Interim report into sinking of superyacht that killed 7 off coast of Sicily said the vessel was ‘vulnerable’ to strong winds.
Investigators in the United Kingdom say a sudden blast of powerful wind was likely behind the capsizing of a superyacht owned by British tech billionaire Mike Lynch, which sank off Sicily last year, killing seven people.
Lynch, 59, and his 18-year-old daughter Hannah were among those who died when the 56-metre Bayesian overturned in the early hours of August 19. The voyage was meant to be a celebratory outing following Lynch’s acquittal in a major fraud case in the United States just two months earlier.
In a preliminary report released on Thursday, the UK’s Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) found that the vessel was “vulnerable” to strong winds – potentially even less severe than those recorded at the time of the incident. The report noted that this vulnerability was unknown to the yacht’s owner and crew, as it had not been documented in the stability guidance available on board.
The agency launched its probe because the Bayesian was registered in the UK. However, it acknowledged that access to key evidence remains limited due to an ongoing criminal inquiry by Italian authorities.
According to the UK report, the Bayesian had been moved the day before the accident to what was believed to be a safer location in anticipation of thunderstorms. But at about 4:06am local time, with the vessel in a motoring state, sails stowed and the centreboard raised, it was hit by winds exceeding 70 knots (81 mph), which caused it to capsize within seconds.
“You have the wind pushing the vessel over and then you have the stability of the vessel trying to push the vessel back upright again,” said MAIB investigator Simon Graves. “What our studies found was that the Bayesian may have been vulnerable to high winds, and these winds were likely present at the time of the accident.”
Among the other victims were Jonathan and Judy Bloomer – both British nationals – Chris and Neda Morvillo from the US, and Canadian Antiguan chef Recaldo Thomas. Fifteen people survived, including Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares.
Efforts to recover the yacht have stalled since May 9, when a diver was killed during the operation. Salvage work resumed on Thursday. Graves said the final report will cover additional factors such as possible escape routes and what took place on board.
“There’s still more to uncover,” he said. “Once we gain access to the yacht itself, we’ll be able to paint a fuller picture of the timeline and decisions made.”
It was one of US President Donald Trump’s most ambitious executive orders, and it came just hours after he took office for his second term: ending the United States’ decades-long policy of birthright citizenship.
And just three days after Trump issued the order, a federal judge in Washington state blocked the decree from going into effect. In the months that followed, two other federal judges joined in issuing nationwide injunctions.
On Thursday, the issue will reach the US Supreme Court, with the 6-3 conservative dominated bench set to hear oral arguments in the case. What the court decides could be transformative.
Proponents have long argued that the practice of granting citizenship to all those born on US soil is woven into the national fabric.
American Civil Liberties Union executive director Anthony Romero did not mince words in January, when he called Trump’s order a “reckless and ruthless repudiation of American values”, destined to create a “permanent subclass of people born in the US who are denied full rights as Americans”.
Meanwhile, a smaller but vocal contingency, empowered by Trump, has maintained that the practice is based on faulty constitutional interpretation and serves as an incentive for undocumented migration. The Trump administration has called it “birth tourism”.
Here’s what to expect from Thursday’s hearing:
What time will it start?
The hearing will start at 9am local (14:00 GMT).
What is at stake?
The most fundamental question that could be answered by the top court is whether birthright citizenship will be allowed to continue.
Proponents point to the US Constitution’s 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, which reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside”.
A subsequent 1898 Supreme Court case, United States v Wong Kim Ark, interpreted the language as applying to all immigrants, creating a precedent that has since stood.
Some studies estimate that about 150,000 immigrant infants are born with citizenship every year under the policy.
The Trump administration, in contrast, has embraced the theory that babies born to noncitizens are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the US, and therefore are not constitutionally guaranteed citizenship. Speaking to reporters in April, Trump described a scenario of “tourists coming in and touching a piece of sand and then all of a sudden, there’s citizenship”. He has embraced the theory that the 14th Amendment was meant to apply only to former slaves, and not newly arriving immigrants
At the time, Trump predicted it would be “easy” to win the case based on that logic.
Could the outcome be more complicated?
Yes. The Trump administration has taken a strategically unique tack in the case.
In their emergency filing to the Supreme Court, they have focused on the actions of the three judges who blocked Trump’s order from going into effect nationwide.
They argue the orders extend beyond the judges’ authorities and should only apply to the plaintiffs or jurisdictions directly connected to Trump’s executive order.
Theoretically, the Supreme Court could rule on whether the judges can issue nationwide injunctions, without ruling on whether birthright citizenship is, in fact, protected by the Constitution.
For example, if the justices rule that the lower judges exceeded their power, but do not make a determination on the constitutional merits of birthright citizenship, the executive order would only be blocked in the 22 states that successfully challenged Trump’s order.
Attorneys General in those states had challenged the order in a joint lawsuit, with a federal judge in Massachusetts ruling in their favour in February.
Birthright citizenship would effectively be banned in 28 other states unless they also successfully challenge the order or until the Supreme Court makes a future ruling.
The possibility has split legal scholars, with some arguing it is unlikely the Supreme Court would make the narrower decision on the scope of the lower judges’ power without also ruling on the underlying constitutional merits of birthright citizenship.
Could the ruling extend beyond birthright citizenship?
Yes. If the justices do decide to only address the scope of the lower judges’ power, the implications could extend far beyond the birthright citizenship question.
It would also apply to several other Trump executive orders that have been blocked by a federal judge’s national injunction, also called “universal injunctions”. Those include several Trump executive orders seeking to unilaterally transform the federal government, the military, and how funding is disbursed to states, to name a few.
In a written filing in the birthright citizenship case, the Department of Justice pointed to the wider implications, saying the need for the Supreme Court’s “intervention has become urgent as universal injunctions have reached tsunami levels”.
Meanwhile, the plaintiffs in the Maryland case that successfully challenged Trump’s birthright order said doing away with national injunctions would create different tiers of rights depending on an individual’s geographical location.
“An infant would be a United States citizen and full member of society if born in New Jersey, but a deportable noncitizen if born in Tennessee,” they wrote in a court filing.
The UK economy is “beginning to turn a corner”, the chancellor has said, after it grew by more than expected in the first three months of the year.
Rachel Reeves told the BBC the 0.7% growth in the January-to-March period was “very encouraging”.
It was stronger than the 0.6% that analysts had forecast, and was helped by increases in consumer spending and investment by businesses.
The figures mark the period just before the US imposed import tariffs and UK employer taxes increased in April, and analysts warned the strong rate of growth was unlikely to continue.
The Labour government made boosting the economy its top priority when it came to power last year, but its decision to increase employers’ National Insurance (NI) contributions was criticised by many businesses as being anti-growth.
The US import tariffs are also expected to hit growth, with the International Monetary Fund recently downgrading its forecasts for the global economy and UK.
But Reeves told the BBC: “We are set to be the fastest growing economy in the G7 in the first three months of this year.
“We still have more to do,” she added. “I absolutely understand that the cost of living crisis is still real for many families, but the numbers today do show that the economy is beginning to turn a corner.”
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride criticised the rise in employers’ NI payments, calling it a “jobs tax”.
“Labour inherited the fastest-growing economy in the G7, but their decisions have put that progress at risk,” he said.
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesperson Daisy Cooper said the data was “positive news”, but there was “no time for complacency”.
Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice MP said: “We are yet to see the impact of Rachel Reeves’ April tax rises on growth, it won’t be pretty.”
The economy grew by 0.2% in March, the ONS said, which was also better than the zero growth that had been forecast.
Liz Martins, senior UK economist at HSBC, told the BBC’s Today programme she was feeling “quite cheered” by the figures.
The economy had grown strongly in February, which had been put down partly to companies ramping up output and exports ahead of US tariffs.
But Ms Martins said the latest figures indicated growth had been “driven by the good stuff”.
“Business investment is up nearly 6% on the quarter and the service sector is doing well as well.
“So it’s not just manufacturers selling to the US to get ahead of the tariffs.”
However, Paul Dales at Capital Economics was more sceptical, saying the latest growth “might be as good as it gets for the year”.
He said the strong rise in GDP was “unlikely to be repeated as a lot of it was due to activity being brought forward ahead of US tariffs and the rise in domestic businesses taxes”.
Simon Pittaway, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, also said the growth rebound was “unlikely to last, with data for April looking far weaker, and huge tariff-shaped clouds hanging over the global economy”.
Annabel Thomas says her company will absorb US tariffs
Annabel Thomas, chief executive of the Nc’nean Whisky Distillery based in Scotland, says she is “reasonably confident” about prospects for the UK.
UK interest rates are expected to fall further this year, “and that really affects the money people have in their pockets,” she said.
The business has a growing customer base in the US, and so decided to take the hit from the trade tariffs themselves.
“We would absorb the tariffs and keep our prices stable in the US,” she said.
John Inglis says his firm is “holding fire” on decisions
John Inglis is the founder of diamond tool manufacturer Exactaform, which employs 100 people and has a factory in the US, and says it is currently very difficult to make decisions over the future of the business.
“We’ve got tariffs. We don’t know where, which way we’re going – 10% off a margin is quite a lot.”
He said they were reluctant to move their production to America as they would be “putting UK people who have been very loyal to us out of work and nobody wants to do that”.
As for the rise in employers’ National Insurance, he said he did not mind “putting in extra… but it’s all niggling away at the profit you need to expand”.
“It’s the way it is at the moment. We’re holding fire [on decisions] because if you make the wrong decision now, everybody’s out of a job.”
The Ethereum price increased by 45% to $2,600 this week, triggering a frenzy within its meme coin ecosystem.
Among the top performers are Neiro, Turbo, and MAGA ($TRUMP) – but an expert says that MIND of Pepe could be next to explode.
Ethereum Meme Coins Season Begins With Scorching Hot Gains
The Ethereum meme coin sector is back with projects across the board generating substantial gains.
Neiro is one of today’s top performers with a 38% pump, taking its price to $0.00059. However, its weekly and monthly gains are even more impressive. Neiro has rocketed 185% this week and 225% this month.
It’s a similar story for Turbo Trump. This token, which is a play on the Turbo and Official Trump meme coins, has seen a massive 222% rise in the past 24 hours, putting it up 550% from this time last week.
This comes on a backdrop of Ethereum’s rapid price gains. It’s up 8% today, 45% this week, and 63% this month. Yes, in percentage gains, it’s less impressive than the returns provided by Neiro and Turbo, but in market cap gains, it’s one of the biggest runners among all financial assets.
Ethereum’s market cap has increased by $106 billion in the last seven days. In comparison, Microsoft, the world’s largest company, has seen a market cap increase of $100 billion in the same window, despite being valued over 10x higher than Ethereum.
Could Ethereum Meme Coins be This Cycle’s Smartest Play?
Ethereum’s deep liquidity and rapid price moves provide its ecosystem meme coins with a resounding edge.
Not only is Ethereum’s market cap exploding, but its ecosystem boasts a deep DeFi infrastructure, which could bolster token prices in the coming months. Here’s why:
According to DeFiLlama, Ethereum has a DeFi total value locked (TVL) of $63 billion. This is dry powder locked up in Ethereum DeFi protocols, mostly accruing an APY below 10%.
Traders are becoming increasingly aware of the lucrative returns that ecosystem tokens are providing, so we could potentially see a wealth rotation from low-yield Ethereum DeFi protocols into high-growth tokens like meme coins.
This, in turn, could further rocket Ethereum meme coin prices.
But while the entire Ethereum ecosystem looks bullish right now, one project that smart money traders are watching closely is MIND of Pepe, a Pepe-themed Ethereum meme coin with its own AI agent.
New Ethereum Meme Coin MIND of Pepe Raises $9M as Presale Enters Final Stage
MIND of Pepe isn’t your average meme coin; it’s a project that introduces cutting-edge agentic AI through a light-hearted, meme coin outfit.
The project features artwork and branding in the style of Pepe coin, one of Ethereum’s most popular meme coins.
However, it’s agent capabilities are unlike anything else on the market. It can scan social media and blockchain data to identify trends and trading opportunities which it will share with $MIND holders.
It’s a way for meme coin fans to stay ontop of the market without having to be locked in 24/7 – the agent will do that for you.
But here’s where it starts to really stand out: if the agent notices a gap in the market, it can launch its own tokens. Think projects like Goatseus Maximus and Fartcoin – they were both created by AI.
$MIND holders will also get insider access to these token launches, which could lead to serious gains. Imagine buying Fartcoin on day one. CoinMarketCap data says you’d be up 2,837,406% now.
With a blend of memetics and technological innovations, MIND of Pepe has the best of both worlds. For that reason, analysts expect huge gains, with Borch Crypto predicting a 20x.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not provide financial advice. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, and the market can be unpredictable. Always perform thorough research before making any cryptocurrency-related decisions.
Pretoria says the visit is to ‘reset’ ties with Washington, after the US welcomed dozens of white Afrikaners as refugees.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa will meet United States President Donald Trump at the White House next week in an attempt to “reset” ties between the two countries, Pretoria has said.
The reported visit comes after the US welcomed dozens of white Afrikaners as refugees this week, following widely discredited allegations made by Trump that “genocide” is being committed against white farmers in the majority-Black country.
“President Ramaphosa will meet with President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, DC to discuss bilateral, regional and global issues of interest,” South Africa’s presidency said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The president’s visit to the US provides a platform to reset the strategic relationship between the two countries,” it added, saying the trip will take place from Monday to Thursday and the two leaders will meet on Wednesday.
The White House had no immediate comment on the meeting, which would be Trump’s first with the leader of an African nation since he returned to office in January.
Relations between Pretoria and Washington have soured significantly since Trump returned to the White House.
Trump has criticised Ramaphosa’s government on multiple fronts. In February, he issued an executive order cutting all US funding to South Africa, citing disapproval of its land reform policy and its genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against US ally Israel.
‘Wrong end of the stick’
Trump’s order also offered to take in and resettle people from the minority Afrikaner community, whom he alleges are being persecuted and killed because of their race – claims that have been disproven by experts and South Africa’s government.
Afrikaners are descendants of mainly Dutch colonisers who led the apartheid regime for nearly five decades.
Pretoria maintains there is no evidence of persecution of white people in the country and Ramaphosa has said the US government “has got the wrong end of the stick”, as South Africa suffers overall with the problem of violent crime, regardless of race.
