Global Pulse

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  • Ukrainian police shoot and kill a gunman who killed at least 6 and took hostages in a supermarket

    Ukrainian police shoot and kill a gunman who killed at least 6 and took hostages in a supermarket

    On a Saturday in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, a violent mass shooting left at least six people dead, ending after law enforcement special forces stormed the local supermarket where the attacker had barricaded himself and taken hostages, killing the gunman during the confrontation, senior Ukrainian officials confirmed.

    Ihor Klymenko, head of Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, announced the outcome of the incident in an official social media statement, noting that the tactical raid was launched after hours of negotiation attempts failed to draw a cooperative response from the shooter. According to Klymenko’s on-site remarks to reporters, the attacker did not begin the violence inside the store: he first shot and killed four innocent bystanders on an adjacent public street before moving into the supermarket, where he killed a fifth person inside the building. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko later confirmed that a sixth fatality, a young woman who had been wounded in the attack, succumbed to her injuries while receiving treatment at a local hospital.

    An Associated Press journalist who arrived at the scene shortly after the shooting began observed multiple victim bodies lying on the street, covered by emergency blankets before being removed by medical personnel.

    Klymenko shared key details about the assailant: the man was born in 1962, and was carrying a legally registered short-barrel carbine assault rifle at the time of the attack. No further information about his identity or motive was released immediately, but Klymenko confirmed that police negotiators spent roughly 40 minutes attempting to de-escalate the situation before ordering the raid. Footage from the scene captured a female negotiator, protected by body armor and an armored police vehicle, using a megaphone to urge the gunman to release unharmed hostages, telling him “the people are not to blame for this. Please, let them go and we will talk with you.”

    Klymenko added that negotiation teams even offered to send medical supplies including tourniquets into the building to treat a wounded person the team believed was being held inside, but the gunman never responded to any outreach. “Consequently, the order was given to neutralize him,” Klymenko said.

    Investigators are currently reviewing how the attacker obtained his legal weapons permit. Klymenko explained that the gunman had applied to renew his expiring weapons permit in December of the previous year, which required a medical certification to confirm he was fit to own a firearm. The investigation will now focus on identifying which medical facility issued that certificate, to determine if any regulatory failures contributed to the attack.

    The shooting unfolded in Kyiv’s Holosiivskyi district, one of the capital’s central residential and administrative areas. Broadcast footage from the scene shows uniformed officers taking cover throughout the multi-tenant shopping mall that houses the targeted supermarket while exchanges of gunfire were ongoing, with emergency teams escorting dozens of unharmed bystanders out of the secured area.

    Associated Press writer Katie Marie Davies, based in Manchester, England, contributed reporting to this account.

  • France blames Hezbollah for French peacekeeper’s death in Lebanon

    France blames Hezbollah for French peacekeeper’s death in Lebanon

    Just two days after Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day ceasefire to negotiate an end to six weeks of cross-border conflict, a deadly ambush targeting United Nations peacekeepers in southern Lebanon has left one French soldier dead and three more wounded, with French President Emmanuel Macron publicly holding the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah responsible — an accusation the organization has forcefully denied.

    The fallen service member was identified as 24-year-old Staff Sergeant Florian Montorio, who died from a close-range gunshot wound during the attack Saturday in the Ghandouriyeh-Bint Jbeil region near the Israeli-Lebanese border. French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin confirmed in a post on X that Montorio’s unit was moving to resupply a UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) outpost that had been isolated by days of ongoing combat when they were ambushed by an armed faction. Despite Montorio’s comrades pulling him to safety under active fire, medical efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, Vautrin added.

