Global Pulse

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  • The rebels at the front line of Myanmar’s civil war

    The rebels at the front line of Myanmar’s civil war

    Myanmar’s long-simmering civil conflict has drawn renewed international attention following an unauthorized on-the-ground reporting trip by veteran BBC correspondent Quentin Sommerville, who gained rare access to rebel forces operating along active frontlines that the ruling military government has sought to seal off from outside observers.

    Against a backdrop of escalating clashes between the ruling junta and opposition armed groups that have roiled the Southeast Asian nation since the 2021 military coup, Sommerville entered the country outside official channels, a move that breaks the strict media controls imposed by the current government. This unapproved access allowed him to meet directly with rebel fighters who have been leading sustained offensives against junta positions across multiple border and inland regions, offering a first-hand look at a conflict that has largely been hidden from global media scrutiny.

    Most independent reporting inside Myanmar has been severely restricted since the military seized power, with international journalists barred from entering officially and local reporters facing severe crackdowns, including arrest and violence for documenting the conflict. Sommerville’s trip fills a critical gap in global understanding of the conflict, shedding light on the conditions, motivations, and capabilities of rebel groups that now control large swathes of territory outside the junta’s central control.

  • Colombia passes law to track cattle and keep deforestation-linked beef out of supply chains

    Colombia passes law to track cattle and keep deforestation-linked beef out of supply chains

    BOGOTÁ, COLOMBIA – In a groundbreaking move for global forest conservation, Colombia has signed into law a first-of-its-kind mandatory framework requiring the entire domestic cattle industry to implement full livestock traceability, guaranteeing that national beef supply chains are completely free of deforestation-linked production. Environmental advocates across the globe are hailing the legislation as a historic precedent, marking the first time any tropical forest country has rolled out such a sweeping nationwide rule to curb forest loss driven by cattle ranching.

    Under the new law, government regulatory bodies and private sector actors across the cattle supply chain are mandated to integrate three core systems: individual cattle tracking, official land ownership verification, and real-time deforestation monitoring. This cross-system integration is designed to flag any livestock raised on land cleared of forest, blocking these animals from entering legal commercial supply chains entirely.

    For decades, unregulated expansion of cattle ranching has stood as the single largest driver of deforestation in Colombia’s portion of the Amazon basin, with large swathes of protected forest cleared illegally through land grabbing to create new pasture. Proponents of the legislation argue it will close longstanding regulatory gaps that have allowed cattle reared on illegally deforested land – including grazing areas inside protected national parks and conservation reserves – to launder into legitimate domestic retail and international export markets.

    Susanne Breitkopf, U.S. forest campaigns director for the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), an international watchdog that has spent years documenting deforestation tied to Colombia’s cattle sector, emphasized that the law sets a replicable blueprint for other tropical forest nations grappling with the same issue. “This is a win for forests, for Indigenous and local communities that have acted as the world’s most effective forest stewards, and for consumers around the world who are increasingly demanding that the food they buy does not contribute to forest destruction or illicit land activities,” Breitkopf noted.

    The legislation comes at a moment of mounting global pressure, as both governments and agribusiness face growing requirements from international import markets to prove major commodities including beef are not linked to deforestation. Environmental advocates point out that robust traceability systems are quickly becoming a non-negotiable prerequisite for accessing key overseas markets, while also giving law enforcement clearer tools to identify and crack down on illegal land grabbing and forest clearing.

    Data from organizations backing the law shows Colombia has lost roughly 3.3 million hectares (8.2 million acres) of forest in recent decades – an area nearly identical in size to the entire country of Belgium – with the Amazon region seeing the most severe rates of loss. While Brazil’s Amazonian state of Pará has previously implemented cattle traceability rules for producers, environmental groups stress that Colombia’s new law goes further by codifying a uniform, nationwide legal mandate rather than a subnational policy.