The US’s criticism also appears to focus on South Africa’s affirmative action laws that advance opportunities for the majority-Black population, who were oppressed and disenfranchised under apartheid.
A new land expropriation law gives the government power to take land in the public interest without compensation in exceptional circumstances. Although Pretoria says the law is not a confiscation tool and refers to unused land that can be redistributed for the public good, some Afrikaner groups say it could allow their land to be redistributed to some of the country’s Black majority.
According to data, white people, who make up about 7 percent of South Africa’s population, own more than 70 percent of the land and occupy most top management positions in the country.
Ramaphosa has spoken repeatedly of his desire to engage with Trump diplomatically and improve the relationship between the two countries.
The US is South Africa’s second-largest bilateral trading partner after China.
Julius Randle scored 29 points on 13-for-18 shooting, and the Minnesota Timberwolves held on for a 121-110 win over the Golden State Warriors to clinch their Western Conference second-round playoff series in Minneapolis.
Anthony Edwards finished with 22 points and 12 assists for Minnesota, which won the best-of-seven series in five games. The Timberwolves advanced to the conference finals, where they will await the winner of the series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Denver Nuggets.
“It’s great,” Randle said on Wednesday night. “We’ve had a season full of adversity. Coach (Chris Finch) said at the end of the regular season that we didn’t do anything as far as trades or firing coaches. We just stuck together, and we got through it together.
“I’m super proud of our team, everybody that stepped up in some type of way this year. We got win No. 8 (in the playoffs). We’ve got to keep going.”
Brandin Podziemski scored 28 points on 11-for-19 shooting to lead Golden State. Jonathan Kuminga added 26 points off the bench, and Jimmy Butler III chipped in 17 points and six assists.
“It was a fight,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “I’m really proud of our guys. They hung in there and they battled the whole way through.
“(It was) quite a turnaround in our season from where we were a few months ago to giving ourselves a chance and having a swing at the plate for some real chances to go deep. We were right there. Obviously, it didn’t go our way. The Wolves were great, they deserved it. But I’m very proud of our team.”
Stephen Curry, centre, of the Golden State Warriors watches from the bench against the Minnesota Timberwolves during Game 5 [Ellen Schmidt/Getty Images via AFP]
The Warriors dropped their fourth straight game without Stephen Curry, who watched in street clothes from the bench. Curry injured his left hamstring in the series opener after leading Golden State to a first-round playoff series win over the Houston Rockets.
Kerr said of the challenge of playing without Curry, “Injuries are part of the playoffs. I learned a long time ago that the playoffs are really about health and then just guys stepping up and making some big shots, big plays in key games. That’s what decides every series.
“We’ve been on both ends of that. It’s just part of it. There’s no sense in dwelling on it, and I don’t want to take anything away from what Minnesota just accomplished.”
The Timberwolves led by as many as 25 points late in the third quarter. Randle dribbled the ball from one end of the court to the other and finished with a running layup to give the Timberwolves a 93-68 edge with 1:01 remaining in the third.
The Warriors made a determined push in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to nine. Moses Moody drained a 3-pointer to bring Golden State within 99-90 with 7:11 to play.
Edwards helped Minnesota regain a double-digit advantage moments later. He knocked down a 3-pointer to put the Timberwolves on top 102-90, and Jaden McDaniels increased the lead to 14 points with a steal and a layup with 6:36 remaining.
“The team has come together at the right time and is playing its best basketball,” Finch said.
The Timberwolves led 62-47 at the half.
Golden State trailed 45-42 after Podziemski made a jump shot with 4:11 left in the half.
Minnesota closed the second quarter on a 17-5 run to grab a 15-point lead. Randle finished the first-half scoring with a three-point play after making a layup and drawing a foul.
The Timberwolves shot 62.8 percent (49 of 78) overall and 41.9 percent (13 of 31) from beyond the arc. The Warriors shot 43.3 percent (39 of 90) from the field and 28.2 percent (11 of 39) from 3-point range.
Minnesota’s Julius Randle #30 scored 29 points on 13-for-18 shooting in Game 5 [Noah Graham/Getty Images via AFP]
Celtics rebound to win Game 5 without Tatum
In an earlier playoff fixture on Wednesday, Derrick White scored a game-high 34 points and the Boston Celtics extended their season by beating the visiting New York Knicks 127-102 in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference second-round series.
The Knicks lead the best-of-seven series 3-2 heading into Friday’s Game 6 in New York.
White shot 7-for-13 from 3-point territory and made nine of his 11 free-throw attempts. Boston sank 22 of its 49 shots from behind the 3-point arc (44.9 percent) and outscored New York 68-43 in the second half.
The Celtics received 26 points, 12 assists and eight rebounds from Jaylen Brown. Luke Kornet added 10 points, nine rebounds and seven blocked shots and Payton Pritchard came off the bench to make five 3-pointers and score 17 points.
“We made winning plays on both ends of the floor,” Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. “They made enough plays to win. Gave us another chance to play.”
It was Boston’s second playoff game without All-Star forward Jayson Tatum, who had surgery on Tuesday to repair a ruptured right Achilles tendon.
Josh Hart scored a team-high 24 points for New York, which shot 29-of-81 from the field (35.8 percent). Jalen Brunson collected 22 points and six assists, but he fouled out with 7:19 to play. Brunson was called for his fifth foul with 2:45 remaining in the third quarter.
“That we didn’t play for 48 minutes,” said Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau when asked what stood out on Wednesday. “We didn’t play tough with the lead. Can’t afford to do that.”
Boston Celtics guard Derrick White, left, controls the ball while New York Knicks guard Miles McBride (2) defends in the second half during Game 5 of their second round NBA Playoff series at TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, US on May 14, 2025 [Bob DeChiara/Imagn Images via Reuters]
When Abdullah Ocalan said his Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, should lay down its arms and disband after more than four decades of conflict with the Turkish state and tens of thousands of deaths, there was an instant look across the border to Syria.
Syria’s northeast is largely controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led military force Turkiye has repeatedly fought against over the past decade.
The SDF is led by the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Turkiye views as a “terrorist” group and the Syrian branch of the PKK. The United States, however, has backed the YPG in Syria to fight against ISIL (ISIS).
Since the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December, the SDF has been negotiating with the new Turkish-allied government in Damascus over what its future role in a newly unified Syria and as a military force will be and what kind of governance will extend to the northeast of the country.
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan said the group should disband and disarm, ending decades of violence [Umit Bektas/Reuters]
No laying down of arms
The removal of the PKK from the equation will likely facilitate the SDF’s integration with Damascus, analysts told Al Jazeera.
“For the SDF, it makes it much easier to talk with the government in Damascus and also to de-escalate their relations with Turkey,” said Wladimir van Wilgenburg, an analyst of Kurdish politics based in Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
While the SDF rejects Turkiye’s assertions that it is the Syrian arm of the PKK, analysts said the groups have strong links.
While the PKK’s announcement that it would heed Ocalan’s call and disarm was welcomed by SDF leader Mazloum Abdi, he said his group would not disarm and Ocalan’s decision did not extend to Syria.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, right, and SDF commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi sign an agreement, to integrate the SDF into state institutions in Damascus on March 10, 2025 [SANA via AFP]
But this could give the group further incentives to bring its fighting force and governing structure – called the Autonomous Administration in North and East Syria (AANES) – under the umbrella of the new government in Damascus.
