements, increasing the exploitation of deposits in neighboring Myanmar.
Chinese imports of so-called heavy rare earth elements from Myanmar skyrocketed from their previous highs of 19,500 tons in 2021 to 41,700 tons in 2023, the Global Witness report says.
“That’s like a page out of the US playbook from the 20th century,” said Julie Klinger, referring to the US approach of strategically not mining its domestic uranium deposits to safeguard them for later.
Lahtaw Kai says people in Myanmar don’t want the Chinese to continue mining, and adds: “If the international community wants to continue buying these minerals, they should be responsibly sourced.”
Myanmar’s lucrative trade in rare earths — worth $1.4 billion (€1.2 billion) in 2023, according to Global Witness — risks financing conflict and destruction in a highly volatile region.
In 2018, Myanmar’s civilian-led government had banned exports and ordered Chinese miners to wind down operations, but since 2021, extraction has continued in the context of a ruthless dictatorship and widening civil conflict.
In late 2024, the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and its allied military forces wrested control of most of the mineral-rich region in the north from forces allied with the central government. KIO has been fighting for the region’s independence since the 1960s.
This power shift has led to new negotiations between KIO and Chinese producers on taxing rare earth extraction.
While the KIO enjoys broad popular support in Kachin and greater legitimacy than government-allied militias, the 2024 Global Witness report says that on “both sides, this largely unregulated mining is environmentally devastating, and the threat it poses to ecosystems and to human health is becoming ever more urgent.”
Flames burst from an apartment building damaged during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 24, 2025. (Photo: Reuters/Thomas Peter)
Russian strikes killed three people in the Kyiv region overnight, a Ukrainian official said Sunday (May 25), as the two countries fired drones towards each other’s capitals.
AFP journalists heard explosions in the Ukrainian capital, with the head of the city’s military administration warning “the night will not be easy”.
Russian authorities meanwhile reported that a dozen drones flying towards Moscow had been downed.
The latest fire comes as the two sides pursue a major prisoner swap more than three years since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
In Kyiv region “three people died last night as a result of an enemy attack”, said Mykola Kalashnyk, who heads the regional military administration.
The city’s mayor earlier said Russia’s attack wounded at least 10 people, while he warned residents to stay in shelters.
The capital was “under attack” but “air defences are operating”, said Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Tymur Tkachenko, Kyiv city’s military administration chief, reported “more than a dozen enemy drones” were in airspace around the capital.
“Some of the drones over Kyiv and the surrounding area have already been dealt with. But the new ones are still entering the capital,” he wrote on Telegram.
Debris fell on a five-storey residential building, he added.
Overnight attacks were also reported in the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.
In Moscow, restrictions were imposed on at least four airports, including the main hub Sheremetyevo, the Russian civilian aviation authority said.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 12 drones flying towards the Russian capital had been intercepted.
“CRAZY FEELINGS”
The renewed attacks follow Ukraine’s air force on Saturday morning saying Russia had launched 14 ballistic missiles and 250 drones overnight.
Officials said 15 people were wounded in those strikes.
The Russian military said Saturday that Ukraine had targeted it with 788 drones and missiles since Tuesday.
Dozens of drones targeting Moscow have been shot down over the past week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s attacks indicated Moscow was “prolonging the war” and repeated his call for ramped-up sanctions.
But he also said he expected officials to press on with a prisoner swap agreed during talks last week in Istanbul.
On Saturday, 307 Russian prisoners of war were exchanged for the same number of Ukrainian soldiers, according to announcements in Kyiv and Moscow.
Both sides received 390 people in the first stage on Friday and are expected to exchange 1,000 each in total.
Russia has signalled it will send Ukraine its terms for a peace settlement after the exchange, without saying what those terms would be.
The two enemies have held regular prisoner swaps, but none has been on this scale.
An AFP reporter saw some of the formerly captive Ukrainian soldiers arrive at a hospital in the northern Chernigiv region, emaciated but smiling and waving to crowds waiting outside.
After they stepped off the bus, tearful relatives rushed to embrace the soldiers while others held pictures of their loved ones, hoping to find out if they had been seen in captivity.
