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As China and North Korea cut the ribbon on New Yalu River Bridge this week, officials described the new border crossing in momentous terms.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang said the 3km (1.9-mile) bridge, which links China’s Dandong and North Korea’s Sinuiju, would “vigorously promote” trade and “strengthen emotional bonds”.

North Korean Premier Pak Thae-song expressed his belief that the crossing would “accelerate the advance for the prosperity of the two countries” and “add fresh vigour” to their economic cooperation.

Analysts on China-North Korea ties are much more circumspect.

While the bridge is a concrete symbol of China and North Korea’s efforts to revitalise relations that have waned from their Cold War-era peak, the prospects for trade are hindered by obstacles ranging from international sanctions to a North Korean leadership that prioritises security above all else, experts say.

“It reflects China’s renewed effort to strengthen its relationship with North Korea at a time of changing regional alignments,” Phillip Park, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, South Korea, told Al Jazeera.

“But whether this leads to substantially deeper economic integration, greater North Korean dependence, or a significant shift in Pyongyang’s strategic orientation remains an open question.

“The bridge could facilitate trade and logistics, but it does not remove international sanctions,” Park added.

China, whose troops fought alongside Pyongyang in the 1950-53 Korean War, has long been North Korea’s most crucial economic benefactor.

China accounts for as much as 95 percent of official trade with the secretive country, which is among the world’s most diplomatically and economically isolated states.

Before the four-lane New Yalu River Bridge officially opened on Thursday, road and rail freight between Dandong and Sinuiju, the main route for China-North Korea trade, travelled exclusively via the ageing Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge.

Opened in 1943, the bridge, which has a single-lane road and a rail track, can only carry vehicles weighing a maximum of 20 tonnes.

Jae-woo Joo, a professor of Chinese foreign policy at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, said the new bridge could “tremendously” boost trade between the sides, including the transfer of components banned under sanctions against Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programmes.

“It is therefore really significant to open this bridge with China,” Joo told Al Jazeera.

After coming under strain from North Korea’s nuclear weapons tests in the mid-2000s, Beijing-Pyongyang ties have warmed under Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

At Xi and Kim’s most recent meeting in June, their seventh summit since 2018, the leaders pledged to enhance cooperation in areas spanning trade, defence, agriculture, law, science and technology.

Analysts have, in part, cast Beijing’s deepening engagement with Pyongyang as a response to the latter’s growing ties with Moscow, which have included the deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to the front lines of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Last month, North Korean and Russian officials opened the first road bridge linking their countries across the Tumen River.

North Korea and China’s two-way trade grew 25 percent in 2025 to reach $2.74bn, according to figures from China’s General Administration of Customs.

Bilateral trade has continued to grow in 2026, jumping nearly 20 percent to reach $1.5bn in the first half of the year, putting it on track to reach its highest volumes since the COVID-19 pandemic.

But while growing, trade remains relatively minuscule in the context of global commerce.

With China’s overall trade hitting $6.36 trillion in 2025, North Korea’s contribution to the total was a little more than 0.04 percent.

Official trade between the neighbours also remains substantially below its 2010s heyday.

Trade hovered around $5-6bn throughout much of the decade, peaking at $6.45bn in 2013.

Economists have offered explanations for the slowdown that range from tightened sanctions to China’s waning reliance on imports amid its efforts to boost economic self-reliance.

Christopher Green, a senior consultant for the Korean Peninsula at International Crisis Group, said the new border crossing’s significance should not be overstated, considering that China-North Korea trade “is fundamentally driven by politics”.

“Lack of cross-border transit routes is not the main obstacle,” Green told Al Jazeera.

“If the bridge opening signifies a political desire on both sides to give political cover to rising trade volumes, then a boost to trade should follow,” Green said, describing ties up until now as “steady-as-she-goes” economic engagement.

“Time will tell. But the key is the politics of national security, not economics.”

As much as officials have hailed the New Yalu River Bridge as a reflection of Chinese-North Korean cooperation, the project had a long and torturous road to completion.

Construction began in 2011 and was finished on the Chinese side in 2014.

But North Korean authorities only completed roads and customs facilities on their side of the river this year following repeated pauses in construction amid tensions with Beijing.

“The 12-year delay certainly suggests that economic cooperation is more conditional than the language of friendship might imply,” Marco Mari, a PhD researcher at Bocconi University in Italy who studies China-North Korea economic ties, told Al Jazeera.

“The bridge can facilitate supplies and economic activity, while Russian support gives North Korea alternatives that diminish Beijing’s leverage,” Mari added.

“This does not necessarily imply broader economic reform or a comparable improvement in ordinary people’s lives.”

Weiqi Zhang, an associate professor at Suffolk University who studies relations between North Korea and China, said the history of China-North Korea economic ties is littered with abortive projects, such as the Hwanggumpyong Special Economic Zone, a North Korean-Chinese development near Dandong.

“There were cases, like the Hwanggumpyong Special Economic Zone – established by China and North Korea – where China built infrastructure on its side, but North Korea didn’t even pave the road on their side,” Zhang told Al Jazeera.

“One reason is that, unlike its neighbours, North Korean government doesn’t really pay much attention to trade for economic development,” Zhang said.

“International trade is used by North Korea more like a foreign policy tool.”

With China wishing to demonstrate its “indispensability” as a trade partner and North Korea eager to strengthen their economic ties, trade is likely to grow, said Edward Howell, a lecturer in international Relations at the University of Oxford.

Even so, economic engagement will be subject to political considerations, Howell said.

“North Korea will obviously want to avoid facing any Chinese influence to change its economic model, but Pyongyang will want to reap the economic benefits of trade with its principal economic benefactor,” Howell told Al Jazeera.

Review prompted by Gaza action calls for Norway’s sovereign wealth fund to lift ethical risk limitations on its investments.

