An Israeli plan to seize the Gaza Strip and expand the military operation has alarmed many in the region. Palestinians are exhausted and hopeless, pummeled by 19 months of heavy bombing. Families of Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza are terrified that the possibility of a ceasefire is slipping further away.
“What’s left for you to bomb?” asked Moaz Kahlout, a displaced man from Gaza City who said many resort to GPS to locate the rubble of homes wiped out in the war.
Israeli officials said Monday that Cabinet ministers approved the plan to seize Gaza and remain in the Palestinian territory for an unspecified amount of time — news that came hours after the military chief said the army was calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers.
Details of the plan were not formally announced, and its exact timing and implementation were not clear. It may be another measure by Israel to try to pressure Hamas into making concessions in ceasefire negotiations.
The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. Israel says 59 captives remain in Gaza. U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that three more hostages have been confirmed dead, leaving 21 still believed alive.
Israel’s ensuing offensive has killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials, who don’t distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.
“They destroyed us, displaced us and killed us,” said Enshirah Bahloul, a woman from the southern city of Khan Younis. “We want safety and peace in this world. We do not want to remain homeless, hungry, and thirsty.”
Some Israelis are also opposed to the plan. Hundreds of people protested outside the parliament Monday as the government opened for its summer session. One person was arrested.
Families of hostages held in Gaza are afraid of what an expanded military operation or seizure could mean for their relatives.
“I don’t see the expansion of the war as a solution — it led us absolutely nowhere before. It feels like déjà vu from the year ago,” said Adi Alexander, father of Israeli-American Edan Alexander, a soldier captured in the Oct. 7 attack.
The father is pinning some hopes on Trump’s visit to the Middle East, set for next week. Israeli leaders have said they don’t plan to expand the operation in Gaza until after Trump’s visit, leaving the door open for a possible deal. Trump isn’t expected to visit Israel, but he and other American officials have frequently spoken about Edan Alexander, the last American-Israeli held in Gaza who is still believed to be alive.
Moshe Lavi, the brother-in-law of Omri Miran, 48, the oldest hostage still believed to be alive, said the family was concerned about the plan.
“We hope it’s merely a signal to Hamas that Israel is serious in its goal to dismantle its governmental and military capabilities as a leverage for negotiations, but it’s unclear whether this is an end or a means,” he said.
Meanwhile, every day, dozens of Palestinians gather outside a charity kitchen that distributes hot meals to displaced families in southern Gaza. Children thrust pots or buckets forward, pushing and shoving in a desperate attempt to bring food to their families.
“What should we do?” asked Sara Younis, a woman from the southernmost city of Rafah, as she waited for a hot meal for her children. “There’s no food, no flour, nothing.”
Israel cut off Gaza from all imports in early March, leading to dire shortages of food, medicine and other supplies. Israel says the goal is to pressure Hamas to free the remaining hostages.
Aid organizations have warned that malnutrition and hunger are becoming increasingly prevalent in Gaza. The United Nations says the vast majority of the population relies on aid.
Aid groups have expressed concerns that gains to avert famine made during this year’s ceasefire have been diminishing.
Like most aid groups in Gaza, Tikeya has run out of most food and has cooked almost exclusively pasta for the past two weeks.
The Supreme Court at sunset in Washington, Feb. 13, 2016. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick, File)
The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to enforce a ban on transgender people in the military, while legal challenges proceed.
The court acted in the dispute over a policy that presumptively disqualifies transgender people from military service and could lead to the expulsion of experienced, decorated officers.
The court’s three liberal justices said they would have kept the policy on hold. Neither the justices in the majority or dissent explained their votes, which is not uncommon in emergency appeals.
Just after beginning his second term in January, Trump moved aggressively to roll back the rights of transgender people. Among the Republican president’s actions was an executive order that claims the sexual identity of transgender service members “conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life” and is harmful to military readiness.
In response, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a policy in February that gave the military services 30 days to figure out how they would seek out and identify transgender service members to remove them from the force. Those actions had been stalled by the lawsuits.
“No More Trans @ DoD,” Hegseth wrote in a post on X following Tuesday’s Supreme Court order. Earlier in the day, before the court acted, Hegseth said that his department is leaving wokeness and weakness behind. “No more pronouns,” he told a special operations forces conference in Tampa. “No more dudes in dresses. We’re done with that s—-.”
The Defense Department said Tuesday that officials are currently determining the next steps, but officials were not aware of any actions being taken right away.
Three federal judges had ruled against the ban.
In the case the justices acted on Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Benjamin Settle in Tacoma, Washington, had ruled for seven long-serving transgender military members who say that the ban is insulting and discriminatory and that their firing would cause lasting damage to their careers and reputations. A prospective service member also sued.
The individual service members who challenged the ban together have amassed more than 70 medals in 115 years of service, their lawyers wrote. The lead plaintiff is Emily Shilling, a Navy commander with nearly 20 years of service, including as a combat pilot who flew 60 missions in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
The Trump administration offered no explanation as to why transgender troops, who have been able to serve openly over the past four years with no evidence of problems, should suddenly be banned, Settle wrote. The judge is an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush and is a former captain in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General Corps.
Settle imposed a nationwide hold on the policy and a federal appeals court rejected the administration’s emergency plea. The Justice Department then turned to the Supreme Court.
The policy also has been blocked by a federal judge in the nation’s capital, but that ruling has been temporarily halted by a federal appeals court, which heard arguments last month. The three-judge panel, which includes two judges appointed by Trump during his first term, appeared to be in favor of the administration’s position.
In a more limited ruling, a judge in New Jersey also has barred the Air Force from removing two transgender men, saying they showed their separation would cause lasting damage to their careers and reputations that no monetary settlement could repair.
The LGBTQ rights groups Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation called the high court order a devastating blow to dedicated and highly qualified service members.
“By allowing this discriminatory ban to take effect while our challenge continues, the court has temporarily sanctioned a policy that has nothing to do with military readiness and everything to do with prejudice. Transgender individuals meet the same standards and demonstrate the same values as all who serve. We remain steadfast in our belief that this ban violates constitutional guarantees of equal protection and will ultimately be struck down,” the groups said in a statement.
The federal appeals court in San Francisco will hear the administration’s appeal in a process that will play out over several months at least. All the while, though, the transgender ban will remain in place under the Supreme Court order.
In 2016, during Barack Obama’s presidency, a Defense Department policy permitted transgender people to serve openly in the military. During Trump’s first term in the White House, the Republican issued a directive to ban transgender service members, with an exception for some of those who had already started transitioning under more lenient rules that were in effect during Obama’s Democratic administration.
A New York City police officer keeps watch on the campus of Columbia University in New York, Monday, May 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
Columbia University said Tuesday that it will be laying off nearly 180 staffers in response to President Donald Trump’s decision to cancel $400 million in funding over the Manhattan college’s handling of student protests against the war in Gaza.
Those receiving non-renewal or termination notices Tuesday represent about 20% of the employees funded in some manner by the terminated federal grants, the university said in a statement Tuesday.
“We have had to make deliberate, considered decisions about the allocation of our financial resources,” the university said. “Those decisions also impact our greatest resource, our people. We understand this news will be hard.”
University spokesperson Jessica Murphy declined to say whether more layoffs were expected, but said Columbia is taking a range of steps to create financial flexibility, including maintaining current salary levels and offering voluntary retirement incentives.
Research will also be scaled back, with some departments winding down studies and others maintaining some level of research while pursuing alternate funding.
The work impacted ranges from a project to develop an antiviral nasal spray for infectious diseases to various scientific studies on maternal mortality and morbidity, treatments for chronic illnesses such as long COVID, caring for newborns with opioid withdrawal syndrome and screenings for colorectal cancer, according to the university.
The layoffs, while expected, were “dispiriting” for faculty, said Marcel Agueros, secretary of Columbia’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which has filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration arguing the cuts are unlawful.
University officials say they’re working with the Trump administration in the hopes of getting the funding restored. But Agueros, an astronomy professor, said it will take years to undo the damage already inflicted.
“When there’s an interruption in funding, people have to leave, new people can’t be hired, some initiatives have to be put on hold, others need to be stopped, so research stops moving forward,” he said.
In March, the Trump administration pulled the funding over what it described as the Ivy League school’s failure to squelch antisemitism on campus during the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023.
Within weeks, Columbia capitulated to a series of demands laid out by the Republican administration as a starting point for restoring the funding.
Among the requirements was overhauling the university’s student disciplinary process, banning campus protesters from wearing masks, barring demonstrations from academic buildings, adopting a new definition of antisemitism and putting the Middle Eastern studies program under the supervision of a vice provost who would have a say over curriculum and hiring.
After Columbia announced the changes, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon said the university was “ on the right track,” but declined to say when or if Columbia’s funding would be restored. Spokespersons for the federal education department didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday.
Indian forces targeted the headquarters of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba groups in the missile attacks against terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir in the early hours of Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres
India attacked nine terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK) early on Wednesday following a deadly attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam last month. At least eight people were killed in the missile attack, according to Pakistan, which said it had begun retaliating in a major escalation between the nuclear-armed rivals.
The Indian army also said that three civilians had been killed overnight by artillery fired by Pakistan’s army along the de facto Line of Control border.
Reacting to the rising India-Pakistan tensions, US President Donald Trump called it a shame and hoped that it would end “very quickly.”
“It’s a shame, we just heard about it,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I guess people knew something was going to happen based on a little bit of the past. They’ve been fighting for a long time.”
The US president added: “I just hope it ends very quickly.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on X he was “monitoring the situation between India and Pakistan closely” while adding that Washington will continue to engage the nuclear-armed Asian neighbours towards a “peaceful resolution.”
The Indian Embassy in Washington said Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval spoke with Rubio and briefed him about India’s military actions.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres was very concerned about Indian military operations in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, his spokesperson said on Tuesday while calling for maximum military restraint from India and Pakistan.
“The Secretary-General is very concerned about the Indian military operations across the Line of Control and the international border. He calls for maximum military restraint from both countries,” the spokesperson said.
“The world cannot afford a military confrontation between India and Pakistan.”
Indian Strike On Pakistan
Indian forces targeted the headquarters of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba groups in the missile attacks against terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir in the early hours of Wednesday, officials said.
Among the nine sites targeted are the JeM headquarters in Bahawalpur and the LeT’s in Muridke, both in Pakistan Punjab, they said.
A Pakistani armed forces spokesperson confirmed tothe BBC in an interview that the IAF had targeted Bahawalpur and Muridke.
A cardinal speaks to the media as he arrives for a general congregation meeting ahead of the conclave to elect the next pope, as seen from Rome, Italy, May 5, 2025. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez Purchase Licensing Rights
Catholic cardinals entering a conclave on Wednesday to pick a new pope do not yet have a clear idea of who will emerge as Pope Francis’ successor, several said, and speeches by individual clerics in meetings this week may be decisive.
The 133 cardinals are holding near daily meetings to discuss issues facing the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church before the conclave, when they will be sequestered in a hotel and barred from contact with the outside world.
While there are a few cardinals seen as front-runners to succeed Pope Francis — two often mentioned are Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle — many of the clerics who will vote have not made up their minds.
“My list is changing, and I think it will continue to change over the next few days,” British Cardinal Vincent Nichols, participating in his first conclave, told Reuters. “It’s a process which for me is far from concluded, far from concluded.”
As the cardinals are meeting this week in what are called “general congregations,” individual clerics can offer speeches to give their vision for the future of the global faith.
During the 2013 conclave, it was in this period that Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio gave a speech that, by many accounts, deeply impressed his peers. Days later, he was elected as Francis.
Nichols, the highest-ranking Church official in England and Wales, said the speeches this time have again been pivotal in helping form opinions about who could be the next pope.
“There’ll be these moments when like a stone is dropped into a pond and the ripples will go out and I’ll sit there thinking, ‘Ah, yeah, that’s important,'” said the cardinal.
Asked about whether there are cardinal front-runners who are more likely to become pope, Nichols replied: “I came with a few ideas … (and) they have changed.”
Cardinal William Goh Seng Chye, the archbishop of Singapore, told Il Messaggero newspaper that he also did not know who the next pope might be. “It may seem strange, but we really do not know,” he said. “We have not yet begun to vote, so we don’t know. The game is still going on.”
COMPARING NOTES AT DINNER
The cardinals are meeting for two pre-conclave sessions on Monday and are expected to have at least one more on Tuesday.
The conclave itself begins Wednesday morning with the celebration of a special Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.
In the afternoon, the cardinals will formally process into the Sistine Chapel, the storied 15th century worship space adorned with frescoes by Michelangelo, where they will begin voting for the next pope.
They are expected to take one vote on Wednesday afternoon. Subsequent days will have two votes each morning and afternoon. It takes a two-thirds majority for someone to be elected.
According to conclave regulations, if no-one has been chosen after the first three days, the cardinals should take a day-long “pause of prayer” before continuing.
The only signal given to the outside world about the deliberations will come from a chimney installed above the chapel. The cardinals will burn their ballots, adding a chemical product to create one of two colours of smoke: black for a inconclusive vote; white when there is a new pope.
President Donald Trump’s administration says it’s going to pay immigrants in the U.S. illegally who’ve returned to their home country voluntarily $1,000.
The Trump administration says it is going to pay immigrants in the United States illegally $1,000 plus travel costs if they leave voluntarily as it accelerates its mass deportation agenda.
The Department of Homeland Security said Monday that people who use the CBP Home app to announce their “self-deportations” would get the money and be “deprioritized” for detention and removal.
Trump administration asks judge to toss lawsuit restricting abortion medication
The Trump administration on Monday asked a judge to toss out a lawsuit from three GOP-led states seeking to cut off telehealth access to the abortion medication mifepristone.
Justice Department attorneys stayed the legal course charted by Biden administration. But they didn’t weigh in on the underlying issue of access to the drug. Instead, the government argued that Missouri, Kansas and Idaho don’t have the legal right, or standing, to sue.
Trump signs executive order that aims to prevent viral leaks from future research
Trump asserted an unproven theory that the COVID-19 pandemic was caused by a lab leak moments before he signed the executive order. He said the order aims to stop “dangerous gain-of-function research,” defined as scientific research on an infectious agent or toxin by enhancing its ability to cause disease or making it more transmissible.
Scientists stress that “gain of function” does not always involve risky experiments; it can also cover general research.
Among other things, the order says it will end federal funding of this research by foreign entities in places such as China or other countries where there’s not adequate oversight to ensure they comply with U.S. policies and standards.
Moments before signing the order, Trump said the virus that causes COVID-19 “leaked out in my opinion,” from a lab in China, a theory the president has wholly embraced since coming back into the White House.
The origins of COVID-19 have never been proven.
White House says Harvard will receive no new grants
Harvard University will receive no new federal grants until it meets a series of demands from Trump’s administration, the Education Department announced in a letter to Harvard’s president Monday.
The administration previously froze $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard, and Trump is pushing to strip the school of its tax-exempt status.
In a press call, an Education Department official said Harvard will receive no new federal grants until it “demonstrates responsible management of the university” and satisfies federal demands on a range of subjects.
A PARACHUTIST who died after jumping from 10,000ft is believed to have left a suicide note.
Jade Damarell, 32, who had successfully completed more than 400 jumps, died instantly when she hit the ground without her chute opening.
Jade Damarell is thought to have left a suicide noteCredit: Jade Damarell / Facebook
As friends and colleagues paid tribute to the “beautiful” marketing manager, her skydiving club said it appeared to be “a deliberate act”.
Nearby farm worker Nigel Wreford, 56, added: “I’ve been told by quite a few people that she knew what she was doing — she had apparently left a suicide note.”
A traumatised parachutist who jumped with Jade on her fatal fall last Sunday ran to Mr Wreford’s house close to Sky-High Skydiving near Peterlee, Co Durham.
Mr Wreford added: “My wife was here when it happened and spoke to a parachutist who was coming out of the field.
“You can’t imagine how traumatic it must have been.
“She said he was in a hell of a state. He was very incoherent. It’s horrible. I can’t stop thinking about the girl and her family.”
Jade studied marketing at university in Leeds before marrying solicitor James Damarell in 2019.
They lived in Yorkshire but were thought to have separated.
At the end of last year she moved into rented digs used by enthusiasts from the Peterlee centre.
A friend of Jade’s said: “This wasn’t an accident. We believe she intended to take her life, sadly.
“She chose not to open her parachute and she landed on her back.”
The skydiving club added in a statement: “It is with great sadness that we confirm a tragic incident took place involving a valued member of our community.
“All indications from the police and British Skydiving are that this was a deliberate act taken to end her own life.”
Jade had previously persuaded her mum to complete a jump at the Peterlee centre, despite her fear of heights.
Liz Samuel, of Caerphilly, South Wales, posted pictures online and wrote: “Such a bucket-list moment.
“Firstly watching my beautiful daughter Jade free-fly solo right before me, like a ninja.
“Just wow . . . over a minute in freefall from 15,500ft, at around 120mph. Considering my fear of heights I still can’t quite believe I did it!
“This experience makes me even more proud of Jade’s amazing free-fly skills.”
It is the third fatal incident at the base in recent years.
Last April videographer Sam Cornwell, 46, of Hampshire, landed on a roof at a nearby industrial estate after failing to complete a safe landing.
Pamela Gower, 49, from Hebburn, South Tyneside, also died during a charity skydive there in 2016.
Tributes poured in for Jade, with Chris Brown posting a snap of them in a plane together. He said: “Forever in my heart.”
Danni Willis, who worked at the centre, added: “Such a beautiful girl inside and out.”
Durham Police said Jade was pronounced dead at the scene last Sunday morning.
Authorities said the victims were security guards and miners. The region the mine is located in is under a state of emergency due to ongoing instability.
Authorities said the victims had been discovered in a pit tied up [FILE: April 5, 2024]Image: Ernesto Benavides/AFP/Getty ImagesThe bodies of thirteen people were found in a mine in Peru on Sunday after they were abducted a few days earlier.
The grim discovery was made in a gold mine in Peru’s Pataz province in the northern La Libertad region, situated around 560 miles (900 kilometers) from the capital Lima.
Mining is a key economic sector for Peru which is one of South America’s major producers of gold.
Victims discovered tied up
The mayor of Pataz, Aldo Carlos Marino, told broadcaster Canal N that the victims who were both miners and security guards, were found tied up in a pit.
“This morning, after intense search efforts, the police rescue team was able to recover the bodies of the 13 workers who were kidnapped […] by illegal miners in collusion with criminal elements,” mining company Poderosa said in a statement.
The victims had worked for a service provider used by Poderosa, a major gold mining outfit that has been targeted by armed groups involved in illegal mining operations.
Government launches probe after wave of violence
The area the mine is located in has been under a state of emergency for more than two years due to ongoing violence and unrest.
“The spiral of uncontrolled violence in Pataz is occurring despite the declaration of a state of emergency and the presence of a large police contingent which, unfortunately, has not been able to halt the deterioration of security conditions in the area,” Poderosa said.
A previous drone attack on Moscow in March was Ukraine’s largest on the city since the war began
Russia says Ukraine has launched an overnight drone attack targeting Moscow for the second night in a row.
All four of the capital’s major airports were closed for several hours to ensure safety but later reopened, Russia’s aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said on Telegram.
Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said on social media at least 19 Ukrainian drones had been destroyed before they reached the city “from different directions”. He said some of the debris had landed on one of the key highways into the city, but there were no casualties.
Ukraine has not yet commented. But the mayor of Kharkiv said Russia had also carried out drone strikes in the city overnight, as well as in the Kyiv area.
The governor of Ukraine’s Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, said one person was killed in a drone strike.
It is the second night in a row that Russia has reported a drone attack by Ukraine – on Monday, Russia’s defence ministry said it had destroyed 26 Ukrainian drones overnight.
Unconfirmed reports by Russian military bloggers suggested windows of an apartment in the south of Moscow were smashed.
As well as in Moscow, the governors of other Russian cities, including Penza and Voronezh, also said they had been targeted by drones overnight into Tuesday.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, Kyiv has launched several drone attacks on Moscow. Its biggest attack in March killed three people.
It comes after reports on Monday of fresh attempts by Ukraine to cross into Russia’s Kursk region.
Kyiv said it had hit a drone command unit in the Kursk region on Sunday near the Russian village of Tyotkino, according to the Ukrainian general staff.
In April, Moscow said it had regained control of the entire region, nine months after a Ukrainian forces launched a surprise invasion. Kyiv insists it still has soldiers operating across the border.
Also in Kursk, Russian officials reported an electrical substation in the town of Rylsk lost power on Monday after being damaged in an attack by Ukraine.
Two transformers at the substation in Rylsk had been damaged, according to acting governor of the Kursk region, Alexander Khinshtein, in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
He added two teenagers had been injured by shrapnel from the blast.
Multiple Russian military bloggers also reported that Ukrainian forces had attempted to cross into the village, posting images – as yet unverified by the BBC – of vehicles breaking through tank traps on the border.
On Monday, Ukrainian forces fired missiles over the border and crossed minefields in special vehicles, according to the bloggers.
“The enemy blew up bridges with rockets at night and launched an attack with armoured groups in the morning,” blogger RVvoenkor said according to Reuters news agency.
“The mine clearance vehicles began to make passages in the minefields, followed by armoured vehicles with troops. There is a heavy battle going on at the border.”
In a statement on Monday, Ukraine said: “Nine months after the start of the Kursk operation, Ukraine’s Defence Forces maintain a military presence on the territory of Russia’s Kursk region.”
While there has been no official response from Moscow, some military bloggers have also published maps showing opposing forces attempting to cross the border in two places towards Tyotkino – near where the drone command unit that was hit.
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad.
Amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, the closed-door meeting of the United Nations Security Council, convened at Pakistan’s request, concluded without any statement, resolution, or official outcome. No significant response emerged from the discussion. The meeting took place just hours after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that the situation had reached its most volatile point in years.
Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, once again misused the UN Security Council platform to spread false claims against India. In an attempt to divert attention from the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians, Pakistan brought up the Kashmir issue, accusing India of military buildup and making provocative statements.
Ahmad also termed India’s recent suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty an “act of aggression,” in what India sees as a deliberate attempt to shift global focus away from Islamabad’s role in supporting cross-border terrorism.
Pakistan, currently a non-permanent member of the powerful 15-nation Security Council, had requested closed consultations to address the issue.
As the Council president for May, Greece scheduled a closed-door meeting for the afternoon of May 5. Unlike formal sessions held in the UNSC Chamber—where members convened around the iconic horse-shoe table—this consultation took place in a separate room next to the chamber.
Following the meeting, Pakistan’s UN envoy Asim Iftikhar Ahmad briefed reporters.
Prior to the UNSC meeting, India’s former Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin, told PTI that no “consequential outcome” can be expected from “a discussion where a party to the conflict seeks to shape perceptions by using its membership of the Council. India will parry such Pakistani efforts”.
In August 2019, China requested closed UNSC consultations to discuss India’s move to revoke the special status of Jammu and Kashmir. That meeting had ended without any outcome or statement from the powerful 15-nation UN organ, dealing a huge snub to Pakistan’s efforts, backed by Beijing, to internationalise the Kashmir issue, which an overwhelming majority in the Council stressed is a bilateral matter between New Delhi and Islamabad.
TENSIONS AT THEIR PEAK
On Monday morning, Guterres voiced concern over tensions between India and Pakistan being at “their highest in years”, saying “it pains me to see relations reaching a boiling point”. Guterres made the remarks to the press amid rising tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbours following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 26 people.
Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative Anna Evstigneeva, who attended the meeting, said, “We hope for de-escalation”.
Since India ramped up its preparations to punish the preparators of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, Pakistan has been in a panic mode. While Pakistan has been mobilising its army towards the borders, it also asked the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to hold closed-door consultation on the evolving situation. What is interesting is that even after the meeting was called at the request of Pakistan, the Islamic nation failed to garner any support as the meeting ended with no outcomes, no statement and no official release. The fresh humiliation at the UNSC comes days after India thrashed Islamabad at the UNSC calling it a ‘terror-state’.
According to reports, the UN Security Council members raised tough questions for Pakistan at its informal session today. They refused to accept the “false flag” narrative and asked whether LeT was likely to be involved. There was broad condemnation of the terrorist attack and recognition of the need for accountability. Some members specifically brought up targeting of tourists on the basis of their religious faith. Many members expressed concern that Pakistan’s missile tests and nuclear rhetoric were escalatory factors. Pakistan’s efforts to internationalise the situation also failed. They were advised to sought out the issues bilaterally with India.
While the Security Council president President Evangelos Sekeris called the meeting ‘productive’, it did not yield any result. “The Security Council is always helpful in such efforts” to de-escalate. “It is the responsibility of the Council”. “It was a productive meeting and helpful”, he said.
Since the meeting was a closed consultation, its proceedings are secret without official records. Assistant Secretary-General Mohamed Khaled Khiari, who briefed the meeting, said on his way out that all want de-escalation. Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative Anna Evstigneeva, who attended the meeting, said, “We hope for de-escalation”.
Sekeris convened the meeting at the request of Pakistan’s Permanent Representative Asim Iftikhar Ahmad. Ahmad called for a closed consultation because countries that are not members of the Council are not allowed to participate in it under Council procedures. That effectively shut out India, while Pakistan, as a current elected member, attended.
Before the meeting, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the situation was at a “boiling point” and asked the two countries to “step back from the brink”.
The “fake” letter claimed to be an official communication from General Upendra Dwivedi, Chief of the Army Staff, to General Anil Chauhan, Chief of Defence Staff.
PIB Fact Check flags Pro-Pakistan X handles sharing a fake letter claiming to be an official communication between Indian Army leadership | Image.X
The Press Information Bureau on Monday issued a strict warning to social media users against pro-Pakistan X handles that have been circulating claims of a “leaked” communication letter between senior Indian Army officials.
The “fake” letter claimed to be an official communication from General Upendra Dwivedi, Chief of the Army Staff, to General Anil Chauhan, Chief of Defence Staff.
“Pro-Pakistan X accounts are sharing a fake letter claiming to be an official communication from General Upendra Dwivedi to General Anil Chauhan, Chief of Defence Staff,” the PIB Fact Check wrote in an X post, debunking the fake pro-Pakistan narrative.
⚠️FAKE ALERT!
🚨 Pro-Pakistan X accounts are sharing a fake letter claiming to be an official communication from General Upendra Dwivedi to General Anil Chauhan, Chief of Defence Staff. #PIBFactCheck
Notably, the letter was widely shared by Pakistani X handles, which appeared to mock the confidentiality of Indian Army communications. However, no such letter was ever written.
Last month, the government debunked another pro-Pakistan narrative on social media, where Islamabad-based X users shared “leaked” confidential documents regarding the Indian Army’s preparedness following the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir.
In a post on X, PIB Fact Check dismissed the allegations, labelling the documents as “fake”.
“Pro-Pakistan social media accounts are falsely claiming that confidential documents related to the preparedness of the #IndianArmy have been leaked. #PIBFactCheck These documents are #FAKE,” PIB Fact Check wrote in an X post.
Evidence has been circulated through heads of multilateral development banks to show how the money given to Pakistan is being misused to stoke terror in India and the world
MDBs have been given proof to show that Pakistan has emerged as a school of terror and terror attacks in, say the Moscow theatre or London bridge, had Pakistani imprint. (Shutterstock)
India, after ensuring that Pakistan’s economy is hurt by its important economic decisions, is now working to ensure that the neighbour is cut off from much of the world’s aid in the aftermath of the deadly Pahalgam attack.
There are several development banks like World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMD), and Asian Development Bank (ADB) which provide aid to countries for developmental work. For instance, as of December 31, 2024, ADB had committed about $43.4 billion to Pakistan over many loans, grants, and technical assistance. The World Bank had, till January 2025, approved a $20 billion aid package for Pakistan.
Now, apart from the diplomatic war, in Stage 2 of the global economic war against Pakistan, sources say India has been working the phone lines and other channels to convince the multilateral development banks, or MDBs as they are called, to cut off aid to Pakistan. Evidence and proof have been kept ready and circulated through heads of these banks concerned to show how the money given to Pakistan for development is being misused—the people continue to live in poverty while the army gets richer and the funds are being channelised to stoke terror in India.
In fact, the MDBs have also been given proof to show that Pakistan has emerged as a school of terror and terror attacks in, say the Moscow theatre or London bridge, had Pakistani imprint. A senior official told News18: “This is proof for the world and these MDBs on why they should snap aid to Pakistan. This money would be the lifeline for terrorists and not just India, even they could face terror acts.”
World Bank, for example, has committed over $50 billion for various road and infrastructure projects. Pakistan has about 25 financial arrangements with IMF, while the ADB has promised over $3.4 billion. The IMF will meet on May 9 to review the decision, while the ADB board will meet on May 20.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday an expanded offensive against Palestinian militant group Hamas would be “intensive” after his security cabinet approved plans that may include seizing the Gaza Strip and controlling aid.
However an Israeli defence official said the operation would not be launched before U.S. President Donald Trump concludes his visit next week to the Middle East.
The decision, after weeks of faltering efforts to agree a ceasefire with Hamas, underlines the threat that a war heaping international pressure on Israel amid dwindling public support at home could continue with no end in sight.
A report by Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, citing officials with knowledge of the details, said the new plan was gradual and would take months, with forces focusing first on one area of the battered enclave.
Netanyahu said in a video message the operation would be “intensive” and would see more Palestinians in Gaza moved “for their own safety”.
He said Israeli troops would not follow previous tactics based on short raids by forces based outside Gaza. “The intention is the opposite,” he said, echoing comments from other Israeli officials who have said Israel would hold on to the ground it has seized.
U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Israel is a sovereign state that makes its own decisions, according to Axios, which also reported that he hopes for progress on a hostage and ceasefire deal before or during Trump’s visit. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israeli troops have already taken over an area amounting to around a third of Gaza, displacing the population and building watchtowers and surveillance posts on cleared ground the military has described as security zones, but the new plan would go further.
One Israeli official said the newly approved offensive would seize the entire territory of the Gaza Strip, move its civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’ hands.
The defence official said aid distribution, which has been handled by international aid groups and U.N. organizations, would be transferred to private companies and handed out in the southern area of Rafah once the offensive begins.
The Israeli military, which throughout the war has shown little appetite for occupying Gaza, declined to comment on the remarks by government officials and politicians.
Israel resumed its offensive in March after the collapse of a U.S.-backed ceasefire that had halted fighting for two months. It has since imposed an aid blockade, drawing warnings from the UN that the 2.3 million population faces imminent famine.
The defence official said Israel would hold on to security zones seized along the Gaza perimeter because they were vital for protecting Israeli communities around the enclave.
But he said there was a “window of opportunity” for a ceasefire and hostage release deal during Trump’s visit.
“If there is no hostage deal, Operation “Gideon Chariots” will begin with great intensity and will not stop until all its goals are achieved,” he said.
Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi rejected what he called “pressure and blackmail”.
Israeli tanks are positioned near the Israel-Gaza border, in Israel, March 18, 2025. REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
“No deal except a comprehensive one, which includes a complete ceasefire, full withdrawal from Gaza, reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, and the release of all prisoners from both sides,” he said.
‘OCCUPATION’
Israel has yet to present a clear vision for post-war Gaza after a campaign that has displaced most of Gaza’s population and left it depending on aid supplies that have been dwindling rapidly since the blockade.
Ministers have said that aid distribution cannot be left to international organizations which it accuses of allowing Hamas to seize supplies intended for civilians.
Instead, officials have looked at plans for private contractors to handle distribution, through what the United Nations has described as Israeli hubs.
On Monday, Jan Egeland, secretary-general of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said on X that Israel was demanding that the U.N. and non-governmental organisations shut down their aid distribution system in Gaza.
The decision to expand the operation was immediately hailed by Israeli government hardliners who have long pressed for a full takeover of the Gaza Strip by Israel and a permanent displacement of the population, along the lines of the “Riviera” plans outlined by Trump in February.
“We are finally going to conquer Gaza. We are no longer afraid of the word ‘occupation’,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told a pro-settler conference in an online discussion.
However, opinion polls show the Israeli public increasingly wants a deal to bring back the remaining 59 hostages still held in Gaza and there were angry scenes outside parliament with dozens of protesters scuffling with police.
“All the families are tired,” said Ruby Chen, whose son Itay was killed in the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023. “All the families have been scared about this new manoeuvring because there is no guarantee that it will get us to where the families want.”
With Israel facing threats from the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, who on Sunday fired a missile that hit close to Ben Gurion Airport, an unstable Syria next door and a volatile situation in the occupied West Bank, the capacity for prolonged military operations also faces growing constraints.
Israel’s Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said on Sunday that the military has already begun issuing tens of thousands of call-up orders for reservists.
A government spokesman said reserve soldiers were being called up to expand operations in Gaza, not to occupy it.
Zamir, who took office in March, has pushed back against calls by government hardliners who want to choke off aid entirely and has told ministers aid must be let in soon, according to Kan.
The war was triggered by the Hamas October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, according to Israeli tallies, and saw 251 taken hostage into Gaza.
Prospective jurors in Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial acknowledged on Monday being familiar with allegations against the hip-hop mogul, seeing a video of him allegedly assaulting a woman and hearing a comedian joke about baby oil that prosecutors say was found in his residences.
But having followed the case in the media did not exclude them from potentially serving on the jury for a trial expected to last up to two months on charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty. The “Bad Boy Records” founder is known for elevating hip-hop in American culture in the 1990s and 2000s, and hosting lavish parties for the cultural elite in the Hamptons and Saint-Tropez.
In a 26th-floor courtroom in Lower Manhattan, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian questioned 32 prospective jurors one-by-one, a process known as voir dire, in a bid to seat a panel of 12 jurors and six alternates who can be fair and impartial to both sides despite heavy media coverage of the case.
Opening statements are scheduled for May 12.
Subramanian deemed 19 qualified to serve – including two who said they were fans of 1990s hip-hop – and the rest were dismissed. More will be questioned on Tuesday, and jury selection is expected to finish by the end of the week.
The judge’s goal is to choose 45 potential jurors who are qualified to serve, and lawyers for both sides will then have the opportunity to dismiss jurors without stating a reason.
With Combs looking on wearing dark glasses and sporting a salt-and-pepper goatee, one juror said they had seen a video on the news that showed Combs allegedly assaulting someone in a hotel. Subramanian decided that juror, referred to as Juror No. 5, was qualified for the panel after they assured the judge they would be a “blank slate entering this courtroom.”
A prospective juror was dismissed after writing in a screening questionnaire that a still image they had seen below a news headline of a woman on the floor in a hotel hallway and Combs standing near her “could be damning evidence.”
Last year, CNN broadcast surveillance footage of what it said was a 2016 incident in which Combs attacked his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Casandra Ventura, in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel. Combs apologized after the footage aired.
Sean “Diddy” Combs stands with his attorneys before U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian to observe the pool of potential jurors entering for his sex trafficking trial in New York City, New York, U.S., May 5, 2025 in this courtroom sketch. REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg Purchase Licensing Rights
The jury will be anonymous, which is frequently the case in high-profile trials in which jurors could face threats or harassment if their identities are known.
Prosecutors have said the incident depicted in the hotel surveillance video was evidence of how Combs used force and threats over a two-decade period to coerce women to take part in days-long, drug-fueled sexual performances with male sex workers, which the mogul called “Freak Offs.”
COMBS JAILED SINCE SEPTEMBER ARREST
Prosecutors say employees of Combs’ business empire helped the “Freak Offs,” including by booking hotel rooms, buying controlled substances and other items used during sex, and helping him cover up the activity. During raids of Combs’ homes, authorities found drugs and 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant, prosecutors said.
One prospective juror said they had “liked” a video on social media in which a comedian joked about Combs and baby oil.
“I remember liking it because I thought it was funny,” said the juror, who Subramanian decided was qualified after they said they would be able to put the video aside and be impartial.
Combs’ lawyers say the hotel surveillance video depicted a domestic dispute over infidelity and was not evidence of sex trafficking. They are expected to argue that the sexual activity described by prosecutors was consensual.
Combs is the latest powerful man in the entertainment industry to be accused of sexual misconduct since the #MeToo movement encouraged women to speak up about abuse.