When reached for comment on Monday, an AANES spokesperson told Al Jazeera: “The autonomous administration is not concerned with the internal affairs of other countries.”
The SDF has clashed with Turkish-backed Syrian factions, including in the immediate days after the fall of al-Assad’s regime, and sustained attacks from Turkiye’s air force.
In December, the US negotiated a ceasefire between the SDF and the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army, which has since been incorporated into Syria’s new armed forces.
Abdi has been in discussions with the new Syrian government, led by Ahmed al-Sharaa, over how best to integrate the SDF into the post-Baathist Party security forces and govern Syria’s northeast.
Increased pressure to negotiate
The SDF has engaged in the talks with the pressure of an impending US troop withdrawal from northeast Syria.
Without a US presence and support, the SDF has feared it might be vulnerable to attacks from Turkiye or Turkish-backed factions in Syria.
But should the PKK’s decision to disarm bring a feeling of security to Turkiye along its border with Syria, analysts said the relations between the SDF and Turkiye would also likely improve.
“We know that Turkey’s hardline stance towards the SDF was very much linked to concerns over the PKK and not so much about the SDF being Kurdish-dominated,” Thomas Pierret, a Syria specialist and senior researcher at the Institute of Research and Study on the Arab and Islamic Worlds, told Al Jazeera.
SDF members flash victory signs while departing the city of Aleppo on April 9, 2025, as part of an agreement with the Syrian government [Ahmad Fallah/EPA]
This is evident by Turkiye’s relations with Masoud Barzani and his Kurdish Democratic Party in northern Iraq’s Kurdish region, Pierret said.
Of course, this new reality “doesn’t mean it will be easy”, according to Pierret. Under the agreement between Turkiye and the PKK, some fighters could be relocated to third countries – essentially sent into exile. There’s also the possibility some fighters may decide to make their way to northeast Syria, in which case, Pierret said, Turkiye could see the SDF as a haven for PKK fighters.
So Turkiye will keep a close eye on the SDF in Syria and the SDF’s negotiations with Damascus.
In the past, the Turkish military has launched drones, fired artillery and carried out air strikes against Kurdish fighters, including the SDF. And analysts said military options may still be on the table going forward.
“For now, they seem to be letting negotiations take their course,” Aron Lund, a fellow at Century International with a focus on Syria, told Al Jazeera. “And that’s probably related both to events in Syria but also to the PKK process.”
Beyond Syria
The PKK’s affiliates and allies are spread across regions of the Middle East where Kurds live.
Historically, the PKK has operated in Turkiye as well as northern Iraq. And their allies have operated in places where Kurds live in Syria and Iran. Their struggles have often opposed the national authorities in those places or sought self-determination or federalism.
One example is the Kurdistan Free Life Party, or PJAK, in Iran, which says its goal is to declare an autonomous Kurdish region in Iran.
“It’s unclear what will happen with the … PJAK because they also have a number of Iranian Kurdish fighters inside the PKK,” van Wildenburg said.
“It’s possible that they will continue as a political party and not as an armed group because they are already not doing much fighting against the Iranian state anyway.”
Analysts agree it is unclear whether the PKK’s allies will follow Ocalan’s lead and lay down their arms or, as is the case with the SDF in Syria, if they will view their own struggles as independent and make decisions on their own.
Fighters display the SDF flag in Deir Az Zor after the alliance captured the northeastern city, the government’s main foothold in the vast desert, on December 7, 2024 [Orhan Qereman/Reuters]
The cup final against Palace will be one last Wembley appearance with City for midfielder Kevin de Bruyne, with the 33-year-old Belgium international leaving the club on a free transfer in the summer when his contract expires.
De Bruyne has won six Premier League titles, the Champions League, two FA Cups and the League Cup on five occasions while at City.
He is second in the list of most assists in the Premier League era, with 119 assists, behind only former Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs on 162.
“We would love for Kevin to finish with a trophy,” said Haaland.
“He has had an incredible time at Manchester City, it is ridiculous how many trophies he has won. Hopefully he will get one more trophy.
“He ranks right up there for me. To get the balls from him is a dream. It has been really special playing with him. Such a joy, and I am going to do everything I can to have this joy in the last few games.
“The future will be different with different players. When Kevin leaves we will need someone to replace him, although Kevin is irreplaceable in so many ways.”
Haaland helped City win the 2023 FA Cup final and the Community Shield in August, although they were not his first trips to Wembley.
Back in 2014, when he was only 13, he visited the national stadium to watch City beat Sunderland 3-1 in the League Cup final, with his father Alf Inge, a former City midfielder, sitting next to him.
“It is just as special to go to Wembley,” said the striker. “I have seen City win in the stands, have won as a player, and hopefully we can win there again.”
Bitcoin Pepe has gone viral as one of the best crypto presales ahead of the next meme coin market explosion.
As the first meme-focused Layer 2 built on Bitcoin, it merges Solana’s lightning-fast trading experience with BTC’s unmatched security.
With its PEP-20 token standard, Bitcoin Pepe makes it possible to launch and trade tokens directly on Bitcoin for the first time.
The presale, already in stage 10, has gained momentum, raising over $8m as investor interest surges. As meme coin hype builds across the market, early supporters of Bitcoin Pepe could be holding one of the best meme coin presales.
Shiba Inu breaks out of consolidation with 19% weekly rally
Shiba Inu (SHIB) has broken free from its recent sideways pattern, shifting from a quiet consolidation phase into a strong upward rally. After weeks of low volatility and market indecision, SHIB is now flashing signs of renewed momentum.
Currently trading at $0.00001600, the token has seen a 5.77% gain in the past 24 hours and an impressive 22.48% increase over the past week. With $528 million in daily trading volume and a $9.3 billion market cap, this surge reflects growing bullish sentiment and suggests that Shiba Inu may still have room to run in the current cycle.
Dogecoin poised for rally as analyst predicts $0.27 breakout
In his latest analysis, crypto analyst Ali Martinez states that Dogecoin (DOGE) is gearing up for a strong surge. Martinez noted on X that DOGE is reflecting some resilience by finding support in a vital ascending trendline, which had become a trigger for growing the price in the past and an insurance against sharp corrections.
Martinez is predicting a possible $0.27 increase in DOGE in the short term based on the development of bullish momentum from the current formation. If DOGE maintains this trajectory and market sentiment holds, traders could see a significant upside in the near term.
Bitcoin Pepe ($BPEP) builds momentum ahead of the next market explosion
$BPEP, the native token of the Bitcoin Pepe ecosystem, is quickly becoming one of the best meme coin presales in the current market cycle. Now in its crypto presale phase, the project has already raised over $8m and is on the verge of entering the next Stage.
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Two-year-old Maikelys Espinoza Bernal was reunited with her mother in Venezuela following calls for her return.
A Venezuelan toddler who was separated from her parents after they crossed the United States-Mexico border together has been returned to Venezuela, to where her mother was deported in April.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro thanked the administration of United States President Donald Trump for the return on Wednesday of two-year-old Maikelys Espinoza Bernal to her mother, Yorely Bernal.
“We must be thankful for all the efforts, for [Trump special envoy] Rich Grenell for his efforts … and thank Donald Trump, too,” Maduro said, calling the child’s return “an act of justice”.