A government-appointed committee has called for Norway’s sovereign wealth fund to lift limitations on its investments based on ethical risks, including those regarding nuclear weapons and Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

In a report released on Thursday, the committee said the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, which controls assets totalling nearly $2.3 trillion, should be allowed to invest in companies that produce nuclear weapons. With reference to Gaza, it also called for the fund to refrain from involvement in diplomatic issues.

Led by former Central Bank Governor Svein Gjedrem, the committee recommended easing the fund’s investment conditions as part of a broader overhaul that would give its manager, the central bank, greater discretion over how it addresses ethical risks.

The review was prompted in part by controversy over the fund’s disinvestment last year from United States construction giant Caterpillar. The fund said the move was prompted by Caterpillar’s purported involvement in rights violations perpetrated by Israel amid its genocidal war on Gaza and in the occupied West Bank. Washington has since pressured Oslo over the move.

“Parts of the rationale for the appointment of the Committee was the Fund’s management related to the war in Gaza,” the committee commissioned by the government said. In the report, it argued that decisions regarding “another state’s conduct” should not be made by the fund but “reserved for the ordinary diplomatic channels of the Norwegian authorities”.

The unanimous recommendations of the committee in the report, which was submitted to the Ministry of Finance, also called for a review of the fund’s exclusion of investment in companies involved in the production of nuclear weapons.

Citing Norway’s reliance on NATO’s nuclear deterrent and a worsening security environment, the report suggested that investments in companies based in the US, United Kingdom and France that are involved in the production of nuclear weapons should be allowed.

The proposals also extended to reshaping the role of the fund’s independent ethics watchdog, allowing some assessments of potential investments to remain confidential.

‘Pandora’s box’

The report has already provoked a backlash in Norway, with opposition politicians slamming the potential changes. Meanwhile, analysts suggested that weakening ethics considerations could have a wide impact.

“If the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund – often considered a global gold standard – changes its posture towards nuclear weapons, it will open Pandora’s box for many global investors to follow suit,” Lawrence Loh, director of the Centre for Governance and Sustainability at the National University of Singapore Business School, told Al Jazeera.

The committee framed the proposed change as an obligation to protect Norway’s national security, citing the country’s dependence on its allies’ nuclear umbrella.

“The global security situation has changed. Norway is building up its defence capabilities, and the protection provided by NATO’s nuclear umbrella has become increasingly important. The companies that would be reincluded produce weapons that Norway needs for its own defence”, the report argued.

Gareth Evans, former Australian foreign minister, told Al Jazeera the report was “an encouraging initiative in a world that has become alarmingly complacent about the risks of nuclear war, with every major nuclear arms control agreement dead, dying or on life support, and the longstanding taboo against threat or use eroding”.

Amid US President Donald Trump’s shake-up of NATO, European countries are increasingly looking to join France’s nuclear deterrent umbrella.

Trump said on Thursday that Washington is holding talks with Russia and China aimed at denuclearising the countries with the biggest stockpiles of nuclear weapons.

However, Loh warned that shifting the Norwegian fund’s investment conditions could encourage investment by others in nuclear companies “in scenarios different from the Norwegian’s condition of the invested companies being based in allied, nuclear-armed NATO countries”.

For every five plates of food served around the world, roughly one ends up in the bin. That adds up to more than a billion tonnes of food a year.

Meanwhile, 645 million people, about one in 13 of the world’s population, went hungry in 2025, according to the UN.

That gap is the focus of World Food Day on October 16, the annual UN observance marking the founding of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in 1945. This year’s theme, “Innovate today, nourish tomorrow”, calls for food systems that feed more people and waste less.

In this visual explainer, Al Jazeera looks at global hunger, which countries waste the most food and simple ways to waste less at home.

Hunger is falling, slowly

Global hunger has fallen for a third year in a row, but it remains above levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the UN’s annual State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, an estimated 645 million people, or 7.8 percent of the world’s population, faced hunger in 2025. That is down from 8.1 percent in 2024 and a peak of 8.6 percent in 2022, but still about 61 million more people than in 2019.

Where are people the most hungry?

Africa has more hungry people than any other region.

In 2025, an estimated 309 million people in Africa were undernourished. That is one in five people on the continent and almost half of the world’s hungry people.

By comparison, 292 million people in Asia (6 percent of the population) and 32 million in Latin America and the Caribbean (4.8 percent) were undernourished.

The 2026 Global Hunger Index shows a similar pattern at the country level. The index scores countries out of 100, combining undernourishment with child stunting, child wasting and child mortality. Scores of 35 or more are considered “alarming”.

Hunger is classed as alarming in eight countries, seven of them in Africa. Somalia has the worst score of the 122 countries ranked, followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad and Madagascar.

Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi and Yemen were also classed as alarming, but conflict and data gaps meant the index could not calculate their scores.

At the same time, a large share of the food the world grows never reaches a plate.

How much food is wasted every year?

Food is lost and wasted at every stage of its journey from farm to table.

According to the FAO, about 13 percent of the food produced globally is lost after harvest and before it reaches shops, spoiling in storage, during transport or in processing. Fruits and vegetables suffer the highest losses.

Food lost before it reaches shops is worth more than $400bn a year, according to the FAO.

Shops, restaurants and households then throw away almost a fifth of the food available to consumers, about 1.05 billion tonnes in 2022, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). That is equivalent to 52.5 million trucks, each carrying 20 tonnes.

Households account for the most, 60 percent, followed by restaurants and other food services at 28 percent and shops at 12 percent.

