Global Pulse

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  • Mboko hails ‘Queen’ Serena ahead of tennis legend’s return

    Mboko hails ‘Queen’ Serena ahead of tennis legend’s return

    After more than two years away from competitive tennis, 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams is gearing up for a stunning return to action, set to compete in women’s doubles at the Queen’s Club Championship with 19-year-old Canadian rising star Victoria Mboko.

    The 44-year-old American legend stepped onto the grass practice courts at the west London venue alongside Mboko on Thursday, kicking off preparations for next week’s Wimbledon warm-up tournament. Mboko, the 2025 WTA Newcomer of the Year, later shared a photo of the pair on her Instagram page, showering Williams with praise ahead of their tournament debut.

    Calling Williams the “Queen” of tennis, Mboko wrote that sharing a court with one of the greatest athletes of all time is a profound honor, adding that she is extra excited to compete alongside Williams and noting how special the sport of tennis is. The age gap between the new doubles partners is 25 years: Mboko was born decades after Williams launched her legendary professional career.

    Williams originally stepped away from competitive tennis following the 2022 US Open, where widespread coverage framed the exit as a retirement. But the icon never explicitly used the term “retirement,” instead describing her exit as “evolving away” from the sport to focus on other life chapters, including raising her two young children with husband Alexis Ohanian. For months, tennis fans and analysts have speculated about a potential return, and Williams officially confirmed her comeback in a public announcement earlier this week.

    “Queen’s Club feels like the perfect place to begin this next chapter,” Williams said in her statement, adding that grass courts have produced some of the most meaningful moments of her decorated career, and she is eager to compete again on one of the sport’s most iconic stages. Williams has claimed seven Wimbledon singles titles over her career, making the grass surface a fitting venue for her return.

    Williams and Mboko received a wildcard entry into the 16-team Queen’s Club women’s doubles draw, securing their spot in the main tournament draw. While Williams is best known for her record-breaking singles career, she boasts an equally impressive resume in doubles: she holds a career 192-35 win-loss record and claimed 22 of her 23 career doubles titles alongside her sister, Venus Williams. The iconic Williams sisters pair won all 14 Grand Slam doubles finals they competed in, a record that remains unmatched in modern tennis.

    With the Wimbledon Championships set to kick off on June 29, Williams has not yet revealed whether her comeback will include entering the singles draw at the sport’s most prestigious grass court tournament. Her last Grand Slam singles title came at the 2017 Australian Open, where she won the championship while pregnant with her first child.

  • Charges dropped against Budapest mayor over 2025 Pride march

    Charges dropped against Budapest mayor over 2025 Pride march

    In a major legal shift following the end of Viktor Orbán’s 16-year consecutive rule in Hungary, national prosecutors have officially dismissed all criminal charges against Budapest Mayor Gergely Karácsony connected to his role in organizing an LGBTQ Pride march last year that proceeded despite a nationwide government ban.

    The controversial ban on public events involving the LGBTQ community was introduced by Orbán’s administration, which had spent years advancing a conservative agenda targeting queer Hungarians. The 2025 Budapest Pride march went ahead regardless in June that year, with Karácsony openly attending and addressing the massive crowd even after police formally banned the gathering. Organizers confirmed at the time that a record-breaking 200,000 participants joined the march, marking one of the largest public demonstrations against Orbán’s policies in his final years in office. During his speech to attendees, Karácsony declared, “Neither freedom nor love can be banned in Budapest,” a line that quickly became a rallying cry for LGBTQ rights activists across Central Europe.

    Hungarian law enforcement formally filed charges against Karácsony this past January, just months before a national election that would upend the country’s political landscape. But a key turning point came in April, when the European Court of Justice (ECJ)—the European Union’s highest judicial body—issued a landmark ruling that found Hungary’s restrictive anti-LGBTQ laws violated core EU regulations. The laws, which framed restrictions as a child protection measure, banned any so-called “promotion” of homosexuality or gender transition to people under 18. The ECJ ruled that the legislation ran counter to EU commitments to equality, non-discrimination, and protection of minority rights.

    Nine days after that ECJ ruling, Hungarian voters headed to the polls and ended Orbán’s 16-year streak of continuous governance, bringing a new administration led by Prime Minister Péter Magyar into power. On Thursday, prosecutors formally announced the decision to drop all charges against Karácsony, explicitly tying the move to the ECJ’s landmark decision. “Considering the ruling by the European Court… the prosecutors dropped charges against the Budapest mayor for violating the law on freedom of assembly,” the prosecution service said in its official statement. As of Thursday afternoon, Karácsony has not released any public comment on the dismissal of charges.