Both of the toddler’s parents were accused by the Trump administration of involvement with the Tren de Aragua gang, a claim for which the government has offered no evidence and is firmly denied by family members.
The child’s father, 25-year-old Maiker Espinoza, was among at least 137 Venezuelans sent to a prison in El Salvador in March.
Venezuelan officials had sought the return of Maikelys, and footage shown on state television showed First Lady Cilia Flores holding Maikelys after she arrived at an international airport near the capital of Caracas.
The child was reunited with her mother and grandmother in an event at the presidential palace attended by Maduro, who has voiced occasional criticism of Trump’s deportation push but reached an agreement in March to receive Venezuelans deported from the US.
The Trump administration has invoked sometimes vague and unsubstantiated claims of Tren de Aragua membership to send Venezuelan migrants to CECOT, a maximum security prison in El Salvador, notorious for abusive conditions, without due process under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
The toddler’s father, 25-year-old Maiker Espinoza, has been accused by the Trump administration, without evidence, of being a “lieutenant” in Tren de Aragua who oversees “homicides, drug sales, kidnappings, extortion, sex trafficking and operates a torture house”.
“At no time has my son been involved with them,” his mother, Maria Escalona, told the news agency Reuters this month, of claims that her son is a member of Tren de Aragua. “I think this is political – they are using the case of my son to cover up the horror that is being committed against all these innocents.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) also accused Yorely Bernal of recruiting young women for narcotics smuggling and sex work, but has not provided any evidence for those claims and deported her to Venezuela in April.
The Trump administration has invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used wartime law that grants the president powers to expeditiously expel people from the country without usual protections, under the pretext that irregular migration to the US constitutes a foreign “invasion”.
A report by the US intelligence community found no evidence for public claims by the Trump administration that Tren de Aragua was coordinating activities with the Maduro government as part of a clandestine attack on the United States.
On Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard fired two top members of the intelligence body that authored that assessment.
Iran’s president says his nation will not be intimidated by threats as Trump accuses Tehran of carrying out proxy wars.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country would not “bow to any bully” in response to United States President Donald Trump’s criticism of Tehran during his ongoing three-day Gulf tour.
“He [Trump] thinks he can come here, chant slogans, and scare us. For us, martyrdom is far sweeter than dying in bed. You came to frighten us? We will not bow to any bully,” he said on Wednesday in comments broadcast live on state TV.
Earlier in the day, during the GCC summit in Riyadh, Trump said that while he wanted to make a deal with Iran, the country “must stop sponsoring terror, halt its bloody proxy wars, and permanently and verifiably cease its pursuit of nuclear weapons”.
Washington and Tehran have held four meetings that were mediated by Oman to help reach a deal over the latter’s nuclear programme.
While attending a state dinner in the Qatari capital in Doha on Wednesday, Trump repeated his publicly stated desire for a peaceful resolution to Iran’s nuclear programme and suggested the ball is in Tehran’s court.
“It’s a perilous situation, and we want to do the right thing,” Trump said. “We want to do something that’s going to save maybe millions of lives. Because things like that get started, and they get out of control.”
On Tuesday, Trump said that he wanted “to make a deal with Iran”, but “if Iran’s leadership rejects this olive branch … we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure”. He added that he would not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
Successive US administrations have sought to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. A sustained effort by world powers during the Barack Obama administration culminated in a 2015 agreement called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
But when Trump succeeded Obama as US president, he unilaterally withdrew the US from the nuclear agreement in 2018, causing the deal to crumble.
Despite ongoing talks, the Trump administration has continued to impose sanctions on Iran.
On Wednesday, the US issued sanctions targeting Iran for efforts to domestically manufacture components for ballistic missiles, the US Department of the Treasury said.
The sanctions target six individuals and 12 entities for what the Treasury Department said was “their involvement in efforts to help the Iranian regime domestically source the manufacturing of critical materials needed for Tehran’s ballistic missile program”.
Defending champions Real Madrid come from behind to beat Mallorca and keep La Liga title defence alive.
Jacobo Ramon scored deep into stoppage time as Real Madrid rallied to beat Mallorca 2-1 and delay Barcelona’s title celebration.
Madrid needed the victory on Wednesday to keep Barcelona from clinching its 28th league title without winning another match. The Catalan club remains four points ahead and can still lift the trophy with a win at city rival Espanyol on Thursday.
Mallorca took the lead with a goal by Martin Valjent in the 11th minute and stayed ahead until Kylian Mbappe beat a couple of defenders to equalise in the 68th.
Ramon netted the go-ahead goal from inside the area five minutes into injury time, preventing Barcelona from winning the title, for now.
Real Madrid’s Jacobo Ramon scores his side’s second goal [Susana Vera/Reuters]
Mbappe is still in the race to be the league’s leading scorer, arriving for Wednesday’s match with 27 goals, two more than Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski. Mbappe had a hat-trick in the loss to Barcelona on Sunday.
Barcelona virtually secured the title by coming from behind to beat Madrid 4-3 in Barcelona in the last “Clasico” of the season on Sunday. Madrid lost all four matches against Barcelona this season, being outscored 16-7. It was the first time Barcelona won every “Clasico” in a season that had at least three matches between the rivals.
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti received a mostly indifferent reaction from the fans at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Wednesday after taking over the Brazil job.
The Italian was announced as Brazil’s new coach on Monday, and some Madrid fans criticised the coach for negotiating with the five-time champions with the La Liga season still under way.
There were no significant jeers or cheers when Ancelotti’s name was announced by the loudspeakers at the Bernabeu before the match, with most fans applauding and saying his name along with the announcer, following the tradition at the stadium.
Icelandic boyband VÆB were the first act to perform on the Eurovision stage this year
Thirty-five seconds. That’s all the time you get to change the set at Eurovision.
Thirty-five seconds to get one set of performers off the stage and put the next ones in the right place.
Thirty-five seconds to make sure everyone has the right microphones and earpieces.
Thirty-five seconds to make sure the props are in place and tightly secured.
While you’re at home watching the introductory videos known as postcards, dozens of people swarm the stage, setting the scene for whatever comes next.
“We call it the Formula 1 tyre change,” says Richard van Rouwendaal, the affable Dutch stage manager who makes it all work.
“Each person in the crew can only do one thing. You run on stage with one light bulb or one prop. You always walk on the same line. If you go off course, you will hit somebody.
“It’s a bit like ice skating.”
Watch a 30-second set change at the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool
The stage crew start rehearsing their “F1 tyre change” weeks before the contestants even arrive.
Every country sends detailed plans of their staging, and Eurovision hires stand-ins to play the acts (in Liverpool 2023, it was pupils from the local performing arts school), while stagehands start shaving precious seconds off the changeovers.
“We have about two weeks,” says Van Rouwendaal, who’s normally based in Utrecht but is in Basel for this year’s contest.
“My company is around 13 Dutchies and 30 local guys and girls, who rock it in Switzerland.
“In those two weeks, I have to figure out who’s right for each job. Someone’s good at running, someone’s good at lifting, someone’s good at organising the backstage area. It is a bit like being good at Tetris because you have to line everything up in a small space, in the perfect way.”
As soon as a song finishes, the team are ready to roll.
As well as the stagehands, there are people responsible for positioning lights and setting pyrotechnics; and 10 cleaners who sweep the stage with mops and vacuum cleaners between every performance.