How to reduce food waste at home

Most food waste happens at home, which means households can make a real difference. Here are some simple steps recommended by food waste campaigners and UN agencies:

1. Plan before you shop: Check what you already have, plan meals for the week and shop with a list to avoid buying more than you need.
2. Understand date labels: “Use by” dates are about safety, but “best before” dates are about quality. Food is often still safe to eat after its “best before” date.
3. Store food properly: Keep your fridge at 5C (41F) or below, and store fruit and vegetables where they last longest. Bananas, for example, speed up the ripening of other fruit nearby.
4. Use the freezer: Bread, cooked meals, meat and many fruits and vegetables can be frozen before they go off.
5. Cook the right amount: Measuring portions, especially for rice and pasta, cuts down on leftovers that get thrown away.
6. Eat the oldest food first: Move older items to the front of the fridge and cupboard so they get used before newer ones.
7. Use leftovers and scraps: Turn leftovers into new meals, and use vegetable peels and stalks in soups and stocks.
8. Compost what you can’t eat: Composting inedible parts such as peels and eggshells keeps them out of landfills, where rotting food releases methane.

Which country wastes the most?

On average, every person in the world wastes about 132kg (291 pounds) of food a year, roughly the weight of two adults. Of that, 79kg (174 pounds) was thrown away at home.

But the amount varies widely. Hotter countries tend to waste more at home, UNEP says, possibly because of more fresh produce and less refrigeration.

The Maldives wastes the most food, with each person throwing away about 260kg (573 pounds) a year, about twice the global average. Syria, the Dominican Republic, Seychelles, Mexico and Tunisia follow, each wasting more than 210kg (463 pounds) per person, according to UN estimates.

Spain recorded some of the lowest levels, at around 39kg (86 pounds) or less per person.

What does food waste cost?

Food loss and waste costs the global economy more than $1 trillion a year, according to the UN.

To put that in perspective, what else could $1 trillion buy?

Use the + buttons to add items to your cart and see how the money would be spent across 35 categories.

Throwing food away also wastes the money, land and energy used to produce it.

About 1.4 billion hectares (3.5 billion acres) of land, or 28 percent of the world’s agricultural land, is used to grow food that is never eaten. That is an area larger than Canada.

Food loss and waste also generate an estimated 8 to 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, including methane released as food rots in landfills.

Lebanon’s president reaffirms the commitment to bring all arms under state control.

Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has discussed the confiscation of explosives intended for use against Israel during a telephone call with United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Lebanese Presidential Palace has announced.

Aoun received the call on Thursday, assuring Rubio that Lebanese security forces are fully carrying out their duties in confiscating illicit arms across the country.

Last week, an explosive-laden truck carrying 780kg (1,720lb) of explosives was intercepted on a highway between Beirut and the eastern Bekaa Valley.

On Thursday, Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah acknowledged the group’s connection to the shipment, stating that the materials were intended for operations against Israel.

Speaking to reporters at the Lebanese parliament, Fadlallah said Hezbollah had immediately contacted security agencies to clarify ownership of the vehicle and cargo, demanding the materials be returned and detained personnel released.

Rubio urged Aoun to hold accountable those who ordered, financed, and directed the shipment, warning that “returning explosives to [Hezbollah] should be out of the question,” a State Department official told US media.

The official added that Rubio also advocated for direct military-to-military communication between Lebanese and Israeli forces “for deconfliction”.

In response, the Presidential Palace reported that Aoun asked Rubio to press Israel to halt its attacks and destruction in southern Lebanon.

Separately on Thursday, Rubio spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding Iran, according to Israeli media reports.

The explosives-laden truck

On Monday, Prime Minister Nawaf Salam confirmed that Lebanon would conduct an investigation to track down members of Hezbollah linked to the incident.

Judicial officials told The Associated Press news agency that the truck was carrying 780kg (1,720lb) of explosives, including 250kg (550lb) of TNT and 550lb of C4 plastic explosives.

Salam described the transport as a “criminal operation” and praised security forces for intercepting the vehicle along the strategic highway linking Beirut with the Bekaa Valley.

For years, Hezbollah moved weapons freely across parts of the country. However, in March, the Lebanese government declared all military activities by the group illegal. Despite the government’s pledge to bring all weaponry under state control, the group has stated its intention to continue transporting arms in its confrontation with Israel.

Earlier this spring, Lebanese and Israeli envoys met in Washington under the auspices of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, marking the first direct diplomatic contact between the two nations in decades.

Despite that diplomatic push from Washington, Israel has repeatedly violated the November 2024 ceasefire deal between it and Hezbollah, with Lebanon frequently reporting civilian casualties.

The renewed diplomatic friction comes as heavy Israeli attacks continue across southern Lebanon, where dozens of villages have been systematically demolished and large areas remain under Israeli military occupation, despite a framework agreement signed in June.

Judge fines government for failing to fund universities as protests over Milei’s cuts turn violent.

“This cannot go on!” students shout during an assembly in the middle of the central hall of the University of Buenos Aires Exact and Natural Sciences building.

It is part of Argentina’s prestigious public university system.

The faculty’s central hall is covered with dozens of banners protesting President Javier Milei’s spending cuts. Students have called an assembly to announce the occupation of the university, a traditional form of protest in Argentina meant to raise public awareness and pressure the government.

They say they will take over the building for a day. Many students and professors here are concerned about the impact of Milei’s austerity policies on public universities and say the future of free higher education is at risk.

“Our best professors are leaving en masse. With salaries that cannot cover their basic needs, they are leaving for private universities,” Emiliano Gato, a physics student who is part of the group, told Al Jazeera.

“I dream of doing research and teaching at the public University of Buenos Aires. It’s a prestigious school. But now, with this austerity plan, I don’t know what will happen.”

Public universities in Argentina have become a major battleground of Milei’s austerity plan. Students and professors are protesting the lack of funding and the erosion of salaries, which they say is a major threat to the country’s public education.

Milei is implementing one of the harshest austerity plans in Argentina’s history.

Since taking office in 2023, he has laid off thousands of state employees, shut down ministries, reduced subsidies and cut government-funded programmes. The measures were meant to fight high inflation, which was a major problem in Argentina. Almost three years later, inflation has fallen to around 2 percent a month. Milei says his plan is going well.