Many of the soldiers were draped in bright yellow and blue Ukrainian flags.
“It’s simply crazy. Crazy feelings,” 31-year-old Konstantin Steblev, a soldier, told AFP after he was released following three years in captivity.
DIPLOMATIC PUSH
US President Donald Trump earlier congratulated the two countries for the swap.
“This could lead to something big???” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Trump’s efforts to broker a ceasefire in Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II have so far been unsuccessful, despite his pledge to rapidly end the fighting.
One of the soldiers formerly held captive, 58-year-old Viktor Syvak, told AFP it was hard to put words to his emotional homecoming.
Captured in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, he had been held for 37 months and 12 days.
“I didn’t expect such a welcome. It’s impossible to describe. I can’t put it into words. It’s very joyful,” he said.
After more than three years of fighting, thousands of POWs are held in both countries.
Investigators look through the site where a small plane crashed into a residential street in San Diego, California, on May 22, 2025. (Photo: AFP/Sandy Huffaker)
The six people onboard a small plane that crashlanded in a California neighbourhood amid dense fog were all killed, according to investigating authorities.
The Cessna 550 Citation, which federal records show belonged to music agent Dave Shapiro, struck a power line before plummeting into a residential area of San Diego at 3.47am (6.47pm, Singapore time) on Thursday (May 22), according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
It was not immediately clear what caused the Cessna to come plunging into the Murphy Canyon neighborhood, about 3.2km from the Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport where the aircraft was headed.
In an audio recording posted to air traffic website liveatc.net, the pilot can be heard asking about weather conditions prior to descent, while indicating that visibility was down to a minimum.
“Doesn’t sound great, but we’ll give it a go,” the pilot said.
As the plane came down, it clipped a power line and the impact of the crash set several nearby houses and vehicles alight, jolting families awake before dawn.
“The pilot and passengers were fatally injured,” NTSB investigator Dan Baker told a press conference on Friday. He added that no one on the ground had been seriously hurt.
While Baker did not specify the number of fatalities, the US Federal Aviation Administration previously said the private plane had six people onboard.
The San Diego County medical examiner’s office named three of the victims as Shapiro, 42, Emma Huke, 25, and Celina Kenyon, 36.
Music veteran Shapiro was a co-founder of Sound Talent Group, which counts artists Hanson, Sum 41, Modern Baseball and Vanessa Carlton on its roster.
The company told US media that two other members of its staff, booking assistants Huke and Kendall Fortner, were also killed in the crash.
“We are devastated by the loss of our co-founder, colleagues and friends. Our hearts go out to their families and to everyone impacted,” Sound Talent Group said in a statement.
NBC7 identified the other victims as software engineer Dominic Damian and Daniel Williams, a former drummer for metalcore band The Devil Wears Prada.
“No words. We owe you everything. Love you forever,” the band wrote in a tribute to Williams on Instagram.
Kenyon was a professional photographer and mother, according to her social media. Her father, Bryan Charles Feldman, told NBC7 she had chosen to fly home early with friends after a photo shoot rather than take a commercial plane so she could take her daughter to school the next day.
At least 10 homes in San Diego’s Murphy Canyon neighborhood were hit by debris, while the street was littered with charred remnants, scattered fiberglass and jet fuel.
Eight people were treated for minor injuries, according to responding police and firefighters.
Students and staff of Harvard University demonstrating against government interference (FILE: April 17, 2025)Image: AP/dpa/picture alliance
Founded in 1636, Harvard University is one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the world. It has produced many Nobel laureates and eight US presidents. However, the current US president, Donald Trump, has declared Harvard “a JOKE” — one he doesn’t find funny. According to Trump, the university teaches “hate and stupidity” and hires “woke, radical left, idiots.” This, he stated in a post on his own social media platform, Truth Social, in mid-April, was why Harvard “should no longer receive federal funds.”
Government agencies immediately froze $2.2 billion (approximately €2.2 billion) that had been earmarked for the university. Then, in May, a government antisemitism task force informed the university leadership that an additional $450 million of funding was also being cut.