“My cleaners are just as important as the stage crew. You need a clean stage for the dancers – but also, if there’s an overhead shot of somebody lying down, you don’t want to see shoeprints on the floor.”
The attention to detail is clinical. Backstage, every performer has their own microphone stand, set to the correct height and angle, to make sure every performance is camera perfect.
“Sometimes the delegation will say the artist wants to wear a different shoe for the grand final,” says Van Rouwendaal. “But if that happens, the mic stand is at the wrong height, so we’ve got a problem!”
SRG / SSR
Construction of this year’s stage began in early April, three weeks before rehearsals kicked off
Spontaneously changing footwear isn’t the worst problem he’s faced, though. At the 2022 contest in Turin, the stage was 10m (33ft) higher than the backstage area.
As a result, they were pushing heavy stage props – including a mechanical bull – up a steep ramp between every act.
“We were exhausted every night,” he recalls. “This year is better. We’ve even got an extra backstage tent where we prepare the props.”
Getty Images
Spain’s giant staircase is one of several props that Richard (pictured, inlay) and his team have to build in the middle of a performance at this year’s show
Props are a huge part of Eurovision. The tradition started at the second ever contest in 1957, when Germany’s Margot Hielscher sang part of her song Telefon, Telefon into (you guessed it) a telephone.
Over the intervening decades, the staging has become ever more elaborate. In 2014, Ukraine’s Mariya Yaremchuk trapped one of her dancers in a giant hamster wheel, while Romania brought a literal cannon to their performance in 2017.
This year, we’ve got disco balls, space hoppers, a magical food blender, a Swedish sauna and, for the UK, a fallen chandelier.
“It’s a big logistics effort, actually, to get all the props organised,” says Damaris Reist, deputy head of production for this year’s contest.
“It’s all organised in a kind of a circle. The [props] come onto the stage from the left, and then get taken off to the right.
“Backstage, the props that have been used are pushed back to the back of the queue, and so on. It’s all in the planning.”
‘Smuggling routes’
During the show, there are several secret passageways and “smuggling routes” to get props in and out of vision, especially when a performance requires new elements half-way through.
Cast your mind back, if you will, to Sam Ryder’s performance for the UK at the 2022 contest in Italy.
There he was, alone on the stage, belting out falsetto notes in his spangly jumpsuit, when suddenly, an electric guitar appeared out of thin air and landed in his hands.
And guess who put it there? Richard van Rouwendaal.
“I’m a magician,” he laughs. “No, no, no… That was a collaboration between the camera director, the British delegation and the stage crew.”
In other words, Richard ducked onto the stage, guitar in hand, while the director cut to a wide shot, concealing his presence from viewers at home.
“It’s choreographed to the nearest millimetre,” he says. “We’re not invisible, but we have to be invisible.”
Reuters
Sam Ryder’s performance in 2022 included a stylised space rocket and a magically-appearing guitar
What if it all goes wrong?
There are certain tricks the audience will never notice, Van Rouwendaal reveals.
If he announces “stage not clear” into his headset, the director can buy time by showing an extended shot of the audience.
In the event of a bigger incident – “a camera can break, a prop can fall” – they cut to a presenter in the green room, who can fill for a couple of minutes.
Up in the control room, a tape of the dress rehearsal plays in sync with the live show, allowing directors to switch to pre-recorded footage in the event of something like a stage invasion or a malfunctioning microphone.
A visual glitch isn’t enough to trigger the back-up tape, however – as Switzerland’s Zoë Më discovered at Tuesday’s first semi-final.
Her performance was briefly interrupted when the feed from an on-stage camera froze, but producers simply cut to a wide shot until it was fixed. (If it had happened in the final, she’d have been offered the chance to perform again.)
“There’s actually lots of measures that are being taken to make sure that every act can be shown in the best way,” says Reist.
“There are people who know the regulations by heart, who have been playing through what could happen and what we would do in various different situations.
“I’ll be sitting next to our head of production, and if there’s [a situation] where somebody has to run, maybe that’s going to be me!”
Sarah Louise Beennett
British act Remember Monday perform on top of a giant fallen chandelier during their song at this year’s Eurovision
Sarah Louise Bennett
French star Louane poses a particular challenge this year, as her performance involves several kilograms of sand being poured onto the stage. To compensate, she performs on a large canvas that can be folded over and carried off stage.
It’s no surprise to learn that staging a live three-hour broadcast with thousands of moving parts is incredibly stressful.
This year, organisers have introduced measures to protect the welfare of contestants and crew, including closed-door rehearsals, longer breaks between shows, and the creation of a “disconnected zone” where cameras are banned.
Even so, Reist says she has worked every weekend for the past two months, while Van Rouwendaal and his team are regularly pulling 20-hour days.
The shifts are so long that, back in 2008, Eurovision production legend Ola Melzig built a bunker under the stage, complete with a sofa, a “sadly underused” PS3 and two (yes, two) espresso machines.
“I don’t have hidden luxuries like Ola. I’m not at that level yet!” laughs Van Rouwendaal
“But backstage, I’ve got a spot with my crew. We’ve got stroopwafels there and, last week, it was King’s Day in Holland, so I baked pancakes for everyone.
“I try to make it fun. Sometimes we go out and have a drink and cheer because we had a great day.
“Yes, we have to be on top, and we have to be sharp as a knife, but having fun together is also very important.”
And if all goes to plan, you won’t see them at all this weekend.
The Moroccan autonomy proposal, which has been advanced as a “realistic” solution to the Western Sahara conflict, reflects a deeply flawed understanding of international law, decolonization, and regional stability. Far from offering a genuine path to peace, the autonomy plan is a strategic repackaging of occupation that violates the Sahrawi people’s right to self-determination and undermines the very foundations of international order.
The Moroccan autonomy proposal is premised on denying the Sahrawi people their inalienable right to self-determination. This right is not aspirational—it is enshrined in international law, including the UN Charter, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and UNGA Resolution 1514 (XV), which mandates the immediate and unconditional end of colonialism. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), in its 1975 advisory opinion, found no legal ties of sovereignty between Morocco and Western Sahara, reinforcing the principle that sovereignty must be decided by the people of the territory, not imposed by external actors.
Even on its own terms, Morocco’s proposed autonomy lacks credibility. In Morocco the king rules, and in the Moroccan constitution there are red lines (especially concerning the monarchy and Western Sahara) that cannot be crossed. The idea that such a system could guarantee democratic freedoms, autonomy, and political rights to Sahrawis is implausible.
Moreover, Rabat has not implemented meaningful decentralization within Morocco itself, making the Western Sahara “autonomy” claim look more like a political smokescreen than a genuine offer. How can Morocco offer regional autonomy while denying it in other regions in Morocco?
The 1991 UN-brokered peace agreement was based on a clear premise: a referendum allowing Sahrawis to choose between independence, integration with Morocco, or autonomy. Morocco initially agreed to this but has since blocked all efforts to hold a credible vote. Now it seeks to erase independence as an option entirely. This is not negotiation—it is blackmail. The Sahrawi people, through their recognized representative, the Frente POLISARIO, continue to demand the referendum they were promised.
The Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara since 1975 constitutes a textbook case of colonial acquisition of territory by force. Supporting Morocco’s autonomy plan is not a neutral act—it legitimizes the notion that military occupation can eventually be sanitized through diplomatic delay and political rebranding. This directly undermines international norms established after World War II to prevent wars of conquest.