  • UK PM says Elon Musk ‘trying to whip up division’ over student’s murder

    UK PM says Elon Musk ‘trying to whip up division’ over student’s murder

    A high-profile political confrontation has erupted between United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer and American billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, after Musk’s incendiary commentary on the highly charged murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak prompted accusations of foreign interference and deliberate division of British society. The December 2024 stabbing death of Nowak in Southampton, carried out by 23-year-old Vickrum Digwa, has become a flashpoint for far-right political mobilization in the UK, after controversial details of the initial police response emerged.

    Digwa, who used a 21-centimeter ceremonial knife to kill Nowak during an altercation over a mobile phone, initially misled investigators by claiming Nowak had racially insulted him and that he was the actual victim of the confrontation. Earlier this week, Digwa was sentenced to a minimum of 21 years in prison for the murder. In the immediate aftermath of the stabbing, responding officers placed the mortally wounded Nowak in handcuffs while waiting for medical support; body camera footage capturing Nowak repeatedly telling officers he could not breathe has been described as “harrowing” by Starmer himself. Far-right political figures have seized on the case to push unsubstantiated claims that British policing systematically prioritizes ethnic minority communities over white citizens — allegations that both Starmer’s newly elected Labour government and national police leadership have forcefully rejected.

    Musk, the billionaire owner of social media platform X, has amplified these divisive claims through multiple public posts on his platform. In one incendiary post, Musk asked his hundreds of millions of followers whether they were aware that “official police policy requires them to be racist against Whites?” He has gone further than commentary, publicly offering to fund a private prosecution against Hampshire Police over their handling of the case, and has repeatedly insulted the force publicly. This intervention crossed a red line for Starmer, who called out Musk’s actions during a press briefing Thursday ahead of a scheduled meeting with Nowak’s family at his official 10 Downing Street residence.

    Speaking to reporters, Starmer emphasized that Musk’s actions amounted to unwelcome interference in British domestic politics. “We need to also assert who we are as a country, because Musk, again, has been interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division. That is not who we are in Britain. In Britain, we are reasonable, tolerant people,” Starmer said. He added that the dignified response of Nowak’s own family set an example for the nation: Nowak’s father has publicly urged that his son’s killing not be exploited “to create further division, hatred or tension.”

    The prime minister also addressed unrest that followed Digwa’s sentencing, when a far-right-organized protest in Southampton on Tuesday night turned violent, with demonstrators throwing bricks, flares, and chairs at responding police officers. On Thursday, a 44-year-old man pleaded guilty to charges of violent disorder and possession of an offensive weapon connected to the protest, while a second individual faces assault charges. Starmer said there was “no justification” for the violence, and also condemned remarks by senior far-right leader Nigel Farage, head of the popular Reform UK party, who publicly called for the public to respond to the murder with “pure cold rage.” Starmer called the comment unforgivable, noting that Farage’s remarks have contributed to rising racial tensions across the country; Farage has publicly defended his comments since they were made public.

    While Starmer has joined critics in acknowledging that the case raises major unanswered questions about police conduct, official investigations are already underway. The UK’s Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), the national watchdog for police behavior, launched a probe into the response shortly after the killing, and is expected to release its findings within three months. Officials also announced Thursday that a full coroner’s inquest, convened to determine whether police actions contributed to Nowak’s death, will open before a jury in September 2027.

    This public clash between Starmer and Musk is not unprecedented: Musk has been a consistent and vocal critic of Starmer dating back to before the Labour leader won the 2024 UK general election, in large part due to Starmer’s previous career as the UK’s top public prosecutor. The two figures last clashed publicly in 2024 over the long-running “grooming gangs” sexual abuse scandal, when Starmer accused Musk of deliberately “spreading lies and misinformation” to undermine his government and stoke public anger.

  • ‘I’m a fan of no bunker’: Wayne Bennett fumes at crucial missed call as his Rabbitohs fall to third loss in a row

    ‘I’m a fan of no bunker’: Wayne Bennett fumes at crucial missed call as his Rabbitohs fall to third loss in a row

    In a tense Thursday night NRL clash that ended with Manly Sea Eagles notching up a 28-14 victory over South Sydney Rabbitohs, a contentious uncorrected officiating error has dominated post-match conversation, with veteran Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett launching a scathing attack on the sport’s multi-million-dollar bunker review system. The result extended South Sydney’s losing streak to three consecutive games, a run that has left Bennett openly frustrated with his side’s sliding form as the NRL season hits its midpoint. For Manly, the triumph capped off a fairytale week for incoming head coach Kieran Foran, who signed a three-year contract extension to stay at the club he once captained as a player.

