Category: World

Toyota Motor (7203.T), said it is exploring the possibility of investing in a potential buyout of key parts supplier Toyota Industries (6201.T), – a buyout that reportedly could cost $42 billion.
“We are currently exploring various possibilities, including partial investment,” the automaker said in a filing with the Tokyo stock exchange on Saturday following reports about the possible buyout.

Bloomberg News reported on Friday that Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda and his founder family have proposed acquiring Toyota Industries in a possible 6 trillion yen ($42 billion) deal.

Toyota Industries, which has a market value of 4 trillion yen, said in a statement it had received proposals about going private through a special purpose company but denied it had received a buyout proposal from the Toyota chairman or the Toyota group.
Two sources familiar with the matter said Toyota Industries is considering tapping Toyota and its group companies as well as major banks to fund a buyout. They also said the proposal did not come from Akio Toyoda or the Toyota group.
The sources, who declined to be identified as the matter is not public, said if Toyota Industries were to go private, it would help improve the Toyota group’s corporate governance as cross-shareholdings would be unwound.

Both Toyota and Toyota Industries said in their statements that nothing has been decided.
Toyota owned 24% of Toyota Industries as of September last year, while Toyota Industries held 9.07% of Toyota and 5.41% of Denso (6902.T), another key Toyota supplier.

Toyota Industries has faced increasing shareholder pressure to unwind its cross shareholdings so that it can boost shareholder returns and make investments.
It has sold some of its cross shareholdings including stock in Aisin (7259.T), another core Toyota group supplier.
One of the sources said going private would also give Toyota Industries the freedom to focus on growth strategies without worrying about shareholder returns.
Cross-shareholdings, where companies hold shares in each other and are very common in Japan, have been under increasing scrutiny from regulators and shareholders as the practice can insulate management from having to serve the interests of general shareholders.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/toyota-considers-investing-potential-42-billion-buyout-key-supplier-2025-04-27/

Thousands of Buddhist believers and festival-goers filled downtown Seoul for Yeon Deung Hoe, or the Lotus Lantern Festival. Participants, some dressed in traditional Korean Hanbok clothing, carried lotus lanterns of different shapes and colors.

The festival was originally a celebration rooted in Buddhism but has evolved into an annual cultural event, drawing a large number of participants and spectators each year.

With a history spanning over 1,200 years, the festival is registered as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity as well as Korea’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage. The festival aims to spread the enlightenment of the founder of Buddhism across the world. More than 300,000 people, including both Koreans and international visitors, take part.

Participants gather at the starting point of the parade before proceeding toward the heart of South Korea’s capital. Lanterns of all sizes, handmade by temples across the country, are featured.

The lanterns can be in the shape of Buddha sculptures, dragons, elephants, lotus flowers and phoenixes, lighting up the streets of Seoul at night. Smaller lanterns are carried by monks and followers but larger, themed and Buddhism inspired lanterns are transported by vehicles.

Seoul’s Jogye temple and temples across the countries are lit by colorful lanterns as is the Cheonggye stream featuring paper lanterns.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/buddhists-lotus-lantern-south-korea-34b1ca11887dc06724e4b97bb41d06f3

Katy Perry was called out by fans for debuting a space-inspired “Lifetimes” tour outfit after receiving backlash for being part of the historic all-female Blue Origin flight.

The “E.T.” songstress took to X on Saturday to show off her figure in a cut-out body suit, which appeared to be made out of metal.

Perry’s outfit also consisted of metal arm cuffs, leg covers and a hat of the same material.

“Introducing KP143,” she captioned the photo.

While the pop star, 40, just wanted to give fans a closer look at her out-of-this-world concert apparel, she has been facing backlash about everything she does following her 11-minute trip to space earlier this month.

“Is this what happens after you go to space and back?” one person commented.

“You went to space for [10 to 11] minutes and now you an alien?” another added, as a third chimed in, “Why did you kiss the ground when you [sic] only flight [sic] for [10 to11] minutes with no physical training and zero effort?”

“While I hope your damage control is successful, this isn’t the way,” a fifth wrote.

“You have become insufferable,” a critic claimed, as another agreed, “Wtf. Desperate attempt to stay relevant. Good luck with that astro-nut.”

Perry sported her unique outfit while kicking off her “Lifetimes” tour in Mexico City on Wednesday.

She also wore other space-inspired costumes and busted some robotic moves while belting her 2012 track “Part of Me.”

On April 14, Perry flew into space alongside Gayle King, Lauren Sánchez, Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyen and Kerianne Flynn.

While around 62 miles above Earth in Jeff Bezos’ rocket, she flaunted a daisy to represent her and Orlando Bloom’s 4-year-old daughter, Daisy Dove.

Perry also went viral when she kissed the ground after landing back on Earth and exiting the rocket.

Aside from fans, several celebrities, including Olivia Munn and Emily Ratajkowski, called out the women for depleting resources and “destroying the planet.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/04/27/celebrity-news/katy-perry-roasted-by-fans-for-space-inspired-tour-outfit/

Sources close to the talks told Reuters Hamas hoped to build support among mediators for its offer, adding the group might agree to a five to seven-year truce in return for ending the war, allowing for the rebuilding of Gaza, the freeing of Palestinians jailed by Israel and the release of all hostages.

Hamas is open to a years-long truce with Israel in Gaza but is not willing to lay down its arms, an official said on Saturday, as leaders of the Palestinian Islamist militant group met mediators in Cairo for ceasefire talks.

Sources close to the talks told Reuters Hamas hoped to build support among mediators for its offer, adding the group might agree to a five to seven-year truce in return for ending the war, allowing for the rebuilding of Gaza, the freeing of Palestinians jailed by Israel and the release of all hostages.

“The idea of a truce or its duration is not rejected by us, and we are ready to discuss it within the framework of negotiations. We are open to any serious proposals to end the war,” said Taher Al-Nono, the media adviser for the Hamas leadership, in the first clear signal that the group was open to a longer-term truce.

However, Nono ruled out a core Israeli demand that Hamas lay down its arms. Israel wants to see Gaza demilitarised.

“The weapon of resistance is not negotiable and will remain in our hands as long as the occupation exists,” Nono said.

Hamas’ founding charter calls for Israel’s destruction, but it has signalled in the past that it might agree to a long-term truce in return for ending Israeli occupation.

Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel downplayed chances this week for the new proposal to lead to a breakthrough unless Israel’s core demands were met.

“The war could end tomorrow if Hamas released the remaining 59 hostages and laid down its weapons,” Haskel said in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

Israel resumed its offensive in Gaza on March 18 after a January ceasefire collapsed, saying it would keep up pressure on Hamas until it frees the remaining hostages still held in the enclave. Up to 24 of them are believed to still be alive.

Israel has blocked all aid into Gaza and hundreds of thousands have been displaced as its forces have seized territories it has designated as a buffer zone. More than 2,000 Palestinians, many of them civilians, have been killed in Israeli strikes since, according to health authorities.

Source : https://www.deccanherald.com/world/hamas-open-to-long-gaza-truce-but-not-to-disarming-3512419

When Donald Trump made a historic return to power earlier this year, it was with the help of voters who represented a diverse coalition of backgrounds – truck drivers, veterans, business owners and more.

They represented a wide range of perspectives that helped explain Trump’s enduring appeal. But 100 days after he took office, how do his staunchest supporters feel now?

The BBC has returned to five of them. Here’s what they had to say about the promises he kept, the pledges he has yet to address, and what they want next.

The death of Virginia Giuffre will leave questions that are now likely to remain unanswered.

Her name will always be associated with the scandals and criminality surrounding the late billionaire sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his circle – with Ms Giuffre one of the most prominent among his accusers, revealing the trafficking and sexual exploitation of young women.

The photo of her and Prince Andrew, taken in London in 2001, became emblematic of the royal’s entanglement with Epstein and was central to his disastrous Newsnight interview in 2019.

The origins of the picture remain uncertain. But Ms Giuffre’s death adds another layer to the mystery of what must have inadvertently become one of the most widely viewed photos in royal history.

Epstein – who was said to have taken the photo – died in jail facing sex trafficking charges.

Ghislaine Maxwell – who helped him abuse young girls and is pictured to the right of Prince Andrew and Ms Giuffre – is in prison in the US. Prince Andrew has stepped down from all public duties. And Virginia Giuffre, a smiling teenager in the photo, is now dead.

Ms Giuffre – who was born in the US – died by suicide at her farm in Western Australia aged 41, her family said on Friday.

Prince Andrew has always strongly denied any wrongdoing involving Ms Giuffre.

They reached an out-of-court settlement in 2022, in which Prince Andrew paid an undisclosed amount of money.

A statement with the settlement expressed regret on his part – but contained no admission of liability or an apology. Prince Andrew has always denied all the accusations against him.

The prospect of Prince Andrew facing a court hearing in New York was averted by the settlement, but it had been a huge problem for the Royal Family, and Prince Andrew was swiftly removed from all official public roles.

His reputation has never recovered.

At this stage, there is still much that is not known about Ms Giuffre’s last days or her personal circumstances.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yle7pxlyno

THE funeral of Pope Francis saw hundreds of famous politicians and royals flock to Rome as the world debated over who would sit where.

As the world leaders took to their seats earlier this morning a number of secrets around the seating plan soon emerged – including why Prince William was so far back.

Organisers of the funeral publicly admitted they needed to come up with a “master plan” to manage “big egos” of the world and make the day work.

It was initially believed that the Vatican seating planners would place the royals attending in the front rows before having the presidents and prime ministers in the seats behind them.

Past Vatican funerals have seen the leaders arranged into alphabetical order based on their country, per the French interpretation.

It was widely reported yesterday that US President Donald Trump would be in the third row in a move that he may well have considered a damaging blow to his leader of the free world.

But it was far from accurate, with the seating script being totally flipped on its head.

Trump, Volodymyr Zelensky and Emmanuel Macron all occupied front row seats – but for various different reasons.

In French, the United States is actually written Etas-Unis, which means this places Trump near the top of the list rather than towards the bottom.

Queen Mary of Denmark was at the start of the row with the King and Queen of Spain close by.

Then came the First Lady Melania Trump and her husband.

Next to them was Finland’s Alexander Stubb, who sat between Trump and French President Macron.

The pair had already spoken earlier in the day as Macron, Starmer, Zelensky and Trump all met up prior to everyone taking their seats.

Sat on the very end of the middle section of seats was Zelensky and his wife Olena.

They appeared to have been given special treatment as they bypassed dozens of nations alphabetically to land a front row spot.

This ended up putting Ukraine – which remains the exact same in French – in between Ireland and India.

Zelensky was even greeted by a round of applause as he took his seat in the square, with the crowds expressing their support for Ukraine.

It also left Kyiv’s leader sat just 10 seats away from Trump in the end.

The Vatican didn’t give an official reason for why the Kyiv couple were sat so high up, but spokesperson Matteo Bruni did say: “I believe they filled a vacant place.”

On the other side of seats, a familiar face sat closest to the coffin of Francis in Argentina’s Javier Milei.

Milei, a close pal of Trump, was given the best seat at the event due to him being Argentine, just like the Pope.

As Francis was also known as the Bishop of Rome, Italian President Sergio Mattarella and his daughter Laura took the next two seats.

Georgia Meloni, the Prime Minister of Italy, was just behind them.

Leaders of Andorra, Albania and Angola all followed as they started with the first letter of the alphabet.

The placing of Prince William, who was representing the British monarchy on behalf of King Charles, was one of the biggest shocks.

Wills found himself shoulder-to-shoulder with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and sat two rows behind Milei.

British PM Sir Starmer was placed a number of rows even further back alongside his wife Victoria and Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

The reason for his positioning was due to him being the head of a government as opposed to a head of state.

And because of the United Kingdom being far down the list they ended up being squashed in between Qatari and Serbian representatives.

Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission was also on the same row.

Elsewhere, former US President – and friend of Francis – Joe Biden was sat around five rows behind Trump and Melania.

Sat directly across from the world leaders was the bishops and cardinals who knew Francis best.

The funeral service took place shortly after 9am UK time in St Peter’s square.

It involved a series of words and hymns before the homily part which was led by the Dean of the College of Cardinals, 91-year-old Giovanni Battista Re.

The end of the mass saw many of the leaders leave Rome and return home – with Trump seen swiftly boarding Air Force One with Melania.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14112314/pope-francis-funeral-seating-plan/

DRESSED in a bathrobe and with a gun pointed at her head, Kim Kardashian pleaded: “Don’t kill me, I have babies” as a gang of armed robbers ransacked her penthouse for jewels.

When reports of the incredible Paris heist emerged in 2016, cynics branded it a publicity stunt.

But nine years on from the $10.6million [£8m] raid, the billionaire businesswoman and reality TV star is about to relive in court how she was bound, gagged and locked in a bathroom during the terrifying ordeal.

On Monday, ten people accused of “armed robbery in an organised gang”, “kidnap” and “criminal conspiracy” will stand trial at Paris Assizes, two miles from the scene of the crime.

As a key witness, Kim, 44, is reportedly willing to face her alleged attackers for the first time since the terrifying raid at the Hotel de Pourtales.

The star of Disney+ show The Kardashians has waited years for justice as the case dragged on, with timetabling problems caused by high-profile terrorist trials sparking backlogs in the courts.

There were also fears that the publicity any trial involving a Kardashian would attract might destroy the upmarket Paris tourism industry amid events such as last summer’s Olympics.

The delays were so long, one of the elderly defendants in the so-called “grandpa gang” facing charges died before he could be tried.

‘They liked her bling’

Now, ahead of the most high-profile jewellery heist case of the past decade, French detectives have revealed to The Sun how they tracked down the accused.

One of the aging crew has already publicly confessed to robbing Kim, who, in 2016, was still married to rapper Kanye West.

This week, Yunice Abbas, 72, revealed that he didn’t know who Kim was until after the raid.

He claimed: “My mate Aomar Ait Khedache, who put me on the job, had simply told me the victim was the wife of a famous rapper.”

Ait Khedache, known as “Old Omar”, 68, has also admitted participating in the heist but denies the prosecution’s accusation that he was the ringleader.

The police dossier shows how a combination of DNA and CCTV analysis, phone taps and geolocation, plus dogged determination by detectives, including physical tailing of suspects, led to the smashing of the gang within two months of the Hollywood-style heist.

The saga began in the summer of 2016, when Ait Khedache got a tip that a “big American star was coming to town” and that she was showing off her fabulous wealth on Instagram.

This was a time when old- school criminals were abandoning traditional heists for so-called saucissons — “sausage raids”, which involve following rich people into their homes, “wrapping them up like sausages” and then forcing them at gunpoint to say where they kept their valuables, before stealing them.

According to prosecutors, the Kardashian tip came from Florus Heroui, 52, who ran a bar in Le Marais, meaning “The Swamp” in English.

Heroui is said to have obtained precise information about Kim’s movements during Paris Fashion Week from Gary Madar, 34, a VIP greeter who regularly met stars as they arrived at Paris Le Bourget airport by private jet.

“I didn’t know who she was. We had nothing against
Kim Kardashian personally. I do regret that we
scared her

Crucially, Madar was trusted and liked by Kim, and had close family links to the car company she always used when in France.

Old Omar was fleeing justice at the time, having been arrested for his alleged involvement in a drugs racket, and was relying on his mistress, Christiane Glotin, 79, for safe houses to stay in.

In 2016, gang members were “ogling Kim’s jewels after Googling pictures on a computer”, a police investigator claimed.

“None of them had much idea who Kim was,” the source added. “But they liked her very expensive bling.”

All were particularly interested in Kim’s 18.88-carat, $4million [£3m] engagement ring, especially after she proudly announced that she “did not wear fake jewellery”.

Scouting out the star’s Paris address was easy, Omar told detectives. The gang allegedly only had to follow Kim’s Mercedes V-Class people carrier to find out that she was staying in the Hotel de Pourtales.

Better known as the “No Address”, Pourtales is a collection of dream apartments which have welcomed multiple A-listers, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Madonna.

The tip was that Kim would enjoy some “me time” alone in the Sky Penthouse while allowing her staff and family members out on the town.

This is exactly what happened in the early hours of October 3, when, at 2.20am, three cyclists in fluorescent yellow vests approached the No Address and parked their bikes in the courtyard.

Two more arrived on foot, and all were wearing black balaclavas and police armbands before they confronted the property’s only concierge, Abderrahmane Ouatiki.

Pointing an antique Mauser 7.65mm pistol at his head, the gang led Abderrahmane up to the penthouse, where Kim was lying on her bed.

She was alone after her German bodyguard, Pascal Duvier — who she later sacked — went out dancing.

Kim recalled hearing noises outside the door, later telling officers: “I said, ‘Hello!’, but since no one answered, I knew something was wrong.”

Two “aggressive men” in black police uniforms then burst in with the handcuffed Abderrahmane.

“I remember that I had an indescribable
feeling, as if my heart would leave my body, I thought that I was going to die

Kim tried to call 911, the American police emergency number, but of course it did not work in France.

“He puts a gun directly to her head,” Abderrahmane recalled. “She’s crying, she’s screaming.

“She’s saying, ‘Don’t kill me, I have babies, please, I have babies. I’m a mom. Take what you want’. She’s wearing just a robe and her hair is tied back.”

To prevent Kim from screaming too loudly, the robbers taped her mouth shut before locking her in her bathroom.

They spent 49 minutes in the penthouse before leaving with a haul estimated to be worth around $10.6million [£8m].

As they fled, one accidentally dropped a platinum cross adorned with diamonds that was found the next morning.

After cutting through her ties herself, Kim went to another apartment downstairs, where her stylist, Simone Harouche, had barricaded herself in a bathroom.

Incriminating images

Cops were alerted and took statements from Kim before she was allowed to catch her private jet home.

Detectives soon gathered two genetic fingerprints on the Serflex ties used to restrain Kim and Abderrahmane.

The samples corresponded to the prints of Ait Khedache and Abbas, both of whom had their details all over police forensic databases because of their criminal antecedents.

Painstakingly gathering all video recordings in the area, detectives also found plenty of incriminating images.

They included multiple sightings of a Peugeot 508 which was driven by Ait Khedache’s son, Harminy Ait Khedache, 38.

A police telephone specialist went through 7,591 mobile phone calls made in the Madeleine area around the robbery between October 2 and 3, finding numbers linked to the prime suspects.

These included Didier “Blue Eyes” Dubreucq, 69, who was allegedly the second robber to enter the penthouse, along with Old Omar.

Dubreucq had served 23 years in prison for a post office robbery and for importing two tonnes of Colombian cocaine into Europe via a Saudi Arabian prince’s private jet.

Rather than arrest the suspects straight away, officers from the elite Banditry Repression Brigade of the Paris Judicial Police launched tailing operations, which included placing GPS surveillance devices on their cars.

This is when new “faces” appeared, such as Marceau “Rough Nose” Baumgertner — an alleged Paris fence who has since died.

Known as a market trader with a pet dog called Al Capone, the 70-year-old was recorded as having made trips to Antwerp — the diamond capital of Europe — with Old Omar and Glotin to allegedly sell the jewellery.

Old Omar has told police the gold was melted down and resold, while insisting that he has “no idea” where Kim’s ring ended up.

On January 9, 2017, the BRB burst into all the suspects’ homes, handcuffed them and placed them in custody.

Ait Khedache originally denied wrongdoing, but when he heard of the DNA evidence against him, he made a full confession.

Deeply traumatised by the robbery, Kim avoided Paris for more than a year, so investigating judge Armelle Briand had to travel to the US to interview her.

Kim told Judge Briand: “I remember that I had an indescribable feeling, as if my heart would leave my body.

“I thought that I was going to die.”

According to her recorded testimony, Kim added: “This experience opened my eyes to the fact that the world was no longer a safe place.”

She said her “relationship with valuables had changed”, and that “it’s become a burden to be responsible for such expensive items”.

Despite some confessions, and the legal right of police and prosecution to leak information about the case, all officially remain innocent until proven guilty in connection with the largest jewellery theft committed against a single person in France this century.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/14106966/kim-kardashian-face-paris-attackers-trial/

SHOCKING bodycam footage shows the moment the wife of Weezer star Scott Shriner is confronted by cops before being shot.

Jillian Lauren, 51, was charged with attempted murder after a standoff with armed cops who were searching for three suspects over an unrelated hit-and-run near her home in Los Angeles.

She was shot in the shoulder and arrested after allegedly pointing a handgun at officers when she apparently mistook them for armed suspects.

Now, newly released bodycam footage from Los Angeles police shows a chaotic scene leading up to the shooting.

Officers can be heard yelling from behind a fence around Lauren’s garden for several minutes – telling her to drop her gun.

“Ma’am we’re trying to help you,” one says.

“Drop the gun, you’re going to get shot.”

One of the officers then tells the others that Lauren has raised her gun.

“Not at us, but she just lifted it up,” an officer is heard saying.

CCTV from Lauren’s back garden shows her chambering a round and raising the gun – followed by police bullets landing near her feet a moment later.

A 911 call from one of Lauren’s neighbors suggests she thought she was being fired at by a suspect from the unrelated hit-and-run.

The neighbour is heard saying: “There were three men, and one of them shot her, and the cops are looking for him right now.

“They have their guns out.”

Lauren later told police herself she had armed herself after hearing about the three men on the run in the neighbourhood, according to CBS News.

The drama in Lauren’s back garden unfolded after a crash on the 134 freeway in Los Angeles.

Three people fled from the scene into the neighbourhood of Eagle Rock and the cops immediately launched a manhunt for the trio.

As officers searched for them, they found Lauren stood outside her home holding a handgun.

The cops said they yelled at her to drop the gun “numerous times” – but she repeatedly refused.

The police said: “[Lauren] then pointed the handgun at the officers, and an Officer-Involved Shooting occurred.”

One officer then reportedly shot Lauren in the shoulder.

After being hit, Lauren is said to have gone back inside her home before coming out with her hands up 30 minutes later.

She was joined by the family’s female babysitter – with them both being taken into custody.

Lauren was charged with attempted murder and released on a $1million bail bond.

Shocking footage shows Lauren laid out on the floor with her arms sprawled out as an officer places her in handcuffs.

A barefooted Lauren is then led away into a police car.

Lauren was later taken to a local hospital by Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics to be treated for a non-life-threatening gunshot wound.

Police searched the home and recovered a 9-millimetre handgun.

Lauren has been married to rock icon Scott Shriner since 2005 and the pair share two adopted children.

Weezer first formed in 1992 and features Scott, lead singer and guitarist Rivers Cuomo, drummer Patrick Wilson and rhythm guitarist Brian Bell.

The Say It Aint So hitmakers are set to have one gig in the UK in London this year with it already sold out.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/14111761/weezer-star-wife-police-shooting/

China’s foreign minister has hit out at the “extreme selfishness” of tariffs, hinting at the steep levies imposed on Beijing by US President Donald Trump.

“Certain countries” resort to “pressure and coercion, and trigger unjustified trade wars … This extreme selfishness only harms their credibility”, top diplomat Wang Yi told his Uzbek counterpart Bakhtiyor Saidov, according to a ministry statement released on Saturday (Apr 26).

This will “only undermine their credibility”, added Wang, who was speaking on Friday on the sidelines of a foreign ministers’ meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The foreign minister also said that Beijing would seek solidarity with other countries on the tariff situation and expose “extreme egoism” and the bullying of certain countries.

Wang said during the meeting with his Uzbek counterpart that China would seek solidarity with other countries and would uphold multilateralism to “inject stability into the world”.

China and the United States, the world’s two biggest economies, are locked in an escalating tit-for-tat trade battle triggered by Trump’s levies on Chinese goods, which have reached 145 per cent on many products.

Beijing has responded with 125 per cent tariffs of its own on US goods.

Also on Saturday, China repeated that it had held no talks with the United States on trade issues, despite Trump’s recent claim that he had taken a call from Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

In an interview conducted on Apr 22 with Time magazine and published Friday, Trump did not say when the call with Xi took place or specify what was discussed.

“He’s called,” Trump said. “And I don’t think that’s a sign of weakness on his behalf.”

China’s commerce ministry had already denied on Thursday that Beijing and Washington were conducting economic or trade negotiations.

In a statement posted on WeChat Saturday, Beijing’s embassy in the US capital repeated that assertion, saying “there have been no consultations or negotiations between China and the United States on tariff issues, let alone any agreement”.

The statement did not mention Trump or Xi by name or directly reference Trump’s claim of a call, but said remarks by the United States that a dialogue on tariffs was ongoing were “nothing but misleading”.

“This trade war was initiated by the US side,” the statement said.

“If the US truly wants to resolve the issue through dialogue, it must first correct its mistakes, stop threatening and pressuring others, and completely remove all unilateral tariff measures against China.”

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/trade-war-tariffs-china-hits-out-extreme-selfishness-us-trump-5091491

US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, met one-on-one in a marble-lined Vatican basilica on Saturday (Apr 26) to try to revive faltering efforts to end Russia’s war with Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said the meeting could prove historic if it delivers the kind of peace he is hoping for, and a White House spokesperson called it “very productive.”

The two leaders, leaning in close to each other with no aides around them while seated in St Peter’s Basilica, spoke for about 15 minutes, according to Zelenskyy’s office, and images of the meeting released by Kyiv and Washington.

The meeting at the Vatican, their first since an angry encounter in the Oval Office in Washington in February, comes at a critical time in negotiations aimed at bringing an end to fighting between Ukraine and Russia.

After Pope Francis’s funeral service, Trump boarded Air Force One and departed Rome. While in the air, he published a social media post in which he took a tough tone on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days,” Trump posted on Truth Social. Twelve people were killed on Thursday when a missile fired by Russia hit a Kyiv apartment block.

“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!” Trump wrote.

Following Trump’s remarks, Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham said the Senate is poised to move forward on bipartisan legislation that would impose trade sanctions on countries that purchase Russian oil, gas and other products.

“The Senate stands ready to move in this direction and will do so overwhelmingly if Russia does not embrace an honorable, just and enduring peace,” Graham posted on X.

Trump’s post was a departure from his usual rhetoric that has seen the toughest criticism directed at Zelenskyy, while he has spoken positively about Putin.

In a post on social media platform Telegram, Zelenskyy wrote: “Good meeting. One-on-one, we managed to discuss a lot. We hope for a result from all the things that were spoken about.”

He said those topics included: “The protection of the lives of our people. A complete and unconditional ceasefire. A reliable and lasting peace that will prevent a recurrence of war.”

Zelenskyy added: “It was a very symbolic meeting that has the potential to become historic if we achieve joint results. Thank you, President Donald Trump!”

NO AIDES IN SIGHT

In one photograph released by Zelenskyy’s office, the Ukrainian and US leaders sat opposite each other in a hall of the basilica, around two feet apart, and were leaning in towards each other in conversation. No aides could be seen in the image.

In a second photograph, from the same location, Zelenskyy, Trump, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were shown standing in a tight huddle. Macron had his hand on Zelenskyy’s shoulder.

After Trump and Zelenskyy met in the basilica, the two men joined other world leaders outside in Saint Peter’s Square at the funeral service for Pope Francis, who made the pursuit of peace, including in Ukraine, a motif of his papacy.

Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who gave the sermon at the funeral service, recalled how Pope Francis did not stop raising his voice to call for negotiations to end conflicts.

“War always leaves the world worse than it was before: it is always a painful and tragic defeat for everyone,” the cardinal said.

DIFFERENCES OVER TERRITORY

Trump has been pressing both Moscow and Kyiv to agree on a ceasefire and peace deal. He had previously warned his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree on a deal soon.

After a round of shuttle diplomacy this week, differences have emerged between the position of the Trump White House on peace talks and the stance of Ukraine and its European allies, according to documents from the talks obtained by Reuters.

Washington is proposing a legal recognition that Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, is Russian territory, something that Kyiv and its allies in Europe say is a red line they will not cross.

There are also differences on how quickly sanctions on Russia would be lifted if a peace deal was signed, what kind of security guarantees Ukraine would have, and how Ukraine would be financially compensated.

Trump and Zelenskyy have had a rocky personal relationship. At their Oval Office meeting, Trump accused the Ukrainian leader of “gambling with World War Three.”