    A 2025 EIA analysis underscored the urgency of the reform, finding that hundreds of thousands of cattle were moved between 2020 and 2024 from production areas overlapping protected national parks into legal supply chains. The new law is the culmination of more than five years of coordinated advocacy from environmental organizations, policy researchers, and progressive lawmakers, who have long warned that fragmented oversight and weak regulation allowed illegally deforestation-linked cattle to flow through Colombia’s disjointed cattle supply chain.

    Natalia Katixa Escobar, a researcher with Colombian legal and policy think tank Dejusticia, which has documented the links between cattle expansion and deforestation, explained that the law addresses a long-standing institutional disconnect between Colombia’s agricultural and environmental regulators. “One of its most immediate achievements is that it builds a formal bridge between environmental policy and agricultural oversight,” Escobar said. “For years, the control mechanisms for cattle ranching and traceability had absolutely no integration with environmental monitoring – that gap is what allowed illegal activity to thrive.”

    Colombian Environment Minister Irene Vélez Torres told reporters the new framework will help the government clearly separate responsible, law-abiding cattle producers from actors linked to forest destruction. “This means it will become increasingly hard for forest destruction and illicit economic activity to hide behind the facade of legitimate supply chains,” Vélez said.

    The law sets a phased two-year implementation timeline to give stakeholders time to adapt. Within the first six months, the national government must roll out compliance support programs for small and medium producers, launch an official certification system for deforestation-free beef products, and allocate dedicated funding to strengthen monitoring systems in active deforestation hotspots. After one year, regulators must finalize formal rules for national cattle identification and traceability protocols, and formalize mandatory due diligence requirements for deforestation-free cattle ranching.

    By the end of the second year, all major supply chain actors including slaughterhouses, meat processors, cattle auction houses, traders, and live cattle exporters will be required to have full due diligence policies in place to guarantee their supply chains are deforestation-free. A core component of the reform is the mandatory gradual integration of separate government databases, which for the first time will allow officials to cross-reference data on land tenure, cattle ownership, and recent forest loss to flag illegal operations.

    While supporters say these structural changes will dramatically improve regulators’ ability to intercept deforestation-linked cattle before they reach legal markets, observers warn that the law’s ultimate success hinges on consistent, well-funded enforcement – particularly in remote Amazon regions where illegal deforestation remains rampant and state presence is often limited.

    If implemented fully, the policy could become a global model for other tropical forest countries working to protect their forest ecosystems while retaining access to increasingly sustainability-focused international commodity markets. “The real test will be what happens on the ground,” Escobar emphasized. “While the law fixes critical gaps in oversight and information sharing, reducing deforestation will also depend on improved governance and consistent enforcement in the most remote parts of the Colombian Amazon. Whether it will deliver significant reductions in Amazon deforestation remains to be seen.”

    This coverage from The Associated Press, which received funding from private philanthropic foundations for its climate and environmental reporting, maintains full editorial independence over all content.

  • ‘There is no one else’ – Platner voters on backing the controversial Democrat

    ‘There is no one else’ – Platner voters on backing the controversial Democrat

    On a crisp Election Day across the pine-tree lined districts of Maine, BBC reporters sat down with Democratic voters to unpack the driving forces behind their support for their party’s controversial U.S. Senate candidate, who is set to take on longtime Republican incumbent Susan Collins this election cycle.

    Across multiple conversations, a consistent theme emerged: even with the well-documented controversy surrounding Platner, the vast majority of Democratic voters interviewed made clear they see no better alternative to unseat Collins. Many respondents framed their choice not as an enthusiastic endorsement of every position Platner has taken over his career, but as a strategic and ideological commitment to flipping the Senate seat held by Collins, a figure who has become a polarizing force in Maine politics over her decades in Washington.

    Several voters acknowledged the criticisms that have dogged Platner’s campaign, from past policy stances that have angered some progressive factions of the party to ethical questions raised by opposing groups. Yet even with these concerns top of mind, nearly all interviewees reiterated the phrase echoed across the state: ‘There is no one else.’

