Global Pulse

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  • King and Queen end US state visit with trip to small-town America

    King and Queen end US state visit with trip to small-town America

    After four days of high-stakes diplomatic engagement across Washington D.C. that marked the first full state visit of King Charles III’s reign to the United States, the British monarch and Queen Camilla closed out their trip with a laid-back, crowd-pleasing stop in the small Virginia town of Front Royal, capping an unexpectedly successful tour focused on mending cross-Atlantic relations.

    The final day of the visit marked the royal couple’s first unfiltered interaction with ordinary American people, after earlier official engagements were confined to tightly secured security perimeters that limited public access. Though heavy security measures remained in place for the royal visit, a large share of Front Royal’s 15,000 residents turned out to line the parade route and greet the pair, greeting their arrival with loud cheers under warm Appalachian sunshine.

    Hosted as part of Front Royal’s community block party, held to celebrate the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, the event offered a stark contrast to the formal receptions and policy-focused meetings of the couple’s time in the nation’s capital. The town square echoed with bluegrass and country rock, as the royal couple watched a lineup of local entertainment: a marching band performance, a procession of classic cars, performances by cheerleaders and young local baseball players, and a demonstration of traditional Appalachian clog dancing that the pair watched with keen interest. The event also featured appearances by local military veterans, adding a note of shared respect for military service to the day’s activities.

    Long known for a 1948 fundraising performance by legendary crooner Bing Crosby that stands as one of the town’s most high-profile past events, locals said the royal visit is likely to eclipse that 76-year-old milestone as Front Royal’s most iconic visitor moment. For the royal couple, the small-town stop provided a welcome break from the formality of diplomatic protocol, after days of high-level meetings. They took part in a public walkabout to shake hands with attendees – a first for their entire U.S. trip – to the delight of gathered crowds.

    Before traveling to Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley for the closing event, the pair wrapped up their official diplomatic schedule with a formal farewell at the White House, where they met with U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump. Following the White House meeting, they paid tribute to fallen service members at Arlington National Cemetery, laying a ceremonial wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and receiving an official gun salute.

    The entire four-day visit was capped by the warm welcome in Front Royal, with the King’s address to the U.S. Congress already drawing broad bipartisan applause earlier in the tour. As the royal motorcade flashed lights and blared sirens rolling out of the small town, the visit ended on a high note: the trip’s core goal of rebuilding warm relations between the U.K. and U.S. had already exceeded low expectations, leaving a notably positive impression on both U.S. political leaders and the general public who turned out to greet the royals.

  • UK terror watchdog urges ‘moratorium’ on pro-Palestine marches

    UK terror watchdog urges ‘moratorium’ on pro-Palestine marches

    A shocking antisemitic stabbing attack in a heavily Jewish London neighborhood has ignited a fierce national debate over the future of pro-Palestine protests in the United Kingdom, after the country’s top independent reviewer of terrorism legislation called for an immediate halt to such demonstrations.

    The incident unfolded Wednesday afternoon in Golders Green, north London, where two Jewish men — aged 34 and 76 — were stabbed by a suspect wielding a large blade. A 45-year-old Somali-born British national was taken into custody shortly after the attack, and both victims are projected to make a full recovery. The Metropolitan Police confirmed the suspect has an established record of serious violence and documented mental health conditions, and was first referred to the UK’s Prevent counter-extremism program back in 2020. Investigators also noted the attack appears to be linked to a separate altercation that took place in southeast London several hours earlier.

    In the wake of the violence, Jonathan Hall, the independent reviewer of UK terrorism legislation, publicly called for a moratorium on all ongoing pro-Palestine marches during an interview with Times Radio. Hall argued that the current climate has created conditions where these demonstrations inevitably foster antisemitic rhetoric and demonization of Jewish communities. He pushed back against what he described as insufficient government action, saying that offering only statements of solidarity and supporting police investigations is no longer adequate.

    “It pains me to say this, but I think we may have reached a point where we need to have a moratorium on the sorts of marches that have been happening,” Hall said, adding that the government must be willing to take bolder action to address rising antisemitism across the country.

    Hall’s remarks drew immediate and sharp pushback from the Stop the War coalition, a prominent group that has supported ongoing pro-Palestine demonstrations. The organization condemned the Golders Green attack and all forms of antisemitism and racism unequivocally, but rejected attempts to tie the violence to peaceful pro-Palestine protests. The coalition noted that many Jewish people have participated in the marches themselves, framing the demonstrations as legitimate displays of solidarity with Palestinian civilians caught in the Israel-Hamas conflict, not the “hate marches” labeled by right-wing political figures.

