Global Pulse

作者： admin

  • Adams & Robinson in US squad for World Cup

    Adams & Robinson in US squad for World Cup

    As the 2026 FIFA World Cup co-host United States moves closer to its opening group stage match, head coach Mauricio Pochettino has officially announced his final 26-player roster for the tournament, bringing together a mix of Europe-based stars and domestic Major League Soccer talent.

    Five players plying their trade in English top-flight and lower-tier clubs earned call-ups to the squad, headlined by Bournemouth midfielder Tyler Adams and Fulham left-back Antonee Robinson — two experienced campaigners who have each notched 52 international caps for the Stars and Stripes to date. They are joined on the roster by Leeds United midfielder Brenden Aaronson, Crystal Palace center-back Chris Richards, and Coventry City forward Haji Wright.

    Other high-profile European-based selections include Celtic defender Auston Trusty, AC Milan attacking star Christian Pulisic, Juventus midfielder Weston McKennie, and Borussia Mönchengladbach attacking midfielder Gio Reyna, the 23-year-old son of former US internationals Claudio Reyna and Danielle Reyna. Reyna’s inclusion comes nearly four years after a high-profile controversy that rocked the 2022 Qatar World Cup US camp. After the 2022 tournament, details emerged that then-head coach Gregg Berhalter had threatened to remove Reyna from the squad over alleged poor attitude in training. In response, Danielle Reyna shared details with US Soccer of a 1991 physical altercation between Berhalter and his then-girlfriend (now wife), triggering an independent investigation by the governing body. The investigation ultimately concluded Berhalter had not improperly hidden information about the incident and found no evidence of repeated similar misconduct. Notably, Pochettino also included Sebastian Berhalter — Gregg Berhalter’s son and current Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder — among the MLS-based players selected for the tournament.

    The full roster also features three goalkeepers: Chicago Fire’s Chris Brady, New York City’s Matt Freese, and New England Revolution’s Matt Turner. Alongside the named defenders, additional backline selections include PSV Eindhoven’s Sergino Dest, Villarreal’s Alex Freeman, Toulouse’s Mark McKenzie, Charlotte FC’s Tim Ream, FC Cincinnati’s Miles Robinson, Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Joe Scally, and Columbus Crew’s Max Arfsten. The midfield corps adds Bayer Leverkusen’s Malik Tillman, Marseille’s Timothy Weah, Seattle Sounders’ Cristian Roldan, and Club America’s Alejandro Zendejas, while the forward group is completed by Monaco’s Folarin Balogun and PSV Eindhoven’s Ricardo Pepi.

    As one of the three joint hosts of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the United States will kick off its Group D campaign on June 13 against Paraguay, before facing subsequent group stage matches against Australia and Turkey.

  • PSG’s Hakimi in Morocco squad despite injury

    PSG’s Hakimi in Morocco squad despite injury

    As Morocco finalizes its preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the North African side has made a headline-grabbing selection call: star captain Achraf Hakimi will be part of the Atlas Lions’ tournament squad, despite being sidelined with an injury picked up months earlier in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals.

    The 27-year-old Paris Saint-Germain full-back, who boasts 95 senior international caps for Morocco, has not featured in competitive action since his side’s first-leg victory over Bayern Munich on 28 April. However, recent images of Hakimi taking part in full team training on Tuesday, ahead of PSG’s upcoming Champions League final against Arsenal, have given Moroccan football officials enough confidence to include the influential right-back in their 26-man roster.

    Hakimi is far from the only high-profile name to earn a spot in Walid Regragui’s squad. The call-up list features a host of top talent plying their trade across Europe’s biggest leagues: Manchester United defender Noussair Mazraoui, West Ham United centre-back Issa Diop, Crystal Palace defender Chadi Riad, Sunderland young winger Chemsdine Talbi, and Real Madrid attacking midfielder Brahim Diaz all secured places. Former Manchester United holding midfielder Sofyan Amrabat, now at Real Betis, Olympique de Marseille defender Nayef Aguerd, and VfB Stuttgart playmaker Bilal El Khannouss were also included in the final selection.

