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  • Senate passes sweeping Russia sanctions bill negotiated by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham

    Senate passes sweeping Russia sanctions bill negotiated by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham

    On a historic Friday vote in Washington, the U.S. Senate delivered an overwhelming bipartisan endorsement of a sweeping new sanctions package targeting Russia, capping a year-long advocacy campaign led by the late South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham to tighten U.S. backing for Ukraine amid its drawn-out defensive war against Russian invasion.

    Passing by a lopsided margin of 86-11, the legislation is crafted to cut off critical war funding for Russian President Vladimir Putin by penalizing nations that continue to purchase Russian oil, natural gas and other key exports. The vote carries deep personal and political resonance: just one week prior, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sat in the Senate gallery to watch initial procedural votes on the bill, just hours after attending Graham’s funeral in Washington and holding bipartisan talks with U.S. senators. Graham, who had only just returned from a visit to Ukraine when he secured a final agreement on the legislation with the White House on July 10, died suddenly the next day from an aortic tear.

    Standing on the Senate floor ahead of the final vote, Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut — who co-led negotiations on the package with Graham — reflected on the moment. “Today, President Zelenskyy is watching from Ukraine — and Putin is watching from Moscow,” Blumenthal said. “I would like to think Lindsey Graham is watching, too. Today we say to the people of Ukraine: You are not alone. And today we say to Vladimir Putin: You will not conquer Ukraine.”

    This broad show of Senate unity marks the most consequential shift in U.S. policy toward the three-year-plus war during President Donald Trump’s second term, a conflict that has now lasted longer than the entirety of World War I. For months, Congress had grappled with gridlock over sustaining U.S. funding and military supplies for Ukraine, but Trump has publicly backed the sanctions package, building pressure for the House of Representatives to bring the bill to a vote and send it to the White House for signing.

    Named in Graham’s honor, the bipartisan measure grants the president authority to impose tariffs on the world’s five largest buyers of Russian oil and natural gas — a list that includes major emerging economies China and India. Exceptions are carved out for nations that import less than 15% of their natural gas from Russia and are actively working to cut their reliance on Russian energy exports. Beyond secondary penalties for third-party buyers, the package expands direct sanctions to target Putin, his top political and military allies, major Russian financial institutions, and key Russian energy infrastructure projects. It also closes a longstanding loophole in existing sanctions by cracking down on the aging, reflagged oil tankers Russia has used to evade export restrictions and keep its energy revenues flowing.

    The legislation includes built-in flexibility: it grants the president waiver authority to lift specific sanctions or restrictions if he formally certifies to Congress that such a move serves U.S. national interests. Still, the grant of new tariff authority to Trump sparked opposition from across the ideological spectrum, with progressive Democrats forming the core of the 11 “no” votes. Many lawmakers on both sides of the aisle raised concerns that broad tariff power could drive up import prices, worsen ongoing inflation, and raise cost-of-living burdens for American households.

    Appointed by South Carolina’s governor to fill her late brother’s Senate seat, Republican Sen. Darline Graham reaffirmed her commitment to advancing his final policy priority. “This legislation hits Putin where it hurts,” she said in remarks on the floor.

    For Ukraine, the package carries both strategic and symbolic weight, Zelenskyy has said. During his closed-door meeting with senators last week, the Ukrainian leader noted that Kyiv’s forces have made incremental battlefield gains but continue to depend on sustained U.S. support. Publicly, he thanked the Senate for the vote, saying the package sends a “big signal” of American solidarity to Ukraine and its global allies.

    Republican Sen. Todd Young of Indiana, who attended the meeting with Zelenskyy, echoed that framing, calling the legislation “important as a moral signal to a country that is weary and tired, though holding its own.”

    Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noted the timing of the vote, ahead of Russia’s scheduled national elections. Advancing the package now, she argued, will increase pressure on Putin to enter serious negotiations toward a negotiated peace deal. She warned that every time the U.S. hesitates to take strong action against Russia, Moscow responds by ramping up its offensive attacks. “If we can’t shut down the funding for the war machine that Russia is using against Ukraine, then they’re going to keep at it,” Shaheen said.