    In his own public statement on X, President Macron said “Everything points to Hezbollah being responsible for this attack,” and called on Lebanese national authorities to immediately apprehend and prosecute those behind the killing. This is not the first French military fatality linked to the broader regional conflict sparked by the October 7 Hamas attacks: last month, another French soldier, Arnaud Frion, was killed by an Iranian-designed drone in Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

    Hezbollah, which has repeatedly denounced the upcoming ceasefire negotiations with Israel as a surrender of Lebanese sovereignty, quickly rejected all claims of involvement. In an official statement, the group said it “denies any connection to the incident that occurred with UNIFIL forces in the Ghandouriyeh-Bint Jbeil area,” and called for “caution in making judgments and assigning responsibilities” until the Lebanese army completes its official probe into the attack.

    Senior Hezbollah official Mahmud Qamati doubled down on the group’s opposition to the talks Saturday, describing the negotiations led by the Lebanese government as “a failure, weak, defeated… and submissive,” and stressed the organization would not be bound by any outcome of the discussions. Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has pushed back against Hezbollah criticism, saying the negotiations do not represent any concession of Lebanese interests, marking the first direct formal talks between Lebanon and Israel in decades.

    UNIFIL’s initial assessment echoed French claims that the attack was likely carried out by Hezbollah, with the peacekeeping force noting the gunfire came from non-state actors as peacekeepers cleared explosive ordnance from a local road to reach the cut-off outpost. UNIFIL added that the incident “may amount to war crimes,” and has launched an independent internal investigation into the attack. Both Lebanese President Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have condemned the killing, with Salam ordering a national probe and Aoun pledging to hold all responsible parties accountable. In the wake of the attack, Macron held urgent phone calls with both Aoun and Salam to press for full guarantees of security for all UNIFIL personnel deployed in the country.

    Tensions around UNIFIL’s mission have escalated sharply since the Israel-Hezbollah border conflict began six weeks ago, when Hezbollah launched rocket attacks on Israel in solidarity with Hamas, drawing Lebanon into the broader regional war. The peacekeeping force, which has served as a neutral buffer between Lebanon and Israel for nearly 45 years, has repeatedly been targeted by both Israeli and Hezbollah forces during the current fighting. Last month, three Indonesian UNIFIL peacekeepers were killed: a preliminary UN investigation found one was killed by Israeli tank fire, while the other two died in an improvised explosive device attack widely linked to Hezbollah. In separate incidents earlier this year, Israeli troops destroyed surveillance cameras at UNIFIL’s headquarters, and just last week an Israeli tank rammed two UNIFIL patrol vehicles, causing damage but no injuries. UNIFIL’s current mandate is set to expire at the end of 2024, adding further uncertainty to the force’s future in the region.

  • UK police investigate an arson attempt on a building once used by the Jewish community

    UK police investigate an arson attempt on a building once used by the Jewish community

    LONDON – A coordinated investigation led by London’s counterterrorism policing unit is underway after a string of suspicious arson attempts targeting sites associated with London’s Jewish community and Iranian opposition groups across the city’s northwest districts.

    The most recent incident unfolded on Friday evening in Hendon, a residential neighborhood just a short distance from Golders Green, one of London’s most prominent Jewish population centers. Law enforcement officials confirmed that witnesses observed a male suspect drop a canvas bag holding three flammable liquid-filled bottles outside a former Jewish community facility. The suspect attempted to ignite the cache before fleeing the scene; the material failed to fully catch fire, and no injuries were reported. As of Saturday, no suspects have been taken into custody.

    This attempted attack is the latest in a series of arson incidents targeting relevant sites that have shaken the capital in recent weeks. On March 23, four vehicles belonging to a Jewish charity ambulance service were destroyed in a deliberate fire in Golders Green, four people have already been charged in connection with that attack. Just two days before the Hendon incident, two separate arson attempts were recorded across northwest London: one targeted a local synagogue, while the second saw an ignited container thrown into the headquarters of a Persian-language media organization based in Wembley. Three suspects – two adult men and one teenage boy – have been charged with arson over that incident. No people have been hurt in any of the five linked events.

    While detectives have not formally connected the Friday Hendon attack to the earlier incidents, counterterrorism officials have taken lead of the ongoing probe due to clear thematic and operational similarities across all events. Originally, investigating officers had not classified any of the attacks as confirmed terrorist acts, but the pattern of targeting has drawn significant attention from national security officials.