    Background context for this race: Collins, first elected to the Senate in 1996, has long held a reputation as a moderate Republican willing to cross party lines. But in recent years, shifting national political dynamics have made her seat a top target for national Democrats, who have poured resources into flipping it to help maintain or gain partisan control of the upper chamber. Platner, the Democratic nominee, emerged from a crowded primary field, but his nomination left some factions of the state party dissatisfied, leading to ongoing questions about whether rank-and-file Democratic voters would turn out to support him in the general election.

    The on-the-ground interviews from Election Day, however, suggest that concerns about voter apathy around Platner’s controversial candidacy may be overstated. Voters repeatedly emphasized that their top priority is replacing Collins, and that even with his flaws, Platner is the only candidate who can deliver that outcome for Maine. Many noted that they have supported Democratic candidates for statewide and national office for years, and that defeating what they frame as extreme GOP leadership in Washington is the defining issue of this election for them, outweighing any concerns they hold about their own party’s nominee.

  • UK says there should be ‘no economic involvement in illegal settlements’ for first time

    UK says there should be ‘no economic involvement in illegal settlements’ for first time

    In a landmark shift in Middle East policy, the United Kingdom has announced a series of unprecedented measures targeting Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank, marking the first time the country has explicitly barred economic engagement in these unauthorized outposts. The new policy framework comes alongside coordinated fresh sanctions targeting networks that fund and facilitate violent attacks against Palestinian communities, rolled out in partnership with key allies including France, Norway, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

    Under the new policy, the UK government will issue explicit guidance warning British businesses against all economic and financial activity within Israel’s illegal West Bank settlements. Officials clarified that the measure does not alter the UK’s longstanding commitment to normal trade with Israel within its 1967 pre-war borders, drawing a clear legal and geographic distinction between legitimate trade with Israel and prohibited activity in occupied territory. In total, the UK will impose sanctions on six entities and one individual linked to settler violence and expansion.

    Two of the sanctioned groups stand out as core enablers of illegal settlement activity: the Farms Association, which the UK says provides financial and logistical backing for settler farms and outposts tied to violence, intimidation and forced displacement of Palestinian residents; and Ari Artzenu, a hardline settler organization that actively promotes, funds and equips outposts linked to attacks on Palestinian communities.

    Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is set to lay out the new measures before UK Parliament on Tuesday, framing the action as a targeted response to a growing threat to regional peace. “Today we are acting with our international partners to sanction those who support and sponsor violence against Palestinian communities in the West Bank,” Cooper is expected to state. “Settler expansion and violence is illegal and a fundamental threat to the viability of a two-state solution, and to long-term peace and security for Palestinians and Israelis. These measures show the UK is leading with our partners to target those who are fuelling this violence.”

    The new steps come against a backdrop of mounting pressure on the UK government to take stronger action, and fall short of the full import ban on goods originating from illegal settlements that more than 230 Members of Parliament have called for this week. The gap between legislative demands and executive action marks a notable political tension: while in opposition, the current ruling Labour Party explicitly supported a full import ban, with then-Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy arguing in 2020 that such a move required “courage that so far ministers have not been willing to show.” According to reporting from Middle East Eye, government ministers privately acknowledge that a full ban would align with the UK’s existing legal position on the status of occupied Palestinian territories, even as they have stopped short of enacting one.

    The new guidance is already expected to have far-reaching ripple effects on UK domestic policy, particularly for local government pension funds. Over the past two years, dozens of UK local authorities have passed votes to divest from and boycott companies linked to Israeli occupation, war crimes or arms sales to Israel. Multiple major councils including Islington, Lewisham, Wandsworth and Caerphilly have already removed companies listed by the United Nations as operating in occupied Palestinian territories from their pension fund portfolios. However, the Labour government’s stance on local boycotts has been contradictory: earlier this year, Communities Secretary Steve Reed warned Labour-run local councils that they could face legal action for boycotting Israeli businesses, directing authorities to follow a 2016 national guidance that bans procurement boycotts against Israeli firms and businesses trading with Israel.