    Criticism of the bill centered on the expanded tariff authority, with lawmakers from both parties arguing it grants too much unchecked power to the executive branch. The Senate defeated an amendment sponsored by Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon that would have stripped the new tariff authority from the bill. Paul argued the measure would impose unnecessary costs on U.S. taxpayers, while Wyden noted that many American households are already struggling with persistent economic strain. “We’ve got folks who are walking an economic tightrope here in America,” Wyden said.

    Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who had delayed consideration of the package over his concerns about tariff authority, secured a written guarantee from the Trump administration via U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer that establishes clear guardrails for the use of tariffs. Under the commitment, tariffs will be lifted once a country is no longer listed as a major purchaser of Russian energy or a facilitator of sanctions evasion. “We should not have to choose between putting a check on Putin’s aggression and putting a check on this president’s tariffs regime,” Warnock said, adding that if Trump “oversteps his power, we will see him in court.”

    Many other Democrats who hold reservations about granting Trump new executive powers ultimately supported the bill, saying they would not risk undermining critical support for Ukraine. “Weighing that against the boost for Ukraine, I think it’s important to support Ukraine right now,” said Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut.

    The sanctions package will now head to the House of Representatives, where Senate momentum is expected to push for a swift vote when lawmakers return from recess at the end of the month. The House already passed a separate Ukraine aid and Russian sanctions package in June, which included security assistance and reconstruction funding for Kyiv alongside penalties for key sectors of the Russian economy. That earlier measure drew bipartisan support despite objections from Republican leaders, who argued it undercut negotiations to produce a stronger, more unified piece of legislation.

  • Exclusive: ICC judges order Taliban case split from Afghanistan probe that covers US troops

    Exclusive: ICC judges order Taliban case split from Afghanistan probe that covers US troops

    Exclusive reporting from Middle East Eye (MEE) has uncovered a landmark decision by International Criminal Court (ICC) pre-trial judges, who have ordered prosecutors to launch a fully standalone investigation into accusations of systematic gender persecution at the hands of the Taliban. The order splits this inquiry from the court’s decades-old overarching Afghanistan war crimes probe, which previously included allegations against United States nationals.

    Court documents acquired by MEE via independent channels confirm that a three-judge panel from Pre-Trial Chamber II issued the formal directive to the ICC Office of the Prosecutor in mid-July 2025. If prosecutors move forward with the order, the investigation into Taliban conduct will be formally separated from the broader Afghanistan inquiry, which has examined alleged war crimes dating back to 2003 involving multiple parties: the former Afghan National Security Forces, U.S. military and CIA personnel, the Taliban, and the Islamic State-Khorasan Province (IS-K).

    Legal observers note the move is almost certain to fuel speculation that the court is seeking to de-escalate tensions with Washington, signaling a potential end to active pursuit of allegations against U.S. forces and their Afghan former allies. The judicial directive comes just days after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio publicly threatened to “dismantle the ICC, brick by brick” in remarks criticizing the court’s 2020 decision to greenlight the full Afghanistan investigation.

    Since February 2025, the U.S. has enforced retaliatory financial and visa sanctions against multiple ICC officials linked to the Afghanistan and Palestine investigations, justifying the measures as a response to efforts to prosecute U.S. nationals or U.S. allies. The first high-profile target was Karim Khan, the ICC’s former chief prosecutor, who was controversially removed from office by ICC member states last month following an 18-month misconduct investigation. Eight additional ICC judges have also been sanctioned, including three members of the 2020 Appeals Chamber that authorized the full Afghanistan investigation: Kimberly Prost, Solomy Bossa, and Luz Ibanez.

    These U.S. sanctions were imposed even after Karim Khan’s 2021 decision to deprioritize the segment of the Afghanistan probe focused on U.S. military and CIA personnel, as well as forces of the former Afghan government, in order to refocus investigative resources on the Taliban and IS-K. A year ago, the ICC issued high-profile arrest warrants for Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada and the group’s Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani, charging both with the crime against humanity of gender persecution against Afghan women and girls. Those warrant applications were drafted by a legal team led by Deputy Prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan, who oversees the overall Afghanistan investigation, and Professor Lisa Davis, the court’s Special Adviser on Gender Crimes and the author of the prosecutor’s office policy on gender-based violence. Both officials have faced U.S. pressure: Nazhat Shameem Khan is among the sanctioned ICC leaders, while Davis successfully won a court case in New York to block potential punitive action from the U.S. administration.