On Thursday, May 22, the Trump administration escalated the conflict further. The US Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, issued a letter revoking the university’s license to enroll foreign students. Harvard was given a 72-hour deadline to provide the administration with specific information about foreign students if it wished to regain its license.
Harvard promptly sued the administration, and scored an initial legal victory the following day when US District Judge Allison D. Burroughs found in the university’s favor. She accepted its argument that the government order would cause Harvard “immediate and irreparable injury,” and temporarily blocked the order pending a further hearing.
What is the Trump administration’s justification for its actions?
As Trump himself and many of those close to him have repeatedly indicated, they are troubled that, in their eyes, Harvard’s teaching and research are dominated by left-wing content and ideologies. However, the US Constitution makes clear that the government can only restrict freedom of speech in a few, very specific instances. Last month, more than 100 US universities signed an open letter, citing the Constitution, and protesting “unprecedented government overreach and political interference.”
The legal pretext for the funding cuts is the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have taken place at many US universities as a reaction to Israel’s war against Hamas. The war is Israel’s response to the terrorist attack launched from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. There have been many reports that Jewish students have been targeted in antisemitic attacks during protests in the United States. The US, along with Germany, Israel and other countries, characterize Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Why does the US government have Harvard in its sights?
The new US government has withdrawn funding, or has threatened to do so, from around 60 universities. In March, for example, it pulled $400 million of federal funding from Columbia University in New York, accusing the university leadership of “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
Columbia sued the administration over the cancellation of funding, but it did comply with several other government demands, such as banning the wearing of masks during protests, hiring new security personnel and making changes to the management of the department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies. In spite of this, the US Department of Health and Human Services nonetheless upheld the accusation of inaction.
Harvard, which is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a suburb just outside Boston, is so far the only university to openly resist the administration’s demands. Part of the reason why it can afford to challenge the government is that it has an endowment of more than $50 billion. This endowment may now be targeted by the government.
What would the new measures mean for Harvard?
If the administration is successful in blocking Harvard from enrolling international students, one consequence will be that many international students will lose their US residence permits, unless they are able to enroll at a different university.
This would not only deprive Harvard of international talent. There are around 6,800 non-US citizens enrolled at the university, which receives around $400 million per year from them in tuition fees. Fees are the same for US students — around $59,000 per year — but many are awarded scholarships that the university funds. Overall, Harvard therefore earns more from international students than from American ones.
The US government is also considering imposing heavy taxes on capital gains from university endowments. Endowment funds are invested primarily in securities, yielding hundreds of millions of dollars per year. During his first term in office, Trump introduced a capital gains tax of 1.4% for universities with endowments that exceed $500,000 per student. Now, he proposes to add further tiers, and for capital gains on endowments in the highest category — in excess of $2 million per student — to be taxed at 21%.
In the USA Today national newspaper, the economist Phillip Levine estimated that elite universities like Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, and, of course, Harvard, could each face tax bills of between $400 and $850 million a year under the new scheme.
A WOMAN who stabbed 18 people in a bloody rampage at Hamburg Central Station had been released from a psychiatric hospital just one day earlier, it’s been revealed.
The 39-year-old suspect, named by local media as Lydia S., launched her frenzied knife attack as commuters waited on platforms 13 and 14 during Friday evening’s rush hour.
This is the moment the Hamburg stabbing frenzy suspect is taken away by copsCredit: X
She had a known history of mental illness and was considered a “danger to other people”, according to police sources cited by Bild.
A judge has since ordered her return to a clinic.
Dramatic footage on social media showed a woman dressed in a dark hoodie and black tracksuit bottoms, being dragged away by cops.
She was being led away from Hamburg Central Station in the aftermath of the shocking attack.
The short clip also showed a large entourage of police officers following the detained individual through the street while astonished bystanders looked on.
During the frenzy on Friday at 6:05pm local time, the woman suddenly pulled out a knife and began randomly stabbing passengers waiting for the ICE 855 train to Munich.
Police and federal officers rushed to the scene and were able to overpower and disarm the attacker before arresting her.
The brutal attack left four people critically injured, six seriously hurt, and eight others with minor wounds, according to emergency services.
The suspect is a German national known to police and has a history of mental illness, having previously spent time in a psychiatric facility, German newspaper Bild reported.