    A key line of ongoing inquiry centers on whether the attacks have any connection to the Iranian government. British authorities have repeatedly publicly accused Iran of leveraging criminal proxy networks to carry out covert attacks on European soil, specifically targeting Jewish community institutions and Iranian opposition media outlets operating in exile. The UK’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 previously disclosed that it foiled more than 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots against targets in the country in the 12-month period ending last October.

    Metropolitan Police have not released a detailed description of the Hendon suspect as of Saturday, and have appealed to any members of the public who witnessed suspicious activity in the area Friday night to come forward with information to aid the investigation.

  • Pope Leo XIV says ‘not in my interest at all’ to debate Trump but will keep preaching peace

    Pope Leo XIV says ‘not in my interest at all’ to debate Trump but will keep preaching peace

    While traveling aboard the papal plane between Cameroon and Angola, mid-way through his 11-day pastoral tour of Africa, Pope Leo XIV spoke publicly Saturday to push back against widespread media narratives framing his recent calls for peace as a direct attack on U.S. President Donald Trump. The first American pope told reporters traveling with him that entering a public debate with Trump over the ongoing Iran war holds no personal or institutional interest for him, but he made clear that his commitment to spreading the Gospel’s core message of peace will remain unshaken.

    The back-and-forth between the two leaders has dominated global headlines this week, after Trump launched a series of criticisms against the pope on his social media platform Truth Social on April 12. At the time, the Iran war — which erupted following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on February 28 and subsequent Iranian retaliation — was already intensifying. Trump accused Pope Leo of being soft on conflict, aligned with left-wing political interests, and even claimed that the first American pontiff owed his election to Trump’s own influence.

    Pope Leo has been consistent in his public calls for diplomatic dialogue to end all armed conflict, and has repeatedly condemned efforts to frame war as a religiously justified cause. Most notably, he previously labeled Trump’s public threat to annihilate Iranian civilization as “truly unacceptable.” Vatican officials have already clarified that the pope’s peace advocacy applies to every ongoing war across the globe, not just the Iran conflict — pointing to examples like the Russian Orthodox Church’s framing of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine as a “holy war” as another target of his criticism.

    Addressing the viral interpretation of his recent remarks at a peace gathering in Bamenda, Cameroon — a city that has sat at the center of a nearly decade-long separatist conflict in the country’s Anglophone western region — the pope pushed back on claims the speech was crafted to respond to Trump. He confirmed that the text of his address, which blasted a “handful of tyrants” that are devastating the planet through war and exploitation, was finalized two full weeks before Trump released his first criticism. “Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said,” he told reporters, adding that widespread narratives framing his comments as a jab at the president are largely inaccurate. “And yet as it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate again the president, which is not in my interest at all.”

    Looking ahead to the remainder of his African tour, Pope Leo emphasized that his primary mission is pastoral: as head of the Catholic Church, he has traveled to the continent to walk alongside, celebrate with, and encourage Catholic communities across the region. He added that his ongoing peace preaching is not rooted in political confrontation, but in the core tenets of his faith. “I primarily come to Africa as a pastor… but also looking for ways to promote justice in our world, promote peace in our world,” he said, reaffirming that he will continue lifting up these values as part of his ministry regardless of political pushback.

  • Hormuz standoff sets a tense tone for Trump-Xi meet

    Hormuz standoff sets a tense tone for Trump-Xi meet

    The Persian Gulf has been pushed into uncharted, high-risk territory following the Trump administration’s decision to impose a naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic chokepoint that carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s daily oil shipments. The controversial measure was announced by former President Donald Trump after ceasefire negotiations with Iran collapsed on April 11, with the breakdown rooted in Iran’s refusal to relinquish its claimed control over the strait. Washington’s blockade is explicitly framed to counter two Iranian moves: Tehran’s plan to block passage for vessels it considers hostile, and its proposal to implement a new transit toll system for all commercial ships passing through the waterway.