    MEE previously reported in December 2024 that diplomats attending the ICC’s annual Assembly of States Parties meeting in The Hague revealed the Trump administration had pressured the court to abandon both the Afghanistan and Palestine investigations as a precondition for lifting U.S. sanctions. The U.S. also demanded ICC member states amend the court’s founding document, the Rome Statute, to block prosecution of nationals from non-member states including the U.S. and Israel. In a rebuke of these demands, the assembly issued a public declaration rejecting calls to amend the Rome Statute, resisting U.S. pressure without explicitly naming the country in the final text.

    The ICC’s involvement in the Afghanistan situation traces back to November 2017, when then-Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda first requested authorization to investigate alleged crimes committed after 2003 across all involved parties. The request was initially rejected by a differently composed pre-trial chamber in 2019, but the Appeals Chamber overturned that ruling in March 2020 and authorized the full investigation to move forward. Just months later, Bensouda was sanctioned by the U.S. government for her efforts to bring Americans under the court’s jurisdiction.

    The probe was suspended later in 2020 following a deferral request from the then-sitting Afghan government, and only resumed in late 2022, with that decision upheld on appeal in April 2023. In November 2024, six ICC member states—Chile, Costa Rica, Spain, France, Luxembourg, and Mexico—submitted a joint referral detailing allegations of widespread crimes against women and girls committed after the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in August 2021, asking prosecutors to incorporate these claims into the existing Afghanistan investigation. Weeks later, in January 2025, then-Prosecutor Karim Khan applied for arrest warrants, arguing the gender persecution allegations already fell within the scope of the 2020 investigative authorization. The warrants for Akhundzada and Haqqani were issued shortly after.

    In the latest judgment obtained by MEE, Pre-Trial Chamber II found that the Taliban’s post-2021 conduct is “materially different” from the armed conflict-related violence that formed the core of the original 2020 conflict-linked investigation. The panel, led by presiding judge Rosario Salvatore Aitala alongside members Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez and Haykel Ben Mahfoudh, directed prosecutors that if they determine the legal threshold for an investigation is still met, they must open a fully separate probe rooted in the 2024 state referral, and formally notify the ICC Presidency of the referral—a step that had not yet been taken as of the court’s order.

    “The Referral concerns allegations of gender and political persecution through the adoption, implementation and enforcement of discriminatory decrees, policies and restrictions made possible by the Taliban’s exercise of de facto governmental authority, rather than conduct allegedly committed by the Taliban as an insurgent armed group during the armed conflict,” the judges wrote in their ruling. They echoed a prior recognition from the prosecution that after seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban’s actions did not center on armed attacks against civilian populations, but instead on imposing “discriminatory rules and prohibitions on the population directly” and punishing people who “did not conform” to the group’s policies.

    “The allegations in the Referral therefore arise in a materially different factual and institutional context, involve distinct alleged modes of commission, do not appear to be related to any armed conflict, and concern conduct occurring after the Taliban’s assumption of governmental de facto authority,” the ruling continued. “In light of the above, the Chamber considers that the conduct identified in the Referral constitutes a sufficiently distinct subset of alleged events that, in the interests of the proper administration of justice and the orderly management of the Court’s proceedings, warrants a separate investigation.”

    The judges also drew attention to the fact that the original overarching Afghanistan investigation, which nominally covers alleged crimes by all parties, has remained dormant for years. They directed prosecutors to a newly implemented court procedure that allows for formal closure of inactive situation records. In a footnote, the chamber noted: “Considering that more than three years have elapsed since the Chamber authorised the resumption of the investigation into the Situation in Afghanistan and that no proceedings are presently pending in relation to the conduct covered by that authorisation, the Chamber draws the Prosecution’s attention to the recently implemented regulation 66 ter of the Regulations of the Court, which allows the Prosecution to request the closure of a situation record when it does not anticipate any further investigatory or prosecutorial activities in relation thereto.”