Hamburg police later confirmed in a post on X: “The person arrested is a 39-year-old woman.
“Based on the information so far, we assume that she acted alone.”
Police are continuing their investigation but say there is currently no evidence of a political motive behind the attack.
Hamburg’s fire department declared a major incident, deploying emergency doctors, paramedics, and a large-capacity ambulance to the scene.
Dramatic pictures showed several police officers and first responders securing the scene outside the station.
Some victims were treated aboard the train, while others were rushed to the hospital.
A Red Cross crisis response team was on site to support the victims’ families.
The ICE train on platform 14 was evacuated and rail services around Hamburg Central Station were partially suspended, according to local reports.
The station – located in the heart of Germany’s second-largest city – is a major hub for local, regional, and long-distance travel.
Friday’s rush hour and the start of school holidays meant it was especially crowded.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz reacted with shock, speaking to Hamburg’s mayor Peter Tschentscher on Friday evening.
His spokesman said: “His thoughts were with the victims and their families.”
The Chancellor also thanked emergency responders and offered federal support.
Deutsche Bahn said it was “deeply shocked” and extended sympathy to those injured.
It added that carrying weapons – including knives – is strictly banned on the station premises and on Hamburg’s public transport network.
It comes after two people were killed and two police officers wounded in a brutal knife attack in the Netherlands.
Emergency crews, including ambulances and trauma teams, raced to a property in Hoofddorp, near Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, on Wednesday morning.
One police vehicle at the scene was left spattered with blood.
Both victims were inside the house after initial reports of a “fight”.
Police confirmed two officers were injured, but there was no immediate confirmation about the extent of their injuries.
Locals say the house, located on Fanny Blankers-Koenlaan, is known for drug and alcohol-related disturbances.
Local newspaper De Telegraaf also reported, citing multiple sources, that two people were killed in the stabbing spree.
Chilling images showed emergency vehicles lined up along the residential street in the aftermath of the deadly attack.
Meanwhile, police were urgently called to Majorca’s Palma Airport on Tuesday morning after reports of a man being stabbed in the neck in the arrivals area.
Detectives said the victim was a young Argentinian who suffered a wound a few centimetres from the artery which required several stitches.
Much of Gaza is in ruins as Israel’s military operation continuesImage: Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu/picture alliance
Gaza’s civil defense agency said an Israeli strike in the southern city of Khan Younis on Friday killed nine of the 10 children of a married doctor couple.
Agency spokesman Mahmud Bassal said Saturday that civil defense “crews transported the bodies of nine child martyrs, some of them charred, from the home of Dr. Hamdi al-Najjar and his wife, Dr. Alaa al-Najjar, all of whom were their children.”
In a statement, Israel’s military said it struck suspects operating from a structure near to its forces and described the area of Khan Younis as a “dangerous war zone.”
The military said it had evacuated civilians from the area and that “the claim regarding harm to uninvolved civilians is under review.”
What do we know about the incident?
Alaa al-Najjar, a pediatrician at Nasser Hospital, was on duty when she ran home and found her family’s house on fire, Ahmad al-Farra, head of the hospital’s pediatrics department told the Associated Press.
Muneer Alboursh, director general of the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza, said on X that the strike happened shortly after Hamdi Al-Najjar drove his wife to work.
“Just minutes after returning home, a missile struck their house,” he said, adding the father was “in intensive care.”
Farra said that the couple’s only surviving child, an 11-year-old son, was in critical condition after the strike. The dead children ranged in age from seven months to 12 years old.
Germany’s antisemitism chief urges debate on Israel support
The latest strike in Gaza come as European counties such as the UK and France grow increasingly critical of Israel’s military operations there.
Felix Klein, the German government’s antisemitism commissioner, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that, while protecting Israel and defending its right to exist are fundamental to German policy, support can only go so far.
“We must do everything in our power to preserve the security of Israel and Jews worldwide,” he said. “But we must also make it clear that this does not justify everything.”
Protecting Israel’s security and supporting its interests in international organizations is one of Germany’s “Staatsräson” (‘Reason of state’). The policy is tied to Germany’s historical responsibility to Israel after the Holocaust during World War II, in which 6 million Jews were killed.
Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza in response to a Hamas terror attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Hamas’ attack on Israel killed some 1,200 people, with Hamas and other Palestinian groups also taking 251 hostages.
Gaza’s health authorities say nearly 54,000 people have died in the Gaza Strip amid Israeli attacks. Although Israel and the US have criticized this death toll figure, the UN and other international bodies have viewed the Gaza Health Ministry figures as broadly reliable.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce had a low-key date night in Florida amid the singer’s rumored friendship fallout with Blake Lively.
The pair was spotted having dinner at Harry’s restaurant in West Palm Beach on Friday night.
MMA fighter Jose Andres Cortes shared a photo on his Instagram Story of the couple looking cozy while sitting side-by-side in a booth and enjoying some drinks before having their entrees.
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce stepped out for a low-key date night in Florida on Friday. Instagram/colombian__necktie84
Another snap posted by singer Mark Morrison caught the Grammy winner making an excited facial expression while seated at the table.
A source told TMZ that the lovebirds, both 35, entered the restaurant holding hands before Swift walked ahead of Kelce.
The “Cruel Summer” songstress wore a floral off-the-shoulder sundress for the romantic outing and styled her hair in a loose bun.
The NFL star, on the other hand, wore a printed black-and-white button-down shirt with tan pants.
The Kansas City Chiefs tight end has been renting a $20 million mansion in Boca Raton, Fla., while training in the offseason.
The outing comes after it was reported that Swift is further distancing herself from her longtime pal Lively after being subpoenaed in the “Gossip Girl” alum’s ongoing legal feud with Justin Baldoni.
“Right now, if Taylor had one wish, it would be that she never met Blake,” an insider claimed to the Daily Mail Thursday.
“Although there have been good times during their relationship, the issues now concerning the Baldoni case have outweighed them.”
“When Taylor looks back at their friendship, she realizes it wasn’t worth all the stress Blake put her through. She can now see all the red flags that should have been a warning to her,” the source further alleged.
Kelce is said to be supporting his girlfriend in the drama — even unfollowing Ryan Reynolds, Lively’s husband, on Instagram.
Baldoni’s lawyers originally subpoenaed Swift on the belief that she played a role in Lively’s alleged attempts to take control of “It Ends With Us.”
In Baldoni’s $400 million countersuit against Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, the “Jane the Virgin” alum claimed the “Another Simple Favor” star name-dropped Swift to push her script rewrites.
Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman went on to allege in a written affidavit to the court that Lively’s lawyer threatened to release Swift’s private texts if she did not publicly support the actress. She also allegedly demanded that Swift delete their messages.
Baldoni and his legal team dropped Swift’s subpoena earlier this week after reportedly getting the information they wanted.
Andriy Portnov’s murder in a Madrid suburb has shocked Ukrainians, but it has not exactly triggered an outpouring of grief.
The controversial former official had just dropped his children off at the American School when he was shot several times in the car park.
The image of his lifeless body lying face down in a gym kit marked the end of a life synonymous with Ukrainian corruption and Russian influence.
Ukraine’s media have been discussing the 51-year-old’s frequent threats to journalists, as well as his huge influence under the country’s last pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych.
“A man who called for the killing of political opponents suddenly got what he wanted from others,” observed reporter Oleksandr Holubov. News website Ukrayinska Pravda even called him “the devil’s advocate”.
Rare words of restraint came from Portnov’s once political rival Serhiy Vlasenko, an MP, who said: “You can’t kill people. When discussing someone’s death, we must remain human.”
Portnov was controversial and widely disliked. The motives for his murder may seem evident, but his death has still left unanswered questions.
‘A kingpin’
Before entering Ukrainian politics, Portnov ran a law firm. He worked with then-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko until 2010, before defecting to Yanukovych’s camp when he won the election.
“It was a big story of betrayal,” remembers Ukrainian journalist Kristina Berdynskykh. “Because Tymoshenko was a pro-Western politician, and Yanukovych pro-Russian.”
The adviser became the country’s first deputy head of the Presidential Office and set up a national criminal code in 2012. For him, his critics say, his ascent was less about politics, and more about power and influence.
