Ukraine’s European allies emphasized the need to quickly use frozen Russian assets to support Kyiv during discussions in London, hosted by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other leaders. They addressed measures such as removing Russian oil and gas from the global market and providing Ukraine with more long-range missiles. NATO chief Rutte mentioned that U. S. President Trump is still considering sending Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, while Dutch Prime Minister Schoof urged the EU to align with British and U. S. sanctions on Russian oil companies.
Starmer highlighted the urgency of utilizing frozen Russian assets to fund a loan for Ukraine, noting that the European Union has not yet approved this plan due to concerns from Belgium regarding Russian reserves. Zelenskiy requested long-range missiles and the use of frozen assets for more weapons from EU leaders during their meeting in Brussels. Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen stressed the importance of finding a solution before Christmas to ensure ongoing financial support for Ukraine.
Starmer welcomed the EU’s new sanctions against Russia but underscored the need for rapid progress on frozen assets. Zelenskiy also appreciated Trump’s recent sanctions on Russia’s top oil firms, despite Trump’s reluctance to provide long-range missiles. Moscow has threatened a “painful response” if assets are seized and dismissed U. S. sanctions as ineffective on the Russian economy. Zelenskiy met King Charles during his visit to Britain, receiving ongoing support for Ukraine.
Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets across Italy as part of a general strike in solidarity with the Global Sumud Flotilla that was intercepted by Israel this week while trying to bring aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
More than two million people attended Friday’s protests after the strike was called by a number of trade unions “in defence of the flotilla”, which was carrying a total of 40 Italians, and to “stop the genocide”, the CGIL (Italian General Confederation of Labour) wrote on X.
Turin-based daily La Stampa reported that the mobilisation involved the public and private sectors, “halting rail, air, metro, and bus transport, healthcare and schools. Among the many acts of dissent, protesters blocked highways near Pisa, Pescara, Bologna and Milan and shut down access to the port of Livorno, said the newspaper.
Police told the news agency AFP that more than 80,000 people demonstrated in Milan, where a sea of people clapped and waved the Palestinian flag as they made their way through the streets, carrying a massive banner reading: “Free Palestine, Stop the War Machine”.
“This is not just any strike. We’re here today to defend brotherhood among individuals, among peoples, to put humanity back at the centre, to say no to genocide, to a policy of rearmament,” CGIL leader Maurizio Landini was cited by the Reuters news agency as saying.
Reporting from Rome, Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic said the turnout across the country included “so many people from various walks of life. You’ve got students, you’ve got retired people, many people with their small children also coming out”.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathering in Rome for the national general strike called by different unions to protest against the situation in Gaza, on October 3, 2025 [Alessandra Tarantino/AP]
Major turnout expected in Rome on Saturday
Massive protests are planned for tomorrow in Rome, where the CGIL reported 300,000 participants on Friday, with crowds set to depart from the town square, Piazzale Ostiense, at 2:30pm (12:30 GMT).
“Today, we were hundreds of thousands. Tomorrow for Palestine we must be a million,” said Maya Issa, leader of the Palestinian Student Movement, cited by Rome-based daily La Repubblica.
Andrea Dessi, an assistant professor of international relations and global politics at the American University of Rome, told Al Jazeera that the Italian government had been “caught on its back foot”.
While Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni this week announced Italy would recognise a Palestinian state if Israeli captives were freed and Hamas was shut out of future governance, protesters believed Meloni’s support for a Palestinian state should have been unconditional, Dessi said.
“I believe that the pressure will continue to mount,” said Dessi. “We expect a major, major march tomorrow, Saturday, here in Rome, with activists and members, citizens coming to Rome from all of Italy,” he said.
Their demands include the release of remaining Italians from the Sumud Flotilla, unconditional support for a Palestinian state and “more serious sanctions” on Israel over its war on Gaza, he said.
Al Jazeera’s Veselinovic said that Italy’s right-wing government was unlikely to succumb to pressure. “That is probably unlikely to happen, considering that Italy is a major ally of Israel in the European Union. However, in the past few months, the government did adopt a slightly harsher tone towards Israeli officials, specifically because of actions like this protest,” she said.
The Italian government has criticised the strike, with Meloni suggesting that people were using the protests as an excuse to have a longer weekend break.
As the protests took place, Italy’s foreign ministry announced that Israel had released four Italian parliamentarians out of the 40 Italians detained from the flotilla. The two members of parliament and two members of the European Parliament were due to arrive back in Rome on Friday, the ministry said.