    As of the publication of MEE’s reporting, the Office of the Prosecutor has not yet announced a decision on either closing the original Afghanistan investigation or opening the new standalone probe into Taliban gender persecution. When contacted by MEE for comment, a court spokesperson stated the office “does not comment on investigations.”

  • What we know so far about the deadly Thailand shooting

    What we know so far about the deadly Thailand shooting

    A horrific act of gun violence has shaken Thailand’s capital Bangkok, leaving multiple people dead in an attack that began within a family before spilling over into a local school.

    According to initial official accounts, the shooter is a teenage male suspect. Authorities confirm that he first took the lives of his own grandparents in a domestic incident before opening fire at a nearby school in the Bangkok area.

    As of the latest update from emergency response teams and law enforcement officials, the confirmed death toll from the combined attacks stands at seven people. First responders were dispatched to the two crime scenes immediately after reports of gunfire first emerged, working to secure the areas and provide urgent medical care to any injured individuals.

    Local law enforcement has launched a full investigation into the incident, working to piece together the full sequence of events and determine what led the teen to carry out the violence. Community leaders and public officials have expressed shock and condolences over the tragedy, which has renewed conversations about youth violence and gun access in the country.

    At this stage, no further details about potential motives, the identities of the victims, or whether any additional casualties have occurred have been released to the public. Updates are expected as the investigation progresses.

  • FIFA chief Infantino travels to Colombia for presidential inauguration

    FIFA chief Infantino travels to Colombia for presidential inauguration

    Embattled FIFA president Gianni Infantino touched down in the Colombian city of Cali on Friday, marking his arrival to attend the inauguration of new hard-right Colombian president Abelardo de la Espriella — all while a growing crisis roils the top leadership of global football’s governing body.

    Infantino finds himself at the center of a growing controversy that has engulfed FIFA in recent weeks. The firestorm was sparked by a heavily criticized plan to open the World Cup up to private investment, a proposal that was ultimately walked back in the face of widespread backlash from major football bodies across the globe. Despite the withdrawal of the investment plan, tensions remain high, with Europe’s governing football body UEFA reaffirming its threat to boycott future World Cup tournaments just one day before Infantino’s arrival in Colombia. The FIFA chief is currently gearing up to run for a fourth and final term as president, with the election set to take place in Rabat, Morocco, next March.

    During a public event with dozens of children dressed in full football kit in the southwestern Colombian city, Infantino leaned into his usual messaging around the sport, framing football as a unifying, joyful force. “It is a joy to be here today,” he told the gathered crowd. “Football is joy, football is happiness, football is unity. So many champions were born in this part of the world, in this part of Colombia.”

    When approached by an Agence France-Presse reporter on the ground in Cali, Infantino declined to respond to questions about whether he believed FIFA’s recent string of controversies had been fully resolved.

    Infantino has long-standing ties to prominent right-wing political figures, including former United States president Donald Trump, making his attendance at the inauguration of Colombia’s new hard-right leader unsurprising. In a break with longstanding Colombian political tradition, de la Espriella has chosen to host his inauguration ceremony in Cali — widely known as the global capital of salsa music — rather than holding the traditional swearing-in before the national Congress in the capital city of Bogota.

  • Mysterious orb seen racing over residential area in new UFO files

    Mysterious orb seen racing over residential area in new UFO files

    In a continued push for greater transparency around Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), the U.S. Department of Defense has released a new set of declassified files containing previously unseen footage, visual renderings, and official records detailing encounters with mysterious airborne and surface objects. This release marks the fifth batch of documents declassified under an executive order issued earlier this year by former President Donald Trump, which mandated full public disclosure of long-classified UAP-related records held by federal agencies.

    Altogether, the latest drop includes 41 individual files: more than a dozen video recordings, three original images, and dozens of text-based PDF documents that span more than 70 years of U.S. military observation, with the oldest document dating back to 1953 and the most recent recorded just this year. This follows an initial release of 161 declassified UAP files uploaded to the Pentagon’s public website in May, when officials first pledged that additional batches would follow on a rolling schedule.

    Among the most notable new recordings is a 2021 video captured over the Gulf of Oman, which captures a dark, roughly 4-foot diameter “cold orb” moving in erratic, irregular patterns that do not match known conventional aircraft or natural weather phenomena. At first glance, the object appears small enough to be a common housefly crossing the camera’s sensor, but official classification confirms it is cataloged as an unidentified anomalous phenomenon.