Since then, Kyiv has tried to repair relations, but the barbs have continued. Zelenskyy has said Trump was trapped in a “disinformation bubble” that favoured Moscow, while the US leader accused Zelenskyy of foot-dragging on a peace deal and making “inflammatory” statements.

But the two men need each other. Trump requires Zelenskyy’s buy-in to achieve his stated ambition of bringing a swift peace between Russia and Ukraine, while Kyiv needs Trump to pressure Moscow into diluting some of the more onerous conditions it has set for a truce.

At the Oval Office meeting in February, a reporter who was present from a conservative US news network accused Zelenskyy of disrespecting the occasion by not wearing a suit.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/trump-and-zelenskyy-meet-one-one-vatican-basilica-seek-ukraine-peace-5091991

It’s expensive to be her.

Erika Jayne was pictured soaking up the sun on the balcony of her room at The Tryst hotel in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

Wearing nothing but a barely-there studded black swimsuit, the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star showed off her toned legs and enviable curves.

Immediately after sharing the photos on Instagram Saturday, Bravo stars flooded the comments section to celebrate Jayne.

“Stunner,” Jayne’s “RHOBH” co-star Kyle Richards wrote, while “RHOC” star Gretchen Rossi added three fire emojis.

Reality star Renee Graziano also wrote, “Absolute Showstopper.”

Jayne’s post comes hours after she shared her support for co-star Dorit Kemsley after she filed to divorce her estrange husband, Paul “PK” Kemsley.

“I literally just found out online like everyone else, maybe an hour ago, and, obviously, I reached out to her,” the 53-year-old told Us Weekly on Friday at the grand opening of the Tryst hotel.

“She’s got more important things to do than to talk to me right now.”

Page Six confirmed on Friday that Dorit filed for divorce after 10 years of marriage. They separated in May 2024, but have been co-parenting their two children: son Jagger, 11, and daughter Phoenix, 9.

In her petition, Dorit cited “irreconcilable differences” as the cause for the split and asked for sole legal and physical custody of the kids. She also requested spousal support.

Following Dorit’s filing — which came just hours after PK was pictured kissing “Amazing Race” alum Shana Wall — he seemingly slammed her on social media, saying, “No one plays the victim better than the one who caused the damage.”

Erika, who filed to end her own marriage to estranged husband Tom Girardi in 2020, further told Us Weekly that divorce is “a sad thing.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/04/26/style/rhobh-star-erika-jayne-rocks-barely-there-swimsuit-for-glamorous-photo-shoot/

US President Donald Trump on Saturday (Apr 26) urged free transit for American commercial and military ships through the Panama and Suez canals, tasking his secretary of state with making progress “immediately.”

Trump has for months been calling for the United States to take control of the Panama Canal but his social media post also shifted focus onto the vital Suez route.

“American Ships, both Military and Commercial, should be allowed to travel, free of charge, through the Panama and Suez Canals!” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

He claimed both routes would “not exist” without the United States and said he had asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “immediately take care of” the situation.

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino, without directly referencing Trump, said on Saturday that toll fees for the Panama Canal are regulated by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP), an autonomous governing body that oversees the trade route.

“There is no agreement to the contrary,” he said in a post on X.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had said during a visit to Panama City earlier this month that the United States was seeking an agreement under which its warships could pass through the canal “first, and free.”

The United States and China are two of the top users of the Panama Canal.

Egypt’s Suez Canal, a key waterway linking Europe and Asia, accounted for about 10 per cent of global maritime trade before attacks by Yemen’s Huthi rebels on shipping routes in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

The Iran-backed rebels began targeting vessels after the start of the Gaza war, claiming solidarity with Palestinians, forcing ships to take a long and costly detour around the southern tip of Africa.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/trump-urges-free-transit-us-ships-through-panama-suez-canals-5092211

Pakistan has initiated “emergency” measures to secure pharmaceutical supplies in response after the suspension of trade ties with India following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.

Pakistani health authorities have initiated “emergency preparedness” measures to secure pharmaceutical supplies in response to the suspension of trade ties with India, according to a media report on Saturday.

In response to India’s decision to suspend the Indus Water Treaty following the Pahalgam attack, Islamabad on Thursday suspended all trade with New Delhi, among other moves.

Geo News reported that India trade halt triggered “urgent measures to secure” pharmaceutical needs in Pakistan and health authorities have initiated “emergency preparedness” measures to secure the supplies.

The Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) has confirmed that while there has been no formal notification regarding the ban’s impact on the pharmaceutical sector, contingency plans are already in place, it said.

“Following the 2019 crisis, we had started preparing for such contingencies. We are now actively looking at alternative avenues to meet our pharmaceutical needs,” the report quoted a senior DRAP official as saying.

Currently, Pakistan relies on India for 30% to 40% of its pharmaceutical raw materials, including Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) and various advanced therapeutic products.

With this supply chain distributed, DRAP is seeking alternative sources from China, Russia, and several European countries.

The agency aims to ensure the continuous availability of essential medical supplies, including anti-rabies vaccines, anti-snake venom, cancer therapies, monoclonal antibodies, and other critical biological products.

While DRAP’s preparedness offers some reassurance, industry insiders and health experts have warned of a looming challenge if immediate action is not taken to manage the fallout of the trade suspension.

“Pakistan imports some 30%–40% of its pharmaceutical raw material from India. We also import finished products, most importantly, anti-cancer therapies, biological products, vaccines, and sera, especially anti-rabies vaccine and anti-snake venom from India,” a senior official from the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination said, requesting anonymity.

The Ministry of Health has yet to receive an official directive clarifying the status of pharmaceutical imports, despite the government’s blanket announcement suspending all trade with India.

The pharmaceutical sector fears that disruption in the supply chain could lead to critical shortages.

The situation is further complicated by the existence of a robust black market, where unregistered and unapproved medicines are smuggled into Pakistan through Afghanistan, Iran, Dubai, and even across the eastern border, the report said.

While these channels fill gaps left by legal imports, they offer no guarantee of quality or consistent supply.

A delegation of pharmaceutical industry leaders travelled to Islamabad on Thursday to appeal for an exemption from the trade ban.

“We had meetings with DRAP and Ministry of Commerce officials to discuss the suspension of trade ties. We urged them to exempt the pharmaceutical sector from the ban, as there are many life-saving products whose raw materials come exclusively from India,” said Tauqeer-ul-Haq, Chairman of the Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA).

The PPMA delegation also approached the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), arguing that pharmaceutical and health-related trade must be excluded from the ban to protect patients’ lives.

However, some experts see the current crisis as a wake-up call for long-term investment in local production of APIs, vaccines, and biologicals.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/pak-scrambles-secure-drug-supplies-trade-with-india-halted-2715685-2025-04-26

The Trump administration appeared to have deported a 2-year-old U.S. citizen “with no meaningful process,” a federal judge said on Friday, as the child’s father sought to have her returned to the United States.
U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty said the girl, who was referred to as “V.M.L.” in court documents, was deported with her mother.

“It is illegal and unconstitutional to deport, detain for deportation, or recommend deportation of a U.S. citizen,” Doughty said.

He scheduled a hearing for May 19 “in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”
V.M.L. was apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday with her mother, Jenny Carolina Lopez Villela, and older sister when Villela attended a routine appointment at its New Orleans office, according to a filing by Trish Mack, who said the infant’s father asked her to act as the child’s custodian.
According to Mack, when V.M.L.’s father briefly spoke to Villela, he could hear her and the children crying. During that time, according to a court document, he reminded her that their daughter was a U.S. citizen “and could not be deported.”

However, prosecutors said Villela, who has legal custody, told ICE that she wanted to retain custody of the girl and have her go with her to Honduras. They said the man claiming to be V.M.L.’s father had not presented himself to ICE despite requests to do so.
“It is therefore in V.M.L.’s best interest that she remain in the lawful custody of her mother,” Trump administration officials said in a filing on Friday. “Further, V.M.L. is not at risk of irreparable harm because she is a U.S. citizen.”
V.M.L. is not prohibited from entering the U.S., prosecutors added.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The American Civil Liberties Union described V.M.L,’s case -and another similar – as a “shocking … abuse of power.”
“These actions stand in direct violation of ICE’s own written and informal directives, which mandate coordination for the care of minor children with willing caretakers – regardless of immigration status – when deportations are being carried out,” it said.

U.S. President Donald Trump, whose presidential campaigns have focused heavily on immigration, said earlier this month he wanted to deport some violent criminals who are U.S. citizens to El Salvadoran prisons.
The comments raised concern about a proposal that has alarmed civil rights advocates and is viewed by many legal scholars as unconstitutional.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/two-year-old-us-citizen-appears-have-been-deported-with-no-meaningful-process-2025-04-26/

Justin Bieber is mourning the death of his grandfather Bruce Dale.

The “Sorry” singer penned a touching tribute via Instagram to the late patriarch, who died on Thursday, according to an online obituary.

“Papa, I always took all ur money lol. I remember u specifically telling me, gramma gave u an allowance of 20 dollars for the WEEK!” Bieber recalled in his post Saturday.

“I would always convince you to spend on snacks at the hockey game on Friday nights. Reluctantly you always gave it to me,” he added alongside a throwback photo of the duo taken in 2009.

“Corn nuts, skittles, gum balls, chuck a puck, slush puppies.”

Bieber, 31, continued, “Shout out to the jr b referees Beatty, Fagon, Flanagan lmfao. For enduring all of my grandpa’s heckling for all of your horrible referee calls lmfao. My grandpa wasn’t shy in letting them know that they were being pieces of s—s.”

The “Lonely” singer, whose mental health has sparked concern in recent months, also noted, “I can’t wait to see u again soon in heaven.”

He added, “Until then I know ur watching down probly still heckling Beatty or Fagon for missing that cross check call in the corner there lmfao.”

“I will miss u. I will ache. And I’ll sit and let myself remember all of the wonderful times we’ve had,” Bieber concluded the heartfelt post.

Dale’s obituary states he died “peacefully” at the Rotary Hospice Stratford Perth. He’s survived by his four children: Candie Toper, Chris Mallette, Chris Dale and Pattie Mallette — Bieber’s mother.

The Grammy winner and his wife, Hailey Bieber, are listed among Dale’s three grandchildren. Their son, Jack Blues Bieber, whom they welcomed in August 2024, was also named with Dale’s great grandchildren.

Dale spoke about his relationship with his famous grandson in an emotional February 2018 interview at the Steps to Stardom Exhibition at Stratford Perth Museum in Bieber’s hometown where he recalled going to the singer’s first show.

“I don’t know,” he answered when asked what makes him emotional about Bieber. “It just happens. I can sit and talk with anybody about anything, but when it comes to talking about him, I just get emotional.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/04/26/celebrity-news/justin-bieber-mourns-death-of-his-grandfather-cant-wait-to-see-you-again-soon-in-heaven/

Some 250,000 attended Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome on Saturday, including world leaders and ordinary people. DW’s religion correspondent Christoph Strack was there.

“He is like our father, he’s everything to us. That’s why we’re here, because of our love for him,” said Barbara Quarante, who was standing on the edge of St. Peter’s Square. She had arrived the day before as a part of a group of 13 from Calabria in southern Italy, and spent the night in the open air. At her feet, some of the adolescents in the group were still lying in their sleeping bags.

She was determined to bid farewell to Pope Francis, who died on Easter Monday aged 88. “We know that he is with Jesus,” Quarante told DW. “And he can pray for us. We feel united with him.”

Her friend Caterina Longordo said that the pope had “reached young people” and done a lot for them, addressing “the environment and social topics.” That’s why the adolescents had also wanted to come. She added that, despite being an Argentinian by birth, Francis had always been a kind of Italian pope, given that he had ancestors from Piedmont in northern Italy.

Just saying goodbye

According to the Vatican, more than 250,000 people crowded into St. Peter’s Square and the surrounding streets to attend the pope’s funeral. Just six days earlier, Francis had greeted the crowds and given the papal Urbi et Orbi blessing on Easter Sunday from the balcony of the Loggia of Blessings of St Peter’s Basilica.

He died the next day. Tens of thousands of mourners lined up to pay their respects and see his open coffin in the altar of the same building, where Francis had lain in state for three days. The coffin was then sealed to prepare for the funeral.

In his 12 years as pope, Francis was vocal about global politics and expressed his opinions openly, sometimes clashing with world leaders. Ordinary people found the man who wanted to act as a pastor extremely approachable. Everywhere in Rome, there were banners saying “Grazie, Francesco.”

Myrna Domingo, a 72-year-old from the Philippines, who has worked for the same Roman household for 42 years, told DW that she wanted to say “thank you” to the late pope. Each year during Advent the large Filipino community of Rome celebrated Simbang Gabi, a traditional series of masses in anticipation of Christmas, and the pope had allowed them to do this at St Peter’s and had once even made a surprise appearance among them.

Luthbert Sunjo, a 29-year-old from Cameroon, who has been studying in Rome for a year and wants to become a priest said that he had seen the pope three times but always at a distance. “I want to say goodbye to him, that’s all I can say,” he said, adding that this was “a great day” for him as he had been allowed to distribute the Eucharist at the mass for Pope Francis.

“A great man,” said Anthony Di Castro, a 21-year-old from the US state of Wisconsin who is studying psychology in Rome, and had come to the funeral with his friends. “He’s a pioneer of Catholic leadership, in so many ways,” he told DW, explaining that he had last seen the pope on Easter Sunday.

Canonization of Carlo Acutis postponed

There were many young people in the crowd because the pope had intended to canonize Carlo Acutis on Sunday. The young British-born Italian teenager, known for his devotion to the Eucharist, died of leukemia in 2006 at the age of 15. Pope Francis beatified him in 2020, though the canonization has now been postponed.

There were representatives from 150 countries in attendance, including heads of state, royals and politicians. Not since the funeral of Pope John Paul II had there been so many prominent guests. They included UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, French President Emmanuel Macron, US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

It was revealed after the ceremony that Trump and Zelenskyy had met at the Vatican, the first encounter since their spat in the Oval Office in February.

‘With a heart open to all’

Giovanni Battista Re, the current Cardinal Dean of the College of Cardinals, had the special role of presiding over the funeral service. “He was a pope in the midst of the people with a heart open to all,” the 91-year-old preached. “He was also a pope attentive to what was new in society and to what the Holy Spirit was arousing in the Church.”

Some 135 cardinals are expected to meet in around two weeks’ time to elect Francis’ successor. Though they are currently united in mourning for the late pope, they did not all agree with his more progressive views, and a battle has already begun over the future of the Church.

‘Don’t forget to pray for me’

The pope is always also the Bishop of Rome, and the city’s residents were close to Francis’ heart. Since his first Sunday in office on March 17, 2013, he concluded every Sunday lunchtime prayer in St. Peter’s Square with the words “Don’t forget to pray for me. Have a good Sunday. And buon appetito.”

Many Romans liked that, whether they had any connection with the Catholic Church or not.

Final resting place is Santa Maria Maggiore

Francis is the first pope in almost 150 years not to be buried in St Peter’s Basilica. He chose the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, not far from Rome’s main train station, as his final resting place. He frequented the church more than 130 times, often visiting it to pray before and after his trips abroad.

Minutes after the funeral mass had ended, a long convoy set off from the Vatican through the ancient city of Rome. The Popemobile carrying the coffin rolled through the city center, crossed the Forum and past the Colosseum.

Many tens of thousands of people stood along the route. Police officers saluted. Hundreds held up their smartphones and took pictures or made films, others clapped. Rome was unusually quiet, except for the noise of helicopters overhead.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/grazie-francesco-pope-buried-in-rome/a-72364882

Pakistani troops opened “unprovoked” fire at Indian posts across the Line of Control last night as tensions escalated between the two countries over the massacre of 26 civilians at a tourist hotspot in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam. This is the second time in two nights that Pakistani troops have tried to provoke the Indian side.

Indian Army reported the firing from multiple posts from across the Line of Control, the de facto boundary separating Indian and Pakistani armies in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh. Officials said Indian troops retaliated appropriately to the Pakistani firing.

No casualties were reported in the exchange of fire, the Indian Army said in a statement.

“On the night of 25th-26th of April 2025, unprovoked Small Firing was carried out by multiple Pakistan Army post all across the Line of Control in Kashmir. Indian troops responded appropriately with small arms. No casualties reported,” the statement read.

Speculative firing was reported yesterday as well, with military sources suggesting that Pakistani troops were trying to check the alertness of Indian soldiers amid calls within India to take decisive action against terror hotspots across the LoC.

The ceasefire violations follow a string of measures taken by India in response to the Pahalgam terror attack. In the Tuesday massacre, at least 26 civilians vacationing in Baisaran meadow, known as “Mini Switzerland”, were shot dead by five terrorists. The Resistance Front (TRF), linked to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has claimed responsibility for the attack. 26/11 mastermind and Lashkar chief Hafiz Saeed was the handler of the foreign terrorists who carried out the attack, sources suggest.

Taking strict action, India suspended the Indus Water Treaty, citing “sustained cross-border terrorism by Pakistan”. In a strong message from Delhi, Water Minister CR Patil threatened that “not a drop” of the Indus water would flow to Pakistan.

Vowing to punish every terrorist, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said that Indian troops will pursue them to the ends of the earth. Those involved in the terror attack and the conspirators will receive a punishment bigger than they can imagine, he has said.

India and Pakistan have also pulled their diplomatic staff and stopped visa services for each other’s nationals. Visitors now have a short deadline to return to their homeland, and cross-border visits are unlikely to resume until the situation defuses.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pakistan-violates-loc-ceasefire-again-indian-army-retaliates-8259222

VOLODYMYR Zelensky has landed in Italy as world leaders and royals gather for Pope Francis’ funeral today.

The Ukrainian leader landed early on Saturday morning – joining the world’s elite attending the historic funeral.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump and his wife Melania were pictured emerging from Air Force One at Fiumicino Airport near Rome on Friday night.

The US President will join British Prince William and French President Emmanuel Macron for the service in St Peter’s Square.

Pope Francis’ coffin was officially sealed in a private ceremony after three days of public viewing, which saw around 250,000 faithfuls pay tribute to the late pontiff.

The ceremony was conducted by Cardinal Kevin Farrell and attended by several Cardinals and Holy See officials.

A white cloth was first placed over Francis’ face, while a bag of coins minted during his lifetime was placed inside along with a one-page account of his papacy.

The account was read aloud by the master of liturgical ceremonies before being rolled up into a tube and placed in the coffin.

The funeral service will take place at 9am UK time today.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14103213/pope-francis-funeral-updates-news-vatican/

DRESSED in a bathrobe and with a gun pointed at her head, Kim Kardashian pleaded: “Don’t kill me, I have babies” as a gang of armed robbers ransacked her penthouse for jewels.

When reports of the incredible Paris heist emerged in 2016, cynics branded it a publicity stunt.

But nine years on from the $10.6million [£8m] raid, the billionaire businesswoman and reality TV star is about to relive in court how she was bound, gagged and locked in a bathroom during the terrifying ordeal.

On Monday, ten people accused of “armed robbery in an organised gang”, “kidnap” and “criminal conspiracy” will stand trial at Paris Assizes, two miles from the scene of the crime.

As a key witness, Kim, 44, is reportedly willing to face her alleged attackers for the first time since the terrifying raid at the Hotel de Pourtales.

The star of Disney+ show The Kardashians has waited years for justice as the case dragged on, with timetabling problems caused by high-profile terrorist trials sparking backlogs in the courts.

There were also fears that the publicity any trial involving a Kardashian would attract might destroy the upmarket Paris tourism industry amid events such as last summer’s Olympics.

The delays were so long, one of the elderly defendants in the so-called “grandpa gang” facing charges died before he could be tried.

‘They liked her bling’

Now, ahead of the most high-profile jewellery heist case of the past decade, French detectives have revealed to The Sun how they tracked down the accused.

One of the aging crew has already publicly confessed to robbing Kim, who, in 2016, was still married to rapper Kanye West.

This week, Yunice Abbas, 72, revealed that he didn’t know who Kim was until after the raid.

He claimed: “My mate Aomar Ait Khedache, who put me on the job, had simply told me the victim was the wife of a famous rapper.”

Ait Khedache, known as “Old Omar”, 68, has also admitted participating in the heist but denies the prosecution’s accusation that he was the ringleader.

The police dossier shows how a combination of DNA and CCTV analysis, phone taps and geolocation, plus dogged determination by detectives, including physical tailing of suspects, led to the smashing of the gang within two months of the Hollywood-style heist.

The saga began in the summer of 2016, when Ait Khedache got a tip that a “big American star was coming to town” and that she was showing off her fabulous wealth on Instagram.

This was a time when old- school criminals were abandoning traditional heists for so-called saucissons — “sausage raids”, which involve following rich people into their homes, “wrapping them up like sausages” and then forcing them at gunpoint to say where they kept their valuables, before stealing them.

According to prosecutors, the Kardashian tip came from Florus Heroui, 52, who ran a bar in Le Marais, meaning “The Swamp” in English.

Heroui is said to have obtained precise information about Kim’s movements during Paris Fashion Week from Gary Madar, 34, a VIP greeter who regularly met stars as they arrived at Paris Le Bourget airport by private jet.

“I didn’t know who she was. We had nothing against
Kim Kardashian personally. I do regret that we
scared her

Crucially, Madar was trusted and liked by Kim, and had close family links to the car company she always used when in France.

Old Omar was fleeing justice at the time, having been arrested for his alleged involvement in a drugs racket, and was relying on his mistress, Christiane Glotin, 79, for safe houses to stay in.

In 2016, gang members were “ogling Kim’s jewels after Googling pictures on a computer”, a police investigator claimed.

“None of them had much idea who Kim was,” the source added. “But they liked her very expensive bling.”

All were particularly interested in Kim’s 18.88-carat, $4million [£3m] engagement ring, especially after she proudly announced that she “did not wear fake jewellery”.

Scouting out the star’s Paris address was easy, Omar told detectives. The gang allegedly only had to follow Kim’s Mercedes V-Class people carrier to find out that she was staying in the Hotel de Pourtales.

Better known as the “No Address”, Pourtales is a collection of dream apartments which have welcomed multiple A-listers, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Madonna.

The tip was that Kim would enjoy some “me time” alone in the Sky Penthouse while allowing her staff and family members out on the town.

This is exactly what happened in the early hours of October 3, when, at 2.20am, three cyclists in fluorescent yellow vests approached the No Address and parked their bikes in the courtyard.

Two more arrived on foot, and all were wearing black balaclavas and police armbands before they confronted the property’s only concierge, Abderrahmane Ouatiki.

Pointing an antique Mauser 7.65mm pistol at his head, the gang led Abderrahmane up to the penthouse, where Kim was lying on her bed.

She was alone after her German bodyguard, Pascal Duvier — who she later sacked — went out dancing.

Kim recalled hearing noises outside the door, later telling officers: “I said, ‘Hello!’, but since no one answered, I knew something was wrong.”

Two “aggressive men” in black police uniforms then burst in with the handcuffed Abderrahmane.

“I remember that I had an indescribable
feeling, as if my heart would leave my body, I thought that I was going to die

Kim tried to call 911, the American police emergency number, but of course it did not work in France.

“He puts a gun directly to her head,” Abderrahmane recalled. “She’s crying, she’s screaming.

“She’s saying, ‘Don’t kill me, I have babies, please, I have babies. I’m a mom. Take what you want’. She’s wearing just a robe and her hair is tied back.”

To prevent Kim from screaming too loudly, the robbers taped her mouth shut before locking her in her bathroom.

They spent 49 minutes in the penthouse before leaving with a haul estimated to be worth around $10.6million [£8m].

As they fled, one accidentally dropped a platinum cross adorned with diamonds that was found the next morning.

After cutting through her ties herself, Kim went to another apartment downstairs, where her stylist, Simone Harouche, had barricaded herself in a bathroom.

Incriminating images

Cops were alerted and took statements from Kim before she was allowed to catch her private jet home.

Detectives soon gathered two genetic fingerprints on the Serflex ties used to restrain Kim and Abderrahmane.

The samples corresponded to the prints of Ait Khedache and Abbas, both of whom had their details all over police forensic databases because of their criminal antecedents.

Painstakingly gathering all video recordings in the area, detectives also found plenty of incriminating images.

They included multiple sightings of a Peugeot 508 which was driven by Ait Khedache’s son, Harminy Ait Khedache, 38.

A police telephone specialist went through 7,591 mobile phone calls made in the Madeleine area around the robbery between October 2 and 3, finding numbers linked to the prime suspects.

These included Didier “Blue Eyes” Dubreucq, 69, who was allegedly the second robber to enter the penthouse, along with Old Omar.

Dubreucq had served 23 years in prison for a post office robbery and for importing two tonnes of Colombian cocaine into Europe via a Saudi Arabian prince’s private jet.

Rather than arrest the suspects straight away, officers from the elite Banditry Repression Brigade of the Paris Judicial Police launched tailing operations, which included placing GPS surveillance devices on their cars.

This is when new “faces” appeared, such as Marceau “Rough Nose” Baumgertner — an alleged Paris fence who has since died.

Known as a market trader with a pet dog called Al Capone, the 70-year-old was recorded as having made trips to Antwerp — the diamond capital of Europe — with Old Omar and Glotin to allegedly sell the jewellery.

Old Omar has told police the gold was melted down and resold, while insisting that he has “no idea” where Kim’s ring ended up.

On January 9, 2017, the BRB burst into all the suspects’ homes, handcuffed them and placed them in custody.

Ait Khedache originally denied wrongdoing, but when he heard of the DNA evidence against him, he made a full confession.

Deeply traumatised by the robbery, Kim avoided Paris for more than a year, so investigating judge Armelle Briand had to travel to the US to interview her.

Kim told Judge Briand: “I remember that I had an indescribable feeling, as if my heart would leave my body.

“I thought that I was going to die.”

According to her recorded testimony, Kim added: “This experience opened my eyes to the fact that the world was no longer a safe place.”

She said her “relationship with valuables had changed”, and that “it’s become a burden to be responsible for such expensive items”.

Despite some confessions, and the legal right of police and prosecution to leak information about the case, all officially remain innocent until proven guilty in connection with the largest jewellery theft committed against a single person in France this century.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/14106966/kim-kardashian-face-paris-attackers-trial/

Apple plans to shift the assembly of all iPhones sold in the United States to India as early as next year, pivoting away from China to avoid steep tariffs, the Financial Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

US President Donald Trump’s trade war is pushing tech companies to diversify their supply chains. Apple is positioning India to play a key role in its manufacturing strategy, even though its suppliers in the country currently produce only a small share of iPhones sold globally.

Analysts had previously warned that consumer goods such as iPhones could be among the hardest hit by Trump’s broad tariffs and said US iPhone prices might rise sharply due to Apple’s heavy dependence on Chinese imports.

Higher prices could squeeze Apple’s margins and give Android smartphone makers a competitive edge.

Earlier this month, Washington granted tariff exclusions for smartphones, computers and other electronics mostly imported from China, offering some relief to tech firms such as Apple.

The company sells more than 220 million iPhones a year worldwide, with Counterpoint Research estimating a fifth of the total imports of the device to the US coming from India, and the rest from China.

Foxconn and Tata, Apple’s main suppliers in India, operate three factories, with two more under construction.

In March, Foxconn and Tata shipped nearly US$2 billion worth of iPhones from India to the US, a record high, according to customs data.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/apple-shift-iphone-assembly-india-us-trump-tariffs-china-5088456

Not everyone thinks Katy Perry is out of this world.

Footage of the pop star robotically dancing on the opening night of her “Lifetimes” tour in Mexico City on Wednesday has gone viral on social media, where fans mercilessly roasted the cringeworthy choreography.

In a minute-long clip shared on TikTok, Perry backed up to the audience to shake her rear end, cheekily lay on the stage to raise one leg in the air and listlessly performed what appeared to be robot-inspired moves to her song “Part of Me” in a space-age cone bra and thigh-high boots.

“People are paying to see this?” an X user complained.

“so shockingly bad,” another lamented.

“This clip is not impressive. This looks more like somebody who’s come out of retirement after 30 years and trying to pull the same moves off they did when they were young and popular,” a third X user wrote in part.