    Beyond its stated goal of countering Iran, the blockade marks a deliberate show of force by the Trump administration that directly challenges Beijing. In recent years, China has emerged as the largest buyer of Iranian crude oil, and it is one of the only countries whose commercial shipping has been able to transit the strait without interference from regional forces. This special status was put to an early test on April 14, when the Rich Starry, a Chinese-owned and operated tanker already under US sanctions for carrying Iranian oil, prepared to make the passage. While many observers expected a direct confrontation between the tanker and US naval forces deployed to the region, the vessel ultimately reversed course in the Gulf of Oman and turned back. US officials have since confirmed that six vessels attempting to transit the strait have been turned away under the blockade.

    The Rich Starry’s decision to avoid confrontation has been widely interpreted as a signal that Beijing is not yet willing to directly challenge Washington’s stated red lines in the region, particularly ahead of a planned US presidential state visit to China scheduled for next month — a trip that was originally postponed from March 31 amid escalating tensions with Iran. Beijing has already publicly condemned the US blockade, labeling it a “dangerous and irresponsible act” that threatens global energy security. Even so, the decision to step back from a direct clash may be read by Washington as a sign of Chinese reluctance to escalate, a perception that analysts warn could embolden the Trump administration to take more aggressive action against Chinese shipping in the region going forward.

    Any attempt by the US to seize a Chinese-flagged or Chinese-owned tanker carries severe escalation risks. If Washington moves to seize a vessel, Beijing could easily characterize the action as an act of war, framing it as a deliberate attempt to disrupt the Chinese economy by cutting off critical energy supplies. While a direct armed confrontation between the United States and China in the Persian Gulf remains unlikely at this stage, the crisis has already spurred speculation that Beijing could deploy its 48th Escort Group, based at its military facility in Djibouti, to the region. The unit has long conducted anti-piracy patrols and escort missions for Chinese commercial ships in the Gulf, and its deployment would raise a pressing new question: would Washington be willing to open fire on Chinese naval vessels to enforce its blockade?

    Beyond direct naval confrontation, China has multiple indirect options to respond to the US move. One widely discussed path is increased military support for Iran. Unconfirmed intelligence reporting from The New York Times has alleged that Beijing has already shipped shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles to Tehran, a claim that Chinese officials have repeatedly and forcefully denied. China’s Beidou satellite navigation system is already known to provide positioning support for Iran’s existing missile arsenal, which is targeted at US and Israeli assets in the region. Additional transfers of advanced weapons, including long-range missiles and attack drones, would allow Beijing to counter the US blockade without direct engagement.

    Alternative, Beijing could choose to retaliate against US interests outside the Middle East, targeting American economic and strategic assets in the Asia-Pacific. The current context plays into this possibility: the US has already redeployed key missile defense systems from South Korea to the Middle East, leaving American allies in the Asia-Pacific more exposed. At the same time, fuel shortages sparked by strait disruptions have already put additional economic strain on regional powers, creating more openings for Chinese action if Beijing chooses to escalate.

    Despite Beijing’s stated preference for a stable Middle East and open global trade — a status quo from which China has benefited enormously from decades of globalization — the crisis also creates unique strategic and economic opportunities for China to advance its long-term goals. One of the most significant is the expansion of the renminbi’s role in global energy markets. Iran already conducts nearly all of its oil trade transactions in renminbi, accelerating the rise of the so-called petroyuan as a challenger to the decades-long dominance of the petrodollar in global energy trade. Combined with China’s position as the leading supplier of aviation fuel across the Asia-Pacific, the current crisis has already cemented China’s larger role in the global energy economy.