    Another 2025 recording, captured by a U.S. military sensor camera at an undisclosed military location in the Middle East, shows a solid round sphere moving at consistent speed in a straight line over a developed urban residential area.

    A 2019 recording taken over the Pacific Ocean offers another curious observation: a black sphere that appears to vanish from the sensor feed entirely for a short period before reappearing, visibly trembling as it drifts slowly across the frame. Pentagon notes accompanying the video clarify that while the original observation was captured by a military sensor, the footage itself was recorded by holding a handheld camera up to the display monitor, meaning some of the visible flickering may be a result of the secondary recording method rather than the object’s actual behavior.

    Beyond video, a declassified 1953 memo from the U.S. Naval Photographic Interpretation Center analyzes two separate UAP videos captured in Montana in 1950 and Utah in 1952. The center’s assessment concluded that the objects captured in both videos showed unusual characteristics: their size visibly increased alongside increases in their luminosity, traits that the memo confirmed are “inconsistent with those of natural phenomena.”

    A declassified FBI file included in the release also features a first-hand account from a former military pilot, who reported repeated sightings of unusual white lights during transatlantic flights between Boston and Dublin beginning in October 2023. The pilot reported that the lights start dim, grow progressively brighter before fading out, and exhibit unusual movement: some hold stationary position, while others travel in straight lines and occasionally change direction abruptly. He noted that he has observed the lights at least 10 times since his first sighting, and claimed that many other commercial and military pilots have reported similar sightings consistently between midnight and 3 a.m.

    All three images included in this release are official renderings, created as artistic interpretations of first-hand witness descriptions of UAP encounters. One of the most striking renderings depicts a massive, dark triangular craft hovering in the sky, with a bright round light positioned at each of the three corners. The rendering is based on a 2011 encounter reported by two former U.S. military service members.

    UAP is the official term adopted by the U.S. government and scientific community to replace the more popularized term “UFO” (unidentified flying object). Unlike the traditional framing of UFOs as only airborne potential alien spacecraft, UAP covers all unexplained observations, including those on land, in the air, and underwater.

    Public curiosity and interest in UAP and the potential for extraterrestrial life has grown dramatically in the U.S. over the past decade. In 2022, the U.S. Congress held its first formal public hearings focused on UAP in more than 50 years, and the Department of Defense has committed to ongoing transparency around military observations of unexplained phenomena. In a statement accompanying this fifth file release, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed that the department will continue releasing additional declassified UAP documents to the public on an ongoing rolling basis.

  • Niewiadoma-Phinney wins Mont Ventoux stage to take overall lead on Women’s Tour de France

    Niewiadoma-Phinney wins Mont Ventoux stage to take overall lead on Women’s Tour de France

    On a sunbaked afternoon on one of professional cycling’s most legendary climbs, Poland’s Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney delivered a career-defining performance Friday, attacking early up the brutal slopes of Mont Ventoux to secure her first-ever stage win at the Women’s Tour de France and leapfrog Switzerland’s Marlen Reusser to take the overall general classification lead with just two stages remaining in the 2024 race.

    Niewiadoma-Phinney, who claimed the overall 2024 Tour title earlier this year without winning a single individual stage, broke away from the leading group of contenders approximately nine kilometers from the barren, moon-like summit of the Hors Catégorie (highest difficulty) climb, which averages a near-9% gradient. 2023 Tour champion Demi Vollering and former leader Reusser could not match her blistering pace, as the Polish rider held off all chasers through a strong headwind in the final kilometers to cross the line first, arms raised in triumph.

    Exhausted from her all-out effort, Niewiadoma-Phinney nearly lost her balance after crossing the finish line and required assistance dismounting her bike. She later collapsed onto the roadside, pouring cold water over her head to cool down as she processed her breakthrough win, tears welling as she was fitted with the race’s coveted yellow overall leader jersey. She now holds a 15-second lead over second-place Vollering and a 39-second advantage over Reusser heading into the race’s final weekend.