    The game hung on a knife-edge at 10-8 when Manly’s stand-in fullback Clayton Faulalo broke through the Rabbitohs defensive line to score a pivotal try that pushed the Sea Eagles further ahead. What went unseen by on-field officials at the time, however, was a clear mistake in the preceding play-the-ball from Manly edge forward Ben Trbojevic: match replays clearly showed Trbojevic bobbled the Steeden, with the ball appearing to stick to his hand rather than being placed correctly as NRL rules mandate. On-field referee Adam Gee failed to spot the infraction, and crucially, the bunker review officials did not have the authority to intervene and correct the call on a play-the-ball error.

    Speaking to reporters after the final whistle, Bennett did not mince his words when questioning the purpose of the league’s heavy investment in the bunker system. “He didn’t play the ball properly, did he? It’s as simple as that, they pay all this money for the bunker and we still don’t get it right,” Bennett said. While the veteran coach stressed his underperforming side did not deserve to win on the night of the game, he argued that the system had failed its core purpose of getting critical decisions right.

    “We weren’t playing well, so I’m not going to use that as an excuse. But the bottom line is that’s what they’re there for,” Bennett explained. “They play the ball, they’ve got to go back to the play the ball because a try was scored and that was all in the one movement. And if that’s an acceptable play the ball, then the game is going to change enormously really quickly.”

    Bennett doubled down on his long-standing criticism of the review system, arguing that bunker officials have every advantage including multiple replay angles, hindsight and unlimited time to reach a correct ruling, yet still made costly mistakes. “We’ve got a bunker, it’s supposed to be perfect because they expect us to be perfect,” he said. “They have all the opportunity to make a decision and to see it. And they still get it wrong. I’m a fan of no bunker, I can tell you. I’d rather just the game played on with life and accept it like we always accepted it. Because they don’t get it right all the time, and they should, because they’ve got the benefit of hindsight, and there’s no time limit on their decision making.”

    Beyond the officiating controversy, Bennett made clear his deep frustration with his own side’s form, which has seen the Rabbitohs slip down the ladder after a promising start to the season. “We’re not anywhere near where we should be, and we’re well into the season,” he said. “We should be playing some good football and we’ve gone backwards, we’re not going forward at the moment. Our performances are going backwards.” The Rabbitohs’ high error rate choked their much-vaunted attacking line-up for the majority of the clash, leaving them unable to mount a comeback after the controversial try.

    For Manly, the win was the eighth in 10 games under Foran’s interim leadership, pushing the Sea Eagles back into the NRL’s top four ahead of their scheduled bye next week. The victory capped off a week of celebrations for Foran, who had confirmed he would continue as head coach for the next three seasons, with the club’s home ground temporarily renamed “Foz Pines Park” for the occasion, and a local KFC even superimposed Foran’s face onto the chain’s iconic Colonel Sanders logo in a playful tribute. Manly captain Jake Trbojevic said the team was determined to deliver a strong performance to reward Foran after a week of hype surrounding the new contract.

    “On the way here, everywhere I drove had ‘Fozball’, ‘Foz Pines’, Kieran Foran Chicken, so I’m like, ‘geez, we better play good,’” Trbojevic told reporters after the match. “There was a lot going on but it was a really good performance.” Faulalo, who scored the controversial match-turning try, suffered a low-grade hamstring strain during the build-up to his score, but club officials have confirmed the injury is not expected to keep him sidelined for an extended period.

  • Guardiola quit ‘100 times’ before leaving, says Man City chairman

    Guardiola quit ‘100 times’ before leaving, says Man City chairman

    In a revealing new interview with Manchester City’s official media channels, club chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has pulled back the curtain on Pep Guardiola’s decade-long tenure, disclosing that the legendary manager considered stepping down nearly 100 times during his spell at the Etihad Stadium before confirming his departure at the end of the 2024-25 season.

    Guardiola leaves the club this summer after a historic 10-year reign that cemented his status as one of the greatest managers in modern football, amassing 20 major trophies including six Premier League titles, one Champions League crown, and a domestic FA Cup and League Cup double in his final campaign at the helm. The 55-year-old Spaniard formally stepped down after acknowledging he no longer held the same level of energy required to push the club to new heights.

    While Guardiola’s trophy haul speaks to unparalleled success at Manchester City, Khaldoon opened up about the emotional toll that elite top-flight management takes, noting that the passionate Spaniard regularly raised the idea of resigning during the inevitable low points of his decade in charge. “Inevitably over these last 10 years we’ve had a lot of ups and some downs, and in the downs, he must have quit 100 times over these 10 years, just so you know, just for the record,” the chairman shared on Thursday.