The ruthless comments were all over TikTok, too, with one person writing, “This is the worst choreography I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Another quipped, “it’s giving school talent show,” while another comment read, “This looks like an SNL skit.”

One more commenter observed, “She’s struggling. No energy here. Hope she finds her groove.”

Some fans couldn’t resist referencing Perry’s Blue Origin flight as part of an all-women crew on April 14.

“Guess those 11 mins she spent in space could have been better spent on choreography,” commented a TikTok user, to which an X user agreed, “too much space travel. She’s not used to being back on the ground.”

The singer, 40, directly addressed backlash she received for her space jaunt by reportedly asking onstage Wednesday, “Has anyone ever called your dreams crazy?”

She also flew over the stage, wore spacesuit-inspired costumes and posed for selfies with fans pointedly dressed up in blue NASA space suits.

Page Six reached out to “Lifetimes” tour choreographer Kaylie Yee and creative direction company Squared Division for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/04/25/entertainment/katy-perry-roasted-for-choreography-on-lifetimes-tour/

Lawyers plan to argue at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ upcoming sex trafficking trial that the disgraced music mogul was merely living a “swinger” lifestyle and isn’t a rapist like the feds have made him out to be.

“There’s a lifestyle, call it swingers or whatever you will, that he thought was appropriate because it was common,” Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo said at a Friday pre-trial hearing for the rapper in Manhattan federal court, per The Post.

Agnifilio argued that Combs’ belief that it was acceptable to have multiple partners or to hire escorts proves that he did not intend to commit a crime.

“Many people think it’s appropriate because it’s common.”

Judge Arun Subramanian ruled from the bench that Combs’ lawyers will be able to make their swinger argument, but they are not allowed to name other notable figures who are believed to have allegedly hired sex workers or participated in the proposed “lifestyle.”

The update comes as federal prosecutors revealed on Friday that Combs, 55, rejected a plea offer ahead of his trial. Details about the plea were not provided in court.

The “Last Night” rapper is currently facing charges of racketeering, transportation to engage in prostitution and sex trafficking as prosecutors allege the Bad Boy records founder forcibly coerced women to engage in sexual activity at his infamous “Freak-Off” parties.

Many witnesses, including Combs’ ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, are expected tot take the stand during his eight to ten-week trial to give “graphic testimony” about “years’ worth of beatings, drug-fueled coercive sex marathons, and multiple rapes.”

Combs is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, NY, where he was taken after his September 2024 arrest.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/04/25/celebrity-news/sean-diddy-combs-is-a-swinger-but-not-a-rapist-lawyer-argues-as-rapper-rejects-plea-deal-ahead-of-trial/

The 24-year-old US national was arrested on March 31 for allegedly entering the North Sentinel Island without authorisation, police had said.

A US national, arrested in Andaman and Nicobar Islands for allegedly entering a prohibited tribal reserve area of the North Sentinel Island on March 31, was on Friday granted bail by the sessions court here.

The accused was granted bail with two sureties.

“Today, bail hearing of accused… was put up before the Hon’ble Court of Sessions Judge at Port Blair. After hearing both prosecution and defence, accused… was granted bail with two sureties, of which one surety should be local having registered landed property,” a statement issued by the ANI police said.

“The accused person has to meet the investigation officer twice in a week and his passport and visa not to be released till further orders of the Hon’ble Court. It means he will remain here in Port Blair till further hearing,” it said.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/us-tourist-arrested-for-entering-north-sentinel-island-granted-bail-8256457

Donald Trump said there have been tensions between India and Pakistan, and the two countries will figure it out between themselves “one way or the other”.

US President Donald Trump on Friday reacted to the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, saying that it was a “bad one”.

Responding to a question aboard Air Force One on the way to Rome, Trump said there have always been tensions between India and Pakistan, and the two countries will figure it out between themselves “one way or the other”.

“I am very close to India, and I’m very close to Pakistan, and they’ve had that fight for a thousand years in Kashmir. Kashmir has been going on for a thousand years, probably longer than that. That was a bad one (terrorist attack),” Trump was quoted as saying by ANI.

“There have been tensions on that border for 1,500 years. It’s been the same, but I am sure they’ll figure it out one way or the other. I know both leaders. There’s great tension between Pakistan and India, but there always has been.”

Pahalgam terror attack
Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated over the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 persons, mostly tourists, in Jammu and Kashmir on April 22. The assault is one of the deadliest terror attacks in Jammu and Kashmir since the 2019 Pulwama bombing.

Following the attack, India announced a raft of measures against Pakistan, including the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, the expulsion of Pakistani military attaches and the immediate shutting down of the Attari land-transit post.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/donald-trump-reacts-to-pahalgam-terror-attack-india-pakistan-us-101745607884197.html

Israel’s destructive military campaign in Gaza has released a silent killer: asbestos.

The mineral, once widely-used in building materials, releases toxic fibres into the air when disturbed that can cling to the lungs and – over decades – cause cancer.

Nowadays, its use is banned across much of the world, but it is still present in many older buildings.

In Gaza, it is found primarily in asbestos roofing used across the territory’s eight urban refugee camps – which were set up for Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes during the 1948-49 Arab-Israeli war – according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

In October 2024, UNEP estimated that up to 2.3 million tons of rubble across Gaza could be contaminated with asbestos.

“The Gaza rubble is a very, very toxic environment,” says Professor Bill Cookson, director of the National Centre for Mesothelioma Research in London. “People are going to suffer acutely, but also in the longer term as well, things that children may carry throughout their lives.”

“The lives lost now are not going to end here. The legacy is going to continue,” says Liz Darlison, CEO of Mesothelioma UK.

When asbestos is disturbed by something like an air strike, its fibres – too small to see with the human eye – can be breathed in by those nearby and can then work their way through to the lining of the lungs.

Over many years – usually decades – they can cause scarring which leads to a serious lung condition known as asbestosis, or, in some cases, an aggressive form of lung-cancer named mesothelioma.

“Mesothelioma is a terrible, intractable illness,” says Prof Cookson.

“The really worrying thing,” he adds, “is that it’s not dose related. So even small inhalations of asbestos fibre can cause subsequent mesothelioma.

“It grows within the pleural cavity. It’s extremely painful. It’s always diagnosed late. And it’s pretty well resistant to all treatments.”

Typically, those who contract mesothelioma do so 20 to 60 years after exposure – meaning it will take decades before the possible impact across the territory is felt. A higher level, or longer period, of exposure is believed to accelerate the progression of the disease.

Dr Ryan Hoy, whose research into dust inhalation was cited by the UNEP, says it is extremely difficult to avoid breathing in asbestos fibres because they are “really tiny particles that float in the air that can get very, very deep into the lungs.”

They are even harder to avoid, he says, because Gaza is so “densely populated”. The territory houses approximately 2.1 million people and is 365 sq km (141 sq miles) – about one quarter of the size of London.

Experts on the ground there say people are unable to manage the risks posed by asbestos or dust inhalation due to the more immediate dangers of Israel’s military offensive.

“At this point in time, [dust inhalation] is not something that is perceived as a worrying thing by the population. They even don’t have things to eat, and they’re more afraid to be killed by the bombs,” says Chiara Lodi, medical co-ordinator in Gaza for the NGO Médecins Sans Frontières.

“The lack of awareness about the risks of asbestos, combined with the ongoing challenges [people in Gaza] face in trying to rebuild their lives, means they are unable to take the necessary measures to protect themselves,” a Gaza-based spokesperson for the NGO SOS Children’s Villages said.

Many are “not fully aware of the harmful effects of the dust and debris”, they added.

After a previous conflict in Gaza in 2009, a UN survey of the territory found asbestos in debris from older buildings, sheds, temporary building extensions, roofs and the walls of livestock enclosures.

There are several types of asbestos ranging from so-called “white asbestos”, which is the least dangerous, to “blue”, or crocidolite, which is the most. Highly-carcinogenic crocidolite asbestos was previously found in Gaza by the UN.

Globally, around 68 countries have banned the use of asbestos, though some maintain exemptions for special use. It was banned in the UK in 1999, and Israel banned its use in buildings in 2011.

As well as mesothelioma, asbestos can cause other forms of lung cancer, larynx and ovarian cancer.

A further, lesser known risk is that of silicosis, a lung disease caused by breathing in silica dust, usually over many years. Concrete generally contains 20-60% silica.

Dr Hoy says the sheer amount of dust in Gaza could lead to an “increased risk of respiratory tract infections, upper and lower airway infections, pneumonia, exacerbations of pre-existing lung disease like asthma,” as well as, “emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which can be worsened by acute exposure to dust”.

For years, the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York have been used as a case-study by health experts to examine the effects of a large toxic dust-cloud on a civilian population.

“The Twin Towers were not in the middle of a war zone,” says Ms Darlison, “so it was something we were able to measure and quantify easier”.

As of December 2023, 5,249 of those who were registered with the US government’s World Trade Center Health Programme have died as a result of aerodigestive illness or cancer – a far higher figure than the 2,296 people who were killed in the attack itself. A total of 34,113 people were diagnosed with cancer over the same period.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8y4j91l83o

As Elon Musk’s tenure at the Department of Government Efficiency winds down, it’s clear Americans owe him a debt of gratitude — despite the left’s unhinged hate campaign against him.

On Tuesday, Musk announced that he’s taking a step back from his role at DOGE starting next month and “allocating far more of [his] time to Tesla.”

His exit was always planned; so-called “special government employees” like Musk can only legally stick around in advisory roles for 130 consecutive days.

But his announcement served another purpose: soothing panicky Tesla shareholders, who have seen the company’s net income tank 71% in the last quarter, with many blaming his break from the company combined with his alliance with Orange Man.

Musk always knew he’d be risking harm to Tesla but was willing to make the sacrifice for the good of the nation.

Yet a shocking number of Trump-Musk haters actually waged sociopathic attacks on Tesla vehicles and innocent dealerships and owners.

Democratic leaders encouraged this terroristic insanity, either with their silence or by smearing Musk as a big, bad “oligarch” and thus stoking the flames.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz ghoulishly gloated over Tesla’s falling stock prices, just weeks before a Minnesota government employee was busted for causing $21,000 in damage to random Teslas.

One would think progressives would cheer the guy who built Tesla into the biggest seller of electric vehicles in the United States, a project he took on explicitly to fight climate change.

Quite frankly, getting Americans to buy EVs in the first place is a miraculous feat, considering they’re far less popular than their gas-powered counterparts.

Did that earn him some points with progressives? Fat chance.

And building Teslas isn’t Musk’s only act taken to help his fellow man. He also:

• Sent hundreds of Starlink satellites to help with rescue efforts after Hurricane Helene.

• Dispatched Starlink-fitted Cybertrucks to LA to maintain internet connectivity for locals after the devastating wildfires in January.

• Sent a SpaceX rocket to save two American astronauts stranded in space thanks to NASA and Boeing bungling.

Leftists’ instinctive love of government largesse has blinded them to the huge benefits of DOGE, but Musk’s work there has been heroic, too.

A Hawaii boat captain who rebuilt her whale-watching tour business after losing three boats in the deadly 2023 Lahaina wildfire captured iPhone footage of her dog barking excitedly when a humpback swam near them over the weekend and poked its head out to greet Macy, a golden retriever.

Chrissy Lovitt and Macy, 11, were in a fishing boat about 2 miles (roughly 3 kilometers) off Lahaina on Saturday when they spotted a humpback whale in the waters.

“And he heard her barking and he just swam over to meet her,” Lovitt recalled Tuesday. “And it was the best day of her life.”

In the video, Macy is seen barking frantically as the whale nears the boat. The whale’s head emerges and it appears to turn and look at the excited dog.

“She’s been barking at whales her whole life, but they haven’t wanted to do anything with her,” Lovitt said.

Macy is Lovitt’s trusty companion when she leads a boatload of tourists to marvel at whales. “She loves the ocean,” said Lovitt, now a Maui boat captain for 25 years. “She grew up on it.”

Macy is “obsessed with sea life and whales,” Lovitt added. “She’s 11 and I know we don’t get forever with her. But this has been on her bucket list so I’m just super happy for her.”

Lovitt had just started a whale-watching tour business when the massive inferno wiped out most of Lahaina, including her three boats, equipment and vehicles. On the day of the fire Aug. 8, Lovitt and her partner were trying to secure their boats in the fierce winds when the flames arrived. They had no choice but to head out in the ocean on a boat. There, Lovitt said, they helped the U.S. Coast Guard rescue people who were forced to jump in the water to flee the flames.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/whale-watching-dog-lahaina-wildfire-hawaii-c881db8ba9c8455be336bc811acb6d68

Federal agents arrested a Wisconsin judge and charged her with obstruction for allegedly trying to help an undocumented immigrant evade arrest.

Announcing her arrest, FBI director Kash Patel accused Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan of “intentionally misdirecting” immigration agents away from a Mexican man they were trying to arrest last week.

“Thankfully our agents chased down the perp on foot and he’s been in custody since, but the Judge’s obstruction created increased danger to the public,” Patel wrote on X.

During a preliminary court hearing on Friday, Dugan’s lawyer said she “wholeheartedly regrets and protests her arrest. It was not made in the interest of public safety”.

The judge has been charged with obstruction and concealing an individual to avoid arrest, and faces a maximum of six years in prison if convicted on both charges.

Dugan was released on her own recognisance pending a hearing on 15 May.

The charges stem from events that played out in Dugan’s courtroom last week.

On 17 April, an immigration judge issued a warrant for the arrest of Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, a Mexican national facing three misdemeanour battery counts stemming from a domestic fight, according to court documents filed in the case by the FBI.

The following day, Flores-Ruiz appeared in the Milwaukee court for a scheduled hearing, and six officers from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Agency arrived at the courthouse to make the arrest.

The agents identified themselves to court officials and waited outside Dugan’s courtroom, but according to the FBI affidavit, the judge became “visibly angry, commented that the situation was ‘absurd,’ left the bench, and entered chambers” when she learned of their presence.

In the hallway outside the court, Dugan and the unnamed agents then argued over the type of arrest warrant that had been issued, before the judge instructed them to report to the office of the county’s chief judge.

While several agents were in the office, affidavit says, the judge ushered Flores-Ruiz and his lawyer to a side door meant for jury members leading out of the courtroom.

But two agents remained near the courtroom and spotted Flores-Ruiz attempting to escape, the affidavit says.

Flores-Ruiz, who authorities say had previously been deported from the US in 2013, managed to exit the courthouse but was arrested just minutes later after a short foot chase.

Dugan’s arrest came one day after a former judge in New Mexico was taken into custody accused of harbouring an alleged Venezuelan gang member in his home.

“I think some of these judges think they are beyond and above the law and they are not,” Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News in an interview on Friday.

“And if you are destroying evidence, if you are obstructing justice, when you have victims sitting in a courtroom of domestic violence, and you’re escorting a criminal defendant out a back door, it will not be tolerated.”

Reaction to the arrest largely split along partisan lines.

Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin, a Democrat, called it a “gravely serious and drastic move”.

“Make no mistake, we do not have kings in this country and we are a democracy governed by laws that everyone must abide by,” Baldwin said in a statement. “By relentlessly attacking the judicial system, flouting court orders, and arresting a sitting judge, this President is putting those basic democratic values that Wisconsinites hold dear on the line.”

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson also criticised the arrest, calling it “showboating” and warned that it would have a “chilling effect” on court proceedings.

Wisconsin’s Republican US Senator, Ron Johnson, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “I would advise everyone to cooperate with federal law enforcement and not endanger them and the public by obstructing their efforts to arrest criminals and illegal aliens.”

Dugan was first elected as a judge in 2016, and was re-elected to a second six-year term in 2022.

Judicial elections in Wisconsin are non-partisan, however Dugan was endorsed by Milwaukee’s Democratic mayor.

The obstruction charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, while the concealment charges can be punished by up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly5xx017vko

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) – set up to cut US government spending – claims to have saved, on average, more than $10bn a week since President Trump entered office.

“We’re talking about almost $200bn and rising fast,” Trump told the BBC when talking about Mr Musk’s cost-cutting drive on 23 April.

Doge’s website says it is focusing on cancelling contracts, grants and leases put in place by previous administrations, as well as tackling fraud and reducing the government workforce.

BBC Verify has looked at the agency’s biggest claimed savings, examining the figures and speaking to experts.

Our analysis found that behind some of the large numbers, there is a lack of evidence to back them up.

How does Doge report savings?
In October, Mr Musk pledged to cut “at least $2 trillion” from the federal government budget. He subsequently halved this target and on 10 April talked about making savings of $150bn from “cutting fraud and waste” by the end of the next financial year in 2026.

The US federal budget for the last financial year was $6.75tn.

Doge publishes a running total of its estimated savings on its website – which stood at $160bn the last time the site was updated on 20 April.

However, less than 40% of this figure is broken down into individual savings.

We downloaded the data from the Doge website on 23 April and added up the total claimed savings from contracts, grants and leases.

Our analysis found only about half of these itemised savings had a link to a document or other form of evidence.

US media has also highlighted some accounting errors, including Doge mistakenly claiming to have saved $8bn from cancelling an immigration contract which in fact had a total value of $8m.

Doge says it is working to upload all receipts in a “digestible and transparent manner” and that, as of 20 April, it has posted receipts “representing around 30% of all total savings”. It also lists some receipts as being “unavailable for legal reasons”.

What’s the evidence behind the biggest saving?
BBC Verify examined the four largest savings listed on the Doge website which had receipts attached.

The department claims these add up to $8.3bn, but after examining the evidence provided and speaking to people familiar with federal contracts, this figure appears to be overstated.

For three of the savings, Doge links to documents on the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS). This is a database which records contracts given out by the US government.

The documents show a contract’s start and end date, the maximum amount the government has agreed to spend, and how much of that has been spent.

David Drabkin, a federal contracts expert who helped develop the FPDS database, said the maximum figure listed should be treated with caution.

“FPDS does not reflect the actual paid price until some period of time after the contract has been completed and the contract actions have been recorded,” he says.

“For example, when buying research and development into a vaccine no one really knows how much that’s going to cost – so when a price is set, it’s not a definite price but rather an upper limit.”

So if Doge counts the maximum figure, that can represent projected spending over a number of years, rather than a direct saving from the country’s yearly spending.

Doge’s largest listed individual saving is $2.9bn.

It comes from cancelling a contract – which started in 2023 under President Biden – for a facility in Texas to house up to 3,000 unaccompanied migrant children.

Doge appears to have taken the “total contract value” until 2028 – the end date listed – and subtracted the amount spent so far to get the $2.9bn figure.

But the contract was reviewed annually, meaning renewing it until 2028 was not guaranteed.

A source familiar with this contract – who spoke on condition of anonymity – told BBC Verify that Doge’s figure is “based on speculative, never-used figures” and that the actual spending depended on how many children were placed at the facility and the services they required.

“In truth, the government never incurred those costs and could never reach that ceiling amount. The real, documentable savings from early termination were approximately $153 million”, they estimated.

They say this figure comes from tallying up the $18m per month fixed running costs (for things like staffing and security at the facility) from February – when Doge announced the cut – to November – when the contract was subject to annual review.

They also told us that the site – which closed on the same day as the Doge announcement – never reached its maximum capacity of 3,000 children, and about 2,000 stayed at the Texas facility at its peak, before numbers fell significantly as border crossings decreased.

We contacted the Administration for Children and Families and the Department for Health and Human Services which awarded the contract but are yet to hear back.

What about the other big savings?
The second largest saving listed by Doge comes from cancelling a contract between the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and an IT company called Centennial Technologies which it claims was worth $1.9bn.

The document which Doge links to has a total contract value of $1.9bn and all of the other cost fields, including the amount already spent, are for $0.

However, Mr Drabkin told us this does not necessarily mean that nothing had been spent on the contract.

He said several government departments have poor recording keeping, meaning the amount spent during some contracts might not always be updated in a timely fashion.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn4j33klz33o

Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese has pledged to invest A$1.2bn (£580m) in a strategic reserve for critical minerals if he wins next month’s election, as trade tensions escalate.

The announcement came after China imposed export restrictions on seven rare earth elements, essential to the production of advanced technologies – including electric vehicles, fighter jets, and robots.

China’s controls apply to all countries but were widely seen as retaliation to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Albanese said Australia would prioritise minerals that are key to its security, and that of its partners, including rare earths. But could his plan challenge China’s dominance?

What are rare earth minerals and why are they important?
Rare earths are a group of 17 elements – named “rare” because they are notoriously difficult to extract and refine.

Rare earths, like samarium and terbium, are critical to the production of technologies set to shape the world in the coming decades – including electric vehicles and highly advanced weapons systems.

Albanese’s proposed reserve includes rare earths as well as other critical minerals of which Australia is a top producer – like lithium and cobalt.

Both China and Australia have rare earth reserves. But 90% of rare earth refining – which makes them usable in technology – takes place in China, giving the country significant control over supply.

And that has spooked Western governments.

Why is China restricting the export of rare earth minerals?
Beijing said its restrictions on rare earths were in response to Trump’s sweeping tariffs on Chinese imports to the US, currently at 145%.

But analysts say Washington’s inability to secure the supply of rare earths has become one of the Trump administration’s chief anxieties, especially as diplomatic tensions with Beijing have deepened.

Around 75% of US rare earth imports came from China between 2019 and 2022, according to the US Geological Survey.

Philip Kirchlechner, director of Iron Ore Research in Perth, Western Australia, told the BBC that the US and EU had “dropped the ball” on recognising the importance of the rare earths over recent decades, as China swiftly developed a monopoly over refinement.

“China has its foot on the blood vein… of US and European defence systems,” he added.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, this week said that China halting exports of rare earths used in advanced magnets was affecting the company’s ability to develop humanoid robots, in an early symbol of the pain Beijing has the power to inflict on US companies.

Could Australia’s proposal change the game?
Albanese’s proposal says that minerals in the reserve will be available to both “domestic industry and international partners”, in a likely reference to allies such as the US and EU.

But Kirchlechner, while welcoming the move as “long overdue”, added that the proposal is “not going to solve the problem”.

The fundamental issue is that even if Australia stockpiles more critical minerals, the refining process of rare earths will still largely be controlled by China.

Lithium – not a rare earth, but a crucial metal in the production electric vehicle batteries and solar panels – is a good example. Australia mines 33% of the world’s lithium, but only refines and exports a tiny fraction. China, on the other hand, mines just 23% of the world’s lithium, but refines 57% of it, according to the International Energy Agency.

Australia has been investing in refining rare earths as part of its Future Made in Australia plan, aimed at leveraging the country’s critical minerals reserves to drive the green transition.

Arafura Rare Earths, headquartered in Perth, Western Australia, last year received A$840m in funding to create the country’s first combined mine and refinery for rare earths. And in November, Australia opened its first rare earths processing plant, also in Western Australia, operated by Lynas Rare Earths.

But the country is expected to depend on China for refining until at least 2026, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, headquartered in Washington.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c86je4vyg36o

In the statement, Pan also said China’s central bank will lower the reserve requirement ratio and policy rate ‘as warranted by economic and financial developments at home and abroad, as well as financial market performance’

China’s central bank governor on Friday criticized the U.S. for threatening global financial stability with its “recent abuse” of tariffs, in the wake of recent moves seen by both sides as efforts to de-escalate their trade war.

“The recent abuse of tariffs by the United States has severely violated the legitimate rights and interests of other countries, seriously undermined the rules-based multilateral governance system, dealt a heavy blow to the global economic order, and hurt the long-term stability and growth of the global economy,” People’s Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng said in a statement at the conclusion of the International Monetary Fund’s steering committee meeting.

“It has also triggered sharp fluctuations in global financial markets,” which has threatened global financial stability and posed challenges to emerging and developing nations, he said.

Pan added that there was an urgent need for countries to strengthen policy coordination and promote trade liberalisation.

China exempted some U.S. imports from its steep tariffs in a sign the trade war between the world’s top two economies could be easing, though Beijing quickly knocked down U.S. President Donald Trump’s assertion that negotiations were under way.

In the statement, Pan also said China’s central bank will lower the reserve requirement ratio and policy rate “as warranted by economic and financial developments at home and abroad, as well as financial market performance.”

Source: https://www.telegraphindia.com/world/chinas-central-bank-governor-criticises-us-tariff-abuse-at-international-monetary-fund-meeting/cid/2096039

Thousands of people marched through the former Auschwitz Nazi German death camp in Poland on Thursday in an annual ceremony organisers said would be joined by 80 Holocaust survivors to mark the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation.
The March of the Living follows a three-kilometre (1.86 mile) route to the crematoria of Auschwitz-Birkenau as participants pay tribute to the millions of Jews who died and call for an end to antisemitism and intolerance.

“In days when antisemitism is raising its ugly head, when there is hatred towards Israel and when cries rise for the destruction of Israel, we must stand strong and remind and promise the world: never again,” Israeli President Isaac Herzog told a news conference before the march.
The participants, many draped in Israeli flags, passed through the notorious “Arbeit macht frei” (work sets you free) gate at the entrance to the camp as the march began.

Antisemitic incidents have increased along with protests against Israel in parts of Europe, North America and Australia since Israel launched its war on the Palestinian enclave of Gaza after Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, 2023.

“We both expressed our hope that the war taking place in the Gaza Strip, which was started by Hamas’ attack on Israel, will be able to end, that the hostages who are still in Hamas hands will be able to return home,” Polish President Andrzej Duda, standing alongside Herzog, told the news conference.
More than 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, perished in gas chambers or from starvation, cold and disease at Auschwitz, which Nazi Germany set up in occupied Poland during World War Two.
More than three million of Poland’s 3.2 million Jews were murdered by the Nazis, accounting for about half of the Jews in Europe killed during the Holocaust.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/holocaust-survivors-march-auschwitz-80-years-after-camps-liberation-2025-04-24/

Mourners stood in line for hours on Thursday to pay their final respects to Pope Francis, whose body is lying in state in St. Peter’s Basilica ahead of his funeral on Saturday.
Huge queues snaked around St. Peter’s Square and the surrounding roads, before being funnelled through the heart of the basilica in a single column leading to the central altar, where Francis’ open-topped coffin is placed on a dais.

The viewing started on Wednesday and the Vatican had expected to close the doors at midnight, but ended up letting the faithful in until 5:30 a.m. (0330 GMT), before reopening again at 7:00 a.m. (0500 GMT).
“After 3-1/2 hours in line, we had sore feet and tired legs. But we did see Francis, and the experience, while exhausting, was spiritually affirming,” said Richard Lamb of New Jersey in the USA, visiting with his wife Peggy, both devout Catholics.
“We walked with groups from Italy, Spain, England, Germany, Brazil, Australia, Poland, the U.S., the Philippines … it was a long, sublime experience,” he said.

Francis died aged 88 on Monday morning in his rooms at the Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse, ending an often turbulent, 12-year reign in which he sought to overhaul a divided institution, battling with traditionalists who opposed his many changes.
“He was a wonderful pope,” said Rome resident Alessandra Caccamo, as she queued outside the Vatican. “I’m going to miss him so much, because it’s like I’ve lost a piece of me.”
By 7:00 p.m. (1700 GMT) more than 90,000 people had paid their respects, Vatican officials said.
There was no stopping for a lingering view once the faithful got to the foot of the coffin, which was flanked by Swiss Guards in red-plumed helmets, as ushers swiftly moved people on.
Only clerics and special guests were allowed to sit for a while on pews set up on either side of the casket, including players from the city’s AS Roma soccer team, all wearing matching dark suits.

FUNERAL PLANS

More than 130 delegations, with 50 heads of state, including U.S. President Donald Trump, and 10 reigning monarchs are expected in St. Peter’s Square for Saturday’s funeral, the Vatican said, with millions more expected to watch on television across the globe.
Authorities in Rome started ramping up security ahead of the ceremony. A police source told Reuters snipers would be placed on rooftops, with drones watching from the sky and an army device readied to neutralise hostile flying objects.
A conclave to choose a new pontiff cannot start before May 6. Cardinals gathering in Rome have assumed temporary control of the Church, each taking an oath of secrecy not to reveal their discussions about a future pope.
This does not stop the powerful prelates from talking to reporters about their vision for the 1.4-billion member Church.