    Another potential beneficiary of prolonged energy market disruption is China’s electric vehicle (EV) industry. A sustained oil shortage would likely push more consumers and governments to accelerate the transition to EVs, a market where Chinese manufacturers like BYD already hold a dominant global market share. Analysts draw a parallel to the 1970s OPEC oil crisis, when fuel-efficient Japanese vehicles outcompeted larger, less efficient American and European models, capturing massive global market share. A prolonged oil crisis today could similarly turn Chinese EV brands into global household names, expanding the global influence of “Brand China.”

    Finally, the crisis reinforces China’s ongoing narrative that it is a more reliable and stable global partner than the United States, amid widespread perceptions of unpredictability from the Trump administration over the past 15 months. China already holds a more favorable global public image than the US in most international polling, and a wider regional conflict stemming from the blockade would likely widen that gap further. In the end, the course taken by the Rich Starry may end up charting the future trajectory of US-China great power competition, and the shape of the global order that competition will produce.

  • Millions listen to Ethiopian star’s song taking swipe at government

    Millions listen to Ethiopian star’s song taking swipe at government

    As Ethiopia prepares for its upcoming June general election, a new music release from the nation’s most iconic musician has ignited widespread public conversation, delivering a seeming rebuke of the current government that resonates deeply with growing discontent across the country. Titled *Das Tal*, which translates to “Put Up the Tent” in English, the track was uploaded to YouTube last Thursday, and has already amassed more than seven million views from audiences at home and abroad.

    The song draws its symbolism from Ethiopia’s traditional mourning tents, spaces where communities gather to grieve shared loss. Throughout the track, 49-year-old Teddy Afro — born Tewodros Kassahun — crafts a raw, lyrical lament for what he frames as a lost nation. “The spirit of being Ethiopian is now pushed away,” he sings. “Now I understand the sorrow and pain. Where can someone go to mourn, where do you cry? In the place that raised me, in the village where I grew up, I have become a stranger, like someone with no country.”

    Controversy preceded the track’s official launch, when a planned preview event for journalists in the capital city of Addis Ababa was abruptly canceled, with no clear explanation given for the last-minute cancellation.

    This is far from the first time Teddy Afro has clashed with Ethiopian governments: for more than two decades, he has been one of the most prominent dissident voices in the country’s cultural landscape, where open criticism of ruling authorities has regularly resulted in legal and professional repercussions for critics. Twenty years ago, he was imprisoned for 16 months on charges related to a hit-and-run incident, charges he has long maintained were fabricated as political retribution for his criticism of the government.

    In 2017, his most recent full album *Ethiopia*, which centered on historical narratives and called for cross-ethnic unity across the country, became a commercial sensation. It topped Billboard’s World Albums chart for multiple consecutive weeks and recorded massive sales among Ethiopian audiences both domestically and internationally, but authorities blocked the album’s official release within Ethiopia’s borders.

    That same period saw massive nationwide anti-government protests sparked by longstanding grievances over the marginalization of the Oromo people, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group. Those protests ultimately led to the resignation of the long-serving prime minister and paved the way for current Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, an Oromo himself, to take power. Abiy campaigned on a promise of a new era of inclusive unity for Ethiopia’s multi-ethnic population, and Teddy Afro initially welcomed his agenda. In a 2017 interview with the BBC, the musician framed his work as rooted in a call for collective love, echoing civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.: “Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. And for us to come out of the situation we are in, I believe the only choice we have is love.”

    In the years since Abiy took office, however, Teddy Afro has become increasingly disillusioned with the government’s leadership. Widespread interethnic violence across the country and the brutal two-year civil war in the Tigray region, which killed hundreds of thousands of people, have pushed the musician to sharpen his criticism. In 2022, he released a track calling out the growing danger of ethnic tribalism, a theme he expands on in his latest release.

    For his part, Prime Minister Abiy has repeatedly emphasized his commitment to national unity, framing collective solidarity as the only path to lasting security and economic prosperity for all Ethiopians. With the general election just weeks away, political messaging around national unity is set to intensify across the political spectrum — and Teddy Afro’s viral new track has already placed national discontent at the center of public discourse in the lead-up to the vote.