    Khaldoon drew a parallel to the classic fable of The Boy Who Cried Wolf, explaining that Guardiola’s frequent resignation talks were rarely a serious intention to leave, and required a steady hand from the club’s leadership to navigate. “In the case of Pep, when he says ‘I quit’, it doesn’t mean he’s quitting. You don’t take it that seriously – you have to manage him,” he said. “Whenever he quits or whenever he thinks it’s time, I will always convince him to come back, until the time where I know it’s actually the real time – and we reached that. I knew it and that’s why I didn’t fight it.”

    The announcement of Guardiola’s exit came after back-to-back seasons without a Premier League title, with City finishing seven points adrift of 2024-25 champions Arsenal. This run of form has sparked widespread speculation that the club’s dominant era may be coming to an end, but Khaldoon pushed back firmly against those claims, asserting that the club is still far from its peak. “We are far from peaked. We are used to – because it’s in our DNA – winning. This is a club that is designed, built to win,” he said. “Obviously with the additions we’re going to make this summer, I am very confident. I think next year we’re going to come back very strong.”

    As the club prepares to enter a new era, it is widely expected that former Chelsea manager and one-time Guardiola assistant Enzo Maresca will be named as the new head coach in the coming days. Maresca boasts an impressive resume, having lifted the UEFA Conference League and Club World Cup during his time at Chelsea, and gained first-hand experience of City’s playing philosophy during the 2022-23 season working alongside Guardiola.

    When questioned about the club’s succession process, Khaldoon emphasized that the hiring process had been thorough and methodical, with full alignment on the chosen candidate. “What I can say at the moment is we’ve gone through a very thoughtful and structured process and the team is convinced, I am convinced, that we will bring in the right manager for this club,” he said. “Just be patient with us. Very soon we’ll announce it and you will be very comfortable that we have selected and brought in the best manager possible.”

  • Argentina seeks a glorious end to the Messi era with another World Cup title

    Argentina seeks a glorious end to the Messi era with another World Cup title

    BUENOS AIRES, May 30 (AP) – For Argentina, the last time the United States welcomed the world’s biggest soccer tournament carried a bitter legacy that still resonates three decades later. In 1994, the country’s beloved icon Diego Maradona was sent home mid-tournament after testing positive for banned substances, never to step onto a World Cup pitch again. Argentina bowed out in the round of 16, closing a chapter the South American soccer powerhouse has never forgotten. Thirty-two years on, the 2026 World Cup – co-hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada – brings a new, redemptive chapter, centered on Lionel Messi, Maradona’s widely recognized heir, who is widely expected to wrap up his legendary international career when the final whistle blows on this tournament.

    Turning 39 this month, Messi is set to make his record sixth appearance at the World Cup, leading the defending champions in their quest for something no men’s national team has achieved in more than six decades: back-to-back World Cup titles. Only Brazil, which lifted the trophy in 1958 and 1962, has held the honor. If Argentina can retain the crown they won in Qatar 2022, the achievement would cement the widespread claim that Messi is the greatest men’s soccer player to ever step onto the pitch.

    Messi, who has spent more than 20 years playing at the top club level for Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain and most recently Inter Miami, acknowledges his competitive fire has not faded, even as his career enters its final stretch. “I love playing football and I’m going to do it until I can’t anymore,” Messi said in a YouTube interview with Argentine broadcast journalist Joaquín “Pollo” Álvarez. “I’m competitive, I like to win at everything, I don’t even let my kids win at video games sometimes. It’s just my nature and what led me to achieve everything I have.”

    Yet age and a grueling career have left their mark, and fitness concerns have hung over the Argentine camp ahead of their opening group stage match. Just a week before the tournament kicks off, Messi is still recovering from a hamstring injury that forced him to be substituted early in Inter Miami’s final pre-tournament fixture on May 24. This week, the Argentina captain completed separate individual training sessions at the team’s Kansas City base camp, where the side has set up their pre-tournament camp.

    Messi is far from the only player dealing with fitness setbacks. “We all would have liked Messi to arrive without any problems, but that’s not the case. Not only him, most of the players aren’t fully recovered yet,” Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni told DSports, a Latin American sports television network.

    Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, whose penalty-saving heroics carried Argentina to victory in two knockout shootouts in Qatar 2022 including the dramatic final against France, suffered a fractured ring finger on his right hand during this year’s Europa League final while playing for Premier League side Aston Villa. Star defender Cristian “Cuti” Romero of Tottenham Hotspur has been recovering from a knee injury picked up in mid-April, while right backs Nahuel Molina and Gonzalo Montiel, plus midfielder Leandro Paredes, are all managing ongoing muscle injuries.