    Attempts to criminalize the protests, which reflect majority public opinion on the conflict in the UK, or falsely link them to racist attacks targeting Jewish communities, are scurrilous and must be rejected, the group added.

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the Golders Green attack “utterly appalling”, and the UK government announced Thursday it would allocate an additional £25 million to boost security for Jewish communities across the country. This announcement comes amid a documented surge in antisemitic incidents across the UK in recent months: Metropolitan Police has recorded dozens of antisemitic hate crimes, including multiple arson attacks, over the past 30 days alone.

    Hall’s call for a moratorium also comes amid ongoing controversy over the government’s sweeping crackdown on pro-Palestine activism. In December, both the Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police announced they would arrest demonstrators for chanting the phrase “globalise the intifada” or displaying it on protest placards; three protesters were formally charged on related offences in January. Pro-Palestine activists have repeatedly denied that the term, which translates from Arabic to “uprising”, is inherently antisemitic or a call for violence, and many British Jews have been visible, prominent participants in pro-Palestine marches across the country.

    The debate also overlaps with a separate ongoing legal battle over the government’s designation of direct action group Palestine Action as an illegal terrorist organization. The High Court recently ruled the government’s ban unlawful, and the administration is now appealing that ruling. In his newly released annual report, Hall himself raised significant red flags about the ban, noting it exposed “real uncertainty” over whether non-violent property damage alone should be classified as a terrorist offence.

    Hall warned that the broad wording of current UK terrorism law, without clearer legal guardrails, risks drawing legitimate protest activity into terrorism policing — even in cases where there is no intent to harm human life. “There is no legal authority on what ‘serious damage to property’ means,” Hall wrote, noting the vague definition could stretch to encompass minor cases of criminal damage depending on how courts interpret the legal threshold. While Hall argued it would be unthinkable to remove property damage from the terrorism statute entirely, he recommended that lawmakers narrow the legal test, for example by requiring proof of risk to life, a proven connection to national security threats, or explicit exemptions for non-violent protest activity.

  • Belgium plans to nationalise nuclear power plants

    Belgium plans to nationalise nuclear power plants

    In a landmark shift for European energy policy, Belgium’s federal government has announced a sweeping plan to acquire the country’s entire nuclear reactor fleet from French energy multinational Engie, a move designed to shore up long-term energy security and roll back a 20-year commitment to phasing out nuclear power entirely.

    Prime Minister Bart De Wever confirmed the proposal would involve a full acquisition of all seven Belgian nuclear reactors, most of which have aged past their originally planned 40-year operating lifespans. The announcement immediately pauses all ongoing decommissioning work for the reactors, turning decades of existing energy policy on its head.

    “This government is choosing safe, affordable and sustainable energy, with less dependence on fossil fuel imports and more control over our own supply,” De Wever wrote in a post on social platform X.

    The decision reverses nuclear phase-out legislation passed in the early 2000s, which was drafted in response to widespread public safety concerns following the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. That original law banned the construction of new nuclear facilities and capped the operating life of all existing reactors at 40 years, setting a full phase-out deadline of 2025 for the entire fleet.

    Currently, only two reactors — one at the Doel plant and one at the Tihange facility — remain operational. Their operating licenses were extended to 2035 in recent years amid growing energy instability across Europe. The remaining five reactors were taken offline between 2022 and 2025, and all planned dismantling work for these units will now be put on hold as the government explores options to restart or repurpose them.

    Both the Belgian government and Engie have set a target of October 1 to finalize the terms of the full takeover. In a joint statement released alongside Engie, the administration noted that the acquisition supports two broader goals: extending the operating lifespan of the still-functional reactors and developing new nuclear generation capacity across the country in the coming years.

    “By doing so, the Belgian Government is taking responsibility for Belgium’s long-term energy future, with the objective of building a financially and economically viable activity that supports security of supply, climate objectives, industrial resilience and socio-economic prosperity,” the statement added.

    Belgium is far from alone in making this dramatic policy shift. Across the European continent, a growing number of nations that once committed to phasing out nuclear power are now reversing course amid multiple interconnected crises: volatility in global fossil fuel markets triggered by the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, escalating pressure to cut carbon emissions to meet EU climate targets, and growing demand for stable baseload power to complement intermittent renewable energy sources like wind and solar.