Worldwide reaction
Protests in solidarity with the humanitarian convoy, which included prominent figures like climate activist Greta Thunberg and a number of politicians, spread across continents on Thursday, from Europe to Australia and South America.
In Barcelona, where the flotilla began its voyage, about 15,000 demonstrators marched, chanting “Gaza, you are not alone,” “Boycott Israel,” and “Freedom for Palestine”. Former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau was among those intercepted at sea and now faces potential deportation along with fellow activists, including Nelson Mandela’s grandson.
The flotilla organisers said on Telegram on Friday that Israeli naval forces had “illegally intercepted all 42 of our vessels – each carrying humanitarian aid, volunteers, and the determination to break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza”. Marinette, the last remaining boat, was intercepted at 10:29am (07:29 GMT) that morning, they said.
More than 470 flotilla participants were “taken into custody by the military police, subjected to rigorous screening, and transferred to the prison administration”, according to Israeli police cited by AFP.
Among those detained from the flotilla were more than 20 journalists, according to media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF), including reporters from Al Jazeera, Spain’s El Pais and Italy’s public broadcaster RAI.
Israel’s military applauded its naval forces for intercepting the flotilla, claiming the humanitarian mission attempted to breach its “maritime security blockade”.
“During Yom Kippur, in an operation that lasted approximately 12 hours, Israeli Navy personnel foiled a large-scale incursion attempt by hundreds of individuals aboard 42 naval vessels that declared their intention to break the lawful maritime security blockade adjacent to the Gaza Strip,” the military statement said.
Rights groups, several politicians and the UN’s Francesca Albanese have suggested Israel’s interception of the flotilla’s boats was illegal.
Protests in Israel
In Israel on Friday, protesters blocked a route into Gaza, staging a sit-in demanding that aid seized from the flotilla be allowed to enter the Palestinian territory. Dozens of protesters also tried to stop soldiers from entering the Strip, some carrying banners calling for an end to the genocide and for sanctions to be imposed on Israel.
Reporting from Amman, Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said, “These are Israeli peace activists who say that they are not part of any larger organisation, but from branches of different organisations coming from all walks of life in solidarity with the … flotilla.”
Salhut reported that “more than 40 vessels” seized by the Israeli Navy were now sitting in the port of Ashdod, just north of the Gaza Strip.
“What these demonstrators are saying is that this flotilla should have been allowed to go to the Gaza Strip, but that the siege on the Palestinian territory needs to end and there needs to be other ways of ensuring that happens, whether it’s by air, land, or sea,” she said.
Reflecting back on Van Bronckhorst’s demise, a large part of the support wanted him gone too, just not with the same ferocity Martin is experiencing.
How many might welcome him back now, or wish to go back to a time when European finals seemed achievable?
The Dutchman’s credentials clearly are valued by English Premier League-winning Liverpool boss Arne Slot, no less, who appointed him as assistant manager at Anfield this summer after a short-lived tenure at Besiktas.
High points under him, though, were balanced by uninspiring domestic displays and a failure to retain the long-awaited Scottish title that Steven Gerrard delivered.
A bruising Champions League campaign added to their woes, but, in truth, Rangers were ill-equipped to compete on that stage at that time and the financial boost was most welcome.
Former Heart of Midlothian and Dundee United head coach Robbie Neilson suggested on the Scottish Football Podcast: “Things start to spiral and we’re getting to that point now where the negativity towards the manager is definitely having an effect on the players – there’s no doubt about that.
“The only way to turn that is to win football matches. I don’t know if they’ve got the squad to win six, seven, eight in a row, but that’s the only way they’ll turn it.
“It looks like Russell Martin has taken as much pressure as he can on himself to try and get it away from the players.
“But I think at the moment it’s coming back on the players as well now because it’s got to quite an extreme stage.”
What Martin and the board are contending with are previously unseen levels of negativity, though. There’s an all-consuming crescendo of ill will stretching far and wide across the support.
Until now, those in charge have held firm, although the growing sentiment over the past weeks is that even an extended run of favourable results will not influence a support seemingly not for turning.
Might McCoist’s point add weight to the idea that sticking with Martin may bear longer-term fruits, despite the lack of evidence to support that right now?
The price of gold climbed to a new record on Monday, rising above $3,850 an ounce in the afternoon in Europe, up more than 1% on the day.