    This latest policy announcement builds on a series of increasingly harsh UK measures against settlement activity and far-right Israeli figures in recent months. In May 2025, the Labour government imposed sanctions on multiple prominent hardline Israeli settlers in the West Bank, including Daniella Weiss, a veteran settler activist and leader of the extremist Nachala movement. Last June, the UK joined several allies in sanctioning two far-right Israeli cabinet ministers, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, over their repeated incitement to violence against Palestinian communities in both the West Bank and Gaza.

    The new UK policy aligns with a landmark 2024 advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, which ruled that Israel’s long-running occupation of Palestinian territory violates international law. The ICJ ruling explicitly clarified that it is illegal under international law for an occupying power to transfer its own civilian population into occupied territory, or to forcibly displace or deport local Palestinian populations.

    Data from leading Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem underscores the urgency of the crisis the new measures target: since October 7, 2023, Israel has displaced 59 entire Palestinian communities across the occupied West Bank, comprising more than 4,000 people who have been forcibly removed from their land.

    This coverage is sourced from independent reporting by Middle East Eye, which provides unmatched independent reporting and analysis on the Middle East, North Africa and broader global affairs.

  • US urges Europe to step up travel measures to prevent spread of Ebola from Africa

    US urges Europe to step up travel measures to prevent spread of Ebola from Africa

    As a fresh Ebola outbreak spreads across the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, the Trump administration has issued an urgent call for European nations to tighten entry restrictions for travelers arriving from the affected African regions, warning that inaction could trigger new U.S. travel rules that would impact transatlantic movement even during the upcoming men’s World Cup.

    In a private conversation Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised U.S. concerns directly to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, with the two leaders discussing coordinated transatlantic responses to the unfolding public health emergency, a State Department official statement confirmed.

    “Protecting the health of the American public and stopping the Ebola outbreak from reaching U.S. shores remains this department’s top priority,” the statement read.

    Speaking on condition of anonymity to disclose details of the closed-door call, a senior State Department official struck a sharper tone, noting that the U.S. has already moved aggressively to contain the outbreak’s spread and that the broader global community must now match that effort. The official emphasized that concrete action is required immediately, and failure to act will have measurable consequences for travel between Europe and the United States.

    The administration is pushing for two key actions from the EU: increased financial commitments to Ebola response efforts, and targeted, common-sense entry restrictions for travelers originating from the affected Central and East African region.

    The 2026 World Cup, set to kick off this Thursday in Mexico, will run for nearly six weeks, with the majority of matches hosted across the United States, drawing hundreds of thousands of international visitors including many traveling through European hubs.

    The U.S. has already implemented its own strict measures: a blanket entry ban for any traveler who has visited one of the Ebola-impacted countries in the prior 21 days, and mandatory quarantine protocols for U.S. citizens returning home from the affected regions.

    Public health data puts the risk of direct importation in context: while there are only a handful of direct daily flights between the affected African nations and the U.S., more than 300 direct flights connect Europe and the United States every day, creating a far higher potential route for infected travelers to reach North America if European entry checks are insufficient.

    Since the outbreak was first confirmed last month, the U.S. has committed over $200 million in emergency funding to contain the spread in the DRC and Uganda. Earlier the same day as Rubio’s call, the EU announced it would add an additional 16.5 million euros ($19 million) to its own Ebola response, on top of the 15 million euros ($17.3 million) it contributed to the effort just last month. The EU delegation to Washington has not yet issued a public comment on the call between Rubio and von der Leyen.

    The administration’s response to the outbreak has already drawn political criticism. During last week’s congressional hearings, Democratic lawmakers pushed back against Rubio over the Trump administration’s earlier dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development, arguing that the restructuring may have weakened U.S. capacity to respond quickly to global health emergencies. Rubio countered that early detection programs previously run by USAID have been integrated into existing public health partnerships with African nations, and insisted the U.S. has mounted a swift, effective response to the outbreak.