    For decades, Belgium’s nuclear program has been mired in controversy. The aging reactors have been repeatedly shut down for emergency safety inspections, and their extended operation has sparked persistent anxiety in neighboring countries. Tensions reached a peak in 2015, when cross-border communities and local governments issued formal complaints over plans to extend the reactors’ operating lives beyond their original 40-year design parameters. In 2017, the German city of Aachen, located just tens of kilometers from the Belgian border, began distributing free iodine tablets to residents as a precaution against potential radiation leaks from the Tihange plant, which had recently been shut down to fix discovered cracks and water pipe leaks.

  • Infantino confirms Iran will play World Cup games in US

    Infantino confirms Iran will play World Cup games in US

    As FIFA’s 76th Annual Congress kicked off in Vancouver, Canada on Thursday, global football governing body president Gianni Infantino opened his address by cementing a long-stated position: Iran will compete in the 2026 FIFA World Cup co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States as scheduled, and all of the team’s group-stage matches will be held on U.S. soil.

    Iran’s participation in the upcoming tournament has been mired in uncertainty since regional tensions flared across the Middle East in February, following joint strikes by the U.S. and Israel. Multiple competing proposals emerged in recent weeks to upend the original fixture plan: Iranian officials briefly floated moving their group games from the U.S. to Mexico, a idea Infantino already rejected outright. Just one week prior, reports surfaced that Italy-born U.S. special envoy Paolo Zampolli had suggested replacing Iran with Italy in the tournament draw. The U.S. State Department quickly walked back that proposal, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirming that Iranian footballers would be welcome to compete.

    Even as the fixture status was confirmed Thursday, new controversy emerged around Iran’s presence at the FIFA Congress itself. The Iranian Football Federation (FFIRI) delegation was the only group absent from the 211-member body’s opening session, after a confrontation with Canadian border officials earlier this week. FFIRI president Mehdi Taj, a former member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and two colleagues left Toronto abruptly after landing, turning around and flying back to Iran rather than continuing on to Vancouver. Iranian state media reported the group was “insulted” by Canadian immigration officers during processing. Canada officially designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization in 2024, and Canadian officials confirmed Wednesday that any individuals linked to the group are considered inadmissible to enter the country.

    For the 2026 World Cup, Iran is slotted into Group G alongside New Zealand, Belgium and Egypt, with plans to base their team camp in Tucson, Arizona. The squad is scheduled to kick off their tournament run against New Zealand in Los Angeles on June 15. Immediately following Infantino’s confirmation that the matches will proceed as planned, U.S. President Donald Trump, a close ally of the FIFA president, voiced his public support for the decision. “Well, if Gianni said it, I’m OK,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I think let ’em play.”

    Beyond confirming Iran’s participation, Thursday’s congress also served as a major milestone in Infantino’s bid for a fourth term as FIFA president, set for 2027. The head of global football has faced growing criticism in recent months: fan advocacy groups have slammed skyrocketing 2026 World Cup ticket prices as a “monumental betrayal” of supporters, and watchdog group Fairsquare filed a formal ethics complaint in December accusing Infantino of violating FIFA’s political neutrality rules after he awarded Trump the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize during last year’s World Cup draw.

    Infantino pushed back against ticket price criticisms in his opening address, noting that while some premium tickets carry high price points, a range of affordable options are also available to fans. He added that all projected tournament revenues, estimated between $11 billion and $13 billion, will be reinvested into global football development programs across all member nations. “And what is important is that all the revenues that we generate from the world go back to the entire world and finance football in all of your countries,” he said.

    Despite the ongoing criticisms, Infantino secured a major boost to his re-election campaign Thursday when the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) officially pledged their support for his 2027 candidacy. Together, the two confederations control 101 of the 211 total votes in FIFA’s presidential election. Combined with the 10 votes already pledged by the South American football confederation CONMEBOL, Infantino enters his re-election campaign with a commanding lead in pledged support.

  • Nun assaulted in Jerusalem amid ‘pattern’ of anti-Christian attacks by Israelis

    Nun assaulted in Jerusalem amid ‘pattern’ of anti-Christian attacks by Israelis

    A violent assault on a 48-year-old nun and researcher at Jerusalem’s French School of Biblical and Archaeological Research has sparked renewed international alarm over escalating hostility targeting Christian communities across Israel and occupied East Jerusalem. The attack unfolded on Tuesday at the Cenacle, a sacred Mount Zion site revered by both Christian and Jewish faith traditions, according to detailed accounts from institutional leaders.