Precious metals across the board surged, fuelled by a weak dollar and high uncertainty around funding for the US federal government.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump and the Republican Party are meeting with Democrats to discuss a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown on Tuesday. Republicans need at least seven votes from Democrats to pass the legislation.
Uncertainty is high, which historically sees investors flocking into so-called safe-haven assets such as gold. The precious metal is a more stable option in turbulent times when other asset classes are far more volatile.
So far this year, gold has shown itself to be an investor favourite amid increased geopolitical tensions and trade uncertainties. Since January, the precious metal has gained over 45%, rising from $2,669 an ounce.
Other factors are also supporting gold prices, including expectations of further rate cuts from the Federal Reserve. On 17 September, the Fed lowered its target range for its main lending rate to 4% – 4.25%, and officials indicated that there could be two more rate cuts this year.
Lower rates tend to weaken the US dollar, in which gold is denominated, increasing the metal’s appeal. This is particularly the case when other interest-bearing assets like bonds and savings accounts offer lower yields, following rate cuts.
“Gold prices continue to mark new records, with expectations for further rate cuts from the Fed supportive, given the precious metal does not offer income,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
“Now above $3,800, gold has also been boosted by central bank buying over several years, weaker demand for traditional safe havens like US government bonds driven by concerns over US deficits and trade policy, dollar weakness and geopolitical tensions, including conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine,” Mould added.
“The threat of a shutdown in Washington, as policymakers engage in tense negotiations ahead of a deadline at midnight on Tuesday, is yet another factor driving support for gold.”
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LAS VEGAS — While the rest of the college football world spent the summer whipped into a frenzy, swept up by the specter of revenue sharing or congressional intervention or one of the many other landscape-altering changes looming over the sport, Lincoln Riley was able to actually step away and take a breath.
In four years as USC’s coach, Riley hasn’t had many chances to really unplug. There was the sprint ahead of his first season, and the heavy portal push ahead of his second. The third came with a new conference, new defense, new expectations, new pressure.
The fourth, by comparison, is starting on a more relaxed note than Riley is used to. There were no phone calls taking up half a day of his family vacation. His fly fishing went mostly unbothered. He even golfed at Pebble Beach in May.
“I’d say I’m feeling as refreshed and recharged as I’ve been in a long time,” Riley said Thursday during Big Ten media days.
Never mind that the pressure for Riley to win at USC has perhaps never been so high, coming off a 7-6 campaign in which the Trojans needed a comeback bowl win to scrape past .500. The path to winning has arguably never been so uncertain, either, with the advent of revenue sharing completely upending how championship rosters are constructed.
In spite of that backdrop, this past summer still felt less daunting to Riley than the rest. He says he didn’t feel the offseason chaos that some of colleagues have described in the wake of the House settlement. Some of that added calm he credits to Chad Bowden, USC’s new general manager, and his handpicked front office, who have taken personnel matters largely off Riley’s plate. Immediately laying claim to the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class for 2026 hasn’t hurt in building that trust, either.
But it’s more than that, according to Riley.
“There are less big fixes going on right now, you know?” he said. “It’s like you’ve got the house built, and it’s kind of all about the finishes now. You’re not trying to put up a wall or anything like that.”
Whether USC is actually that close to being a finished product is up for debate. The Trojans’ win total has declined in each of Riley’s first three seasons, during which his record is worse than that of his predecessor, Clay Helton. Now the Trojans enter his fourth with a raw, unproven commodity at quarterback, a threadbare linebacker room, and an inexperienced offensive line that could already be down a projected starter.
There’s also the matter of their fourth-quarter issues last season, which saw the Trojans inexplicably cough up leads in five of their six losses.
But Riley looks at it differently.
“It’s the first time where we had an opportunity at the end of the game to win every single game that we played,” he said.
“The really good teams separate in a lot of their games, and they win the close games they end up in. That’s typically how it happens, and that’s what we’ve got to become. And so the way to do it, every part of your program has to be pretty strong.
“We’ve graduated from being way behind in this area, and being pretty decent in this area to, like, every right now is either good or pretty darn good. Now it’s just about taking those small steps in all those areas to, I guess, hypothetically push you over the hump.”
USC defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn walks on the sideline during a game against Nebraska at the Coliseum in November.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
The biggest leap in that regard could once again be on defense, where USC went from one of the worst units in the nation in 2023 (121st in scoring defense) to respectable (56th) under defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn.