Since September he has been held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, about an hour by subway from the Harlem neighborhood where he was born. His rags-to-riches life story is of a boy reared by a single mother who through perseverance grew up to live in mansions in Los Angeles and Miami.
PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s administration has offered illegal immigrants a free flight and a $1,000 check to self-deport out of the United States.
The Department of Homeland Security announced the “historic opportunity” on Monday, insisting it’ll benefit both illegal immigrants and the US government.
Donald Trump’s administration has offered illegal immigrants a free flight home plus a $1,000 stipend to self-deportCredit: APThe Department of Homeland Security the ‘historic opportunity’ for illegal immigrants on MondayCredit: AFP
Illegal immigrants who use the US Customs and Border Protection Home App to self-deport will get travel assistance and be paid $1,000 in financial aid.
But the money will only be given after their return has been confirmed through the app.
In the DHS announcement, the agency said self-deportation is a “dignified way to leave the US and will allow illegal aliens to avoid being encountered by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
The Trump administration said its new self-deportation incentive has “already proven successful.”
One immigrant took a flight home from Chicago to Honduras and others facing deportation have already booked flights for this week and next week, according to DHS.
“If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest, and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said.
DHS expects the initiative to cut deportation costs paid by taxpayers by roughly 70%.
The average cost to arrest, detain, and deport an illegal immigrant is $17,121 per person, the agency said.
Even while paying for the stipend and commercial flights, having self-deport is expected to cost just about $4,500 per person on average, DHS told Fox News.
“This is the safest option for our law enforcement [and] aliens and is a 70% savings for US taxpayers,” Noem said.
Before the new initiative was announced, more than 5,000 illegal immigrants had already self-deported using the CBP Home app in April, Fox News Digital reported, citing DHS data.
TRUMP FLAUNTS IMMIGRATION SUCCESS
Trump touted his administration’s success in cracking down on illegal immigration as he celebrated the first 100 days of his second term last week.
Last Monday, the White House lawn was covered with signs featuring photos of alleged criminals who ICE arrested.
The crime they were accused of was written under their photo.
That same day, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan gave a press conference in which they detailed record-low illegal immigration numbers.
Leavitt told reporters attempted illegal crossings into the US at the southern border hit historic lows in February and March.
This past March, US Border Patrol encountered just over 7,000 illegal immigrants, Leavitt said.
That is a 95% decrease from the 140,000 illegal immigrants that border agents encountered in March 2024 under the Joe Biden administration, according to Leavitt.
When one reporter asked Homan why there is still a national emergency at the southern border if illegal crossings are at a record low, Homan mentioned the damage caused by drug cartels and gangs.
“We gotta ensure that not one ounce of fentanyl comes across the border to kill Americans,” he said.
“The president has declared the cartels in Mexico a terrorist organization along with MS-13 and [Tren de Aragua].
“It’s an emergency until the cartels are wiped off the face of this Earth.”
Trump’s tough-on-immigration stance goes back to his first presidential campaign in 2016.
During the 2024 election cycle, Trump fiercely criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the southern border and promised the largest deportation in US history.
But carrying out a deportation of that scale is costly, so the Trump administration is pushing illegal immigrants to return to their native country on their own.
Meanwhile, the White House has also overseen several ICE raids like “Operation Tidal Wave” in Florida last month.
Federal agents arrested over 1,100 illegal immigrants and removed “several violent gang members” during the raid, according to ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan.
KIM Kardashian and Kylie Jenner dazzled after keeping fans at fashion’s biggest night waiting until the final minutes to wow them with their Met Gala looks.
Reality star Kim, 44, wore a long body con dress and fedora with several diamond necklaces and matching earrings as she was among the last to climb the museum’s iconic steps on Monday night.
Kim Kardashian was among the last to arriveCredit: GettyHalle Berry shocked fans with her daring lookCredit: GettyOutkast’s Andre 3000 wore a piano on his back and carried a trash bagCredit: GettySydney Sweeney wearing Miu Miu at the Met GalaCredit: GettyRihanna arrived fashionaby late after confirming her pregnancyCredit: Rex
She was closely followed by sister Kylie Jenner, who attended alone despite rumors her and Oscar-nominated boyfriend Timothee Chalamet would finally walk a red carpet together.
Gala co-chair A$AP Rocky also arrived alone despite partner Rihanna using the event to confirm her third pregnancy earlier in the evening.
The music superstar was pictured arriving at the nearby Carlyle Hotel wearing a tight skirt and top that showed off her bump.
The news was later confirmed by A$AP who told AP “it feels amazing.”
“It’s time that we show the people what we was cooking up. And I’m glad everybody’s happy for us ’cause we definitely happy, you know.”
Rihanna finally made an appearance at the Met just after 10pm where she showed off her bump once again.
Sabrina Carpenter and Madonna also stunned fans with their take on the theme.
The gala returned to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to raise money for the museum’s Costume Institute and kick off its annual exhibition.
Zendaya rocked the blue carpet wearing a bridal white Burberry suit, a possible nod to her engagement to actor and Spider-Man co-star Tom Holland.
Kerry Washington followed suit, wearing a white blazer and a sheer white skirt, accessorized with a hat that covered part of her face.
Kicking off the event, gala co-chairs Pharrell Williams and Lewis Hamilton lead the way, both wearing Louis Vuitton suits, as the biggest night of fashion celebrated the theme Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.
Diana Ross stunned the carpet after her 22-year absence, wearing an 18-foot gown dedicated to her family’s legacy.
The marvelous white gown featured crystals and hand-sewn beads topped with a wide-brim hat.
Actress Demi Moore wore a black and white striped sequin gown designed by Thom Browne, which resembled a man’s tie.
Pharrell Williams, a co-chair at the gala, arrives wearing Louis VuittonCredit: Getty
POP STARLETS RUN THE CARPET
Sabrina Carpenter wore a short and sweet outfit, stunning everyone.
The pop star donned a custom Louis Vuitton burgundy bodysuit paired with a blazer and white collar.
K-Pop singer and White Lotus star Lisa also rocked a short and sweet outfit, wearing head-to-toe Louis Vuitton.
The singer wore a tailored top and opted for LV monogram tights over pants.
Dua Lipa attended the gala with her rumored fiancé, Callum Turner.
The Future Nostalgia singer wore a long, black dress with feathers on the skirt and a halter bodice.
Grammy-winning rapper Doechii wore a Louis Vuitton suit, burgundy bowtie, and burgundy shoes to complete her look.
Miley Cyrus arrives at the Met GalaCredit: GettyDua Lipa stunned in a flowing black gownCredit: Getty
A-LIST ARRIVES
Attendees began walking the runway around 5pm including A-listers Simone Biles, Angel Reese, Spike Lee, Regina King, Audra McDonald, Jeremy Pope, and Janelle Monáe.
Influencer Emma Chamberlin acted as a special correspondent for Vogue on the red carpet and was one of the first to be photographed with her suit-like Courrèges gown.
La La Anthony, musician Teyana Taylor, and SNL cast member Ego Nwodim also arrived early on the carpet, as they’re all set to host Vogue’s 2025 red carpet live stream.
Actor Colman Domingo’s Valentino look featured a flowy blue pleated cape decorated with a silver sequined and embellished chest piece.
Underneath the cape, Domingo wore a black and white tweed suit.
The dramatic look honored the late journalist Andre Leon Talley, who wore a cape for the gala in 2011.
Celebs quickly began arriving as Sydney Sweeney was one of the first major stars to arrive at the event wearing a stunning black dress by Miu Miu.
Singer and actress Coco Jones arrivesCredit: GettyColman Domingo honored the late Andre Leon Talley wearing a suit underneath a capeCredit: GettyVogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour arrives at the Met GalaCredit: Getty
NO SHOWS
Despite the slew of attendees, some notable guests were not attending the fundraiser.
Naomi Campbell posted on Instagram that she would miss out on the glamorous event, despite being invited and attending last year’s event.
“Congratulations to Anna Wintour, the brilliant designers, the dedicated Met Gala team, and stunning attendees of tonight’s extraordinary celebration,” the 54-year-old supermodel posted.
“I have to say, what perfect timing for the ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’ theme.
“It really celebrates how Black dandyism has shaped fashion and how fashion has been a way for Black people to express who they are and claim their power.”
The model said she would be there “in spirit,” and honored late fashion icon André Leon Talley, who served as the editor-at-large at Vogue before he died in 2022.
“His commanding presence, vision and belief that fashion is art helped shape what the Met Gala is presenting tonight,” she wrote.
“I can’t wait to see how everyone mixes African and European style traditions on those famous steps tonight! The creativity will be amazing.”
Lakers star LeBron James, who also serves as the event’s honorary co-chair, also announced he will be missing fashion’s biggest night due to a recent injury.
“Unfortunately because of my knee injury I sustained at the end of the season I won’t be able to attend the Met Gala in NY tonight as so many people have been asking and congratulating me on,” he wrote on Instagram.
“Hate to miss an historical event! My beautiful, powerful Queen will be there holding the castle down as she always has done,” he added, mentioning his wife, Savannah James.
In a move not so Carrie-Bradshaw-like, Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker will also not attend the Met Gala this year.
“I have to work,” she told Entertainment Tonight on May 2.
“But there’s going to be so much to see, and I look forward to seeing what everybody does, and how they interpret the theme and the homework they did for the assignment.”
Actress and pop star Jennifer Lopez also didn’t attend the event as she is busy shooting her new film Office Romance, The Daily Mail reported.
How do you get an invite to the Met Gala?
The Met Gala is one of the biggest fashion nights of the year but not everyone gets to attend the annual fundraiser – so, how do you get an invite to the exclusive event?
Invites to the charity event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute are rare and they do not let you get in for free.
According to the New York Times, they cost $75,000 while tables are priced at $350,000 – and all attendees have to be approved by Vogue’s editor in chief Anna Wintour.
So, the majority of guests are invited by major fashion houses and organisations with celebrities usually able to attend for free on behalf of brands who will foot the bill.
Designers like Gucci, Prada, and Louis Vuitton will usually buy tables and fill them up with A-listers from Hollywood, sports, art, and social media.
Many who get invites are brand ambassadors, major figures for hot campaigns, or stars that companies want to be linked to.
Social media stars are most likely to be invited by major platforms like Meta and Instagram, bringing in TikTok stars and other huge celebrities – but everyone needs to be over the age of 18.
Ultimately, anyone with a major platform who it willing to pay the price of a table and who is approved by Vogue’s chief will be able to attend.
Those who are not part of the elite may also be able to get their way into to exclusive event via volunteering and work.
Jobs or internships in production, public relations, catering, communications, media, and in the museum could also secure you a space behind the scenes at the Gala.
HISTORIC THEME
The historic theme of this year’s Met Gala exclusively highlighted black designers and focused on menswear, a significant departure from the typical gown-centric themes of the past two decades.
Designers pulled heavily on black dandyism, which is rooted in the reinvention and assertion of identity through fashion.
“Historically, the term ‘dandy’ was used to describe someone—often a man—who is extremely devoted to style and approaches it as a discipline,” the exhibit’s description reads.
“Dandyism was initially imposed on Black men in 18th-century Europe as the Atlantic slave trade and an emerging culture of consumerism created a trend of fashionably dressed, or dandified, servants.
“Dandyism offered Black people an opportunity to use clothing, gesture, irony, and wit to transform their given identities and imagine new ways of embodying political and social possibilities.”
Kendall Jenner wore a fitted black two pieceCredit: RexWhite Lotus co-stars Aimee Lou Wood and Patrick Schwarzenegger at the galaCredit: GettyAnna Wintour with co-chairs Colman Domingo and Lewis HamiltonCredit: RexQuarterback Joe Burrow arrives at the Met GalaCredit: Getty
Curator in Charge Andrew Bolton was inspired by guest curator Monica Miller’s book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity for this year’s theme.
“Black style is really related to thinking about how fashion and power connect,” Miller told Vogue.
Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour returned for her 25th year at the helm of the event since taking over in 1999.
Wintour has long been rumored to have to approve every single guest’s outfit, but she denied that in an interview with Good Morning America.
In the interview, Michael Strahan asked her point-blank if attendees needed her approval before they arrived on the carpet.
“No,” she replied with a laugh.
“Many call and ask for our advice, so we try and help some of them as best we can. Some, I have no idea.”
Teyana Taylor arrives at the 2025 Met GalaCredit: GettyJoey King at the Met GalaCredit: Getty
Peru’s gold mining sector has seen a flare of violence in recent monthsImage: Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo/picture alliance
Mining in Pataz in Peru’s north will be suspended for 30 days, the country’s President Dina Boluarte said on Monday.
She made the announcement after the bodies of 13 security guards working at a gold mine were found by policein a mine tunnel on Sunday.
The workers had been held captive for more than a week after being kidnapped.
Peru’s government also plans to impose an overnight curfew and set up a military base in Pataz, located around 560 miles (900 kilometers) from the capital Lima.
The 13 people found dead on Sunday were employees of a subcontractor of mining company Ponderosa, one of Peru’s top gold producers.
Illegal miners accused of using ‘terrorist’ methods
“The armed forces will take control of the area where Poderosa operates,” Boluarte said. “We all know that illegal activity in our mining sector generates millions and millions, much more than drug trafficking.”
She added that the government would ask congress to pass legislation to allow it to combat what she called “urban terrorism.”
She didn’t provide details on how the mining pause would work.
Poderosa says that 39 of its workers, including contractors and artisanal miners, have been killed recently in the gold-rich Pataz region at the hands of criminal gangs believed to be linked to illegal mining.
This is despite the region being under a state of emergency for more than two years.
United States President Donald Trump speaks to press as he arrives on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on May 4, 2025. (Photo: Reuters/Annabelle Gordon)
The Trump administration will offer a US$1,000 stipend and travel assistance to migrants who elect to voluntarily “self-deport” from the United States, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Monday (May 5).
The stipend and potential airfare for migrants who voluntarily depart would cost less than an actual deportation, the agency said. The average cost of arresting, detaining and deporting someone without legal status is currently about US$17,000, according to DHS.
President Donald Trump, a Republican, took office in January pledging to deport millions of people but so far has trailed deportations under his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden.
Biden’s administration faced high levels of illegal immigration and quickly returned many caught crossing the border.
The Trump administration has deported 152,000 people since Jan 20, according to DHS, lower than the 195,000 deported from February to April last year under Biden.
Trump’s administration has tried to encourage migrants to leave voluntarily by threatening steep fines, trying to strip away legal status and deporting migrants to notorious prisons in Guantanamo Bay and El Salvador.
“If you are here illegally, self-deportation is the best, safest and most cost-effective way to leave the United States to avoid arrest,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.
In March, the administration launched a rebranded app called CBP Home to facilitate self-deportation. The app, previously called CBP One, was used by the Biden administration to allow migrants to enter the US legally.
Trump previewed the stipend plan in April, saying the US would consider allowing migrants to return.
Kamala Harris was among the A-listers on the Met Gala 2025 red carpet on Monday night, hitting the star-studded event for the first time wearing a custom Off-White look by IB Kamara.
The former presidential candidate, 60, honored the night’s theme, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” with a black silk gown, featuring a long scarf, sweeping white statement sleeve, and a pleated skirt.
Kamala Harris made her Met Gala debut on Monday. Cameron SmithHarris, who posed with husband Doug Emhoff, hit the star-studded event for the first time wearing a custom Off-White look by IB Kamara. Cameron Smith
The theme and dress code both honor black dandyism and “[explore] the importance of clothing and style to the formation of Black identities in the Atlantic diaspora,” per the Met.
She rounded out her simple attire with green diamond statement earrings, a black and gold clutch and her signature blown-out hairstyle.
Kamara shared his concept for Kamala’s look with Vogue, explaining, “for this monumental night at the Met celebrating Black culture and iconicity, we felt simplicity is best.”
Kamara shared his concept for Kamala’s look with Vogue, explaining, “for this monumental night at the Met celebrating Black culture and iconicity, we felt simplicity is best.” Cameron Smith
“Utilizing a mix of silk fabrications and precise tailoring, we added subtle flares allowing her own dandyism to shine through,” he continued, “like the dramatic sleeve and elongated scarf.”
She was joined by husband Doug Emhoff, who wore a Brunello Cucinelli tuxedo.
Stepdaughter Ella Emhoff, however, did not join the couple after making her own Met Gala debut in 2021 wearing a red Adidas by Stella McCartney bedazzled look.
Harris isn’t the first politician to get the Met invite; Hillary Clinton previously attended in 2001 and 2013, and made her triumphant return in 2022 for the America-themed event wearing a Joseph Altuzarra gown embroidered with the names of famed women she admires, like Madeline Albright, Abigail Adams, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Lady Bird Johnson, and Clinton’s mother, Dorothy Rodham.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made quite the statement with her 2021 attire — literally — sporting a white Brother Vellies gown with “Tax the Rich” splashed across the back.
Pope Francis’ popemobile is being converted into a health clinic on wheels for children in Gaza, fulfilling the late pontiff’s final wishes.
The Catholic charity Caritas Jerusalem, which was gifted the vehicle after Francis’ visit to the West Bank in 2014, revealed that the pontiff reached out to them in his final months asking them to use his popemobile to help the children in Gaza.
“The purpose of the initiative is to safeguard and uphold children’s fundamental rights and dignity,” the Israel-based charity said in a statement.
Pope Francis donated the popemobile he used for a 2014 visit to the West Bank to a Catholic charity in Israel — and before he died, asked that it be used to help children suffering in Gaza. REUTERS
Peter Brune, the secretary general of Caritas Sweden, said the vehicle will arrive in Gaza just in time to help “reach children who today have no access to healthcare – children who are injured and malnourished.
“This is concrete, life-saving intervention at a time when the health system in Gaza has almost completely collapsed,” Brune said in a statement. “It’s not just a vehicle, it’s a message that the world has not forgotten about the children in Gaza.”
The Vatican confirmed Francis’ final wish for the popemobile, which will drive around a doctor and medical staff, along with equipment to test for infections and suture wounds, the New York Times reported.
It will take about three weeks to complete the transformation and install blast-proof windows, with Caritas Jerusalem still waiting on approval from Israel to ride the vehicle into Gaza.
Anton Asfar of Caritas Jerusalem said the gift was evidence that the conflict in Gaza never strayed too far from the late pope’s mind.
“This vehicle represents the love, care and closeness shown by His Holiness for the most vulnerable, which he expressed throughout the crisis,” Asfar told the Vatican News.
Before his death last month, Francis repeatedly called for an end to the war in Gaza, with the pontiff’s final Easter message slamming the humanitarian crisis in the enclave as “dramatic and deplorable.”
This cruise was a total washout for these wannabe celebs.
Around 30, budding, bikini-clad influencers took a luxurious Lamborghini Tecnomar out for a spin in the waters off Miami Beach on Saturday – only to have their hopes for a picture-perfect jaunt sink when the posh yacht started taking on water.
The glamorous but clueless bunch cracked jokes and appeared mostly unbothered by the harrowing ordeal.
A $4 million Lamborghini yacht out for a cruise near Miami Beach sank on Saturday. USCG Southeast
The Coast Guard and a good Samaritan boat swooped in to get everyone off safely – with many of the influencers able to save their most prized possessions, including a Macbook and a $350 bottle of Clase Azul Gold tequila.
The pricey booze was cradled by former Miss America competitor Regan Hartley on a rescue boat while someone else shouted, “The baby is safe,” according to one video.
Social-media footage showed the rescued young women taking photos or videos of their sinking yacht from afar.
“No f–ks given,” an Instagram user noted of the blasé attitude of the group. “Everyone on the sinking yacht taking selfies.”
The high-end boat began sinking near Florida’s millionaire haven of Star Island around 5 p.m., and was nearly vertical as its 32 passengers and crew members rushed to the deck, the Coast Guard said.
Some of the attention-seeking wannabe trendsetters provided a behind-the-scenes look at their brush with disaster.
A series of videos from a model and stylist showed the women, now all in life vests, standing on the top of the sinking, 63-foot, black and white boat as each is led onto a Coast Guard vessel.
“Sheesh,” a woman can be heard saying as each one was rescued. “F–k, f–k.”
After the group got off the sinking yacht, the woman posted a video of the Lambo boat nearly submerged with only the front of the boat still peeking through.
“How did this happen?” another woman can he heard saying in a second video posted by aerial dance instructor Anita Ayala.
Another young woman can be seen in a separate video holding tight to her Macbook laptop in footage posted by Miami guide Luis Leon Martinez.
“Women and children first, women and children,” a man can be heard jokingly shouting as some of the already saved women laughed.
Officials said the women were taken to the Miami Beach Marina.
Celebrities from Cardi B to Tom Cruise who are staying at a tony Manhattan hotel for the posh Met Gala will be confronted with an ugly labor dispute before walking the red carpet Monday, union bigs warn.
Members of the Hotel Trade Council union say they will be holding a protest outside The Surrey Hotel, where many A-list attendees of the famed Met Museum event are staying on nearby East 76th Street.
Members of the Hotel Trade Council union say they will be holding a protest outside The Surrey Hotel. Olga Ginzburg for NY Post
The Surrey closed in 2020 during the pandemic and went into bankruptcy, then reopened in October under the Corinthia Hotels brand and new ownership by the Reuben Brothers, a global investment company based in London, Geneva and Milan.
But nearly 100 of the hotel’s workers who lost their jobs during the closure were never rehired by the new management when it reopened, a move that the trade council is blasting as a union-busting tactic.
The displaced workers filed a lawsuit in March against the new ownership, claiming the loss of their jobs violated a law approved during the pandemic aimed at retaining workers, even during a change in ownership. The case is pending.
Stars staying at The Surrey for Monday’s fete include Cardi B, Cruise, Alicia Keys, Shakira, Cristiano Ronaldo, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, Angela Bassett, Tommy Hilfiger and executives from the Burberry, Valentino and Stella McCartney brands, according to the HTC.
The union said it has contacted reps from each of the celebrities and asked for them to show their support for the workers. The labor activists said they will make another round of calls to the celebs early Monday.
The fired workers and their union are pressuring the stars “to step off the red carpet and stand with them” by demanding The Surrey rehire them.
The Surrey is offering its gala customers an ultra-deluxe spa treatment featuring Sisley Paris for those seeking “a transformative, red-carpet-ready experience,” with “expert sculpting massage, LED light therapy, and a rejuvenating eye treatment” available.
Among the former Surrey workers who want to look the entertainers and sports figures to back them is Merry Coronado, who was a room attendant at the hotel since 2010 before getting the heave-ho.
“I am a single mom, so my job at The Surrey means everything to me,” Coronado said in a statement to The Post. “This job fed my two daughters, paid for us to live in a good apartment, and enabled me to buy a car.
“When I lost this job, it was devastating. I’ve had to go into debt just to survive, to keep food on the table and the lights on. I’m fighting for my job back, so I can get my family’s life back.”
Donna McCammon, a room attendant at the hotel since 2002 before getting laid off, said, “Losing my job at The Surrey has been one of the hardest experiences of my life.
“I am the sole breadwinner for my household, and without the steady income, it was incredibly difficult,” McCammon said.
“I went from a stable job at The Surrey that allowed me to provide for my family, to having to take a job working the overnight shift just to survive. After working at The Surrey for decades, I had the expectation that my coworkers and I were going back to our jobs. We’re not giving up that hope.”
Elon Musk’s vision has materialised as voters in South Texas approved a ballot measure to establish SpaceX site ‘Starbase’ as an official city.
A statue of SpaceX founder Elon Musk on Saturday is seen near the town of Boca Chica, Texas. Photo : AP
Elon Musk’s long-standing dream is now a reality. Voters in South Texas have approved a ballot measure to establish the South Texas home of Musk’s SpaceX rocket company as an official city, and with a fittingly galactic name: Starbase. In a social media post on X, the tech billionaire confirmed the announcement and said that Starbase was now a real city.
The mandate was in favour of establishing Starbase as a city by a margin of 212 to 6, according to results published online by the Cameron County Elections Department. Most of the 283 eligible voters at the ballot are said to be SpaceX employees or those who had connections to the company, AP reported.
The incorporation of Starbase will give SpaceX the authority to set the pace of its own development in the area. It is expected that the new city will be governed by a city commission, comprising current or former SpaceX employees, who will have authority over zoning, building projects, and other aspects of life.
All about Elon Musk’s city: Starbase
Starbase, located at the southern tip of Texas near the Mexico border is only about 1.5 square miles (3.9 square kilometers), crisscrossed by a few roads and dappled with airstream trailers. Over the years, Starbase has served as the facility and launch site for the SpaceX rocket program that is under contract with the US Department of Defence and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Musk first floated the idea of Starbase in 2021. Sharing a throwback picture after the city ballot was won, the tech billionaire remarked that “Starbase started with one shovel”. The space company has generally drawn widespread support from local officials for its jobs and investment in the area.
“We need the ability to grow Starbase as a community,” Starbase General Manager Kathryn Lueders wrote to local officials in 2024 with the request to get the city issue on the ballot, AP reported. The letter said the company already manages roads and utilities, as well as “the provisions of schooling and medical care” for those living on the property.
However, the creation of an official company town has also drawn critics who worry that it will expand Musk’s personal control over the area. SpaceX officials have told lawmakers that granting the city authority to close a popular beach for launches would streamline operations.
President Trump called on his administration to reopen and expand Alcatraz so authorities could send the “dregs of society” to the notorious California prison more than six decades after it closed.
The commander in chief announced Sunday that he was directing the Bureau of Prisons and other federal agencies to get the massive island facility off the San Francisco bay — which has long been the lore of Hollywood — back up and running again to lock away homegrown, repeat criminals.
President Donald Trump says he is directing his government to reopen and expand Alcatraz, the notorious former prison on a California island. REUTERS
“For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm.
“That’s the way it’s supposed to be. No longer will we tolerate these Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets.”
Trump, 78, also said the “substantially enlarged and rebuilt” prison would “serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE.”
But the logistics behind the presidential order are thornier.
The island is now a major tourist attraction that is run by the National Parks Service and attracts thousands of visitors each year. It’s also a designated National Landmark.
Alcatraz was initially closed because its infrastructure was crumbling and it was too expensive to keep running — given all food, supplies and other necessities had to be delivered by boat.
The facility was operated as a major federal detention center between 1934 and 1963 and was nearly inescapable because the island was surrounded by strong currents and ice-cold water. Some of its most famous prisoners included gangsters Al Capone and George “Machine Gun” Kelly.
The island has become the subject of several Hollywood blockbusters, including “The Rock,” starring Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage and the 1979 film “Escape from Alcatraz,” starring Clint Eastwood.
During Alcatraz’s 29 years as a prison, 36 men made a bid for freedom — with nearly all of them dying or getting captured by guards.
To this day, it remains unknown if three inmates – brothers John and Clarence Anglin, and fellow inmate Frank Morris – successfully made it off the island alive during their attempted escape in 1962.
Trump, in his social media post, said the country can’t be held hostage by “criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job and allow us to remove criminals, who came into our Country illegally.”
The Republican has railed against federal judges who have slowed his effort to boot alleged gangbangers and ship them off to the infamous El Salvador megaprison.
Just last Thursday, District Judge Fernando Rodriguez – who was appointed by Trump – blocked the US government from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Trump also ordered the FBI, the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security to help get Alcatraz reopened.
Revelers take part in the Devils and Congos Festival in Portobelo, Panama, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Red bathed the small Panamanian town of Portobelo on Saturday in a celebration meant to represent a fight between good and evil, and the resistance of slaves and Spanish colonizers.
Every year, hundreds in the town, which sits wedged between the Caribbean Sea and the region’s tropical jungles, take to the streets for the Festival of Devils and Congos. The festival uses dramatic imagery and bright colors characteristic of Caribbean celebrations to capture the historic struggle between slaves during the time of colonization.
A youth dresses up to take part in the Devils and Congos Festival in Portobelo, Panama, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)Revelers take part in the Devils and Congos Festival in Portobelo, Panama, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Marchers dress with intricate red and black masks, which merges imagery of the devil and Spanish colonizers. Slaves are dressed in color and, protected by angles dressed in white, chase the devils as they dance, eventually converting their oppressors to good.
It’s the culture of memory, the devil representing the culture of the oppressor, or in this case, the white man during times of slavery toward the Blacks, known as Congos, said 34-year-old Eduardo Guadalupe. He said he celebrated in a large black mask, with what appeared to be red and black dotted flames flaring out of the top and the sides.
Revelers take part in the Devils and Congos Festival in Portobelo, Panama, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)A reveler prepares his outfit to take part in the Devils and Congos Festival in Portobelo, Panama, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)A visitor photographs revelers during the Devils and Congos Festival in Portobelo, Panama, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)Revelers take part in the Devils and Congos Festival in Portobelo, Panama, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)Revelers take part in the Devils and Congos Festival in Portobelo, Panama, Saturday, May 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A missile launched by Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at Israel’s main international airport on Sunday after its impact near an access road caused panic among passengers.
The attack on Ben-Gurion International Airport came hours before Israeli Cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify military operations in Gaza. The army was calling up tens of thousands of reserves, Israel’s chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said.
Israel’s army said it was the first time a missile struck the airport grounds since the war in Gaza began. The military said initial findings indicated the likely cause was a technical issue with the interceptor.
Israel’s paramedic service Magen David Adom said four people were lightly wounded.
Multiple international airlines canceled or postponed flights. The war with Hamas in Gaza and then Hezbollah in Lebanon had led a wave of airlines to suspend flights to Israel. Many had resumed in recent months.
The Houthis have targeted Israel throughout the war in solidarity with Palestinians, raising their profile at home and internationally as the last member of Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” capable of launching regular attacks on Israel. The U.S. military under President Donald Trump has launched an intensified campaign of daily airstrikes targeting the Houthis since March 15.
Early Monday, the rebels issued a warning to airlines that they would carry out “repeated targeting” of Ben-Gurion, Israel’s main gateway to the world.
International carriers should “cancel all their flights to the airports of the criminal Israeli enemy, in order to safeguard the safety of their aircraft and passengers,” the Houthis said.
Israel vows to respond
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a video statement that the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Houthi rebels have fired at Israel since the war with Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023. The missiles have mostly been intercepted, although some have penetrated Israel’s missile defense systems, causing damage.
Israel has struck back against the rebels in Yemen.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the U.S. was supporting Israeli operations against the Houthis. “It’s not bang, bang and we’re done, but there will be bangs,” he said. In a later statement, he added Israel would respond to the Houthis “AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Vote on expanding Gaza war
Netanyahu said the security Cabinet was meeting Sunday evening to vote on plans to expand the fighting in Gaza.
“We will operate in additional areas and we will destroy all of the infrastructure above and below ground,” Zamir said.
Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir told Israeli Army Radio he wanted to see a “powerful” expansion of the war, and demanded that Israel bomb “the food and electricity supplies” in Gaza.
An 8-week ceasefire with the Hamas militant group allowed more aid into Gaza and freed some Israeli hostages, but it collapsed in March when Israel resumed strikes. The military has since captured swaths of the coastal enclave. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, according to local health officials.
Israel in March halted the entry of goods into Gaza as part of efforts to pressure Hamas to negotiate on Israel’s terms for a new ceasefire. That has plunged the territory of 2.3 million people into what is believed to be the worst humanitarian crisis of the war. Hunger has been widespread, and shortages have set off looting.
In a confrontation over efforts to support Gaza, Malta’s prime minister, Robert Abela, said his country had offered to send a marine surveyor to look into the damage caused to a ship said to be carrying aid and organized by pro-Palestinian activists. Abela said the captain refused.
The activists said Friday their vessel was struck by drones, blaming Israel. The ship remained in international waters off Malta. The Israeli military has not commented.
New Israeli airstrikes kill children
Israeli airstrikes killed at least seven Palestinians, including parents and their children, ages 2 and 4, in southern and central Gaza, Palestinian medics said. The military had no comment.
The military said two soldiers were killed in combat in Gaza, bringing the number killed since fighting resumed in March to six.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages. Israel says 59 captives remain in Gaza, although about 35 are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed more than 52,000 people in Gaza, many of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials, who do not distinguish between combatants and civilians in their count.
US President Donald Trump says he will hit movies made in foreign countries with 100% tariffs, as he ramps up trade disputes with nations around the world.
Trump said he was authorising the US Department of Commerce and Trade Representative to start the process to impose the levy because America’s movie industry was dying “a very fast death”.
He blamed a “concerted effort” by other countries that offer incentives to attract filmmakers and studios, which he described as a “National Security threat”.
“It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!” Trump said on his Truth Social platform. “WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick responded to the latest announcement, saying “We’re on it”.
But the details of the move are unclear. Trump’s statement did not say whether the tariff would apply to American production companies producing films abroad.
Several recent major movies produced by US studios were shot outside America, including Deadpool & Wolverine, Wicked and Gladiator II.
The governments of Australia and New Zealand have spoken out in support of their countries’ film industries.
“Nobody should be under any doubt that we will be standing up unequivocally for the rights of the Australian screen industry,” Australia’s home affairs minister Tony Burke said.
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told a news conference that his government was awaiting further details of the proposed tariffs.
“But we’ll be obviously a great advocate, great champion of that sector and that industry,” he added.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has imposed tariffs on countries around the world.
He argues tariffs will boost US manufacturers and protect jobs – but the global economy has been thrown into chaos as a result, and prices on goods around the world are expected to rise.
Ahead of his inauguration, Trump appointed three film stars – Jon Voight, Mel Gibson and Sylvester Stallone – to be special ambassadors tasked with promoting business opportunities in Hollywood, which he described as a “great but very troubled place”.
“They will serve as Special Envoys to me for the purpose of bringing Hollywood, which has lost much business over the last four years to Foreign Countries, BACK—BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!” Trump wrote at the time.
The US remains a major film production hub globally despite challenges, according to movie industry research firm ProdPro.
Its most recent annual report shows the country saw $14.54bn (£10.94bn) of production spending last year. That was down by 26% since 2022, though.
Countries that have attracted an increase in spending over the same period include Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the UK, according to the report.
Even before this most recent announcement, the US movie industry had been impacted by the fallout from Trump’s trade policies.
In April, China said it was reducing its quota of American films allowed into the country.
“The wrong action of the US government to abuse tariffs on China will inevitably further reduce the domestic audience’s favourability towards American films,” the China Film Administration said.
“We will follow the market rules, respect the audience’s choice, and moderately reduce the number of American films imported.”
Trump has hit China hardest with his tariffs salvo, imposing import taxes of up to 145% on goods from there.
His administration said last month that when the new tariffs are added on to existing ones, the levies on some Chinese goods could reach 245%.
Beijing has hit back with a 125% import duty on goods from the US.
Other countries currently face a blanket US tariff of 10% until a pause on higher levies expires in July.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said he was meeting with many countries, including China, on trade deals.
He added, however, that he had no plans to speak with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week – despite previous reports that Washington had approached Beijing about holding trade talks.
Asked if any trade agreements would be announced this week, Trump said that could “very well be”, but gave no details.
Earlier, Trump signalled he may be willing to lower tariffs on China.
“At some point, I’m going to lower them, because otherwise, you could never do business with them, and they want to do business very much,” he said in an interview that aired Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press.
In the same interview, Trump said he may grant another extension to a deadline for China-based ByteDance to sell the US operations of TikTok.
General Security Forces personnel have been deployed in Latakia city
One of the men accused of taking part in a wave of sectarian violence against Syria’s Alawite minority two months ago has told the BBC that he and other armed civilians who travelled to the area were advised and monitored by government forces there.
Abu Khalid said he had travelled as a civilian fighter to the Mediterranean coastal village of Sanobar on 7 March, to help battle former regime insurgents.
“The General Security department told us not to harm civilians, but only to shoot at insurgents who shot at us,” he told me.
“There were eight men with me, but it was a large group, and the General Security department was overseeing things so that no-one would vandalise the village or harm the residents.”
He later filmed himself shooting dead a 64-year-old village resident, Mahmoud Yusef Mohammed, at the entrance to his house.
Abu Khalid, who has now been arrested, insisted Mahmoud was an armed insurgent – but video he filmed of the incident does not support his account.
Military police told the BBC there had been no coordination between security forces and Abu Khalid.
Human rights groups estimate that almost 900 civilians, mainly Alawites, were killed by pro-government forces across Syria’s coastal region in early March.
The Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shia Islam and its followers make up around 10% of Syria’s population, which is majority Sunni.
Syria’s coastal area – a stronghold of the former regime – has been largely sealed off, but a BBC team gained access, speaking to witnesses and security officials about what happened in Sanobar.
The violence came a day after fighters loyal to the country’s overthrown former President Bashar al-Assad, who is an Alawite, led deadly raids on government security forces.
The new Sunni Islamist-led government had called for support from various military units and militia groups to respond to those raids – but that escalated into a wave of sectarian anger aimed at Alawite civilians.
Witnesses told the BBC that several different armed groups had targeted Alawites for summary executions. Some also said that government security forces had battled violent and extremist factions to protect Alawite villagers from attack.
When the violence along this coast erupted, the village of Sanobar was right in its path. Some 200 people were wiped out from this small Alawite village, over the course of a few days in early March.
Almost two months after the killings, there have been no funerals in Sanobar.
A mass grave now squats beside the winding village road. Hurried burials have cleared the remaining corpses.
This is now a village of women and secrets. Most survivors are still too scared to speak openly but their stories, shared with us privately, are often strikingly similar.
The body of Mahmoud Yousef Mohammed lay outside his simple breeze-block house in Sanobar for three days after he was shot dead.
His wife, daughter and grandchildren, sheltering in a neighbour’s house, were too afraid to emerge from hiding and bury him, as armed groups roamed the village.
His family said Mahmoud was a polite man, known and respected in the village; a farmer with a military background, who sometimes worked as a minibus driver.
His house, on a quiet street at the edge of the village, stands less than 300m (985ft) from the main highway where, on 6 March, army officers from Syria’s former regime led co-ordinated attacks on the country’s new security forces.
For two days, government forces battled former regime fighters, known locally as “filoul” (“remnants”), in the villages along this coastal highway, calling for support from allied militia groups who helped push Bashar al-Assad from power last year.
An array of armed supporters responded to the call, including foreign jihadist fighters, civilians and armed units now nominally part of the new Syrian army, but still not fully under government control. All are groups now accused by survivors of civilian executions.
All day on 7 March, Sanobar residents listened to the sounds of intense fighting around the village, as families hid in their houses.
Then the targeting of civilians began.
“All day, many groups entered our house,” one survivor from Sanobar told me. “They weren’t from the [military] groups based here, but from Idlib, Aleppo and elsewhere. Some wore camouflage uniforms. But the ones who killed us were wearing green uniforms with a mask.”
“They stole everything, insulted us, threatened the children,” she continued. “The last group came around 6pm. They asked, ‘Where are the men?’ and took my father and my brother Ali. We begged them not to kill them. They said, ‘You’re Alawite, pigs,’ and shot them in front of our eyes.”
Some time that day, Mahmoud stepped outside the building he was sheltering in with his family. One of his relatives said he could smell toxic fumes from a fire nearby, and wanted to check on his own house.
He never reappeared.
“We found the next morning that he had been killed,” the relative told us.
The story of what happened to Mahmoud began to emerge when a video of his killing surfaced on social media, filmed by the man who shot him.
In the video, Abu Khalid is seen grinning and taunting Mahmoud from the back of a motorbike before shooting him six times.
To meet Abu Khalid, we travelled to Idlib, the heartland of transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which swept Syria’s old regime from power last December.
Now in military police custody pending an investigation, Abu Khalid shuffled into the room, blinking and stretching as his blindfold and handcuffs were removed.
A young man in camouflage pants, he seemed keen to talk, explaining that Mahmoud was not a civilian, but an insurgent who was fighting in the village that day, and had been carrying an 8.5mm-calibre rifle when he shot him.
“I turned the camera on him and told him to sit down,” Abu Khalid told me. “He was running away and he wanted to kill me, so I shot him in the shoulder and the leg. When I got closer, I saw him moving his hand as if he had a bomb or a gun. I was afraid, so I killed him.”
But the video Abu Khalid filmed of the shooting – its location and timing verified by the BBC – does not support his account.
A former member of the British special forces confirmed that there was no weapon visible on or near Mahmoud at any point in the video.
And at no point does Abu Khalid ask the 64-year-old to stop or sit down – nor does he appear scared or under threat.
Instead, he is shown whooping and grinning on the back of the motorbike, before calling out to Mahmoud, “I’ve caught you, I’ve caught you! Look at the camera!”
He then shoots him three times in quick succession. Mahmoud falls to his knees inside the doorway of his house.
“You didn’t die?!” Abu Khalid calls out, as he follows him to the building.
Mahmoud can be heard begging for his life, before Abu Khalid shoots him three more times at close range.
International law forbids the killing of civilians, the injured, or disarmed fighters.
Khaled Moussa, from the military police unit now holding Abu Khalid, said he had gone to fight in Sanobar without coordination with the security forces.
“Civilians are not supposed to be there during military operations,” Mr Moussa said. “He made a mistake. He could have captured the person, but instead he killed him.”
But Abu Khalid has little regret for what he did.
When he cries during our interview, it’s not for Mahmoud – or even for himself. It’s for his little brother, killed in a bomb attack by President Assad’s former army in 2018 as his family sat down at home to break their Ramadan fast.
“He was eight years old, and I held him while his soul left his body,” he told me, before tears start flowing down his face.
“I was raised during the revolution, and saw nothing but injustice, blood, killing and terror. They ignore everything that happened in Syria before the liberation, and focus on the video I filmed.”
He tells me his family’s latest casualty was his 17-year-old cousin, killed while fighting insurgents near Sanobar. “He was completely burned,” he said. “We took him away in a plastic bag.”
“If I was going for revenge for what they did to us, I wouldn’t have left any of them.”
The insurgent attacks on 6 March ripped open sectarian fault-lines that Syria’s new Islamist government had tried to paper over with promises of tolerance and inclusion.
The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), an independent monitoring group, says former regime loyalists killed at least 446 civilians, including 30 children and women, and more than 170 government security forces, most of them on 6 March.
Those attacks resurrected deep-seated anger over the repressive dictatorship of former President Assad, with Alawite civilians seen by some as complicit in the crimes of his regime – and as part of the insurgency that followed his fall.
The SNHR says the government’s crackdown on insurgents on the coast “escalated into widespread and severe violations”, most of which were “retaliatory and sectarian”.
The group says that pro-government forces and supporters killed at least 889 civilians, including 114 children and women, in the days following the insurgent attacks.
Amnesty International has investigated dozens of attacks it says were “deliberate”, “unlawful” and targeted at Alawite civilians.
One video from Sanobar shows a pro-government fighter marching through the village chanting, “ethnic cleansing, ethnic cleansing”.
Lists of victims from the village, compiled by local activists, include the names of more than a dozen women and children, including an 11-year-old, a pregnant woman and a disabled man.
The survivor who watched gunmen kill her father and brother said the family showed their killers the men’s civilian ID cards to prove they hadn’t been part of Assad’s army. But it made no difference; their only accusation, she said, was that the family were “Alawite pigs”.
Separating civilians from insurgents is key to the new government’s plan to secure the country, and its promise to protect minorities.
But that will require prosecuting those responsible – and proving it can control its own military forces and armed allies.
Sharaa’s HTS group – once the local affiliate of al-Qaeda and still designated as a terrorist organisation by the UN, US and UK – formed the backbone of his new army.
There has been rapid recruitment to fill the ranks of a new civilian police and the General Security Forces.
Training has reportedly been shortened and many units say they are under-equipped. One commander looked wistfully at my body-armour and radio when we joined them on a patrol. “We don’t have those,” he said.
Turkish-backed militia and jihadist fighters who once fought alongside HTS to remove Bashar al-Assad are among those named by witnesses and human rights groups as carrying out summary executions.
In the streets of Sanobar, the names of Turkish-backed units, now supposedly under government control, have been graffitied on the walls, and the BBC heard several reports that their men were still present in the village.
Some videos of alleged violations also appear to show the presence of vehicles and uniforms from the official General Security Forces – prompting Amnesty International to call for investigation.
The head of the General Security Forces for the Latakia region, Mustafa Kunaifati, told me that civilians with friends or relatives in the army were responsible for most of the crimes, but admitted that members of armed groups had also been involved – including what he called “individual cases” from his own General Security units.
“It happened,” he said, “and those members were also arrested. We can’t accept something like that.”
After the former regime fighters were expelled and the situation brought under control, he said his men “began removing all the rioters from the area and arresting anyone who had harmed civilians”.
Several witnesses have confirmed to the BBC that Mr Kunaifati’s forces intervened to protect them from other armed groups.
One of Mahmoud’s neighbours in Sanobar told us they evacuated him and his family 30 minutes before Mahmoud was killed.
And the witness who described the killing of her father and brother said the General Security Forces had helped them escape the village, and later to return and bury their relatives.
Sharaa has vowed that “no-one will be above the law” when it comes to prosecuting the killings on the coast.
A special committee is currently investigating both the initial 6 March attack by insurgents, and the violence by pro-government forces that followed. The BBC understands some 30 people have been arrested.
But in a country still waiting to see justice for the crimes of the past, this is a delicate moment.
Hamas has executed a number of alleged looters after several incidents in which heavily armed gangs attacked food stores and community kitchens in the Gaza Strip this week, sources close to the Palestinian militant group said.
Hamas officials have accused some of the looters of working in collaboration with Israel, which has sealed off aid from entering Gaza for the past two months. Israel has not commented on the allegation.
In one incident, the Hamas-run interior ministry said a police officer was killed and others were wounded when an Israeli drone fired a missile at a police unit chasing criminals in Gaza City.
“We will strike with an iron fist all these renegades, and we will take the necessary measures to deter them, no matter the cost, and we will not allow them to continue terrorizing citizens, threatening their lives, and stealing their property,” the ministry said in a statement on Saturday, referring to the alleged looters.
Ismail Al-Thawabta, director of Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office, said some of the looters acted under a clan umbrella and others acted as organized groups, some of which he said received direct support from Israel.
He said a number of “revolutionary execution rulings” had been carried out against “several top criminals” proven to have been involved in looting.
Some Gaza residents and Palestinian media said Hamas’ armed wing imposed curfews starting at 9 p.m. to restrict the movement of civilians and to chase criminals.
United Nations officials have warned of the increasingly dire humanitarian situation facing Gaza, which has been devastated by the Israeli campaign launched following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
Israel has defended its blockade against aid entering Gaza, alleging that Hamas steals supplies intended for the civilian population and distributes them to its own forces, an allegation that Hamas denies.
However, the problem has worsened as the blockade has persisted, posing a challenge to Hamas, which has faced irregular protests by people in Gaza angered by shortage of food reaching the enclave.
The incidents underlined the strain facing the Gaza population, which has been increasingly squeezed into areas in central Gaza and along the coast as Israeli forces have created wide buffer zones around the enclave.
GANGS TAKE MONEY, PHONES
“Those gangs, some of them armed, have terrorized people, not only stealing food, but stopping some people on the roads and taking away their money and phones,” said Ahmed, from Gaza City, who asked that his full name not be used.
“They aid the occupation in starving us; they must be dealt with as collaborators,” he told Reuters via a chat app.
SAFA news agency, close to Hamas, said the interior ministry has formed a new 5,000-member force tasked with confronting looters and armed gangs. However, local police forces have been hampered by attacks from Israeli drones against any armed Palestinians they identify.
Hamas deployed thousands of police and security forces across Gaza after a ceasefire took effect in January, but its armed presence shrank sharply since Israel resumed large-scale attacks in March.
Lewis Pullman, Wyatt Russell, David Harbour, Hannah John-Kamen, Florence Pugh, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Geraldine Viswanathan, Wendell Pierce and Jake Schreier attend the European premiere of Marvel Studios’ ”Thunderbolts*” in London, Britain, April 22, 2025. REUTERS/Chris J. Ratcliffe/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Marvel movie “Thunderbolts” brought in $162 million at theaters around the world over the weekend, providing a solid start to the summer movie season that is key to Hollywood’s year at the box office.
“Thunderbolts,” the story of a ragtag group of heroes who unite to fight a supervillain, earned $76 million of its total in the United States and Canada, distributor Walt Disney (DIS.N), said on Sunday.
The returns were in line with pre-weekend forecasts, though below the $88.8 million domestic opening of Marvel’s “Captain America: Brave New World” in February.
“This is about what we’ve come to expect from Marvel movies in the recent marketplace,” said Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations Co. It was a decent start, he said, for a movie with lesser-known characters that have played sidekicks in other Marvel stories.
Starring Florence Pugh and Sebastian Stan, “Thunderbolts” sets the stage for Marvel’s July release “Fantastic Four” and next summer’s “Avengers: Doomsday.” “This is a prelude to something much bigger,” Bock said.
“Thunderbolts” had a slow opening of $10.4 million in China, where it was the first test of Chinese appetites for Hollywood films since authorities pledged to limit movie imports as part of a trade war with the Trump administration.
The figures from the rest of the world were positive, Bock said, considering “Thunderbolts” doubled last year’s dismal start to summer with “The Fall Guy.”
Hollywood brings in about 40% of the year’s box office receipts during the summer season, which the industry measures from the first weekend in May through Labor Day in September. Theaters are still trying to climb back to pre-pandemic ticket sales levels.
Through Sunday, year-to-date ticket sales in the United States and Canada were running 15% above 2024 but 31.8% below 2019. The summer of 2019 benefited from “Avengers: Endgame,” which had a record opening of $357.1 million at domestic theaters.
“Thunderbolts” had the strongest reviews for a Marvel Cinematic Universe film since 2021’s hit “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” said Andrew Cripps, head of global theatrical distribution at Disney. On the Rotten Tomatoes website, 88% of critics and 94% of moviegoers gave it positive marks.
“I think word of mouth will be really strong and people will continue to discover it,” Cripps said of “Thunderbolts.”
Meghan Markle showed her support for Prince Harry after he lost an appeal granting him and his family police protection when they visit the UK.
The Duchess of Sussex took to Instagram Saturday to share a black-and-white photo of her husband walking with their two kids, Prince Archie, 6, and Princess Lilibet, 3, through a garden.
Harry was photographed holding his son’s hands while his daughter sat on his shoulders.
Meghan Markle subtly supported Prince Harry after he lost an appeal granting him security protection when visiting the UK. Meghan Markle/Instagram
Markle, 43, didn’t caption the adorable snap.
The day prior, news broke that the Duke of Sussex wouldn’t be granted publicly funded security when returning to his homeland.
Harry, 40, told the BBC that he was “quite sad” that he “won’t be able to show” his little ones where he grew up after losing the appeal to challenge the decision to remove his security privileges when he and his wife quit the royal family and relocated to North America in 2020.
“I can’t see a world in which I would be bringing my wife and children back to the UK at this point. And the things that they’re gonna miss is, well, everything,” he told the outlet.
The former royal also insisted he was treated unfairly.
The Court of Appeal, however, argued that it was fair to review Harry’s security protection on a case-by-case basis every time he returned home.
Harry also pointed the blame at his father, King Charles III, for putting more distance and tension between himself and his family.
The book author also admitted that his family wasn’t happy when he revealed their secrets in his 2023 memoir, “Spare.”
“There is a lot of control and ability in my father’s hands. Ultimately, this whole thing could be resolved through [Charles],” he claimed.
Lady Gaga’s concert in Rio de Janeiro dodged a bomb attack by a group of people posing as her “Little Monsters” fans.
Local authorities claimed a hate group was plotting the vocalization and radicalization of minors through self-harm and violence at Saturday’s concert in Copacabana Beach.
“The suspects were recruiting participants, including minors, to carry out coordinated attacks using improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails,” Brazilian police said, per CNN.
Lady Gaga’s Rio de Janeiro concert was targeted for a bomb attack by a group posing as her fans. Kevin Mazur/WireImage for Live Nation
Per the police, members of the group claimed they were Gaga’s “Little Monsters” fan base.
Ultimately, investigators received a tip, which led to the uncovering of the group’s plan to encourage violent behavior through “extremist symbolism” and “coded language,” CNN reported.
An unidentified man, assumed to be the group’s leader, was arrested for the illegal possession of a firearm.
A teenager was also detained for alleged possession of child pornography.
Dozens of search warrants were also issued in São Paulo, Mato Grosso, Rio Grande do Sul and Rio de Janeiro.
Reps for Gaga, 39, weren’t immediately available to Page Six for comment.
A rep for the “Born This Way” singer told TMZ that she and her team found out about the alleged threat when news broke on Sunday morning.
They allegedly weren’t informed by police or told to take precautions despite closely working with law enforcement.
The “Bad Romance” songstress didn’t address the hate plot when she gushed over Saturday night’s concert in Brazil via Instagram.
“Nothing could prepare me for the feeling I had during last night’s show—the absolute pride and joy I felt singing for the people of Brazil,” she wrote on Sunday.
“The sight of the crowd during my opening songs took my breath away,” Gaga, born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, added.
The United Nations Security Council will meet today to discuss the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack
The United Nations Security Council will meet today to discuss the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
Pakistan’s foreign office said yesterday it would brief the UN on regional developments in the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty by India.
“This important diplomatic move is part of Pakistan’s efforts to present accurate facts to the international community,” said the foreign office of Pakistan, a non-permanent member of the Security Council.
India had suspended the Indus treaty, citing “sustained cross-border terrorism” from Pakistan after terror links to the neighbouring country emerged in the Pahalgam attack. Denying responsibility, Pakistan had called for a “neutral investigation”.
A week ago, India also warned the UN over Pakistan misusing and undermining the global forum to “indulge in propaganda and make baseless allegations against India.”
India has also reached out to eight non-permanent member nations of the Security Council as part of its diplomatic offensive.
Following the Pahalgam attack, India announced a string of measures against Pakistan, including the expulsion of Pakistani military attaches, suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty and immediate closure of the Attari land-transit post.
LADY Gaga has spoken out after it was revealed Brazilian police foiled a bomb plot against her record-breaking free concert on Saturday.
The singer gushed that she was “grateful” for her fans and felt “absolute pride and joy […] singing for the people of Brazil”.
Lady Gaga posted backstage photos alongside a thank you to the people of BrazilCredit: Getty
Her team said they learned about the bomb plot “via media reports” – rather than direct contact from the police.
An estimated 2.5million flocked to watch the free concert at Rio De Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach – so an explosion could have been devastating.
Brazilian cops said they disrupted an attack allegedly planned by a group spreading hate speech against the LGBTQ+ community.
Two people have been arrested over the alleged scheme.
Police said the group tried to recruit teenagers to carry out attacks using Molotov cocktails and improvised explosives.
In an Instagram post on Sunday, Lady Gaga did not directly address the reports but instead heaped praise on the people of Brazil and their culture.
She wrote: “Nothing could prepare me for the feeling I had during last night’s show—the absolute pride and joy I felt singing for the people of Brazil.
“The sight of the crowd during my opening songs took my breath away.
“Your heart shines so bright, your culture is so vibrant and special, I hope you know how grateful I am to have shared this historical moment with you.”
The crowd of an estimated 2.5million people is the largest-ever for any woman history, she said.
Nine addresses across Brazil were raided by police as part of “Operation Fake Monster” to stop the attacks.
Officers found a number of suspicious electronic devices as well as other materials.
One man – said to be the leader of the mob – was arrested for the illegal possession of a firearm in Rio Grande do Sul.
Police said the group operated online and spread hate speech against the LGBT community.
It also promoted the radicalisation of teenagers, encouraged self-harm and shared violent content, they said.
The group is thought to have been actively recruiting participants – including teenagers – to carry out attacks.
And investigations suggest the Gaga bomb plot was seen by those involved as a “collective challenge” to make themselves known on social media.
Lady Gaga signed off her tribute to Brazil with: “You can give yourself dignity by rehearsing your passion and your craft, pushing yourself to new heights- you can lift yourself up even if it takes some time.
“Thank you Rio for waiting for me to come back. Thank you little monsters all over the world. I love you. I will never forget this moment.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said an interim ceasefire with Russia was possible any moment, “even starting today,” if Moscow agreed to the US proposal. Ukraine’s president rejected a Russian truce for three days from May 8 to 10.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with his Czech counterpart Petr Pavel in PragueImage: Petr David Josek/AP Photo/picture alliance
Czech president says Putin can agree to ceasefire with ‘a single decision’
Czech President Petr Pavel backed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s comments that called for increased pressure on Moscow to have it agree to an interim 30-day ceasefire.
“If someone has all the cards in their hand to end the war then it is President Putin, who can do it with a single decision,” Pavel told reporters.
“But so far the will has not appeared.”
The Czech government has been a firm backer of Kyiv’s efforts to defend itself against Russian forces, and has led an initiative to supply Ukraine with large-calibre ammunition.
Zelenskyy, who is accompanied on the trip by first lady Olena Zelenska, will meet Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala on Monday, with the Czech ammunition drive among the topics on the agenda.
The Ukrainian leader said on X on Saturday he was preparing for upcoming foreign policy meetings with a focus on helping push Russia toward a ceasefire.
Zelenksyy says ceasefire with Russia ‘possible’ any moment with increased pressure on Moscow
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a joint news conference with Czech President Petr Pavel that a ceasefire with Moscow would be possible “at any moment.”
“We believe that without increased pressure, Russia will not take real practical steps to end the war. Today marks the 54th day that Russia has ignored even the American proposal to completely cease fire,” Zelenskyy told reporters.
“We believe that a ceasefire is possible at any moment, even starting today, and should last at least 30 days to give diplomacy a real chance.”
Ukraine accepted a 30-day ceasefire proposed by the United States in March, following peace talks between US and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia.
Russia has yet to accept the offer, and the country’s leader, Vladimir Putin, declared a three-day ceasefire over May 8-10 to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies over Nazi Germany in World War II.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference following a two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting in Washington DC, Jul 31 2019. (Photo: AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
US President Donald Trump said he will not remove Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve Board chairman before his term ends in May 2026 while describing the central banker as “a total stiff” and repeating calls for the Fed to lower interest rates.
Trump insisted that his moves to upend the global trading system with higher tariffs would eventually make Americans rich, and insisted that a first-quarter contraction in the US economy was the result of former President Joe Biden’s policies.
In an interview with “Meet the Press with Kristen Welker” on NBC News that aired on Sunday, Trump said he expected the Fed to lower interest rates at some point.
“Well, he should lower them. And at some point, he will. He’d rather not because he’s not a fan of mine. You know, he just doesn’t like me because I think he’s a total stiff,” he said in the interview, which was taped in Florida on Friday.
Asked if he would remove Powell before his term as chair ends in 2026, Trump issued his most definitive denial, saying, “No, no, no. That was a total – why would I do that? I get to replace the person in another short period of time.”
Wall Street stocks fell sharply last month after Trump doubled down on his attacks against Powell, amplifying concerns about the central bank’s autonomy and rattling markets. After the nosedive, Trump has backed off somewhat.
The comments aired on Sunday were the clearest indication yet that the president would keep Powell in place, which could reassure markets deeply unsettled by Trump’s moves to upend the global trading system with a tsunami of tariffs.
On Apr 2, Trump imposed a 10 per cent tariff on most countries, along with higher tariff rates for many trading partners that were then suspended for 90 days. He has also imposed 25 per cent tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, 25 per cent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, and 145 per cent tariffs on China.
MIXED SIGNALS ON ECONOMY
Trump continued to send mixed messages on the economy, dismissing concerns about a first-quarter decline in GDP and arguing that his predecessor was to blame for any economic weakness, but that he deserved credit for any signs of strength.
Trump’s whipsaw moves on tariffs have sparked the most volatile weeks on Wall Street since the early part of the COVID pandemic five years ago.
Asked when the economy would be solely his responsibility, Trump said: “It partially is right now. And I really mean this. I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy because he’s done a terrible job.”
He said his administration should get credit for driving down energy and gasoline costs and starting to reverse the US trade deficit.
He glossed over concerns that tariffs on China would raise consumer prices, saying Americans simply didn’t need large numbers of cheap goods such as dolls and pencils.
“I’m just saying they don’t need to have 30 dolls,” Trump said. “They can have three. They don’t need to have 250 pencils. They can have five.”
Trump’s administration is negotiating with over 15 countries for trade deals that could avert the higher tariffs, and officials say the first deal could be announced soon.
During the interview with NBC News, Trump declined to rule out making some of the tariffs permanent.
“No, I wouldn’t do that because if somebody thought they were going to come off the table, why would they build in the United States?” he said, touting trillions of dollars in investments announced by foreign and domestic companies.
Trump acknowledged that he had been “very tough with China,” essentially cutting off trade between the world’s two large economies, but said Beijing now wanted to reach an agreement.
The Kremlin says that Russia has “liberated” the Kursk region from Ukraine, a claim that Kyiv denies. Thousands of locals have fled, and those who remain live in a state of fear and feel neglected by Moscow.
Ukraine’s surprise Kursk incursion has become largest attack into Russia since World War TwoImage: Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/AP/picture alliance
“It is still unclear whether we are safe or not. We have no peace because there are still drones … We live in fear, one day at a time,” Marina told DW. She is a refugee from Russia’sKursk region and doesn’t want to disclose her current location.
She and her family fled their village after Ukrainian troops crossed the border into Russia in August 2024 and launched a surprise incursion into the region which is to the north-east of Ukraine, north of the Donbass region, which is illegally occupied by Russia.
Like Marina, thousands of locals left their homes, finding refuge further away from the frontline in nearby villages and towns.
Ukraine’s incursion into Russian territory caught Moscow off guard and has since turned into a military humiliation for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. For seven months, Ukrainian troops held on to parts of the region, including the town of Sudzha. For thousands of locals, the long stalemate led to a humanitarian catastrophe and a personal tragedy.
On April 26, the Russian military claimed to have regained full control of the Kursk region but hours later the Ukrainian army dismissed these claims, calling them “propaganda tricks.”
Conflicting messages from both capitals mean that it’s unclear whether Ukraine’s military is still present in some parts of the Kursk region or not. But the situation remains tense.
Life under Ukrainian control
Anastasia and her family left Sudzha on the first day of the incursion. The town is just 10 kilometers (6 miles) from the border with Ukraine. Aside from many smaller villages, Sudzha was the only actual town Ukraine captured. The Russian military retook it in March this year.
Like Anastasia, most of the locals fled and the town then saw some of the most gruesome fighting since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Intense shelling left the town in ruins with mines scattered across the streets.
Some locals, such as Anastasia’s uncle, had preferred to stay. “He either died or he was killed. Well, I don’t know exactly,” Anastasia told DW, adding that she had no information about whether he had received a funeral. She and her family have so far been unable to return to Sudzha.
Both Russian independent media outlets and state media have reported cases of looting in the Kursk region. Some residents told DW that their cars had been stolen, but they were unable to say which military was responsible.
Russia has accused Ukraine’s military of “committing war crimes” in the Kursk region, but it has issued no credible evidence to back the allegations.
“All we know about this is that the armed forces of Ukraine always try to solve humanitarian issues related to local civilians regardless of the citizenship of these people,” Pavel Luzin, a visiting scholar at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in the US, told DW.
By contrast, according to the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, Russia has systematically committed war crimes in Ukraine, such as torture, sexual violence, or child deportations. In January, the UN estimated that more than 12,300 civilians in Ukraine had been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.
Residents feel abandoned by the state
In the wake of Ukraine’s incursion, many felt that they had been left to fend for themselves.
“Please take the message to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin that nobody needs us at all,” one local woman pleaded in a video shared by the Telegram channel Ostorozhno, Novosti in August.
Despite this perceived lack of swift support for Kursk residents from the Russian government, Russian state media portrayed the unfolding humanitarian crisis since last summer as a time when Russians came together to volunteer for those in need.
Some refugees confirmed to DW that they were receiving support from the state, but others said the Kremlin had neglected displaced people in Kursk and failed to fulfill its promises.
“They talk and promise more than they do. The reality is different,” Nadezhda, another resident of the city of Kursk, told DW.
The Russian authorities, however, do not accept that criticism, even suggesting that people are ungrateful.
“I have an impression that before 2022, you were living on an uninhabited island, that you had no roads, hospitals, schools … that it was not the government who was paying your pension, that it came just out of the blue,” Alexander Khinshtein, the current governor of the Kursk region, defended Moscow’s dedication to the region in a meeting with Kursk locals last December.
Do locals relate to Ukrainians under Russian occupation?
Many Kursk residents pointed the blame at the Ukrainian army for bringing misery and destruction to their land, and praised Russian soldiers for their “liberation,” but some quietly expressed dissent and blamed Putin for starting the war in the first place.
“[People say], ‘Thank you, Vladimir Vladimirovich, for starting a special military operation in Ukraine; otherwise there would be a war [in Russia],'” Vitaliy, a Kursk resident who fled the region but stayed in Russia, told DW, referring to locals who believe the Russian state media narrative that there is no war in Ukraine, but only a military operation aimed at protecting Russia’s security.
“Many still don’t realize where the root of the evil really is and who brought death to their homes,” Vitaliy added.
Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, its support of pro-Russian rebels in Luhansk and Donetsk and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, there are now millions of Ukrainians living under Russian occupation.
“Poor, unhappy people, they are not guilty, as we are not now,” Marina told DW. “I feel sorry for them and for us, too. We are ordinary people. We did not want the bloodshed.”
Others, however, don’t want to discuss the issue at all.
“I don’t want to feel anything towards [Ukrainians]. I just want to detach myself from this and live my life,” Nadezhda, another Kursk resident, told DW.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected Putin’s short ceasefire offer by saying it’s “more of a theatrical performance” on the Russian president’s part. DW has the latest.
In his evening address, Zelenskyy said he saw no ‘readiness’ for a longer-term ceasefire on Russia’s partImage: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP Photo/picture alliance
Russia carries out drone attack on Kyiv, Ukraine says
Ukraine said Russia had launched a drone attack on Kyiv overnight, causing damage to several buildings in the city.
Falling debris from destroyed drones sparked fires at residential buildings in Kyiv’s Obolonskyi and Sviatoshynskyi districts, Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on social media.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app that medics were called in to provide assistance in the Sviatoshynskyi district, west of the city center.
The full scale of the damage from the attack was not immediately clear.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow about the attack.
Ukraine cannot guarantee security at Moscow’s WWII parade, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country cannot guarantee the safety of leaders and officials from other countries taking part in the World War II commemoration ceremony in Moscow on May 9.
Leaders of around 20 countries, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, have accepted invitations to join the May 9 celebration, according to the Kremlin.
“We cannot bear responsibility for what happens on the territory of the Russian Federation,” Zelenskyy told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
“They are ensuring your safety,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Russia “may take various steps on its part, such as arson, explosions, and so on and then blame us.”
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, in a post on Telegram, slammed Zelenskyy’s remarks.
“Crimea will remain with Russia,” President Donald Trump said as he set the agenda for talks to end of the Ukraine war. But what do the indigenous inhabitants of the peninsula, the Crimean Tatars, think about this plan?
In 2014, the Russian flag was unfurled in front of the Crimean parliament — and the Crimean Tatar lettering on the building was removedImage: Vasily Maximov/AFP via Getty Images
As part of his “peace plan,” US President Donald Trump is ready to recognize the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea permanently as Russian territory. In Ukraine, DW spoke to representatives of the Crimean Tatars, the original inhabitants of the peninsula, to find out what they think.
‘Our fight will go on’
“We know all too well what Russia is like. It is a successor to the Soviet Union, which once deported my mother and grandmother,” says a woman who now lives in Crimea and wishes to remain anonymous. “It took us half a century to return to our homeland and we will not leave again. We will wait here for the return of the Ukrainian state.”
“Our people have fought for the right to live on their own land. That’s why this fight will go on, regardless of the political situation,” says another resident of the peninsula, who also wishes to remain anonymous. She points out that the oppression of the indigenous population began with the conquest of Crimea by Tsarist Russia.
It continued under the Soviets after the Russian Revolution and in 1944, the Crimean Tatars were deported to Central Asia. They were only allowed to return to their homeland in the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and after receiving permission from Ukraine, which had gained independence. In 2014, Crimea came under Russian occupation again and many Crimean Tatars were persecuted for their pro-Ukrainian stance and forced to leave their homeland.
At the time, the second anonymous woman says, the Crimean Tatars were disappointed that the Ukrainian government had not fought “to keep the peninsula as part of Ukraine.” Today, she says she would be relieved if a political decision were to end the daily deaths from the war in Ukraine. “On the other hand, many believe that if Ukraine were to recognize the occupied territories as Russian, all those lives would have been sacrificed in vain in defense of Ukrainian independence and statehood.”
In her view, the peace treaty currently under discussion would legitimize territorial concessions to Russia. She fears that people in the occupied territories could then become political prisoners because Russian legislation would apply there.
‘We counted on the US as a bulwark of democracy’
The debate about ceding territory to Russia “of course triggers a negative reaction both in the mind and in the heart,” says Nariman Dzhelyal, first deputy chairman of the Mejlis, the representative body of the Crimean Tatars, and a former political prisoner. “Throughout the years of the occupation of Crimea and Russian aggression, we have relied on the United States. In the minds of most Ukrainians and certain residents of Crimea, the US has always been a leader in protecting human rights and a bastion of democracy. And now we are experiencing a U-turn, such commercial pragmatism,” he says. As the central executive body of the Crimean Tatars, the Mejlis has been classified as an “extremist organization” and banned by the Russian Federation since April 2016.
Dzhelyal notes the principled stance of the Ukrainian government, which refuses to recognize Crimea as Russian. “Ukraine can actually do little for the local population. That is why symbolic things such as declarations that it will not recognize the annexation of Crimea and wants to reintegrate it into Ukraine are the most important link between our people and the free territory of Ukraine,” explains the former political prisoner. “Agreeing to the proposal by Trump and his representatives would sever this link.”
‘Peninsula of fear’
“Our people will never trust the Russian empire,” says Seydamet Mustafayev, a refugee from Crimea, who speaks of a ‘peninsula of fear.’
“I don’t see any peace agreement with Vladimir Putin. I have always been a pacifist and want to live in peace. But I don’t understand how you can negotiate with this person when his goal is to destroy Ukrainian identity,” he tells DW.
Mustafayev hopes that the Russian-Ukrainian war will end with the liberation of Crimea, just as it began with the occupation of the peninsula. He believes that a peace agreement involving territorial concessions would inevitably lead to a world war.
‘I’m not fighting for that’
For the Crimean Tatars among the Ukrainian soldiers DW spoke to, the conditions for an end to the war largely hinge on Ukraine. A soldier nicknamed “Tataryn” says that no one can pressure Ukraine into making territorial concessions. “Ukraine now has an army that stopped the Russian army in 2022 and destroyed its potential. It is now fighting not only thanks to American weapons, but also with its own,” he says, adding that recognizing the Russian annexation of Crimea would set a dangerous precedent that could trigger armed conflicts over territorial claims worldwide. “You can give up everything, but not your own country. I’m not fighting for that.”
FILE PHOTO: U.S President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attend the funeral Mass of Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, April 26, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard/File Photo
President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated photo showing himself as the pope ahead of this week’s gathering of cardinals to choose a new leader of the 1.4-billion-strong Catholic Church, and just days after he joked he would “like to be pope”.
Trump, who is not a Catholic and does not attend church regularly, posted the image on his Truth Social platform late on Friday, less than a week after attending the funeral of Pope Francis, who died at 88 last month. The White House then reposted it on its official X account.
The image shows an unsmiling Trump seated in an ornate chair, dressed in white papal vestments and headdress, with right forefinger raised.
The irreverent posting drew instant outrage on X, including from Republicans against Trump, a group that describes itself as “pro-democracy conservative Republicans fighting Trump & Trumpism.” The group reposted the image, calling it “a blatant insult to Catholics and a mockery of their faith”.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni declined to comment on the image during a briefing with journalists about the process of electing a new pope, which begins on May 7.
In mid-February, both Trump and the official White House social media accounts posted a different AI-generated image of the president wearing a crown and captioned “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”
Madonna, Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross will all be attending the glamorous Met Gala, also known as fashion’s biggest night, Page Six hears.
Icon Ross will be at the swanky benefit taking place next Monday along with daughter, “Black-ish” star Tracee Ellis Ross and her son Evan, we hear.
Another source tells us Lauryn Hill will also be in attendance, after receiving an invite from gala co-chair Pharrell Williams.