“Argentina is growing at a remarkable pace. We have now recorded 27 consecutive months of sustained growth, and today the country is expanding at four times its historical rate. This growth is being felt across almost every sector of the economy,” said Milei during a recent visit to Washington.

Ripple effects

But not everyone agrees. His plan is also having a profound impact on public education, welfare plans for people with disabilities, pensioners and others who depend on state support. The opposition has tried to block many of Milei’s reforms.

Last year, Congress overturned presidential vetoes and approved two laws, one increasing funding for public universities and another declaring a disability emergency. But Milei’s government has refused to implement them, arguing that Congress failed to identify how they would be financed.

A federal judge has now begun fining the government 100,000 pesos (around $70) a day for failing to implement parts of the financing law, which requires Milei’s government to restore university salaries and student scholarships lost to inflation, regularly update budgets and provide funding for research, hospitals and infrastructure.

And that’s why thousands of people took to the streets on Thursday to demand that the government implement it. All around Buenos Aires, long columns of people blocked the centre of the city as they called for a general strike. Although the protest was meant to be peaceful, it soon turned violent. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets as protesters threw rocks.

The plaza in front of Congress resembled a battleground. At least 25 people were detained, and several others were injured, including members of the security forces.

Maria Teresa de Jesus is a professor in the University of Buenos Aires chemistry department. She says she makes around $700 a month and it has become difficult to make ends meet. “I have come to this protest as a last resort. I am professor. I love teaching, doing research. I shouldn’t be here,” she told Al Jazeera. “Public education is crucial in this country, to make education accessible to all. And the government is ignoring it.”

Many in Argentina continue to support Milei’s economic plan. They are hoping the government’s plan to exploit the country’s vast natural resources will pay off and translate into more jobs, higher wages and improved living standards.

But many others have stopped believing and are prepared to raise the stakes. They accuse Milei’s government of protecting the interests of a privileged few while asking the rest of the country to bear the cost of his economic plan.

Fuel theft cited in Baniyas-Homs leak as gas export line in Hasakah catches fire.

Two pipelines carrying gas and oil products were damaged in separate incidents in Syria, state media reported, the latest disruptions to the country’s energy infrastructure following a series of suspected sabotage attacks.

The state-owned Syrian Petroleum Company announced the damage on Thursday, according to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA). The incidents add to a number of attacks on Syria’s oil and gas network in recent months, as the government tries to revive its energy sector.

An explosion struck the Jbessa gas pipeline in southern Hasakah province in the late afternoon, hours after damage to a pipeline transporting oil products from the coastal city of Baniyas to Homs caused a fuel leak.

The company said the gas pipeline had been targeted in a “sabotage attack”, according to SANA.

Neither SANA nor the company named a suspect or group responsible for the attacks.

Repairs under way

Oday al-Satouf, head of the company’s media office, told SANA that a hole was found in the Baniyas-Homs pipeline in the Hadida area, west of Homs. Crews isolated the affected stretch and secured the surrounding area, he said, closing valves on either side of the damaged section. Repairs have begun, while other teams monitor the area for safety. State media said the leak was believed to be linked to an attempted fuel theft.

Al-Satouf said gas would continue to reach power stations through alternative arrangements, and that domestic gas supplies were unaffected, according to SANA.

A string of incidents

More than a week ago, the company said an oil pipeline near Tal Hamis in the northeastern province of Hasakah was damaged in a sabotage attack. It added that authorities had arrested those responsible.

In late September, a fire broke out on a gas pipeline between al-Shoula and Deir Az Zor in the east, halting gas flows from the Jbessa plant to power stations, SANA reported. Hisham al-Saleh, a gas sector official at the company, said gas pressure in the area fell as crews worked to extinguish the blaze.

Syria has been working to restore its energy infrastructure and increase domestic oil production. That includes resuming operations at oil fields in Hasakah to supply refineries in Homs and Baniyas. In January, the petroleum company announced plans to transport crude from recently recovered fields to the two refineries as part of efforts to revive the sector.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump has sued the state of California after the state missed a deadline to review a list of registered noncitizen voters sent to officials.

In the lawsuit, filed on Thursday in a US District Court in California, Department of Justice (DOJ) officials asked the court to prevent the state from counting mail-in ballots from voters on a list shared with the state that it said contained 20,000 noncitizens. The agency said it had attempted to “work collaboratively” with California to identify noncitizens registered to vote in the state, but “California made no serious effort to do so”.

The move follows a 48-hour deadline the DOJ gave California in letters sent to officials in several counties in the state on Tuesday, threatening further action if they did not review lists of allegedly ineligible voters the agency said it had shared.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, the top state official tasked with administering elections, responded to the letters, saying in a three-page letter that she wanted to “set the record straight” on events that transpired since July. The senior California official maintains that the administration is demanding “unprecedented measures that threaten thousands of Californians’ right to vote, based on unverifiable information or methodology that you still fail to explain or provide”.

Weber said she was informed that the lists provided to local officials include the names of roughly 20,000 individuals. Weber said no list was ever sent to her office. The department previously said it suspected “thousands” of registered voters of being noncitizens, and a lawsuit filed earlier Thursday by the Justice Department put the number at “tens of thousands”.

“Despite failing to send the list of alleged non-citizens to my office, you demand that we request transmittal of the list, review and confirm the citizenship status of each of the approximately 20,000 individuals on the list on the eve of an election and within a mere 48 hours,” she wrote. “This is an emergency of the DOJ’s creation.”

In a statement on Wednesday, election officials in Los Angeles County, one of the county offices that received the ultimatum from the DOJ, pointed out the threat was issued just 21 days before midterm elections. The county statement said it had received a thumb drive with the letter and a handwritten note with what appeared to be a password, but it would not attempt to access the drive because “we do not consider the device a secure medium”.