    Despite the widespread fitness concerns, Scaloni has retained 17 of the 26 players who lifted the World Cup trophy in Qatar, betting on their proven championship chemistry over replacing underdone stars with fit newcomers. “Why change them if they don’t deserve that? We’ve always been honest with them. The players who are here today have shown us they want to be here. And secondly, their level hasn’t dropped,” Scaloni explained.

    Argentina, three-time World Cup champions with prior titles in 1978 and 1986, enter the 2026 tournament on a strong recent run: they claimed the Copa América title in 2024 and finished atop the South American CONMEBOL qualifying table. Atletico Madrid forward Julián Álvarez has emerged as a critical offensive weapon for Scaloni, with top European clubs including Barcelona, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain all reportedly pursuing his signature for the upcoming club season. Scaloni has also added three first-time World Cup debutants to the squad: midfielder Valentín Barco, who recently signed with Chelsea, young forward Nicolás Paz, a standout with Italy’s Como, and Juan Manuel López, the current top scorer for Brazilian Serie A side Palmeiras.

    The most notable absence from the 2022 championship squad is Ángel Di María, who retired from international soccer in 2024 after being instrumental to Argentina’s Qatar run alongside Messi. “It’s impossible to fill Di María’s shoes. He and Messi are irreplaceable,” Scaloni said.

    For his part, Messi has sought to temper expectations of a fairytale final triumph, acknowledging that other top contenders are in stronger form heading into the group stage. “We have to get excited, like Argentines always do, but we also have to know that there are other favorites ahead of us who are in better form,” he said.

    Already the record holder for most World Cup matches played with 26 appearances, Messi needs just four more goals to overtake Germany legend Miroslav Klose’s all-time record of 16 World Cup goals. While he has not formally announced his international retirement following the tournament, he dropped a clear hint last September, when he described a home qualifying match against Venezuela as his last competitive home fixture for Argentina.

    “It was very emotional, knowing this was my last competitive match here,” he said after playing at Buenos Aires’ Monumental Stadium. “I’ve been through a lot in this stadium — some great moments and some difficult ones — but it’s always special to play in front of our fans.”

    For Scaloni, the prospect of an Argentina side without Messi is a difficult one to process, echoing the sense of loss that followed Maradona’s exit from the global stage. “I like to think he’s going to keep playing because otherwise you get sad, like what happened with Diego (Maradona),” Scaloni told CONMEBOL’s official website. “They are players who have made history in football and thinking that they won’t play anymore doesn’t leave you at peace. I prefer to think about the present.”

    Argentina will kick off their Group J campaign against Algeria on June 16 in Kansas City, before facing Austria on June 22 and closing out group play against Jordan on June 27 in Arlington, Texas, just outside Dallas.

  • Trump hits back at ‘unpatriotic’ vote after House rebukes him over Iran

    Trump hits back at ‘unpatriotic’ vote after House rebukes him over Iran

    In a move that deepens domestic political tension over the United States’ ongoing conflict in Iran, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a war powers resolution Wednesday that aims to curb President Donald Trump’s authority to launch further military action against Tehran. The narrow 215-208 vote marked the fourth time the chamber has attempted to rein in the commander-in-chief’s war-making authority amid rising public opposition to the conflict, and it exposed fresh rifts within Trump’s own Republican Party.

    Four Republican House members broke ranks to side with a unified Democratic caucus to advance the measure: Thomas Massie, Brian Fitzpatrick, Tom Barrett, and Warren Davidson. In a rare shift, Democratic Representative Jared Golden of Maine, who had rejected similar resolutions in the past, also backed the bill. For Barrett, a Michigan Republican, the vote aligned with a core constitutional principle. “Congress alone declares war, that’s something certainly we need to be protective of,” he told reporters. When asked if he feared political retaliation from Trump for his defection, Barrett added he stood by his conscience: “I vote my conscience for what I think is right and willing to accept that.”

    The resolution itself is framed as a concurrent resolution, meaning that if it passes the Republican-controlled Senate, it would not require Trump’s signature to take effect — though legal scholars widely expect it would face immediate court challenges from the executive branch. The White House has already rejected the measure outright, dismissing it as an unconstitutional overreach that encroaches on the president’s constitutional authority as head of the executive branch and commander of the armed forces. To date, it remains unclear how much enforceable legal weight the resolution would carry even if approved by the upper chamber.