That was no small feat, considering where they came from. And the Trojans have added considerable talent to its defense since. The front seven should benefit greatly from the return of linebacker Eric Gentry and defensive end Anthony Lucas from injury. And on the interior, USC brought in two massive transfers on the interior, as well as a five-star freshman.
“I think the depth, the talent level, and the size of the defensive line, I mean, there’s honestly really no comparison to this time 12 months ago,” Riley said.
But the Trojans’ path will inevitably, at some point, come down to their quarterback. Riley reiterated his confidence in Jayden Maiava as the Trojans’ starter, even as he once again heaped praise on five-star freshman Husan Longstreet.
Left tackle Elijah Paige said Thursday that he has seen a major change in Maiava since he entered the offseason as the presumptive starter.
“He’s taken a complete 180,” Paige said of USC’s quarterback. “[In the spring,] he commanded the offense, and that’s what this team needs.”
Of course, everyone is feeling optimistic this time of year, with more than a month still remaining before USC kicks off against Missouri State.
But Riley isn’t the only one who feels those finishing touches underway.
“We’ve gone and gotten some of the very best people in the business,” Riley said. “They’re not going to attach themselves to something where they don’t see the progress.
“And you do not get a recruiting class like this unless there’s a crazy amount of momentum within the program. Like, I don’t care what else you have. If you don’t have momentum, you do not get a class like we have.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has often tried to paint himself as a close friend of United States President Donald Trump, but the relationship has rarely been as straightforward as the Israeli premier has portrayed it.
And recently, speculation across the Israeli media that the relationship between the two leaders, and by extension, their countries, has begun to unravel is becoming unavoidable.
Some idea of the gap was apparent in Trump’s recent Middle East trip, which saw him visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates but not Israel, the state that has typically been the US’s closest ally within the region.
Likewise, US negotiations with two of Israel’s fiercest regional opponents, Iran and the Houthi rebels in Yemen, have been taking place without any apparent input from Israel, a country that has always regarded itself as central to such matters. Lastly, against a growing chorus of international condemnation over Israel’s actions in Gaza, there was the decision of US Vice President JD Vance to cancel a planned visit to Israel for apparently “logistical” reasons.
Appearing on national television earlier this month, Israeli commentator Dana Fahn Luzon put it succinctly: “Trump is signalling to Netanyahu, ‘Honey, I’ve had enough of you.’”
United States President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a joint press conference in Washington, DC, the US on February 4, 2025 [Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency]
“We’re seeing a total breakdown of everything that might be of benefit to Israel,” Mitchell Barak, an Israeli pollster and former political aide to several senior Israeli political figures, including Netanyahu, told Al Jazeera. “America was once our closest ally; now we don’t seem to have a seat at the table. This should be of concern to every single Israeli.”
‘Many Israelis blame Netanyahu for this,” Barak continued. “He always presented Trump as somehow being in his pocket, and it’s pretty clear Trump didn’t like that. Netanyahu crossed a line.”
‘No better friend’
While concern over a potential rift may be growing within Israel, prominent voices in the US administration are stressing the strength of their alliance.
Last Sunday, President Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, said that, while the US was keen to avert what he called a “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza, he didn’t think there was “any daylight between President Trump’s position and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s position”.
Police guard the entrance to Columbia University as protesters rally in support of detained Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, March 14, 2025, in New York City, the US [File: Jason DeCrow/AP]
Also doubling down on the US’s commitment to Israel was White House National Security Council spokesperson James Hewitt, who dismissed reports that the Trump administration was preparing to “abandon” Israel if it continues with its war on Gaza, telling Israeli media that “Israel has had no better friend in its history than President Trump”.
The Trump administration has also been active in shutting down criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza in public spheres and specifically on US college campuses.
Several international students have also been arrested and deported for their support of Palestine, including Rumeysa Ozturk, whose arrest as she was walking on a street in a Boston suburb for an opinion piece co-authored in a student newspaper was described by Human Rights Watch as “chilling”.
Protesters gather outside a federal court during a hearing with lawyers for Rumeysa Ozturk, a Tufts University student from Turkiye who was detained by US immigration authorities, April 3, 2025 in Boston, Massachusetts, the US [File: Rodrique Ngowi/AP]
Spatting
Those policies have made it clear that the Trump administration sits firmly in Israel’s corner. And looking back at Trump’s policies in his first presidential term, that is not surprising.