The county office said maintaining accurate voter lists was “a fundamental responsibility for our office” and that state laws clearly require that removing individuals be “based on verifiable information”.

Trump has repeatedly levelled the false claim that large numbers of noncitizens, who are legally not eligible to vote in federal elections, are casting ballots in Democratic-led states, including in California. State officials, including in California, have said the number of such voters is negligible and that the scale of the problem does not warrant intervention just weeks before elections, scheduled for November 3.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has sharply rebuked the DOJ lawsuit against his state, calling it a “sad, desperate attempt by” Trump to “suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day”.

“Courts have made clear the federal government has no role in running state elections,” Newsom said in a statement. “We will defend free and fair elections in the Golden State and call out every authoritarian attempt to undermine our democracy.”

Trump has long falsely claimed that noncitizen voting cost him the 2020 election, blaming it on Democrats, despite the issue being a very rare occurrence.

Courts have pushed back on Trump

Earlier this month, a federal judge in Florida ruled that a federal law criminalising voting by noncitizens was unconstitutional, delivering a major setback for Trump administration efforts to pursue such cases against individuals.

The court ruled that, under the US Constitution, only individual states have the authority to set voter qualifications, and that each one had already criminalised such voting by anyone who was not a citizen. Thus, it was up to the state to prosecute such individuals. The DOJ has at least 45 such cases pending nationwide, where the accused could now raise the same objection brought up in the Florida ruling.

Another federal judge ruled this month that the DOJ unlawfully sought state voter rolls for cross-checking them against a controversial federal immigration database to identify ineligible voters. The Trump administration has often touted the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database, but numerous reports have found it inaccurate and capable of flagging citizens as noncitizens. Forcing states to use such a database would be unconstitutional, the judge said.

In September, the US Supreme Court rejected a Trump administration effort to restrict mail-in ballots for the November 3 elections, which Trump argued were especially susceptible to misuse by noncitizens because states were failing to verify who was sending them.

Two dozen states, led by Democrats, filed lawsuits against the Trump administration over attempts to limit mail-in voting, including an executive order directing federal agencies such as the US Postal Service not to handle mail-in ballots without verifying the eligibility of those casting them.

According to the Election Assistance Commission, a bipartisan government agency, around 30 percent of all ballots cast in the 2024 elections were sent by mail. Mail-in ballots are even more widely used in many western states such as California.

Lisandro Martinez meets with his Manchester Untied manager Michael Carrick before apologizing for criticism of the club.

Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez apologised on Thursday for criticising the club’s hierarchy following their Champions League defeat by Atletico Madrid, after holding talks with manager Michael Carrick and senior officials.

Martinez met Carrick and club executives after training, two days after saying the club needed greater investment to help the team compete at the highest level following Tuesday’s 2-0 loss.

“Today I met with the club’s leadership and the manager,” Martinez said in an Instagram post, in his second statement since the interview.

“It was a very positive conversation where we were able to exchange views and speak openly about what happened after Tuesday’s game.”

A club source said that any internal disciplinary action would remain private, adding that it had been Martinez’s decision to apologise publicly and that all parties considered the matter closed.

British media, including the BBC, reported that United fined the defender over the outburst.

Martinez acknowledged that his frustration following the defeat had got the better of him and apologised for choosing the wrong moment to air his feelings.

“Everyone knows that I am a passionate person and that I live football with great intensity,” he said.

“The frustration of the defeat led me to express how I felt at a time and place that perhaps were not the right ones, and for that I want to apologise.”

The Argentina international had singled out director of football Jason Wilcox in the post-game interview, saying United needed more signings to compete with their rivals and build a squad capable of challenging in Europe.

Martinez said his comments had not reflected the unity required at Old Trafford and stressed his belief that everyone at the club was working towards the same goal.

“Our club is at its best when we are all united, and I recognise that my words in that moment did not help with that,” he said.

“I know that every single person at Manchester United is doing everything possible to achieve our shared ambition, bringing the success that this club and its supporters deserve.”

Martinez finished his statement by drawing a line under the episode.

“With this situation now behind us, we are fully focused on winning together.”

United are 13th in the Premier League after six games in their worst start in 40 years. They travel to seventh-placed Leeds United on Sunday.

Eritrea denies troop movement inside northern Ethiopia as US calls for de-escalation.

Ethiopian forces and allied fighters say they have expanded control across Tigray and entered the historic city of Aksum, as fighting in the northern region continues.

The pro-government militia, the Tigray Peace Force (TPF), also claimed on Thursday that troops from neighbouring Eritrea have retreated towards the border.

Solomon Hailemariam, spokesperson for the TPF, said Eritrean forces had sustained significant casualties during the fighting.

But Eritrea’s Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel rejected the claims as false in comments to local media. The extent of the reported losses could not be independently verified.

The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), an independent conflict-monitoring organisation, documented Ethiopian government forces and TPF fighters entering Aksum, while rival Tigrayan fighters remained in surrounding mountainous areas.

ACLED also reported Eritrean troops withdrawing across the border through Zalambessa, following advances by Ethiopian forces and their allies into several strategic towns.

“Ethiopian troops are on one side, and Eritrean troops are on the other,” Selam, a resident of Zalambessa whose first name was changed for security reasons, told the AFP news agency on Thursday.

AFP reported that there is no fighting now, but the town has been without power or water for a week.

“We are caught in the middle and living in deep anxiety,” Salem told the news agency.

Trading accusations

ACLED also documented Ethiopian tanks and heavy weapons moving towards the Eritrean border on Tuesday, raising concerns about a possible confrontation between the neighbouring countries.

Addis Ababa has accused Eritrea, as well as Sudan and Egypt, of backing a rebel alliance of seven groups that is fighting the government of Abiy Ahmed.

Eritrea has denied accusations that its forces entered Tigray to support the armed opposition groups, accusing Ethiopia of threatening its sovereignty.