    A similar resolution advanced through Senate procedural steps in May, but Senate leadership has not yet scheduled a full floor vote on the measure. Even if it fails to advance, political analysts frame the House vote as a significant symbolic marker of growing bipartisan unease with the Iran conflict, which has coincided with a sharp spike in global gasoline prices that has eroded public support for the administration’s foreign policy. Growing public opposition to the prolonged military engagement has put increasing pressure on Trump to wrap up negotiations to end the conflict, a backdrop that the president himself highlighted in his rebuke of the vote.

    Early Thursday, Trump lashed out at lawmakers who supported the resolution in a post on his Truth Social platform, labeling the vote “meaningless” and the coalition behind it “unpatriotic.” The vote came “right in the middle of my final negotiations to end the War with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump wrote. “Who would do such an unpatriotic thing?” He went on to attack Democrats as being driven by partisan animosity, claiming “The Democrats are fueled by Trump Derangement Syndrome. They would rather have our Country fail than give me another, of many, victories.” Turning back to the four defecting Republicans, Trump did not mince words: “The four Republicans, that’s a whole other story – They’re GRANDSTANDERS! They should be ashamed of themselves.”

    This latest intraparty split comes just one week after a conservative rebellion in Congress forced the Trump administration to scrap a planned $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund earmarked for political allies, highlighting the persistent fragmentation within the GOP even as the party controls both the White House and the Senate. While the resolution is widely seen as largely symbolic at this stage, its passage underscores the growing political costs of the Iran conflict for the Trump administration as it pushes to finalize a negotiated exit.

  • Starmer accuses Musk of trying to whip up division over Henry Nowak murder

    Starmer accuses Musk of trying to whip up division over Henry Nowak murder

    A high-stokes political firestorm has erupted in the United Kingdom following the conviction of Vickrum Digwa for the December 2025 murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, after newly released police body camera footage of Nowak’s dying moments sparked violent protests in Southampton and drew interventions from domestic and international high-profile figures. Digwa, 23, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum 21-year term on Monday, and the released footage shows responding officers handcuffing Nowak as he lay fatally wounded. Prior to his conviction, Digwa had publicly claimed he acted in self-defense against a racist attack, a narrative that amplified tensions around the case. The X platform owner and tech billionaire Elon Musk was among the first to weigh in publicly, posting a viral message Tuesday that urged followers to share the body camera footage widely. Musk accused UK police of treating Nowak heinously and caving to his killer, and attacked legacy mainstream media for what he called a deliberate silence on the case — drawing an explicit parallel to the 2020 George Floyd killing in the U.S. that sparked global racial justice protests.

    Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hit back hard at Musk during a public visit to York on Thursday, accusing the billionaire of meddling in British domestic politics and deliberately stoking social division at a time of national grief. “Musk has been interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division – that is not who we are in Britain,” Starmer told reporters. “In Britain, we are reasonable, tolerant people. When we have a terrible case like Henry’s case, we react calmly, as his family have done.” Starmer also called out Reform UK leader Nigel Farage for his response to the killing, after Farage posted a viral video Tuesday calling on the public to respond to Nowak’s death with “pure, cold rage” and claimed police anti-racism guidelines had created unequal treatment across ethnic groups. The verbal clash spilled over into Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, where Starmer slammed Farage for blatantly disregarding the Nowak family’s explicit plea for calm. “A grieving family have asked us not to respond in the way that the leader of Reform has responded,” Starmer told the House of Commons. “His response has been to appeal for rage. Rage – that’s his response to a father who’s lost his son and asked for that not to happen. Exploiting this tragedy to create grievance and division would be wrong in any circumstances. But to do it when the family are expressly saying ‘please don’t’ is unforgivable. It shows exactly who he is.”

    Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch, who met Nowak’s family Thursday morning before Starmer’s scheduled meeting with the family at 10 Downing Street that afternoon, also called for public calm while echoing calls for systemic review. In a post on X, Badenoch praised the family’s courage and said they had requested cross-party and cross-faith work to rebuild public trust in policing, which has been severely shaken by the footage. “That trust has been broken because of what happened, and I agree with them on that,” she wrote. Badenoch also backed calls for a careful review of existing laws and religious exemptions that allow carrying dangerous weapons in public, saying such exemptions must be examined to ensure they align with public safety. For their part, the Nowak family has repeatedly pushed back against attempts to politicize Henry’s death. Outside the court following Digwa’s conviction, Henry’s father Mark Nowak made an emotional appeal for unity, saying: “We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We want his story to make our streets safer for everyone.”