Lorde, who just dropped the new song “What Was That,” Bebe Rexha, and singer Shaboozey, known for the hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” will also be there, according to a source.
Diana Ross is set to attend the Met Gala with her children Tracee Ellis Ross and Evan Ross. Getty Images for Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Movie stars Angela Bassett and Demi Moore are also heading to Anna Wintour’s big night.
Sources tell Page Six we will also see comic Chris Rock and late night host Jimmy Fallon in their finest.
Singer Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren, who are starring in Broadway’s “The Last Five Years,” will be walking the carpet, too.
Walton Goggins, who has been garnering attention for the latest season of HBO hit “White Lotus,” will also be climbing the famous steps of the Met, as well as “Succession” star Sarah Snook, who is starring in “Dorian Gray” on Broadway.
We hear “Severance” star Adam Scott will also be there, as well as “Stranger Things” Caleb McLaughlin.
And “Saturday Night Live” star Ego Nwodim will be on hand interviewing guests for Vogue, says a source.
The theme for this year’s gala is “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” with the dress code, “Tailored for You.” It benefits the Met’s Costume Institute, as ever.
Invites for the event are hard to come by. Guests are brought by designers or brands, and have to be approved by Vogue’s Wintour.
A source previously told Page Six that other stars heading to this year’s glam event include singers Doechii, Shakira, Lizzo, Mary J. Blige, and models Amelia Gray and Ashley Graham.
Kanye West’s wife, Bianca Censori, channeled his ex Kim Kardashian while debuting a new long hairdo on her Instagram Stories Saturday.
In the photo, the Australian model styled her longer tresses down with wispy bangs in the front.
She also wore a light mini dress and a pair of black heels.
Bianca Censori channeled Kim Kardashian in her latest hairstyle switch-up. Instagram/ye
The look was reminiscent of the “Kardashians” star’s December 2024 hair that she wore to her Skims NYC store opening.
Kardashian and Censori have been compared to each other many times in the past. In April 2024, their pink hair looks became a hot topic of conversation as many fans debated who wore it better.
Kardashian, 44, was also accused of copying Censori’s risqué style in her December 2024 Skims photo shoot, where she dressed in a balaclava and a thong.
Though, the resemblance between the two ladies may have something to do with the man they share in common, as he a history of dressing the women with whom he’s in relationships.
After getting back together with Censori in March, the “Stronger” artist, 47, doubled down on his claims of being his wife’s “master” following his previous comments about having “dominion” over Censori.
He reposted a tweet from a fan on X who wrote: “every man needs himself a bianca.”
“she is a good woman that does whatever ye tells her to do without caring what anyone else has to say, the only thing she cares about is being a subservient extension to her master,” the original tweet continued.
Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, May 3, 2025. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled Purchase Licensing Rights
Israel called on Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, to “stop playing both sides with its double talk and decide if it’s on the side of civilization or if it’s on the side of Hamas”, the Israeli Prime Minister’s office said on Saturday.
Qatar rejected the statements as “inflammatory”.
Despite efforts by Egyptian and Qatari mediators to restore a ceasefire, neither Israel nor Hamas has shown willingness to back down on core demands, with each side blaming the other for the failure to reach a deal.
Israel, which wants the return of 59 hostages still held in Gaza, has insisted Hamas must disarm and be excluded from any role in the future governance of the enclave, a condition that Hamas rejects.
It has insisted on agreeing a lasting end to the fighting and withdrawal of Israeli forces as a condition for a deal that would see a release of the hostages.
“The State of Qatar firmly rejects the inflammatory statements issued by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, which fall far short of the most basic standards of political and moral responsibility,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari posted on X early on Sunday.
Al-Ansari criticized the portrayal of the Gaza conflict as a defense of civilization, likening it to historical regimes that used “false narratives to justify crimes against civilians.”
In his post, Al-Ansari questioned whether the release of 138 hostages was achieved through military operations or mediation efforts, which he said are being unjustly criticized and undermined.
He also cited the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza represented by what he called a suffocating blockade, systematic starvation, denial of medicine and shelter, and the use of humanitarian aid as a tool of political coercion.
On Friday, Israel’s security cabinet approved plans for an expanded operation in the Gaza Strip, Israeli media reported on Friday, adding to signs that attempts to stop the fighting and return hostages held by Hamas have made no progress.
Eight men have been arrested in two separate counter-terrorism police investigations.
Five were arrested at various locations around England on Saturday as part of a “pre-planned” investigation into a plot to “target a specific premises”, the Metropolitan Police said.
Four – two aged 29, one aged 40 and one aged 46 – are Iranian nationals. Police said the nationality and age of the fifth was still being established.
Three other men, all Iranian, were arrested in London on Saturday as part of a separate counter-terror police investigation. Police said the two operations were not connected.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper thanked police and security services “for the action they have taken to keep our country safe”.
She said: “These are serious events that demonstrate the ongoing requirement to adapt our response to national security threats.”
In the operation in which five men were arrested, four were detained under the Terrorism Act. The fifth man was arrested under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (Pace).
All five were arrested on suspicion of preparation of an act of terrorism.
The men were arrested in Swindon, west London, Stockport, Rochdale and Manchester and remain in police custody.
Police said the investigation related to a suspected plot to target a “specific premises”.
The “affected site”, which it did not name, has been made aware and is being supported by police, the Met added.
The investigation is being led by the Met’s counter-terrorism command, supported by officers from Greater Manchester Police and Wiltshire Police, as well as counter-terrorism officers from across the country.
“The investigation is still in its early stages and we are exploring various lines of enquiry to establish any potential motivation as well as to identify whether there may be any further risk to the public linked to this matter,” said Cdr Dominic Murphy, head of the Met’s counter-terrorism command.
India on Saturday imposed a ban on the import of goods coming from or transiting through Pakistan and also the entry of Pakistani ships into its ports.
26 people were killed in the April 22 terror attack in J&K’s Pahalgam.
Pakistan has banned the use of its ports by Indian flag carriers, hours after New Delhi imposed fresh punitive measures, including a ban on import of goods and entry of Pakistani ships into its ports, against Islamabad.
India on Saturday imposed a ban on the import of goods coming from or transiting through Pakistan and also the entry of Pakistani ships into its ports even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the country is committed to take “firm and decisive” action against terrorists and their backers.
Pakistan late Saturday ordered that any “Indian flag carriers shall not be allowed to visit any Pakistani port”, Dawn, a Pakistani newspaper reported.
“In view of the recent development of maritime situation with neighbouring country, Pakistan in order to safeguard maritime sovereignty, economic interest and national security enforces following measures with immediate effect: Indian flag carriers shall not be allowed to visit any Pakistani port, Pakistani flag carriers shall not visit any Indian port (and) any exemption or dispensation shall be examined and decided on case to case basis,” the newspaper reported.
The Dawn newspaper had quoted an order issued late Saturday by Pakistan’s Ministry of Maritime Affairs’ Ports and Shipping Wing.
Ties between the two neighbouring countries plummeted following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists.
In fresh punitive measures against Pakistan that came into effect immediately amid heightened Indo-Pak tensions in the wake of the deadly Pahalgam terror attack, India also suspended the exchange of mails, parcels from the neighbouring country via air and surface routes.
Besides banning entry of Pakistani ships into Indian ports, India also barred Indian ships from visiting Pakistani ports, according to the Directorate General of Shipping (DGS). The restrictions were put into place with immediate effect, officials said.
According to an Indian government order, the complete ban on imports of all goods from Pakistan was imposed on the grounds of national security and public policy.
Though the 200 per cent import duty imposed on Pakistani goods in 2019 after the Pulwama attack had effectively halted direct imports, the latest decision also prohibits the entry of Pakistani goods routed through third countries.
The fresh moves came a week-and-half after India announced a raft of punitive measures against Pakistan including suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, shutting down of the only operation land border crossing at Attari and downgrading of diplomatic ties following the terror attack.
The Pakistan army, meanwhile, said in a statement that it has conducted a successful training launch of the Abdali Weapon System – a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 450 km, saying it was aimed at ensuring the operational readiness of troops and validating key technical parameters.
In New Delhi, people familiar with the matter said India considers the test launch of the ballistic missile a “blatant” act of “provocation”.
The little boy is in tears and, understandably, irritable. Diarrhea has plagued him for half of his brief life. He is dehydrated and so weak. Attached to his tiny left hand is a yellow tube that carries liquid food to his frail little system.
Wedad Abdelaal and her husband Ammar , feed their 9 month old son Khaled, in their tent at a camp for displaced Palestinians in Mawasi Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
At 9 months old, Khaled is barely 11 pounds (5 kilos) — half of what a healthy baby his age should be. And in Gaza’s main pediatric hospital ward, as doctors try to save her son, Wedad Abdelaal can only watch.
After back-to-back emergency visits, the doctors decided to admit Khaled last weekend. For nearly a week, he was tube-fed and then given supplements and bottled milk, which is distributed every three hours or more. His mother, nervous and helpless, says that’s not enough.
“I wish they would give it to us every hour. He waits for it impatiently … but they too are short on supplies,” Abdelaal says. “ This border closure is destroying us.”
The longer they stay in the hospital, the better Khaled will get. But Abdelaal is agonizing over her other children, back in their tent, with empty pots and nothing to eat as Israel’s blockade of Gaza enters its third month, the longest since the war started.
Locked, sealed and devastated by Israeli bombings, Gaza is facing starvation. Thousands of children have already been treated for malnutrition. Exhausted, displaced and surviving on basics for over a year and half of war, parents like Abdelaal watch their children waste away and find there is little they can do.
They are out of options.
Acute malnutrition among children is spiking
Hospitals are hanging by a thread, dealing with mass casualty attacks that prioritize deadly emergencies. Food stocks at U.N. warehouses have run out. Markets are emptying. What is still available is sold at exorbitant prices, unaffordable for most in Gaza where more than 80% are reliant on aid, according to the United Nations.
Community kitchens distributing meals for thousands are shuttering. Farmland is mostly inaccessible. Bakeries have closed. Water distribution is grinding to a halt, largely because of lack of fuel. In desperate scenes, thousands, many of them kids, crowd outside community kitchens, fighting over food. Warehouses with few supplies have been looted.
The longest blockade on Gaza has sparked a growing international outcry, but it has failed to persuade Israel to break open the borders. More groups accuse Israel of using starvation as a weapon of war. Residents and humanitarians warn that acute malnutrition among children is spiraling.
“We are breaking the bodies and minds of the children of Gaza,” Michael Ryan, executive director of emergencies at the World Health Organization, told reporters in Geneva. “Because if we don’t do something about it, we are complicit in what is happening before our very eyes. … The children should not have to pay the price.”
Israel imposed the blockade March 2, then ended a two-month ceasefire by resuming military operations on March 18, saying both steps were necessary to pressure Hamas into releasing the hostages. Before the ceasefire collapsed, Israel believed 59 hostages were still inside Gaza, 24 of them alive and still in captivity.
It hasn’t responded to accusations that it uses starvation as a war tactic. But Israeli officials have previously said Gaza had enough aid after a surge in distribution during the ceasefire, and accused Hamas of diverting aid for its purposes. Humanitarian workers deny there is significant diversion, saying the U.N. monitors distribution strictly.
A mother wants to help her son — but can’t
Khaled has suffered from malnutrition since he was 2 months old. His mother managed it through outpatient visits and supplements distributed at feeding centers. But for the past seven months, Abdelaal, 31, has been watching him slowly shrivel. She, too, is malnourished and has had hardly any protein in recent months.
After an exhausting pregnancy and two days of labor, Khaled was born — a low-weight baby at 4 1/2 pounds (2 kilos) but otherwise healthy. Abdelaal began nursing him. But because of lack of calcium, she is losing her teeth — and producing too little milk.
“Breastfeeding needs food, and I am not able to give him enough,” she says.
Khaled has four other siblings, aged between 9 and 4. The family has been displaced from Rafah and now lives in a tent further north in Mawasi Khan Younis.
As food ran out under the blockade, the family grew dependent on community kitchens that serve rice, pasta and cooked beans. Cooking in the tent is a struggle: There is no gas, and finding wood or plastic to burn is exhausting and risky.
Ahmed, 7 and Maria, 4, are already showing signs of malnutrition. Ahmed, 7, weighs 17 pounds (8 kilos); his bones are piercing his skin. He gets no supplements at feeding centers, which serve only kids under 6. Maria, 4, has also lost weight, but there is no scale to weigh her.
“My kids have become so frail,” Abdelaal laments. “They are like chicks.”
Nutrition centers around Gaza are shutting down
Since March 2, U.N. agencies have documented a rise in acute malnutrition among children. They are finding low immunity, frequent illness, weight and muscle mass loss, protruding bones or bellies, and brittle hair. Since the start of the year, more than 9,000 children have been admitted or treated for acute malnutrition, UNICEF said.
The increase was dramatic in March, with 3,600 cases or an 80% increase compared to the 2,000 children treated in February.
Since then, conditions have only worsened. Supplies used to prevent malnutrition, such as supplements and biscuits, have been depleted, according to UNICEF. Therapeutic food used to treat acute malnutrition is running out.
Parents and caregivers are sharing malnutrition treatments to make up for shortages, which undermines treatment. Nearly half of the 200 nutrition centers around Gaza shut down because of displacement and bombardment.
Meanwhile, supplies are languishing at the borders, prevented by Israel from entering Gaza.
“It is absolutely clear that we are going to have more cases of wasting, which is the most dangerous form of malnutrition. It is also clear we are going to have more children dying from these preventable causes,” UNICEF spokesperson Jonathan Crickx says.
Suad Obaid, a nutritionist in Gaza, says parents are frequenting feeding centers more because they have nothing to feed their children. “No one can rely on canned food and emergency feeding for nearly two years.”
At Nasser Hospital, four critical cases were receiving treatment last week for acute malnutrition, including Khaled. Only critical cases are admitted — and only for short periods so more children can be treated.
“If we admit all those who have acute malnutrition, we will need hundreds of beds,” says Dr. Yasser Abu Ghaly, acknowledging: “We can’t help many, anyway … There is nothing in our hands.”
The system for managing diseases has buckled
Before the war, hundreds of families in Gaza were registered and treated for congenital defects, genetic or autoimmune disorders, a system that has broken down mostly because food, formulasor tablets that helped manage the diseases quickly ran out.
Dr Ahmed al-Farrah, head of the pediatrics and obstetrics ward at Nasser Hospital, says hundreds of children with genetic disorders could suffer cognitive disorders as well, if not worse.
“They are sentenced to death,” he says.
Osama al-Raqab’s cystic fibrosis has worsened since the start of the war. Lack of meat, fish and enzyme tablets to help him digest food meant repeated hospital visits and long bouts of chest infections and acute diarrhea, says his mother, Mona. His bones poke through his skin. Osama, 5, weighs 20 pounds (9 kilos) and can hardly move or speak. Canned food offers him no nutrition.
“With starvation in Gaza, we only eat canned lentils,” his mother says. “If the borders remain closed, we will lose that too.”
Rahma al-Qadi’s baby was born with Down syndrome seven months ago. Since then, Sama gained little more than half a pound (300 grams) and was hospitalized multiple times with fever. Her mother, also malnourished and still suffering from infection to her wound after birth, continues to breastfeed her. Again, it is not enough.
Sama is restless, doesn’t sleep and is always demanding more food. Doctors ask her mother to eat better to produce more milk.
Lifting Sama’s scrawny legs up, her mother says: “I can’t believe this is the leg of a 7-month-old.”
While Prince Harry’s legal battle for UK security may not have ended in his favor, he did uncover some “shocking truths” throughout the process.
The Duke of Sussex revealed some of his findings in an official statement after Friday’s ruling, taking aim at the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures (RAVEC) over the recent loss.
“The court’s ruling confirms that the Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures, known as RAVEC and comprised of senior officials from the Royal Household, Home Office and Metropolitan Police, has failed to follow its own mandated processes for me, which are applied to all other high-risk and high-profile individuals,” Harry wrote.
He also vowed to continue fighting this case by writing to the Home Secretary “to ask her to urgently examine the matter and review the RAVEC process.”
Prince Harry revealed “shocking truths” he uncovered in his legal battle to have his state-backed security reinstated. REUTERS
Harry went on to call the long-fought legal struggle “a last resort” that nevertheless has “uncovered shocking truths, starting with the fact that the Royal Household are key decision-makers on RAVEC and my sole representation for matters regarding my safety.”
“In this process I’ve also learned the names of all those involved, many of whom retired immediately after playing their part,” he added.
Harry, 40, began challenging the UK government after it decided to strip him and his wife, Meghan Markle, of their publicly funded security following their resignation from their royal duties and move to the US in 2020.
However, he claimed in his statement that the issue dates back to 2017 when the “secretive committee” decided that his wife, 43, would not be offered protection when she officially joined the royal family. The decision was ultimately reversed after Harry’s prodding.
The problem would only continue to grow in the following years, resulting in Harry no longer having the automatic state-backed security measures he’s “had since birth.”
The “Spare” author — who has been embroiled in a tense feud with his family members over the situation — went on to blame his family for the issue persisting for so long.
“To this present day, the Royal Household remain my sole representation on RAVEC for every visit and could call for this assessment to be done at any point.”
“The only possible conclusion that can be drawn is they choose not to, because they know the outcome would prove that my security should never have been removed in the first place.”
Harry alleged he and his family have been subjected to Neo-nazi threats as well as threats of violence from extremists, making their safety a paramount focus for the dad of two as he travels to the UK for various visits.
“This all comes from the same institutions that preyed upon my mother, that openly campaigned for the removal of our security, and that continue to incite hatred towards me, my wife and even our children, while at the same time protecting the very power that they should be holding accountable,” he said.
“The UK is my birthplace and will always be part of who I am. It is a place I love and the country where my son was born,” Harry wrote. “I’ve only ever wanted to continue my charitable work in supporting the causes and people that mean so much to me, and for my children to know the beauty of my homeland.”
The duke made a similar comment about his family in his bombshell BBC News interview that was released on Friday.
Amid claims that he and his father, King Charles III, are not currently on speaking terms, he also echoed his remarks that the king, 76, had the power to take care of the situation for him.
“There is a lot of control and ability in my father’s hands. Ultimately, this whole thing could be resolved through him,” Harry argued.
The beach and seafront were packed with fans hours before the concert was set to begin. Rio officials expect a boost to economic activity in the city.
Rio officials have a history of organizing huge concerts on Copacabana BeachImage: Pablo Porciuncula/AFP
American pop icon Lady Gaga is holding a free concert at the iconic Copacabana Beach in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.
The show will be the biggest in the pop star’s career so far.
It was scheduled to start at 9:45 p.m. local time (0045 GMT Sunday).
The beach and seafront were packed with fans hours before the concert was set to begin.
“I got here at 7:40 this morning,” 22-year-old Alisha Duarte told the AFP news agency. “So far, it’s going well. It’ll get more complicated tonight when it’s going to get super crowded, but we’ll survive — Lady Gaga is worth it!”
Boosting economy through concerts
Rio officials have a history of organizing huge concerts on Copacabana Beach.
Last year, a show by Madonna on the same beach drew 1.6 million people from all over Brazil.
The city expects a similarly huge turnout for the Lady Gaga event.
The large-scale performances are part of an effort led by City Hall to boost economic activity.
Officials estimate the concert to inject about 600 million reais ($100 million, €88.5 million) into the local economy, nearly 30% more than last year’s free Madonna concert.
“It brings activity to the city during what was previously considered the low season — filling hotels and increasing spending in bars, restaurants, and retail, generating jobs and income for the population,” said Osmar Lima, the city’s secretary of economic development, in a statement released by Rio City Hall’s tourism department last month.
Similar concerts are scheduled to take place every year in May at least until 2028.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett announced he was going to step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway by the end of the year. He has tapped Berkshire Hathaway executive Greg Abel replace him.
Warren Buffett is known for his business acumen and long-term investing strategies [FILE: May 4, 2019]Image: Johannes Eisele/AFPWarren Buffett announced Saturday during Berkshire Hathaway’s annual shareholder meeting that he will step down as CEO of the $1.1 trillion (€973 billion) conglomerate at the end of the year.
The billionaire investor took over the reins of Berkshire Hathaway back in 1965, when it was a medium-sized textile manufacturer.
Buffett then acquired businesses across a range of industries and built the conglomerate into the economic powerhouse known to investors and market observers today.
In doing so, Buffett also became known for his investing acumen and, at 94 years old, is one of the world’s most famous investors and had previously said he did not intend to retire.
Buffett taps Greg Abel to take over
Buffett said he would convene the board of directors to have 62-year-old Greg Abel, currently the vice chairman for non-insurance operations at Berkshire Hathaway, take over as chief executive officer of the conglomerate.
“The time has arrived where Greg should become the chief executive officer of the company at year end,” Buffett said.
“I would still hang around and could conceivably be useful in a few cases, but the final word would be what Greg said in operations, in capital deployment, whatever it might be,” he added.
A POPULAR sandwich shop is rapidly shrinking in size.
The fast food giant is the largest in the US by number of locations.
Subway, the sandwich chain, closed 631 locations across the country in 2024 alone, according to a recent report from QSR.
While Subway still operates 19,502 restaurants nationwide, that number marks a significant milestone.
This is the first time in 20 years the chain has dipped below 20,000 domestic locations.
It’s part of a broader, years-long decline.
COMPANY HISTORY
Subway’s US store count peaked in 2015 at more than 27,000 restaurants, but since 2016, the chain has been in retreat.
That year, it closed 357 locations across the US.
The pace accelerated quickly: 866 closures followed in 2017, then 1,108 in 2018, culminating in a staggering 1,601 closures in 2020.
Despite the steep losses, Subway still holds the top spot among US restaurant chains in terms of total units.
FACING COMPETITION
QSR reports that Starbucks comes in second with 16,935 locations, and McDonald’s ranks third with 13,559.
Still, the rapid downsizing raises questions about the brand’s future in the US – and how it’s adapting.
“Subway achieved a positive global net restaurant growth for the second consecutive year,” QSR said Subway stated.
The company now operates nearly 37,000 locations worldwide, signaling a shift in its focus to global markets.
CORPORATE STRATEGY
“In the US, we are optimizing our footprint using a strategic, data-driven approach to ensure restaurants are in the right location, image and format and operated by the right franchisees,” the company said in its statement.
“This includes opening new restaurants as well as relocating or closing locations as needed, to ensure a consistent, high-quality and convenient guest experience.”
The closures, then, are not just signs of trouble – they’re part of what Subway describes as a long-term strategy.
The company refers to it as “Smart Growth,” a plan to consolidate and strengthen its operations.
Even so, losing more than 7,000 stores since 2015 represents a steep fall from grace for a chain once known for its aggressive expansion.
The numbers suggest that Subway may be choosing depth over breadth as it recalibrates its US presence.
While many American consumers may notice fewer Subways in their neighborhoods, the company’s international footprint continues to grow.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday his administration will revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status, returning to a threat he issued against the Massachusetts school last month as part of his wider attack on elite universities.
“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform, without elaborating.
The university responded, saying that would be an unlawful misuse of the U.S. tax code, which makes it a crime for the president, vice president or any White House employee to request the Internal Revenue Service investigate or audit a particular individual or entity.
Harvard is already suing the Trump administration over the announcement last month that the government was freezing federal grants to the Ivy League university amounting to $2.2 billion, mostly to fund medical and other scientific research.
Trump previously said on April 15 that he thought Harvard should perhaps “lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?'”
Soon after, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said any forthcoming IRS actions were independent of the president and that any audit or investigations were initiated before Trump’s post.
Representatives for the Internal Revenue Service did not respond to questions on Friday.
The tax code requires that any IRS employee who receives an improper request from the White House report that to the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, whose office also did not respond to questions.
Harvard, the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university, said a revocation of its tax-exempt status would be unlawful and unprecedented, a comment echoed by free-speech advocacy groups and other non-profit organizations on Friday.
“There is no legal basis to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status,” the Boston-area school said in a statement. “The unlawful use of this instrument more broadly would have grave consequences for the future of higher education in America.”
People sit on the grass at the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Faith Ninivaggi/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
It would also cut money available for student scholarships, medical research and technological advancements that drive economic growth, Harvard said.
Most universities, including Harvard, are exempt from federal income tax because they are deemed to be charitable organizations operated exclusively for public educational purposes. The exemption also allows people to make tax-deductible donations to such organizations, a valuable source of income for colleges with wealthy alumni.
Since a 2017 law, Harvard and other universities have had to pay a 1.4% excise tax on their endowments. Harvard’s endowment amounted to $53.2 billion dollars as of the 2024 fiscal year, opens new tab, when it paid more than $44 million in taxes.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and fellow Democratic U.S. senators on Friday asked Acting Inspector General Heather Hill at the Treasury to investigate any IRS actions being taken against Harvard.
Diane Yentel, president of the National Council of Nonprofits, said in a statement that Trump’s actions are an abuse of executive power and “an existential threat to the entire nonprofit sector.”
“If the Trump administration can silence universities today, who will be next?” Yentel said.
Since taking office in January, Trump has targeted U.S. universities by freezing federal funding, launching investigations, revoking international students’ visas and making other demands.
Trump, a Republican, has said higher education has been gripped by antisemitic, anti-American, Marxist and radical left ideologies.
Trump’s administration escalated its fight against Harvard in recent weeks by freezing federal grants, seeking details on its foreign ties and threatening its ability to enroll foreign students.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko greets servicemen of the Svoboda (Freedom) battalion from the elite Storm Brigade “Rubizh” of the National Guard of Ukraine before an award ceremony for fighters, who have recently returned from the frontline in the Bakhmut area of Donetsk region, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv region, Ukraine April 11, 2024. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
Vitali Klitschko, the former heavyweight boxer who is now mayor of Kyiv, ventured last month into hazardous political territory: he delicately suggested in an interview that Ukraine might need to cede land to end its battle against Russia.
After a flood of angry online comments, he walked back his comments, saying on Facebook that “territorial concessions contradict our national interests and we must fight against their implementation until the last”.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his negotiators believe the only route to ending the Russian war in Ukraine is for Kyiv to acknowledge in some form that it is not getting back the Ukrainian land Moscow’s troops have taken since invading.
But the episode with Klitschko — along with opinion polling shared exclusively with Reuters — indicates that, more than three years into the war, most Ukrainians are not willing to cede territory to Russia in exchange for a ceasefire deal.
The state of public opinion helps explain why Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who is expected to run for re-election, has resisted Trump’s pressure to cede territory in ceasefire negotiations.
A poll from Gradus Research exclusively shared with Reuters showed that almost three-quarters of the population did not see territorial concessions as a way to end the war.
“Most respondents believe that Russia’s main goal in the war … is to establish full control over our country,” Gradus said in a research note. “Ukrainian territorial concessions are not perceived as a compromise or a guarantee of peace – on the contrary, they can only strengthen the aggressor.”
Russia has denied seeking control of Ukraine, but its forces headed directly to Kyiv in their full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 before Ukrainian troops pushed them back from the capital to their current positions in the south and east.
The Ukrainian poll conducted this week indicated that 40% of respondents believed that even in the case of concessions, peace would be only temporary and unsustainable. Another 31% thought that concessions would not lead to peace at all, Gradus said.
Russia now de facto controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory, including the Crimean peninsula that it seized and unilaterally annexed in 2014 as well as large parts of four other regions of east and southeast Ukraine.
According to U.S. negotiators, many of Ukraine’s European allies, and some Ukrainians when speaking in private, say Ukraine will have to acknowledge loss of territory to end the war.
Ukrainians are exhausted and up against a bigger and stronger enemy. Their attempts to push Russia back on the battlefield have failed since the first year of the war, and their Western partners have not given them enough military aid for it to achieve a decisive victory.
Zelenskiy has acknowledged that Ukraine cannot regain its territories by military force but notes that formally ceding land would run counter to the country’s constitution.
Opposition to giving up land has softened as the war has ground on. Data from the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), showed that in March about 39% supported territorial concessions, compared with just 10% in May 2022.
Yet it also found that in March 50% of Ukrainians rejected the idea of giving up any land to Russia, ever, down from 51% in December.
Data from another pollster – Razumkov Centre — from a February-March poll showed nearly 82% of respondents were against any formal recognition of the occupied territories.
“The definition of territorial concessions that more than half of the population might accept with a heavy heart is a de facto recognition of the occupation without de-jure recognition,” said Anton Hrushetskyi from KIIS, adding that the country would have to receive security guarantees in exchange.
Apart from Klitschko’s short-lived intervention, no prominent figures in Ukrainian politics or public life are trying to promote a national conversation about the need to acknowledge the loss of territory.
Buckingham Palace has issued a rare statement after Prince Harry lost an appeal Friday to regain taxpayer-funded security in the UK and later told the BBC that he wanted to reconcile with his family.
“All of these issues have been examined repeatedly and meticulously by the courts, with the same conclusion reached on each occasion,” a Palace spokesperson said of the decision to strip Harry of his security detail.
The legal team behind the ruling said it would not be appropriate for Harry to have the publicly-paid-for security since shirking his royal duties.
A rare statement has been made by Buckingham Palace indicating that Prince Harry lost his appeal to regain taxpayer-funded security in the UK. Shutterstock
Harry’s wife Meghan Markle, and their children, Archie and Lilibet, have not been to the UK since the Prince left the Royal Family for Los Angeles in 2020.
Harry admitted after the court loss he “can’t see a world in which I would bring my wife and children back to the UK at this point.”
He also said Charles “won’t speak to me because of this security stuff” and that he didn’t know how long his father, who was diagnosed with cancer last year, had left to live.
The palace normally tries to keep family matters under wraps, but it’s occasionally been known to issue statements when allegations emerge that could affect their reputation.
In 2021, the Royal Family issued a statement after Meghan and Harry’s jaw-dropping interview with Oprah, in which Harry claimed a family member had “concerns” about their then-unborn son Archie’s mixed race and how dark his skin might be.
The palace said it was “saddened” by what it heard in the interview, calling the race allegations “concerning.”
President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday agreed to halt all efforts to freeze funds intended for a Maine child nutrition program after initially suspending those dollars due to a disagreement between the state and Trump over transgender athletes.
In response, the state will drop its lawsuit that had been filed against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey announced.
President Donald Trump gives a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. AP
“It’s unfortunate that my office had to resort to federal court just to get USDA to comply with the law and its own regulations,” Frey said in a statement. “But we are pleased that the lawsuit has now been resolved and that Maine will continue to receive funds as directed by Congress to feed children and vulnerable adults.”
An email message seeking comment was sent Friday to the Agriculture Department.
The settlement closes a dispute first sparked by the federal government’s decision to freeze federal funds to Maine for certain administrative and technological functions in the state’s schools.
A letter from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins explained that the decision stemmed from a disagreement between the state and federal governments over whether Maine was complying with Title IX, the federal law that bans discrimination in education based on sex. Trump had accused Maine of failing to comply with his executive order barring transgender athletes from sports.
Soon after the secretary’s letter was sent, Maine’s Department of Education could not access several sources of federal funds for a state nutrition program, according to the court’s written order.
Maine quickly sued the Trump administration, where the state’s attorneys argued that the child nutrition program received or was due to receive more than $1.8 million for the current fiscal year. Prior year funds that were awarded but are currently inaccessible total more than $900,000, the lawsuit states.
Wall Street has clawed back losses incurred after President Donald Trump imposed global tariffs a month ago, capping the longest winning streak in two decades for US stocks.
Shares saw gains for the ninth day in a row for the first time since 2004 after a better-than-expected jobs report and rising hope of US-China trade talks.
Major US indexes were all up when the market closed on Friday – the S&P 500 and Nasdaq had both risen 1.5% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1.4%.
The tech sector made the biggest gains, with Microsoft and Nvidia growing by more than 2%.
It came as the Department of Labor said on Friday that US employers had added 177,000 new jobs in April.
The report outpaced analysts’ predictions, although it was still a slowdown in hiring from the month beforehand. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%.
Another sign of encouragement for investors was Beijing’s announcement on Friday that it was considering an offer from Washington to hold trade talks with the US.
At 145%, China faces the highest import taxes by far.
For some analysts the jobs figures tamped down recession fears in the wake of commerce department data this week showing a contraction in the US economy for the first time in three years.
“There is nothing to complain about here,” Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics, said in a research note.
“You cannot find any evidence of a nascent recession in these figures.”
Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, also saw cause for optimism.
“The economy will weaken in the coming months but, with this underlying momentum, the US has a decent chance of averting recession if it can step back from the tariff brink in time,” she said.
Residents select clothings at a booth offering discount outside a shopping mall in Beijing. (Photo: AP/Andy Wong)
Yu, a 32-year-old internet and trade worker from Hangzhou, used to drive around in a German-made Porsche 718.
She has since traded that for a grey six-seater by leading Chinese EV maker Li Auto, which she said boasts better “smart driving” and navigation features, delivering a superior overall experience.
The price and prestige might not be the same, said Yu, who wished to be identified only by her first name – but her shift to domestic Chinese-made products has not stopped at car choices.
“My husband and I were joking the other day and counting how many American brands we had at home – turns out it was only MacBooks and iPhones and even those were made in China.”
Another Chinese consumer, working in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector, told CNA that many in China were “living perfectly well without American goods”.
“Phones, computers, routers, watches are all from Huawei, my TV is from TCL Technology and my air-conditioner is from Gree,” said the worker, who asked not to be named, referring to two major Chinese electronics manufacturers from Guangdong province.
“Good quality, good service and fair prices – if US-made goods met those criteria, I’d choose them too.”
“The last time I saw a truly American product was a few days ago at Costco in China,” he said. “(It was) US beef but I didn’t buy any because it tastes gamey and has that mad-cow precedent.”
FROM EXPORTING GLOBALLY TO BUYING LOCALLY
A dramatic shift is underway as a result of US President Donald Trump’s multi-front trade war, with Chinese brands, exporters and companies pivoting to the massive domestic consumer market to sell and promote their products originally bound for overseas.
Chinese consumers have also been increasingly embracing local goods and brands over foreign products, experts told CNA.
“This domestic substitution is a long-term strategy, not just targeting American brands or products,” said Dan Wang, China director at the Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy.
“The idea (for Chinese consumers) is to substitute as much as possible to be self-sufficient and US brands certainly hurt the most because of the bilateral tensions.”
Since his return to the White House in January, Trump’s ratcheting up of tariffs against China, to as high as 145 per cent, has plunged the two largest economies into a new phase of global uncertainty.
Official trade talks have yet to take place but Beijing has unveiled plans to help tariff-hit firms and said it was “evaluating” an offer from Washington to hold talks, according to China’s Commerce Ministry on Friday (May 2).
The door was open for discussions, the ministry said in a statement, adding that Washington needed to show “sincerity” in negotiations and should be prepared to take action in “correcting erroneous practices” and cancel unilateral tariffs.
“Attempting to use talks as a pretext to engage in coercion and extortion would not work,” it said.
Beijing has also granted tariff exemptions on select products, reportedly creating a “white list” of items which included pharmaceuticals, microchips, aircraft engines, US ethane, and was asking firms to identify critical goods they need levy-free, according to a Reuters report on Apr 25.
Government officials in the manufacturing hub of Xiamen, also recently surveyed firms to assess the impact of tariffs on local businesses, the Reuters report said, quoting a source with “direct knowledge of the matter”.
Analysts told CNA that such targeted outreach reflected Beijing’s awareness of the underlying industrial strain.
Eurasia Group’s Wang said the pressure was building on Chinese producers rather than shoppers, with small- and medium-sized manufacturers (SMEs) particularly exposed.
“SME bankruptcy is real because of this tariff war,” Wang said, also warning of a broader employment impact as certain sectors remain deeply tied to US exports and technologies.
Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at the Dutch banking and financial group ING, said ongoing efforts by Beijing reflected a wider focus on price consciousness among Chinese consumers.
“The tariff scenario is definitely going to move (Chinese) demand further away from those products,” Song said.
In China, imported foreign goods are also relatively “easier to substitute” with locally made options, Song said. “The impact on Chinese consumers would be relatively minor.”
Zhu, a 25-year-old living in Shanghai, said he noticed a growing trend of “resisting” American brands and products. “I can’t actually find anything around me that’s made in the US,” he said.