Eritrea, which fought alongside Ethiopia’s federal army in the 2020-2022 war, severed diplomatic ties with Ethiopia over the accusations earlier this month.

Khartoum and Cairo have also denied involvement in the conflict.

The TPF supports Ethiopia’s federal government in its campaign against the Tigrayan rebels linked to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).

Ethiopian forces captured Tigray’s regional capital Mekelle earlier this month, and the TPLF confirmed that it had withdrawn from the city and moved its regional administration “temporarily” to another location. Government forces also retook the towns of Adwa and Adigrat from the TPLF without a fight. Further, there are reports of Ethiopian advances in the town of Rama, close to the border with Eritrea.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called for de-escalation in a phone call with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy, following reports of the alleged confrontation between Ethiopian and Eritrean forces.

Rubio said the region could not tolerate more conflict, according to a statement from the US Department of State.

Widespread voter disillusionment and pocketbook anxieties set a volatile stage for the GOP weeks before election night.

Voter sentiment across the United States is increasingly negative towards US President Donald Trump’s domestic and foreign policies, according to a new Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll.

In the closing weeks before the November 3 US congressional midterm elections, 80 percent of Americans polled said the country needs substantial change or “complete and total upheaval” in how it is run, according to the survey of over 1,100 US adults released on Thursday.

Democrats and independents are much more likely than Republicans to want a total overhaul of the country’s direction, the survey found, but even Republican voters are still looking for some change. Slightly fewer than half, 45 percent, want substantial change, while 13 percent are seeking upheaval.

The results point to a pervasive appetite for legislative realignment that poses a risk to the Republican Party’s power as it looks to keep control of both houses of the US Congress.

Fuelled by soaring living costs, everyday economics is driving a majority of the electorate, with 85 percent of respondents saying the economy is one of the most significant issues in weighing their vote in the upcoming election. About eight in 10 registered voters disapprove of how Trump is handling the cost of living, and about three-quarters disapprove of his performance on the economy.

Only about one-third of registered voters overall have a “very” or “somewhat” favourable view of the Republican president, and a similar share approve of his performance as president.

More voters want Democrats to win control of Congress and have a more negative view of Republicans.

Immigration and crime rates are also top concerns for some voters, according to the survey results, with 45 percent of voters identifying them as top priorities, though the two issues are prioritised disproportionately by Republican voters who reference them more frequently than Democrats. Conversely, Democratic voters are more prone to name healthcare as their top priority.

Emerging cultural and technological concerns drew less immediate alarm across the board: 35 percent of voters ranked artificial intelligence as a substantial issue, while transgender issues sit significantly lower at 12 percent.

Healthcare is also considered a top issue for 69 percent of voters, while 64 percent cite the war on Iran as top-of-mind.

Despite their grievances, a majority of voters across both major American parties still value civic engagement.

About two-thirds of registered voters in the survey say it’s “extremely” important to vote in the upcoming election, while about two in 10 say it’s “very” important. Seventy-five percent of Democratic voters view it as “extremely” important, compared to roughly 60 percent of Republican respondents.

Formula One returns to Africa for the first time in more than three decades, but DR Congo slams decision to race in Rwanda.

Formula 1 will “polish the image of an authoritarian leader” if it goes ahead with plans to hold an African Grand Prix in Rwanda, the foreign minister of neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, said Thursday.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame joined F1 Chief Executive Stefano Domenicali and FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem on Tuesday to announce the race. It will be held at a circuit yet to be built at Bugesera, near Rwanda’s capital Kigali, in “the early 2030s,” F1 says. The series last raced in Africa in 1993.

The DRC, the United States and UN experts accuse Rwanda of backing M23 rebels in eastern DRC. Rwanda says its security measures are intended to protect it against threats from armed groups operating across the border.

“In February 2025, I warned Stefano Domenicali and the F1 authorities that allowing Rwanda to host a Grand Prix would be morally indefensible,” Kayikwamba Wagner said in a statement. “[The DRC] welcomes Formula 1’s return to Africa, but giving Paul Kagame this platform would help polish the image of an authoritarian leader whose government has helped fuel a devastating war in our country.”

Kayikwamba Wagner said the DRC backs rival efforts from South Africa to host a race instead.

“This is also an opportunity for F1 to show its audiences and supporters what the sport truly stands for,” she added. “It should require credible, independent guarantees that no money used to host the race comes from conflict-linked minerals or the exploitation of Congolese resources.”

The DRC has previously objected to other Rwandan efforts to promote its brand through sports, especially a string of high-profile sponsorship agreements with leading European football clubs.

The US imposed sanctions on Rwanda’s military and four senior officers in March over their support for M23 rebels in eastern DRC. Rwanda rejected the sanctions as one-sided and said they misrepresented the conflict.

Citizen Lab investigation says dozens of Al Jazeera devices were infected by malware planted through advertisements.

Israeli advertising technology company Discover-Tech helped place spyware on dozens of devices used by Al Jazeera and other companies, a Citizen Lab investigation prompted by Al Jazeera’s own initial internal probe has confirmed.

Al Jazeera Media Network on Thursday said it “condemns the targeting of devices belonging to several of its employees with spyware”.

“The network voluntarily collaborated with the researchers, and this cooperation, according to the report, contributed to verifying these attacks and publicly documenting them.”

Al Jazeera will continue to “protect its employees and systems”.

The network said targeting journalists is an “assault on press freedom and the public’s right to knowledge” and called for those responsible to be held accountable.

Spyware from Candiru, a firm blacklisted by the United States government in 2021 for its malicious cyber activities, was planted on these devices, using what Citizen Lab described as the first-known instance of “zero-click” targeted advertising.

The Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary research unit at the University of Toronto, concluded in its report that Discover-Tech purchased the advertisements that had the spyware built in. It then directed devices to Candiru’s malware through these advertisements. The millions of devices that were pointed to the malware include several that belonged to Al Jazeera’s journalists – including several who reported on sensitive subjects.