  • Macron says 1 French soldier was killed and 3 injured in attack on peacekeepers in Lebanon

    Macron says 1 French soldier was killed and 3 injured in attack on peacekeepers in Lebanon

    BEIRUT, PARIS – A deadly ambush targeting United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon has claimed the life of a French service member and wounded three more, triggering an urgent diplomatic response from French leadership just one day after a fragile 10-day ceasefire took hold along the Lebanon-Israel border.

    French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed the fatal attack in a social media statement Saturday morning, noting that all preliminary evidence points to Hezbollah bearing responsibility for the strike on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol. The fallen soldier was identified as Staff Sergeant Florian Montorio, a 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment member based in the southwestern French city of Montauban. Macron added that the three injured service members have already been evacuated for medical care.

    “In this moment of grief, the entire nation bows in respect for our fallen comrade, and extends its unwavering support to Montorio’s family, as well as all French military personnel deployed to advance peace in Lebanon,” Macron wrote.

    This death marks the second French peacekeeper fatality in less than a month. In mid-March, a drone strike on a Kurdish military base in Iraq’s Erbil region killed Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion and left six other French service members wounded.

    French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin later clarified details of the Saturday incident, confirming the ambush unfolded in the Deir Kifa region of southern Lebanon. The patrol was carrying out a critical operational mission: clearing a secure path to a UNIFIL outpost that had been cut off from supply and reinforcement for several days, amid escalating cross-border clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces that have roiled the region for months.

    Montorio was ambushed at close range by fighters from an armed group, Vautrin explained in a post on the social platform X. “He was struck immediately by a direct round from a light weapon. His comrades pulled him to cover under active enemy fire, but were unable to resuscitate him,” she wrote.

    Within hours of the attack, President Macron held separate urgent calls with Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to deliver France’s formal demands. According to a readout from Macron’s office, the French leader called on Lebanese officials to launch a full, transparent investigation into the strike, rapidly identify the perpetrators and bring them to prosecution, and take all necessary measures to protect UNIFIL personnel, who operate under international mandate to maintain stability in the region and are never legitimate targets.

    Macron used the diplomatic exchange to reaffirm two core French priorities for the region: that all parties must fully comply with the newly implemented ceasefire, and that France remains deeply committed to upholding Lebanon’s full sovereignty, a pillar of broader stability across the Middle East that benefits all Lebanese citizens.

    The ceasefire that went into effect Friday was negotiated without input from Hezbollah, leaving international observers uncertain whether the group would respect the truce. Saturday’s fatal attack, which comes just 24 hours after the truce was supposed to take hold, has already raised new concerns about the durability of the pause in fighting.

  • Pope brings Africa tour to Angola as Trump feud drags on

    Pope brings Africa tour to Angola as Trump feud drags on

    Pope Leo XIV has launched the third stop of his historic 11-day, four-nation African pilgrimage, arriving in Angola Saturday after wrapping up a high-profile three-day visit to Cameroon, where he delivered sharp social and political critiques amid a worsening war of words with former U.S. President Donald Trump over the ongoing Middle East conflict.

    The American pontiff, who was elected to the papacy in May 2025 after the passing of Pope Francis, marked the end of his Cameroon leg with a massive open-air mass at Yaoundé’s airport that drew more than 200,000 adoring worshippers, who greeted him with traditional songs and festive dances. Speaking in French during his homily, Pope Leo thanked the Cameroonian people for their warm welcome, before issuing a pointed call for the nation to find the courage to break from harmful long-standing habits and outdated power structures. His remarks came against the backdrop of 42 years of authoritarian rule by 93-year-old President Paul Biya, who has held power since 1982.