An avid guitarist, Zhu has also noticed prices of American guitars “skyrocketing” under recent tariffs. “People have just stopped buying them,” he said, adding that it wasn’t due to fear but defiance.
“I feel our national fighting spirit has been ignited. I see people online saying, ‘Let’s fight back!’”
American brands, though, were already losing ground in China before this latest wave of tariffs, noted observers.
“Chinese consumers already have a preference for European brands or Japanese brands, if it comes to a foreign brand,” Wang said. “Even for cosmetics, there has been some substantial substitution with domestic production.”
“American brands, they’re not doing that great when it comes to consumer goods (in China).”
PROTECTING AMERICAN CONSUMERS
But what about the impact of the tariff war on American consumers?
While Beijing has been quietly insulating strategic imports, US officials have also been taking bigger steps to shield American consumers from the full brunt of the trade war, most notably in the tech industry.
According to official data, top US imports from China have largely been electrical machinery and equipment parts, valued at around US$123.8 billion and making up 28.2 per cent of total imports.
To avoid blowback and protect US tech giants like Apple whose products are made and produced in China, Chinese-imported devices like smartphones, laptops and other electronics, as well as semiconductor chips, solar cells and flat panel TV displays, have been excluded from Trump’s reciprocal tariffs.
“This is kind of a sign that Trump will listen if there’s a strong enough voice lobbying against (tariffs),” Song said.
Commonly used devices like iPhones were spared for political reasons, Wang said.
“For something like iPhones to suddenly get (even more) expensive because they’re already expensive (to begin with), or even disappear from many of the markets in the US, it’s probably too much of a political pushback, even for Trump.”
But bigger costs would still likely show up on US store shelves in the coming months, Wang added. “American consumers will have fewer selections so it’s direct damage, basically.”
BLACK FRIDAY, CHRISTMAS AT RISK?
The bigger pinch is now around the corner, analysts said. “It should actually get worse in the coming months,” Song said.
“Once (current stocks and) inventory is depleted, companies will be forced to choose between empty shelves or paying the tariffs.”
“The inflation pressure is real,” Wang said, adding that the impact would be especially felt during key retail periods like annual Black Friday sales, back-to-school seasons and Christmas.
US e-commerce giant Amazon has already cancelled orders for multiple products sourced from China and other Asian countries and have been sourcing new suppliers.
The National Retail Federation (NRF), which includes members like superchain retailers Target and Walmart, has forecast a sharp decline in US imports for the second half of 2025, a stark signal of caution heading into crucial sales periods ahead.
For American consumers, finding alternatives to Chinese-made goods would be significantly more difficult, analysts said, noting that China’s dominance in low-cost manufacturing – from electronics and toys to household goods – created dependencies that were not easily replaced.
“A lot of these products don’t really have a cheaper alternative,” said Song, who noted that US firms had once attempted to diversify their sourcing during the first US-China trade war but found it harder than expected.
“It’s not like … you can immediately ramp up production in Vietnam or Mexico,” Song said.
“The cost will be pushed on to the US consumer.”
“It’s highly unlikely that the US can build a strong supply chain, just like China does,” said Wang, adding that while some companies were investing in domestic facilities, they still would not match China’s scale, speed or cost efficiency.
According to data from Vizion, a real-time AI container tracking platform, US import bookings on massive container ships dropped by 64 per cent in March and April as Trump’s sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs kicked off.
German shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd reported a 30 per cent cancellation rate from customers on shipments from China to the US, according to a company spokesperson who cited a “massive increase” in demand for consignments from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.
IMPACT IN THE YEAR AHEAD
Despite the escalating tit-for-tat, analysts said neither Beijing nor Washington appeared ready for full consumer-level decoupling.
If China really wanted to accelerate the break, it could spark consumer nationalism, Wang said, as it had done in past disputes with Japan and South Korea. “But the Chinese government so far has refrained from doing that.”
According to trade data, the United States bought US$439 billion worth of goods from China in 2024 – more than three times the US$143.5 billion it sold in return.
While she acknowledged that inflation may be more visible in the US, she argued that the broader risk lies with China.
“For the US, most of the problem is in the potential recession, but it’s not caused by tariffs,” she said.
“Inflation might be caused by tariffs, but it doesn’t seem that the American people are as worried about inflation as they worry about recession. So I think the risk to China is bigger.”
Others added that global uncertainty would continue in the months ahead.
It’s a “waiting game”, Song said. “We’re in a test of endurance right now – which side will feel the pain first and which side has to lower its head and come to the table.”
Experts previously told CNA that many Chinese factories were already seeing supply outpace demand and also noted that not all goods intended for US markets would appeal to Chinese buyers.
China would not be immune to pressure, Wang said.
“Although China can produce everything, the indirect impact from overflooding its massive consumer market would be pretty big.”
Sky-high tariffs are unsustainable, experts said, but even if rates are eventually scaled back, relations between the world’s two biggest economies have already changed.
The coastline of Bali in Indonesia. (File photo: iStock)
Power has started returning in most areas affected by an outage in Indonesia’s resort island of Bali on Friday (May 2), officials said, and efforts were continuing to fully restore services.
A power outage hit a number of regions of Bali on Friday from 4pm, said state utility Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN).
The island’s airport was also impacted but inbound and outbound flight traffic continued using backup generators, the airport’s general manager Ahmad Syaugi Shahab said in a statement, although several departures had experienced delays.
Images shared on social media showed road traffic holdups in Bali as a result of the outage and long lines at the airport check-in counters.
Power began to return a few hours after the blackout.
“State utility PLN managed to restore most of the electricity supply in Bali,” the spokesperson of President Prabowo Subianto, Prasetyo Hadi said in a statement after calling PLN’s CEO.
“God willing, power connection in Bali will be fully restored tonight (Friday night),” he said.
PLN prioritised restoring electricity to key infrastructure such as government offices, hospitals, the airport, as well as hotels, said Prasetyo.
THE US has announced it will no longer act as the mediator to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine after Vladimir Putin refused to accept a full ceasefire.
The State Department said the country is changing “the methodology of how we contribute” to the talks and will no longer “fly around the world at the drop of a hat” for meetings.
A Ukrainian soldier drives an anti-aircraft machine gun during an air raid alarmCredit: EPA
The shift comes just hours after Trump’s deputy JD Vance said the war in Ukraine is unlikely to end “any time soon”.
He added: “It is going to be up to the Russians and Ukrainians now that each side knows what the other’s terms for peace are.
“It’s going to be up to them to come to an agreement and stop this brutal, brutal conflict.”
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said that the US will still support efforts to bring peace in war-torn Ukraine, but will step back from its direct role as a mediator.
It added that Kyiv and Moscow must now present “concrete” proposals for ending the war and should meet directly to resolve the conflict.
Bruce said: “We are not going to fly around the world at the drop of a hat to mediate meetings; that is now between the two parties, and now is the time that they need to present and develop concrete ideas about how this conflict is going to end.
“[Trump] knows also that there is another part of the world, a whole globe that needs some attention.
“The Secretary has also made it very clear that while our style will change, the methodology of how we contribute to this will change in that we will not be the mediators,” Bruce added.
Trump previously said he would pull the plug on the peace negotiations if Moscow or Kyiv did not commit to a ceasefire.
He wrote on Truth Social: “If one of the two parties makes it very difficult, we’re just going to say: ‘you’re foolish, you’re fools, you’re horrible people,’ and we’re just going to take a pass.”
Last week, Marco Rubio warned that they would walk away unless there is a deal in days.
ONE FINAL PUSH?
The shift comes just two days after the US and Ukraine signed a historic minerals deal – and could be a final push by Washington to broker a peace plan between Moscow and Kyiv.
The US initially proposed a 30-day ceasefire deal, which was accepted by Kyiv.
Not only has Moscow rejected the ceasefire deal and other plans to end the bloody war, but the Russian forces have also intensified attacks in Ukraine that have killed civilians.
The US also drafted a seven-point plan, which it hoped would draw a path to peace between Ukraine and Russia.
However, the plan was rejected by Zelensky as it involved the US formally recognising Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
Trump is said to be growing “increasingly frustrated” with both Putin and Zelensky in his attempts to bring the Ukraine war to a close.
The president, who appeared to be cosying up with Putin since taking over the White House in January, ordered Putin to “sit down and sign a deal”.
He said he was both “surprised and very disappointed” that mad Vlad continued to bomb Ukraine, despite the dictator engaging in crunch talks with US peace envoy Steve Witkoff.
Trump’s seven-point peace plan
THE US has drafted up a seven-point plan which, it hopes, will draw a path to peace between Ukraine and Russia.
A source with knowledge of the plan reportedly revealed the content of the main points:
Immediate ceasefire in Ukraine
Direct talks between Ukraine and Russia
Ukraine to be barred from joining Nato
US to formally recognise Russian sovereignty over Crimea
US to give de facto recognition of four Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia along the current lines of control
Ukraine to sign minerals deal to share profits on natural resources with the US
All US sanctions lifted on Russia and both countries co-operate on energy
It came after Putin’s barbaric missile strikes on Kyiv earlier this week that left at least 12 dead.
Russia announced a token ceasefire to coincide with VE Day after President Trump accused Putin of stringing him along on peace talks.
The Kremlin said troops will stop fighting for 96 hours at midnight on 7 May.
The pause will coincide with events to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of WW2 in Europe.
But Moscow dashed hopes of a peace deal by repeating demands that Ukraine must surrender and disarm.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump has “made it clear” he wants a permanent ceasefire, rather than the temporary pause offered by the scheming Russian tyrant.
But experts say this was Putin’s plan all along, and he’s played Trump like a fiddle.
Meanwhile, US officials are said to have prepared a set of options that could pressurise Putin to end the war in Ukraine, according to a report by Bloomberg.
While the officials say Trump has made no decision yet, the steps could mean more crippling sanctions on Moscow.
ART OF THE DEAL
The US and Ukraine signed the long-awaited minerals deal two months after it was derailed by Trump and Zelensky’s Oval Office bust-up.
It came as a humiliating blow for Putin, who has sought to break apart the two allies.
Scott Bessent, the US Treasury secretary and one of the main architects of the deal, said it was “historic”.
He said the deal “signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centred on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine”.
The deal will give Washington priority access to invest in new projects to develop Ukraine’s natural resources – including aluminium, graphite, oil and natural gas.
It also means that America will continue to back Ukraine in the war militarily.
US-Ukraine minerals deal explained
The minerals deal sets out the creation of a joint US-Ukrainian fund for reconstruction, which will receive 50 per cent of profits and royalties accruing to the Ukrainian state from new natural resources permits in Ukraine.
The deal does not spell out how the joint fund’s revenues will be spent, who benefits or who controls decisions about the spending.
Now that the deal has been closed, the two sides will agree on two further technical and supplementary documents outlining issues such as how the funds are accumulated.
Ukraine would retain control of all its resources in the deal, while the fund will invest in the development of Ukraine for 10 years, according to the country’s prime minister Denys Shmyhal.
The US could use its future military assistance to Ukraine as its contribution to the fund, Shmyhal said, with no previous military aid to the country reflected in the deal.
“Ukraine will only make a contribution from new licenses, from new royalties on mineral resources. This will be our contribution, 50% of which will be given to this fund,” he added.
A draft of the main minerals agreement showed that Ukraine had secured the removal of any requirement for it to pay back the US for past military assistance, something Ukraine had staunchly opposed.
Washington has been Ukraine’s single largest military donor since Russia’s 2022 invasion, with aid of more than 64 billion euros ($72 billion), according to the Kiel Institute in Germany.
The rare earth minerals Washington will have access to
Rare earth elements are a set of 17 elements that are essential in many kinds of consumer technology, including cellphones, hard drives and electric and hybrid vehicles.
It is unclear if Trump is seeking specific elements that Ukraine has.
The country also has other in-demand minerals to offer including lithium, titanium, and uranium.
The country’s reserves of titanium, a key component for the aerospace, medical and automotive industries, are believed to be among Europe’s largest.
Ukraine also holds some of Europes largest known reserves of lithium, which is required to produce batteries, ceramics and glass.
China, Trumps chief geopolitical adversary, is the worlds largest producer of rare earth elements.
Both the US and Europe have sought to reduce their dependence on Beijing.
For Ukraine, such a deal would ensure that its biggest and most consequential ally does not freeze military support, which would be devastating for the country that will soon enter its fourth year of war against Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The idea also comes at a time when reliable and uninterrupted access to critical minerals is increasingly hard to come by globally.
Ukraines rare earth elements are largely untapped because of the war, regulation, and information about what exactly is underground.
An estimated 40 per cent of Ukraine’s metallic mineral resources are inaccessible because of Russian occupation, according to data from We Build Ukraine, a Kyiv-based think tank.
Ukraine has argued that it is in Trumps interest to develop the remainder before Russian advances capture more.
The European Commission identified Ukraine as a potential supplier for over 20 critical raw materials and concluded that the countrys accession to the EU could strengthen the European economy.
In 2021, the Ukrainian mineral industry accounted for 6.1% of the countrys gross domestic product and 30% of exports.
UNCLE SAM’S SECURITY
Ukrainian officials hope that signing the deal proposed by Trump will firm up American support for Kyiv in the more than three-year-old war.
A former Trump advisor told LBC the developing US-Ukraine minerals deal will be a “trip wire” that Russia will not cross.
He said: “It would engage the American military. It puts the Americans squarely in the middle of the Ukrainian state. It is a trip wire that Putin would dare not to cross.”
Trump had originally sought $500 billion in mineral wealth — around four times what the United States has contributed to Ukraine since the war.
He has previously baulked at offering security guarantees to Ukraine and has rejected its aspiration to join Nato.
But Trump said on Wednesday that a US presence on the ground would benefit Ukraine.
“The American presence will, I think, keep a lot of bad actors out of the country or certainly out of the area where we’re doing the digging,” Trump said at the cabinet meeting.
MASS evacuations have been sparked after a huge 7.5-magnitude earthquake south of Chile and Argentina.
Civilians were forced to flee across the entire coastal section of the Strait of Magellan after a strong earthquake in Drake Passage.
An evacuation has been launched following an earthquake and tsunami warning
The United States Geological Survey confirmed the mega quake, saying that it had struck between Cape Horn and Antarctica.
They added that its epicentre was under the ocean 173 miles south of the Argentinian city of Ushuaia.
The Chilean National Disaster Prevention and Response Service said that the coastal area of Magallenes region in the south of the country would be evacuated due to the tsunami risk.
Chilean President Gabriel Boric said on X after the alert: “We call for evacuation of the coastline throughout the Magallanes region.”
Chile’s disaster agency advised residents to “act calmly and follow the instructions of authorities and response teams” following the quake.
Pictures showed civilians fleeing buildings as part of evacuations in dramatic scenes.
Tense footage showed people leaving their homes and walking towards a safety checkpoint in the South American country.
Town streets were flooded as the evacuations were sparked across the south.
The coastal areas were evacuated due to the “hazardous waves” which came following the quake in Drake Passage.
According to the National Seismological Center, the earthquake occurred when the clock was about to strike 9:00a.m.
The agency first indicated that the quake had a magnitude of 7.5 on Friday morning.
It reportedly had a depth of 6.2 miles.
The Chilean Navy’s Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (SHOA) issued the warning after the quake occurred 135 miles south of Puerto Williams, in the Magallanes region.
They also issued a precautionary warning for the Antarctic territory.
The National Disaster Prevention and Response System said that they “continue to assess the impact on people and damage to infrastructure and basic services”.
They added that the results of would be reported through incident or emergency reports prepared by SENAPRED, the National Disaster Prevention and Response Service.
Argentina did not immediately issue a similar tsunami warning.
No reports of damage or casualties have been released yet.
Local media reported that the evacuations are a precautionary measure.
Residents were being asked to evacuate to safe areas which are 30 metres above sea level.
In 2016, a major 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck southern Chile, prompting thousands to evacuate coastal areas.
The quake’s depth was about 21.5 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said, and a tsunami warning was issued.
And according to media reports, the shake was felt in the southwest Argentine city of Bariloche.
It comes after a massive 7.1-magnitude earthquake rocked the Tonga coast, also sparking a tsunami warning.
The US Geological Survey said the tremor hit about 62 miles northeast of the main island of Tongatapu.
BILL Gates’ daughter has revealed her billionaire dad has Asperger’s syndrome – a condition the Microsoft co-founder has never publicly confirmed himself.
Phoebe Gates, 22, made the offhand remark during the popular Call Her Daddy podcast while discussing what it’s like bringing dates home to one of the world’s most famous — and reportedly awkward — dads.
Bill Gates’ daughter Phoebe (R) revealed her dad has Asperger’s syndromeCredit: youtube/callherdaddy
In a comment that quickly raised eyebrows, Phoebe told host Alex Cooper: “My dad is pretty socially awkward. He’s said he, you know, has Asperger’s.”
The disclosure marks the first time a member of Bill Gates’ family has specifically named the condition.
While the tech giant, 69, has previously spoken about identifying with traits on the autism spectrum, he’s never officially confirmed any diagnosis.
Listeners immediately latched onto the moment, sending the quote viral across social media.
“Not exactly surprising,” one user posted on X.
“There seems to be a lot of self-diagnosing going on here,” another wrote.
“Being high in trait disagreeableness, focused, highly intelligent does not necessarily mean one is ‘on the spectrum.’”
Phoebe made the remark while describing the challenges of dating under her father’s watchful – and sometimes uncomfortable – gaze.
“Bringing a guy home is terrifying for the guy. It’s also kind of hilarious for me,” she said, recalling how Gates once drove her and a boyfriend to a school dance while listening to NPR in silence.
“So uncomfortable but so funny.”
The Microsoft mogul and philanthropist has not responded publicly to the viral moment.
But in his 2023 memoir Source Code, Gates did write: “I probably would’ve been diagnosed today, and that’s not a bad thing — it’s part of who I am.”
“I was a hyper-focused kid. I would get so lost in what I was doing, I’d forget to eat,” he shared.
In a February interview with Axios, Gates also opened up about feeling different growing up.
“I always knew I was different in ways that confused people in terms of my energy level and intensity, and going off and just studying things,” he said.
“It’s a little confusing when you’re a kid, that you’re different, or people react to you in some ways, or your social skills — you’re miscuing on various things.”
While Phoebe’s comment may have been unintentional, it adds to the growing conversation around neurodiversity – especially among high-achieving people.
In recent years, more public figures, including Tesla mogul Elon Musk, have openly acknowledged being on the autism spectrum.
Phoebe, who has not commented further on the matter, also opened up about her relationship with boyfriend Arthur Donald, 26 — grandson of Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney.
She joked about her lack of musical knowledge, recalling the time Donald trying to impress her by taking her to an Elton John concert.
“And Elton John comes out in like a bedazzled tracksuit. I’m like, ‘Is Elton John gay?’ His entire family starts dying laughing,” she said.
Even now, nearly two years into their relationship, she says the McCartney clan still rib her over the moment.
The X account of Pakistan minister Ataullah Tarar, who claimed that India may soon conduct a military strike on Pakistan, citing “credible intelligence” has been blocked in India. The move comes amid tensions between both countries over the Pahalgam terror attack.
Pakistan’s Information and Broadcasting Minister Ataullah Tarar had warned that any act of aggression would be met with a decisive response and hold India accountable for any serious consequences in the region.
Pakistan’s Information and Broadcasting Minister Ataullah Tarar’s X account has been blocked in India, days after he claimed that Islambad had “credible intelligence” that New Delhi may carry out a military strike on the neighbouring country within 24 to 36 hours in the wake of the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
A screenshot of Tarar’s X account showed a message that it was withheld in India in response to a legal demand. The profile picture and the cover image of Tarar’s X account are blank.
In a late-night press conference, Tarar claimed early Wednesday that Pakistan had received “credible intelligence”, indicating India may carry out a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours. This came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi granted the Indian armed forces “complete operational freedom” to respond to the Pahalgam terror attack, which claimed 26 lives, government sources told India Today TV.
“Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends to launch a military strike within the next 24 to 36 hours using the Pahalgam incident as a false pretext,” he claimed.
Tarar warned that any act of aggression would be met with a decisive response and hold India accountable for any serious consequences in the region.
Asserting that Pakistan itself was “a victim of terrorism”, the minister said Islamabad had “open-heartedly offered a credible, transparent, and independent investigation by a neutral commission of experts to ascertain the truth”.
Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack, one of the worst such assaults in the Kashmir Valley in recent years.
Earlier, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif told news agency Reuters that a military incursion by India was imminent. Pakistan was on high alert but would only use its nuclear weapons if “there is a direct threat to our existence”, Asif said.
The Indian government has blocked the Instagram accounts of several Pakistani actors, including Hania Aamir and Mahira Khan, in the wake of the Pahalgam massacre. Other Pakistani celebrities whose Instagram accounts have been disabled in India are – Ali Zafar, Sanam Saeed, Bilal Abbas, Iqra Aziz, Imran Abbas and Sajal Aly.
Earlier, the YouTube channel of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s YouTube channel was blocked in India. Other YouTube channels restricted in India are – Dawn News, Irshad Bhatti, SAMAA TV, ARY NEWS, BOL NEWS, Raftar, The Pakistan Reference, Geo News, Samaa Sports, GNN, Uzair Cricket, Umar Cheema Exclusive, Asma Shirazi, Muneeb Farooq, SUNO News and Razi Naama.
ABOUT PAHALGAM TERROR ATTACK
On April 22, terrorists opened fire on a group of tourists visiting the Baisaran valley, a meadow which is accessible only by foot or horseback. In the process, 26 people, including a Nepali national, were killed in the carnage.
Terrorists singled out non-Muslim tourists and shot them at point-blank range after being asked to recite the Kalma, or the Islamic declaration of faith.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has held a flurry of key security and cabinet meetings this week, has vowed that his government will hunt down the terrorists involved in the Pahalgam attack.
Firefighter work at the site of a Russian strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, May 2, 2025. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kharkiv region/Handout via REUTERS Purchase Licensing Rights
Russia launched a mass drone attack late on Friday in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, hitting a high-rise apartment block, triggering fires and injuring 46 people, officials said.
Mayor Ihor Terekhov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said there had been strikes in 12 locations in four central districts of the city, a repeated target of Russian air attacks lying 30 km (19 miles) from the country’s northeastern border.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy denounced the drone strikes, which hit Ukrainian cities several times a week. He said dozens of drones had been launched and Ukraine’s allies were moving too slowly in helping beef up its air defence capability.
“There were no military targets, nor could there be any. Russia strikes dwellings when Ukrainians are in their homes, when they are putting their children to bed,” Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram.
“As the world delays decisions, almost every night in Ukraine turns into a horror that results in the loss of lives. Ukraine needs stronger air defences. Stronger and real decisions from our partners: the United States, Europe, all our partners who seek peace.”
Terekhov said a house had also been hit. An 11-year-old child was among the injured. Eight of those hurt were being treated in hospital.
Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said emergency crews were working through the night to tackle the aftermath of the attack despite fears of repeat strikes.
Pictures posted online showed firefighters battling flames, charred building facades with smashed windows and cars aflame in streets littered with rubble.
Regional authorities said four people were also injured in a Russian joint drone and artillery attack on localities east of Nikopol in southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region.
In southern Kherson region, a village resident died when a fallen drone detonated as he was trying to carry it away from a house.
Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians, though many thousands have been killed since it launched a full-scale invasion of its neighbour in February 2022.
Russia’s Defence Ministry, meanwhile, reported that its air defence units had destroyed 10 Ukrainian drones in an hour: eight over the border region of Bryansk and two over Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.
CHILLING video has caught the moment a humanoid robot flew into a rage and lashed out at its handlers.
CCTV footage from a factory floor shows it attached to a miniature crane.
The humanoid robot was caught lashing out at a factory workerCredit: Jam Press
One man was sitting behind a computer screen and another stood nearby.
They were chatting away when the machine suddenly began moving – seemingly of its own accord.
It raised its arms in the air and brought them down again, repeating the motion with increasing speed and violence, as reported by NeedToKnow.
The robot then began walking forward in an apparent bid to break free from the crane.
The men could be seen flinching and cowering as they moved out of its path.
The computer monitor toppled onto the floor, and other items were knocked over on the desk.
Eventually, one of the men pulled the crane from behind in a bid to stop the spree of destruction.
It is not clear when or where the dystopian scenes unfolded.
One viewer wrote, “So it begins.”
Another said, “Can’t wait for the robot v. human war.”
A third joked, “I know that one. That’s an AssSpanker 3000 prototype.”
A fourth remarked, “Well, nice to know that the robot apocalypse can be stopped with a small crane hoist at least.”
And a fifth replied: “For now.”
What are the arguments against AI?
Artificial intelligence is a highly contested issue, and it seems everyone has a stance on it. Here are some common arguments against it:
Loss of jobs – Some industry experts argue that AI will create new niches in the job market, and as some roles are eliminated, others will appear. However, many artists and writers insist the argument is ethical, as generative AI tools are being trained on their work and wouldn’t function otherwise.
Ethics – When AI is trained on a dataset, much of the content is taken from the Internet. This is almost always, if not exclusively, done without notifying the people whose work is being taken.
Privacy – Content from personal social media accounts may be fed to language models to train them. Concerns have cropped up as Meta unveils its AI assistants across platforms like Facebook and Instagram. There have been legal challenges to this: in 2016, legislation was created to protect personal data in the EU, and similar laws are in the works in the United States.
Misinformation – As AI tools pulls information from the Internet, they may take things out of context or suffer hallucinations that produce nonsensical answers. Tools like Copilot on Bing and Google’s generative AI in search are always at risk of getting things wrong. Some critics argue this could have lethal effects – such as AI prescribing the wrong health information.
The haunting scene comes weeks after other humanoid robots faced off against real people in a very different setting than the factory floor.
In a historic half-marathon in Beijing, 21 humanoid robots raced against 12,000 real runners on April 19.
Various Chinese manufacturers like DroidVP and Noetix Robotics trained up the athletic androids to compete on the 13-mile course.
Some robots were even seen wearing running shorts and boxing gloves on race day.
The fastest bot finished the race in two hours and 40 minutes.
Seven people have been killed in a fiery collision between a tour van and a pickup truck near Yellowstone National Park, Idaho State Police said Friday.
The cause of the crash, which happened just before 7:15 p.m. Thursday, 16 miles outside the park, remains under investigation. Both vehicles caught fire.
Seven people were killed in a deadly collision between a truck and a tour van in eastern Idaho. AP
Six of the 14 tourists in the van died, as well as the driver of the Dodge Ram pickup.
Another eight people were injured and were transported to hospital.
“It is a very dangerous highway,” said Roger Merrill, 60, who witnessed the vehicles burn after the crash. “It’s extremely busy.”
A video he captured shows a banged up red pickup truck, and what appears to be a passenger van completely engulfed in flames, with a thick plume of black smoke billowing in the air, as paramedics and firefighters run toward the scene.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko signed the deal in Washington DC on April 30Image: U.S. Department of the Treasury/REUTERS
There were various potential names for the rare earths, minerals, natural resources and economic agreement that the US and Ukraine had hoped to conclude immediately after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump in January.
In the end, after a number of attempts and amendments, an agreement to establish a United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Fund was signed between Washington and Kyiv on April 30.
It consists of just 10 pages, with a two-page appendix. “Together with the United States, we are creating the Fund that will attract global investment into our country,” Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko posted on Facebook. The agreement does not mention any Ukrainian debt obligations to the US, nor does it change Kyiv’s course towards European integration.
What is the fund supposed to do?
Svyrydenko said that the US would make contributions to the fund. In addition to direct funds, she said, it could include air defense systems for Ukraine. For its part, Kyiv will contribute 50% of revenues from new licenses for extracting raw materials to the fund and can also make additional contributions.
The idea then is that fund invest the money into projects for extracting fossil fuels, oil and gas, as well as intor related infrastructure or recycling, she said. Accordingly, Ukraine and the USA are to jointly determine the specific investment projects for which the money will be used. The fund may only invest in Ukraine.
“We expect that the first 10 years of profits and income of the fund will not be distributed, but can only be invested in Ukraine, in new projects or reconstruction. These conditions will be discussed further,” the minister posted on Facebook.
The US-Ukrainian minerals deal still needs to be ratified by the Ukrainian parliament. But the opposition European Solidarity faction is unhappy that lawmakers were not included in the negotiations and has demanded that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hold talks with representatives of the parliamentary groups and factions.
When will the first investments come?
“An agreement with the US is essential for Ukraine today,” Ilya Neskhodovskyi, head of the analytical department of the Ukrainian think tank National Interests Advocacy Network, or ANTS, told DW.
“We pay and give up part of our revenues, but in return we receive military and financial support as well as American investment,” he said. “As the Americans will control the way the investments are made, it is assumed that they will then be more willing to invest in the Ukrainian economy.”
However, the money will not start flowing immediately. Experts believe that investment can only be expected after the end of the “hot phase” of Russia’s war against Ukraine, a freeze in the conflict, or the signing of a peace agreement.
“New projects are out of the question now during the war. I don’t think they will be possible before the middle of next year,” said Anatoliy Amelin from the Ukrainian Institute for the Future. “Companies that plan to invest in Ukraine, be it in raw materials, mining or processing, must take this into account in their budgets for next year,” he added, speculating that, at best, US investment would come to Ukraine from 2027 and 2028. “The US is still motivated to help us, but the next aid will accumulate as debt obligations in the fund.”
Will US military aid be resumed?
At the same time, experts also pointed out that the agreement is politically advantageous for Ukraine, as it continues cooperation with the US, including in terms of intensifying military aid. “This is a huge political and diplomatic victory for Ukraine!,” wrote Tymofiy Mylovanov, the head of the Kyiv School of Economics and former Ukrainian economy minister on Facebook. It “gives Trump an internal political victory, and because of this a more positive attitude to Ukraine.”
He continued: “Ukraine was able to protect its interests in this agreement! All the draconian wishes of the other side, despite the insane pressure that is hard to imagine, have been canceled. And the deal seems fair.”
According to media reports, immediately after the agreement was signed, Trump agreed to sell at least $50 million (€44m) worth of weapons to Ukraine for the first time during his second term of office.
A tug vessel puts out a fire on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla vessel Conscience outside Maltese territorial waters in this handout picture provided by Malta Goverment Department of Information, May 2, 2025. Goverment of Malta/Handout via REUTERS
A group of activists organising an aid boat for Gaza said it was attacked on Friday (May 2) by drones in international waters off Malta as they headed towards the Palestinian territory, accusing Israel of attacking the vessel.
The Maltese government said it responded to a distress call from the vessel and offered immediate support.
It said all crew members were safe, while making no mention of an alleged attack.
“At 00:23 Maltese time (2223 GMT on Thursday), the Conscience, a Freedom Flotilla Coalition ship, came under direct attack in international waters,” the activist group said in a statement.
“Armed drones attacked the front of an unarmed civilian vessel twice, causing a fire and a substantial breach in the hull,” it added, blaming Israel.
“Israeli ambassadors must be summoned and answer to violations of international law, including the ongoing blockade and the bombing of our civilian vessel in international waters.”
The Israeli military did not provide an immediate response when contacted by AFP.
The strike, the activists said, appeared to target the boat’s generator.
Following the distress call, the Malta Vessel Traffic Services body dispatched a tugboat and offered support.
“The tug arrived on scene and began firefighting operations. By 0128 hrs, the fire was reported under control,” the Maltese statement said.
“DESPERATELY-NEEDED AID”
The activists said another vessel was dispatched from Cyprus after the aid boat sent out a distress signal, though Cypriot authorities have yet to confirm this.
The activists were on what they called a “mission to challenge Israel’s illegal and deadly siege of Gaza, and to deliver desperately needed, life-saving aid”.
Israel has since Mar 2 blocked all aid deliveries to Gaza, and resumed intense military operations in the territory in mid-March, with a two-month ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in tatters.
The Red Cross warned Friday that the humanitarian response in Gaza was on the “verge of total collapse” after two months of Israel blocking aid to the territory.
A previous “Freedom Flotilla” launched from southern Türkiye in 2010 ended in bloodshed when Israeli forces stormed the Mavi Marmara vessel, killing 10 and wounding 28.
Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023, which sparked the Gaza war, resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Thursday that at least 2,326 people have been killed since Israel resumed strikes, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,418.
GRAND plans are being made for a massive military parade on Donald Trump’s birthday – with some 7,000 troops marching and 50 helicopters flying over Washington DC.
The president reportedly plans to splash a whopping $100 million on the full-blown military spectacle to show the US might.
US Army honor guard drill team marching in Memorial Day parade in Washington DC
A source in Washington DC has revealed that Trump is planning a massive military parade to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the US Army on June 14 – which also happens to be his birthday.
Plans are to start the procession at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, from where the contingents will snake through the streets of the capital to reach the White House.
The grandiose military parade will showcase soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines marching in their uniforms in front of thousands of spectators, the Washington City Paper reported.
As many as 6,600 troops and seven band contingents have reportedly been called to participate in the military parade.
They will be accompanied by at least 150 military vehicles and some 50 air force choppers.
Some 2,000 civilians could also take march alongside the US military.
Plans are also to roll down battle tanks, massive military equipment, and aircraft and missiles, just as he first envisioned the parade during his first term.
While US officials have yet to release the cost of the planned parade, the figure is expected to reach tens of millions of dollars.
This includes the cost of transporting all the military equipment across Washington and putting up safety measures for the public expected to gather at the parade.
Army spokesman Col. Dave Butler said that the Army is excited about the plans for its anniversary.
He added: “We want to make it into an event that the entire nation can celebrate with us.
“We want Americans to know their Army and their soldiers.
“A parade might become part of that, and we think that will be an excellent addition to what we already have planned.”
And Trump appeared to tease the grand plan in a post on Truth Social, where he wrote: “We are going to start celebrating our victories again!”
He also vowed to rename May 8, now known as Victory in Europe Day, as “Victory Day for World War II,” and to change November 11, Veterans Day, to “Victory Day for World War I”.
FIRST-TERM PARADE SCUTTLED
In 2017, Trump wanted the US military to throw a parade as a show of force after watching a French military spectacle the year before.
President Emmanuel Macron treated the president to an elaborate military display, which Trump is said to have become a big fan of.
After watching the grand spectacle, he said, “We’re going to have to try and top it.”
But Trump’s plans were cut short by district officials and other military leaders, and he was forced to cancel the plan, which reportedly cost $91 million.
Why is Trump doing a parade on June 14?
JUNE 14 this year marks the 250th anniversary of the US Army, also known as Army Day.
The day also coincides with Donald Trump’s 79th birthday.
To celebrate both things in style, Trump is planning to throw a military parade to showcase the US’s might.
For years, the president is said to have had his eyes on a full-blown military show displaying the US might, but has failed to put up a working plan – until now.
Authorities complained that it was too big an amount to spend on a military parade and that rolling down battle tanks and other heavy equipment would significantly damage the roads.
Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser questioned Trump’s plans at the time.
“The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it,” she said.
“When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade, they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I cancelled it.
“Never let someone hold you up! I will instead …attend the big parade already scheduled at Andrews Air Force Base on a different date.”
BIRTHDAY SPECTACLE
They also warned Trump of public safety – and a whopping $21 million price tag that comes attached to it.
While Trump reluctantly had to give up on the plan during his first term, it seems like the president is all set to bring it back.
And it could be the greatest military spectacle the world has ever seen.
Arlington County Board Chair Takis Karantonis told the Washington City Paper that he was given a “heads up” about the parade by the White House, but with no firm details.
“It’s not clear to me what the scope of a parade would be, but I would hope the federal government remains sensitive to the pain and concerns of numerous [military] veteran residents who have lost or might lose their jobs in recent federal decisions, as they reflect on how best to celebrate the Army’s anniversary,” he said.
AMERICA’S 250th CELEBRATION
Trump is also planning a so-called Great American State Fair to celebrate the country’s 250th birthday in 2026.
Trump floated plans to showcase America’s greatness in its true sense – packed in a year-long grand festival to mark the country’s anniversary, dubbed the semiquincentennial, in a grand style that can be seen in the video above.
Trump, who led his 2024 election campaign on the promise to make America great again, will take this opportunity to portray the country’s might in the most patriotic way.
It was just a year ago when he called all Americans to prepare for the Great American State Fair – a gigantic carnival of joy that would mark America’s 250th birthday in true Trump fashion.