Al Jazeera’s internal technology team first discovered unusual patterns on devices used by some journalists in 2024. The pattern continued into 2025. Al Jazeera reached out to Citizen Lab for a more detailed investigation into its suspicions that spyware was responsible.

“Analysis of network logs provided to the Citizen Lab by Al Jazeera collected during the attack period provides a clear temporal signature of how the attack was executed,” the University of Toronto-based team said ints report published Thursday.

The “zero-clock” nature of installing this spyware means that once an infected advertisement appears on a device, that device, too, is infected — spying on, and feeding, all the data and information available on that platform to those stealing it.

Meanwhile, New York-based security firm Confiant said in a separate report that some of Discover-Tech’s advertisements also appeared in critical networks used by the Pentagon, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the International Criminal Court.

Candiru’s spyware has previously been used to carry out surveillance on at least 100 journalists, dissidents and others in several countries.

French Football Federation’s ethics body calls on fans to keep politics out of stadiums amid student protests.

The ethics body of the French football federation is urging fans to stay neutral amid the nationwide student protests that are drawing international attention.

The police response to the largely peaceful demonstrations has prompted widespread accusations of brutality, and football fans in stadiums have expressed their support for students.

Officers have made extensive use of tear gas and batons to disperse crowds. More than 6,600 arrests were made nationwide as of last week, an unusually high number for a French protest movement.

A police tear gas grenade shattered a 14-year-old’s jaw and many of his teeth, while a 15-year-old lost a hand in an incident involving a stun grenade. Other teenagers have also suffered life-changing injuries blamed on police weaponry during protests.

During a Ligue 1 match between Lens and Lyon last week, the home fans unfurled a banner calling for an end to the “disproportionate and systematic police violence,” according to the National Council for Football Ethics (CNE).

The CNE also noted that at the half-hour mark of the match between PSG and Le Mans, supporters displayed a banner reading: “Your militias repress; our youth resists.”

The ethics body said in a statement that it was easy to understand why young supporters, who are often students, might take advantage of matches to publicly express their support for the demonstrators.

However, it added that the principle of political neutrality is “enshrined” in the laws of sport, both internationally through the Olympic Charter and FIFA statutes, and at a national level.

The CNE recalled that any speech or display of a political, ideological, religious or trade union nature are prohibited, as is the wearing of symbols or clothing that expresses political, philosophical, religious or trade union affiliation.

“Sport should unite, not divide,” it said. “The National Council for Football Ethics therefore calls on all supporters, who are an integral part of the football family, to uphold the principle of neutrality in all circumstances.

“The aim is to ensure that the stadium does not become a political or trade union battleground, but remains a place of celebration and shared enjoyment centred on sport.”

Student protests against poor conditions in Albania’s education system have continued for a third day in the capital, Tirana, as Prime Minister Edi Rama insists he will not resign.

Demonstrators have called on Rama to quit in often violent protests since Tuesday. They have set fire to several buildings across the city, including the prime minister’s office, ministry buildings and branches of several banks.

Dozens of police officers and protesters have been injured amid attempts to disperse the crowds using water cannon and tear gas.

“What you are seeing is the boiling point of months of suppressed grievances,” Albanian journalist Arlis Alikaj told Al Jazeera.

Students have complained for months about the high cost of education and their limited employment prospects after graduation.

Afrim Krasniqi, a professor and researcher at the Institute for Political Studies in Tirana, told Al Jazeera that students and young people protested peacefully for nearly three months, “yet their demands were largely ignored, while the government often responded with discrediting campaigns rather than genuine dialogue”.

He added that the current escalation reflects “frustration not only with the government itself, but also with the lack of institutional accountability and responsiveness.”

The protests represent one of the most serious waves of public discontent directed at Rama, who won a fourth term last May but has since faced public anger over corruption allegations involving senior officials.

The unrest in Tirana coincides with a broader wave of student protests across Europe. In France, secondary school students have spent weeks protesting and blockading schools, demanding more teachers and better learning facilities. They have warned that deteriorating school buildings and overcrowded classrooms are undermining the quality of education.

Protests against Rama’s government began a few months ago, fuelled by plans to build a luxury resort along Albania’s largely unspoilt southern coast. Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump’s son in law, is involved in the project.

Local media reported that the protests spread from Tirana to universities in Elbasan and Shkoder on Wednesday.

Albania is among the economies of the Western Balkans seeking to catch up with European living standards. However, the gap with the European Union average remains evident in purchasing power, wages, productivity and the quality of public services. Despite economic progress, the country continues to face challenges including emigration, regional inequalities and the need for stronger institutions and the rule of law.

After Montenegro, Albania stands out as one of the countries that has made the most progress towards full EU membership. However, behind the optimistic political rhetoric, frustration is growing among citizens over the slow pace of European integration and the lack of tangible improvements in their daily lives.

While opposition groups seek to support the demonstrators and capitalise on the moment to strengthen their own position, Alikaj said the protests are being driven by young people and students demanding systemic change.

On Thursday, Rama – who has been PM since 2013 – told Reuters, “As for calls for my resignation, governments change through democratic elections. Last year, we had elections, not a revolution.”

Sokol Lleshi, a lecturer at the University of New York Tirana specialising in political science and international relations, said social change is more likely to emerge from a broader coalition of different social groups, rather than mass mobilisation limited to university and secondary school students.

“Elite defection from the current ruling political elite could enable the institutional means to channel societal dissatisfaction or resentment into political and policy changes. Yet, the current student protest does not seem to replicate the December 2018 mass movement of university students and its effects”, Lleshi said.

The student protests that shook Albania in December 2018 began over rising education costs and forced Rama to dismiss eight ministers as part of a cabinet reshuffle and announce a package of measures known as the “Pact for the University”.

But some of the students’ demands remained unmet.