    In a surprising omission, former Chelsea winger Hakim Ziyech did not make the cut for the Atlas Lions, ending his hopes of featuring in a third consecutive World Cup tournament.

    Currently ranked eighth in the official FIFA Men’s World Rankings, Morocco enters the 2026 tournament on a wave of historic momentum. The side made history as the first African nation to reach a World Cup semi-final at the 2022 edition in Qatar, where they fell to eventual champions France in a tightly contested match. More recently, Morocco secured a controversial Africa Cup of Nations title in 2025, when their final victory was reinstated after an initial walk-off declaration awarded the win to Senegal, which was later overturned by confederation officials.

    Drawn into Group C for the 2026 World Cup, Morocco will face tough competition from Scotland, five-time champions Brazil, and CONCACAF side Haiti. Their opening group match is scheduled for 19 June against Steve Clarke’s Scotland side, as both teams look to kick off their tournament campaigns with three crucial points.

    Below is the full roster selected by Morocco for the 2026 FIFA World Cup:
    **Goalkeepers**: Yassine Bounou (Al Hilal), Munir Mohamedi (RS Berkane), Ahmed Tagnaouti (Royal Armed Forces)
    **Defenders**: Noussair Mazraoui (Manchester United), Anass Salah-Eddine (PSV Eindhoven), Youssef Belammari (Al Ahly), Nayef Aguerd (Marseille), Chadi Riad (Crystal Palace), Issa Diop (West Ham United), Redouane Halhal (KV Mechelen), Achraf Hakimi (Paris St-Germain), Zakaria El Ouahdi (Genk)
    **Midfielders**: Samir El Mourabet (Strasbourg), Ayyoub Bouaddi (Lille), Neil El Aynaoui (Roma), Sofyan Amrabat (Real Betis), Azzedine Ounahi (Girona), Bilal El Khannouss (Stuttgart), Ismael Saibari (PSV Eindhoven)
    **Forwards**: Abdessamad Ezzalzouli (Real Betis), Chemsdine Talbi (Sunderland), Soufiane Rahimi (Al Ain), Ayoub El Kaabi (Olympiacos), Brahim Diaz (Real Madrid), Yassine Gessime (Strasbourg), Ayoub Amaimouni-Echghouyabe (Eintracht Frankfurt)

  • Nasa unveils next steps to build permanent Moon base

    Nasa unveils next steps to build permanent Moon base

    In a major update to its ambitious lunar exploration agenda, NASA has publicly released new design renderings and contract details for the robotic vehicles and infrastructure that will lay the groundwork for a permanent American outpost on the Moon. The announcement comes as the United States and China engage in a growing 21st-century space race, with both nations racing to put the first humans back on the lunar surface in more than 50 years.

    As part of the $20 billion Ignition Moon Base program first unveiled in March 2025, NASA aims to complete a permanently crewed outpost powered by a mix of nuclear fission and solar energy at the Moon’s south pole by 2032. The program is structured in three distinct phases, starting with an extensive pre-human robotic exploration mission that will map the region’s harsh, cratered terrain and deliver critical scientific equipment. NASA has now awarded construction contracts for this initial phase to three private aerospace firms: Jeff Bezos-founded Blue Origin, Intuitive Machines, and Astrobotic Technology.

    Each company has been tapped to deliver specialized hardware tailored to the challenges of lunar operations. Blue Origin’s Endurance lunar lander is being engineered to execute precision landings across uneven terrain while operating with full autonomous navigation and control. Astrobotic’s Griffin-1 lander, meanwhile, is targeted to touch down in the Nobile Crater, a permanently shadowed basin near the lunar south pole that scientists believe holds large deposits of frozen water ice. All robotic craft will carry a suite of scientific instruments, including high-resolution mapping cameras and laser-based landing assistance tools. Through 2029, the program plans 25 separate robotic launches, delivering a total of 4 metric tons of cargo to the lunar surface, according to Moon Base program executive Carlos García-Galán.