Various contingents could take part in a grand parade in front of millions of people visiting the fair – and Trump could build a “National Garden of American Heroes” with statues of important figures in American history.
Iran had a grand plan for Syria – taken right from the playbook of a country it considers its arch-enemy.
Just as the United States solidified its global dominance by investing billions in rebuilding Europe after the Second World War, Iran would do the same in the Middle East by reconstructing a war-ravaged Syria.
The ambitious program, outlined in a 33-page official Iranian study, makes several references to “The Marshall Plan,” America’s blueprint for resurrecting post-War Europe. The U.S. strategy succeeded: It made Europe “reliant on America,” a presentation accompanying the study says, by “creating economic, political and socio-cultural dependence.”
The document, dated May 2022 and authored by an Iranian economic-policy unit stationed in Syria, was found by Reuters reporters in Iran’s looted Damascus embassy when they visited the building in December. It was among hundreds of other papers they uncovered there and at other locations around the capital – letters, contracts and infrastructure plans – that reveal how Iran planned to recoup the billions it spent saving President Bashar al-Assad during the country’s long-running civil war. The Syria-strategy document envisions building an economic empire, while also deepening influence over Iran’s ally.
“A $400 billion opportunity,” reads one bullet point in the study.
These imperial hopes were crushed when rebels hostile to Iran toppled Assad in December. The deposed dictator fled for Russia. Iran’s paramilitaries, diplomats and companies beat their own hasty exit. Its embassy in Damascus was ransacked by Syrians celebrating Assad’s demise.
The building was littered with documents highlighting the challenges facing Iranian investors. The documents and months of reporting reveal new insight into the doomed effort to turn Syria into a lucrative satellite state.
Shredded documents lie scattered on the floor of Iran’s embassy in Damascus after it was looted. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky
Reuters interviewed a dozen Iranian and Syrian businessmen, investigated the web of Iranian companies navigating the gray zones of sanctions, and visited some of Iran’s abandoned investments, which included religious sites, factories, military installations and more. Those investments were stymied by militant attacks, local corruption, and Western sanctions and bombing runs.
Among the investments was a €411 million power plant in coastal Latakia being built by an Iranian engineering firm. It stands idle. An oil extraction project is abandoned in Syria’s eastern desert. A $26 million Euphrates River rail bridge built by an Iranian charity linked to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei collapsed under a U.S. coalition airstrike years ago, and was neither repaired nor fully paid for.
The roughly 40 projects in the abandoned embassy files represent a fraction of Iran’s overall investment. But in this assortment alone, Reuters found that Syria’s outstanding debts to Iranian companies toward the end of the war amounted to at least $178 million. Former Iranian lawmakers have publicly estimated the total debt of Assad’s government to Iran at more than $30 billion.
Hassan Shakhesi, a private Iranian trader, lost €16 million in vehicle parts he shipped to Syria’s Latakia port just before Assad fled. “I’d set up an office and home in Syria. That’s gone,” said Shakhesi. He said he was never paid for the goods, which disappeared. “I hope Iran’s long history with Syria isn’t just wiped out. I’m now having to look at business elsewhere.”
Ultimately, Iran’s hopes to emulate the Marshall Plan and build an economic empire encompassing Syria went more the way of America’s debacles in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Early intervention in Syria’s civil war on the side of Assad deepened Iran’s influence over this gateway to the Mediterranean Sea. The story of the squandered investments reveals the financial risk that brought, and how the mutual reliance of the pariah governments of Syria and Iran hurt both.
For Iran’s rulers, Assad’s fall and the collapse of their Syria plans come at a precarious time. They have been weakened by Israel’s decimation of the Islamic Republic’s key proxies, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza. They are under pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to negotiate a deal that could neuter Iran’s nuclear program, or face possible military action if they balk. Iran’s regional rivals, including Turkey and Israel, are rushing to fill the vacuum left by its departure. The nascent Syrian government, for its part, has to contend with multiple frozen infrastructure projects as it tries to rebuild the war-ravaged country.
‘The Syrian people have a wound caused by Iran, and we need a lot of time to heal’
Reuters reporters discovered an array of documents as they visited Iran’s centers of soft power in Syria after Assad’s fall – diplomatic, economic and cultural offices. They photographed nearly 2,000 of the records, including trade contracts, economic plans and official cables, and left them where found. Reporters then used artificial intelligence, including the AI legal assistant CoCounsel owned by Thomson Reuters, to summarize and analyze the texts.
Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said in December he expected the new Syrian leadership to honor the country’s obligations. But it’s not a priority for the new government, led by a former rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, that fought Assad and his Iranian backers.
Iranian government officials did not respond to requests for comment about the findings by Reuters.
“The Syrian people have a wound caused by Iran, and we need a lot of time to heal,” the new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said in an interview in December. Neither al-Sharaa nor other officials from Syria’s new government responded to requests for comment from Reuters about Iran’s role in the fallen regime. Sharaa’s HTS, initially an offshoot of Al Qaeda, severed those ties years ago and says it wants to build an inclusive and democratic Syria. Some Syrians, especially non-Sunni minorities, fear it retains the jihadist goal of establishing an Islamic government.
For most Syrians, the departure of Assad and the Iran-backed militias was cause to celebrate. Those Syrians who worked with Iranians have mixed feelings, however, about the exodus of Iranian business, which has left many of them without an income.
“Iran was here, that was just the reality, and I made a living from it for a while,” said a Syrian engineer who worked on the idled Latakia power plant.
The engineer asked not to be named for fear of reprisals for working for an Iranian company, after a spate of revenge killings last month against Syrians associated with the old regime. He said the Latakia project was hobbled by financial problems, Syrian corruption and underqualified workers from Iran, but that once completed would have boosted Syria’s struggling grid.
“The power plant was something for the future of Syria,” he said.
IRAN’S MAN IN SYRIA
The man tasked with executing Iran’s economic plans in Syria was a bearded construction manager from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps named Abbas Akbari. He was promoted with fanfare in March 2022 to lead a unit called the Headquarters for Developing Economic Relations of Iran and Syria. Its task was to boost trade and recoup Iran’s investment. His team produced the study that held up the Marshall Plan as a model.
Akbari enlisted comrades in the Revolutionary Guards, an elite branch of Iran’s military, to help with logistics on civilian projects.
Reuters found letters signed by Akbari in Iran’s looted embassy. The documents include details of projects he supported and the money spent. Near the scattered papers was a vault and a pack of C4 explosives discovered by fighters who were guarding the building. Akbari did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Iran’s foray into Syria began long before Akbari’s arrival. Mapna Group, an Iranian infrastructure conglomerate that hired the Syrian engineer who worked on the Latakia project, won its first major contract in 2008 to expand a power plant near Damascus. That was soon followed by a second contract to build another plant near the city of Homs.
Iran’s doomed investments in Syria
Iran’s hopes to mimic the U.S. Marshall Plan by rebuilding Syria were dashed by the fall of Bashar al-Assad. Reuters found documents outlining Iranian investments and how they went wrong.
The deals were part of a growing Iranian investment in Syria in the years ahead of the 2011 uprising against Assad, as U.S. sanctions shut off both countries to the West. They were the fruit of a relationship dating back to the Iranian revolution of 1979, which led to the overthrow of the Shah and the establishment of the Islamic Republic.
Assad’s father, President Hafez al-Assad, was the first Arab leader to recognise the republic and helped arm Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s fledgling Shi’ite Muslim theocracy in its 1980s war with Iraq. They fought Israel during the Lebanese civil war – Iran via its Hezbollah proxy – and later sent fighters and weapons to resist the American occupation of Iraq after 2003.
Iran’s political investments in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon paid off for years. Like Iran, Iraq and Lebanon have significant populations of Shi’ite Muslims, and Shi’ite paramilitaries nurtured by the Revolutionary Guards dominated successive governments in Baghdad and Beirut. Syria became the key transit route for weapons and personnel across the “Axis of Resistance,” the name Iran gives to the armed groups and states it supports against Israel and the West.
Iran’s ‘Axis of Resistance’ at the height of Tehran’s influence
Syria also held religious importance for Iran, which sent hundreds of thousands of pilgrims each year to visit the Sayyeda Zeinab shrine, the mausoleum of the Prophet Mohammed’s granddaughter, situated just south of Damascus.
Economic ties took off in the mid-2000s, around the time Mapna got its first contracts.
But then came the Syrian uprising against Assad in 2011, part of the wave of Arab Spring uprisings. The rebellion threatened a range of Iranian military, political, religious and, increasingly, economic interests.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians rose up against the Assad government, which he ruled through an elite of the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam.
His crackdown turned the rebellion into an armed insurgency dominated by Sunni Islamist groups. The civil war caused ethno-religious rifts, bringing chaos to a country home to Sunnis, Muslims, Christians, Alawites, Kurds and others, with minorities increasingly fearful of a sectarian rebellion.
Shi’ite Iran – along with Assad’s other main backer, Russia – came to Assad’s aid, sending arms and manpower. Iran also sent engineers and entrepreneurs.
‘NEVER LEFT ITS BROTHERS ALONE’
In late December 2011, the reality of operating in wartime Syria hit Mapna. Syrian rebels kidnapped seven Iranians working on the Jandar power plant near Homs, Iranian state news reported. Two were killed, according to a 2018 letter from the company to Syria’s electricity minister seen by Reuters.
But the strife deepened Mapna’s investment, bringing it new contracts to repair Syria’s battle-damaged power grid, which by 2015 was producing less than half of pre-war output. The most ambitious deal was to build the Latakia plant.
The projects were troubled and costly from the outset, according to letters from the company seen by Reuters, and the Syrian engineer who worked at Latakia.
“Latakia was supposed to take 20 months, starting around 2018,” he said. “Now it’s frozen.”
Mapna announced in November 2024, a month before Assad’s ouster, that it was about halfway through construction.
The engineer said Syria insisted on using a subcontractor with links to the Assad family that hired largely unqualified builders and engineers. He said Mapna’s own staff included capable workers, and some who appeared to have got their jobs through Iranian connections.
“There were always financial issues: delayed payments between the governments, plus currency fluctuations,” he said.
The engineer’s account of payment issues and Syrian bureaucracy was corroborated by letters in the embassy, which also show how Mapna’s own capital was at risk.
A 2017 letter from the company to the Iranian ambassador said that Syria was changing the terms of finalized deals, leaving Mapna to finance the Latakia power plant entirely, as well as another project initially agreed with 60% Mapna financing. A year later, the company president complained in a letter to Syria’s electricity minister that the government had ignored an offer to ship parts for an Aleppo plant and dragged its feet on approving other contracts with Mapna, which had incurred tens of millions of euros in costs.
“Mapna Group has never left its brothers alone in the Ministry of Electricity of Syria … during seven years of civil wars while all foreign companies left,” is how Mapna President Abbas Aliabadi, now Iran’s energy minister, ended his frustrated 2018 letter. The Energy Ministry, Aliabadi and Mapna employees and managers contacted by Reuters did not respond to requests for comment.
The company has not publicly announced how much it spent in Syria or whether payments were settled.
The company sometimes received logistical help from Akbari, the Revolutionary Guards construction manager, internal letters show. This included asking IRGC units to allocate fuel for Mapna.
Mapna had partially repaired the Aleppo thermal plant by the summer of 2022. Assad triumphantly toured the plant in a photo op. Other projects were still in the works. The Jandar plant, damaged during fighting, operates at reduced capacity.
The Syrian engineer left the Latakia project in 2021 because he refused to work for the Assad-linked Syrian subcontractor because of the corruption, and viewed the project as doomed. “I’ve struggled to find permanent work since then,” he said. A member of the minority Alawite sect, he sheltered at home while the country plunged into new sectarian violence last month.
SANCTIONS AND DEBT
Mapna’s security and financial troubles were replicated across a host of other Iranian companies in Syria.
Copper World, a private Tehran-based electrical wiring firm, won a tender to supply a Syrian cable company just before the war. When fighting began, the investment looked shaky.
Rebels stole a cargo worth millions of dollars in Syria in 2012, a person with knowledge of the contracts told Reuters. Copper World pushed ahead in Syria because sanctions closed off other markets, the source said. Copper World claimed damages through Syrian courts and recovered some of the lost exports. The rest, due from the Syrian national insurance company, was never paid.
The source said the Syrian cable company demanded $50,000 as a condition for awarding Copper World a new contract – while doing the same deal with a rival Egyptian company. The two companies compared notes and discovered what was happening. Reuters could not determine how the deal was finalized.
On another occasion, a Syrian money-transfer company tasked with transmitting funds to Copper World used old rates for payments as the Syrian pound plummeted, leaving Copper World short.
“Bank transfers and currency fluctuations killed that business,” the source said.
A Copper World letter at the Iranian embassy sought Akbari’s help with its financial difficulties in Syria. The letter asked him to lobby the Syrian Central Bank and money-transfer company to pay $2.4 million due to Copper World.
A separate table of projects, outstanding payments and extra costs, annotated by Iranian officials, listed dozens of delays and payment issues for other firms.
Yet throughout the ordeals of Mapna, Copper World and others, Iran doubled down on its Syrian investment.
Iran signed a 2011 free trade deal with Syria, days before the Mapna kidnappings, focusing on industry, mining and agriculture. The government in Tehran issued Damascus a credit line worth $3.6 billion in 2013, and a second worth $1 billion in 2015, the first of a series of major loans to help the Syrian state pay for imports, including oil.
The United Nations most recently estimated Iran to be spending $6 billion a year in Syria by 2015. Iran has called estimates of its spending in Syria exaggerated, but not provided an official figure.
Iran and Syria signed a series of agreements between 2015 and 2020 aimed at Tehran recovering its debts. They included giving Iran land for farming, a licence to become a mobile phone operator, housing projects, phosphate mining rights and oil exploration contracts.
Reuters reporting found that several of those projects ran into similar difficulties related to sanctions, manpower and security with little income to show for their troubles. None of the companies involved responded to requests for comment.
Iran was meanwhile losing deals to other countries. Akbari’s Headquarters for Economic Development reported in its study that Syria’s other big ally, Russia, had focused on “profitable sectors” in the country such as oil and gas. And seven months after agreeing that Iran could manage the port of Latakia, Syria renewed the lease of a French company instead.
‘IDENTIFY THE SYRIAN MAFIAS’
Akbari and his bosses in Tehran were acutely aware of how little their Syria investment had yielded by the time the Iranian government announced his new post leading the development agency in 2022.
The study that references the Marshall Plan was produced on Akbari’s watch. It lists a litany of troubles Iran endured in Syria – banking and transport problems, “lack of security” and red tape.
It also mentions USAID, the American aid agency that Trump has been defunding. Like the Marshall Plan, the Iranians viewed USAID as a highly effective vehicle for establishing American economic and soft power – a “nation building” model they wanted to adopt in Syria. It would help Iran “achieve goals such as increasing regional security,” as well as “neutralize” U.S. sanctions, the study said.
Without mentioning other countries in detail, it said Syria was on the “front line” of Iran’s battle with Israel, and a key link with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran’s regional soft power projects include charity and construction work in Iraq and funding for seminaries in Lebanon. This spending is an increasing source of criticism at home by Iranians reeling from its ailing economy.
By the time Akbari started his job, Assad had largely beaten back the uprising with Iranian and Russian help.
Iran had reaped some strategic rewards, deepening its influence in the Syrian military, developing local militias alongside those it imported into Syria, and deploying paramilitaries in key centers like Damascus, Sayyeda Zeinab and Aleppo.
But Iranian businesses were losing interest. After fighting subsided, just 11 Iran-linked companies registered annually in Syria in 2022 and 2023, barely more than during the worst years of the civil war, according to an analysis by the Syrian political economist Karam Shaar shared with Reuters.
“Syrian banks’ failure to pay Iranian companies is discouraging investment,” a letter from Akbari’s agency to Iran’s Syria ambassador read, listing a litany of complaints.
The agency blamed “complicated Syrian bureaucracy.” A Powerpoint presentation that lay next to the agency’s study at Iran’s embassy suggested a workaround: “becoming familiar with the key stakeholders and economic and business mafias” of Syria.
The agency assessed that sanctions would still stop Syria from doing business with the West, making Iran one of its few options. Others were Arab states and Turkey, which had rekindled relations with Assad after years backing his opposition.
Akbari pressed on. In a photo accompanying a printout of internal meeting minutes, he sits smiling opposite Syria’s industry minister at an Aleppo hotel. “Mr. Akbari asked the Syrian side to identify incomplete factories” for Iranian companies to build, the minutes read.
Iran signed new agreements with Syria in 2023 and 2024 that included establishing a joint bank, zero tariff trade, and a second attempt at setting up transactions using local currencies – a move that would avoid sanctions by cutting use of U.S. dollars.
But time would soon run out on Akbari and his mission.
ROOT AND BRANCH REVERSAL
The scattered papers, belongings and military hardware left around the Iranian embassy in Damascus, a hotel for Iranian engineers and workers adjoining the Sayyeda Zeinab shrine, and a nearby cultural center, are a mix of contracts, plans, proselytising and military-industrial logistics.
Next to tomes on Islamic jurisprudence and a “knowing Shi’ism” book at the cultural center are applications by Iranian women for membership of Iran’s Basij paramilitary organisation. Among abandoned plans for shrine decorations, an Iranian worker at the nearby hotel was teaching himself Arabic in his personal notebook.
Despite the many problems, Iran was still pouring money into the upkeep of the Sayyeda Zeinab shrine. It was providing stipends for Iranian families who had moved to the area – according to Iranian documents seen at Sayyeda Zeinab – and maintaining militias nearby.
The fall of Assad last year brought down the curtain on Akbari’s Syria plan. By then, Israel had all but crushed Iran’s Axis of Resistance, killing the leadership of Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and key IRGC commanders in Syria.
Japan could use its $1 trillion-plus holdings of U.S. Treasuries as a card in trade talks with Washington, its finance minister said on Friday, raising explicitly for the first time its leverage as a massive creditor to the United States.
While Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato did not threaten to sell holdings, his remarks touch on a critical concern global investors have about what Japan and China, the two largest owners of U.S. government debt, might do in seeking tariff concessions from the Trump administration.
The Treasury market saw a huge global sell-off last month after U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision on April 2 to slap sweeping tariffs on trading partners, including key strategic allies such as Japan.
Kato said in a television interview the primary purpose of Japan’s U.S. Treasury holdings – the largest in the world – is to ensure it has sufficient liquidity to conduct yen intervention when necessary.
“But we obviously need to put all cards on the table in negotiations. It could be among such cards,” he said when asked whether Japan, in trade talks with the U.S., could reassure Washington it will not sell its Treasury holdings in the market.
“Whether we actually use that card, however, is a different question,” Kato added.
The U.S. Treasury Department did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment outside of office hours.
Kato’s remarks contrast with those he made last month, when he ruled out using Japan’s U.S. Treasury holdings in trade negotiations.
On Friday, Kato declined to comment on whether Tokyo’s U.S. bond holdings came up in his bilateral meeting with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent last week.
However, he said the huge market sell-off in Treasuries in April likely affected Washington’s approach in talks with Japan.
Japan’s and China’s presence in the Treasury market makes them a huge point of attention whenever U.S. yields spike, although little is known about their trading activity.
While Japan, as a close U.S. ally, is seen as less likely to use its Treasury holdings as a bargaining tool, some analysts speculate that China may liquidate its holdings as a “nuclear” option as trade tensions with the U.S. escalate.
Japan’s Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato listens to a question during an interview with Reuters at the Finance Ministry in Tokyo, Japan April 17, 2025. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
So far, there are few signs of such a sell-off. Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries rose 3.4% in February, data from the Treasury Department showed last month, with the two largest owners, Japan and China, building up their U.S. debt positions.
But even hints of their huge market presence could be a key weapon for Japan, which otherwise has little leverage due to its economy’s huge reliance on the U.S. car market.
“Playing the card early, while the U.S. bond market is in the minds of the administration after recent weeks, is a smart move,” said Martin Whetton, head of financial markets strategy at Westpac in Sydney. “They don’t have to do anything. But they can put themselves in a solid position to negotiate. It is, after all, the art of the deal.”
Japan’s top trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, said he deepened talks on trade, non-tariff measures and economic security cooperation in his second round of talks with Bessent in Washington on Thursday. He also said the two sides hoped to hold their next meeting in mid-May.
USE ALL TOOLS
The U.S. Treasury sell-off in April was among factors that led Trump to announce a 90-day pause on his “reciprocal” tariff plan, with Bessent likely playing a key role, according to sources close to the White House.
Aside from the tariffs, Japan has also faced criticism from Trump that it was intentionally weakening the yen to give its exports a trade advantage – an accusation Tokyo denies.
Kato said his meeting with Bessent last week did not discuss any desirable exchange rate or a possible framework to control currency moves.
Analysts say Japan’s huge Treasury holdings can also be used as a bargaining tool in any differences Washington has with Tokyo over currencies.
“(It) should be a card if not an ace card for the negotiation,” said Naka Matsuzawa, chief macro strategist at Nomura Securities in Tokyo. “It would work not only to flatten the (bond yield) curve in the two countries but also avoid other outrageous requests such as artificial yen appreciation.”
But there are at the same time limits to such threats as unloading Treasuries would hurt Japan and China by disrupting markets and causing huge losses on their remaining holdings.
Israel attacked a target near the presidential palace in the Syrian capital Damascus, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said early on Friday, reiterating his vow to protect members of the Druze community.
It marks the second time Israel has struck Syria in as many days, following through on a promise to defend the minority group, which was involved in sectarian violence against Sunni gunmen earlier this week.
The Druze adhere to a faith that is an offshoot of Islam and have followers in Syria, Lebanon and Israel.
The strikes reflect Israel’s deep mistrust of the Sunni Islamists who toppled Bashar al-Assad in December, posing a further challenge to interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s efforts to establish control over the fractured nation.
“Israel struck last night near the presidential palace in Damascus,” Netanyahu said in a joint statement with Defense Minister Israel Katz.
“This is a clear message to the Syrian regime: We will not allow (Syrian) forces to deploy south of Damascus or any threat to the Druze community.”
The Israeli military said in a statement it struck “adjacent to the area of the Palace of Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa in Damascus”, without specifying the target. There was no immediate comment from Syria’s authorities.
Since Assad was ousted in December, Israel has seized ground in the southwest, vowed to protect the Druze, lobbied Washington to keep the neighbouring state weak, and has blown up much of the Syrian army’s heavy weapons in the days after he was toppled.
Sharaa, who was an al Qaeda commander before renouncing ties to the group in 2016, has repeatedly vowed to govern Syria in an inclusive way. But incidents of sectarian violence, including the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, have hardened fears among minority groups about the now dominant Islamists.
This week’s sectarian violence began on Tuesday with clashes between Druze and Sunni gunmen in the predominantly Druze area of Jaramana, sparked by a voice recording cursing the Prophet Mohammad and which the Sunni militants suspected was made by a Druze.
Detailed Army plans for a potential military parade on President Donald Trump’s birthday in June call for more than 6,600 soldiers, at least 150 vehicles, 50 helicopters, seven bands and possibly a couple thousand civilians, The Associated Press has learned.
The planning documents, obtained by the AP, are dated April 29 and 30 and have not been publicly released. They represent the Army’s most recent blueprint for its long-planned 250th anniversary festival on the National Mall and the newly added element — a large military parade that Trump has long wanted but is still being discussed.
The Army anniversary just happens to coincide with Trump’s 79th birthday on June 14.
While the slides do not include any price estimates, it would likely cost tens of millions of dollars to put on a parade of that size. Costs would include the movement of military vehicles, equipment, aircraft and troops from across the country to Washington and the need to feed and house thousands of service members.
High costs halted Trump’s push for a parade in his first term, and the tanks and other heavy vehicles that are part of the Army’s latest plans have raised concerns from city officials about damage to roads.
Asked about plans for a parade, Army spokesman Steve Warren said Thursday that no final decisions have been made.
Col. Dave Butler, another Army spokesman, added that the Army is excited about the plans for its anniversary.
“We want to make it into an event that the entire nation can celebrate with us,” said Butler. “We want Americans to know their Army and their soldiers. A parade might become part of that, and we think that will be an excellent addition to what we already have planned.”
Others familiar with the documents, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans have not been finalized, said they represent the Army’s plans as it prepares for any White House approval of the parade. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
There has been no formal approval yet. Changes to the plans have been made in recent weeks and more are likely.
In a Truth Social post Thursday night that did not mention the June 14 plans, Trump wrote, “We are going to start celebrating our victories again!” He vowed to rename May 8, now known as Victory in Europe Day, as “Victory Day for World War II,” and to change November 11, Veterans Day, to “Victory Day for World War I.”
What would go into the potential Army parade
Much of the equipment would have to be brought in by train or flown in.
Some equipment and troops were already going to be included in the Army’s birthday celebration, which has been in the works for more than a year. The festival was set to involve an array of activities and displays on the National Mall, including a fitness competition, climbing wall, armored vehicles, Humvees, helicopters and other equipment.
A parade, however, would increase the equipment and troops involved. According to the plans, as many as 6,300 of the service members would be marching in the parade, while the remainder would be responsible for other tasks and support.
The Army’s early festival plans did not include a parade, but officials confirmed last month that the Army had started discussions about adding one.
The plans say the parade would showcase the Army’s 250 years of service and foresee bringing in soldiers from at least 11 corps and divisions nationwide. Those could include a Stryker battalion with two companies of Stryker vehicles, a tank battalion and two companies of tanks, an infantry battalion with Bradley vehicles, Paladin artillery vehicles, Howitzers and infantry vehicles.
There would be seven Army bands and a parachute jump by the Golden Knights. And documents suggest that civilian participants would include historical vehicles and aircraft and two bands, along with people from veterans groups, military colleges and reenactor organizations.
According to the plan, the parade would be classified as a national special security event, and that request has been submitted by the National Park Service and is under review.
And it is expected that the evening parade would be followed by a concert and fireworks.
One of the documents raises concerns about some limitations, which include where troops would be housed and “significant concerns regarding security requirements” as equipment flows into the city. It says the biggest unknown so far is which units would be participating.
Trump has long wanted a big military parade
In his first term, Trump proposed having a parade after seeing one in France on Bastille Day in 2017. Trump said that after watching the two-hour procession along the famed Champs-Elysees that he wanted an even grander one on Pennsylvania Avenue.
That plan was ultimately dumped due to the huge costs — with one estimate of a $92 million price tag — and other logistical issues. Among those were objections from city officials who said including tanks and other heavy armored vehicles would tear up the roads.
Trump said in a social media post in 2018 that he was canceling the event over the costs and accused local politicians of price gouging.
This year, as plans progressed for the Army to host its birthday festival in Washington, talk about a parade began anew.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser acknowledged in April that the administration reached out to the city about holding a parade on June 14 that would stretch from Arlington, Virginia, where the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery are located, across the Potomac River and into Washington.
Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team expressed their gratitude Thursday to the federal employees partnering with the cost-cutting agency as they work around the clock to eliminate wasteful spending and modernize the workforce.
The billionaire tech entrepreneur, 53, and several male staffers told Fox News host Jesse Watters that they’ve seen increased willingness from federal workers and agencies to collaborate with DOGE to improve government operations — noting that conflict is often a rare exception that’s heightened in the media.
“We’d like to just give a big thank you to all the government employees who are helping reduce the waste and fraud, because this is — we really couldn’t do it without you,” Musk said during a 10 p.m. staff meeting inside DOGE headquarters that was highlighted on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
Elon Musk told Fox News host Jesse Watters that DOGE is a “long-term enterprise.” Fox News
“I’m not trying to sort of say all government employees are bad. That’s absolutely not the case. It’s just that there actually just does need to be a serious effort to reduce the waste and fraud. And we’re just making that happen,” the DOGE chief continued.
“There is conflict, but that is the exception. That’s actually true of history in general. There’s — people study the wars a lot, but actually most of the time there wasn’t a war. It’s just not as exciting.”
Members of his team said that while they’ve lost friendships and experienced some pushback from certain federal agencies — it’s all worth it in the end to serve their country.
Though one agency has been particularly resistant to their efforts: The United States Institute of Peace.
“I mean, any given company, any given organizational name is going to kind of be the opposite of the title,” Musk quipped as one of his workers explained finding loaded guns inside the agency’s headquarters as workers deleted a vast amount of financial information.
They cited congressionally approved funds being spent on private jets and a $130,000 contract with a former member of the Taliban — but didn’t clarify what the contracted services were for. Their findings have since been referred to the Department of Justice and FBI
“I think it’s a great example, because most Americans don’t know what’s going on at a lot of these smaller agencies,” one DOGE-ian told Watters.
“And this is, I think, the most extreme case of some of the wasteful spending that we’re finding.”
Other agencies, like the Federal Employees Retirement System, have been much more open to enhancing and streamlining their workload from an archaic filing system to a digital platform.
“It’s very prehistoric, like dinosaurs would think this is kind of old,” Musk said.
The tech mogul said his staffers have no plans to take their “eye off the ball” and assured DOGE will remain a “long-term enterprise” even after his status as a special government employee ends on May 30.
“It’s a long-term enterprise because if we take our eye off the ball, the waste and fraud will come roaring back,” Musk said.
“We’re trying to have it be such that the funding is removed, the grants are gone. There’s a lot of work required to restart the waste and fraud. And that will at least slow it down.”
The richest man alive has boasted $160 billion cuts in annual spending after settling a $1 trillion goal — though the precise amount of money that DOGE has cut is unclear.
President Trump tapped the X owner to lead the temporary organization to discover and eliminate wasteful government spending, fraud and abuse.
Musk quickly tore through Washington during Trump’s initial months back in the White House — leading efforts to gut the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and its 10,000 employees.
He also backed the Office of Management and Budget on a similar mission to shutter the 1,700-person Consumer Financial Protection Bureau while analyzing the federal bureaucracy from the Education Department to the Pentagon.
Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are both trying to save face amid the spiralling tariffs trade war
On Friday morning, a spokesperson for China’s ministry of commerce announced that Beijing was assessing the possibility of tariff negotiations with the United States.
It was news the rest of the world had been waiting to hear as astonishingly high tariffs – up to 245% on some Chinese exports to the US – throttle trade between the world’s two biggest economies, raising the spectre of a recession.
“US officials have repeatedly expressed their willingness to negotiate with China on tariffs,” the spokesperson told reporters.
“China’s position is consistent. If we fight, we will fight to the end; if we talk, the door is open… If the US wants to talk, it should show its sincerity and be prepared to correct its wrong practices and cancel unilateral tariffs.”
The statement comes a day after a Weibo account linked to Chinese state media said the US had been seeking to initiate discussions, and a week after Trump claimed discussions were already underway – a suggestion Beijing denied.
“China has no need to talk to the United States,” Yuyuantantian, a Weibo account affiliated with China Central Television (CCTV), said in Thursday’s post. “From the perspective of negotiations, the United States must be the more anxious party at present.”
Such comments follow a cycle of assertions and denials from both the US and China, as each side refuses to publicly initiate discussions.
The question is not whether those discussions will take place, but rather when, under what circumstances and at whose behest.
Playing chicken
Experts characterise the tussle as a game of chicken between Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, as both men attempt to save face while covertly pursuing a mutually beneficial outcome – namely, a de-escalation of the trade war.
“I expect some of this back-and-forth, because neither Washington nor Beijing wants to look like they are the side that’s giving in,” says Ja Ian Chong, assistant professor of political science at the National University of Singapore.
“[But] a de-escalation would be to the overall benefit of both sides, so there is some overarching incentive to do so.”
Wen-Ti Sung, an academic member of the Australian Centre on China in the World, puts it another way: “It’s like two race cars going at each other: whoever swerves first will be seen as the weaker of the two parties. And at this juncture, neither party wants to look soft.”
The leader who admits he was the first to initiate tariff talks would be seen as the one compromising his position in negotiations.
“Whoever seems desperate loses bargaining leverage,” Mr Sung says. “Both sides want to portray the other side as the more desperate one.”
This peculiar stalemate – where both parties seek the same outcome, but neither wants to be the first to suggest it – has resulted in a tactic of “constructive ambiguity”: the deliberate use of language so vague that each party could arguably claim to be in the right.
It is this tactic that Mr Sung points to as an explanation for Yuyuantantian’s Weibo post.
“This is Beijing trying to explore the possibility of using word games to create an off-ramp for both sides, so that they can gradually climb their way down from this escalation spiral,” he says.
One way to escape this game of chicken is when a third party mediates, offering both sides an off-ramp. The other option, Mr Sung explains, is a “much looser understanding of what ‘the other side has reached out’ means”.
That way, the side that does indeed come to the table first is still able to characterise it as a response rather than the first move.
In Trump and Xi’s case, it would also mean that tariff negotiations could begin with both leaders claiming to have achieved some kind of victory in the trade war.
A win at home
The optics here are important. As Mr Chong points out, de-escalation is one thing – but another top priority for Trump and Xi is to “deliver a win for their domestic audiences”.
“Trump obviously wants to show that he has made Beijing capitulate. And on the People’s Republic of China side, Xi probably wants to show his own people and the world that he’s been able to make Trump become more reasonable and moderate and accommodating,” Mr Chong says.
On the domestic front, both leaders are facing tariff-induced headwinds. Trump this week struggled to quell fears of a recession as fresh data indicated the US economy contracted in its first quarter for the first time since 2022.
Meanwhile, Xi – who before the tariffs was already battling persistently low consumption, a property crisis and unemployment – must reassure China’s population that he can weather the trade war and protect an economy which has struggled to rebound post-pandemic.
“Both [Trump and Xi] recognise that at this point of the trade war, it’s not going to be a winner-takes-all outcome for either side anymore,” Mr Sung says.
“Trump recognises he’s not going to get anywhere near 100% of what he wants, so he’s trying to find a concession point where China can let him have just enough winning, especially for domestic purposes.”
While China is not unwilling, he adds, “they are very much stuck on what’s the right price point”.
For Xi, Mr Sung described the situation as a “two-level game”.
“The China side needs to manage US-China bilateral negotiations, while domestically Beijing needs to save enough face so that the Chinese leadership can hold on to this narrative of ‘the East is rising and the West is declining’,” he says.
“A kowtowing of the East towards the West is not a rising East.”
At the time of writing, the US has not denied China’s claims that it has been attempting to initiate talks. But the fact that both sides have now made that assertion indicates there is “some sort of contact”, according to Mr Chong.
“The two sides are talking,” he says. “And that is a sign that there is some possibility that some accommodation could be reached.”
But the start of negotiations does not mean that the US-China relationship – which was rocky even before Trump kicked off a trade war – is close to being steadied.
Madonna, Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross will all be attending the glamorous Met Gala, also known as fashion’s biggest night, Page Six hears.
Icon Ross will be at the swanky benefit taking place next Monday along with daughter, “Black-ish” star Tracee Ellis Ross and her son Evan, we hear.
Diana Ross is set to attend the Met Gala with her children Tracee Ellis Ross and Evan Ross. Getty Images for Academy Museum of Motion Pictures
Another source tells us Lauryn Hill will also be in attendance, after receiving an invite from gala co-chair Pharrell Williams.
Lorde, who just dropped the new song “What Was That,” Bebe Rexha, and singer Shaboozey, known for the hit “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” will also be there, according to a source.
Movie stars Angela Bassett and Demi Moore are also heading to Anna Wintour’s big night.
Sources tell Page Six we will also see comic Chris Rock and late night host Jimmy Fallon in their finest.
Singer Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren, who are starring in Broadway’s “The Last Five Years,” will be walking the carpet, too.
Walter Goggins, who has been garnering attention for the latest season of HBO hit “White Lotus,” will also be climbing the famous steps of the Met, as well as “Succession” star Sarah Snook, who is starring in “Dorian Gray” on Broadway.
We hear “Severance” star Adam Scott will also be there, as well as “Stranger Things” Caleb McLaughlin.
And “Saturday Night Live” star Ego Nwodim will be on hand interviewing guests for Vogue, says a source.
The theme for this year’s gala is “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” with the dress code, “Tailored for You.” It benefits the Met’s Costume Institute, as ever.
Invites for the event are hard to come by. Guests are brought by designers or brands, and have to be approved by Vogue’s Wintour.