    In a post-stage interview, Niewiadoma-Phinney shared that an unexpected encounter with her family midway up the climb gave her the extra push she needed to secure victory. “When I started climbing I looked to the right and I saw my parents standing on the roadside. They came today by surprise. I saw my father yelling for me and I thought I had to make him proud,” she said.

    The winner, who is married to former professional men’s Tour sprinter Taylor Phinney, also explained that a personal connection to Mont Ventoux fueled her ambition to win on the iconic climb. She recalled visiting the ascent in the off-season with her husband and friends, riding to the top three times just for the joy of the challenge. “From that moment, I just wanted to experience that feeling again. The pure joy of riding, as if I was a kid,” she added. “I never chase victories for the sake of winning, I target them because I like this beautiful feeling I have right now.”

    Vollering, the 2023 overall champion, put in a strong performance to finish second on the stage, dropping Reusser in the final kilometers of the 15.7-kilometer ascent to move into second place overall. Two-time Giro d’Italia winner Elisa Longo Borghini of Italy took third place on the stage, while former race leader Reusser, the reigning world time trial champion, crossed the line in fourth, ceding the yellow jersey after a valiant but ultimately unsuccessful defense.

    Mont Ventoux holds a unique place in Tour de France history, having been featured multiple times in the men’s race, and it carries somber historical context: it was on this climb that British rider Tom Simpson collapsed and died during the 1967 Tour, one of the darkest tragedies in the race’s history.

    With the race now moving into its final weekend, the general classification remains tightly contested. Saturday’s eighth stage is a flat 172-kilometer route tailored for sprinters, finishing in the coastal French city of Nice. Sunday will bring a decisive final mountain stage, featuring four sharp climbs up Col d’Èze, which overlooks Monaco. This is not the first time Niewiadoma-Phinney has entered the final stage with a narrow lead over Vollering: two years ago, she defeated Vollering on the final day to win the overall race by a margin of just four seconds, setting the stage for another dramatic finale to this year’s competition.

  • All Blacks set for stirring reunion as 44-year-old Ma’a Nonu joins Sharks bench

    All Blacks set for stirring reunion as 44-year-old Ma’a Nonu joins Sharks bench

    Rugby fans are gearing up for a once-in-a-generation clash next week at Durban’s Kings Park, when the New Zealand All Blacks continue their South African tour against the Sharks — and the opponent waiting in the wings is one of New Zealand rugby’s most decorated modern greats, Ma’a Nonu.

    Nonu, who hung up his international test jersey in 2015 after claiming his second Rugby World Cup title and capping a 103-cap national career, only put pen to paper on a short-term contract with the Sharks this Tuesday. Just three days later, the club confirmed he had been named as a backline reserve for the upcoming test against the All Blacks. Now 42 years old, Nonu has continued to compete at the top club level since retiring from international play, most recently spending multiple seasons with French Top 14 side Toulon, defying typical career timelines for elite rugby forwards.

    Patrick Tuipulotu, who took charge of the All Blacks as they kicked off their South African tour with a 38-21 victory over the Stormers in Cape Town, has firsthand experience of Nonu’s talent — the pair lined up together for both New Zealand and the Auckland Blues. Tuipulotu paid tribute to Nonu’s longevity, crediting it to the veteran’s relentless professionalism and natural physical gifts. “It’ll be quite a spectacle to see him come up against us and we’ll certainly look forward to that. Might catch up with him and give him a jab or two,” Tuipulotu joked of the upcoming reunion.

    For the Sharks, Nonu’s signing is about more than just on-field performance: the club recruited him primarily to serve as a mentor and provide leadership, working alongside coaching staff to develop the team’s young emerging talent. Sharks head coach JP Pietersen, a former Springboks player who faced Nonu multiple times during his own international career, was a key driving force behind convincing the rugby legend to take on the role.

    Pietersen highlighted the lasting impact Nonu can have on the Sharks’ next generation. “The best players don’t just leave memories, they leave standards. That’s what Ma’a brings,” Pietersen said. “Every conversation, every training session and every interaction is an opportunity for our players to learn what excellence looks like.”