    Following the completion of robotic exploration, the second phase will focus on installing the base’s energy infrastructure, including small modular fission reactors that can provide reliable power through the lunar south pole’s two-week-long dark nights. The third and final phase will see the construction of semi-permanent habitation modules and long-range rovers that will allow human crews to traverse the rocky polar landscape. The south pole was selected as the base site specifically for its accessible water ice, which can be processed into drinking water, breathable oxygen, and rocket fuel for future deep space missions, including crewed missions to Mars. A permanent lunar presence would also open new avenues for cutting-edge lunar science and potential commercial resource extraction, NASA officials say.

    In a statement Tuesday, NASA administrator Jared Isaacman emphasized the long-term commitment of the U.S. to lunar exploration, saying the new contracts confirm America will “never give up the Moon again” after the end of the Apollo program. The U.S. has a stated political goal of landing American astronauts on the Moon before the end of the current presidential term in 2028, putting intense public pressure on NASA to meet the aggressive timeline.

    This timeline puts NASA in direct competition with China’s own lunar program, which is on track to land the first Chinese humans on the Moon by 2030. Just this week, China moved forward with its human spaceflight program, launching the Shenzhou-23 mission to deliver a new crew to the Tiangong space station in low Earth orbit, demonstrating consistent progress in its space infrastructure development. Many independent space experts, however, say NASA’s 2028 landing target is unrealistic, given persistent delays in the development of the human landing system.

    NASA has contracted Elon Musk’s SpaceX to develop the Starship Human Landing System, the craft that will carry astronauts from lunar orbit down to the surface. The project has faced repeated technical setbacks and schedule slippage that have pushed back its expected completion date. “It would not surprise me at all if China gets there first,” Dr. Simeon Barber, a lunar scientist at the U.K.’s Open University, told reporters. Barber noted that the ongoing delays to the human landing craft are the single biggest bottleneck for NASA’s lunar agenda. He also suggested that the aggressive timeline and recent string of announcements are driven as much by political pressure as technical planning, saying NASA feels compelled to demonstrate progress amid the high-profile competition with China. Even after the successful Artemis II mission that carried four American astronauts on a lunar flyby in April 2026, many scientists share Barber’s view that China is on track to beat the U.S. to the first crewed lunar landing of this new space race.

  • Morocco’s Hakimi among 9 picked for World Cup returning from historic 2022 squad

    Morocco’s Hakimi among 9 picked for World Cup returning from historic 2022 squad

    Fresh off their history-making run at the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Morocco has announced its 26-man squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup hosted across North America, with star Paris Saint-Germain right-back Achraf Hakimi headlining a roster that blends veteran experience from the 2022 breakout campaign and exciting newly eligible talent drawn from the nation’s European diaspora.

    Named to the squad just three months after newly appointed head coach Mohamed Ouahbi took charge of the national side, the majority of the selected players were born in Europe, a reflection of Morocco’s longstanding strategy of leveraging the deep pool of talent with Moroccan heritage playing across the continent’s top leagues. Ouahbi himself was born in Belgium, and a number of squad members share similar cross-continental roots: Hakimi and Real Madrid forward Brahim Diaz are two of five players born in Spain who qualify to represent Morocco through their family lineage. Diaz, who previously earned caps for the Spanish men’s national team, switched his international allegiance to Morocco in 2024.

    Over the past nine months, FIFA has approved nationality changes for three players included in Ouahbi’s 26-man roster: Fulham center-back Issa Diop, PSV Eindhoven left-back Anass Salah-Eddine, and 18-year-old Lille promising midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi, marking their first major senior international tournament with the North African nation.