If the international community endorses this model in Western Sahara, what prevents other states from using similar tactics? The implications for global peace and conflict resolution are deeply concerning.
Perhaps most troubling is the erasure of Sahrawi voices from the autonomy discourse. The overwhelming majority of Sahrawis, both in the occupied territories and in refugee camps in Algeria, reject Morocco’s proposal. They see it not as compromise, but as capitulation. Peace cannot be imposed through coercion; it must be built on consent. To impose autonomy without a referendum is to deny Sahrawis their most basic political agency.
The European Union, which has long presented itself as a defender of international law and multilateralism, is uniquely placed to play a constructive role in resolving this conflict. A just and lasting solution in Western Sahara would not only align with the EU’s normative values—it would serve its strategic interests.
First, stability in the Maghreb is essential for European security. The region is geographically close, interconnected via migration routes, and strategically situated near Europe’s southern flank. Instability in Western Sahara, if left unresolved, continues to fuel regional tensions and prevents effective regional cooperation.
Second, Western Sahara is rich in resources that are important to the EU, including fisheries, phosphates, agriculture, and renewable energy (especially solar and wind potential). The EU has been embroiled in repeated legal disputes over trade and fisheries agreements involving Western Sahara, which European courts have ruled cannot be applied to the territory without the consent of its people. A political resolution grounded in international law would finally end these legal and ethical challenges.
Third, resolving the Western Sahara issue would create a foundation for genuine regional integration. A stable, cooperative Maghreb—encompassing an independent Sahrawi Republic, Algeria, Tunisia, Mauritania, Libya, and Morocco—could emerge as a reliable partner to the EU, offering a bloc of stability, trade, and renewable energy cooperation. Such a development would support the EU’s ambitions for a sustainable, secure, and diversified energy transition.
Fourth, a lasting resolution would also help the EU manage migration more humanely and effectively. Stability and economic development in the Maghreb reduce the drivers of irregular migration. Yet the continued occupation and marginalization of the Sahrawi people contribute to regional insecurity, frustration, and radicalization risks—pressures that ultimately impact Europe.
Finally, the EU must protect its credibility. Supporting Morocco’s autonomy plan while ignoring UN resolutions and EU court decisions undermines the Union’s claims to be a values-based global actor. If Europe allows geopolitical convenience to trump principle, it erodes trust in its foreign policy and emboldens others to disregard international norms.
Rather than doubling down on flawed frameworks, the international community—especially the European Union—should explore innovative, justice-based solutions that prioritize regional cooperation and free association. A revived Maghreb Union could serve as a model of post-colonial regional integration. But such a vision can only be realized once the colonial injustice in Western Sahara is addressed through genuine decolonization, not disguised through autonomy.
The autonomy proposal is not a step toward peace—it is a sophisticated attempt to entrench occupation and delay justice. It is rooted in imperial logic, not international law. It ignores the clear legal, moral, and political rights of the Sahrawi people to choose their own future.
If the world truly believes in justice, peace, and the rules-based international order, it must stop rewarding colonial conquest. It must uphold its commitment to decolonization and demand a fair, credible referendum that includes independence as an option.
To accept anything less is to betray the Sahrawi people—and the principles on which global peace and European credibility depend.
Recently elected Pope Leo XIV is the first pontiff from the United States, just as the country’s president is shaking up the global order. With both the US and the Catholic Church deeply divided, what does Pope Leo’s selection mean for Catholics in the US and worldwide?
UNIFIL says incident first of its kind since Israel and Lebanese-armed group Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire last November.
Direct fire from the Israeli military hit the perimeter of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon’s (UNIFIL) peacekeeping positions in south Lebanon, the mission said.
In a statement on Wednesday, UNIFIL added that the incident on Tuesday was the first of its kind since Israel and Lebanese-armed group Hezbollah agreed to a ceasefire last November.
UNIFIL said one of its bases in the village of Kfarchouba in southern Lebanon was hit. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army.
“In recent days, UNIFIL has also observed other aggressive behaviour by the [Israeli military] towards peacekeepers performing operational activities in accordance with Security Council Resolution 1701,” it said in a post on X, referring to a UN resolution originally adopted in 2006 to end hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
UNIFIL is concerned by the recent aggressive posture of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) involving UNIFIL personnel and assets near the Blue Line, including yesterday’s incident in which a direct fire hit the perimeter of a UNIFIL position south of the village of Kfar Shouba.
Tuesday’s incident occurred near the Blue Line, a UN-mapped demarcation separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, it added.
Any unauthorised crossing of the Blue Line by land or by air from any side constitutes a violation of Security Council Resolution 1701.
UNIFIL cited other alleged incidents it blamed on the Israeli army, including being targeted by lasers while it was performing a patrol with the Lebanese army in the southern border town of Maroun al-Ras on Tuesday.
“UNIFIL protests all such and we continue to remind all actors of their responsibility to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and property and to respect the inviolability of UN assets and premises at all times,” it added.
Volatile ceasefire
Separately on Wednesday, Israel’s military said it killed a Hezbollah fighter in a strike on southern Lebanon.
“Earlier today [Wednesday], the [Israeli military] struck in the area of Qaaqaaiyet El Jisr in southern Lebanon, eliminating a Hezbollah terrorist who held the position of the commander of the Qabrikha area within the Hezbollah terrorist organisation,” a military statement said.
The November ceasefire ended a conflict in which Israel attacked Lebanon by air and invaded the country, devastating vast swaths of southern Lebanon. Hezbollah’s longtime leader, Hassan Nasrallah, was killed in an Israeli attack in September.
The ceasefire terms require that neither Hezbollah nor any other armed group have weapons in areas near the border south of the Litani River, which flows into the Mediterranean some 20km (12 miles) north of the Israeli border.
They require Israel to withdraw troops from the south and the Lebanese army to deploy into the border region.
Although the truce officially ended hostilities, sporadic cross-border attacks have continued. Israel has regularly broken the truce and carried out air raids across southern Lebanon, also hitting neighbourhoods in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah retains strong support.
Israel still occupies five strategic hilltops along the border. While rockets have been fired into Israel from Lebanese territory on two separate occasions, Hezbollah has denied involvement.
Hezbollah’s leader, Naim Qassem, has maintained that the group no longer keeps weapons in the border zone, in accordance with the truce.
In the aftermath of the armed insurgency that erupted in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir in 1989, the valley fell into what Basharat Peer called ‘Curfewed Night’—a’ prolonged nightmare. Three decades later, New Delhi revoked Article 370, apparently to spur investment and deepen integration in the valley. Yet, for Kashmiris, the nightmare has not ended. The recent attack in Pahalgam, which led to Operation Sindoor, serves as an unmuted episode in Kashmir’s nightmare.
Decades ago, Kashmiris inscribed ‘Q.K.’ (Quit Kashmir) on courtyard walls, and slogans like ‘Go India Go,’‘Al-Umar,’ and ‘Taeju’ echoed through the valley. During a 2008 visit to KASHMIR, Arundhati Roy recorded hearing chants such as ‘Dhoodh maango ge, kheer dein ge; Kashmir maango ge, cheer dein ge’ (Ask for milk, we’ll give you dessert; ask for Kashmir, we’ll tear you apart). Today, those slogans have faded. Headlines now highlight G20 meetings and post-2019 booms in tourism and investment. This raises a critical question: has the revocation of Article 370 erased half a century of resentment in just six years?