    Following the mass, Pope Leo departed midday for Angola’s capital Luanda, where he is scheduled to meet with President Joao Lourenco and deliver a policy address before wrapping up his visit on Tuesday. Only two other popes have traveled to the resource-rich southern African nation: John Paul II in 1992 and Benedict XVI in 2009, with roughly 44% of Angola’s population identifying as Catholic. Organizers and local officials expect tens of thousands of worshippers to travel across the country to catch a glimpse of the head of the global Catholic Church, which counts 1.4 billion followers worldwide.

    For many Angolans, the papal visit carries deep personal and national meaning. “It’s as if God were very close to us,” Helena Maria Miguel, a 40-year-old human resources manager based in Luanda, told reporters ahead of the pope’s arrival.

    Pope Leo’s consistent calls for global peace are expected to resonate particularly strongly in Angola, a nation that only emerged from a brutal 27-year civil war in 2002. The conflict broke out immediately after Angola gained independence from Portugal in 1975, leaving deep socioeconomic scars that persist decades later. Despite the country’s vast fossil fuel reserves, an estimated one-third of Angolans still live below the poverty line, with the national economy overly reliant on volatile global oil prices and long plagued by systemic corruption that has even reached the inner circle of former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

    Many local residents hope the pope’s visit will shine a light on the unmet needs of Angola’s young population. “There is a lot of suffering, a lot of poverty in Angola. I hope the pope will see with his own eyes the needs of the youth here,” said 33-year-old engineer Antonio Masaidi.

    The visit comes as Pope Leo has adopted a far more assertive public tone after facing repeated sharp criticism from Donald Trump, breaking from the more low-key, measured approach he took immediately after his election. Up until the public feud erupted, the new pope had positioned himself as more discreet than his predecessor, Pope Francis, who led the church from 2013 to 2025. Throughout the African tour, the pontiff has repeatedly called out global corruption, the exploitative plunder of Africa’s natural resources by foreign and domestic actors, and the unregulated risks of artificial intelligence, even as his public clash with Trump continues to unfold. After Trump’s Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, publicly called on the Vatican to stay out of political affairs and “stick to matters of morality”, Pope Leo fired back Thursday, arguing the world is “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants” and doubling down on criticism of actors who misuse religious doctrine to justify armed conflict. During his time in Cameroon, he doubled down on these critiques, demanding local leaders root out graft and condemning “those who, in the name of profit, continue to seize the African continent to exploit and plunder it”.

    On Sunday, Pope Leo will lead a second massive open-air mass in Kilamba, a suburb of Luanda, where local authorities have built new infrastructure including a large public food court to accommodate the expected crowds of worshippers. In the afternoon, he will travel by helicopter to the riverside village of Muxima, roughly 130 kilometers southeast of the capital, which is home to a 16th-century church that has grown into one of southern Africa’s most important Catholic pilgrimage sites. The village, where enslaved Africans were once baptized before being forcibly shipped out of the continent, is currently the site of a multi-million-dollar government development project to build a new basilica and transform the area into a major international religious tourism destination.

    “It is a historic moment of grace, a moment of profound emotion, with tears in our eyes and gratitude in our hearts,” Father Mpindi Lubanzadio Alberto, rector of the Muxima shrine, told the Catholic outlet ACI Africa ahead of the visit. On April 20, the pope will travel more than 800 kilometers from Luanda to Saurimo, where he will visit a local retirement home and lead another mass before departing Angola the following morning. After wrapping up his time in Angola, Pope Leo will travel to Equatorial Guinea for the fourth and final stop of his 18,000-kilometer journey, which launched in Algeria earlier this month.

  • China-US youth mark 55th anniversary of ‘ping-pong diplomacy’

    China-US youth mark 55th anniversary of ‘ping-pong diplomacy’

    Fifty-five years after a historic table tennis exchange broke decades of ice between China and the United States, young players from both nations gathered in Yinchuan, the capital city of northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, on Thursday to honor the legacy of what is now widely known as “ping-pong diplomacy”.