    Veteran leadership remains a core pillar of the squad: 35-year-old goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, who delivered a series of viral standout performances during Morocco’s 2022 Cinderella run, is set to make his third World Cup appearance when the tournament kicks off. Bounou is one of nine players returning from the 2022 squad that made global football history as the first African nation ever to reach the World Cup semifinals.

    Led by then-coach Walid Regragui in 2022, Morocco defied all pre-tournament projections to top a group containing 2018 runner-up Croatia and pre-tournament favorite Belgium, before knocking out Spain and Portugal in consecutive knockout round matches. Their fairy-tale run only ended against eventual champions France, where an injury-ravaged Moroccan side bowed out in a tight semi-final contest.

    Morocco enters the 2026 tournament holding the title of African Cup of Nations champions, though that status remains under dispute. The Atlas Lions currently hold the title via a legal ruling following their January 2025 final against Senegal, but Senegal has appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, seeking to have its on-field victory reinstated. A ruling is expected in the coming months that could strip Morocco of the continental title before the World Cup gets underway.

    The current set-up follows a period of transition for Morocco’s senior side: Regragui stepped down from his role four months ago following the AFCON final loss to Senegal, opening the door for Ouahbi’s appointment. The new head coach earned his new position after leading Morocco’s Under-20 national side to a surprise World Cup title in 2025, where his young squad defeated Argentina in the final. One of the standout players from that under-20 triumph, Strasbourg forward Gessime Yassine, has earned a call-up to the senior 2026 World Cup squad Tuesday.

    Drawn into Group C, Morocco will base its pre-tournament training camp in New Jersey, kicking off its World Cup campaign against five-time champion Brazil on June 13 in East Rutherford. The team will then face Scotland in Massachusetts, before closing out group stage play against Haiti on June 24 in Atlanta. Like all teams in the expanded 48-team 2026 tournament, Morocco retains a path to the knockout stage even if it finishes third in its group: the top two sides from each group advance directly to the round of 16, while the four best third-place finishers also move on to the knockout round.

    Looking ahead beyond 2026, Morocco is already set to co-host the 2030 World Cup alongside Spain and Portugal, with original 1930 host nations Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay also named as co-hosts that will each host one group stage match to mark the tournament’s centennial.

    The full 2026 Morocco World Cup squad is as follows:
    Goalkeepers: Yassine Bounou (Al-Hilal), Munir El Kajoui (RS Berkane), Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti (AS FAR)
    Defenders: Noussair Mazraoui (Manchester United), Anass Salah-Eddine (PSV Eindhoven), Youssef Belammari (Al Ahly), Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain), Zakaria El Ouahdi (Genk), Nayef Aguerd (Marseille), Chadi Riad (Crystal Palace), Redouane Halhal (Mechelen), Issa Diop (Fulham)
    Midfielders: Samir El Mourabet (Strasbourg), Ayyoub Bouaddi (Lille), Neil El Aynaoui (Roma), Sofyan Amrabat (Real Betis), Azzedine Ounahi (Girona), Bilal El Khannouss (Stuttgart), Ismael Saibari (PSV Eindhoven)
    Forwards: Abdessamad Ezzalzouli (Real Betis), Chemsdine Talbi (Sunderland), Soufiane Rahimi (Al Ain), Ayoub El Kaabi (Olympiakos), Brahim Diaz (Real Madrid), Gessime Yassine (Strasbourg), Ayoube Amaimouni-Echghouyabe (Eintracht Frankfurt)

  • Watch: Nasa shows renderings for planned permanent moon base

    Watch: Nasa shows renderings for planned permanent moon base

    In a major milestone for humanity’s deep space exploration ambitions, NASA has publicly released detailed digital renderings that outline its blueprint for a long-term, crewed outpost on the Moon, with a formal target of establishing permanent human habitation on Earth’s only natural satellite by 2032.