The Pahalgam attack challenges the narrative of Modi’s prosperous ‘Naya Kashmir.’ According to the managing editor of Kashmir Times, ‘normalcy has proved to be a mirage in Kashmir.’ After India’s 2019 clampdown silenced most headlines, KASHMIR faded away from the memory of the international community. But silence does not translate into peace. Within a month of the revocation of Article 370, more than 200 politicians, 100 community leaders, and many outspoken activists were imprisoned. There has been a systemic institutionalization of information control. Journalists and human rights defenders have been harassed, detained, and accused of ‘terrorism’ for reporting gross human rights violations in occupied Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmiris witness collective punishment. The human cost is profound: in 2022, a Kashmiri man lost his overseas job, faced financial hardship, and struggled with legal burdens because his brother, a journalist, was arrested for sharing a protest video on Twitter (now X).
Farah Bashir recounts in her memoir that every Kashmiri lives with PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) or is described as being possessed by a djinn—a traditional way of expressing mental anguish. During crackdowns, soldiers storm homes, ransack belongings, and scatter staples like rice and flour across the floor. These crackdowns often lead to food shortages and, at times, starvation. Reigniting collective trauma, Indian security forces launched a sweeping crackdown following the Pahalgam attack across the valley. Kashmiri students in Jammu and across northern Indian states have faced a wave of violence, threats, and communal slurs. Around 1,500 Kashmiris have been placed under preventive detention. India’s response to the attack shows how the country continues to conflate security with collective punishment. For those born after 1990, fear and resistance have become normalized elements of daily life. Repression in Occupied Kashmir has migrated from open violence to more invisible, psychological forms of control.
In 2021, the Russell Tribunal on Kashmir warned that the Valley had reached the brink of genocide, fueled by Hindutva-driven policies carried out with impunity. Yet, this reality remains largely invisible in both Indian and global media. The absence of independent reporting suggests that media bias is deeply entrenched, systematically sidelining accounts of state violence. It was only after the mass casualties of Indian tourists in the Pahalgam attack that global attention briefly redirected towards the situation in Occupied Kashmir, highlighting how the region’s persistent human rights crisis otherwise remains marginalized in international discourse.
Only a few Indian analysts have criticized their mainstream media for perpetuating the illusion of normalcy in the disputed territory, arguing that this portrayal masks the enduring reality of Jammu and Kashmir as a war zone. Thousands of Indian troops are omnipresent, and every Friday, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq is placed under house arrest to prevent him from leading prayers.
Since 2019, normalcy in Kashmir has been manufactured through repression, control of the media, and projection of economic development. As long as dissent is crushed, histories erased, and trauma left unhealed, Occupied Kashmir will remain a conflict unresolved—silenced, perhaps, but far from settled.
The Parliament of the Maldives has impeached two judges of the country’s Supreme Court, deepening a political crisis triggered by President Mohamed Muizzu’s push to amend the constitution and strip legislators of their seats if they switch political parties.
The Parliament, where the governing People’s National Congress holds a supermajority, voted on Wednesday to remove Justices Azmiralda Zahir and Mahaz Ali Zahir on allegations of abuse of power.
The vote, which passed 68 – 11, took place as dozens of opposition supporters rallied outside the Parliament House, calling for Muizzu’s resignation and an end to what they called the intimidation of judges.
The move comes more than two months after the judicial watchdog, dominated by Muizzu’s allies, suspended the two judges and their colleague, Justice Husnu al-Suood. At the time, the seven-member Supreme Court bench had been holding hearings into a petition challenging the anti-defection measures.
Suood later resigned from the top court, accusing Muizzu and Attorney General Ahmed Usham of intimidating all the judges of the Supreme Court to secure a judgement in their favour.
The president and his lawyer deny the charges.
“I do not interfere with the judiciary,” Muizzu told reporters during a 14-hour news conference on May 3. “I have never done so. I do not control the [the judicial watchdog].”
The crisis has paralysed the Maldives’s Supreme Court, halting hearings in all ongoing cases, including on the constitutional amendments. It has also raised fears of renewed instability in the Indian Ocean honeymoon destination, which held its first multiparty elections in 2008, but has been roiled by political turmoil since, including a coup d’etat, disputed elections, and the killings and jailing of dissidents.
‘Attack on judiciary’
Azmiralda and Mahaz denounced their impeachment on Wednesday.
“This is an attack on the Maldivian judiciary. It is no ordinary matter to bring the Maldives Supreme Court to a halt,” Azmiralda said in a statement. “My hope is that one day, when the rule of law is established in this country … all of the various officials who took part in destroying the Supreme Court are held accountable.”
The case against the two judges stems from the arrest of Azmiralda’s husband, Ismail Latheef, during a police raid on a spa where he was receiving a massage in the Maldivian capital, Male, on December 4 of last year.
The incident happened two weeks after Muizzu ratified the anti-defection measures.
The controversial amendments stipulate that legislators elected on a political party ticket would lose their seat if they switch parties, or if they resign or are expelled from their party. The provisions effectively allow Muizzu to maintain his supermajority in Parliament, where his party controls 79 of the chamber’s 93 seats.
The president has argued they are necessary to “improve political stability”, but opponents say they would destroy the country’s system of checks and balances.
At the time of Latheef’s arrest, a former member of parliament had filed a petition at the Supreme Court challenging the legality of the amendments, but the bench had yet to decide to take up the case.
Latheef was held overnight for more than 12 hours, on charges of soliciting a prostitute, but was released by a judge at the Criminal Court. In the ruling, the judge noted that the masseuse treating Latheef was fully clothed at the time of the raid, and that the room they were in was unlocked.
The prosecutor’s office later shelved the case against Latheef, citing a lack of evidence.
But after the Supreme Court began reviewing the constitutional amendments in February, the watchdog Judicial Services Commission (JSC) took up a separate case against Azmiralda and Mahaz, claiming the two judges had unlawfully lobbied lower court judges to secure Latheef’s release.
The JSC recommended that the Parliament impeach them last month.
‘No ulterior motives’
The judges have denied the charges, with lawyers for Azmiralda saying that the case was “manufactured by top government officials to suspend” them “in order to influence the outcome of the constitutional case before the Supreme Court”.
Usham, the Attorney General, has told Al Jazeera that the government “categorically denies these allegations”.
“There is absolutely no truth to the claim that the executive branch had any hand in the JSC’s [the judicial watchdog’s] decision,” he wrote in an email. “The suspension was pursuant to law and… any suggestion of ulterior motives is firmly rejected by the Government.”
The case, however, has drawn criticism from the United Nations and rights groups.
Margaret Satterthwaite, the UN’s special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, expressed grave concern last month over the action against the three judges, saying they appear to be aimed at undermining the Supreme Court’s judicial review of the anti-defection measures.
“The disciplinary proceedings brought against three of the Supreme Court’s Justices appear to violate the principle that judges can only be dismissed on serious grounds of misconduct or incompetence and in accordance with fair procedures guaranteeing objectivity and impartiality as provided for by the Constitution or the law,” she wrote. “The pressure of suspensions, disciplinary proceedings and investigations may amount to an interference in the independence of this institution.”