“A chapter in the Church’s history has been closed,” Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller told Italian daily La Repubblica in an interview published on Thursday.
Mueller is one of the 135 cardinals eligible to vote in the secret conclave. A former head of the Vatican’s doctrine office, Mueller is known for his traditionalist views and often clashed with Francis.
The German cardinal said that there was “unanimous appreciation” for the late pope’s work on migrants and the poor. However he said that the task was to choose a successor to St. Peter, the first pope, rather than Francis, indicating he favoured a change of direction.

The Vatican said on Thursday a group of “poor and needy” had been invited to welcome the pope’s casket to Rome’s St. Mary Major — a church some 4 km (2.5 miles) from St. Peter’s where, in a break from tradition, Francis wanted to be buried.
“The poor have a privileged place in the heart of God,” the Vatican said.
The heart of Rome is expected to be closed to traffic on Saturday to allow the funeral motorcade to make its way slowly to St. Mary Major, giving Romans a chance to say a final farewell.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/st-peters-basilica-reopens-faithful-bidding-farewell-pope-2025-04-24/

U.S. President Donald Trump wasted no time implementing his agenda as his second Oval Office term commenced. As part of his “Make America Great Again” policies, Trump has shredded the playbooks that have governed international trade and, indeed, the world order for decades.

His erratic, and often confusing, rollout of tariffs has hit countries ranging from the largest U.S. trading partners, like Canada, Mexico and China, right down to tiny icy islands inhabited only by penguins. The result – almost unprecedented market volatility and serious damage to investor trust in U.S. assets.

The mighty S&P 500 is flirting with bear-market territory, while the dollar falls toward four-year lows. More worryingly from the point of view of broader market stability, U.S. Treasuries, the bedrock of the global financial system, are bruised from one of their worst selloffs in decades.

As Trump seeks to rewrite the rules for global trade, security and international relations, a whole range of dynamics have emerged as the 47th president approaches 100 days in office on April 30.

President Donald Trump’s administration moved a Venezuelan man who had worked in construction in Philadelphia to Texas for possible deportation after a federal judge had issued an order blocking his removal from Pennsylvania or the United States, according to court records.
A plane transporting the man took off on April 15 from an airport in the state capital Harrisburg about a half hour after U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines issued an order temporarily blocking the administration from moving him out of her western Pennsylvania judicial district or the country, Justice Department lawyer Laura Irwin told an April 17 hearing, conducted as a conference call.

The Venezuelan, referred to in court papers as “A.S.R.,” was then brought to the Bluebonnet Detention Center in Anson, Texas, according to the government and American Civil Liberties Union, which represents him.
The administration has not been accused of violating the order by Haines, appointed by Trump during his first presidential term, by sending the man to Texas. But his transfer demonstrates the administration’s aggressive tactics to try to swiftly deport Venezuelan migrants it accuses of being members of the criminal gang Tren de Aragua even as various courts including the Supreme Court impose restrictions.

Representatives of the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Details about the transfer of A.S.R. were revealed in three court filings by his lawyers and a transcript of the April 17 hearing, all previously unreported.
He was believed to be among dozens of Venezuelans at the Bluebonnet facility who the Trump administration had tried to deport last week under a 1798 law called the Alien Enemies Act that historically has been used only in wartime, the ACLU said.
That deportation effort was blocked by an emergency ruling by the Supreme Court last Saturday.
Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act in March as legal justification for deporting hundreds of men his administration accused of being Tren de Aragua members to a prison in El Salvador under an arrangement in which the United States is paying the Central American nation $6 million. It is part of Trump’s hardline approach toward immigration.

A FEBRUARY ARREST

U.S. officials have interviewed white South Africans seeking refugee status about their troubles with land disputes, crime and perceived racism, while refugees from other countries are being deported or barred from the United States.
Some of the South African applicants have taken part in a first round of interviews in Pretoria, three of them told Reuters, describing positive encounters with U.S. officials who seemed well disposed towards them and their accounts of persecution.

U.S. officials have interviewed white South Africans seeking refugee status about their troubles with land disputes, crime and perceived racism, while refugees from other countries are being deported or barred from the United States.
Some of the South African applicants have taken part in a first round of interviews in Pretoria, three of them told Reuters, describing positive encounters with U.S. officials who seemed well disposed towards them and their accounts of persecution.

The order came after Trump had suspended all U.S. refugee admissions, citing security and cost concerns. Thousands of Afghans, Congolese and others fleeing conflict were blocked after they had been vetted and cleared.
The International Organization for Migration, a U.N. agency that helps people displaced by conflict, natural disasters or other major crises, declined a U.S. administration request to assist in resettling Afrikaners, the person familiar with the matter said.
The IOM did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Accounts from applicants who have been interviewed, the number of people approved so far and the request to the IOM have not previously been reported.
Two U.S. refugee officers travelled to Pretoria to conduct interviews, said two U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials, adding that some applicants who said Black South Africans had persecuted them had gained preliminary approval.

“I imagine some (applications) will be denied, as we do in all cases,” said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss internal details about the process. “But I think there is administrative pressure to approve these.”
Thrilled about Trump’s order, Mark emailed the U.S. embassy the next day, stating that he and his father had suffered grave injuries in a 2023 attack on their family farm.
Some time later, he received an email inviting him in. He and his wife flew to Pretoria for the interview, which lasted 55 minutes, he said. He saw the names of about a dozen other applicants signed in at the embassy.

EMPOWERMENT LAWS

Mark, who is in his 50s and worked in the food industry abroad for decades, said he had told U.S. officials that Black empowerment laws had left him unemployable. The laws are intended by the government to correct past exclusion of Black South Africans from the economy under apartheid.

Reuters was unable to independently verify Mark’s account or those of two other applicants who described their interviews and experiences of hardship.
The assertion that white South Africans are discriminated against, or even the victims of a “white genocide”, has spread in far-right circles for years and been echoed, by Trump’s white South African-born ally Elon Musk.
Trump himself suspended aid to South Africa on the basis that it was being “terrible” to “long time farmers”, an apparent reference to white farmers.
“They are confiscating their LAND and FARMS, and MUCH WORSE THAN THAT,” he wrote, on Truth Social.
People who espouse such views often cite employment laws, violent attacks on white farmers and a law enabling land expropriation for redistribution.
Out of 26,000 murders in South Africa last year, just 44 were linked to farming communities, according to police statistics. Crime researchers say the overwhelming majority of murder victims are Black.
“There is no evidence whatsoever that crime deliberately targets a particular race in this country,” said Chrispin Phiri, a spokesperson for the South African foreign affairs ministry.
A third official at the Department of Homeland Security, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said there had been eye-rolling by some U.S. refugee officers about the Afrikaners’ claims.
The official said it had been well-established in the past that there was no persecution of white South Africans and that claims of economic harm did not warrant refugee status.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is part of DHS, said in a statement that “all relevant evidence” would be considered to determine if applicants met the legal definition of a refugee.

PET DOGS

According to the South African Chamber of Commerce in the United States, over 67,000 people have expressed interest in Trump’s offer. As of 2024, there were just 70 South African refugees and 2,043 asylum seekers in the United States, according to U.N. data which does not identify their race.
After Trump’s order, hundreds of white South Africans joined informal WhatsApp groups where they share information about the process and ideas about life in America.
In one, reviewed by Reuters, applicants discussed potentially chartering a flight for their pet dogs.
One resettlement interviewee, a farmer who said her family were driven off their land following violent attacks by neighbours, got an hour-long interview at the embassy, where officials asked her what race the trespassers were and what the police did.
“We didn’t have the sense we were rushed at all,” she said. “They were very sensitive to what we’d been through.”
She offered to provide documentation but the interviewers responded that they did not need it, she said.
A third farmer said she was invited for an interview after writing to the U.S. embassy that she feared for her life “every day”. She said her grandfather was murdered by his farm workers and she panics every time she hears a sound in the night.

‘WHITE VICTIMHOOD’

The South African government said Trump’s order failed to recognise the country’s painful history of colonialism and apartheid, and it was ironic that it offered refugee status for people from the most economically privileged part of society.
Afrikaners make up about 60% of the country’s white minority, which itself makes up 7.2% of South Africa’s total population of 63 million.
Neither the administration nor the embassy in Pretoria responded to questions about whether white South Africans who are not Afrikaners would qualify for U.S. resettlement.
The average white household in South Africa owns 20 times the wealth of the average Black household, according to the Review of Political Economy, an international academic journal. Official data shows that unemployment rates are far higher among Black citizens.
Three-quarters of South Africa’s private land is still white-owned and not a single expropriation has taken place.
“The idea of white victimhood suggests that bad things happening to white people are infinitely worse than the same things happening to anybody else,” said Nicky Falkof, head of the Centre for Diversity Studies at the University of Witwatersrand.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us-focuses-persecution-claims-white-south-africans-seek-resettlement-2025-04-24/

US President Donald Trump has said he is “not happy” with deadly Russian strikes on Kyiv and that President Vladimir Putin should “stop” – but has not said if further action might be taken against Russia.

Overnight into Thursday, the attacks on the Ukrainian capital killed at least 12 people and injured 90 others.

The US president said he is “putting a lot of pressure” on both sides to end the war in Ukraine, following the deadliest attacks Kyiv has seen since last July.

It is the latest road bump in efforts to advance a peace deal between the two countries – something the US president said he would be able to quickly do as part of his election campaign last year.

In rare criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social: “Not necessary, and very bad timing. Vladimir, STOP!”

The attack has come at a time of growing pressure on Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept Russian occupation of its territory as part of a peace deal.

On Thursday, Trump appeared alongside Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre at the White House and said he had “no allegiance to anybody” only an “allegiance to saving lives”.

While he admitted frustration with Putin, Trump said he would wait a week “to see if we have a deal” – but that “things will happen” if the bombings do not end.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to hold talks with Putin in Moscow later on Friday.

President Volodymyr Zelensky responded to the attacks during a visit to South Africa, saying he felt the US could be more forceful with Russia to secure a ceasefire.

South Africa and Ukraine woo each other – as relationships with Trump turn sour
“We believe that if more pressure is applied to Russia, we’ll be able to make our positions closer,” Zelensky told reporters.

When asked if he would be willing to make any concessions, Zelensky said the fact that Ukraine is prepared to negotiate with Russia at all is a “huge compromise” and a “ceasefire must be the first step”.

“If Russia says it is ready to cease fire, it must stop massive strikes against Ukraine. It is Ukrainians who are running out of patience, because it is us who are under attack, and no one else,” he added.

The attack caused Zelensky to cut his trip short and return home.

In an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation TV programme, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that “we only target military goals or civilian sites used by the military”.

Lavrov provided no evidence to back his claim.

He added that some elements needed to be “fine tuned” for Russia to agree to the US-proposed peace deal.

Before the attack on Kyiv, the week had seen a fraying of the already imperilled relationship between Trump and Zelensky – as the US president has suggested the need for Ukraine to make land concessions as part of a peace deal.

On Wednesday, Trump claimed a deal to end the war was “very close”, but that Zelensky’s refusal to accept US terms “will do nothing but prolong” the conflict.

Ukraine has long said it will not give up Crimea, a southern peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.

On Wednesday, US Vice-President JD Vance laid out the US vision for a deal, saying it would “freeze the territorial lines […] close to where they are today”, and added that Ukraine and Russia “are both going to have to give up some of the territory they currently own”.

Trump criticises Zelensky as Ukraine refuses Russian control of Crimea
When asked by reporters at the White House this week about whether the administration was looking to recognise Russia’s sovereignty over Crimea, Trump said he just wanted to see the war end.

Recognising Russia’s illegal occupation of Crimea would not only be politically impossible for Zelensky to accept, it would also be contrary to post-war international legal norms that borders should not be changed by force.

“We’ve shown them the finish line,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday in the Oval Office, where he appeared alongside Trump and the Norwegian prime minister.

“We need both of them to say yes, but what happened last night with those missile strikes should remind everybody of why this war needs to end.”

President Zelensky’s visit to South Africa, during which he met President Cyril Ramaphosa, signalled a dramatic improvement in the once-strained relations between the two nations.

Ramaphosa said during a news briefing alongside Zelensky that he was deeply concerned about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. He also reiterated South Africa’s commitment to speaking to all parties in the conflict.

He added that he had spoken to both Putin and Trump on the need to bring an end to the conflict.

Ramaphosa, in the briefing, did not go into whether Ukraine should cede territory to Russia.

The US was one of Ukraine’s closest allies until the re-election of Trump in November. Now Ukraine is keen to broaden its pool of international partners – particularly in Africa where many countries have strong links with Russia.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crld4gkk428o

Indonesia is on an ambitious mission to offer free meals to 80 million school children – but that hasn’t exactly gone according to plan.

Nearly 80 students across two high schools in Cianjur, south of the capital Jakarta, fell ill after eating the meals this week. Most of those who ended up in hospital have since been discharged.

This is the latest in a series of food poisonings that have been linked to the programme, a signature policy of President Prabowo Subianto.

Authorities investigating the case say the suspected cause is negligent food preparation. Samples from the vomit of students have been sent for lab testing, and police say they have questioned people handling the food, from cooks to packers to delivery workers.

A 16-year-old student told local media that the shredded chicken in the meal had an “unpleasant odour”. “I felt dizzy, nauseous and vomited,” he said.

Across the world, programmes offering free meals to students have proved to be effective in improving health, academic performance and attendance.

But Indonesia’s $28bn (£21bn) version – shaping up to be the most expensive of its kind – has become the target of food safety concerns and heated anti-government protests.

In February, when thousands took to the streets to protest at budget cuts, they aimed their ire at the hefty price of Prabowo’s free school meals: “Children eat for free, parents are laid off,” read one of their protest signs.

The man who would become Pope Francis always bought his shoes in the same small store. And now, the remarkably ordinary footwear that surprised and charmed millions has brought pride to his old Buenos Aires neighborhood — and to his cobbler.

The simple black shoes — a stark contrast to the flashy ruby red slippers of Francis’ predecessor, former Pope Benedict XVI — are among the pope’s personal effects that have captured attention as his death this week triggers an outpouring of emotion around the Roman Catholic world.

The seemingly comfortable loafers offer a powerful reminder of Francis’ humility, simplicity and lack of ceremony that helped him relate to ordinary people wherever he went.

A third-generation cobbler

The Muglia family men were the first cobblers in the middle-class Flores neighborhood of western Buenos Aires. Their shop, Muglia Shoes, opened in 1945, just a few years after Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio to Italian immigrant parents.

There wasn’t much competition, so when a young Bergoglio came in to buy shoes, it was Juan Jose Muglia’s grandfather who sold him the first pair. Bergoglio was in his 20s then, serving as a Jesuit priest at the Basilica of San José de Flores just around the block.

“My father, my grandfather, they told me stories about how Father Jorge came from the church around the corner to buy these shoes, they were the ones he liked, he wore them all the time,” Muglia, 52, told The Associated Press on Thursday.

“They’re simple, it’s the kind of shoes that waiters like to wear today, Muglia said, holding up a pair of the handmade lace-up loafers. “They can last you years and years.”

When Muglia took over after his father’s death, he added a poster of Elvis Presley, a Harley Davidson motorbike and a vinyl turntable to give the place a hipster note.

A time gone by

The racks now display newer fashions like pointy boat shoes and bright patent leather numbers.

But much of the shop remains the same, including the pinewood-paneled walls, floor-to-ceiling shelves of cream-colored shoeboxes and, of course, the leather black loafers with grippy, nonslip soles that Francis repeatedly purchased, inspiring local Catholic priests to do the same.

“Priests came here from all the basilicas in the city, some young priests even came from Rome to buy them,” said Muglia.

They sell for around $170 today — far more than the price-tag Francis saw — due to Argentina’s runaway inflation.

When Francis became pope in 2013, Muglia said he offered to send the pontiff off to St. Peter’s with a new pair of his favorite shoes. But he recalled Francis saying that his feet had become too swollen in his old age and he needed to find a more customized fit that he could depend on in Rome.

Papal footwear

Rather than adopt the typical papal shoes — red velvet or silk — as pope, Francis didn’t stray from his Flores roots.

He chose normal black shoes with an orthopedic sole — a far cry from the Byzantine era, when pilgrims customarily kissed a decorative cross embroidered on the papal shoe, and from the era of Pope Benedict, whose bespoke leather slippers in a succulent tomato red prompted Esquire Magazine to name the former pontiff “Accessorizer of the Year” in 2007, prompting intense speculation about the designer brand.

As years passed, beyond the occasional priest or parishioner who dropped into Muglia Shoes, few ever wondered about the brand of Francis’ plain footwear.

But that changed when Francis died on Monday at the age of 88, setting off a frenzy of interest about his Flores roots. Around the world, Francis was remembered for paring down the papacy’s inherited pomp to become more accessible — swapping the fur-trimmed velvet cape that popes had worn since the Renaissance for a simple white cassock, and preferring a Ford Focus to the usual papal limo.

As word spread about his original footwear and local journalists flooded the neighborhood, Muglia said curious customers have bombarded him with requests. He placed a framed portrait of Francis prominently in his window.

“It was a world of people,” Muglia said. “They came from everywhere.”

A neighborhood remembers

In Flores, the mourning for Francis feels personal. Residents remember him as someone who lived frugally, visited and advocated for the city’s poorest and could often be found sharing Argentina’s signature yerba maté drink with old friends and strangers.

At the newspaper stand just down the block from Muglia Shoes, vendor Antonio Plastina, 69, recalled how he and Francis made small-talk “like any two Argentines, a bit of this and that, some politics mixed with soccer.”

“He was a marvelous person, those are beautiful memories,” Plastina said, his eyes welling up. After becoming archbishop and cardinal, Francis still made the half-hour drive to Flores from downtown Buenos Aires every Sunday before church.

He always bought the two main Argentine daily papers, Plastina said, and read the news with a cup of coffee at the quiet cafe across the street, now a mattress store on a traffic-clogged intersection.

Although the crowds that poured into Flores upon learning of Francis’ death largely tapered out by Thursday, they left a mass of bouquets and handwritten notes to their beloved pontiff at the iron-barred windows of Membrillar 531, the modest house where Francis grew up as the eldest of five siblings.

“My vision is going but my memory is long,” said Alicia Gigante, 91, Francis’ neighbor and family friend, who stopped at the house on Thursday morning, leaning on her daughter for support.

Source : https://apnews.com/article/argentina-pope-francis-buenos-aires-c3bb4f5b7d83ca0d02c355ffa8001317

President Donald Trump will meet with The Atlantic magazine editor-in-chief who was inadvertently added to a Signal group chat with administration officials discussing air strikes against the Houthi group in Yemen.

Trump said on social media Thursday that he would be meeting Jeffrey Goldberg, and two of Mr Goldberg’s colleagues, Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer, later in the day.

“I am doing this interview out of curiosity, and as a competition with myself, just to see if it’s possible for The Atlantic to be ‘truthful,” Trump wrote.

Trump claimed the journalists were “not exactly pro-Trump writers” and questioned whether they were “capable of writing a fair story on ‘TRUMP’?”

In the post, Trump said the interview would be for a story titled “The Most Consequential President of this Century”. When contacted by the BBC, The Atlantic had no comment.

The interview comes a month after Mr Goldberg published a story about being added to a secret group chat on the encrypted texting app Signal. In the text chain, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and other top US officials discussed the details of an upcoming attack against the Houthis.

The scandal rocked the White House. Then, in April, the New York Times and others reported that Hegseth had shared information about the same military action in a second private Signal group chat, which included his wife, brother and personal lawyer.

Trump has continued to stand by his defence secretary and others involved in the incident, telling reporters earlier this week: “Pete’s doing a great job … Everybody’s happy with him.”

Hegseth’s wife, Jennifer Rauchet, is a former Fox News producer and holds no official position within the Pentagon.

His brother, Phil, and personal lawyer Tim Parlatore, both hold positions at the Department of Defense. But it is not clear why any of the three would require advanced warnings about sensitive US strike plans.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yrwdw124do

Mr. Perfectly Fine?

Taylor Swift’s ex Joe Jonas replied to a fan’s comment on TikTok that pointed to one of her diss tracks about him from way back in 2008 — and people are divided about whether the DNCE frontman is in on the joke.

In other Swiftie news, the singer is among the top nominees on the just-announced American Music Awards nominations list. She’s won a whopping 40 out of 49 AMAs she’s been nominated for over the course of her career, so odds are high she’ll win big at the May ceremony.

Two Taylor Swift songs were featured in the “Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 3 teaser.

On Thursday, Prime Video released the first trailer for the highly anticipated forthcoming season of the hit teen drama, which follows the love triangle of Belly (played by Lola Tung) and brothers Jeremiah and Conrad Fisher (portrayed by Gavin Casalegno and Christopher Briney, respectively).

In the clip, Swift’s “Daylight” from the album “Lover” played as different images of Belly and Jeremiah’s blossoming romance flash across the screen.

The teaser concludes with the pop star’s hit “Red (Taylor’s Version)” as Belly answers the door to see Conrad.

“Hey,” Conrad said as Belly stood at the door with her mouth open.

Swift’s song then played the lyrics, “I once believed love would be burning red.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/04/23/celebrity-news/taylor-swift-live-updates-4-23-2025/

Comedian Bill Maher candidly responded to Larry David’s satirical essay comparing President Trump to Adolf Hitler.

The “Club Random” podcast host, who labeled the politician as “gracious and measured” following a meeting in March, was forced to address David’s remarks on Thursday’s episode of “Piers Morgan Uncensored.”

“This wasn’t my favorite moment in our friendship,” he shared, explaining he didn’t want to get into the drama too deeply, but argued that David was wrong for playing the “Hitler” card.

“The minute you play the Hitler card, you’ve lost the argument,” Maher, 69, added.

“Also, I must say, c’mon man, Hitler, Nazis? Nobody has been harder on and more pressing about Donald Trump than me,” the talk show host continued, referring to his past criticism of the 47th president.

“I don’t need to be lectured on who Donald Trump is. Just the fact that I met him in person didn’t change that. And the fact I reported honestly is not a sin either.”

“But to use the Hitler thing, first of all, I think it’s kind of insulting to six million dead jews,” Maher said, referring to the Holocaust. “That should kind of be in its own place in history.”

“It’s an argument you kinda lost,” he added. “It’s not completely logically fair, but Hitler has really kinda gotta stay in his own place.

“He is the [greatest of all time] of evil and we’re just going to have to, I think, leave it like that.”

Reps for David, 77, weren’t immediately available to Page Six for comment.

Earlier this week, the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” star slammed Maher in an opinion piece published in the New York Times.

David wrote about a man who was invited to dinner “with the world’s most reviled man, Adolf Hitler” and finds the latter to be personable despite having previously disagreed with the dictator.

“Here I was, prepared to meet Hitler, the one I’d seen and heard — the public Hitler,” he wrote. “But this private Hitler was a completely different animal. And oddly enough, this one seemed more authentic, like this was the real Hitler. The whole thing had my head spinning.”

“I’m so thankful I came. Although we disagree on many issues, it doesn’t mean that we have to hate each other … I gave him a Nazi salute and walked out into the night,” the actor added.

While David didn’t refer to Maher or Trump, the Times opinion editor Patrick Healy made the comparison in an article published on April 21.

David’s inspiration for the piece seemingly stemmed from Maher’s description of meeting Trump on March 31 during an episode of his “Real Time with Bill Maher” series earlier this month.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/04/24/celebrity-news/bill-maher-reacts-to-larry-davids-insulting-op-ed-comparing-trump-to-hitler/

THE disturbing cause of the massive wildfires that have blazed through New Jersey has been uncovered, according to officials.

Joseph Kling, 19, has been arrested and accused of sparking the inferno that torched 15,000 acres in the Pine Barrens and sent plumes of smoke wafting through the tri-state area.

Kling, who is from Waretown, about an hour south of New York City, allegedly started the tragedy by not properly putting out a bonfire.

According to the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, King started the fire in the Forked River Mountains Wilderness Area by burning wooden pallets.

By Tuesday morning at around 10 am, officials spotted a cloud of smoke erupting from the area and discovered a blaze was spreading.

They used GPS to find where the fire started, and then traced it back to the teen.

Kling’s arrest was announced on Thursday, and he appeared straight-faced in a mugshot.

In the three days the fire has burned, around 15,000 acres in Ocean County have been reduced to a crisp, and thousands have been forced to evacuate.

The blaze had been contained by 50% on Thursday, but grew to more than 23 square miles.

Officials now fear it’s the largest wildfire the city has seen in over 20 years.

Roads and businesses have shut down, and at least one commercial building has been destroyed in the tragedy, according to ABC affiliate WCAU.

The blaze moved quickly through the heavily wooded Pine Barrens as a months-long drought and low humidity came in the middle of peak forest fire season.

The one million-acre forest is mainly uninhabited, but officials have warned that residential areas in America’s most densely populated state could be at risk, the Associated Press reported.

“This is still a very active fire,” Shawn LaTourette, New Jersey’s commissioner of environmental protection, said Wednesday.

“As we continue to get this under full control the expectation is that the number of acres will grow and will grow in a place that is unpopulated.”

No one has been injured or killed by the fires, and the 5,000 people who were asked to evacuate have returned home safely.

Power was briefly cut off to 25,000 people to protect the fire crews, but it has since been restored.

POLLUTION LOOMS

Areas in New York City and Long Island are expected to have higher-than-normal pollution levels thanks to the clouds of smoke.

Residents in the area have been warned to stay indoors if they want to avoid exposure.

Horror images have captured the tall flames towering over rows of trees and encroaching on buildings.

Video taken from busy highways shows the flames erupting from the side of the road and blowing into power lines.

Kling has been charged with arson and aggravated arson.

In February, Kling was one of eight people who faced charges after a fight broke out at a construction site, according to the Lacey Township Police Department.

He was charged with two counts of simple assault and endangering an injured victim.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14096435/joseph-kling-nj-fire-ocean-county-arson-evacuations/

China on Thursday sent three astronauts to its permanent space station Tiangong to replace the crew stationed there since last October.

The Shenzhou-20 spaceship took off at 5:17 p.m. local time (0917 GMT) from Gobi Desert in northwestern China, according to state media.

The crew currently aboard Tiangong is scheduled to return on April 29th. The teams rotate roughly every six months.

China is striving to become a leading celestial power, aiming to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030, build a base there and explore Mars.

In order to achieve what President Xi Jinping describes as the Chinese people’s “space dream”, Beijing has invested billions of dollars into its space program in recent years.

Crew to hold experiments in physics and medicine

Leading the crew is Chen Dong, who has already completed two missions before and is flying to space for a third time now. He will be accompanied by former air force pilot Chen Zhongrui and engineer Wang Jie, both first timers in space.

Besides space walks and general maintenance on the space station, the crew wants to install protective equipment against space debris, an increasing threat for space activities.

Also, experiments in both physics and medical sciences are planned. For the first time, they will bring planarians aboard, a kind of aquatic flatworms with great regenerative abilities.

“The results [of examining the planarians in space] could help address problems related to injuries sustained in space environments,” said Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of China’s national space agency (CMSA) at a press conference on Wednesday.

China seeks space partners

China has been excluded from the International Space Station, as the US banned their space agency NASA from collaborating with Beijing, citing national security concerns.

China has increasingly sought space partners elsewhere.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/china-sends-3-astronauts-off-to-space/a-72335837

US President Donald Trump’s online store is selling merchandise branded with the slogan “Trump 2028” for the country’s next presidential election.

The hats, T-shirts and can coolers are available for purchase despite the fact that the US Constitution prohibits presidents from serving three terms.

Trump, who will be 82 in 2028, has not ruled out running in the next presidential election. He has also said he is considering breaching the constitution in order to do so.

What else do we know about the ‘Trump 2028’ merchandise?

The US president’s son Eric Trump was pictured in a photo on social media on Thursday wearing one of the red caps, which costs $50 (about €44).

The T-shirts, available in navy blue and red, are priced at $36, while the koozies are available for $18.

Product description alongside the newly available apparel says: “The future looks bright! Rewrite the rules.”

What does the US Constitution say?

The 22nd Amendment was adopted after Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected four times.

Roosevelt died at the age of 63, at the beginning of his fourth term, on April 12, 1945.