“He was just a good lawyer, everyone knew he was very smart,” Kristina tells me.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Ukraine inherited a judicial system in desperate need of reform. Mykhailo Zhernakov, a legal expert and head of the Dejure Foundation believes Portnov remoulded it in order for the government to cover up illegal schemes, and to mask Russian attempts to control the country.
“He was the kingpin, mastermind and architect of this corrupt legal system designed to serve the pro-Russian administration at the time,” he says.
‘A rotten system’
Over a decade, Portnov would sue journalists who wrote negative stories about him through the courts and judges he controlled. His attempts to control the judicial system would lead to him being sanctioned by the US.
At the time, Washington accused the adviser of placing loyal officials in senior positions for his own benefit, as well as “buying court decisions”.
Portnov later pursued activists who took part in Ukraine’s Maidan Revolution, which toppled Viktor Yanukovych from power, and forced him to escape the country to Russia.
“He used sexual threats,” says Oksana Romaniuk who remembers her and other journalists’ interactions with Portnov well.
As director of the Institute of Mass Information, she monitors free speech in Ukraine.
Whenever a damning report was published, the reaction was familiar and consistent. “When people exposed his corruption, he accused them of fake news,” she says.
“Even when journalists had documents and testimonies backing up the allegations, it was impossible to win the lawsuits in court. It was impossible to defend yourself. It was a rotten system.”
Andriy Portnov eventually settled in Moscow after his old boss Yanukovych fled in 2014. Investigative reporter Maksym Savchuk subsequently investigated his ties to Moscow, as well as his extensive property portfolio there.
“He responded with words I don’t want to quote, derogatory ones about my mother,” he remembers. “It’s a trait of his character; he is a very vindictive person.”
Even after leaving Ukraine, Portnov still tried to influence Ukrainian politics by taking control of pro-Kremlin TV channel NewsOne.
He returned in 2019, only to flee again with the full-scale invasion in 2022.
The irony of Portnov eventually settling in Spain and sending his children to a prestigious American school has not been lost on many.
Alongside the undisguised delight in Portnov’s death, there has been endless speculation over who was responsible.
“It could have been the Russians because he knew so many things,” suggests legal expert Mykhailo Zhernakov.
“He was involved in so many shady Russian operations it could be them or other criminal groups. He managed to annoy a lot of people,” he says.
Despite the motives being clearer on this side of the border, Ukrainian security sources appear to be trying to distance themselves from the killing.
Kyiv has previously carried out assassinations in Russian-occupied territory and in Russia itself, but not in Spain.
Sophie Turner shared a telling sign about the current status of her relationship with ex-husband Joe Jonas.
Turner proved the two are now on good terms as she showed her support for the singer’s new album, “Music For People Who Believe in Love,” following their messy divorce.
“Go go @joejonas,” the “Game of Thrones” alum posted on her Instagram Story Saturday with a link to the project.
Sophie Turner revealed she’s on good terms with ex-husband Joe Jonas after their messy divorce. Julien Reynaud/APS-Medias/Abaca Press/INSTARimages
Jonas’ new album is currently available for streaming after dropping Friday.
In a TalkShopLive stream on Wednesday, the “Camp Rock” star — who called it quits with Turner in September 2023 — revealed how his divorce specifically inspired the song “Only Love.”
“I was seeing somebody at the time and I was kind of having this idea of dating again. It was really scary and intimidating,” he said.
“Love takes different shapes and forms and I was rediscovering what that was.”
The Jonas Brothers member said the unnamed person he was dating at the time quickly dismissed his fears by telling him, “Well, it’s only love.”
Jonas, 35, and Turner, 29, finalized their divorce in September 2024 after a contentious custody battle over their two daughters, Willa, 4, and Delphine, 2.
The actress previously filed a lawsuit, accusing him of withholding their daughters’ passports and preventing them from returning to England, her home country. He denied the allegations.
Turner later dropped the filing once they reached a co-parenting agreement.
The “Dark Phoenix” star quickly moved on with British aristocrat Peregrine Pearson, though the pair sparked breakup rumors in April after nearly two years of dating.