    When Nonu takes the field for his Sharks debut, he will be part of a youthful backline supported by an experienced forward pack. The Sharks’ match day squad features eight players under the age of 23, all of whom are current or former Junior Springboks. That youth movement includes three backline players and three front-row replacements. Recent senior Springboks debutant Vusi Moyo is slotted in at flyhalf, while two-time World Cup winner Vincent Koch will start at tighthead prop.

  • Spanish police arrest 78 people in bust of ‘one of largest’ smuggling networks

    Spanish police arrest 78 people in bust of ‘one of largest’ smuggling networks

    A sprawling criminal organisation responsible for large-scale drug and human trafficking across the western Mediterranean has been taken down by international law enforcement authorities, following a months-long coordinated investigation. The European Union’s law enforcement agency Europol announced that 78 suspects have been taken into custody during simultaneous raids carried out in both Spain and Algeria, with the criminal network linked to a wide range of additional illicit activity ranging from violent armed robbery and extortion to unlawful detainment and global money laundering operations.

    Unlike typical one-way smuggling rings, this enterprise developed a unique dual-trafficking model designed to maximise illegal profits, moving synthetic narcotics from Spain and Portugal into Algeria on outbound journeys, then using the same return routes to smuggle undocumented migrants and illegal weapons into mainland Spain and the popular tourist island of Ibiza. All cross-border maritime operations were carried out using unregistered, undetectable “ghost speedboats”, a class of high-powered watercraft banned under Spanish maritime law.

    In total, law enforcement teams seized 18 high-speed vessels with an estimated total value of €5 million (£4.2 million), an arsenal of unregistered firearms, more than €25,000 (£21,400) in untraceable cash, and over 15,000 MDMA pills. Additional seized items included satellite communication phones, GPS navigation devices, encrypted messaging tools and satellite communication dishes, all used by the network to avoid detection by border authorities.

    The operation was led by Spain’s national police force, which executed search warrants at 17 different locations across the country, spanning coastal regions including Alicante, Almería, Cartagena and Murcia. Europol officials detailed that the organisation began as a small drug trafficking ring before expanding into the dual-flow enterprise. On northbound routes from Algeria to Spain, the group charged as much as €12,000 (£10,200) per person to smuggle migrants, with a single voyage sometimes carrying more than 50 people at once. Europol estimates that the network generated more than €24 million (£20 million) in profit from migrant smuggling alone, and also offered smuggling coordination services to other organised crime groups moving illicit goods and people across the Western Mediterranean.

    Investigation records show the network ran multi-directional trafficking routes beyond the core Spain-Algeria corridor: synthetic drugs and occasionally migrants were moved from France and Spain into Algeria, while cannabis resin, weapons and additional migrants were transported north from Algeria to Spain. All transfers were coordinated in international waters just off the Spanish coast: after cargo or migrants were transferred at sea, land-based network cells handled overland transport to final destinations.

    The conditions the network forced migrants to endure were found to be inhumane and extremely dangerous. Migrants were packed into overcrowded vessels with no navigation lighting or life jackets, and often made crossings in severe, dangerous weather conditions. After arriving in Spain, suspects held migrants in unregulated makeshift housing, where investigators documented multiple cases of sexual assault, physical abuse and degrading treatment.

    Most of the arrested suspects are of Algerian origin, and investigators have confirmed the network maintained operational connections to other organised crime groups based in France, Belgium, Portugal, Italy and Poland.

    The announcement of the network’s dismantling comes just one week after a major mass migration incident at Spain’s North African exclave of Ceuta, when roughly 78,000 migrants crossed into the territory following false online rumours that the border with Morocco would be opened temporarily. While most of the migrants have since returned to Morocco, Ceuta’s regional leader Juan Jesús Vivas confirmed that between 3,000 and 5,000 people remain in the territory, intensifying longstanding concerns over people smuggling operations in the western Mediterranean region.

  • US appeals court halts Trump ballroom project paving way for Supreme Court showdown

    US appeals court halts Trump ballroom project paving way for Supreme Court showdown

    In a landmark ruling that tests the boundaries of U.S. presidential executive authority, a federal appeals court has ordered the Trump administration to immediately halt all above-ground construction of a controversial $400 million ballroom extension at the White House, delivering the latest major blow to the unauthorized project and setting up a potential high-stakes showdown before the U.S. Supreme Court.