    The newly revealed visualizations offer the public and scientific communities a clear preview of what the groundbreaking facility could look like once completed, showcasing modular living quarters, research laboratories, and operational zones designed to sustain human life through the Moon’s extreme temperature swings, long dark lunar nights, and harsh cosmic radiation environment. Unlike the short-duration Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s that only saw brief visits by astronauts, this project marks a fundamental shift in lunar exploration: moving from temporary visits to continuous, long-term human presence off Earth.

    Experts note that a permanent lunar base is not just an end goal on its own. It is positioned as a critical stepping stone for future crewed missions to Mars, allowing scientists to test life support systems, resource utilization technologies (including extracting water ice from lunar polar regions), and deep space survival strategies in a relatively accessible deep space environment. The project also opens new opportunities for international collaboration and commercial partnership in space exploration, with multiple private aerospace companies already contributing to development planning for key components of the base.

    NASA’s release of these renderings comes amid renewed global interest in lunar exploration, with multiple space agencies around the world advancing their own lunar exploration plans in recent years. The 2032 target date sets a clear timeline for the agency to advance engineering development, test new technologies, and execute precursor missions to lay the groundwork for the permanent habitation facility.

  • African nations seek security ties with Turkey through ‘Somalia model’

    African nations seek security ties with Turkey through ‘Somalia model’

    Over the weekend, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler confirmed a growing trend across the African continent: a rising number of African states are pushing to adopt the long-developed ‘Somali model’ partnership that Ankara and Mogadishu have built over more than a decade, aiming to secure Turkish security and economic support to strengthen their own national capacity. Speaking on the sidelines of the Efes military exercises held in western Turkey, Guler emphasized that Turkey continues to deliver specialized military training and technical assistance to armed forces across African nations in response to their formal requests, supporting steady progress in local defense capacity building. ‘In this context, several other countries are requesting the same comprehensive model we implemented in Somalia,’ Guler noted, adding that Turkish officials are currently reviewing each incoming request.

  • Atrocities in Sudan backed by Colombian mercenaries trained at UAE bases, says report

    Atrocities in Sudan backed by Colombian mercenaries trained at UAE bases, says report

    A groundbreaking new investigation from Human Rights Watch (HRW) has uncovered damning evidence linking the United Arab Emirates to the deployment of hundreds of Colombian mercenaries in Sudan, where the foreign fighters have supported the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) — a paramilitary group accused of large-scale war crimes and genocide in the country’s ongoing civil conflict.

    According to the 38-page report, Abu Dhabi-based private security firm Global Security Services Group (GSSG) has actively recruited hundreds of Colombian special operations contractors since the start of 2024, deploying them directly to Sudan to fight alongside the RSF against the official Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). HRW investigators confirmed that the contractors passed through UAE-operated military bases on Sudanese territory before joining frontline RSF units, a trail of evidence that the human rights organization says proves direct UAE complicity in widespread violence committed by the paramilitary.

    The RSF has faced mounting international accusations of genocide, systematic mass sexual violence, ethnic cleansing, and multiple other violations of international humanitarian law since Sudan’s civil conflict reignited in April 2023. HRW’s findings add new weight to global calls for punitive action against the UAE, which has long faced allegations of covertly backing the RSF despite consistent official denials.

    “The recruitment of Colombian private military contractors adds to a growing body of evidence that the UAE provides military support to the Rapid Support Forces, which have repeatedly carried out heinous atrocities in Sudan,” said Mausi Segun, executive director of HRW’s Africa Division. “Governments should publicly demand that the UAE stop supplying weapons, equipment, personnel, and other military support to the Rapid Support Forces.”

    HRW’s findings align with earlier independent investigations into RSF atrocities. In March 2024, Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab (HRL) corroborated United Nations claims of genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region, documenting that RSF forces had waged a deliberate campaign of starvation against the strategic city of el-Fasher. The lab’s report confirmed that RSF fighters razed dozens of rural farming villages, destroyed critical crop infrastructure, and systematically targeted civilian populations after seizing control of the city. Extensive on-the-ground interviews conducted by independent outlet Middle East Eye (MEE), alongside subsequent UN and HRL investigations, have documented widespread extrajudicial executions, mass rape, and extortion of el-Fasher’s civilian population by RSF fighters.