Lleshi drew some more positive conclusions from Albania’s past experience of social unrest.

Albanian society is polarised and unequal, “with hollowed intermediary political institutions”, he said, but the legacy of unrest and political confrontation will serve as a “warning to avoid destabilisation”, he said.

Kyiv, Ukraine – The supernova-like blasts of exploding Russian ballistic missiles are followed by thunderous thumps, shockwaves, fires and deaths – and the staccato of Ukrainian air defence systems.

This week’s nightly attacks on Ukraine that killed at least 15 and wounded dozens resembled hundreds of previous raids – with one exception.

The air raid sirens began howling just seconds before or after yet another wave of missiles struck apartment buildings, power plants and warehouses.

But Ukraine’s partners did not provide the country with intelligence data from NATO’s early-warning satellites, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday, as tensions between Washington and Kyiv rise.

He did not name the United States and President Donald Trump has denied that Washington has stopped sharing intelligence.

The constellation of military satellites detects Russian ballistic missile attacks by the rockets’ thermal flames seconds after launch.

The warnings give Ukrainians up to 10 minutes – precious, life-saving time to sound air raid sirens and send emergency text messages to prompt evacuations to bomb shelters.

“That’s what helps prevent the killings,” Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine’s ground radars can only detect the incoming missiles as their speed ranges from 6,000 to 12,000km/h (3,730 – 7,260 miles per hour).

‘Trump pressures our president’

Despite Trump’s denial, Ukrainian observers have a simple yet harrowing explanation – the US president wants to help Republicans win more congressional seats in upcoming midterm elections by pressuring Kyiv into declaring an “energy ceasefire” with Moscow that would drive global oil prices down.

“Trump pressures our president, pressures Ukraine” as he strives to “get advantage by any means necessary in the election campaign,” Lieutenant-General Ihor Romanenko, former deputy head of Ukraine’s general staff of armed forces, told Al Jazeera.

The lack of intelligence data “significantly affects the effectiveness of air defence, we don’t have time to respond,” he said.

Without the satellite data, Ukrainian drones and missiles also “lose precision when striking targets deep in Russia,” he said.

On Sunday, Trump announced the ceasefire that envisages no mutual strikes on energy infrastructure – from Russian oil refineries and fuel depots to Ukrainian power and heating stations.

“Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!” Trump wrote on social media.

Kyiv said the announcement was a surprise, while Moscow declined to say whether it backs the idea – and kept on hitting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

The pressure goes beyond the refineries as Trump wants to quickly reopen, arbitrate and complete peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow – even if they benefit the Kremlin.

“He needs peace talks to succeed. Ideally, it is a certain unblocking of the peace settlement process, when Kyiv shows more willingness to agree with Russia’s demands,” Kyiv-based analyst Igar Tyshkevych told Al Jazeera.

The pressure will continue until “Kyiv shows readiness for a compromise and concessions towards Russia,” he said.

Moscow “simply abuses” the pressure and the suspension of air raid warnings to escalate attacks on Ukraine, he said.

Kyiv’s ‘priority’: The destruction of oil refineries

The suspension of data-sharing was especially shocking, given that Kyiv did stop hitting Russian refineries for three days.

It was only on Wednesday that its drones attacked refineries in Saratov and Ryazan regions, said Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister, Aleksander Novak.

However, Kyiv’s focus on striking oil refineries is ineffective and counterproductive, another observer said.

“Kyiv’s strategic priority is still the destruction of oil refineries,” Nikolay Mitrokhin of Germany’s Bremen University, who has penned hundreds of authoritative analyses of the hostilities, told Al Jazeera.

However, Russia overcame the initial shock by transporting gas from refineries in Siberia and exporting it from neighbouring Belarus and Kazakhstan.

No economic collapse, massive joblessness or public protests followed the strikes, while Moscow continued its air raids, adding jet-powered drones that resemble cruise missiles and are hard to down with Ukraine’s existing air defence system, he said.

“What is the basis for Kyiv’s and its backers’ conviction that strikes on oil refineries and depots will lead to Russia’s strategic defeat before Ukraine is defeated? I don’t understand,” he said.

However, Ukrainian attacks on data centres, bridges and factories where drones are assembled are far more effective, he said.

Recent strikes on data centres of Russian online giant Yandex and the state-run Sberbank resulted in disruptions of services in Russia and even former Soviet republics where Yandex operates its online payment, food delivery and taxi services.

Trump “didn’t ask him to stop the war, to give away cities or stop striking Russian rears in general,” Mitrokhin said.

Kyiv has repeatedly reiterated that it was ready to start peace talks if they are preceded by a ceasefire, but Moscow wanted to continue ground assaults and air raids until the peace terms were finalised – which could take months or even years.

‘We’re ready for any turn of events’

On Wednesday, Ukraine’s drone czar accused Elon Musk’s SpaceX of throttling Starlink satellite terminals that are part of the military-grade Starshield system.

Serhiy Beskrestnov said that SpaceX abruptly and without any warning limited services for terminals placed on drones flying over 160km/h (100mph).

The limit affected crucially-important interceptor drones and followed Trump’s request, presidential adviser Serhii Sternenko said.

Musk said that the White House owns and controls the Starshield systems and that any limits on speed are decided by Trump.

Some military analysts warn that the limit may be followed by a total shutdown of Starlink for Ukraine that could damage the quality of all military communications.

“But we were getting ready for everything,” Andriy Pronin told Al Jazeera. “We already know it may happen, that’s why we’re ready for any turn of events.”

In September 2022, Musk secretly ordered engineers to switch off Starlink coverage in the Russia-occupied Kherson region, effectively thwarting Kyiv’s push to retake it, Reuters reported.

In 2023, Musk threatened to cut off Ukrainian military access to Starlink unless the US defence department took over the costs.

Later, the Pentagon, Poland and other European allies took over the costs.