    In response to the growing outcry, Prime Minister Starmer confirmed that the UK’s independent police oversight body, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), has already launched an investigation into the conduct of the officers who responded to the stabbing. A review of the National Police Chiefs Council’s national race guidance is also underway in light of the case. When pressed on whether he backed Conservative calls for a full misconduct investigation into all officers involved, Starmer acknowledged that changes to policy and practice may be necessary, but stressed that political leadership requires honoring the family’s call for calm. “I think it’s right that there may need to be changes and we shouldn’t shy away from that, not for one moment,” he said. “But how we conduct ourselves now as politicians is really important. And I call on all politicians, all politicians, to just listen again to what the family are asking of us, which is to remain calm, to show the leadership that is needed here and not allow this case to be used to whip up division.” Violent protests that broke out in Southampton earlier this week have amplified pressure on political leaders to balance calls for accountability with efforts to prevent further social unrest.

  • The EU will look for ways to make it quicker for the Western Balkan countries to join the bloc

    The EU will look for ways to make it quicker for the Western Balkan countries to join the bloc

    Ahead of a key regional summit in Montenegro, European Council President Antonio Costa has announced that the European Union will explore new procedural adjustments to speed up the bloc’s accession process for six Western Balkans candidate countries, as the bloc moves to counter rising geopolitical influence from Russia and China in southeastern Europe.

    The six nations — Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro — have spent years navigating the EU’s strict merit-based accession framework, with little tangible progress to show for their efforts to date. Ahead of Friday’s summit in the coastal Montenegrin town of Tivat, which will bring together top EU leaders and senior representatives from all six candidate states, Costa emphasized the need to address growing frustration among candidate populations over glacial accession timelines.

    “If you want to boost the trust between each other, we cannot create this feel of frustration” over slow membership progress, Costa told reporters during a press stop in Serbia’s capital Belgrade Thursday, wrapping up a pre-summit tour of all Western Balkan candidate countries. “It doesn’t mean it will be easier, but it means how we can deliver together more rapidly.”

    Costa noted that the upcoming talks will focus on revising the EU’s accession methodology to deliver faster, more tangible progress, while stressing that EU enlargement for the Western Balkans is not an unrealistic long-term goal. “The enlargement is not a utopia but it is something that could be real in the coming years,” he insisted. “For this we need to work harder and faster.”

    The current EU accession process requires candidate states to align their national legislation with 35 distinct policy “chapters” spanning everything from judicial standards to agriculture and fisheries regulations. Every chapter must receive unanimous approval from all 27 current EU member states to open, and another unanimous vote to close after compliance is confirmed. Progress among the Western Balkans candidates varies widely, with Montenegro and Albania currently farthest along in the process.

    The EU has set a non-negotiable prerequisite for Serbia and Kosovo: the two states must normalize bilateral relations before their accession bids can advance. The decades-long dispute stems from Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence from Serbia, which Belgrade still refuses to recognize. Kosovo was an administrative province of Serbia until a 78-day NATO bombing campaign in 1999 ended a violent conflict between Serbian state forces and ethnic Albanian separatists, putting Kosovo under international administration.

    During meetings with Serbian populist President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade, Costa pressed the Serbian government to accelerate democratic reforms and align the country’s foreign policy with EU positions, a requirement for all accession candidates. Serbia remains the only European country that has refused to impose sanctions on Russia over its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and it maintains close diplomatic and economic ties with both Moscow and Beijing — ties Vucic reinforced during a recent official visit to China.

    Belgrade has already been formally warned that it stands to lose approximately 1.5 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in EU development funding if it does not reverse ongoing democratic backsliding, particularly within the national judiciary. The EU has also demanded that Serbia improve protections for media freedom and create a fairer playing field for upcoming national elections.

    Vucic, who has faced months of large-scale youth-led street protests that erupted in November 2024 after a deadly train station accident in northern Serbia killed 16 people, struck a cooperative tone Thursday, pledging to pursue required reforms with “new enthusiasm” and keep Serbia on a path toward EU membership.

    The summit in Tivat comes amid a fresh bilateral dispute between Serbia and Montenegro: Montenegrin authorities banned 87 Serbian citizens from entering the country ahead of the gathering, citing national security concerns. Police confirmed the banned group was carrying communication equipment and banners printed with Vucic’s signature political slogan “Serbia wins,” though the purpose of their planned trip to Montenegro remains unclear.

    Beyond the Western Balkans, the EU’s enlargement agenda also includes membership bids from Ukraine and Moldova, two eastern European countries that formally launched accession processes after Russia’s 2022 invasion.