The amendment, which came into effect in 1951, states that “no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”

While Trump appears set on a third term, amending the country’s highest law would require a two-thirds majority in both Congressional chambers.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/donald-trump-selling-2028-election-merch-despite-term-limit/a-72342558

Members of President Donald Trump’s cabinet will likely move to limit the influence of Department of Government Efficiency employees and reassert control over budgets and staffing once Elon Musk steps back from DOGE, two government sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.
The Department of Government Efficiency, created by executive order the day Trump took office and helmed by billionaire Musk, has spearheaded efforts to shrink the federal workforce and slash the deficit via mass firings, contract cancellations and reduced services to Americans across the federal government.

Thousands of people poured into St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday to pay their final respects to Pope Francis, whose body is lying in state for three days ahead of his funeral on Saturday.
Crowds stretched down the main boulevard leading through Rome into the Vatican, pressing forward slowly in warm spring sunshine as people took their turn to see the late pontiff in his open coffin.

The body of the 88-year-old pope, who died two days ago in his rooms at the Vatican’s Santa Marta guesthouse after suffering a stroke, was brought to St. Peter’s in a solemn procession earlier on Wednesday.

Red-hatted cardinals, bishops, candle-carrying friars and helmeted Swiss Guards walked slowly into the vast square in front of the basilica as a choir chanted psalms and prayers in Latin while a bell gently tolled.
As the coffin crossed St. Peter’s Square, a crowd of several thousand broke into repeated applause – a traditional Italian sign of respect at such events.
“He’s like a member of the family. Somebody very close to our hearts, somebody who made the Church very accessible to everybody and inclusive to everybody,” said Rachel Mckay, a pilgrim from Britain.
Vatican officials helped 14 white-gloved, black-suited pallbearers carry the coffin up a stone incline, before the procession passed through St. Peter’s giant bronze doors and into the hushed interior of the ornate, cavernous church.

Francis, who had only recently left hospital after five weeks being treated for double pneumonia, last appeared in public on Sunday, when he delighted onlookers gathered to celebrate Easter by being driven around the packed square in his white, open-topped popemobile.

MIXTURE OF EMOTIONS
As the formal ceremony to bring the pope’s body to the basilica was ending, Sr. Genevieve Jeanningros, a nun from the Roman seaside town of Ostia, stood by his casket and cried.
Jeanningros, known for her work with the LGBTQ community, had hosted Francis for visits in Ostia several times.
Crowds were guided through the central nave of the basilica to come forward and offer respects.
Francis was dressed in red vestments, his hands clasped together holding a rosary, and a white mitre on his head.
Alex Lenrtz, a U.S. pilgrim who was among the first public mourners to stand in line, said he felt a mixture of emotions.

“It’s just such a surreal (feeling) … and seeing the body and just remembering everything that he stood for is very important.”
Francis’ body will lie in state in St. Peter’s Basilica until Friday evening. The Vatican had originally planned to close Wednesday’s visits at midnight (2200 GMT), but said it may extend the timeframe, due to a “high flow” of pilgrims.
In the first 8-1/2 hours of viewing, some 19,430 people filed infront of the coffin, with thousands more waiting patiently in a line that snaked around the security barriers across the cobbled esplanade outside the church.
Saturday’s funeral will draw heads of state and government from around the world, including U.S. President Donald Trump, who clashed repeatedly with the pope on social issues such as immigration.
Leaders from Italy, France, Germany, Britain, Ukraine, Brazil, EU institutions and Francis’ home nation of Argentina have also confirmed their presence, among many others.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/pope-francis-body-lies-state-st-peters-ahead-funeral-2025-04-23/

The European Union is presenting itself as a safe destination for academics facing funding cuts in the US as it tries to attract top talent with higher grants and freedom for research.

As US President Donald Trump freezes billions in funding for top universities until they give in to a list of demands, the European Union (EU) sees a chance to attract the finest scientific minds and scholars to the bloc.

The EU commission and several European universities have announced a slew of programs aimed at offering academic freedom to US researchers if they relocate to Europe, especially those targeted by the Trump administration in the fields of immunology and communicable diseases, climate change and social sciences involving gender studies, diversity and migration.

European academics have said that, as their counterparts in the US faced political interference and job loss, they were compelled to act and offer whatever help they could.

European universities open doors to US researchers
“It is outrageous, unjustified,” Maria Leptin, President of the European Research Council (ERC), the bloc’s public body for scientific and technological enquiry, told DW over the phone. “I have many friends and colleagues in the US and it is just shocking to see what’s happening there.”

Jan Danckaert, Rector, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), described it as “painful.”

“Researchers should be protected as much as possible from political influence. But in the US we see precisely the opposite. The government is interfering for political reasons,” Danckaert told DW.

VUB has allocated funding and established a contact point for information for outstanding scholars looking to relocate to Brussels, particularly “excellent researchers currently working in the US who see their line of research threatened.”

“We thought that it might be good to specifically advertise in the United States,” he said, “because US scholars see an abrupt funding cut and they might be interested in continuing their line of research with us in Brussels.”

The VUB has already received dozens of inquiries from US scholars.

Aix Marseille University (AMU) in France has launched the Safe Space for Science program to recruit up to 15 American scientists who may feel threatened or hindered in their research and wish to continue their work in an environment conducive to innovation, excellence, and academic freedom.

“We believe we can raise up to €15 million ($17 million) for a three-year program and will work with local institutions to host around fifteen researchers,” a statement by Eric Berton, President of Aix-Marseille University, reads on the college website.

The EU promises easier visas, more funds for relocation
Ekaterina Zaharieva, European Commissioner for Startups, Research, and Innovation, stated that the EU was closely monitoring recent developments across the Atlantic and stood ready to assist.

“Europe sees you,” she said, reassuring American scholars as she presented Europe as an attractive location to pursue their research.

In a letter signed by twelve European governments, including Germany, France, the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Greece and two Baltic nations, member states called on the commission to come up with concrete measures to attract US scholars.

In response, the EU has said it is working on a new visa strategy , to be released by the end of this year and has launched a new project to provide higher allowances and longer recruitment periods for top researchers who relocate to Europe.

In parallel, the EU has decided to double the grant money provided to scientists and scholars chosen by the ERC, which assesses applications from all over the world. The increase in relocation costs comes at a time when researchers in the US are facing a battle with their government.

Zaharieva stated that the ERC currently offers a €1 million top-up for relocation costs, but the EU will increase this amount to €2 million this year. This will increase the starting total grant to €3.5 million and the advanced grant to €4.5 million for each grantee over a five-year period, allowing them to establish a research team if necessary. Any grantee must have held a PhD for at least two years.

ERC President Maria Leptin told DW that the additional funding for researchers moving in from outside Europe, now set to increase, helps cover “unusual costs” such as “moving a lab or research team to Europe or purchasing expensive equipment” required for a research project. But added that the grants were not a “freebie” but merit-based.

In addition, the EU has decided to enshrine freedom of scientific research within the EU law to enhance its appeal among scholars and offer the certainty they need to move their lives abroad.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/eu-seeks-to-attract-american-scholars-as-trump-freezes-funds/a-72311714

Hamas’s armed wing released a video Wednesday (Apr 23) showing an Israeli-Hungarian hostage walking through a tunnel in Gaza and lighting a candle to mark his birthday.

In the nearly three-minute clip published by the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the hostage – who identifies himself as Omri Miran – addresses the camera in Hebrew.

His family confirmed his identity in a statement issued through the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, while requesting that the media refrain from publishing the footage.

AFP was unable to verify when the footage was recorded, but in it, Miran says he is marking his 48th birthday, which fell on Apr11.

He is initially shown walking through a tunnel, then seated on a mattress in a confined space, acknowledging protesters in Israel who have been demonstrating against the government and demanding the hostages’ release.

He states that hostages are living in constant fear of bombings and urges a deal be reached as soon as possible to secure their release, adding that he missed his wife and daughters.

“On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, when we say ‘never again,’ an Israeli citizen cries out for help from Hamas’s tunnels,” his family said in a statement.

“It is a moral failure for the state of Israel. Our Omri is strong and will not break, but our hearts are broken,” the family added.

“We will continue to fight until Omri returns to us, and especially to his two daughters who are waiting with all their hearts to hold him again.”

During the Oct 7, 2023 attack by Hamas militants on Israel, Miran was seized from his home in kibbutz Nahal Oz in front of his wife Lichay Miran-Lavi and their two small daughters.

He previously appeared in an undated video released by Hamas on Apr 27, 2024.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/hamas-releases-video-showing-israeli-hostage-marking-his-birthday-5084711

Thailand will conduct tests of a cellphone disaster alert system, senior officials said on Wednesday (Apr 23), after criticism that no alarm was sent after last month’s deadly Myanmar earthquake caused damage in Bangkok.

Director General of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM) Phasakorn Boonyalak said the Cell Broadcast System (CBS) will undergo a test run next month in localised areas, including the sprawling capital, which was badly shaken by the 7.7-magnitude quake in neighbouring Myanmar.

The system will use three mobile networks to send warning messages “quickly and with wide coverage, both on natural disaster and security threats”, he told a news conference.

Starting on May 2 with the smallest target area – four city hall buildings – there will be three test runs, with the third and largest drill covering the whole of Bangkok and Chiang Mai provinces on May 13.

Residents’ cellphones will get a pop-up message on their screens in Thai and English, accompanied by a siren, Phasakorn said.

The message will read: “This is a test message from Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation, no action required.”

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/thailand-test-disaster-alerts-quake-criticism-5083661

Travellers from Malaysia and China will enjoy five more years of visa-free travel when visiting each other’s countries, thanks to a new mutual visa exemption agreed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent state visit.

The arrangement is an extension of a current visa-free arrangement and a move experts say could positively impact the Southeast Asian nation’s economy.

The new reciprocal agreement was among a total of 31 memoranda of understanding (MOUs) signed last Wednesday during Xi’s visit to Malaysia, as part of his Southeast Asian tour from Apr 14 to Apr 18 where he also visited Vietnam and Cambodia.

“During the president’s visit, one of the MOUs signed involved the new visa arrangement.

“We agreed to extend it for another five years, with an option to renew for a further five years once it ends,” Home Affairs Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said on Tuesday (Apr 22), as quoted by local news outlet the New Straits Times (NST).

“The visa exemption allows Chinese tourists to stay in Malaysia for up to 90 days, and China has offered a similar arrangement for Malaysians,” Saifuddin told reporters at the sidelines of the Home Ministry’s monthly assembly in Putrajaya.

The extension expands upon Malaysia’s visa liberalisation initiative for travellers from China and India, implemented on Dec 1, 2023.

“From 30 days, we extended the visa-free period in Malaysia to 90 days and also asked China to reciprocate but at that time, we were only given 15 days,” he said, as quoted by The Star.

The initiative has proven effective in promoting economic growth through the tourism industry which has seen a significant increase in tourist arrivals from China, according to Saifuddin.

“As of April, this year alone we recorded nearly 900,000 tourist arrivals from China. Last year, the total stood at four million,” he said, as quoted by NST.

This is seen as a positive indicator for the government to continue such initiatives for the benefit of both countries, he said.

“China remains the top source of international tourists to Malaysia, followed by India. Among ASEAN countries, Singapore leads, followed by Thailand,” he added, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“Tourism continues to be a key contributor to the national economy, given its immediate impact compared to other forms of investment,” Saifuddin said.

Before the extension was announced, Malaysians could travel to China visa-free until only Dec 31 this year, while Chinese nationals could enjoy visa-free travel to Malaysia until Dec 31 next year, according to The Star.

Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents president Nigel Wong said that the visa extension will allow the tourism industry to better develop the Chinese inbound market.

“There is stability for the industry to plan ahead and boost efforts to attract more Chinese tourists,” he was quoted as saying by The Star, highlighting the increasing demand for Chinese travellers looking for experiential tourism products.

“It’s no longer just about the conventional tours. Instead, innovative and creative experiences like culinary tourism, heritage and culture, as well as ecotourism products, are popular with foreign tourists,” Nigel added.

He also expects the benefits of the visa extension to go beyond the Visit Malaysia 2026 campaign.

“Tourism tends to spike after the Visit Malaysia campaign and this move will tie in very nicely,” he said.

The Visit Malaysia 2026 campaign is a national drive to boost incoming tourism, with a series of bold targets, including 35.6 million international arrivals and RM147.1 billion (US$33 billion) in tourism receipts.

President of the Malaysian Inbound Tourism Association Mint Leong said the visa-free extension will give industry players a clear direction when promoting Malaysia to Chinese tourists.

“Malaysia will also have the opportunity to attract more business events and business travellers due to this,” Leong was quoted as saying by The Star.

Meanwhile, treasurer-general of the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Koong Lin Loong said the move can further spur the national gross domestic product, as the “hospitality industry is also set to benefit”.

“Chinese tourists will feel that there is less hassle due to the visa-free conditions and when they arrive, they will definitely be spending on goods as well as food and beverage,” he said.

While Chinese tourist arrivals to Malaysia continue to increase, the Bangkok Post reported a decline in arrivals to Thailand, hitting a low for 2025 with only 5,833 visitors recorded on Apr 16, below the usual daily average of 15,000 to 20,000.

Natthriya Thaweevong, chairperson of the Tourism Authority of Thailand said that the average number of tourists from Asia visiting Thailand has dropped, likely due to “safety concerns” and the “economic impact from the US tariff hike.”

The safety concerns likely refer to the high-profile kidnapping of Chinese actor Wang Xing in Thailand.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/malaysia-china-visa-free-travel-tourism-5083236

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul on Wednesday (Apr 23), with its impact and that of multiple aftershocks forcing thousands out onto the streets in panic across Türkiye’s largest city.

The quake was followed by more than 50 aftershocks, some very powerful, the interior minister said, although there were no reports of major damage or serious injury.

“An earthquake of 6.2 magnitude occurred in Silivri, Sea of Marmara, Istanbul,” Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said on X, adding that it was felt in the surrounding provinces.

The initial quake struck at 12.49 pm (0949 GMT) at a depth of 6.92km under the sea, which lies to the south of the city, and lasted 13 seconds, he said.

“By 3.12 pm (1212 GMT), 51 aftershocks – the largest of which was 5.9 magnitude – had been recorded,” he said.

As buildings shook, people rushed onto the streets where crowds of worried-looking people stared at their mobile phones for information or made calls, an AFP correspondent said.

“I just felt an earthquake, I’ve got to get out,” a shaken-looking decorator, who did not want to give his name, said while fleeing a fourth-storey apartment where he was working near the city’s Galata Tower.

Istanbul governor Davut Gul said nobody had died in the quake or the aftershocks but confirmed that hospitals were treating “151 people injured when they jumped or tried to jump from a height in panic”.

The injuries were not life-threatening, he added.

“There is no destruction to residential buildings in the city but an abandoned building collapsed in Fatih District without causing any deaths or injuries,” the governor’s office said on X.

Footage posted by the state news agency Anadolu showed the minaret of a mosque in the Beylikduzu district just west of the historic peninsula swaying during the initial quake.

But there were no reports of other buildings collapsing in the sprawling city of 16 million people, Yerlikaya told TRT public television.

Schools and universities, which were closed on Wednesday when Turkey was marking National Sovereignty Day, would remain closed until the weekend, the education ministry said.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was “following the developments closely”.

“NOTHING WE CAN DO”
“We all panicked and just ran. There’s absolutely nothing else we can do,” a street seller called Yusuf told AFP.

The tremors could be felt as far away as Bulgaria, according to AFP journalists in the capital Sofia.

Silivri, on the megacity’s western outskirts, has made headlines in the past month as the location where Istanbul’s mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was jailed after his arrest in a graft probe that his critics say is politically motivated.

Also there are a number of students detained for joining the mass protests that erupted nationwide over the move against Imamoglu, Erdogan’s biggest political rival.

But no one was hurt, the Parents Solidarity Network said on X.

“The earthquake in Istanbul was most strongly felt in Silivri but our children are fine. There is no problem at the prison,” the group wrote.

Some of the city’s southern districts lie just 15 kilometres from the North Anatolian Fault, which is distinct from the equally active East Anatolian Fault.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/powerful-62-magnitude-quake-hits-istanbul-coast-5084471

A scantily-clad Bianca Censori stepped out for a solo outing in Spain after reuniting with her husband, Kanye West.

Censori, 30, was photographed in Mallorca on Tuesday, driving her black SUV to a local building.

Once she parked, the Australian model got out of the car to reveal her — well — revealing outfit: a black thong spaghetti-strap bodysuit, sheer tights and slouchy black boots.

She wore her dark hair pulled back into a claw clip and sported minimal makeup.

Censori, whose facial expression remained emotionless, eventually got back in her car and drove off.

Though the trained architect was spouse-less for the errand, she and West, 47, were seen on a dinner date on the island just a few days ago.

Last Friday, the couple was filmed entering an Indian restaurant wearing all-black ensembles; the rapper selected an oversized hoodie, while his wife donned a skin-tight number.

It marked their first joint sighting since West confirmed on his song “Bianca,” which he released earlier this month, that she had left him following yet another string of his disturbing social media rants.

A source told Page Six in February, shortly after the Yeezy founder made Censori walk naked on the 2025 Grammy Awards red carpet, that his decision to sell swastika-printed T-shirts on his website was the “last straw” for her.

Then on Monday, West took to X to announce that he had an incestuous relationship with his male cousin when they were kids.

He made the shocking admission while releasing a snippet of a music video for a new song titled “Cousins.”

On the track, the Grammy winner also mentions Censori, singing, “And that one time that you left me, I didn’t get no sleep that night / And that one time that you left me, I took 10 Percs to get high.”

Source: https://pagesix.com/2025/04/23/celebrity-news/bianca-censori-steps-out-solo-in-spain-after-reuniting-with-kanye-west/

Meghan Markle is in New York City for her speaking gig at the Time100 Summit — and Prince Harry is at her side.

The former military pilot, 40, accompanied his wife, 43, to the Jazz at Lincoln Center event Wednesday, as seen in photos obtained by Page Six.

Harry sported a sophisticated suit for the Manhattan outing.

Markle also suited up, pairing a tan blazer and matching wide-legged pants with a white button-up top and heels.

The former actress completed her look with a belt, a gold watch and hoop earrings.

The former actress was all smiles and wore her hair parted down the middle in loose waves.

Markle chatted on stage with Time’s Jessica Sibley (via People) and was asked about her “confessions” — an homage to her latest podcast, “Confessions of a Female Founder.”

The “With Love, Meghan” star called herself the “happiest [she has] ever been” in her gushing response.

“To have a husband and a partner who is so supportive, and kids who are healthy and happy, I never imagined at this point I would feel so happy and grateful, and I really do,” she said of Harry and their two children — Prince Archie, 5, and Princess Lilibet, 3.

Markle noted that her eldest child is set to lose his first tooth, which she is hoping to “make it home in time” to witness.

The As Ever creator has been vocal about her husband’s support for her lifestyle brand since its recent launch.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2025/04/23/royal-family/prince-harry-supports-meghan-markles-return-to-nyc-to-speak-at-time100-summit/

Pope Francis has died at the age of 88. The Vatican announced that at 07:35 local time on Easter Monday the head of the Roman Catholic Church “returned to the house of the Father” at his residence, Casa Santa Marta. He was the first Latin American pope in the Church’s history.

Following tradition, the pontiff’s death was confirmed by the head of the Vatican’s health department and the cardinal chamberlain (camerlengo, in Italian) Kevin Joseph Farrell.

The Pope’s body will now be taken to his chapel for a private ceremony, in which it will be placed in a single coffin – a departure from the three nested coffins common in previous pontiffs’ funerals.

The last 10 popes of the Catholic Church

Pope Francis himself chose to scale back some of the funerary pomp and ceremony. In 2024, he simplified what would be his funeral rites. This time, there will be no private viewing for cardinals and a public viewing will take place in St Peter’s Basilica after a procession led by the camerlengo.

Inside the church, however, the Pope’s body will remain in the coffin, which won’t be raised on a pedestal.

Pope Francis will, like his predecessor, be buried with some items that symbolise his time as Supreme Pontiff and his achievements.

Those are the pallium, a vestment used only by the pontiff and metropolitan archbishops; the rogito, a deed that summarises the highlights of Francis’s time as Pope, and bags of silver, gold and copper coins in number equal to the years of his papacy.

In a 2023 interview, Pope Francis revealed he already had a tomb prepared for him in his favourite church, the Basilica of St Mary Major.

The basilica also houses the tombs of other popes and is located close to Rome’s main railway station. Even though it sits on Italian soil, the church is considered to be Vatican territory.

Map showing the location of the Basilica of St Mary Major in Rome, close to the Roma Termini railway station

The funeral and burial rituals for Pope Francis will culminate on Saturday.

Following the Pope’s death, the cardinal chamberlain sealed his apartment in Casa Santa Marta, where he chose to live during his papacy.

The camerlengo destroys the Pope’s fisherman’s ring, a signet used to sign documents, in front of the College of Cardinals using a ceremonial hammer.

This is the beginning of the Sede vacante period, when the Catholic Church is without a Pope and prepares for the conclave – the secret meeting where cardinals elect a new Pope.

What does the Pope do?
The Pope leads the Catholic Church and is seen as St Peter’s successor, giving him authority over its 1.4 billion followers. Catholics believe this connects him directly to Jesus Christ, making him a key source of spiritual guidance.

Alongside the Bible, his teachings help shape the Church’s beliefs and practices. Other Christian denominations, such as Protestants and Orthodox Christians, do not recognise his authority.

Choosing the pontiff

135 cardinals are under the age of 80, which makes them eligible to select Pope Francis’s successor.

Pope Francis appointed 108 of the 135 cardinals. This increases – but does not guarantee – the possibility that the next Pope will share his vision of a more progressive, inclusive Catholic Church.

Most of the voting cardinals are from Europe, a trend that has persisted for centuries.

But the Catholic Church’s geographical centre of gravity is shifting. Asian cardinals, historically under-represented, now account for nearly a quarter of the men who could be part of the conclave.

Once Francis is buried, the dean of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, has 15 to 20 days to summon the cardinals to Rome.

Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-904185ba-2600-4d37-9419-9204b4da5167

Former child actress Sophie Nyweide was pregnant when she died in Vermont earlier this month, according to new reports.

While Nyweide’s cause of death is still under investigation, police told The Post on Wednesday that they are investigating the death as a “possible unintentional overdose.”

Nyweide, known for her roles in the films “Noah” and “Mammoth,” was just 24.

Her death certificate — obtained by People and TMZ — revealed the news of her pregnancy. TMZ was first to report the story.

The document did not disclose what stage her pregnancy was in, according to People. However, a source familiar with the investigation told the outlet “she appeared to be in the early stages.”

The Vermont Office of Chief Medical Examiner did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

“This is a fluid investigation and we are still waiting on final autopsy and toxicology reports from the Vermont Office of Chief Medical Examiner,” Bennington police told The Post Wednesday.

“Investigators are investigating this as a possible unintentional overdose,” the statement continued.

The star was “found lifeless on a riverbank” in Vermont on April 14, “not far from a high school in Bennington” around 4 a.m., The Post confirmed Tuesday.

“First responders arrived on scene and attempted life saving measures,” law enforcement added Wednesday.

Nyweide was “declared dead at the scene.”

A man was found with Nyweide but is not “considered a suspect or person of interest.” The individual “was the person who contacted 911, summing [sic] assistance for Nyweide” and is “cooperating with investigators,” police said.

The Bennington Police Department’s investigation will consider “a range of possible causes, including foul play,” TMZ reported Tuesday.

Nyweide’s family confirmed her death on Tuesday.

The actress’s mother, Shelly, told TMZ she suspected her daughter had been using drugs around the time she died.

“My knowledge is she was using drugs and was a tiny young woman,” Shelly said. “She was with other people when she died. I didn’t know them. There is an investigation ongoing. The autopsy results are not in. They said it would take 6 to 8 weeks. So I can’t say definitively.”

Nyweide’s online obituary also mentioned her struggles.

“Sophie was a kind and trusting girl,” the memorial read. “Often this left her open to being taken advantage of by others. She wrote and drew voraciously and much of this art depicts the depth she had and it also represents the pain she suffered.”

“Many of her writings and artwork are roadmaps of her struggles and traumas,” the obituary also said, noting that those close to Nyweide were unable to get her to accept help.

Source: https://nypost.com/2025/04/23/entertainment/former-child-star-sophie-nyweide-was-pregnant-when-she-died/

A new type of homeless encampment has popped up in Brooklyn.

Dozens of Sheepshead Bay residents have been living in tents on Coyle Street for the past five weeks to protest against an incoming family homeless shelter, which they claim would trigger an explosion of crime in their otherwise sleepy enclave.

“Everyday. Anytime,” said Danny Pan, who was celebrating his 55th birthday Wednesday with his fellow protesters, adding that they’ll remain on Coyle Street “until there’s no homeless shelter. Until the project is gone.”

The four large tents spanning the length of the property line of the incoming shelter were erected last month, just days after hundreds of protesters stormed the streets to accuse the city of a “bait and switch” after the controversial lot was initially planned for affordable housing.

The plastic shelters are covered in American flags and protest signs, and are filled top-to-bottom with fliers, food and drink and personal items, like a drum kit.

The so-called volunteers stage the sit-in in shifts so that between six and up to 50 people are sitting outside the property at all times, with another small group stationed on the corner of Avenue U armed with protest signs.

Nearby bakeries and restaurants donate meals almost daily to the cause, and one donor even paid for a port-a-potty for the enduring group to utilize.

The goal of the sit-in is twofold: it is mostly in protest of the incoming shelter, which plans to accommodate 169 families, but is also to ensure that neither the city nor Westhab, the private owner, begins construction without the proper permits.

The protesters began consistently stationing themselves outside after catching construction crews allegedly sneaking onto the property under the cover of darkness.

“Westhab hired construction companies to come and demolish the buildings, and they came at like crazy hours. One time they came at 6 a.m.,” explained Benjamin Louie, a neighbor and organizer.

“So I thought that of the idea, ‘Why don’t we just stake out the whole night to prevent them from coming?’ We basically blocked the doors. We’re taking up space.”

The group initially tried to block workers from the site, but after a court order were forced to let them in. Nevertheless, they remained on the sidewalk.

The protesters argued that they were not against homeless people in general, but against the potential safety risk to their children — especially because of the property’s close proximity to the numerous daycare centers that line Avenue U, as well as the elementary and middle schools just several blocks away.

The city has previously emphasized that the shelter will be for families, but the protesters remain unconvinced, saying they were already duped by city officials who originally promised the controversial lot would be turned into affordable housing units.

That plan, supported by the City Council, was dropped by the original developer back in 2023. Westhab then swooped in with their own plan to build the district’s first long-term homeless shelter, housing 169 families, with a preference for those already living in the community.

Source: https://nypost.com/2025/04/23/us-news/brooklyn-protesters-camping-24-7-outside-proposed-homeless-shelter/

India has decided to put on hold the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, 64 years after the water-sharing agreement was signed between former PM Pt Jawaharlal Nehru and then Pak President Ayub Khan.

In a strong response to the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, India has decided to put on hold the Indus-Waters Treaty with Pakistan. This comes a day after 26 people died after terrorists opened fire at tourists in Pahalgam. The survivors said the terrorists first asked them to recite Islamic verse, and the ones who couldn’t recite the same were shot dead in front of their families.
Pakistan-based The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s deadly attack.
Notably, former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal has earlier called for the indefinite suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, saying that “blood and water” can’t go together.

“It is time to suspend the Indus Water Treaty indefinitely as a truly meaningful response to the latest terrorist outrage in Pahalgam instigated by Pakistan. We have earlier said that blood and water can’t go together. Let’s act on our own declared position. This will be a strategic response,” Sibal, who was the Indian ambassador to Russia and is now the Chancellor of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, said in a post on X.

“We are in a favourable position on this with the US as the terrorist attack has occurred during Vance’s visit. Trump and Vance have strong views on Islamic extremism and terrorism,” he added.
The decision to suspend the Treaty was taken in the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister. The CCS was briefed in detail on the terrorist attack on 22 April 2025.