    The three-judge panel’s majority ruling upholds an earlier preliminary injunction secured by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, a non-profit advocacy group that filed suit after the administration demolished a portion of the White House East Wing in 2025 to launch the project without securing the mandatory approval from Congress required for alterations to the iconic federal property.

    In its written opinion, the panel emphasized that decisions about large-scale structural changes to the White House — widely referred to as the “People’s House” — fall exclusively to the legislative branch, not unilateral action by the executive. “Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help,” the opinion stated. It added, “Congress has not ceded unfettered authority to the Executive Branch to dramatically redesign, reshape, and reconstruct the White House … to fit a particular President’s desires.”

    The legal challenge stems from the Trump administration’s move to advance the project without congressional appropriations or authorization. A lower federal judge had already twice blocked above-ground construction work on the extension, though the ruling allowed limited underground site work to continue. The administration immediately appealed that lower court order to the federal appeals circuit, setting up Friday’s ruling.

    In a procedural carveout, the appeals court delayed the enforcement of its construction halt for 14 days to give the Trump administration time to file an emergency appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, should the White House choose to do so. The BBC has reached out to White House officials for official comment on the ruling, and had not received a response as of this update.

    President Trump has publicly defended the costly project on multiple occasions, arguing the new expanded ballroom is necessary to accommodate large events including state visits and official gatherings, and has gone so far as to frame it as a critical national security priority. Trump doubled down on these justifications following an assassination attempt at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in April 2026, though critics have questioned the link between the new construction and any credible security threat.

    This is an ongoing developing breaking news story, with additional details expected to be released in the coming days as the administration considers its next legal move.

  • Mexico and Peru restore diplomatic relations after asylum row

    Mexico and Peru restore diplomatic relations after asylum row

    A months-long diplomatic rift between Mexico and Peru has come to an end, with the two Latin American nations announcing the full restoration of bilateral relations on August 7, just one week after new Peruvian President Keiko Fujimori took office. The breakdown in ties stemmed from Mexico’s November 2025 decision to grant political asylum to former Peruvian Prime Minister Betssy Chávez, a close ally of ousted president Pedro Castillo who faced decades-long prison sentences over allegations of involvement in a 2022 coup attempt.

    In a joint bilateral statement released simultaneously by both governments, Lima and Mexico City emphasized that longstanding “historic ties of brotherhood, friendship and cooperation” between the two peoples provided the foundation for reconciliation. The statement also included a mutual reaffirmation of commitment to upholding international law and the core principles outlined in the United Nations Charter.

    The diplomatic standoff began shortly after Chávez, who had been released on bail in September 2025 while appealing her conviction, sought refuge inside Mexico’s embassy in Lima. Peruvian authorities granted Chávez safe passage to leave the country for Mexico, Peruvian Foreign Minister Carlos Espá confirmed to local outlet RPP, noting that the former prime minister has already exited Peruvian territory. In an official addendum to its public remarks, the Peruvian Foreign Ministry clarified that while the government approved Chávez’s travel to Mexico, it retains full legal authority to pursue an extradition request for her at a future date.

    At her regular daily press briefing, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum publicly welcomed Chávez to Mexico, and used the occasion to reiterate her administration’s longstanding support for Pedro Castillo, the former Peruvian president at the center of the 2022 political crisis. Castillo’s December 2022 attempt to dissolve the Peruvian congress and install an emergency government triggered his immediate impeachment by legislative authorities, and he was arrested on rebellion charges just hours after the attempted power restructuring.

    Chávez was first taken into custody in June 2023 on charges tied to her alleged role in Castillo’s dissolution plan. After maintaining her innocence throughout multiple court proceedings, she was ultimately convicted alongside Castillo in November 2025, with both men and women receiving prison sentences exceeding 11 years. Granted bail three months prior to the final ruling, Chávez moved to seek asylum in the Mexican embassy shortly after the conviction was handed down.

    The breakthrough in bilateral relations follows the inauguration of Fujimori as Peru’s new president, which took place just seven days before the reconciliation announcement. Analysts view the new government’s willingness to negotiate a resolution to the asylum dispute as a clear break from the previous Peruvian administration’s hardline stance toward Mexico over the issue.