  • Brazilian police rescue 108 Cuban migrants at the northern border and arrest 5 alleged smugglers

    Brazilian police rescue 108 Cuban migrants at the northern border and arrest 5 alleged smugglers

    SAO PAULO — Brazilian federal law enforcement has announced one of the largest migrant rescue operations in the country’s northern border region, saving more than 100 Cuban migrants who had fallen into the hands of brutal human smuggling networks.

    The 108 intercepted migrants are currently being held in the northern state of Roraima, which shares a border with Guyana, as authorities work to process and regularize their immigration status before connecting them to dedicated social service support, police confirmed in an official statement released Tuesday.

    Alongside the rescue, five suspected smuggling ring members — commonly referred to as “coyotes” in cross-border migration contexts — have been taken into custody and charged with human trafficking-related offenses. According to police investigations, these smugglers lured migrants with promises of a secure, uneventful crossing into Brazil, charging exorbitant, exploitative fees that already vulnerable migrants often struggle to pay.

    Police investigations exposed the dangerous, dehumanizing conditions the smugglers force migrants to endure. “In reality, the route they force migrants to take meets no standards for human dignity or basic road safety. Migrants are forced to complete grueling, days-long journeys in poorly maintained, overcrowded vehicles that put every passenger’s life at risk,” the official police statement read.

    Monday’s rescue operation marks the largest humanitarian intervention of its kind ever recorded in Roraima state. Since June 2024 alone, Brazilian authorities have pulled 297 Cuban migrants from smuggling rings as they attempted to cross into the country illegally through Roraima’s remote border corridors.

    The rescue comes amid a sustained surge in Cuban migration to Brazil, driven by a catastrophic ongoing economic collapse in Cuba compounded by decades of escalating United States sanctions. Official migration data shows that flows of Cuban migrants heading to Brazil have climbed steadily since 2022, with the trend accelerating sharply in recent years.

    According to Brazil’s Ministry of Justice annual migration report, published in May 2025, Cubans have overtaken Venezuelans as the largest nationality applying for refugee status in Brazil this year, with more than 40,000 applications already filed.

    Brazilian migration officials have warned that the surge could grow even larger in coming months if geopolitical tensions between Cuba and the U.S. continue to escalate. The ministry noted that formal immigration regularization through refugee status recognition remains the most viable policy alternative to manage the influx humanely.

    Migrating Cubans tend to take two distinct routes into Brazil based on their financial means, officials confirmed. Wealthier migrants typically book commercial flights directly to Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populous urban hub. By contrast, migrants facing severe economic hardship overwhelmingly choose overland routes, crossing into Brazil through the remote northern Amazonian states of Amapa and Roraima. Combined, these two states host nearly 60 percent of all newly arrived Cuban migrants in the country.

  • Bowen: Trump and Netanyahu wanted to reshape the Middle East – now they risk a permacrisis

    Bowen: Trump and Netanyahu wanted to reshape the Middle East – now they risk a permacrisis

    Four months after former U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a coordinated war against Iran with promises of rapid regime change and a transformed Middle East, the region has indeed been reshaped — but not in the way the two leaders predicted. What was supposed to be a quick, decisive victory that would topple the Islamic Republic has instead devolved into a drawn-out, grinding permacrisis, teetering between sporadic escalation and simmering tension that threatens global stability.

  • A World Cup guide for new football fans

    A World Cup guide for new football fans

    The global buzz building ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup is impossible to ignore. As the most watched and beloved sporting event on the planet, this iteration of soccer’s biggest prize carries unprecedented historical significance: for the first time in the tournament’s 92-year existence, it will be co-hosted across three North American nations — the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

    Kicking off the month-long tournament on June 11 in Mexico City, the 2026 World Cup will wrap up with the final showdown on July 19 at MetLife Stadium in the U.S. state of New Jersey. This edition also marks a major expansion of the tournament format, growing from 32 to 48 competing nations drawn into 12 four-team groups based on global FIFA rankings.