An outbreak of the potentially deadly Legionnaires’ disease in a housing estate in Berlin has raised concerns that big housing companies are too slow to react to major health crises or keeping their tenants informed.

Tenants of a housing estate in Berlin say their landlords have failed to keep them properly informed about an outbreak of Legionella bacteria.

In mid-March, health authorities in the Neukölln district of Berlin imposed a shower ban on 332 apartments in the “High-Deck” estate after tests showed elevated levels of the Legionella bacteria that cause Legionnaires’ disease, a potentially deadly form of pneumonia.

However, it is not clear how long the contamination was present in the water, and at least one tenant, Brianne Curran, believes that she contracted Legionnaires two months before she was told that the estate had a contamination.

She says her landlord, the state-owned housing company Howoge, was much too slow to keep tenants informed of the dangers after water tests took place in March, and failed to implement containment measures until external pressure was applied.

Curran began experiencing flu-like symptoms in January and endured three weeks of coughing, breathing difficulties and lung pain before those symptoms subsided. However, she only tested for Legionnaire’s disease in late March, when she first became aware that her water had been contaminated. The doctor told her she had a “weak positive” result, before mentioning that there had been several other suspected cases of Legionnaire’s disease in the area.

Dangers in the water
It was only two weeks after that, on April 11, that Howoge informed her that the water supply in her apartment had by far the highest concentration of Legionella bacteria in the estate: Some 32,600 colony forming units (CFU) per 100 milliliters in her water (anything over 100 CFUs means the case has to be reported to authorities and measures need to be taken). Curran said she had to “fight” get the results of her own apartment, after being told that the individual results could not be displayed publicly.

In a statement to DW, Howoge spokesperson Sabine Pentrop played down the extent of the outbreak, saying that only seven apartments breached safety levels, and criticized the health authority for imposing such a wide-ranging shower ban.

The Neukölln health authority gave Howoge until April 16 to implement measures to contain the outbreak, which, according to Hannes Rehfeldt, the local councillor responsible for health in the district, said had been kept — the water had been reheated to sterilize it.

“Howoge always showed that it wanted to fulfill its responsibilities,” Rehfeldt told DW.

The extent of the shower ban, he added, had been necessary because so many households were dependent on the same water system. Rehfeldt underlined that it was safe to drink, wash and cook with the water, though even cold showers should be avoided unless using the special filters.

Curran feels that it was only after she took the case to the media, especially to Germany’s national public broadcaster ARD, that she began to get prompt responses to her emails to the company.

She says that she was not informed of her right to see her apartment’s test results for data protection reasons until she went to the tenants’ association — on the phone, a Howoge representative told her that she did not need to know her own test results.

“It was quicker to get the news onto national television than it was to get a response to my email from Howoge,” she told DW.

What measures were taken?
Legionella bacteria spread through water vapor, but not through drinking or person-to-person contact. Howoge advised residents of the High-Deck estate not to take showers and avoid breathing in steam from hot water and dishwashers. According to Curran, the shower ban was initially indefinite and was only shortened following media attention, when Howoge introduced a series of measures to contain the outbreak.

These included replacing the water fittings in apartments where the Legionella concentration was above 100 CFUs, and giving residents shower heads that filter out the bacteria. Howoge also offered residents a rent reduction for the period between imposing the shower ban and installing these filters.

On April 8, an external environmental consulting company named GUC was commissioned to investigate the cause of the outbreak, and according to Howoge is now producing a “catalogue of exact measures in order to permanently eliminate the Legionella contamination.” GUC suspected that the outbreak may have been caused by special fittings in the plumbing designed to prevent backflow of liquids into the system. These are now being removed, Howoge said.

“They are relying on outdated systems and dismally imagined protocols,” said Curran.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/legionnaires-outbreak-in-berlin-has-tenants-worried/a-72323192

Oregon, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Vermont, are among the states listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

As many as 12 American states on Wednesday sued the Trump administration in New York’s US court of international trade to stop President Donald Trump’s tariff policy, arguing that it is unlawful and has brought chaos to the country’s economy.

The lawsuit said that the policy imposed by Trump has left the national trade policy subject to the US President’s “whims rather than the sound exercise of lawful authority”, a report from The Associated Press said.

The states that have brought the lawsuit are Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York and Vermont.

Trump tariff schemes ‘insane’

The suit also sought to challenge Trump’s claim that he could arbitrarily impose tariffs on the basis of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. It also asked the court to declare the tariffs to be illegal and block government agencies from enforcing them.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, in a release, described Trump’s tariff scheme as “insane”. She also said that “it was not only economically reckless, it is illegal”.

The lawsuit also asserted that only Congress holds the power to impose tariffs, adding that the president can only invoke the International Emergency Economic Powers Act when an urgent situation presents as an “unusual and extraordinary” threat from abroad.

“By claiming the authority to impose immense and ever-changing tariffs on whatever goods entering the United States he chooses, for whatever reason he finds convenient to declare an emergency, the President has upended the constitutional order and brought chaos to the American economy,” the lawsuit read.

Last week, Democrat California governor Gavin Newsom, sued the Trump administration in the US district court in California’s northern district over the tariff policy. He said that his state stands to lose billions of dollars in revenue being the largest importer in the country.

Meanwhile, White House spokesperson Kush Desai responded to the California governor’s lawsuit and said the Trump administration “remains committed to addressing this national emergency that’s decimating America’s industries and leaving our workers behind with every tool at our disposal, from tariffs to negotiations”.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-news/12-states-sue-donald-trump-administration-in-trade-court-to-stop-tariff-policy-101745443481376.html

Donald Trump chided the Ukrainian President for not agreeing with him about Crimea now being a part of Russia. “Crimea was lost years ago and is not even a point of discussion,” President Trump asserted.

Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy had another unpleasant exchange on Wednesday as negotiators weighed possibilities that could result in ending the years-long war in Ukraine.

This time the Trump-Zelensky clash was over Crimea, with the US President convinced that the region should be considered as Russian territory, while Zelensky refused to agree with him, reiterating that Ukraine will stand firm on its core principles.

As negotiators met for the latest round of talks in London, reports suggest that the US proposal that was laid out had two key points in agreement with Moscow’s stand – the first being Kyiv officially recognising Crimea as Russian territory, and the second – that Ukraine can never become a NATO member.

Both these points were rejected by Ukraine, which infuriated President Trump, who had already threatened to withdraw the US from negotiations over Kyiv’s obstinacy.

TRUMP SCOLDS ZELENSKY

Donald Trump chided the Ukrainian President for not agreeing with him about Crimea now being a part of Russia. “Crimea was lost years ago and is not even a point of discussion,” President Trump asserted.

President Zelensky, who firmly rejected such a proposal, said “Ukraine will not recognise Russia’s annexation of Crimea. There’s nothing to talk about here. This is against our constitution.”

The exchange led to President Trump scolding President Zelensky, saying that the United States is trying to stop the killing in his country. “We are very close to a deal” for peace, Trump said, putting the blame on the Ukrainian President for being stubborn, as talks seem to be heading for a stalemate.

President Trump took to social media to post a scathing attack on Ukraine’s Zelensky. “Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is boasting on the front page of The Wall Street Journal that, ‘Ukraine will not legally recognize the occupation of Crimea. There’s nothing to talk about here.’ This statement is very harmful to the Peace Negotiations with Russia in that Crimea was lost years ago under the auspices of President Barack Hussein Obama, and is not even a point of discussion,” he wrote on Truth Social.

“Nobody is asking Zelenskiy to recognise Crimea as Russian Territory but, if he wants Crimea, why didn’t they fight for it eleven years ago when it was handed over to Russia without a shot being fired?” he added.

Russia seized control of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 without any significant resistance from Ukraine at the time. The move was condemned by several nations, with only a handful of countries recognising Russia’s claim to Crimea.

JD VANCE’S ULTIMATUM

Meanwhile, echoing Donald Trump’s sentiment, US Vice President JD Vance said it was time for Russia and Ukraine to either agree to the US peace proposal “or for the United States to walk away from the process entirely.”

Mr Vance said that America’s proposal called for freezing territorial lines “at some level close to where they are today” and a “long-term diplomatic settlement that hopefully will lead to long-term peace.” He went on to say that “The only way to really stop the killing is for the armies to both put down their weapons, and to freeze this thing.”

In response to the US Vice President, Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, wrote in a post on X that he made it clear to US negotiator Steve Witkoff in London that Ukraine “will stand firm on its core principles during the negotiations” that relate to sovereignty and territorial integrity.

ADVANTAGE MOSCOW?

Since taking office in January, Donald Trump has sharply altered the US approach to the Ukraine war. Instead of punishing moves against Russia like his predecessor Joe Biden, Washington is now pressing Ukraine to agree to a ceasefire, even if it is unacceptable to Kyiv. The US is seemingly in a hurry to broker a deal – any deal – irrespective of whether it may be a good one for Russia or a good one for Ukraine.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/donald-trump-and-ukraines-zelensky-clash-again-as-us-says-crimea-now-russian-territory-8240635#pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

THIS is the moment a woman went head-to-head with railway staff to delay a high-speed train so her late friends could hop on – only to be arrested later.

Captured on video at a station in Shenzhen, China, the woman is seen brazenly blocking the train doors with her body as staff desperately try to get her inside the carriage.

She stands firm, resisting two railway employees who push and plead with her to move.

Instead of cooperating, she coolly continues using her phone and gesturing to her friends to hurry up – all while halting the sleek bullet train’s departure.

Despite the chaos, the train eventually pulled away and reached its destination on time.

But the drama didn’t end there.

Police tracked the 45-year-old to the city of Xiamen the following day and detained her for “interrupting train operations” – a serious offence in China’s ultra-efficient railway network.

Her antics sparked a furious backlash online.

“There should be a penalty for this behaviour. That action wasted a lot of time for others,” fumed one social media user.

Another warned: “If the woman got away with it, many people would do what she did.”

China’s high-speed trains are known for their clockwork precision – and authorities clearly weren’t amused by the woman’s attempt to derail that.

It comes after a daft tourist fell from a train after dangling out of the carriage to get the perfect snap in Sri Lanka.

The young woman was holding onto the railings and leaning back when she was bashed in the head by some tree branches.

She was then quickly dragged from the carriage.

In horrifying footage of the incident, one of her arms can be seen flailing in a panic as she falls out of the train.

The man behind the camera can be heard shouting while passengers look on in horror.

The train ground to a halt at the next stop and passengers walked back to help her.

The woman, who had visited the country from China, was luckily not seriously injured as she landed in some bushes.

Local cops have reminded passengers on trains to pay attention to their surroundings at all times.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/14091623/woman-fights-train-staff-arrested/

THE first pics of Vladimir Putin’s secret son have been leaked, say anti-Kremlin activists.

Images of Ivan Vladimirovich Putin, ten, surfaced on Telegram channel VChk-OGPU, which has links to spooks and other insiders.

His mum is Olympic gymnast Alina Kabaeva, 41, with him, below.

She also has another son, Vladimir, four.

Putin, 72, has two adult daughters with his ex-wife and has never confirmed other children — but let slip he watches kids’ films with “my little ones”.

“VChK-OGPU [channel] has obtained a photo of the most secret and probably the loneliest boy in Russia,” said a report.

“This is Ivan Vladimirovich Putin.

“He hardly communicates with other children, spending all his time with guards, governesses, [and] teachers.”

The boy is said to resemble Putin in his Soviet childhood.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14084040/vladimir-putin-secret-son-photos-leaked/

Tesla’s first-quarter profits have slumped by more than two-thirds. The result comes amid a public backlash against Elon Musk over his work for the Trump administration.

Electric vehicle producer Tesla on Tuesday reported profits of $409 million (€397 million) after a slide in auto sales that saw quarterly profits fall by 71%.

The steep profit losses come as the firm fights a backlash due to owner Elon Musk’s leadership of a US government jobs-slashing program — known as the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

His 130-day mandate at DOGE is due to expire in late May.

How has Elon Musk reacted?

Immediately after the results were published, Musk said he planned to “significantly” reduce his work for US President Donald Trump’s administration in May to focus on Tesla.

“I think starting probably next month, in May, my time allocation to DOGE will drop significantly,” Musk told investors on a conference call.

The South Africa-born billionaire also said that the bulk of his work to set up DOGE had been completed.

What has Musk been doing for the Trump administration?

Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, has been leading US President Donald Trump’s attempts to cut federal government spending drastically.

Under his leadership, DOGE has sought to dismantle several government agencies, including USAID and the Department of Education, in a bid to root out alleged corruption, cut bureaucracy and boost efficiency.

Hundreds of thousands of federal workers have been laid off, while dozens of government programs have been suspended or canceled.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/elon-musks-automaker-tesla-sees-profits-plummet/a-72314708

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs have “significantly” pushed the global economy toward a downshift, reducing the global economic growth forecast for 2025 to 2.8%, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a new report published on Tuesday.

The global growth forecast was expected to stay at 3.1% in 2024 and rise to 3.3% in 2025, said IMF economic counsellor Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas.

The IMF’s Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR) was “put together under exceptional circumstances,” following Trump’s announcement in April, Gourinchas said.

The US’ especially high levies on China and Beijing’s retaliatory measures mean lower bilateral trade, which is “weighing down on global trade growth,” Gourinchas told the Reuters news agency.

How do the US tariffs affect the global economy?

The GFSR’s authors found that “global financial stability risks have increased significantly, driven by tighter global financial conditions and heightened economic uncertainty.”

The ripple effects of Trump’s decisions extend beyond Washington. Rising bond yields have increased in countries previously considered safe choices, driving up borrowing costs globally, the IMF reported.

“Emerging market economies already facing the highest real financing costs in a decade may now need to refinance their debt and fund fiscal spending at higher costs,” the global lender said.

The IMF also warned that global tensions, including wars and military conflicts, could make the financial system even more unstable.

The IMF projects that growth would slow to 0.8% in the Euro area in 2025, and to 1.2% in 2026. Both projections are some 0.2 percentage points down from January.

Germany was set to see economic growth of 0.0% in 2025 and 0.9% in 2026, the IMF said, cutting the European Union’s largest economy’s growth forecast by 0.3 and 0.2 percentage points, respectively.

Tariff, plus uncertainty provide double whammy

Petya Koeva Brooks, the deputy director of the research department at the IMF in Washington told DW that two negative shocks had hit the global economy.

One was the level of new tariffs, bringing the effective tariff rate to levels not seen for over a century. Then, she said, policy uncertainty that had also become very high.

“The combination of those two things have resulted in those downgrades that we’ve seen for most countries in the world,” said Koeva Brooks.

The best way to deal with trade disruption was cooperation among willing countries to minimize the impact, she said.

“What would be very helpful at this point is to have a stable and predictable trading system. For countries to work together in order to achieve that would be the most beneficial thing for the global economy.”

Mexico rejects IMF projections

IMF financial counselor Tobias Adrian warned that the financial conditions in the past three weeks since Trump first announced the tariffs has “an outsized impact on those more vulnerable countries.”

The global lender expected less-developed nations to fare worse, projecting a shrinkage of Mexico’s economy to 0.3% this year, down from a previous projection of 1.4% growth.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/imf-trump-tariffs-slow-down-global-economic-growth/a-72312805

When walking through the Boedo neighborhood in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires you get to hear entirely different opinions about the country’s president Javier Milei. One is marked by optimism, the other comes from people who remain largely skeptic.

Signs of disapproval are hard to miss. At a local store, a poster is hung up reading “No entry” and showing the pictures of President Milei and Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, who are clearly not welcome here.

Yet just around the corner, construction workers hammer and lay bricks on a new apartment building — revealing a new confidence in the future of a country rebuilding itself.

Since taking office as Argentina’s president on December 10, 2023, Milei has become one of the world’s most talked-about leaders. His radical libertarian stance has earned him fierce criticism from the left, while many economists see him as a reformer liberating Argentina from decades of bureaucracy and rigid controls.

Milei lifts currency controls in historic move

Milei’s most recent bold move was ending the so-called “cepo” restrictions — a Spanish term meaning “trap” or “shackles” — which had restricted access to US dollars for over two decades. Introduced in 2003 with the aim of curbing Argentina’s runaway inflation, the currency controls were officially lifted in mid-April, allowing individuals and businesses to freely conduct foreign exchange transactions.

“Contrary to alarmist predictions from many local and international economists, the exchange rate did not skyrocket,” Aldo Abram of the libertarian think tank Fundacion Libertad y Progreso in Buenos Aires told DW. “On the contrary, the rate stabilized below its pre-liberalization level. The market normalized without a crisis, without a [bank] run, and without devaluation.”

The government celebrated the historic move, showing pictures of Milei and his economy minister, Santiago Caputo, raising their arms as if celebrating a goal of their favorite football team.

Confidence and patience

In a recent televised address, Milei said his policies had brought Argentina on the right track, and he reaffirmed his commitment to fiscal discipline. “After more than 100 years of chronic budget deficits, we are now one of the five countries in the world that only spends what it earns — not a single peso more,” he declared.

He reiterated his vision for Argentina’s future, announcing the end of currency controls and promising that Argentina would experience the highest economic growth globally over the next 30 years.

“It won’t happen overnight,” Milei admitted, “but it will happen gradually and with the assurance that we’ve done our homework, both domestically and internationally, to reduce volatility as much as possible.”

There are some early signs of success. According to Argentina’s national statistics agency INDEC, poverty has dropped to 38.1% — slightly below the level Milei inherited. Inflation also decreased by 44.5% year-on-year in 2024, INDEC data shows.

Milei’s chainsaw policies leave scars

Svenja Blanke of Germany’s left-leaning Friedrich Ebert Foundation views the economic outlook with caution. Speaking to DW, she criticized the government for using the exchange rate as a “kind of crutch” to suppress inflation.

As a result, she noted, the Argentinian peso has appreciated, leading to paradoxes like a Big Mac costing the equivalent of €5.48 ($6.30) — comparable to Germany — while the minimum hourly wage stands at just €1.06, which is far below Germany’s €12.82.

“This is essentially a kind of social chainsaw massacre,” she said, citing severe cuts to wages, education, research, culture, public infrastructure, and historical memory.

Hans-Dieter Holtzmann of the liberal Friedrich Naumann Foundation in Germany is more confident about Argentina’s economic future. “With the removal of capital controls and a more flexible exchange rate, major barriers to Argentina’s economic recovery have been lifted,” he told DW.

Despite the country’s wealth of energy and mineral resources — including natural gas, hydrogen, lithium, and copper — foreign investors have “so far remained cautious,” he said. This is why it is so important now, he added, that the European Union ratifiedthe free trade agreement with the Mercosur bloc — of which Argentina is a member — “as quickly as possible.” Both Argentina and Germany would stand to benefit from the new opportunities of investing and doing business.

Pain and gain

In downtown Buenos Aires, meanwhile, Milei’s radical reforms are reaping mixed results.

On the one hand, restaurants and cafes are bustling — seemingly at odds with the opposition’s constant talk of crisis. Also, a recent general strike drew only modest participation, suggesting that after three such strikes since Milei took office, unions may have overplayed their hand. It seems most Argentinians appear ready to move forward, to work, and to leave the crisis behind.

But not all is well, as weekly protests by retirees, who saw their pensions cut, are proving. Milei’s austerity measures have taken a heavy toll on their real purchasing power and that of many others in the country.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/with-milei-500-days-in-office-are-argentinians-better-off/a-72313308

Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus hopes that Rohingya refugees will be able to celebrate next year’s Eid in Myanmar. But with continued conflict in Rakhine State, conditions for repatriation remain uncertain.

The head of Bangladesh’s interim government, Muhammad Yunus, has told Rohingya Muslims who fled from neighboring Myanmar that, “may we pray to Allah, that next Eid, you can celebrate in your own homes in Myanmar.”

Bangladesh has been taking in fellow Muslims from Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine state largely since a bloody 2017 army crackdown forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to flee their homeland.

Myanmar’s military junta has ruled since a February 2021 coup ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s elected government. Since then, fighting between ethnic rebel groups and the military has pushed more Rohingya to seek refuge in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh currently hosts over 1 million Rohingya Muslims in sprawling refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and on the offshore island of Bhasan Char.

Myanmar’s government confirmed earlier this month that 180,000 Rohingya refugees living in Bangladesh are eligible to return to Myanmar. This followed talks between representatives of both nations in the Thai capital, Bangkok.

The 180,000 names were part of a list of 800,000 Rohingya that Bangladesh submitted to Myanmar in six batches between 2018 and 2020. Myanmar also indicated that the verification of others on the list is ongoing.

“While this is an important progress, it is not enough to start repatriation. Rohingyas have always insisted on a safe and dignified return,” according to Azad Majumder, a press officer to the Chief Adviser to Bangladesh’s interim administration.

Majumder added that until Rakhine State is considered safe, “repatriation is unlikely to begin.”

About 70,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar in 2024 during a surge in fighting between the ruling junta and the Arakan Army (AA) rebel group, which wants more autonomy for the ethnic Rakhine people, a population that is accused of aiding the military in their expulsion of the Rohingya.

The AA is the well-armed military arm of the United League of Arakan (ULA), the political organization of the Buddhist people in western Rakhine state.

The AA and the ULA seek an autonomous region in Rakhine state inclusive of both Muslims and Buddhist Rakhine.

UN mulls Bangladesh-Myanmar humanitarian corridor

Last month, Yunus hosted UN chief Antonio Guterres, who traveled to Cox’s Bazar to witness the hardships faced by the Rohingya community, all of whom rely on humanitarian assistance.

Guterres said the UN is exploring the possibility of a humanitarian aid channel from Bangladesh to Myanmar.

“We need to intensify humanitarian aid inside Myanmar to create a condition for that return [of the Rohingya] to be successful,” Guterres said during a press briefing in Dhaka during his visit.

He suggested that under the right circumstances, having a “humanitarian channel” from Bangladesh would facilitate the return of the Rohingya community, but said it would require “authorization and cooperation.”

Asked if dialogue with the AA was essential for the repatriation of Rohingyas, Guterres said: “The Arakan Army is a reality in which we live.”

He acknowledged that in the past relations with the AA have been difficult but said, “necessary dialogue must take place,” noting that sanctions against the group would require UN Security Council approval, which could prove difficult to obtain.

“It’s essential to increase pressure from all the neighbors in order to guarantee that fighting ends and the way towards democracy finally established,” Guterres said.

Khalilur Rahman, high representative on Rohingya issues for Bangladesh’s interim leader, confirmed that his government is engaged in dialogues with the AA.

“Under the 2018 bilateral agreement between Bangladesh and Myanmar, verification has been ongoing,” Khalilur Rahman told reporters in Dhaka earlier this month.

“While Rakhine is a sovereign region of Myanmar, we have also engaged in dialogue with the Arakan Army, which publicly affirmed in September that repatriating the Rohingya is a key position for them. They reiterated this stance unequivocally during our discussions.”

“We believe arrangements can be made to return these 180,000 individuals,” Rahman added. “While this won’t happen overnight, we are striving to expedite the process with all stakeholders involved.”

Will refugees return to Rakhine under AA?

The Rohingya ethnic group faces discrimination and statelessness as they are denied citizenship and other rights in Myanmar.

John Quinley, director of Fortify Rights, an organization that investigates human rights violations, says that the Rohingya are unlikely to return without citizenship and equal rights — their core demands.

“Many Rohingya refugees don’t trust the Arakan Army who now controls the vast majority of Rakhine State,” Quinley told DW.

“Rohingya are indigenous to Arakan known as Rakhine and should be able to return home,” he added.

“That being said, there must be safety, restored citizenship rights, and accountability for ongoing crimes by the junta and Arakan Army,” Quinley said.

“I worry that repatriating Rohingya now would be akin to refoulement. They are at real risk from both Arakan Army and Myanmar junta.”

Nay San Lwin, co-founder of the Free Rohingya Coalition, suggested that if the Myanmar junta truly wants the refugees to return, it must make stronger commitments, including public assurances that it will not conduct airstrikes or use artillery on the Rohingya community.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/bangladesh-eyes-rohingya-return-but-hurdles-remain/a-72308583

Libya’s robust infrastructure for human traffickers and smugglers serves domestic and Russian enterprises, observers say. What can the European Union do to take control?

Ever since the toppling of Bashar Assad in Syria in December, Russia has been unsure whether its armed forces will be able to maintain their naval base at the Mediterranean port of Tartus and the Hmeimim airbase further north.

This uncertainty has prompted Russia to shift its focus to Libya.

“In the immediate aftermath of the fall of the Assad regime […] you had a lot of flights and cargo ships taking Russian material from bases in Syria toward Libya,” Tarek Megerisi, an analyst at the think tank European Council on Foreign Relations and author of a recent study on Russia’s influence in Libya, told DW.

“So, it was clear at that point that in Moscow’s eyes, Libya is the safe space for it in the Mediterranean,” he added.

According to a report published in March by the New York-based think tank The Soufan Center, this is not the first time that Russian ships have called at the Tobruk naval base in eastern Libya.

The strategic port is under the control of Khalifa Haftar, the warlord and commander of the Libyan National Army militia who rules large parts of the east of the divided country.

“In June 2024, two Russian destroyers visited the Haftar-controlled Tobruk naval base. The warships’ visit was billed as a training mission but was likely a continuation of the delivery of artillery to the [Libyan National Army] for potential use against its rivals in Tripoli or for export to anti-Western military forces in neighboring countries,” the study highlighted.

Moscow looks to Libya to bolster interests

Moscow’s interests in Libya are also represented by mercenary militias such as the former Wagner Group, which now operates under the name “Africa Corps.”

According to Megerisi, Moscow is pursuing several interests in Libya, which has been rattled by years of civil war.

In principle, Russia is striving to establish a military presence in the Mediterranean, the expert told DW. So far, this had mainly been concentrated in Syria. Megerisi also pointed out that Moscow was interested in commercializing local natural resources, especially energy deposits.

Under pressure from Western sanctions, Russia is also trying to find consumers for its exports. As Megerisi noted, Libya is an important export buyer for Russian weapons.

Haftar’s son expands Libya’s role as ‘hot spot for smuggling’

In the Libyan conflict, Russia has been supporting the renegade commander Haftar for years. “He remains Moscow’s most important partner,” Ulf Laessing, head of the German political foundation Konrad Adenauer Foundation’s Sahel regional program in Mali, told DW.

“The Russians also have diplomatic ties to the western part of the country and to its capital, Tripoli, but the focus is clearly on Haftar,” he added.

However, this has become increasingly risky, as Haftar is now 81 years old and his rule may well be fragile in the face of political pressure from the US. One of his sons, Saddam Haftar — against whom Spain issued an arrest warrant in 2024 on suspicion of arms smuggling — has established himself as Russia’s point of contact in Libya in recent years, as Megerisi pointed out in his study. He’s provided Russia with a network of Libyan military bases, the expert explained.

“Russia has used all this to help Haftar’s putative heir, Saddam Haftar, expand Libya’s role as a hot spot for smuggling of weapons, drugs, fuel — and people,” Megerisi stated.

For years, flights from Syria to eastern Libya were operated mainly by a private Syrian airline, as Laessing noted. “They brought migrants from Asia, such as Pakistan and Bangladesh, to eastern Libya. From there, they were transferred to ships that set off for Italy.”

Business based on suffering

According to Megerisi, human trafficking follows a fixed pattern.

“On arrival, migrants hand over their informal visas to [Haftar’s forces], who detain [the people] until they receive payment by the network. They are then held for between several days to several weeks, typically in inhuman conditions, before being taken to ‘launch points’ where they board boats towards Europe. At this point, Saddam [Hafter] is paid again for his coastguard units to allow boats through: $100 dollars per migrant for ‘smaller boats’ … or an $80,000 flat fee for larger boats,” he wrote in his study.

Others are taken to western Libya, Megerisi added: “This demonstrates how Libyan armed groups cross political divides in pursuit of profit.”

The routes migrants choose to reach Libya vary, depending on where they’ve come from. While Africans mostly arrive by land, people from Asia tend to come by plane. Afterwards, they usually pass through various points of contact until they reach eastern Libya, where they are handed over to Haftar’s network.

‘Migration as a weapon’

This is where Moscow’s interests vis-a-vis Europe come into play. “The Kremlin has weaponized migration,” Megerisi stated.