Trump fulfilled many of the Israeli right’s dreams in that term, between 2017 and 2021, including recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, despite its eastern half being occupied Palestinian territory, recognising the annexation of the Golan Heights, despite it being occupied Syrian territory, and pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal.
But those actions are partly to blame for the bumpy relationship between Trump and Netanyahu, with the US president reportedly resentful of what he saw as a lack of gratitude for those pro-Israel policies.
Trump was also furious after Netanyahu congratulated former US President Joe Biden following his 2020 election victory over Trump, which the current president still disputes.
“The first person that congratulated [Biden] was Bibi [Benjamin] Netanyahu, the man that I did more for than any other person I dealt with. … Bibi could have stayed quiet. He has made a terrible mistake,” Trump said in an interview in 2021.
Nevertheless, in the build-up to the 2024 US election, Netanyahu and his allies actively courted candidate Trump, believing him to be the best means of fulfilling their agenda and continuing their war on Gaza, analysts said.
“Netanyahu had really campaigned for Trump before the election, emphasising how bad Biden was,” Yossi Mekelberg, an Associate Fellow at Chatham House, said.
“Now they don’t know which way Trump’s going to go because he’s so contractual. He’s all about the win,” Mekelberg added, referring to the series of victories the president claimed during his recent Gulf tour, adding, “but there’s no win in Palestine”.
A protester holds a placard ahead of a planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, outside the US Consulate in Tel Aviv, Israel, February 3, 2025 [File: Antonio Denti/Reuters]
Across the Israeli press and media, a consensus is taking hold that Trump has simply tired of trying to secure a “win” or an end to the war on Gaza that Netanyahu and his allies on the Israeli hard right have no interest in pursuing.
Israeli Army Radio has even carried reports that Trump has blocked direct contact from Netanyahu over concerns that the Israeli prime minister may be trying to manipulate him.
Quoting an unnamed Israeli official, Yanir Cozin, a reporter with Israeli Army Radio, wrote on X: “There’s nothing Trump hates more than being portrayed as a sucker and someone being played, so he decided to cut off contact.”
“There’s a sense in Israel that Trump’s turned on Netanyahu,” political analyst Nimrod Flaschenberg said from Tel Aviv. “Supporters of Netanyahu are panicking, as they all previously thought that Trump’s backing was unlimited.”
What now?
A break in relations between Netanyahu and Trump might not mean an automatic break between Israel and the US, Flaschenberg cautioned, with all factions across the Israeli political spectrum speculating on what the future may hold under a realigned relationship with the US.
US financial, military and diplomatic support for Israel has been a bedrock of both countries’ foreign policy for decades, Mekelberg said. Moreover, whatever Trump’s current misgivings about his relationship with Netanyahu, support for Israel, while diminishing, remains hardwired into much of his Republican base, analysts and polls have noted, and particularly among Republican – and Democratic – donors.
US President Donald Trump has long been a strong supporter of Israel [File: Jim Watson/AFP]
“Those opposed to Netanyahu and the war are hoping that the US may now apply a lasting ceasefire,” Flaschenberg said, with reference to Israeli reliance upon US patronage. “That’s not because of any great faith in Trump, but more the extent of their dismay in the current government.”
However, equally present are those on the hard right, such as Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who Mekelberg speculated may also hope to take advantage of whatever direction US policy towards Israel heads in.
“Ben-Gvir, Smotrich and their backers could take advantage of American disinterest, depending upon what shape it takes,” Mekelberg told Al Jazeera. “If the US continues to provide weapons and diplomatic cover in the UN while letting [Israel] get on with it, then that’s their dream,” he said of Smotrich, who has reassured his backers that allowing minimal aid into the besieged enclave did not mean that Israel would stop “destroying everything that’s left of the Gaza Strip”.
However, where Netanyahu may figure in this is uncertain.
Accusations that the Israeli prime minister has become reliant upon the war to sustain the political coalition he needs to remain in office and avoid both a legal reckoning in his corruption trial, as well as a political reckoning over his government’s failures ahead of the October 7, 2023 attack, are both widespread and longstanding.
“I don’t know if Netanyahu can come back from this,” Barak said, still uncertain about whether the prime minister can demonstrate his survival skills once again. “There’s a lot of talk about Netanyahu being at the end of his line. I don’t know. They’ve been saying that for years, and he’s still here. They were saying that when I was his aide, but I can’t see any more magic tricks that are available to him.”