    For new soccer fans new unfamiliar with World Cup rules, the tournament structure follows a straightforward framework. The top two finishing teams from each group advance automatically to the knockout round of 32, with the remaining eight knockout spots going to the highest-ranked third-place teams from the group stage. Match scoring awards three points for a win, one point for a draw, and zero points for a loss, with 16 teams eliminated in the first knockout round.

    Standard 90-minute matches are split into two 45-minute halves with a 15-minute halftime break, with stoppage time added at the end of each half to offset time lost to injury treatment, game delays, and mandatory water breaks implemented by FIFA to combat summer heat across the host cities. No penalty shootouts are held during the group stage; if a knockout match ends in a draw after regulation, 30 minutes of extra time is played, and a penalty shootout will determine the winner if the score remains tied.

    Host cities are spread across all three co-host nations: Mexico will host matches in Guadalajara, Monterrey, and Mexico City; Canada will host in Toronto and Vancouver; and 11 U.S. metropolitan areas — Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Miami, New York/New Jersey, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, and Seattle — will welcome teams and fans.

    Heading into the tournament, multiple squads enter as top contenders to lift the trophy. Two-time winners France, led by global superstars Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé who consistently dominate Europe’s top club competitions, are widely tipped to reach the final again. 2010 champions Spain are banking on their new generation of young talent, headlined by 18-year-old Lamine Yamal, to claim their second major international title in two years. England, still recovering from back-to-back European Championship final heartbreaks, also enter as a strong contender, while five-time champions Brazil — the most successful nation in World Cup history — are chasing their first title since 2002 to extend their record.

    This year’s tournament will feature no shortage of must-watch players. Mbappé, making his third World Cup appearance for France after leading the side to one title and one second-place finish in the last two tournaments, is expected to dominate the competition. Yamal, Spain’s teenaged prodigy, is poised to cement his status as one of soccer’s next global superstars. The tournament will also likely be the final major international appearance for two of the sport’s all-time greats: Argentina’s Lionel Messi, who will turn 39 in June, and Portugal’s 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, whose two-decade rivalry shaped modern men’s soccer. Other standout players to watch include Brazilian playmakers Neymar and Vinícius Júnior, England’s Jude Bellingham, host nation standouts Christian Pulisic (USA) and Alphonso Davies (Canada), South Korea’s Son Heung-min, Ghana’s Antoine Semenyo, and record-breaking Norwegian striker Erling Haaland.

    The expanded 48-team format has created a historic moment for underdog soccer nations, with four countries making their World Cup debuts in 2026. Curaçao, a Caribbean nation with just 156,000 residents, will break Iceland’s 2018 record as the smallest country ever to qualify for the tournament. Fellow island nation Cape Verde, with a population of roughly 500,000, will enter as the third smallest qualifying nation in World Cup history. Jordan has also qualified for the first time in its history, with King Abdullah II granting Moroccan-born head coach Jamal Sellami Jordanian citizenship in recognition of his work leading the team to qualification. Rounding out the debutantes is Uzbekistan, led by head coach Fabio Cannavaro — a four-time World Cup participant who captained Italy to the 2006 tournament title.

    Beyond on-pitch action, the 2026 World Cup carries layered political and historical context that will shape key group stage matches. When France faces Senegal on June 16, the tie will be framed by their shared colonial history, echoing the 2002 World Cup where Senegal pulled off a legendary upset over the defending champion French side. Ghana and England, another pair tied by colonial history, will face off in Philadelphia on June 23. A June group stage match between Iran and Egypt in Seattle has drawn global attention after the match was branded a “Pride” match by local organizers to celebrate the city’s LGBT community, a move that prompted formal objections from both national federations. Same-sex relations remain criminalized in both nations, and the global football community will closely watch how the teams and FIFA navigate the situation. Iran’s participation also carries extra geopolitical weight amid ongoing tensions with co-host the United States; all of Iran’s group stage matches are held on U.S. soil, but the team has opted to base its training camp in Mexico and commute to matches. The tournament will also welcome two returning sides after long absences: Haiti will play its first World Cup match since 1974, while Scotland returns for the first time in 28 years.