According to him, this was already the case during the war in Syria, when Russian planes brought migrants from Damascus to Minsk, who then traveled on toward Western Europe.

At the time, it increased pressure on the EU’s external borders, he said, adding that it is currently uncertain whether these flights are still taking place.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/russias-role-in-trafficking-smuggling-from-libya-to-eu/a-72274806

US stocks rebounded on Tuesday (Apr 22) as a spate of quarterly earnings reports and hints at the de-escalation of US-China trade tensions brought buyers in from the sidelines.

A broad rally boosted all three major US indices by more than 2 per cent, as investors looked past Trump’s ramped up rhetoric against Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who is widely considered a stabilising force for the markets.

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, when asked about Trump’s attacks on Powell, said the Fed’s independence is “foundational” to better economic outcomes.

Having been battered for weeks by the White House’s erratic and multi-front tariff disputes, the S&P 500 is currently about 14.4 per cent below its record closing high reached on Feb 19.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that while trade negotiations with Beijing will likely be “a slog”, he believes that there will be a de-escalation of US-China trade tensions.

“The roller coaster continues,” said Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group in Omaha. “Some thawing of the aggression (between) US and China, thanks to Bessent’s comments, helped push things higher.”

“Washington understands that the uncertainty around tariffs is hurting markets and maybe we can get some type of positive news going forward on the trade front,” Detrick added

Those uncertainties helped prompt the International Monetary Fund to slash its forecasts for US economic growth to 1.8 per cent in 2025, citing the impact of US tariffs, now at 100-year highs.

First-quarter earnings season gathered steam.

So far, 82 of the companies in the S&P 500 have reported. Of those, 73 per cent have beaten expectations, according to LSEG.

Analysts now see aggregate S&P 500 earnings growth 8.1 per cent for the Jan – March period, down from the 12.2 per cent growth forecast at the beginning of the quarter, per LSEG.

“Current earnings are showing a continuation of good fundamentals, which is not a surprise,” said Bill Merz, head of Capital Market Research at US Bank Wealth Management, Minneapolis, who added that investors are parsing corporate guidance for “clarity on what companies are planning to do in response to tariff policy.”

Shares of industrial conglomerate 3M jumped after the company posted better-than-expected first-quarter profit expectations, though it flagged a likely hit to 2025 profit from tariffs.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/wall-street-bounces-back-earnings-take-focus-over-tariff-chaos-5081846

The World Health Organization chief said on Tuesday (Apr 22) that operations and jobs would be slashed as US funding cuts had left the UN agency with a budget hole of several hundred million dollars.

“The sudden drop in income has left us with a large salary gap and no choice but to reduce the scale of our work and workforce,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told member states, according to a transcript of his remarks.

The United Nations health agency has been bracing for President Donald Trump’s planned full withdrawal of the United States – by far its largest donor – next January.

The United States gave WHO US$1.3 billion for its 2022 to 2023 budget, mainly through voluntary contributions for specific projects rather than fixed membership fees.

But Washington never paid its 2024 dues, and is not expected to pay its 2025 dues.

This has left the WHO preparing a new structure, which Tedros presented to staff and member states on Tuesday.

“The refusal of the US to pay its assessed contributions for 2024 and 2025, combined with reductions in official development assistance by some other countries, means we are facing a salary gap for the 2026 to 2027 biennium of between US$560 and US$650 million,” he said.

The lower end of that spectrum “represents about 25 per cent of staff costs” currently, he said, stressing though that “that doesn’t necessarily mean a 25 per cent cut to the number of positions”.

He did not say how many jobs would be lost at the WHO, which employ more than 8,000 people around the world.

“VERY PAINFUL”

But he acknowledged that “we will be saying goodbye to a significant number of colleagues” and vowed to do so “humanely”.

Tedros insisted that the most significant impact would likely be felt at the organisation’s headquarters in Geneva. “We are starting with reductions in senior management,” he said.

“We are reducing the senior leadership team at headquarters from 12 to seven, and the number of departments will be reduced by (more than) half, from 76 to 34,” Tedros said.

WHO’s regional offices would meanwhile be affected “to varying degrees”, he said, adding that some country offices in wealthier countries would likely be closed.

“These are very painful decisions for all of us,” Tedros said.

The WHO chief insisted the situation could have been worse.

WHO member states agreed in 2022 to significantly increase membership fees and reduce the portion of WHO’s budget covered by less reliable and often earmarked voluntary contributions.

“Without the increase, assessed contributions for the current biennium would have been US$746 million,” he said, adding that instead, WHO expects to receive US$1.07 billion in membership fees for 2026 to 2027, “even without the US contribution”.

Nonetheless, WHO needed to reduce its activities and recentre on its core functions, he said, even as he acknowledged that “many countries need our support now more than ever”.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/who-announces-significant-layoffs-amid-us-funding-cut-5082076

In the Brazilian state of Bahia, farmer Moises Schmidt is developing the world’s largest cocoa farm.
His plan is to revolutionize the way the main ingredient in chocolate is produced, growing high-yield cocoa trees, fully irrigated and fertilized, in an area bigger than the island of Manhattan that is not currently known for producing the beans.

Schmidt’s $300 million plan is the largest and the most innovative in that region, but not the only one. There are similar super-sized projects under development, some of them nearly as big, as well-capitalized farming groups look to apply industrial-scale agriculture expertise to cocoa production to profit from sky-high prices for the beans.

If those plans work, the industry’s center of gravity could shift back to Brazil, where the cocoa tree is native, from West Africa.
“I believe Brazil will become the world’s cocoa breadbasket,” Schmidt told Reuters while walking amid row after row of young cocoa trees stretching to the distance in this flat savanna land in the country’s Centre-North region.
He estimates that as much as 500,000 hectares (1.236 million acres) of high yield cocoa farms could be in place in Brazil in 10 years, which would produce as much as 1.6 million tons of cocoa.
By comparison, Brazil currently produces only around 200,000 tons, while the world’s top grower Ivory Coast harvests 10 times more than that. Ghana, the second largest global grower, produces around 700,000 tons of the beans.

Currently, the global cocoa industry is in crisis. Production is failing in Ivory Coast and neighboring Ghana, which between them grow more than 60% of the world’s cocoa. A potent mix of plant disease, climate change and aging plantations has led to three consecutive years of falling output.
That’s been bad news for chocolate lovers. Cocoa prices nearly tripled in 2024, hitting a record high of $12,931 a metric ton in December. The price has since come off to around $8,200, but remains well above the historical averages.

OPPORTUNITY IN CRISIS?

For Schmidt and other farmers in Brazil, the crisis is viewed as an opportunity. The Schmidt Agricola family business started preparing to cultivate cocoa in 2019 after concluding with the help of an in-house assessment of the cocoa market that there would be a future supply shortfall.

“We just didn’t think it would happen so soon,” he said, as he walked through the greenhouses on his farm that nurse seedlings.
His planned 10,000-hectare (24,105 acres) farm would dwarf the size of the small farms in West Africa that typically span a few dozen hectares. There are large farms in other producing countries such as Ecuador and Indonesia, some of them going over 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) in size, but still much smaller than Schmidt’s planned giant.
The plan is to apply large-scale agriculture techniques to the fully irrigated cocoa farm as if it were a soybean or corn field. The trees in the farm in the municipality of Riachao das Neves, in the west of Bahia state will be packed together, leaving only enough room between them for mechanized watering and application of fertilizer and pesticides.

Schmidt is planting 1,600 trees per hectare in the new areas, compared to only 300 trees in conventional farms. The concentration should mean a much higher yield per hectare.
“The only thing that is not mechanized yet is the fruit picking from the trees,” the farmer said.
Some see this method of farming as a game changer.
“Five years from now everything we used to know about cocoa production would have changed,” said Tales Rocha, a cocoa agronomist for TRF Consultoria Agricola, a company that advises farmers in Brazil.
Rocha said the savanna region in Western Bahia has the ideal topography for large scale agriculture, with its extended flat expanses.
Farming groups such as Schmidt Agricola already produce soybeans, corn, cotton and fruits in thousands of hectares in Western Bahia, a region with ample water supplies.

MILLIONS OF SEEDLINGS

At the new farms, the cocoa trees are grown in the open, with plenty of sunlight. This contrasts with traditional cocoa plantations elsewhere in Brazil and worldwide, where cocoa trees share space with other types of trees and get some shade.
Schmidt is developing high-yield trees through a seedling operation he has been running since 2019. His team has produced new cocoa varieties through so-called positive selection, a years-long project where seedlings are multiplied from material taken from the plants that produced the highest fruit load in test fields.
The high-yielding trees planted on some 400 hectares (988 acres) in the first phase of the project are producing around 3,000 kilos per hectare (kg/h) (6,613 pounds), or 10 times the average yield of traditional cocoa areas in Brazil. Schmidt said his target is to get past 4,000 kg/h (8,818 pounds). That would be eight times the 500 kg/h (1,102 pounds) average yield in top producer the Ivory Coast.
Very high yields above 2,000 kg/ha have been reached in small test fields run by the Executive Commission for Cocoa Cultivation Planning, Brazil’s cocoa research agency, using high density of plants, opens new tab.
The researchers, however, said the results would need to be confirmed with larger scale planting and added there were questions about the economic feasibility of such practice, that would require extensive crop care and workforce.
Schmidt’s nursery installation, which operates as a separate company called BioBrasil, uses propagation machinery from Denmark’s forestry equipment maker Ellepot with capacity to produce 10 million seedlings per year. It produces the trees for the planned giant farm and also sells seedlings to other cocoa projects in Brazil.

Some people in the market, however, are not so certain this kind of expansion will indeed happen in Brazil.
“As always, price is the key determinant. At around $4,000 per ton Brazil was barely interested,” said Pam Thornton, a veteran cocoa consultant and beans trader.
“After talking to many Brazilian farmers and visiting a bunch of large commercial farms, I believe world prices have to demonstrate that they will remain near current price levels for another year or so for them to expand acreage, and probably several thousand dollars higher for it to be in a meaningful way,” she said.
Schmidt says that cocoa from his operation would be profitable even at around $4,000 per ton. “Above $6,000 it is super profitable, much better than soy or corn,” he said.
Long-term supply and demand projections seem positive for prices, considering that production in West Africa is stable or “locked into a long cycle of diminishing outcomes,” said U.S.-based veteran cocoa broker and analyst Marcelo Dorea, Chief Executive of M3I Capital Management.
“The market must, heretofore, seek alternative sources of meaningful production,” he said, adding that Brazil looks like a natural option considering cocoa know-how and land availability.

BIG COCOA IS WATCHING

Schmidt Agricola cultivates more than 35,000 hectares with soybeans, corn and cotton in Bahia. It has preliminary agreements through memorandum of understandings with chocolate producers and cocoa traders, Schmidt said.
Cargill, one of the world’s largest commodities traders and food processors, is already a partner in the initial phase encompassing the 400 hectares, and is in talks to expand the partnership.
Schmidt said that nearly all of the big cocoa traders or chocolate companies are talking to him and other farmers in Brazil regarding expansion and supply deals.
The partnerships would include investment to develop the projects, and in return the investing companies would guarantee cocoa supplies, he said.
“We are working on the contracts now,” he said, declining to name the firms, citing non-disclosure clauses.
Barry Callebaut (BARN.S), the world’s largest supplier of cocoa products and chocolate, is in talks to partner with farming group Fazenda Santa Colomba in an investment to form a cocoa farm of 5,000 (12,355 acres) to 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) in the municipality of Cocos in Western Bahia, two sources familiar with the negotiation told Reuters.
Santa Colomba declined to comment.
Barry Callebaut confirmed it has signed a partnership with one farming group in Brazil for a 5,000 hectare cocoa farm in Bahia, but declined to name the group. The deal is part of the Future Farming Initiative launched by the company to boost high-tech cocoa farming and to diversify its geographical presence.
“We are making good progress with FFI and continue to see interest from partners, clients, and investors globally,” it said.
Mars, the U.S. producer of Snickers bars and M&Ms, has set up a cocoa test field not far from Schmidt’s farm in Riachao das Neves, Bahia.
The company said its test field in the area is part of its efforts to deal with climate change and falling cocoa productivity around the world.
“Bahia is attractive due to flat topography, fertile soils, reliable water availability and established agronomical infrastructure,” said Luciel Fernandes, a manager at Mars Center for Cocoa Science in Brazil.

POTENTIAL RISKS

A leading cocoa researcher in Brazil, however, is worried.
Plant pathologist Karina Peres Gramacho, who works for CEPLAC, believes there are risks to the plans for extensive cocoa fields in Western Bahia.
The fact that each of those mega projects are based on thousands of clones of the same type of tree could leave the future fields vulnerable to diseases, which are very common in cocoa cultivation.
Brazil was once second only to Ivory Coast in cocoa production, but a devastating fungus in the 1980’s known as Witches’ Broom decimated thousands of hectares of cocoa crops.
Gramacho supports the idea of using more developed and regionally adequate varieties, usually hybrids that combine qualities from more than one genotype.
Some industry analysts also have questions about the quality of the cocoa that would be grown in direct sunlight, because fruit that is produced in shade is typically considered to have superior taste.
Cristiano Villela Dias, scientific director at Brazil’s Cocoa Innovation Center (CIC), says that some initial tests with the fruits produced in Western Bahia indicated no discernible difference in taste.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/brazils-would-be-cocoa-king-aims-revolutionize-industry-with-giant-farm-2025-04-22/

The Israeli government shared and then deleted a social media post offering condolences over the death of Pope Francis, without saying why, though an Israeli newspaper linked the decision to the late pontiff’s criticism of the war in Gaza.
The verified @Israel account had posted on Monday a message on social media platform X that read: “Rest in Peace, Pope Francis. May his memory be a blessing”, alongside an image of the pope visiting the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem Post quoted officials at the foreign ministry as saying that the pope had made “statements against Israel” and that the social media post had been published in “error”.
The foreign ministry, which social media platform X states on its website is linked to the verified @Israel account, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Francis, who died on Monday aged 88, suggested last November that the global community should study whether Israel’s military campaign in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people, in some of his most explicit criticism yet of Israel’s conduct in its war with Hamas that began in Oct. 2023.

In January the pope also called the humanitarian situation in Gaza “shameful”, prompting criticism from Rome’s chief Jewish rabbi who accused Francis of “selective indignation”.
Israel says accusations of genocide in its Gaza campaign are baseless and that it is solely hunting down Hamas and other armed groups.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who leads a far-right coalition of religious and nationalist parties, has not commented on the pope’s death.
However, Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Monday sent a message of condolence to Christians in the Holy Land and around the world, describing Francis as “a man of deep faith and boundless compassion”.
Relations between the Catholic Church and Judaism have improved in recent decades, after centuries of animosity.
Pope Francis was usually careful during his 12-year pontificate about taking sides in conflicts, and he condemned the growth of antisemitic groups, while also speaking by phone with Gaza’s tiny Christian community every evening during the war.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israel-shares-then-deletes-condolences-over-popes-death-2025-04-22/

AFTER twelve long years serving as the leader of 1.4billion Catholics around the world, Pope Francis’ final journey has now begun.

As the world mourns the loss of the beloved pontiff, carefully orchestrated plans are underway in the Vatican for his “humble” funeral.

The pontiff’s funeral will take place on Saturday morning in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City in Rome, with the service scheduled to begin at 10am local time.

The service will be led by the dean of the College of Cardinals and is expected to draw top world leaders who will join thousands of mourners from across the globe for the historic event.

This includes President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who have announced they would attend the Pope’s funeral.

Meanwhile, No10 said that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will also attend the funeral.

Prince William is also to attend the Pope’s funeral on behalf of the King, Kensington Palace announced.

King Charles and Queen Camilla have paid tribute to the Pope in a touching statement.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa are also expected to attend.

Many nations are likely to send heads of state or government to take part in the historic and rare event.

The ceremony will be celebrated by the cardinals, with Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, leading the service.

He will also deliver the final commendation, the solemn rite that formally entrusts the Pope’s soul to God.

To mark the beginning of the last rites, Francis’ coffin will be kept at The Chapel of Casa Santa Marta – his Vatican residence – for a moment of prayer.

A funeral procession, expected to be two miles long, will then start heading towards St. Peter’s Basilica, where the last rites will take place.

The procession will pass through the Vatican’s Santa Marta and the First Roman Martyrs Square.

From the Arch of the Bells, it will exit into St. Peter’s Square and enter St. Peter’s Basilica through the central door.

The Pope will be kept in the open space of the basilica for thousands of followers to see and pray.

A funeral mass will then be co-celebrated by cardinals and ceremonially dressed senior clerics and other members of the clergy.

Following the funeral, the Pope’s body will be moved to the burial site outside the Vatican.

A humble Francis decreed in his will that he would be interred in a simple underground tomb at Santa Maria Maggiore, unlike the previous Popes who had been buried in the crypts beneath St Peter’s Basilica.

Francis will be the first pope in more than a hundred years to be buried outside of the Vatican walls.

He also said he had arranged for an unnamed benefactor to cover the costs of the burial.

Even the age-old tradition of preparing three coffins of cypress, lead and oak has been ditched, as desired by Francis during the years before his death.

He will be buried in a simple underground tomb prepared “without particular ornamentation,” marked only as “Franciscus,” according to his wishes.

The Pope’s death has triggered centuries-old Vatican rituals, including the symbolic breaking of his “Fisherman’s Ring” and lead seal, marking the start of the Church’s transition to a new leader.

Saturday will mark the first of nine official days of mourning, a traditional period known as novemdiales.

Once this mourning phase concludes, the conclave process to elect the next Pope will formally begin.

Tens of thousands of catholics and followers of Pope Francis are expected to attend the events.

Apart from the top world leaders, a slew of celebrities could go to Rome to attend the historic event.

This could include stars like Leonardo DiCaprio and football legend Lionel Messi.

The fashion designer said she spent the week ‘reconnecting’ with her family and nature

IVANKA Trump shared stunning photos from her family’s luxurious trip to Costa Rica.

The fashion designer boasted about the “raw beauty” of the Latin American country as she spent time with her family for Easter and Passover.

“Grateful doesn’t begin to cover it,” she began her lengthy caption on Instagram.

“Spending Passover and Easter week surrounded by the raw beauty of Costa Rica was a gift beyond words. Time slowed.

“We surfed under golden skies, zipped through the jungle canopy, leapt into cool waterfalls, read until the sun dipped low, and surrendered to stillness and deep sleep.”

The golden skies and waterfalls could be seen in the photo carousel Ivanka shared.

The first photo of the slide is Ivanka rocking a black bikini as she rides a wave in Costa Rica.

Other photos show the fashionista cliff jumping off a waterfall, running along the beach, and riding horses with her children.

In one adorable photo, Ivanka smiles with her eight-year-old son, Theodore, as they ride horses during sunset.

Ivanka included other photos of herself with her surfboard and a black bikini with high-waisted bottoms, walking along a palm-tree-lined beach.

“But more than the adventure, this week was about reconnecting—with the Earth, with faith, and with one another. Logging off and tuning in,” she continued.

“Grounding in nature’s rhythm. Feeling the sacred in the silence, in the laughter of my children, in the breath of the trees.”

The mother of three also included a photo of three books she was reading while “reconnecting” with her family.

The books pictured are The Tell, The Women, and the sci-fi novel, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow.

“My heart is full of gratitude for these moments of togetherness and renewal,” she wrote.

“Wishing you all the same kind of peace and presence, wherever you are. Pura vida. Shalom.”

Ivanka converted to Judaism in 2009, when she married Jared Kushner, a former real estate developer.

On her Instagram story, Ivanka posted photos of her children ziplining, more videos of the family riding horses, and sunsets that turned the sky a pink hue.

Shannon Sharpe’s rape accuser claims the football legend purportedly can be heard threatening to choke her in bombshell audio Page Six obtained from her lawyer Tuesday.

The “Club Shay Shay” host, 56, purportedly asks the woman — who recently sued him for $50 million for rape and battery — “You want to be a d–k to me now?,” prompting her to reply, “Don’t manipulate me.”

A man the accuser claims is Sharpe then allegedly responds, “Lord have mercy. If you say that word one more time, I will f–king choke the s–t out of you when I see you. … Thank you.”

The woman appears to tell Sharpe she does not “want to be choked,” to which he purportedly tells her, “Yes, you do. I don’t think you have a choice in the matter.”

Page Six cannot independently confirm the authenticity of the undated clip or whether it is Sharpe in the audio. It is also not clear whether the audio represents a complete conversation between her and Sharpe or in what context the conversation occurred.

We have reached out to the former NFL star’s reps for comment but did not immediately hear back.

However, in a video posted to Instagram on Tuesday, he claimed the accuser’s allegations are a “shakedown” and accused her lawyer, Tony Buzbee, of “orchestrating” the entire ordeal and trying to “manipulate” the media.

“That video should actually be 10 minutes or so,” Sharpe claimed before telling Buzbee, “Hey, Tony, instead of releasing your edit, put the whole video out. I don’t have it or I would myself.”

Sharpe has also vehemently denied the rape allegations his accuser made in her lawsuit earlier this week.

The damning audio surfaced after Sharpe released a series of X-rated texts in an apparent effort to prove his innocence after the woman, identified only as Jane Doe in her suit, accused him of sexually assaulting her multiple times at the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025.

She claimed they met at a Los Angeles gym when she was 20 and the Hall of Famer was in his 50s, and they began a consensual relationship that allegedly turned controlling and abusive.

“He demanded complete control over her time and body, expecting her to be at his house on his schedule, at his command, whenever he called,” Buzbee claimed in court documents filed Sunday.

Doe allegedly once got into a dispute with Sharpe when his firearm was visibly in the room — which “frightened” her.

The former athlete’s attorneys said Monday that the complaint was “filled with lies, distortions and misrepresentations” and, in an attempt to show the nature of their relationship, shared with the public a text from May 5, 2023, that read, “Tie me up like this & f–k me,” to which Sharpe replied, “IF* I knew how to I would.”

“Each text released occurred before the alleged rape at issue in the case; the attached audio reveals the nature of Sharpe’s relationship with Jane Doe immediately prior to the alleged assault,” Buzbee now tells Page Six.

In response to Sharpe’s lawyers revealing Doe’s identity to the public, her attorney adds, “Doxing and trying to humiliate or discredit Jane Doe won’t deter her from pursuing justice in court.”

Buzbee continues, “The statement from Sharpe’s newest lawyer falsely accuses Ms. Jane Doe of editing a video — a claim that is not only demonstrably false, but also desperate. The lawyer also suggests Ms. Doe refused to make the video available to Mr. Sharpe. Again, this assertion is easily proven untrue. “

He claims Sharpe has switched lawyers several times throughout a period of mediation they had in February and claims Doe ultimately “refused the hefty sum offered by Sharpe and instead filed this case” Sunday night.

Buzbee notes that the contents of the audio provided are “certainly not sexual,” adding, “They are not playful. They are instead disturbing, aggressive and dangerous.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/04/22/celebrity-news/shannon-sharpe-threatens-to-choke-the-s-t-out-of-rape-accuser-in-damning-audio/

A wildfire exploding in size near the New Jersey shore caused officials to order thousands to evacuate and close a 17-mile stretch of the state’s busiest highway as dark smoke poured into the Jersey Shore region.

The Jones Road Wildfire sparked on Tuesday in the Greenwood Forest Wildlife Management Area near Barnegat Township in Ocean County. As of Tuesday evening, it had consumed 3,200 acres and was only 5% contained.

Some 3,000 people were told to evacuate as the fire so far is threatening over 1,300 homes and structures, according to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.

Evacuations stretch along portions of Highways 532, 539, 72 and 9 and multiple shelters have been established for those fleeing the flames.

Additional voluntary evacuations are in place for several areas of Barnegat Township.

The busy Garden State Parkway is closed in both directions at from Exit 63-80, according to officials. Photos shared by the Garden State Parkway show smoke covering the highway and flames nearing the road.

Jersey Central Power & Light reportedly cut power along the Garden State Parkway due to the wildfire, according to the Barnegat Police Department. More than 25,000 people are without power in Ocean County, according to FindEnergy.com.

Dark smoke and ash was observed blowing across the Garden State Parkway in surrounding Ocean County communities to the north and east, including Toms River, and closer to the beach in Seaside Heights.

Forest Fire Service fire engines, bulldozers, ground crews and air support are responding to the fire.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/04/22/us-news/nj-wildfire-prompts-evacuations-as-it-explodes-in-size-closes-part-of-garden-state-parkway/

Today in history:

On April 22, 1889, the Oklahoma Land Rush began at noon as thousands of homesteaders staked claims to nearly 1.9 million acres of land that was formerly part of Indian Territory; by the end of the day, the cities of Oklahoma City and Guthrie were established with as many as 10,000 settlers each.

Also on this date:

In 1915, German forces unleashed its first full-scale use of chlorine gas against Allied troops at the start of the Second Battle of Ypres in Belgium during World War I; thousands of Allied soldiers are believed to have died from the poison gas attacks.

In 1954, the publicly televised sessions of the Senate Army-McCarthy hearings began.

In 1970, an estimated 20 million Americans participated in gatherings for the first “Earth Day,” a series of events proposed by Senator Gaylord Nelson to promote environmental protections.

In 1994, Richard M. Nixon, the 37th president of the United States and the first to resign from office, died at a New York hospital four days after having a stroke; he was 81.

Egg on his face!

The internet was abuzz Sunday as sleuths tried to figure out whether former President Joe Biden photoshopped himself into his family’s Easter picture.

Biden, 82, posted a picture featuring his family sitting on some steps in Delaware — without scandal-scarred son Hunter Biden — on X.

The former president was apparently seated on the top step wearing a blue suit — but social media users quickly became skeptical of whether the octogenarian was actually there.

X users noted Biden’s strange hand placement, the lighting on his face and his overall positioning, making it unclear if he’s crouching or sitting behind his family.

Former first lady Jill Biden’s hair also looks altered on her right side, where her husband’s suit is, raising more alarm.

“I mean this is obviously photoshopped right? Is he supposed to be standing? Crouching down? This doesn’t even look like a plausible physically position guys,” one social media user wrote.

“This is photoshop. Biden face is brightly lit from top/bottom. Everyone else’s is diffused (shaded) Biden has no discernible shadow. Jill casts a shadow, Biden does not. Super awkward body position. Head size doesn’t match depth line. Is [Joe Biden] alive?” wrote another.

“Is your forearm 4ft long?” wrote a third. “With your arm at that angle, it’s physically impossible for those to be your fingers. Who the hell is doing this crappy Photoshop job?”

Tennessee Star reporter Tom Pappert wrote: “Why is Biden wearing a full suit and tie and TV makeup for this loving family photo”?

“Dude all politics aside, this is so bizarre. I don’t understand the [special] arrangement of Joe in this picture. Everyone in the back row of the photo *except Joe* appears to be sitting. So why isn’t he towering over them? Are we supposed to believe he’s sitting or something?” wrote yet another X user.

Others jumped to Biden’s defense, arguing he likely didn’t photoshop the picture.

“I don’t think Biden was actually photoshopped into this pic (the hand is on the guy’s back in front of him), but he still looks as photoshopped as they come. If they were gonna photoshop him in, they would definitely have made it look less obvious,” wrote social media user RedEaglePatriot.

The photoshop speculation comes after years of White House staffers claiming the former president was in top physical shape — only for voters to see Biden blunder his first and only presidential debate with President Trump in the 2024 election.

Source : https://nypost.com/2025/04/21/us-news/biden-accused-of-photoshopping-himself-into-easter-family-picture/

U.S. stocks suffered steep losses on Monday as U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up his attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, prompting investors to worry about the central bank’s independence even as they grapple with the effects of Trump’s ongoing, erratic trade war.
All three major indexes tumbled more than 2%, with big losses in the “Magnificent Seven” group of megacap growth stocks weighing heaviest on the tech-laden Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 closed 16% below its February 19 record closing high. If the bellwether index closes 20% below that all-time high, that will confirm the index has entered a bear market.
Trump escalated his criticism of Powell on Monday, saying the U.S. economy is headed for a slowdown “unless Mr. Too Late, a major loser, lowers interest rates NOW,” in a bellicose Truth Social post which raised concerns over the Fed’s autonomy.
“Countries that have an independent central bank grow faster, have lower inflation; they have better economic outcomes for their people,” said Jed Ellerbroek, portfolio manager at Argent Capital Management in St. Louis. “And politicians trying to influence the Fed is a really bad idea, and it’s very scary for the market.”