    The presence of Colombian mercenaries in Sudan first entered public view in November 2024, when a SAF-aligned armed group released social media videos showing an intercepted convoy of Colombian fighters that had crossed into Sudan from neighboring Libya. While the UAE has repeatedly rejected all accusations of supporting the RSF, MEE has published years of investigative work backed by satellite imagery, flight tracking logs, weapons serial numbers, and multiple anonymous insider sources confirming the UAE’s ongoing military backing for the paramilitary.

    Joey Shea, a lead HRW researcher on the investigation, told MEE that Colombian contractors transited through sensitive UAE military and government facilities prior to their deployment to RSF frontlines. She added that investigators have directly linked the foreign contractors to grave human rights abuses on the ground.

    “One contractor who I spoke to told me that he helped to support the training of child soldiers, boys as young as 13-14 years old,” Shea explained.

    The investigation also revealed that the military relationship between the UAE and Colombian private military contractors stretches back more than a decade. As early as 2011, The New York Times reported that UAE leader Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was building a foreign legion of up to 800 Colombian contractors to serve officially within the UAE armed forces. One retired Colombian contractor interviewed by HRW confirmed he took part in that 2011 recruitment drive, noting that the operation was entirely public, with all participants receiving formal work contracts for their service in the UAE.

    This report is based on independent reporting from Middle East Eye, a media outlet specializing in original, unfiltered coverage of the Middle East, North Africa, and global affairs.

  • Women’s soccer star Alexia Putellas leaves Barcelona after 14 seasons

    Women’s soccer star Alexia Putellas leaves Barcelona after 14 seasons

    After 14 seasons of transformative leadership and unprecedented success that reshaped women’s soccer on both domestic and global stages, two-time consecutive Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas is preparing to depart FC Barcelona, the Catalan giants confirmed this week. The club announced Tuesday that the 32-year-old icon will formally say goodbye to fans and teammates during a ceremonial event at Camp Nou on Wednesday, an occasion organized to honor the extraordinary legacy of a player who has become a global role model both on and off the pitch.
    Putellas’ exit comes just days after she helped Barcelona secure their fourth UEFA Women’s Champions League crown in just six seasons, capping her final campaign with the club with one more major trophy. Since joining Barcelona from Levante back in 2011 at the age of 18, Putellas has built an unmatched record with the club: she has featured in 507 senior matches, the second-highest total in the club’s all-time history, and netted 232 goals — a mark that stands as a new club record for any player, male or female. Over her 14 years in Barcelona’s blue and garnet stripes, Putellas lifted 38 major trophies, including 10 Spanish domestic league titles and the four continental crowns.
    In a heartfelt video message shared across her personal social media channels, Putellas reflected on her time with the club, saying, “The time has come to acknowledge that I’ve given everything for these colors. It’s been a perfect story.”
    Putellas’ legacy extends far beyond the trophy case and record books. She was the talismanic leader of Barcelona’s first-ever Champions League winning side in 2021, a breakthrough triumph that cemented Spanish women’s soccer as a global powerhouse. Her back-to-back Ballon d’Or wins in 2021 and 2022 brought unprecedented mainstream attention to the women’s game, with many analysts crediting her influence as a key factor behind Spain’s 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup victory.
    Off the pitch, Putellas has stood at the forefront of cultural change for women’s soccer in Spain. When the Spanish football federation was plunged into crisis following former president Luis Rubiales’ unwanted non-consensual kiss of player Jenni Hermoso during the 2023 World Cup trophy ceremony, Putellas stepped forward as one of the leading voices of the player rebellion that ultimately forced Rubiales to resign. Reflecting on the progress of the sport over her career, Putellas noted, “At the beginning, being a soccer player wasn’t even recognized as a profession. Now I feel privileged to have been part of this change.”
    Her career has not been without adversity: a serious leg injury sidelined her for months at the peak of her powers, casting doubt over her future at the top level. After her return, limited minutes sparked widespread rumors of an early exit, but Putellas ultimately committed to a contract extension to see out her final chapter with the club she called home for nearly 15 years.
    As of yet, Putellas has not confirmed her next professional move, but speculation across Spanish soccer circles has linked her to a potential move to the London City Lionesses, a rapidly rising club in England’s second tier. Putellas was spotted attending a Lionesses match in London back in January, fueling ongoing rumors about her next step.