  • Oscar-nominated Persepolis author Marjane Satrapi dies aged 56

    Oscar-nominated Persepolis author Marjane Satrapi dies aged 56

    Marjane Satrapi, the trailblazing French-Iranian graphic novelist, filmmaker, and activist whose semi-autobiographical masterpiece *Persepolis* captivated readers and audiences across the globe, has died at the age of 56. France’s Élysée Palace, the official residence of the French president, has officially confirmed the passing.

    Hailing Satrapi as a towering icon of French cultural life and an unwavering advocate for artistic freedom, the palace highlighted that her work carried a universally resonant message that earned her extraordinary international acclaim. A close source from her inner circle told French news agency AFP that Satrapi’s death came roughly 15 months after the passing of her beloved husband Mattias Ripa, a Swedish producer, actor, and screenwriter. The source described her death as a passing “of sadness” following the loss of her life partner.

    Born and raised in Tehran during the upheaval of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Satrapi drew deeply from her own life to craft *Persepolis*, which first hit bookshelves in 2000. The groundbreaking graphic novel traces the coming-of-age of a young girl navigating shifting social and political tides after the revolution, chronicling her early years of resistance to new Islamic regime rules before her parents sent her to exile in Europe for safety. Eight years after its publication, Satrapi co-directed the animated film adaptation of *Persepolis*, which earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature. The film cast Chiara Mastroianni as the young Marjane and Catherine Deneuve as her mother, cementing the story’s place in global popular culture.

    In a statement posted to X, Studio Canal UK paid tribute to Satrapi, remembering her as a brilliant and extraordinary artist. The studio noted that through her deeply intimate and politically sharp work, Satrapi delivered a timeless story of identity, freedom, exile, and resistance that still resonates deeply with audiences worldwide decades after its release.

    Satrapi’s life trajectory reflected the disruptions and resilience that shaped her work. As a teenager, she moved to Austria to study for four years at the renowned Lycée Français de Vienne, before returning to Tehran after a severe case of bronchitis. Upon her return, she found a drastically altered city, a experience captured in the second installment of the *Persepolis* series. She went on to earn a master’s degree in visual communication from Tehran’s Islamic Azad University, and after a short early marriage that ended in divorce, her parents encouraged her to resettle in Europe permanently. She moved to France to continue her artistic training at the Haute École des Arts du Rhin in Strasbourg, and became a naturalized French citizen in 2006 after more than a decade of living in the country. Just last year, she made headlines when she declined France’s prestigious Legion of Honor, the country’s highest order of merit, citing what she called the “hypocrisy” of her adopted nation’s diplomatic dealings with her home country Iran.

    A relentless, outspoken critic of the Iranian government, Satrapi remained actively engaged in pro-freedom protests supporting Iranian citizens for decades. In the wake of the 2022 “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests that erupted across Iran over mandatory hijab rules, Satrapi told outlet *Deadline* that her own parents had marched in the streets opposing the same mandate as early as 1983. She recalled her father, one of the few men to join that early demonstration, and reflected that the fight for women’s rights is a fight for the rights of all society. Over her decades of activism, Satrapi said she had faced repeated threats and smears from the Iranian regime, which labeled her a liar and a spy for her work. “It’s not that you don’t feel fear; you feel the fear, but then you decide whether you care about it or not,” she once said. “It’s not that I’m fearless or careless but there are kids in my country who are being shot and they are 17 years old, while I have lived for more than half a century.”

    In 2023, Satrapi led a high-profile demonstration outside the Iranian Embassy in Paris in solidarity with five teenage girls from Tehran who were arrested after posting a TikTok video of themselves dancing to the hit song “Calm Down” by Rema and Selena Gomez. Of her activism, she said at the time: “We artists must be humble but doing nothing is worse, being indifferent is worse. I don’t think what I’m doing is huge or immense but I have a voice, I have a face and I’m known in France, I’m just doing what I have to do.”

    Beyond her defining work *Persepolis*, Satrapi built a diverse body of creative work across graphic novels and film. Her other graphic novels include *Embroideries* and *Woman, Life, Freedom*. As a filmmaker, she directed a range of projects across genres: the 2011 feature *Poulet aux Prunes*, the 2012 documentary *La Bande des Jotas*, the 2014 dark horror comedy *The Voices* starring Ryan Reynolds as a schizophrenic factory worker undone by hallucinatory urges, and the 2019 biographical drama *Radioactive*, which told the story of pioneering Polish-French scientist Marie Curie.

    In the months after Ripa’s 2024 death, Satrapi shared a series of emotional, heartfelt posts on her Instagram account writing, “For I Lost the love of my life,” marking her public grief over the loss of her partner.