  • Pope’s youth rally in Spain gets raw, with frank discussion of depression and domestic violence

    Pope’s youth rally in Spain gets raw, with frank discussion of depression and domestic violence

    BARCELONA, Spain – On the second stop of his week-long tour of Spain, Pope Leo XIV used a high-profile evening youth rally at Barcelona’s iconic Olympic Stadium Tuesday to urge the country’s young Catholics to hold fast to their faith, while engaging in unprecedentedly candid conversations about two crippling modern challenges: youth depression and systemic domestic abuse.

    Even against the backdrop of Spain’s widely documented modern secular shift, the American-born pontiff drew a massive crowd of roughly 40,000 attendees, who greeted him with deafening cheers as he traveled the stadium loop in his popemobile. The crowd’s energy surged each time the pope paused to bless infants or flash his now-famous signature “6-7” hand gesture, a moment that quickly became a highlight for many in attendance.

    The event opened with a heartfelt tribute to Catalan cultural heritage, featuring a performance by the region’s world-renowned castellers – acrobats who build intricate human towers. When the smallest casteller reached the summit of an eight-story tower, waved to the crowd, and descended safely, Pope Leo led the audience in a warm round of appreciative applause. Going beyond pre-event plans, the pontiff also wove extended passages of Catalan into his remarks during the subsequent prayer vigil, a choice that resonated deeply with the local audience.

    The centerpiece of the vigil was a raw, unflinching question-and-answer session with young adults, a standard format for papal visits but one that took on unusual gravity given the vulnerable stories shared. One young woman opened up to Pope Leo about surviving a suicide attempt and the persistent “darkness” that accompanies recurring depression. Another shared a harrowing account of her father’s attempt to kill her mother, a childhood spent in juvenile detention, and the lingering pain of grappling with whether she could ever forgive her abusive parent.

    Pope Leo praised the young people for their courage and honesty in sharing their struggles publicly. He traced much of the current youth mental health crisis to a modern societal culture that demands constant perfection from young people and pushes them to hide their moments of pain and darkness. He framed the “silent illness” of youth depression as a shared burden mirroring the suffering of Jesus Christ during his crucifixion.

    “In those dark hours, as he was dying on the cross, Jesus shared our pain and revealed to us the face of a compassionate God, who bears our sorrows, who suffers with us, weeps our tears and remains at our side with his presence full of love and mercy,” the pope told the crowd.

    Beyond societal pressures, he also called out toxic family dynamics where domestic abuse is normalized as a root cause of many of the challenges facing young people today. “So many crime reports, even today, reflect a toxic climate in family relationships marked by abuse and oppression and, in particular, by violence against women, which unfortunately often leads to femicide,” he noted.

    Pope Leo encouraged young people to draw comfort and strength from their faith, and earned resounding applause when he called for expanded, improved public health services to address both unmet mental health needs and the aftermath of domestic violence. “We are all called to address this dramatic reality, both personally and as a society, because we are responsible for confronting it in all its dimensions,” he said.

    The pope’s Spain tour centers on a message of hope for young people in a country that was once overwhelmingly Catholic, but saw a steep decline in religious participation following the end of 20th century dictatorship and the transition to democracy. In recent years, however, both church leaders and sociologists have noted a growing spiritual curiosity among young Spaniards, with anecdotal evidence pointing to rising rates of adult conversion to Catholicism.

    Patricia Garzón, a 25-year-old attendee who came to the vigil with a friend, shared her own experience of how faith sustains her amid modern pressures. “I believe that it is more difficult (for young people) today because before social media didn’t exist, and today we are constantly comparing ourselves with one another (online),” she said. “And we need someone from above to help us, to help us see that he loves us for who we are, not how others want us to see ourselves.”