    Organized around the shared passion for table tennis that first connected the two peoples half a century ago, the commemorative event brought together young collegiate table tennis athletes from Northwestern United States and eight elite young players from China. Rather than sticking to rigid, country-versus-country competition formats, organizers reimagined the tournament to reflect the core values of the original diplomatic breakthrough: connection and mutual understanding.

    All players were split into two mixed transnational squads, named “Peace” and “Friendship”. In a symbolic twist that embodied the event’s spirit of cooperation alongside friendly competition, athletes paired with cross-national partners for doubles matches, and faced off against peers from the other country in singles rounds. This structure encouraged collaboration even as it highlighted the players’ sharp competitive skills.

    Throughout the day, participants displayed remarkable technical proficiency and exemplary sportsmanship, drawing warm, sustained applause from the local audience that turned out to watch the historic commemoration. Moving away from traditional hierarchical medal ceremonies that prioritize winning above all else, every athlete at the event received a custom commemorative medal in recognition of their role in advancing people-to-people exchange.

    Beyond the confines of the competition court, the gathering functioned as an informal platform for deep cultural exchange. Players discussed table tennis technique, swapped recommendations for favorite films, and shared personal stories, small interactions that helped bridge lingering cultural gaps and build new personal connections between the younger generations of both nations. Organizers noted that the event echoes the original 1971 ping-pong diplomacy, which proved that people-to-people exchange can lay the groundwork for greater mutual understanding between nations, even when official relations face challenges.

  • Son of 85-year-old French widow home after 16 days in US immigration custody says she needs rest

    Son of 85-year-old French widow home after 16 days in US immigration custody says she needs rest

    An 85-year-old French widow who endured a traumatic 16-day detention by U.S. immigration authorities has safely returned to her home country, where her family is now prioritizing her recovery and emotional healing. Marie-Thérèse Ross, who had married a retired American military veteran decades after he was stationed in France, was held by federal immigration officials for overstaying her 90-day visitor visa, a detention that has sparked diplomatic criticism from French officials.

    Speaking publicly outside Orvault, the western French town that has long been Ross’s home, her son Hervé Goix told reporters Friday that the family’s sole immediate focus is protecting Ross as she processes the harrowing experience. “To preserve her health and her rest, and for her to be able to rebuild herself,” Goix said, speaking alongside Ross’s three other children. “We are particularly relieved today to see our mother again, to have her back. She has necessarily gone through a difficult ordeal.”

    French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed Ross’s repatriation on Friday, issuing a sharp rebuke of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over their handling of the case. Without going into further detail, Barrot said ICE’s treatment of Ross “was not in line” with French standards for detainee care, and “not acceptable to us.”

    Court documents trace the origins of the incident back to a bitter family estate dispute following Ross’s husband’s death. The retired soldier, who first met Ross when he was posted to France in the 1960s, married her last June, and she moved to the U.S. to join him. When he died of natural causes in January, a conflict over his estate erupted between Ross and her stepson — a U.S. federal employee. An Alabama judge later found the stepson had intervened to push for Ross’s immigration detention.

    According to U.S. Department of Homeland Security records, ICE agents took Ross into custody at her Alabama home on April 1. Detention records show agents arrested the elderly widow while she was wearing only a nightgown, and she was not allowed to bring her phone, passport, or any form of personal identification with her. She was transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana, where she remained for 16 days while French diplomatic officials lobbied for her release, raising repeated concerns about her health and well-being. Goix told the Associated Press that Ross had already begun the application process for a U.S. green card when she was detained.

    “the essential thing is that she is truly safe, that she regains her comfort, that she is surrounded by her children and grandchildren,” Goix added of the family’s priorities for Ross in the coming weeks.

    Orvault mayor Sébastien Arrouët, who spoke with Ross shortly after her return, told French reporters that the 85-year-old is overjoyed to be home. “she is delighted, she is happy, she is relieved,” Arrouët said. “Put yourselves in her place, in a country she knows a little bit, it all happened to her so suddenly. We don’t realize the psychological violence. She needs to process all this, and the most important thing is that she is back with us.”