A source previously told Page Six that other stars heading to this year’s glam event include singers Doechii, Shakira, Lizzo, Mary J. Blige, and models Amelia Gray and Ashley Graham.
The decision comes weeks after the national security adviser to Donald Trump was embroiled in the Signalgate scandal.
Mike Waltz has been under increasing pressure after accidentally inviting a journalist into a Signal chat (FILE: March 19, 2025]Image: Ben Curtis/AP Photo/picture alliance
President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he would nominate his national security adviser, Mike Waltz, to become the US ambassador to the UN.
“I am pleased to announce that I will be nominating Mike Waltz to be the next United States Ambassador to the United Nations,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
The announcement came hours after reports that Waltz and his deputy, Alex Wong, would be stepping down from their current roles, following mounting pressure over Waltz’s role in the Signalgate scandal.
They are the first reported departures from President Trump’s Cabinet just over 100 days into his presidency.
Waltz’ appointment as ambassador to the UN will still require confirmation from Congress.
The reluctance to fire Waltz appeared to be an attempt to distance the new Trump presidency from his first run which was mired by a frequent turnover of staff.
Why is Trump giving Waltz a new job?
In March, Waltz claimed “full responsibility” for erroneously adding a journalist to a group messaging chat in which senior members of President Donald Trump’s administration discussed impending military strikes in Yemen.
Waltz said he didn’t personally know The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, adding he wasn’t sure how he ended up in the highly sensitive chat on Signal.
At the time, Trump downplayed the lapse which he said “turned out not to be a serious one” and “the only glitch in two months,” while expressing his continued support for Waltz.
In his Thursday announcement, Trump did not mention the scandal, instead saying: “Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first. I know he will do the same in his new role.”
It was not clear yet who would replace the 51-year-old former Republican lawmaker from Florida. One source suggested to Reuters that Steve Witkoff, who has been involved in both the Middle East and the war in Ukraine could be an option.
However, Trump said that: “In the interim, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as National Security Advisor.”
What was Signalgate?
Signalgate, for which Waltz was considered the main person responsible, was a major embarrassment for the Trump administration.
It revolved around a chat on the Signal messaging platform that was being used to discuss imminent military strikes in Yemen.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, one of the several top Trump administration officials who were in the chat, shared details of the timing of several strikes targeting a member of the Houthi militant group.
The following is a part of the timeline he posted in the group, unaware that a journalist was also present:
“1215et: F-18s LAUNCH (1st strike package)”
“1345: ‘Trigger Based’ F-18 1st Strike Window Starts (Target Terrorist is @ his Known Location so SHOULD BE ON TIME.”
Apple has for years relied on Chinese factories to make its iPhones. But it’s shifting some production to India to mitigate potential Trump tariffs.
Apple recorded high demand for its iPhones in many regions worldwide in the first three months of this yearImage: Manuel Orbegozo/REUTERS
Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday that India will play a major role in making iPhones destined for the US market.
“A majority of iPhones sold in the US will have India as their country of origin,” Cook said while announcing the company’s latest quarterly results.
Vietnam, meanwhile, would be the country of origin for almost all iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and AirPod products sold in the United States, Cook added.
The statement comes as the tech giant examines ways to mitigate the impact of US President Donald Trump’s tariff onslaught on its supply chains as well as sales and profit margins.
Trump’s tariffs put Apple in tough spot
Apple has for years relied on Chinese factories to make its iPhones.
But Trump’s hefty duties on imports to the US, especially the tit-for-tat tariff exchanges with China, put the company in a difficult spot.
The US president has since granted a temporary reprieve for tech products, including smartphones and semiconductors, but Washington has signaled that some levies could come in the weeks ahead.
Cook said Trump’s tariffs had a limited impact on Apple in the previous quarter, but he warned that the duties, if they remain in place, would add hundreds of millions of dollars to the company’s costs in the April-to-June quarter.
“We are not able to precisely estimate the impact of tariffs, as we are uncertain of potential future actions prior to the end of the quarter,” Cook said. “Assuming the current global tariff rates, policies and applications do not change for the balance of the quarter and no new tariffs are added, we estimate the impact to add $900 million (€797 million) to our costs.”
Shift to India but China remains key
The threat of tariffs has forced Apple to rethink its strategy.
The company has ramped up iPhone production in India in recent months, with an estimated 20% of iPhones currently being made in the South Asian country.
Despite the move to shift some production, most iPhones still continue to be produced in China, and Cook insisted on Thursday that it will continue to be where most Apple products are made for sale outside of the United States.
Apple’s sales in China, however, fell 2.3% to $16 billion in the March quarter.
The company is confronting fierce competition in the Chinese market where domestic makers such as Huawei, Xiaomi and Oppo have been gaining market share.
Apple is also experiencing delays in rolling out artificial-intelligence features.
The new agreement does not place any specific security commitments on the United States, but Washington argues boosting its business interests in Ukraine will help deter RussiaImage: Evgeniy Maloletka/AP/dpa/picture alliance
Vance: Russia’s war in Ukraine not ending ‘any time soon’
US Vice President JD Vance said he did not believe the war in Ukraine was going to end “any time soon.”
It is “going to be up to the Russians and Ukrainians now that each side knows what the other’s terms for peace are. It’s going to be up to them to come to an agreement and stop this brutal, brutal conflict,” Vance told Fox News on Thursday.
“It’s not going anywhere,” Vance added. “It’s not going to end any time soon.”
DW spoke with Gracelin Baskaran, director of the Project on Critical Minerals Security at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, about the recently signed minerals deal between Ukraine and the US.
Baskaran said the deal that has been signed, in part, is better than previous versions, largely because it doesn’t call for Ukraine to pay back military aid provided by the US, but also because Ukraine maintains full authority over its natural resources.
“Ukraine is really getting a deal that puts them on a good long-term development trajectory,” she told DW.
While the deal doesn’t grant security guarantees, “there is a strong explicit alignment between US and Ukraine on national and economic security.”
Mines can take up to 18 years and $500 million to $1 billion to come online.
“That’s about 4 1/2 presidential administrations in the United States,” she pointed out.
Some mines will need longer due to necessary repairs and some reserves lying under Russian-occupied land, meaning that “Peace will ultimately be important because investors have to feel confident in the longevity and the stability of that investment.”
Baskaran also highlighted the fact that the deal excludes from its benefits anyway who funds Russia, saying it “takes a pretty strong position in terms of bilateral cooperation.”
State Department names Julie Davis as top US diplomat in Ukraine
US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have identified Julie Davis to serve as charge d’affaires at the US embassy in Kyiv, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.
Davis is currently the US ambassador to Cyprus.
Last month, US ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink resigned. She was appointed by the Biden administration in 2022.
Last month, JD Vance called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and strongly condemned the Pahalgam terror attack and conveyed his deepest condolences on the loss of lives.
JD Vance was on a India tour with his family when the deadly attack took place.
US Vice President JD Vance said on Thursday that he hopes India will respond to Pakistan over the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 26 – in a way that would avoid a “broader regional conflict”. He also urged Pakistan to cooperate with India to “hunt down” the terrorists involved in the attack in Pahalgam.
“Our hope here is that India responds to this terrorist attack in a way that doesn’t lead to a broader regional conflict. And we hope, frankly, that Pakistan, to the extent that they’re responsible, cooperates with India to make sure that the terrorists sometimes operating in their territory are hunted down and dealt with,” Mr Vance said in a podcast interview with Fox News.
Mr Vance was on a India tour with his family when the deadly attack took place.
Last month, he called Prime Minister Narendra Modi and strongly condemned the terror attack and conveyed his deepest condolences on the loss of lives. He also expressed that the US stands with the people of India and is ready to provide all assistance in the joint fight against terrorism, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on X.
Vice President @VP@JDVance called Prime Minister @narendramodi and strongly condemned the dastardly terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. He conveyed his deepest condolences on the loss of lives and reiterated that the United States stands with the people of India in this…
The US Vice President also wrote on X: “Usha and I extend our condolences to the victims of the devastating terrorist attack in Pahalgam, India. Over the past few days, we have been overcome with the beauty of this country and its people. Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they mourn this horrific attack.”
SCIENTISTS have discovered a hidden lid that keeps the vast reservoir of magma beneath the Yellowstone supervolcano at bay.
For years scientists have suspected that a mysterious chamber beneath the northeastern part of the Yellowstone caldera may hold molten rock.
How deep the reservoir lies, or just how much magma it holds is still up for debate.
But scientists say they have found a hidden magma cap atop this reservoir that helps stop the supervolcano from erupting.
There have long been questions over when Yellowstone’s expansive volcanic system could see an eruption.
Historically Yellowstone has erupted every about 600,000 years or so, but it has been stagnant for 630,000 years – meaning it is 30,000 years overdue.
But this cap – which stretches between 3.5 and 4 km (2.2 and 2.5 miles) below the Earth’s surface – allows the volcano to ‘breathe’, according to scientists.
They say new models show the cap to be regularly releasing small belches of gas that keep internal pressures stable and hold off an eruption.
Based on the timing of previous explosions, scientists at the United States Geological Survey predict the risk of a Yellowstone super-eruption is about 0.00014% each year.
If enough air was restricted in the supervolcano’s ‘throat’, scientists believe a catastrophic explosion could follow.
“For decades, we’ve known there’s magma beneath Yellowstone, but the exact depth and structure of its upper boundary has been a big question,” Earth scientist Brandon Schmandt from Rice University explained.
“What we’ve found is that this reservoir hasn’t shut down – it’s been sitting there for a couple million years, but it’s still dynamic.”
Using a new technique developed by Schmandt’s co-lead author Chenglong Duan, scientists sent vibrations into the ground to create a model of layers in Earth’s crust.
Duan says the technique has provided the “first super clear images of the top of the magma reservoir beneath Yellowstone caldera.”
The vibrations – seismic waves – flowed through the rock but began moving slowly, suggesting they were penetrating a muddy mixture of supercritical fluid and magma.
This was located between 3km and 8km deep.
“Seeing such a strong reflector at that depth was a surprise,” added Schmandt.
“It tells us that something physically distinct is happening there — likely a buildup of partially molten rock interspersed with gas bubbles.”
But atop this reservoir is a “sharply defined top” – the cap.
It is considered a ‘self-sealed’ lid because it is only slightly porous – meaning it can let out trace amounts of gases to release any pressure build up.
Beneath the lid there appears to be supercritical water, which is heated and pressurised to a point where the line between liquid and gas blur.
This process could result in an eruption, if not for the gradual cooling and crystallisation of the sludgy material in the upper crust which creates a minimally leaky magma cap.
It looks like the system is venting gas – which is good news.
THE US and Ukraine have finally signed the historic minerals deal, leaving Vladimir Putin furious.
The long-awaited agreement blames Putin for the three-year-long war, spares Ukraine from payback and will even allow Kyiv to join the EU.
A Ukrainian soldier drives an anti-aircraft machine gun during an air raid alarmCredit: EPA
The US and Ukraine signed the minerals deal two months after it was derailed by Trump and Zelensky’s Oval Office bust-up.
It comes as a humiliating blow for Vladimir Putin, who has unsuccessfully tried to break apart the two allies on a number of ocassions.
The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, celebrated the deal in a press conference on Thursday.
She said: “[The deal] is the first of its kind, economic partnership for the reconstruction and long-term economic success of Ukraine.”
Here are the five reasons the deal will drive Vlad mad.
No payback
Trump previously hinted that Ukraine would have to pay back the £264billion of aid that he claims the US has provided during the war.
The agreement acknowledges the US’ “significant financial and material support to Ukraine” since the beginning of the conflict.
But it seems the US President has made a U-turn – as there is no mention of “debt” anywhere.
Instead Don is banking on making his money back via his newly-agreed access to Ukrainian resources.
The deal also takes a tougher tone with Russian tyrant than we have come to expect from the Trump administration.
The agreement blames Russia for the war calling it “Russia’s full-scale invasion” – a term which is sure to make Putin squirm.
It also says: “No state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine”.
Oil and gas as well as minerals
The deal will give Washington priority access to invest in new projects to develop Ukraine’s natural resources.
Ukraine holds some five per cent of the world’s mineral resources and so-called “rare earth” metals, according to various estimates.
And the country has around 20 per cent of the world’s graphite, an essential material for electric batteries, according to France’s Bureau of Geological and Mining Research.
It is also a major producer of manganese and titanium, and says it possesses the largest lithium deposits in Europe.
But while most of the talk around the deal is about minerals, oil and natural gas are also included, as well as aluminium and graphite.
Oil and gas were not included in earlier drafts of the deal, which suggests that Zelensky has warmed towards the US President.
The resources will still technically belong to Ukraine but it’s still no doubt a blow to Vlad, as the US has gained joint access.
Kyiv can join EU
Zelensky has long expressed his desire to join the European Union.
Talks between Ukraine and the EU formally began last June but they were derailed by concerns surrounding a possible minerals deal with the US.
The EU was previously concerned that Ukraine may give preferential treatment to its US knight in shining armour – but these have now been squashed.
The agreement acknowledges Ukraine’s intention to join the EU as well as the importance of the deal not compromising this.
It also says if Ukraine needs to revisit the terms of the deal because of “additional obligations” then the US will be happy to oblige.
This will likely be salt in Vlad’s wound who has had a strained relationship with the EU since the beginning of the war.
Possible US military commitment
The deal also comes with the possibility of continued military support from the US.
Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko – who flew to Washington DC to sign the deal – said it envisaged the US contributing new assistance in the future, such as air defence systems.
News of any military support for Zelensky is bad news for Putin who has already lost tens of thousands of troops in his meatgrinder war.
But the agreement does not include any concrete security guarantees from the US – despite a push from Ukraine to do so – meaning they could withdraw at anytime.
Since the signing, Trump has already authorised the sale of weapons to Ukraine for the first time since he took office.
Profits may be reinvested in Ukraine
For the first decade of the reconstruction investment fund profits will reportedly be “fully reinvested in Ukraine’s economy” – either in new projects or reconstruction.
Following the ten-year period Kyiv said the profits may be distributed between the two parties.
While this has not been officially inked it may be part of an additional deal down the line.
The art of the deal
By Lydia Doye
THE US and Ukraine signed the long-awaited minerals deal two months after it was derailed by Trump and Zelensky’s Oval Office bust-up.
The agreement was the result of months of tense negotiations which saw the world leaders come head to head at times.
Zelensky rejected initial proposals that gave the US 50% of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals in exchange for continued military aid – sending the parties back to the drawing board.
The final agreement is a compromise between the pair – with both celebrating the historic inking.
Zelensky did not go to Washington to sign the deal – instead it was inked by Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
She said afterwards: “Together with the United States, we are creating the Fund that will attract global investment into our country.”
Trump initially was due to close the deal when Zelensky visited the White House back in February.
But plans were derailed after their historic row, which saw the infamous shouting match erupt and Trump asking Zelensky to leave.
After rounds of back-and-forth diplomatic negotiations, both Washington and Kyiv agreed to sign the deal on Wednesday.
In Kyiv, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said on national television that the agreement was “good, equal and beneficial.”
THIS is the shocking moment raging wildfires surge towards Jerusalem, as Israel declares a “national emergency”.
Cops have arrested 18 people on suspicion of arson following the monster inferno.
The fires are the worst Israel has faced in yearsCredit: EPA
Shocking footage shows thick black smoke above the main highway linking Jerusalem to Tel Aviv as firefighters race to control the blaze.
Terrified drivers can be seen scrambling to get out of their vehicles as they flee from the scene.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, warned that the fires could reach the city and declared a “national emergency”.
Netanyahu said: “The western wind can push the fire easily towards the outskirts of [Jerusalem] – and even into the city itself.
“We need to bring as many fire engines as possible and create firebreaks well beyond the current fire lines … We are now in a national emergency, not just a local one.”
At least 12 people were treated in hospitals on Wednesday after inhaling smoke while another 10 people were treated in the field, according to Israeli emergency services.
Among them were two pregnant women and two infants under a year old.
18 people have been arrested on suspicion of arson, according to Netanyahu.
National security minister Itamar Ben Gvir also hinted that arson could be behind the fires.
Cops said they had arrested a resident of east Jerusalem who was caught “attempting to set fire to a field in the southern part of the city”.
The fire broke out around midday on Wednesday.
The flames quickly spread through a pine forest due to hot, dry conditions and strong winds.
Several communities were evacuated as a precaution as the smoke took over the area.
The fire has now burned about 5,000 acres making it the worst fire Israel has had in the past decade.
A spokesperson for Israels fire and rescue authority Tal Volvovitch said the fire has thankfully not damaged any homes.
The highway was reopened on Thursday and evacuation orders were lifted for a number of towns in the Jerusalem hills.
But efforts to extinguish the fires continue.
Israeli authorities said that ten firefighting planes were operating on Thursday morning.
They added that another eight aircraft to arrive during the course of the day.
Italy, Croatia, Spain, France, Ukraine, and Romania have all sent planes to help battle the flames, while North Macedonia and Cyprus have sent water-dropping aircraft.
The last time Israel saw fires like this was in 2010 when a massive forest fire burned for four days on northern Israels Mount Carmel.
The fires claimed 44 lives and destroyed around 12,000 acres of land.
RUSSIA has launched a devastating drone strike on Odesa – just hours after the US and Ukraine signed a landmark mineral deal.
Two people were killed and at least 15 more were by Vladimir Putin’s blitz – marking a clear rebuke of the new agreement.
A view shows the site of the Russian drone strike, which killed two peopleCredit: Reuters
Raging fires were sparked and various buildings were damaged, according to emergency services.
Regional governor Oleh Kiper said: “The enemy attack damaged residential high-rises, private houses, a supermarket, a school, and cars.”
He confirmed that rescue workers were extinguishing flames following the horrific attack.
Ukraine’s state-owned railway Ukrzaliznytsia said the overnight attack damaged its tracks and various trains.
They said: “Railway employees are carrying out rapid repair work to ensure that freight trains run to ports without interruption.
“They are currently following an alternative route.”
The company added that one of the people killed in the strikes was a railway worker.
Ukraine’s air force said that mad Vlad launched five ballistic missiles and 170 drones during the overnight blitz.
74 drones were shot down while another 68 did not reach their targets, according to the force.
Images showed vile Vlad’s damage – with fiery infernos blazing up in apartments and civilians fleeing from their homes.
It comes mere hours after the Russian tyrant was dealt a massive blow due to Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky’s agreement to a critical minerals deal.
The long-awaited deal comes two months after a historic bust-up between The Don and his Ukrainian counterpart which shocked the world.
For Kyiv, the deal is central to binding it to Washington’s might and preventing any more Russian invasions after a peace deal.
Trump has vowed he wants peace in Ukraine, but has said that the US must be repaid for all the military support it has given the country.
The deal will provide Washington privileged access to new investment projects to develop Ukraine’s natural resources, including aluminium, graphite, oil and natural gas.
It also means America will continue to back Ukraine in the war.
Zelensky did not go to Washington to sign the deal – instead it was inked by Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko.
She said after: “Together with the United States, we are creating the Fund that will attract global investment into our country.”
Trump initially was due to close the deal when Zelensky visited the White House back in February.
But plans were derailed after their historic White House row, which saw the infamous shouting match erupt and Trump asking Zelensky to leave.
After rounds of back-and-forth diplomatic negotiations, both Washington and Kyiv agreed to sign the deal Wednesday.
Announcing the signing of the deal in Washington, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it showed “both sides’ commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine.”
He added: “This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centred on a free, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine over the long term.
“And to be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.”
UNCLE SAM’S SECURITY
Ukrainian officials hope that signing the deal proposed by Trump will firm up American support for Kyiv in the more than three-year-old war.
A former Trump advisor told LBC the developing US-Ukraine minerals deal will be a “trip wire” that Russia will not cross.
He said: “It would engage the American military. It puts the Americans squarely in the middle of the Ukrainian state. It is a trip wire that Putin would dare not to cross.”
Trump had originally sought $500 billion in mineral wealth — around four times what the United States has contributed to Ukraine since the war.
He has previously baulked at offering security guarantees to Ukraine and has rejected its aspiration to join Nato.
But Trump said on Wednesday that a US presence on the ground would benefit Ukraine.
“The American presence will, I think, keep a lot of bad actors out of the country or certainly out of the area where we’re doing the digging,” Trump said at the cabinet meeting.
He reiterated that the US should get something for its prior aid to Kyiv, thus the effort to secure a deal for Ukraine’s plentiful deposits of rare earth minerals.
“I assume they’re going to honour the deal. We haven’t really seen the fruits of that deal yet. I suspect we will,” Trump said after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Ukraine holds some five per cent of the world’s mineral resources and rare earths, according to various estimates.
But work has not yet started on tapping many of the resources, and many sites are in territory now controlled by Russian forces.
Notably, Ukraine has around 20 per cent of the world’s graphite, an essential material for electric batteries, according to France’s Bureau of Geological and Mining Research.
Ukraine is also a major producer of manganese and titanium, and says it possesses the largest lithium deposits in Europe.
Russia controls about 20 per cent of Ukraine’s territory after more than three years of brutal fighting that has killed tens of thousand,s including civilians.
Following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, many Western companies said they would fully withdraw. Nevertheless, some are holding on to their trademarks in the country.
German home improvement chain OBI announced the suspension of its Russian operations in 2022Image: Yegor Aleyev/TASS/dpa/picture alliance
According to a study by Ukraine’s Kyiv School of Economics, more than 460 international companies have ceased operations in Russia since the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 by selling or liquidating their assets. According to the study, 59 global brands have left the Russian market.
Twenty-five of these companies are keeping their trademarks registered in Russia, DW learned from the database of Rospatent, the national patent office.
Maintaining the trademark means the names, logos and designs of a brand remain the company’s intellectual property and cannot be used or imitated by others.
If someone mentions McDonald’s, you probably think of the famous golden arches logo. With Mercedes, it would be the iconic three-pointed star. With Ikea, it’s the company name in blue letters within a yellow oval shape.
The companies that are keeping their trademarks registered include Ikea, McDonald’s and Mercedes-Benz, as well as the likes of Jaguar, Volvo and many others.
The other 34 companies of the 59 global brands — which include German consumer goods and adhesives manufacturer Henkel and Finnish energy supplier Fortum — have not applied for their trademarks to be used in Russia after February 2022. Some companies, such as consumer goods manufacturer Unilever and British American Tobacco, have transferred the trademark rights to some of their products to their former Russian subsidiaries. This means formally, they no longer have anything to do with them.
“The return of Western companies,” “Western companies follow Ariston and flock to Russia,” “The State Duma speaks out in favor of the return of Western companies” — the Russian press has been full of headlines like these in recent weeks. Media outlets refer to the Rospatent website which shows that companies like McDonald’s and KFC, which had announced their complete withdrawal from Russia, have applied for new trademarks or the extension of existing trademark rights.
Swedish furniture maker Ikea has come under particular scrutiny. In 2022, Ikea condemned Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2024, it finally left the Russian Federation and sold off its last warehouse in the Moscow region, where it had once started its Russian operations in 2003. Yet according to the Rospatent database, Ikea has filed at least four applications to extend the registration of its trademarks since February 2022, one of which is still under review.
Who has abandoned their brand?
The other companies listed by the Kyiv School of Economics have either not submitted or have withdrawn trademark applications, as German detergent and adhesive maker Henkel has done. It halted the procedure to extend its trademark rights in 2022, and the current registration expires at the end of this year.
A trademark registration is valid for a total of 10 years and many companies that submitted an application before February 2022 still have some time left.
German hardware store chain Obi already applied for trademark registration in 2021, but this was not approved until the end of 2022. The company’s intellectual property therefore remains protected for years to come, at least in theory.
In practice there may be exceptions. Under Russian law a competitor may legally challenge the right to use an “ownerless” trademark if it has not been used for three years. In March of this year, Russian air conditioning manufacturer Rusklimat succeeded in having the Swedish company Ericsson’s trademark registration declared invalid in court.
Why companies protect their trademarks
Russian economist and journalist Jan Melkumov says extending trademark rights is primarily a formal procedure. An application indicates that a company does not want to part with its brands in Russia. “Companies want to avoid someone else using their brand names. They don’t want to spend money on lawyers and go through a new registration process,” he told DW.
According to Melkumov, if companies agreed on a repurchase right when selling their Russian assets, they can also get their trademarks back. However, if these have already been sold by the buyer, repurchasing could take years.
At the same time, Melkumov emphasizes that, given the turbulent political situation and high risks, only few big companies would be likely to return to Russia. “For them, it’s a question of strategic planning. If the political situation changes in five or 10 years, it will be easier for them to reestablish their presence,” Melkumov told DW.
According to him, a return to the Russian market depends less on the willingness of companies and more on the political situation and regime in Russia. “Even under favorable conditions, a return will not be reminiscent of the 1990s,” Melkumov said. “There will not be as much enthusiasm and trust in Russia as there was then — people will be cautious.”
The Ukrainian organization B4Ukraine, which campaigns for Russia’s isolation, asked numerous companies about their plans for reentering the Russian market. McDonald’s and Coca-Cola, two US companies, issued cautious statements in this regard. They were published by B4Ukraine.
Kyle Richards’ look-alike daughter Sophia Umansky took to TikTok Wednesday to share a shocking video of her hair loss. TikTok/@ sophiakylieee
Kyle Richards’ look-alike daughter Sophia Umansky stunned fans with graphic images of hair loss after taking a weight-loss medication.
“I am very lucky that I have so much hair, because at the rate that I’ve been losing hair, I’m gonna be bald in about a week,” the brunette beauty said during a TikTok shared Wednesday.
“I started Mounjaro about four months ago, and I would say like maybe for the past three weeks to a month, I’ve noticed a dramatic hair loss situation,” she explained.
Sophia is the third daughter of the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star, and the second daughter of three that Richards shares with her estranged husband, Mauricio Umansky.
Though she wore her long, shiny hair down around her shoulders for the clip, she had shocking imagery for her followers.
“I’m just going to show you a quick little video of what my hair loss looks like, and this is every day,” the “Buying Beverly Hills” personality, 25, said. “And you’re not even seeing the half of it.”
She proceeded to show clumps of hair around the drain and sticking to the walls of her shower, explaining that the reality is “a lot worse” than it looks since the video only shows the before and after of her showers.
She demonstrated that when she pulls her hand through her hair during the day, “piles” of hair come out.
Sophia explained that she doesn’t think the extreme hair loss is a “direct result of the medication.”
“I think it’s a direct result of rapid weight loss because of the medication, and not eating enough vitamins, protein, all that kind of stuff.”
She added that she’s been “putting an effort into” taking vitamins and eating protein in order to correct the problem.
Sophia told her fans that to combat hair loss she’s also using OMI hair growth peptides and has been taking collagen as well as Grüns vitamins.
A Ukrainian drone attack left at least seven people dead and a Russian strike on Odesa killed two people Thursday, officials said, just hours after Kyiv and Washington signed a long-anticipated agreement granting U.S. access to Ukraine’s mineral resources.
The attack in the partially occupied Kherson region of southern Ukraine, which struck a market in the town of Oleshky, killed seven and wounded more than 20 people, Moscow-appointed Gov. Vladimir Saldo said.
“At the time of the attack, there were many people in the market,” Saldo wrote on Telegram. After the first wave of strikes, he said, Ukraine sent further drones to “finish off” any survivors.
Meanwhile, a Russian drone strike on the Black Sea port city of Odesa early Thursday killed two people and injured 15 others, Ukrainian emergency services said.
Regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said the barrage struck apartment buildings, private homes, a supermarket and a school.
Videos shared by Kiper on Telegram showed a high-rise building with a severely damaged facade, a shattered storefront and firefighters battling flames.
A drone struck and ignited a fire at a petrol station in the center of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.
Following the attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had ignored a U.S. proposal for a full and unconditional ceasefire for more than 50 days now.
“There were also our proposals — at the very least, to refrain from striking civilian infrastructure and to establish lasting silence in the sky, at sea, and on land,” he said. “Russia has responded to all this with new shelling and new assaults.”
Agreement on mineral wealth
The U.S. and Ukraine on Wednesday signed an agreement granting American access to Ukraine’s vast mineral resources, finalizing a deal months in the making that could enable continued military aid to Kyiv amid concerns that President Donald Trump might scale back support in ongoing peace negotiations with Russia.
Zelenskyy originally proposed such a deal last year as a way of helping secure Ukraine’s future by tying it to U.S. interests. Ukrainian officials said previous versions of the accord would have reduced Kyiv to a junior partner and gave Washington unprecedented rights to the country’s resources but that the version signed Wednesday was far more beneficial to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said Thursday that the signing of the minerals deal was the “first result” of the meeting he had with Trump at the Vatican during the pope’s funeral and called the agreement “truly historic.”
During his nightly address, he said that, per the signed agreement, there were no debts to be paid from past U.S. aid to Kyiv. He said the agreement will be sent to the parliament to be ratified and that Ukraine was “interested in ensuring that there are no delays with the agreement.”
According to Zelenskyy, the agreement is “truly equal” and “creates an opportunity for investments in Ukraine.”
“This is working together with America and on fair terms, when both the Ukrainian state and the United States, which help us in defense, can earn in partnership,” he added.
Nash Core used his drone to shoot video of the writhing shark before he and and his son Parker decided to help the trio who were struggling to move the shark into deeper water.
Tourist Nash Core admits he felt some fear when he and his 11-year-old son waded into the ocean off the Australian coast to help rescue a 3-meter (10-foot) great white shark stranded in shallow water.
Three local men managed to return the distressed animal from a sand bank into deeper water after an almost hour-long rescue effort on Tuesday near the coastal town of Ardrossan in South Australia state.
“It was either sick or … just tired,” said Core, who was visiting with his family from Gold Coast in Queensland state. “We definitely got it into some deeper water, so hopefully it’s swimming still.”
Core came across the unusual human-shark interaction while traveling around Australia with his wife Ash Core and their sons Parker, 11, and Lennox, 7.
Nash Core used his drone to shoot video of the writhing shark before he and Parker decided to help the trio who were struggling to move the shark into deeper water.
‘My heart’s pounding’
“To be honest, I did have some thoughts about, oh, why am I going out here?” Core recalled on Thursday.
“As we were going out, my young son, Parker, turned to me and said … ‘My heart’s pounding.’ I said, ‘Yeah, mine’s beating pretty fast too,’” Core added.
The three men had used crab rakes — a garden rake-like tool for digging small crabs from sand — to move the shark into deeper water by the time the father and son arrived.
Core said he decided against pushing the shark himself.
“They … got it into deeper water where I thought it’s probably not a good idea to go any further. That’s its territory and I’ll stay back,” he said.
One of the rescuers, Tony Dew, said the shark was last seen moving slowly.
“We were in about waist-deep water so if it wasn’t going to survive, I didn’t want to stand there and watch it and if it did recover, I really wanted to be back on the beach,” Dew told Seven Network televison.
Workers were installing benches at a park in the ancient Greek port city of Thessaloniki when their excavator pushed brown soil off a fragile white skull.
They turned off the motorized equipment and set to work with pickaxes and shovels. The crew found two skeletons, then more. By March, 33 sets of bones lay in a tight cluster of unmarked burial pits in the shadow of a Byzantine fortress.
“We found many bullets in the heads, the skulls,” supervising engineer Haris Charismiadis said, standing on earth overturned by four months of digging.
It’s common to find ancient remains or objects in Greece. But hulking Yedi Kule castle was a prison where Communist sympathizers were tortured and executed during Greece’s 1946–49 Civil War. Tens of thousands died in the early Cold War-era battles between Western-backed government forces and left-wing insurgents, a brutal conflict with assassination squads, child abductions and mass displacements.
A drone photo shows Yedi Kule prison, which is now a museum, in Thessaloniki, Greece, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Greece’s archaeological service cleared the site for development because the bones are less than 100 years old. But authorities in Neapolis-Sykies, a suburb of the coastal city of Thessaloniki, pressed on with excavation, saying the chance find has “great historical and national importance.”
Descendants have been coming to the site in recent weeks, leaving flowers and asking authorities to conduct DNA testing “so they can retrieve the remains of their grandfather, great-grandfather or uncle,” said Simos Daniilidis, who has served as Neapolis-Sykies’ mayor since 1994.
As many as 400 Yedi Kule prisoners were executed, according to historians and the Greek Communist Party. Items found with the bodies — a woman’s shoe, a handbag, a ring — offer glimpses into the lives cut short.
Wartime legacy
For the families of slain pro-Communist Greeks, the find in the Park of National Resistance is reviving a wartime legacy kept dormant to avoid reigniting old animosities. The small site has become Greece’s first Civil War mass grave to be exhumed.
Government forces executed 19-year-old Agapios Sachinis after he refused to sign a declaration renouncing his political beliefs.
“These are not simple matters,” his namesake nephew said during a recent visit to the site.
“It’s about carrying inside you not just courage, but values and dignity you won’t compromise — not even to save your own life,” said Agapios Sachinis, 78.
A retired Communist city council member, Sachinis was imprisoned in the 1960s for his political activity during the dictatorship. Today, Greece’s Communist Party belongs to the political mainstream, largely thanks to its role in the country’s WWII resistance.
If Sachinis’ uncle’s remains are identified, he said, he will cremate them and keep the ashes at his home.
“I want Agapios close to me, at least while I’m alive,” he said.
Cold War playbook
Greece’s Civil War began in the wake of World War II. Coming after continent-wide destruction, it quickly lost international attention but the conflict marked a turning point: U.S. President Harry Truman’s policy of anti-communist intervention — the Truman Doctrine — was presented to Congress in 1947 as a means to direct funds and military support to Greece.
Etched on the newly excavated bones in Thessaloniki, then, is a playbook that went on to produce decades of repression, societal divisions and more unmarked graves in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Governments later addressing the Cold War-era abuses and atrocities faced a painful choice: To unearth the past — as attempted with investigative commissions in Eastern Europe and many Latin American countries — or suppress it for fear of fresh division.
Greek emergency laws were gradually lifted and only fully abolished in 1989. Records of summary trials and executions were never made public. No political force pushed for the excavation of suspected burial sites.
Politicians still use highly cautious language when addressing the past and the Thessaloniki discovery was met with a subdued public reaction. The find has not been directly addressed by the country’s center-right government – a reminder that many Greeks still find it easier to walk past the country’s ghosts than confront them.
Decades ago, the neighborhood park in Thessaloniki — a densely populated port city of a million with ruins from the ancient Greek, Roman and Ottoman eras, with historically strong Balkan and Jewish influences — was a field on the outskirts of the city. Today, it’s frequented by retirees and ringed by apartment buildings filled with middle-class families. During construction, residents whispered that bones had been discovered when foundations were laid, but no inquiry was conducted.
‘Flowers of their generation’
Executions by army firing squads extended into the 1950s and were publicly announced, but graves were unmarked and secret. Author and historian Spyros Kouzinopoulos, a Thessaloniki native, spent decades researching the executions at Yedi Kule, including the indignities endured by prisoners in their final hours.
After a military tribunal issued a death sentence, the chief guard would take the condemned prisoner to solitary confinement in tiny cells barely big enough to stand. Many would use their last hours to write letters to their families. At dawn, the chief guard and two others would retrieve the prisoner and hand them over to the firing squad. Most were loaded onto trucks to avoid attracting public attention. Sometimes they were led to their death on foot.
Most of the victims were barely adults — youth Kouzinopoulos called “flowers of their generation.”
Two 17-year-old schoolgirls, Efpraxia Nikolaidou and Eva Kourouzidou, were executed while wearing their uniforms, he said.
Videos widely shared on social media captured Mark Carney dancing and rapping along with the band, clad in a DWW hoodie.
Mark Carney was seen dancing and rapping along with the band, clad in a DWW hoodie.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s recent election victory celebrations featured videos of his enthusiastic dance moves. Mark Carney and the Liberal Party secured a fourth consecutive term in Canada’s federal election, a victory largely attributed to a surge in nationalistic sentiment sparked by escalating tensions with the United States. Following the win, Mark Carney joined Canadian rap-rock band Down With Webster (DWW) for a celebratory jam session.
Videos widely shared on social media captured Mark Carney dancing and rapping along with the band, clad in a DWW hoodie. The Prime Minister has been a long-time fan of the band and DWW’s song “Time to Win” has even been featured at Mark Carney’s political rallies as well.