  • Robert F Kennedy Jr grabs writhing snakes on a Florida patio

    Robert F Kennedy Jr grabs writhing snakes on a Florida patio

    A recently surfaced video of United States Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. picking up two active black racer snakes with his bare hands has spread rapidly across social media platforms, prompting official cautions from wildlife regulators urging members of the public not to replicate the risky behavior.

    In the caption accompanying the clip he shared Tuesday, Kennedy explained he was removing the reptiles from the patio of his senior colleague Dr. Mehmet Oz’s beachfront property in Florida. The caption referenced his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, who can be heard in the footage questioning the stunt with a confused “Why?” before pleading “Bobby, please” as Kennedy moves to grab the snakes. Dr. Oz, who serves as the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services under Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services, hosted Kennedy at the home during the encounter.

    Footage shows Kennedy approaching the slithering snakes fully clothed except for going barefoot, crouching to seize them, and holding the writhing animals up to the camera with a smile, even as the pair repeatedly bite his hands. Contrary to common assumption, the National Park Service confirms that black racers are a non-venomous species that pose little danger to humans when left undisturbed in their natural habitats.

    The incident comes as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has ramped up public warnings about snake interactions this spring, when the animals become far more active across the state. In a recent public advisory posted to Facebook, the agency urged residents and visitors to “give snakes a wide berth and admire them from a distance,” adding that even non-venomous species can deliver painful, damaging bites that require medical attention. “Resist the urge to pick it up – even our nonvenomous snakes can give a solid bite,” the commission emphasized.

    This viral snake encounter is not the first time Kennedy has made headlines for unusual hands-on interactions with wildlife. Just two months prior in April, he faced questions during a Capitol Hill hearing over reports that he once cut the penis off a road-killed raccoon to conduct personal research. Arizona Democratic Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva directly raised the allegation during the oversight hearing, referencing news coverage of Kennedy’s reported self-directed biological studies. Two years earlier, Kennedy also drew criticism from environmental advocates over claims that he used a chainsaw to decapitate a dead beached whale so he could transport the head home on the roof of his vehicle.

  • Halal food at the wedding? Hard-right Restore leader’s son marries daughter of Libyan academic

    Halal food at the wedding? Hard-right Restore leader’s son marries daughter of Libyan academic

    A growing far-right nativist British political party that has drawn high-profile backing from X owner Elon Musk is facing internal backlash and public scrutiny just weeks ahead of a critical by-election that could reshape the country’s political landscape. Led by former Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe, Restore Britain has risen rapidly in prominence over recent months, galvanized by viral mobilization on the social media platform X, where Lowe and party-aligned accounts collectively boast hundreds of thousands of followers.

    Restore Britain built its support base on a hardline anti-immigration, anti-Muslim platform, promising to roll back what it labels the “Islamisation of Britain”, ban kosher and halal animal slaughter, and achieve net-negative migration through mass deportations. The party’s explicitly nativist ideology sets it apart from even the right-wing Reform UK: in February, party spokesperson Charlie Downes made clear that while Reform UK holds that any person from any background can become British, Restore Britain defines British national identity as tied to indigenous ancestry and the Christian faith. The party has also called for the British armed forces to prioritize recruitment from the “native majority” rather than recruiting from minority communities, and Lowe has repeatedly made inflammatory public comments targeting immigrant groups from Muslim-majority nations, claiming foreign men from these backgrounds harass women and disrupt public order.