    The culmination of Pope Leo’s visit to Catalonia is scheduled for Wednesday, when he will formally inaugurate the newly completed central Tower of Jesus Christ at Antoni Gaudí’s world-famous Sagrada Familia basilica, one of the most visited religious landmarks in the world.

    This coverage of religious news from the Associated Press was produced through a collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The Associated Press holds sole editorial responsibility for this content.

  • Colombian presidential candidate urges prosecutors to investigate alleged voter coercion

    Colombian presidential candidate urges prosecutors to investigate alleged voter coercion

    As Colombia prepares for its June 21 presidential runoff election, a tense dispute over electoral integrity has erupted after conservative candidate Abelardo de la Espriella called on national prosecutors to open a formal investigation into claims that illegal rebel groups pressured voters in remote rural municipalities to back his rival, ruling-party contender Iván Cepeda, during the May 31 first round of voting.

    De la Espriella’s campaign confirmed in an official statement this week that the candidate has formally filed a complaint with prosecutorial authorities, pointing to anomalous first-round results that saw Cepeda capture more than 70% of the vote across 109 municipalities where active illegal armed groups operate, with vote shares reaching as high as 97% in some isolated locations. While the campaign acknowledged that these lopsided results do not on their own serve as conclusive evidence of electoral fraud, they argue the numbers demand a full review to determine if threats, intimidation, or coercive tactics were used to strip voters of their free will and skew the outcome. As of Tuesday, Cepeda’s campaign has not issued any public response to the allegations.

    The contentious first round ended with a razor-thin lead for de la Espriella, a conservative pro-Trump lawyer who goes by the political nickname “The Tiger,” who captured 43.7% of the national vote. Cepeda, a sitting senator and close ally of current leftist President Gustavo Petro who previously served as a member of Colombia’s Communist Party, finished just 2.8 points behind with 40.9% of the vote. The close finish forced the two candidates into a head-to-head runoff, where the winner will secure a four-year term leading the South American nation.

    Cepeda, who has long served as a mediator between the Colombian government and the country’s remaining Marxist rebel groups, has positioned himself as the heir to Petro’s signature “total peace” policy, which has prioritized negotiated peace talks with active illegal armed groups that emerged following the 2016 peace deal with the FARC rebel movement. While Cepeda has stated he would support continuing negotiations with minor adjustments to strategy, de la Espriella has run on a hardline platform that promises to scrap the peace talks entirely and resume aggressive aerial fumigation of coca crops, the raw material for the country’s massive illegal cocaine trade.

    The allegations of voter coercion have gained partial credence from a preliminary statement released by the European Union’s electoral observation mission, which confirmed it has received multiple complaints from voters across the country reporting pressure from both government officials and illegal armed groups during the May 31 vote. The mission did not, however, specify which candidate the pressure was aimed at supporting.

    The high-stakes race drew international attention last week after former U.S. President Donald Trump officially endorsed de la Espriella on his Truth Social platform, praising the 47-year-old conservative as a “Smart, Strong and Tough Leader” who would deliver on restoring “LAW AND ORDER!” to Colombia. President Petro hit back at the endorsement in a post on X, arguing that foreign interference in domestic electoral affairs spells the death of national sovereignty, writing that “freedom dies” when one country meddles in the internal politics of another.

    Security policy has emerged as the defining issue of the 2025 Colombian presidential race, alongside longstanding voter concerns over systemic corruption and a struggling public healthcare system. The lopsided vote shares that sparked the current controversy are concentrated along Colombia’s Pacific coast, a longstanding leftist stronghold that has consistently supported Petro’s administration. Independent political analysts have noted that while the region is reliably pro-government, the unusually high vote shares for Cepeda align with broader warnings that armed groups have used government-granted ceasefires under the “total peace” strategy to consolidate control over remote rural communities. These groups, which run illicit operations including cocaine production laboratories and enforce unofficial “taxation” on legal businesses in their territories, have a well-documented history of intimidating civilians who oppose their influence, analysts added.