The viral moment sparked a flurry of reactions online, with many expressing surprise and amusement at the Prime Minister’s unexpected display of enthusiasm.
Mark Carney’s Victory Speech
Earlier, Mark Carney delivered a powerful victory speech as he rallied Canadians to unity in the face of threats from the US President Donald Trump. Striking a defiant tone, Mark Carney emphasised Canada’s sovereignty and independence as he said, “America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country. President Trump is trying to break us so that America can own us; that will never ever happen.”
Kuwait has released an additional 10 American detainees, bringing to nearly two dozen the total number freed by the country in the past two months, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The pardons of 23 Americans, done as a goodwill gesture by a U.S. ally, have yielded a quick succession of prisoner releases in the early months of a Trump administration that has sought to make hostage and detainee issues a foreign policy priority.
The prisoners, both men and women, include military contractors and veterans held for years on drug charges and other offenses by the small, oil-rich nation. One of them was said by supporters to have been coerced into signing a false confession and endured physical violence and threats against his wife and daughter.
Ten others were released in March, weeks after a visit to Kuwait by Adam Boehler, who is serving as the Trump administration’s envoy for hostage affairs. Other countries, including Venezuela, have released large numbers of Americans over a period of years, but it’s unusual for so many U.S. citizens to be freed by a foreign nation in such a short period of time as Kuwait has done.
“We flew out, we sat down with the Kuwaitis, and they said, ‘Listen, no one’s ever asked before at this level” for the release of the Americans, Boehler told the AP.
The releases were not done as part of a swap and the U.S. was not asked to give up anything in return.
“They’ve been extremely responsive, and their view is the United States is a huge ally. They know it’s a priority for (President Donald Trump) to bring Americans home,” Boehler said. “I credit it to the Kuwaiti understanding that we’ve stood up for them historically and they know that these things are important for the president.”
Kuwait is considered a major non-NATO ally of the U.S. The U.S. and Kuwait have had a close military partnership since America launched the 1991 Gulf War to expel Iraqi troops after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, with some 13,500 American troops stationed in Kuwait at Camp Arifjan and Ali al-Salem Air Base.
But the country also has detained many American military contractors on drug charges, in some cases for years. Their families have alleged that their loved ones faced abuse while imprisoned in a country that bans alcohol and has strict laws regarding drugs. Others have criticized Kuwaiti police for bringing trumped-up charges and manufacturing evidence used against them — allegations never acknowledged by the autocratic nation ruled by a hereditary emir.
A spokesperson for the Kuwaiti embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Americans freed Wednesday “maintain their innocence, and it’s important to note none of these cases had an identified victim, and all of them were built on supposed confessions taken in Arabic without translation,” according to a statement from Jonathan Franks, a private consultant working on cases involving American hostages and detainees who represented nine of the 10 people released. He spent weeks in the country trying to negotiate the releases.
He credited the Trump administration for looking “for reasons to bring Americans home” even when they are not designated by the U.S. government as having been wrongfully detained. He said “these Americans, mostly veterans, lost years with their families.”
Among those freed Wednesday was Tony Holden, an HVAC technician and career defense contractor. He was working in support of Camp Arifjan at the time of his November 2022 arrest, when his family and supporters allege he was “set up by corrupt Kuwaiti police looking to earn bonuses.”
His supporters say his wife and daughter were physically threatened, that he was coerced into signing a written confession in Arabic and that his drug possession charge and sentence came in spite of him testing negative in a drug test and abstaining for religious reasons from drug and alcohol use.
For the first time, a federally recognized Indigenous tribe in the U.S. has led research using DNA to show their ancestral history.
The Picuris Pueblo, a sovereign nation in New Mexico, has oral histories and cultural traditions that link the tribe to the region of Chaco Canyon, one of the ancient centers of Pueblo culture and society.
“We’ve been telling our stories as long as time immemorial,” said Picuris Lt. Gov. Craig Quanchello. But he said those traditions were often “overlooked and erased.”
As members of the Picuris Pueblo seek a greater voice in shaping decisions about the future of Chaco Canyon, where debates about oil and gas drilling loom, leaders including Quanchello decided that using DNA sequencing to complement or corroborate their oral histories could be a useful tool. The group began a collaboration with an international team of geneticists.
“The DNA could help us protect” our heritage, he said. “Now we can say, ‘This is ours, we need to protect it.’”
The findings, published Thursday in the journal Nature, show close links between the genomes of 13 current members of Picuris and ancient DNA recovered from 16 Picuris individuals who lived between 1300 A.D. and 1500 A.D. in or near Chaco Canyon.
“The results show a strong relationship between ancient and present-day Picuris,” said co-author Thomaz Pinotti, a geneticist at the University of Copenhagen.
The genetic analysis was led by the Picuris. The researchers said this model of collaboration contrasts with a long history of archaeologists and geneticists seizing and studying artifacts and remains without the consent of Indigenous groups.
“It wasn’t an easy decision” to begin the collaboration with scientists, said co-author and Picuris Gov. Wayne Yazza. “This is life-changing data.”
There are 19 Pueblo tribes in New Mexico. The new study does not refute the historic connections of other tribes to Chaco Canyon.
Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site managed by the U.S. National Park Service. It is famous for sweeping desert vistas and for monumental sandstone structures — including multistory homes and ceremonial structures — built by ancestral Pueblos.
“It’s super important that we don’t talk about Chaco in the category of ‘lost civilizations,’ like the Egyptian pyramids or Stonehenge,” said Paul Reed, a preservation archaeologist at Archaeology Southwest, who was not involved in the study. That notion “is particularly damaging in this instance because it disenfranchises the Pueblo people who live all around the canyon to this day.”
Brian Vallo, a member of the Acoma Pueblo who leads the Chaco Heritage Tribal Association, said a current concern revolves around drilling and mining permits on federal land adjacent to the park, which also impact the environment within the canyon.
One of the world’s most endangered amphibians – the strange, perpetually smiling Mexican axolotl – has thrived after being released in artificial wetlands, scientists have discovered.
In a study that provides hope for the long-term future of a creature that was pushed to the brink of extinction, scientists released 18 captive-bred axolotls in restored and artificial wetland close to Mexico City.
The researchers fitted the animals with radio trackers and found that they “survived and foraged successfully at both sites” – even gaining weight.
Lead researcher Dr Alejandra Ramos from the Autonomous University of Baja California said this was an “amazing result”.
The findings are published in the journal PLoS One and they suggest, the researchers say, that the axoltol can be brought back to its native habitat.
The waters of Xochimilco – shaped by traditional farming practices and flushed with spring water from the mountains – used to teem with these amphibians.
But as Mexico City grew, urbanisation, pollution and other pressures pushed axolotls to the brink of extinction, with some estimates suggesting that there were as few as 50 left in the wild.
“If we lose this species, we lose part of our Mexican identity,” said co-lead researcher Dr Luis Zambrano from the National University of Mexico.
It is no exaggeration to call the axoltol an icon. Aztec legend has it that the creature is a god in salamander form – the Aztec god of fire and lightning, Xolotl, disguised as a salamander.
“If we can restore this [wetland] habitat and restore the axolotl’s population in a city of more than 20 million people,” Dr Zambrano continued, “I feel that we have hope for humanity.”
To lay the foundations for releasing the animals, the researchers worked with local farmers and a team of volunteers to create wetland “refuges” for the axolotls. They installed natural filtering systems to clean the water,
The scientists released their captive-bred animals at two sites – one in Xochimilco and one at a disused quarry that, over decades, has turned into what they called an “artificial wetland”.
Every animal was tagged with a radio tracking device.
“The amazing news is that they all survived,” Dr Ramos told BBC News. “And not only that, but the ones that we recaptured had gained weight – so they’re hunting.”
The monitoring also revealed intriguing insights into axolotl behaviour. “We found that some spend most of their time with one other individual – like they make these little friendships,” Dr Ramos explained.
Somewhat ironically, these charismatic salamanders are found in the world’s laboratories and pet aquariums in their hundreds of thousands. The species is biologically fascinating – it has the remarkable ability to regrow any part of its body that is damaged or lost. So there is research underway to understand whether that ability could be harnessed medically.
Nuclear energy has historically been deeply unpopular among Australians
In the Hunter Valley, long, brown trains chug through lush pastures, carrying stacks of black rock – the lifeblood of the region, though not for much longer.
This has long been Australia’s coal country. But the area, a three-hour drive from Sydney, is now begrudgingly on the frontline of the country’s transition to clean energy.
“This town was built around a coal mine,” says Hugh Collins from Muswellbrook, “so it’ll be a big shift. I don’t know what will happen.”
Nowhere captures this dilemma quite like the soon-to-be demolished smokestacks of Liddell power station, which tower over the rolling hillside nearby. Liddell, one of Australia’s oldest coal plants, was closed two years ago. Across the highway is sister-power station Bayswater, scheduled for retirement by 2033.
Liddell’s owners want to redevelop both stations into a renewable energy hub – in line with the Labor government’s plans for a grid powered almost completely by solar and wind energy.
The opposition Liberal-National coalition, though, has proposed converting Liddell into one of seven nuclear power plants across the country.
Currently banned, nuclear is the controversial centrepiece of the Coalition’s clean energy plan.
Nuclear has historically been deeply unpopular among Australians scared of having radioactive plants in their metaphorical backyards. But with the Coalition plugging it as a cheap and reliable option to complement renewables, interest is growing.
Ahead of the election on 3 May, each party has insisted that their visions are the best way to both fulfil Australia’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 and tame rising power bills.
But there are fears this renewed debate over Australia’s energy future takes the country back to the past.
Brutal arguments over climate change had plagued Australian politics for years – but the incoming Labor government last election declared that era was over.
Now experts worry the so-called “climate wars” are back, and this could potentially delay the urgent emissions reduction the globe has been begging the country to take for years.
“I don’t think peace will be declared no matter what happens with the election,” says Tony Wood from the Grattan Institute think tank.
Small town, big debate
It is hard to overstate just how central coal has been to the Hunter region.
In 1799, Newcastle, the area’s biggest city, farewelled Australia’s first commodity export – a shipment of coal. Today it is home to the world’s largest coal port, with A$38.6bn-worth ($26.8bn; £18.9bn) passing through in 2023.
The livelihoods of about 52,000 people here rely on coal mines, power stations or supporting industries.
Made up of a handful of parliamentary seats, the region has traditionally been a Labor stronghold. But in recent years electorates like Hunter and Paterson have been faltering, and the Coalition is banking on its vision of a nuclear-powered future to win over these largely blue-collar constituents.
It says it can have the first nuclear plant up and running by 2037 and that nuclear plants will provide a similar number and range of jobs as the coal-fired power stations they’re going to supersede.
“I think in the Hunter, and elsewhere to be honest, people realise that if there is not a replacement industry for coal, then these jobs go,” opposition leader Peter Dutton said on the campaign trail.
While nuclear power has been part of the energy mix in many countries around the globe for decades, this is uncharted territory for Australia.
The country’s only nuclear reactor, at Lucas Heights in Sydney, is used for medical research.
Nuclear has been banned at a federal level since the late 1990s. If the Coalition wins the election, it could convince parliament to overturn that, but persuading states to scrap their own bans on nuclear may not be so simple.
Leaders in four of the five states where nuclear plants are proposed have outright ruled out doing so.
Critics also say the Coalition’s claims on timeframe and its $300bn price tag are unrealistic given the need to train workers, develop regulations and build the infrastructure.
Some have accused it of simply trying to prolong the use of fossil fuels – the ageing coal plants will have to run for longer to plug the energy gap.
From Mr Collins’ perspective, that wouldn’t be so bad. “Being in the coal industry, I would like coal to go as long as possible,” he says.
But he understands the need to “embrace” cleaner sources of energy. Though a variety of sources “all have their place”, he is particularly interested in nuclear.
“There [may have been] a lot of scary notions around nuclear power… but technology has come a long way,” he says, referring to deadly disasters like Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011.
But others in Muswellbrook are adamant the need for employment in the region does not outweigh the “risks” of nuclear.
“Liddell’s closure meant a few jobs were lost but I don’t think that really affected the community… I think [nuclear] is dangerous,” says 25-year-old Chloe.
Another cafe owner simply says “it’s not going to happen”.
“We don’t have the technology to build it. We can’t afford it,” he says. “We’re always going to have to burn coal, I believe.”
The topic clearly evokes strong feelings. Many people here are more than happy to share their opinions with the BBC, but are hesitant to be named or photographed. “Our community group is ruthless,” one woman explains.
But elsewhere in the Hunter region, it is Labor’s renewables plan that is stirring heated conversation.
Renewables currently supply 46% of Australia’s electricity and Labor wants to raise the proportion to 82% by 2030. As weather is unpredictable, this plan must be backed up by batteries and gas, it argues.
“Australia needs to be ambitious. We must be optimistic… We can be a renewable energy superpower for the world,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said last month, adding that this vision will create jobs in “every part of the country”.
Ben Abbott is one of those unconvinced by these plans.
“We are not experts in energy. But where we will put our hat into the ring is when it concerns where we live. We know what’s at stake,” said Mr Abbott, who is president of No Offshore Turbines Port Stephens.
The government has earmarked a 1,854 sq km (716 sq miles) area between Newcastle and Port Stephens – a popular spot for whale watching and game fishing – as Australia’s second offshore wind zone.
Mr Abbott’s group is concerned that the construction and operation of wind turbines will disturb marine life – though scientists say more research is needed – and adversely affect tourism.
He also accused Labor of running a “scare campaign” against nuclear.
Some in the party have savaged the opposition’s nuclear pitch by flooding social media with, among other things, memes featuring beloved cartoon koala Blinky Bill with three eyes.
“I’d like to learn more about it from an impartial point of view, not as a political issue,” Mr Abbott says.
On the other hand, some have also accused the Coalition of capitalising on fear around wind farms. Billboards along the highway to Port Stephens profess that only their local candidate will “stop Labor’s offshore wind farms”.
There is also concern that local anti-renewables movements are being driven or backed by people who outright reject climate change, as a tactic to delay the country’s turn away from fossil fuels. According to Guardian Australia, that includes the Saltbush Club, a group of the country’s most prominent and powerful climate change deniers.
Mr Abbott says the Port Stephens campaign is not one of these. “None of us are against renewables,” he says, noting that he agrees with the commitment to net zero.
The conversations taking place in the Hunter region are playing out on a national level too.
Polls indicate the country is still split on the best path forward, with support for nuclear hovering around 40%, with the rest fluctuating between undecided or opposed.
For every argument from each side of the debate, there’s a point to counter it on the other.
Both parties have been flouting the jobs created for communities hosting their energy infrastructure, but have been using cost-of-living relief to appeal to the nation more broadly.
However the price tag on each of these plans depends on who you ask.
Labor has for years said a grid dominated by renewables would cost A$122bn, and has dangled energy bill rebates and discounts on solar home batteries as part of its pitch.
But the Coalition says they believe it will cost at least five times more, and that their plan is half the price. They too have promised lower power bills with nuclear.
Australia’s national science agency, though, says they estimate electricity generated from nuclear reactors will cost twice as much as renewable energy, even after accounting for their longer lifespans.
Environmental economics professor Frank Jotzo argues that the Coalition’s promises can only be put to test a long time in the future. “Given that Australia runs on three-year terms of government, they will not be under pressure to deliver,” he says.
Grattan Institute’s Mr Wood believes the Coalition is wielding nuclear energy as a political weapon, noting that Australia has for at least the last decade seen bipartisan support for renewables.
“They needed a point of difference. And nuclear met the objective,” he says.
Both note the Coalition has already signalled it could abandon Australia’s 2030 emissions reduction target if it wins government – while Labor says it is on track to meet it.
“A Coalition government, majority or minority, would have very big challenges introducing the nuclear proposal. I suspect we would see an escalation in the climate war,” Mr Wood said.
But nuclear advocates are frustrated nuclear power isn’t even an option here.
While Australia has abundant solar and wind resources, these are intermittent, says nuclear engineer Jasmin Diab. Nuclear is more reliable and facilities last twice as long – so she argues an “ideal energy mix” would be heavy on renewables with a “backbone built on nuclear”.
“Labor’s position prevents Australia from making use of what’s going to be an important source of energy in the future,” said nuclear law expert Helen Cook. She points to countries across the world already benefiting from nuclear energy, such as the US and Canada, and several others at least studying it, including Indonesia.
At the New York Public Library’s annual Library Lunch, former New Yorker editor Tina Brown said there’s an obvious best seller waiting to be bestowed on one lucky biographer: the book on Queen Elizabeth.
Brown — who also once led Vanity Fair — spoke on the panel at the event about her work covering the royals, saying that there is a “huge question mark about who will get the official biography of Queen Elizabeth II,” we hear.
The queen kept a diary every day of her life, Brown noted.
The Princess Diana biographer also said that while current Queen Camilla would likely never pen a book of her own, she “has seen it all” and “has a great sense of humor” that would lend itself to an “absolutely cracking book,” sources told Page Six.
Tina Brown appeared at the annual Library Lunch. Getty Images for the Business of Fashion
As for Brown’s next subjects? Possibly Anne Boleyn or Elizabeth I, leading her to call out for any agents in the room to green-light the projects. Brown is also behind the Substack newsletter, “Fresh Hell.”
Also appearing on the panel, held under the Celeste Bartos Forum’s historic glass dome, were current New Yorker editor David Remnick, National Book Award winner Imani Perry and Pulitzer Prize winner Stacy Schiff.
Schiff recalled that her best seller “Cleopatra: A Life” was researched entirely at the library, while Perry quipped that she will “probably not write a biography of a living person. Most of the people I’m most interested in are dead,” sources told us.
Off-stage, guests buzzed that one literary lion was notably absent from the gala: library president and CEO Anthony Marx, though his name was on the invitation.
But a source close to the former president of Amherst College told us: “It’s a brief health leave, but he’s actually doing really well, and has been in touch” with Iris Weinshall, NYPL’s COO and treasurer.
Sandy Cay becomes the latest flashpoint in the South China Sea as Chinese and Philippine forces stage dueling flag-raisings – a symbolic show of sovereignty over contested territory. (Photos: China Coast Guard [left], National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea [right])China’s national flag was recently unfurled on a disputed reef in the South China Sea by its uniformed troops, an act broadcast by state media in what analysts believe to be a first public display in decades of what had previously been quiet actions.
In contrast with how Chinese fishermen, maritime militia, and even civilian groups have planted flags on disputed reefs, rocks, and islands in the contentious waterway since the 1990s, observers say China’s latest move is a pointed show of control aimed at reflecting its readiness to confront potential escalation amid rising tensions with the United States.
They add that the move carried out on Sandy Cay – a string of three uninhabited sandbars near a Philippine military outpost in the disputed Spratly Islands – also aims to reassure domestic audiences that Beijing remains firm on core interests such as sovereignty – and to portray strength as external pressure mounts.
Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on April 25 that its coast guard had landed on Sandy Cay “as part of maritime control operations to assert Beijing’s sovereignty”.
The broadcaster said the coast guard had “implemented control” over what it refers to as Tiexian Reef, part of the Sandy Cay feature. Footage showed four personnel in black combat gear holding the Chinese national flag after arriving on the reef aboard an inflatable dinghy.
On April 28, the Philippine Coast Guard released a photo of its personnel raising the national flag on the disputed reef. It said the mission was carried out pre-dawn the day before – a move seen as a direct rebuttal to China’s sovereignty claim.
The developments come amid the largest-ever joint military exercises between the US and the Philippines in nearby waters. They also follow a recent visit to Asia by US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who pledged to strengthen defence ties with Manila and “restore deterrence” in the face of what Washington views as growing Chinese assertiveness in the region.
“For now, it’s mostly symbolic. It’s very low level, petty provocations, from (both sides) … It has not reached a stage where it is alarming, yet,” said Adib Zalkapli, Managing Director of Viewfinder Global Affairs and a geopolitical analyst specialising in the Indo-Pacific.
But it’s also a sign of China drawing a line in the sand to state its firm position over the territorial disputes and external pressures, said other analysts.
“It’s a warning for the Philippines (against) further developing closer defence relations with the US … It’s a signal to say, look, this is what we can do to counter you,” said Abdul Rahman Yaacob, a research fellow in the Southeast Asia programme at the Lowy Institute.
CALIBRATED CONFRONTATION
China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, a position that overlaps with those of several countries and territories, and goes against a 2016 international tribunal ruling, which rejected Beijing’s entitlements over the disputed islands and waters.
Sandy Cay lies near Thitu Island, the biggest and most strategically significant outpost held by the Philippines in the Spratly Islands. It is among the island chains, reefs and rocks in the South China Sea where China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan maintain overlapping territorial claims.
On April 29, Chinese state media Global Times released images of a coast guard operation at Tiexian Reef, claiming it was part of efforts to exercise “sovereign jurisdiction”.
The photos showed Chinese coast guard officers displaying the Chinese national flag, and clearing debris such as plastic bottles from the reef flat.
The report claimed that a group of Philippine personnel “illegally” landed on the reef despite repeated Chinese warnings, prompting Chinese officers to “conduct on-site verification and enforcement measures in line with the law”.
Beijing’s latest move was likely timed for symbolic impact, coinciding with the ongoing Philippines-US Balikatan exercises and the approaching Philippine midterm elections, said Abdul Rahman of the Lowy Institute.
While raising a flag does not amount to a formal seizure or legal claim of sovereignty, he noted that the reef’s location remains strategically important due to its close proximity to Philippine-held territory.
“If the Chinese were to build certain military infrastructure there, they could closely monitor activity on nearby Philippine islands,” he said.
“It would also allow them to project their presence much closer to Philippine-held territory. From a military standpoint, the reef holds clear strategic value.”
Abdul Rahman said China’s latest move in the South China Sea presents an early test for US President Donald Trump’s administration, which has vowed to push back against Beijing’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific with a more assertive regional posture.
The observer pointed to Manila’s planned purchase of US-made Typhon missile launchers and ongoing talks to acquire F-16 fighter jets as “among the key factors” that prompted Beijing to respond with what he described as symbolic but calibrated actions.
“China, through flexing its muscle, is sending a message to both Manila and Washington,” he said. “It’s saying: despite your new defence deals and closer military cooperation, the reality on the ground remains unchanged – and that is, Beijing can still impose its will over disputed areas.”
China’s latest action at Sandy Cay may be part of a broader strategy to expand its footprint in the West Philippine Sea – the term the Philippines uses for parts of the South China Sea within its exclusive economic zone – through incremental moves, said Don McLain Gill, a Manila-based analyst and lecturer at the Department of International Studies, De La Salle University.
In an April 29 commentary on the Singapore-based platform ThinkChina, Gill described the act as part of Beijing’s “salami slicing” approach to maritime claims.
“Sandy Cay lies around ten nautical miles away from Subi or Zamora Reef, which China has illegally occupied and converted into a military base with an airstrip,” he wrote.
“Occupying the sand bar would allow Beijing to justify its claims over Subi Reef and eventually serve as a stepping stone to push further into Pag-asa Island, which houses Philippine military facilities and is home to about 250 Filipino residents.”
China’s “salami slicing” in the South China Sea, as described by some observers, refers to a strategy of advancing territorial claims through a succession of small, calibrated moves. Each action avoids triggering armed conflict, but together they steadily tip the balance of control toward Beijing and alter the status quo over time.
One example often cited by analysts is China’s development of artificial islands, which began around 2014. Initially framed by Beijing as serving civilian and public service functions, construction activities on features such as Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratlys later expanded to include airstrips, radar installations, and missile systems.
While China maintains these are defensive in nature, the steady build-up has raised concerns about the long-term militarisation of disputed areas.
Another example often cited by analysts as part of the “salami slicing” approach, is the use of coast guard vessels and maritime militia to reinforce claims in disputed waters without direct confrontation.
At Second Thomas Shoal, Chinese vessels have disrupted Philippine resupply missions with water cannons and close-range manoeuvres. While Beijing frames these as legitimate law enforcement within its claimed waters, analysts see them as calibrated efforts to constrain access and shift control – without provoking a direct military clash.
Gill noted that since 2017, Chinese Coast Guard vessels and maritime militia have stepped up their presence around Sandy Cay, including forming a de facto barrier to prevent Filipino fishing boats from accessing the area.
He added that in 2019, these same forces were involved in large-scale swarming operations near Pag-asa Island – actions he described as instruments of China’s gradual expansionism in the region.
In a move seen as a calculated demonstration of military strength, China’s aircraft carrier Shandong sailed through waters north of the Philippines twice within a week – a rare occurrence coinciding with ongoing joint military drills between the United States and the Philippines, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Tuesday (Apr 30).
The Shandong, accompanied by a flotilla of destroyers, frigates, and support vessels, was first detected last Tuesday about 185km northwest of Burgos in northern Luzon, the Philippines’ main island.
Its transit through the Luzon Strait – a critical waterway between Taiwan and the Philippines – has been widely interpreted by analysts as a signal of Beijing’s intent to assert freedom of movement and challenge US-aligned military activity in the region.
The timing, just as Manila and Washington kicked off their Balikatan exercise featuring complex combat simulations and the deployment of advanced weaponry such as anti-ship missile systems, appeared deliberate, said analysts.
They added that the deployment reflects China’s broader strategic objective of pressing beyond the so-called “first island chain” – a network of US-friendly territories such as Japan, Taiwan, and the Philippines – seen as central to its aim to contain Beijing.
“The deployment was certainly a show of force in light of Balikatan when they are conducting drills related to anti-ship techniques, and this was meant to signal that whatever the Filipinos and Americans are doing to conduct sea denial in these passageways, the (Chinese) navy will still force its way through in a conflict,” said Collin Koh, a senior fellow at Singapore’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
FEAR OF FURTHER ESCALATION
Adib of Viewfinder Global Affairs noted that the prominent coverage on Chinese state media has given the incident greater symbolic weight and an air of official endorsement.
“The timing is also notable,” Adib noted.
“China is under growing pressure from the US, especially with fresh tariffs being imposed. By highlighting this act of sovereignty, Beijing is also addressing a domestic audience – reinforcing the message that, despite mounting external challenges, national interests and territorial claims remain a top priority.”
Abdul Rahman of Lowy Institute agreed that the move also plays to a domestic audience, particularly as China grapples with mounting economic headwinds.
However, he cautioned against drawing a direct link between developments in the South China Sea and Beijing’s escalating trade tensions with Washington.
“States generally separate economic issues from geostrategic competition,” he said.
“Rather than being a direct response to US tariffs, this is more about reassuring the Chinese public that Beijing remains proactive in asserting its position against the Philippines in contested waters.”
The dispute over Sandy Cay has added fresh strain to already tense relations between the Philippines and China, said analysts.
While China has not seized the disputed reef in any substantive way, further unilateral actions – such as deploying troops or constructing permanent facilities – could compel the Philippines to respond, potentially heightening the risk of conflict, said Adib.
“It’s important to note that China hasn’t taken such steps yet, the flag-raising remains symbolic for now,” he said.
“But the fact that it was able to land on the reef shows it has the capability to take more assertive actions if it chooses to. That in itself sends a message to the Philippines.”
Abdul Rahman echoed similar concerns, pointing to fears of a repeat of the 1995 Mischief Reef episode – when China’s construction of initial stilted structures triggered a sharp response from the Philippines, leading to a cycle of escalating actions between the two countries.
Asked whether the Philippines might be pushed by the US to adopt a more assertive posture in the South China Sea – potentially fuelling further escalation – Abdul Rahman said such a scenario remains unlikely.
“In my conversations with Philippine officials, it’s clear their approach to the South China Sea is largely self-directed. They’re cautious about appearing overly influenced by Washington,” he said.
“I don’t see this as an extension of US efforts to economically contain China.”
Under the current President Ferdinand Marcos Jr administration, the Philippines has adopted a more assertive strategy to defend its territorial claims in the West Philippine Sea, according to Gill from De La Salle University.
He argued that while China has yet to establish full control over Sandy Cay, Manila must remain vigilant and sustain its presence in strategically important waters.
Coordinated and recurring joint patrols with defence partners, he added, are critical to pushing back against Beijing’s attempts to unilaterally shape the status quo.
Despite China’s assertive moves in the South China Sea, its broader relations with Southeast Asian countries remain largely cordial and grounded in mutual interests, noted Adib Zalkapli.
A worker controls the extraction of ilmenite, a key element used to produce titanium, in an open pit mine in the central region of Kirovohrad, Ukraine, on Feb 12, 2025. (File photo: AP/Efrem Lukatsky)
The United States and Ukraine on Wednesday (Apr 30) signed a minerals deal after a two-month delay, in what President Donald Trump’s administration called a new form of US commitment to Kyiv after the end of military aid.
Ukraine said it secured key interests after protracted negotiations, including full sovereignty over its own rare earths, which are vital for new technologies and largely untapped.
Trump had initially demanded rights to Ukraine’s mineral wealth as compensation for the billions of dollars in US weapons sent under former president Joe Biden after Russia invaded just over three years ago.
After initial hesitation, Ukraine has accepted a minerals accord as a way to secure long-term investment by the United States, as Trump tries to drastically scale back US security commitments around the world.
Announcing the signing of the deal in Washington, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said it showed “both sides’ commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine.”
“This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,” Bessent said.
“And to be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.”
In Kyiv, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said on national television that the agreement was “good, equal and beneficial.”
In a post on Telegram, Shmygal said that the two countries would establish a Reconstruction Investment Fund with each side having 50 per cent voting rights.
“Ukraine retains full control over its subsoil, infrastructure and natural resources,” he said.
Meeting a key concern for Kyiv, he said Ukraine would not be asked to pay back any “debt” for the billions of dollars in US weapons and other support since Russia invaded in February 2022.
“The fund’s profits will be reinvested exclusively in Ukraine,” he said.
Trump had originally sought US$500 billion in mineral wealth – around four times what the United States has contributed to Ukraine since the war.
US PRESENCE AGAINST “BAD ACTORS”
Trump has balked at offering security guarantees to Ukraine and has rejected its aspiration to join NATO.
But Trump said on Wednesday that a US presence on the ground would benefit Ukraine.
“The American presence will, I think, keep a lot of bad actors out of the country or certainly out of the area where we’re doing the digging,” Trump said at the cabinet meeting.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday threatened that the Trump administration would give up on mediation on the conflict – which Trump had vowed during the campaign to end on his first day in office — unless the two sides come forward with “concrete proposals.”
Trump has pressed for a settlement in which Ukraine would give up some territory seized by Russia, which has rejected US-backed overtures for a ceasefire of at least 30 days.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has ruled out any formal concession to Russia of Crimea, the peninsula seized in 2014 and whose annexation by Moscow is roundly rejected internationally.
But Zelensky has taken care to voice support for Trump’s diplomacy after a disastrous February 28 White House meeting where Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated him for allegedly being ungrateful for US assistance.
Zelensky had been due to sign the minerals agreement at the White House but was abruptly shown the door after the stunning on-camera feud.
Ukraine holds some 5 per cent of the world’s mineral resources and rare earths, according to various estimates. But work has not yet started on tapping many of the resources and many sites are in territory now controlled by Russian forces.
Notably, Ukraine has around 20 per cent of the world’s graphite, an essential material for electric batteries, according to France’s Bureau of Geological and Mining Research.
Ukraine is also a major producer of manganese and titanium, and says it possesses the largest lithium deposits in Europe.
Russia controls about 20 per cent of Ukraine’s territory after more than three years of brutal fighting that has killed tens of thousands, including civilians.
A general view shows container terminal in Hong Kong, China, on Apr 23, 2025. (File photo: REUTERS/Tyrone Siu)
China has created a list of US-made products that would be exempted from its 125 per cent tariffs and is quietly notifying companies about the policy, two people familiar with the matter said, as Beijing seeks to ease the impact of its trade war with Washington.
China has already granted tariff exemptions on select products, including select pharmaceuticals, microchips and aircraft engines and was asking firms to identify critical goods they need levy-free, Reuters reported on Friday (Apr 25). However, the existence of a so-called ‘whitelist’ had not been previously reported.
The quiet approach allows Beijing, which has repeatedly said it is willing to fight till the end unless the US lifts its 145 per cent tariffs, to maintain its public messaging while privately taking practical steps to provide concessions.
It was not immediately clear how many and which products have been included on the list, which authorities have not shared publicly, the two sources said, declining to be named as the information was not public.
Companies instead are being privately contacted by authorities and notified of the existence of a list of product classifications that would be exempted from the tariffs, according to one of the sources who works at a drug company selling US-made medicines in China.
The company was contacted by the Shanghai Pudong government on Monday about the list, the source said, adding the firm had previously lobbied for tariff exemptions as it relies on US technologies for some of its products.
“We still have many technologies we need from the US,” the person said.
Another source said some companies have been asked to privately contact authorities to inquire if their own imported products qualify for the exemption.
The list of exempted products also appears to be growing: China has waived tariffs on ethane imports from the US, Reuters reported on Tuesday.
Major ethane processors had already sought tariff waivers from Beijing because the US is the only supplier.
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he thought a trade deal with China was on the horizon. “But it’s going to be a fair deal,” he said.
China’s commerce and customs ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
GAUGING IMPACT
Two other sources said China is also surveying companies to gauge the impact of the tariff war.
In a recent meeting, authorities in Eastern China asked a foreign business lobby group to “communicate all critical situations caused by tariff tensions to evaluate specific cases”, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The person declined to name the city where the authorities held the meeting, as the gathering was not public.
A Palestinian student who was detained by immigration officials after leading protests against the war in Gaza has been released. Meanwhile, President Trump blamed Joe Biden for a drop in economic growth.
Mahdawi is the co-founder of a Palestinian student group at Columbia alongside Mahmoud KhalilImage: Amanda Swinhart/AP Photo/picture alliance
Kamala Harris says ‘chaos’ of Trump administration is by design
Former US Vice President Kamala Harris has hit out at Donald Trump and his backers in her first major speech since losing the November election.
Speaking on Wednesday in San Francisco, Harris said that the Trump administration was working on the “wholesale abandonment” of America’s highest ideals.
In her 15-minute speech, she spoke of the anxiety felt by many of her supporters since Trump took office in January.
But she warned against despair.
“They are counting on the notion that if they can make some people afraid, it will have a chilling effect on others,” she said, adding that “fear is not the only thing that’s contagious.”
“Courage is contagious.”
Chaos by design
Harris also cautioned Americans against viewing Trump’s administration as merely chaotic.
Instead she cast it as a “high-velocity event” that is the culmination of extensive work on the right to remake the government.
“A vessel is being used for the swift implementation of an agenda that has been decades in the making,” she said.
“An agenda to slash public education. An agenda to shrink government and then privatize its services. All while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest among us.”
Harris’s speech came a day after Trump celebrated 100 days in office.
The former Democratic vice president has largely stayed out of the limelight since leaving office in January.
Spanish firefighters had to rescue people who were trapped by the power cut
At least three people have died in Spain in an incident linked to a massive power cut that shut the country down on Monday, the Civil Guard has told the BBC.
They died in the north-west municipality of Taboadela and were from the same family, according to Spanish media.
Police are reportedly investigating whether carbon monoxide from a faulty electricity generator played a role in their deaths, but the Civil Guard could not provide more details.
Officials are still working to confirm what caused the power cut that triggered chaos across Spain and Portugal on Monday.
The trio who died in Taboadela were a married couple and their adult son, according to the Madrid-based newspaper El Pais.
Their bodies were discovered in their beds by a care worker on Tuesday, El Pais reported.
Other deaths are under investigation, including a woman in Madrid who died in a fire that may have been caused by a candle being used during the blackout, local media reported.
The woman, in her fifties, was found dead on Monday night after a fire broke out in a building in the city’s Carabanchel district.
Thirteen people were treated for smoke inhalation, including five who were taken to hospital, according to the city’s emergency information office.
Elsewhere, a woman in her forties is reported to have died in Valencia, though there is no clear consensus in Spanish media on the cause of her death.
Local police have suggested the woman, who suffered from a lung condition, died after the ventilator she was using lost power during the outage, according to media reports.
However, El Pais cited regional health sources who said the woman suffered from a number of health conditions and that she died of natural causes.
The blackout caused huge disruption across Spain and Portugal. Andorra and parts of France were also affected.