    The party has shaken up the race for the upcoming Makerfield by-election, where popular Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is running as the Labour Party candidate. A Labour win would put Burnham in position to mount a leadership challenge to Prime Minister Keir Starmer. A late Survation poll the previous week placed Labour at 43% support, Reform UK close behind at 40%, and Restore Britain at 7% in third place. Multiple campaign sources, however, have told reporters that on-the-ground canvassing data shows Restore Britain outperforming this polling number significantly. Elon Musk’s public endorsement of the party – including a recent post declaring “Only Restore Britain can save Britain” – has supercharged its growth, and the party now claims more than 123,000 registered members. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has accused Musk of deliberately splitting the right-wing vote to tip the race to Labour, saying “Quite what he’s trying to achieve, I have no idea.” With the right-wing vote split between Reform and Restore, polling and political analysts agree that the split is helping Burnham maintain his lead in the constituency, which is largely working-class and majority-white, where right-wing parties draw higher overall support than Labour.

    The party’s momentum has hit a major crisis following the wedding of Lowe’s son Angus over the previous weekend, after Lowe posted a wedding photo of the couple to X that drew immediate outrage from his own far-right base. The bride, Yasmin Mezran, is the daughter of Karim Mezran, a prominent Libyan-Italian academic who currently serves as director of the North Africa Initiative and resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for Middle East Programs. Mezran, a well-known expert on political Islam and Mediterranean geopolitics, has a decades-long track record of advocating for Muslim integration and religious pluralism in Europe, and has publicly criticized anti-Muslim nationalist policies from far-right European governments. Outrage among Restore Britain supporters intensified after it was confirmed that a halal meal option was available for Muslim guests at the wedding reception – a direct contradiction of the party’s official policy to ban halal slaughter nationwide. Mezran himself reposted a social media note highlighting the contradiction between the wedding’s arrangements and Restore’s official platform.

    Mezran’s long career of academic and policy work stands in stark ideological opposition to Lowe and Restore Britain’s core mission. In 2013, he published a major paper arguing that Muslim communities in Italy needed a formal agreement with the Italian state to guarantee their equal rights, noting that previous attempts at such an agreement had been blocked by widespread prejudice among the Italian public and a lack of political courage from state institutions. He has repeatedly advocated for pluralistic integration that aligns with the democratic values of constitutional tolerance, and in 2022 warned the Italian government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that its anti-Muslim nationalist rhetoric would damage Italy’s diplomatic relations with Middle Eastern nations. Following Pope Francis’ death in 2025, Mezran praised the late pope for his public advocacy for Palestinian rights during the war in Gaza. He has also pushed back against stereotypes of Islamist political groups, arguing in 2012 that Libya’s elected Muslim Brotherhood did not fit common negative tropes, and called for cross-ideological cooperation between liberal and religious conservative politicians in the country. In a 2023 analysis, he framed Algeria as a critical pillar of regional stability for Italy and the European Union, arguing that closer Italian-Algerian ties would strengthen Mediterranean security.

    Lowe, a millionaire former businessman, farmer, and ex-chairman of Southampton FC, was suspended from Reform UK in March 2024 after he publicly criticized Nigel Farage and called Reform a “protest party led by the Messiah”, prompting his split to form Restore Britain. He is no stranger to public controversy: last year he drew widespread condemnation after revealing he had asked his gamekeeper to shoot his 17-year-old pet dog in the head after the dog lost the use of its hind legs, a decision he defended as humane. Advocacy group Hope Not Hate CEO Nick Lowles noted that Restore Britain’s aggressive on-the-ground campaign in Makerfield is being heavily amplified by far-right vloggers and Musk’s platform, and that Reform UK’s focus on attacking Restore Britain is inadvertently boosting its appeal to racist voters across the country. Middle East Eye has reached out to Karim Mezran for additional comment on the ongoing controversy.