The Sino-U.S. trade rift deepened after Beijing warned other countries against striking deals with the United States at China’s expense, adding fuel to the spiraling tariff war between the world’s two largest economies.
“Companies are … not sure how to respond, waiting for final answers from the United States about tariff rates,” Ellerbroek added. “What makes it dispiriting, I think, is the fact that this is like self-inflicted; we’re in this situation by choice, by this administration’s choice.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), fell 971.82 points, or 2.48%, to 38,170.41, the S&P 500 (.SPX), lost 124.50 points, or 2.36%, to 5,158.20 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), lost 415.55 points, or 2.55%, to 15,870.90.

All 11 major sectors in the S&P 500 ended in negative territory, with consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD) and tech (.SPLRCT) suffering the biggest percentage losses.

First-quarter earnings season shifts into higher gear this week with dozens of closely watched firms due to report. So far, of the 59 companies that have reported, 68% have beaten Wall Street expectations, according to LSEG data.

As of Thursday, analysts expect aggregate first-quarter S&P 500 earnings growth of 8.1%, year-on-year, down from the 12.2% growth projected at the beginning of the quarter, per LSEG.

Notable earnings on the docket this week include Magnificent Seven members Tesla (TSLA.O), and Alphabet (GOOGL.O), and a host of high-profile industrials including Boeing (BA.N), Northrop Grumman (NOC.N), Lockheed Martin (LMT.N), and 3M (MMM.N).
Artificial intelligence heavyweight Nvidia (NVDA.O), dropped 4.5% after Reuters reported that Huawei Technologies planned to begin mass shipments of an advanced AI chip to customers in China as early as next month.

Tesla dropped 5.8% after Reuters reported that the production launch of its stripped-down version of the Model Y was delayed.

FIS (FIS.N) gained 2.4% after a brokerage upgrade.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 4.76-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 77 new highs and 180 new lows on the NYSE.
On the Nasdaq, 1,205 stocks rose and 3,174 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 2.63-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted one new 52-week high and nine new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 28 new highs and 184 new lows.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/us-stock-futures-drop-trump-takes-aim-powell-2025-04-21/

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the National Public Radio story on the search was not true.

Amid the buzz of US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth leaving the Trump administration, the White House on Monday refuted the claims that it has begun searching for a new defense secretary.

According to National Public Radio (NPR) report, the Trump administration reportedly began looking for a new secretary of defense after Hegseth continued to face mounting controversy related to the leak of sensitive military information.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the National Public Radio story on the search was not true.

As per the reports, the Pentagon Chief shared information regarding planned attacks on Yemen to a private Signal group chat that included his wife, brother and personal lawyer.

The critical information was shared by the US Defence boss before the US launched military strikes on Yemen on March 15- raising questions about the use of Signal to share highly sensitive security details.

Earlier, a group chat from the unclassified messaging app in which Pete Hegseth shared critical details of the attack plans to other Trump administration officials was made public by Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg who had been accidentally added to the group where all of Donald Trump’s most senior national security officials.

Neither the White House nor Hegseth denied that he had shared such information in a second chat, instead focusing their responses on what they called the disgruntled workers whom they blamed for leaking to the media and insisting that no classified information had been disclosed.

Hegseth responding to the latest claims about sharing details in private family Signal group chat, said the allegations were part of a broader effort to damage his reputation.

Despite the claims, the White House has reaffirmed its support for Hegseth.

“It’s just fake news. They just bring up stories,” President Donald Trump told reporters. “I guess it sounds like disgruntled employees. You know, he was put there to get rid of a lot of bad people, and that’s what he’s doing. So you don’t always have friends when you do that,” Trump said.

The White House also tried to deflect attention from the national security implications of the latest Signal revelation by framing it as the outgrowth of an institutional power struggle between Hegseth and the career workforce. But some of the recently departed officials the administration appeared to dismiss as disgruntled were part of Hegseth’s initial inner circle, brought in when he took the job.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/is-us-defence-chief-pete-hegseth-stepping-down-white-house-says-this-amid-buzz-ws-l-9308104.html

Steak, mashed potatoes and deserts for astronauts could soon be grown from individual cells in space if an experiment launched into orbit today is successful.

A European Space Agency (ESA) project is assessing the viability of growing so-called lab-grown food in the low gravity and higher radiation in orbit and on other worlds.

ESA is funding the research to explore new ways of reducing the cost of feeding an astronaut, which can cost up to £20,000 per day.

The team involved say the experiment is a first step to developing a small pilot food production plant on the International Space Station in two years’ time.

Lab-grown food will be essential if Nasa’s objective of making humanity a multi-planetary species were to be realised, claims Dr Aqeel Shamsul, CEO and founder of Bedford-based Frontier Space, which is developing the concept with researchers at Imperial College, London.

“Our dream is to have factories in orbit and on the Moon,” he told BBC News.

“We need to build manufacturing facilities off world if we are to provide the infrastructure to enable humans to live and work in space”.

Lab-grown food involves growing food ingredients, such as protein, fat and carbohydrates in test tubes and vats and then processing them to make them look and taste like normal food.

Lab-grown chicken is already on sale in the US and Singapore and lab grown steak is awaiting approval in the UK and Israel. On Earth, there are claimed environmental benefits for the technology over traditional agricultural food production methods, such as less land use and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. But in space the primary driver is to reduce costs.

The researchers are doing the experiment because it costs so much to send astronauts food on the ISS – up to £20,000 per astronaut per day, they estimate.

Nasa, other space agencies and private sector firms plan to have a long-term presence on the Moon, in orbiting space stations and maybe one day on Mars. That will mean sending up food for tens and eventually hundreds of astronauts living and working in space – something that would be prohibitively expensive if it were sent up by rockets, according to Dr Shamsul.

Growing food in space would make much more sense, he suggests.

“We could start off simply with protein-enhanced mashed potatoes on to more complex foods which we could put together in space,” he tells me.

“But in the longer term we could put the lab-grown ingredients into a 3D printer and print off whatever you want on the space station, such as a steak!”

This sounds like the replicator machines on Star Trek, which are able to produce food and drink from pure energy. But it is no longer the stuff of science fiction, says Dr Shamsul.

He showed me a set-up, called a bioreactor, at Imperial College’s Bezos Centre for Sustainable Proteins in west London. It comprised a brick-coloured concoction bubbling away in a test tube. The process is known as precision fermentation, which is like the fermentation used to make beer, but different: “precision” is a rebranding word for genetically engineered.

In this case a gene has been added to yeast to produce extra vitamins, but all sorts of ingredients can be produced in this way, according to Dr Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro, Director of the Bezos Centre.

“We can make all the elements to make food,” says Dr Ledesma-Amaro proudly.

“We can make proteins, fats, carbohydrates, fibres and they can be combined to make different dishes.”

A much smaller, simpler version of the biorector has been sent into space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of the ESA mission. There is plenty of evidence that foods can be successfully grown from cells on Earth, but can the process be repeated in the weightlessness and higher radiation of space?

Drs Ledesma-Amaro and Shamsul have sent small amounts of the yeast concoction to orbit the Earth in a small cube satellite on board Europe’s first commercial returnable spacecraft, Phoenix. If all goes to plan, it will orbit the Earth for around three hours before falling back to Earth off the coast of Portugal. The experiment will be retrieved by a recovery vessel and sent back to the lab in London to be examined.

The data they gather will inform the construction of a larger, better bioreactor which the scientists will send into space next year, according to Dr Ledesma-Amaro.

The problem, though, is that the brick-coloured goo, which is dried into a powder, looks distinctly unappetising – even less appetising than the freeze-dried fare that astronauts currently have to put up with.

That is where Imperial College’s master chef comes in. Jakub Radzikowski is the culinary education designer tasked with turning chemistry into cuisine.

He isn’t allowed to use lab grown ingredients to make dishes for people just yet, because regulatory approval is still pending. But he’s getting a head start. For now, instead of lab-grown ingredients, Jakub is using starches and proteins from naturally occurring fungi to develop his recipes. He tells me all sorts of dishes will be possible, once he gets the go-ahead to use lab-grown ingredients.

“We want to create food that is familiar to astronauts who are from different parts of the world so that it can provide comfort.

“We can create anything from French, Chinese, Indian. It will be possible to replicate any kind of cuisine in space.”

Today, Jakub is trying out a new recipe of spicy dumplings and dipping sauce. He tells me that I am allowed to try them out, but taster-in-chief is someone far more qualified: Helen Sharman, the UK’s first astronaut, who also has a PhD in chemistry.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp34wzql2xvo

Harvard University filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration to stop billions of dollars in proposed cuts.

The suit filed Monday is part of a feud that escalated last week when the elite institution rejected a list of demands that the Trump administration said was designed to curb diversity initiatives and fight anti-semitism at the school.

President Donald Trump froze $2.2bn (£1.7bn) of federal funding and also threatened the university’s tax-exempt status.

“The consequences of the government’s overreach will be severe and long-lasting,” Harvard’s president Alan M. Garber said in a letter to the university on Monday.

The White House responded later Monday night in a statement.

“The gravy train of federal assistance to institutions like Harvard, which enrich their grossly overpaid bureaucrats with tax dollars from struggling American families is coming to an end. Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege”, said White House spokesman Harrison Fields.

Mr Garber said the funding freeze affected critical research including studies on pediatric cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

“In recent weeks, the federal Government has launched a broad attack on the critical funding partnerships that make this invaluable research possible,” the school’s lawsuit said.

“This case involves the Government’s efforts to use the withholding of federal funding as leverage to gain control of academic decisionmaking at Harvard.”

Aside from funding, the Trump administration days ago also threatened Harvard’s ability to enroll international students.

Mr Garber, who is Jewish, acknowledged Harvard’s campus has had issues with anti-semitism but said he had established task forces to work with the problem. He said the university would release the report of two task forces that looked into anti-semitism and anti-Muslim bias.

The prominent US university, located in Massachusetts, is not the only institution faced with withholding of federal dollars, which play an outsized role in funding new scientific breakthroughs.

The administration has targeted other private Ivy League institutions including suspending $1bn at Cornell University and $510 million at Brown University.

Others such as Columbia University, the epicentre of pro-Palestinian campus protests last year, have agreed to some demands after $400 million of federal funds was threatened.

The demands to Harvard included agreeing to government-approved external audits of the university’s curriculum as well as hiring and admission data. In response, Harvard released a blistering letter rejecting them.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4grwkyxgjwo

Ukraine’s military has reported Russian drone attacks on several regions overnight, just hours after the end of a 30-hour “Easter truce” declared by Moscow.

Air raid alerts were issued by Ukraine’s air force for the Kyiv region, as well as Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, Cherkasy, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia.

In the southern city of Mykolaiv, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said “explosions were heard”. It was not immediately clear whether there were any casualties.

Russia’s defence ministry confirmed it has resumed fighting, adding that its military had “strictly observed the ceasefire and remained at the previously occupied lines and positions”.

The truce declared by President Vladimir Putin expired at midnight on Sunday Moscow time (21:00 GMT). Both sides accused each other of violating the ceasefire thousands of times.

Early on Monday residents in several Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, were urged by local authorities to go immediately to nearby shelters due to the threat of drone strikes.

In the Kyiv region, local officials said air defence forces were “working on targets”.

Ukraine’s air force also reported a “rocket danger” for central regions, and said Russian aircraft were “active in the north-eastern and eastern directions”.

In an update on Telegram, the air force said Russia launched 96 drones overnight, as well as striking the southern region of Mykolaiv two missiles and Kherson with a third missile.

In Mykolaiv, regional head Vitaliy Kim said shortly afterwards that the city had been attacked by missiles. “There were no casualties or damage,” he added.

Several hours before the truce expired, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had not given an order to extend it, Russia’s state-run news agency Tass reported.

The BBC has not independently verified the claims by Ukraine and Russia.

US President Donald Trump – who has been pushing for an end to the war – said late on Sunday that “hopefully Russia and Ukraine will make a deal this week”. He gave no further details.

Rosenberg: Is Putin’s ‘Easter truce’ cause for scepticism or chance for peace?
Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, and currently controls about 20% Ukraine’s territory, including the southern Crimea peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.

It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people – the vast majority of them soldiers – have been killed or injured on all sides since 2022.

Last month, Moscow came up with a long list of conditions in response to a full and unconditional ceasefire that had been agreed by the US and Ukraine.

On Saturday, President Putin said there would be an end to all hostilities from 18:00 Moscow time (15:00 GMT) on Saturday until midnight on Sunday. Kyiv said it would also adhere.

“For this period, I order all military actions to cease,” Putin said in his announcement.

“We assume that the Ukrainian side will follow our example. At the same time, our troops must be ready to repel possible violations of the truce and provocations from the enemy, any of its aggressive actions.”

However, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said late on Sunday there had been a total of 1,882 cases of Russian shelling, 812 of which involved heavy weaponry, according to a report from Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi.

The president said the heaviest shelling and assaults were in eastern Ukraine near the besieged city of Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub in the Donetsk region.

“The nature of Ukrainian actions will continue to be mirrored: we will respond to silence with silence, our strikes will be to protect against Russian strikes,” Zelensky said.

Earlier on Sunday, he said “there were no air raid alerts today”, referring to Russia’s daily drone and missile strikes against Ukraine.

He proposed “to cease any strikes using long-range drones and missiles on civilian infrastructure for a period of at least 30 days, with the possibility of extension”.

Zelensky also said Putin’s declaration of a truce amounted to a “PR” exercise and his words were “empty”. He accused the Kremlin of trying to create “a general impression of a ceasefire”.

“This Easter has clearly demonstrated that the only source of this war, and the reason it drags on, is Russia,” the president said.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy5r9yppykeo

A senior Palestinian official familiar with Israel-Hamas ceasefire negotiations has told the BBC that Qatari and Egyptian mediators have proposed a new formula to end the war in Gaza.

According to the official, it envisages a truce lasting between five and seven years, the release of all Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, a formal end to the war, and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

A senior Hamas delegation was due to arrive in Cairo for consultations.

The last ceasefire collapsed a month ago when Israel resumed bombing Gaza, with both sides blaming each other for the failure to keep it going.

Israel has not commented on the mediators’ plan.

Hamas will be represented at discussions in Cairo by the head of its political council, Mohammed Darwish, and its lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya.

It comes days after the movement rejected Israel’s latest proposal, which included a demand for Hamas to disarm in return for a six-week truce.

On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would not end the war before Hamas was destroyed and all the hostages returned. Hamas has demanded Israel commit to ending the war before the hostages are freed.

The Palestinian official familiar with the talks told the BBC that Hamas has signalled its readiness to hand over governance of Gaza to any Palestinian entity agreed upon “at the national and regional level”. The official said this could be the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority (PA) or a newly formed administrative body.

Netanyahu has ruled out any role for the PA in the future governance of Gaza, which has been ruled by Hamas since 2007.

While it is still too early to assess the likelihood of success, the source described the current mediation effort as serious and said Hamas had shown “unprecedented flexibility”.

Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, killing about about 1,200 people – mostly civilians – and taking 251 back to Gaza as hostages. Israel launched a massive military offensive in response, which has killed 51,240 Palestinians – mainly civilians – according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62xnqlj11lo

Jeanius.

Over the weekend, Rihanna, 37, hit one of her go-to restaurants, Giorgio Baldi, in a head-turning all-denim outfit for a dinner date.

The “Diamonds” hitmaker went with a slouchy Canadian tuxedo moment, teaming a roomy denim jacket with baggy jeans in a slighter darker wash.

In typical Rihanna fashion, the denim didn’t stop there — the fashion and beauty mogul toted around a Dior Toujours bag ($4,300) rendered in the classic material and emblazoned with the designer’s name across the front.

From there, the Fenty founder styled the timeless denim-on-denim-on-denim look with a soft dark gray fur stole resting over her shoulders, barely-there snakeskin heels, a flashy gold necklace and coordinating large hoop earrings.

She slicked back her dark brunette hair and opted for minimal eye makeup as well as a super glossy lip.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/04/21/style/rihanna-triples-down-on-denim-with-4300-dior-purse-for-la-dinner-date/

Shannon Sharpe’s alleged explicit text messages with the woman suing him for rape and battery have been revealed.

Sharpe’s legal team insisted that the $50 million lawsuit filed by the woman — whom Page Six will refer to as Jane Doe — is “filled with lies, distortions and misrepresentations” before releasing numerous text exchanges the two allegedly had between March 2023 and January 2025.

Doe alleged that the NFL player-turned-broadcaster, 56, sexually assaulted her multiple times at the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025.

According to the text messages released by Sharpe’s legal team, on March 5, 2023, Doe allegedly texted Sharpe a picture of a woman tied up in a compromising position and said, “Tie me up like this & f–k me,” to which he replied, “IF* I knew how to I would.”

She allegedly wrote back, “It’s ok I have handcuffs…we can stick to those for now. … I want to be in that position right now.”

When Sharpe told her it was “too L8 now,” Doe allegedly responded, “I guess I’m just gonna have to f–k myself in the ass w/ my dildo then.”

On March 14, 2023, she allegedly sent him, “I wanna be abused daddy.”

On April 21, 2023, she allegedly texted, “I’m getting your name tattooed on me in like an hour btw. Just thought I’d let you know.”

Sharpe messaged back, “In the font of my cognac,” to which she allegedly responded, “Yes daddy on my neck. If I get it can I maybe be ur baby mama?!?”

Doe allegedly messaged the former tight end on Oct. 7, 2023, “Call me, I feel like f–king with u.”

Two days later, she allegedly sent, “i want you to put a dog collar around my neck and choke me with it while ur f–king me.”

On Nov. 23, 2023, Doe allegedly texted, “only if you put that baby gravy in me, then u can do whatever u want to me. … i literally ate so much food i look like I’m pregnant with ur big black baby.”

Sharpe replied, “IF* I still fck with you around my bday in [20]24. You can take IUD out.”

On Jan. 12, 2024, she allegedly sent, “i wanna put my tongue in ur a–hole and then marry u.”

On Jan. 31, 2024, Doe messaged, “mmm that just got my p—y wet. tie me up and do bad things to me,” to which Sharpe responded, “Cuff up.”

Doe allegedly replied, “mhmmm u still have my handcuffs. I want like some hardcore bdsm action tho. feeling kinda freaky lately.”

On Aug. 11, 2024, she allegedly messaged, “i’ll let you make it hang wherever u want daddy but ONLY if you take me out and treat me good,” to which he sent back, “Deal. I crave ur p—y [Doe]. That’s my p—y now.”

According to the lawsuit, Doe claimed she “began to pull away from Sharpe” after he was heard apparently having sex on Instagram Live in September 2024. At the time, Sharpe claimed he had been hacked.

Doe claimed her attempt to break up with him led to him raping her. She alleged in the lawsuit that the first time he raped her was in October 2024 when he forced himself on her as she was “crying and sobbing.”

“when i’m 152lbs but u can’t touch me bc u cheated on me on instagram live with [redacted],” she allegedly sent him on Dec. 26, 2024, along with a photo. “gonna be 180 soon and ur still not gonna be able to touch…bet ur regretting ur actions right about now.”

According to his legal team, Sharpe replied, “I be killing that young p—y,” to which she allegedly fired back, “absolutely not. when you give me a formal apology for cheating on me on instagram live and multiple other times, then we can talk about it. FORMAL APOLOGY.”

Though Sharpe said he had already apologized, Doe allegedly retorted, “u never say what ur sorry for and how ur going to make it right. so i would appreciate if you could do that because you really hurt me and I’ve been having a hard time with it.”

Sharpe appeared to call Doe more times, which allegedly prompted her to continue demanding a formal apology. Eventually, he said, “I’m not going thru this again. I’ve already apologized. Stop playing childish gms [games].”

Doe claimed the second sexual assault happened in January when Sharpe came over to her house under the guise that he was giving her a Christmas gift, only to allegedly rape her again, according to the lawsuit.

Per his legal team, he texted her on New Year’s Day, “Happy New Year [Doe]. Can’t wait 2 see what 2025 has in store 4 us. Give 50k and I’ll let you come over to the house.”

Doe allegedly sent the Hall of Famer a link to her PayPal account, to which he responded that he doesn’t have cash apps and would give her “10k cash.”

She allegedly asked if he would send her a picture of the money or FaceTime her with it, but he seemingly didn’t.

That’s when she allegedly sent an explicit photo of herself along with the demand, “i know u miss this big juicy ass…$25k for each cheek.”

Doe claimed in the lawsuit that the sexual assaults took place after an allegedly “rocky,” years-long abusive relationship with Sharpe.

According to Doe, they met at a gym in Los Angeles in 2023 when she was 20.

Doe claimed the “Club Shay Shay” podcast host told her during the encounter that he would “buy her fake t-ts” if she won a weight-loss competition with him.

He then allegedly went on to aggressively pursue her by calling, texting and “demanding she come to his Beverly Glen mansion.”

They eventually began a consensual relationship, though Doe claimed Sharpe was controlling and verbally abusive.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2025/04/21/celebrity-news/read-shannon-sharpes-alleged-explicit-texts-with-woman-suing-him-for-rape/

A RISING MMA star has been arrested on child sex crime allegations just days before he was set to make his UFC debut.

Ahmad Hassanzada, 28, turned himself into cops in relation to an investigation that dated back to 2024.

He’s facing charges of a lewd or lascivious act with a child under 14, according to Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office records seen by The U.S. Sun.

And, he is also accused of a lewd act on a child between the age of 14 and 15, with the defendant 10 years older than the alleged victim.

He will face an arraignment hearing on April 22.

The cage fighter turned himself in on Saturday afternoon as an arrest warrant had been issued.

His bail has been set at $400,000.

Hassanzada, a lightweight fighter from Afghanistan, was set to make his debut in the Octagon on April 26.

The showdown against Mitch Ramirez was due to take place in Kansas City at the UFC Fight Night event.

Hassanzada rose to fame after prevailing in the lightweight category of Dana White’s Contender Series.

The series gives budding stars the opportunity to win UFC contracts.

Hassanzada last fought fellow lightweight Dylan Mantello on September 18 last year.

He won the contest in under three minutes via a submission.

But, chiefs have confirmed that he is no longer under contract since the arrest.

“Ahmad Hassanzada was removed from his bout and is no longer signed to the organization,” a representative told MMA Mania.

FIGHTING RECORD

Hassanzada boasted a 12-3 record during his fighting career, according to ESPN.

He had won three consecutive bouts, with his last defeat coming in February 2023.

He also competed on White’s Contender Series show in 2022.

But, he was defeated by Afghanistan rival Nazim Sadykhov.

His only other MMA defeats came against Belarussian fighter Piotr Birko in 2019, and American lightweight star Josh Streacker.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/sport/14068999/ahmad-hassanzada-mma-arrested-ufc/

Crime syndicates have made billions scamming victims in Asia and are now expanding their operations to Africa, Europe, South America and further, according to a UN report.

Asian crime networks behind the multi-billion-dollar cyberscam industry are expanding their operations globally, the UN warned in a report released on Monday, adding that the official clampdown in Southeast Asia is failing to contain them.

The UN said Chinese and Southeast Asian gangs were targeting victims through investment, cryptocurrency, romance and other scams.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), cyberscams are now a sophisticated global industry, featuring sprawling compounds housing tens of thousands of mostly trafficked workers who are forced to con other people online.

Pacific islands also affected

“It spreads like a cancer,” said Benedikt Hofmann, UNODC Acting Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific said. “Authorities treat it in one area, but the roots never disappear; they simply migrate.”

While the activity had largely been focused on the border areas in Myanmar, a country torn by civil war, and dubious “special economic zones” set up in Cambodia and Laos, UNODC reported networks are expanding their operations to South America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and some Pacific islands.

“This reflects both a natural expansion as the industry grows and seeks new ways and places to do business, but also a hedging against future risks should disruption continue and intensify in Southeast Asia,” Hofmann added.

Countries in east and southeast Asia lost an estimated $37 billion (€32.5 billion) to cyber fraud in 2023, while the United States reported more than $5.6 billion (€4.9 billion) in losses the UNODC report said.

International action needed to tackle crime syndicates

A major crackdown in Myanmar this year, pushed by Beijing, led to around 7,000 workers from more than 50 countries being freed.

There were also raids in Cambodia, but they prompted the crime syndicates to move to “more remote locations” and border areas. Cambodian government spokesman Pen Bona said the country is among the victims of the cyberfraud industry and is committed to fighting it. According to Bona, the government has established an ad-hoc commission chaired by Prime Minister Hun Manet which seeks to boost law enforcement and legal tools while working with international partners and the UN.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/un-warns-of-massive-cyberscams-spreading-across-the-world/a-72304457

THIS is the harrowing moment a swimmer – who is now missing and feared dead – is mauled by a shark in the Mediterranean Sea off the Israeli coast.

Clips posted to social media show a diver flailing around in the water just off Hadera, north-west Israel, in front of horrified crowds.

Earlier clips capture the shark swimming amongst aghast paddlers in shallow waves.

Some seem happy to stay in the water alongside the animal whilst others rushed back to the shore – moments before the attack.

The beast headed further back out and began mauling a swimmer in a sustained frenzy.

The diver could be seen thrashing about as the water around him foamed red with his blood.

People watched in horror from the beach as fins and limbs splashed around – but could do nothing to stop the savaging.

The attack happened in an area where swimming is prohibited, according to JNS.

Footage uploaded to social media shows helicopters scanning the water for the missing diver.

Police have closed the beach while the rescue mission continues.

An eyewitness told Channel 12 News: “I saw the diver in the depths of the water, he shouted: ‘I’m bitten, I’m bitten,’ and waved his hands in the air.

“After a few minutes, sharks bit him – and suddenly he disappeared.’

Channel 12 News also reported that the shark later attacked a rescue diver.

The Hadera Municipality Coastal Department said it was “conducting searches by jet ski to locate the diver and will continue to update as developments occur”.

It added: “We urge the public traveling in the area to avoid entering the water and contact with the sharks.”

Emergency teams received a call at 3:02pm for the attack at Olga Beach.

A statement from the Israel Police said: “A short time ago, officers from the Hadera Police Station and the Maritime Police were dispatched to the Hadera stream following reports from citizens who claimed they saw a shark attacking a diver in the water.

“Forces are en route, but no casualties have been located so far.”

Shark attacks in the Med and Israel are extremely rare.

Dusky and Sandbar sharks often visit the area between November and May, but are not known to attack humans.

The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel has reacted to the shark attack by insisting it called on the state four years ago to regulate behaviour in waters sharks visit.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/14072361/swimmer-missing-dead-shark-attack-israel/

It was suspected that one of the aircraft’s tyres was flat.

A Saudia Airlines aircraft coming from Jeddah made an emergency landing at the Delhi airport on Monday evening due to suspected flat tyre, according to a source.

The source said the plane, operating the flight SV758 from Jeddah to Delhi, had more than 300 people onboard, and made a safe landing at the airport.

It was suspected that one of the aircraft’s tyres was flat, the source added.

Source : https://www.news18.com/india/saudia-airlines-flight-makes-emergency-landing-at-delhi-airport-ws-kl-9308058.html

FOLLOWING the death of Pope Francis on the morning of Easter Monday, attention turns to the question of his successor.

Francis led the Catholic church for 12 years, right up until his death at 88 – as is tradition.

The Vatican paid tribute to their former leader with a statement that hailed his “faithfulness, courage, and universal love, especially for the poorest and most marginalised”.

It continued: “With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite, merciful love of God, One and Tribune.″

After the nine days of mourning have been observed – during which time Francis will be buried – the papal conclave will begin in order to select a successor.

All 252 cardinals from around the world will travel to Rome for the secret ballot, in which a maximum of 115 can vote.

When a candidate has two thirds of the vote, they will be appointed Pope through a pontifical coronation.

Here are some of the front-runners:

CARDINAL LUIS TAGLE