    Father Olivier Poquillon, director of the Dominican-managed institute that employs the nun, described the unprovoked attack to Agence France-Presse. He confirmed that an unidentified assailant approached the researcher from behind, hurled her with full force onto a nearby rock, and continued to repeatedly kick her while she lay incapacitated on the ground. Photographs circulating widely on social media have documented visible facial bruising from the beating; the victim has since received outpatient medical care for her injuries.

    Following the incident, both Poquillon and the French Consulate General in Jerusalem issued public condemnations of the “gratuitous assault” via social media platform X, and jointly demanded immediate law enforcement action to apprehend and prosecute the attacker. Israeli police announced Wednesday that they had taken a 36-year-old suspect into custody, but declined to release any further identifying information about the individual. Local Israeli journalist Yossi Eli of Channel 13 later reported that the arrest only came after the incident gained widespread viral media attention, prompting public pressure on law enforcement.

    In an official statement, Israeli police asserted that they “treat any attack on members of the clergy and religious communities with the utmost seriousness and apply a policy of zero tolerance to all acts of violence,” adding that the force remains “committed to protecting all communities and ensuring those responsible for violence are held accountable.” Israel’s Foreign Ministry also released a condemnation, noting that the attack “stands in direct contradiction to the values of respect, coexistence and religious freedom upon which Israel is founded,” and reaffirming the country’s stated commitment to safeguarding worship access for all faith groups.

    But local and institutional leaders have pushed back against these official assurances, framing the assault as part of a sustained, growing pattern of anti-Christian aggression. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which maintains an affiliation with the nun’s research center, released a statement calling the incident “not an isolated incident, but part of a troubling pattern of rising hostility toward the Christian community and its symbols.” The university added that the attack represents a direct violation of Jerusalem’s core founding values of religious pluralism and safe interfaith dialogue.

    This latest assault comes against a backdrop of escalating tensions that have raised concern among Christian communities across the region over the past two months. In March 2025, Israeli police initially blocked Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and other senior clergy from accessing the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to lead the annual Palm Sunday Mass. Access was only partially restored after widespread international pushback. In a recent pastoral letter, Pizzaballa warned that holy sites meant for prayer have increasingly become identity-focused battlegrounds, noting that “sacred texts are invoked to justify violence, occupation, and terrorism,” and calling the abuse of religious belief to legitimize harm “the gravest sin of our time.”

    Earlier in April, video footage emerged showing an Israeli soldier destroying a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon, triggering global public outrage. The Israeli military ultimately removed the soldier from combat duty and issued a 30-day sentence for the incident. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers have stepped up repeated attacks on Taybeh, one of the only remaining majority-Christian towns in the territory, in recent weeks.

    A April 2025 report from the Rossing Centre for Education and Dialogue, a Jerusalem-based interfaith advocacy organization, documented what it calls a “continued and expanding pattern of intimidation and aggression” targeting Christian communities, with clergy and church properties bearing the brunt of attacks. The organization recorded 155 separate incidents of anti-Christian hostility in 2025 alone: 61 physical assaults, 52 attacks on church-owned property, 28 cases of harassment, and 14 incidents of vandalized religious signage. Researchers stressed that the recorded incidents are almost certainly just the “tip of the iceberg,” as many cases go unreported.

    The report links the rising violence to a shifting “sociopolitical climate increasingly intolerant of diversity and more assertive in exclusivist national-religious claims,” noting that Palestinian Christian communities are disproportionately impacted by the hostility. Separate from physical attacks, Christian educational institutions in Jerusalem now face an existential threat: the Israeli Education Ministry has recently banned teachers holding Palestinian-issued teaching permits from working in Israeli-jurisdictional schools, putting more than 200 Christian teachers out of work and pushing dozens of schools toward potential permanent closure.

  • Trump pulls surgeon general pick after nomination stalls

    Trump pulls surgeon general pick after nomination stalls

    In a development that roils Washington’s latest health leadership nomination fight, former President Donald Trump has pulled the nomination of Casey Means for U.S. Surgeon General after the controversial pick failed to secure the minimum Senate support required for confirmation.

    Trump made the announcement of the withdrawal Thursday via his social media platform Truth Social, adding that he would instead nominate Nicole Saphier, a cancer radiologist and regular contributor to conservative media outlet Fox News, for the role that leads the U.S. Public Health Service.

    Means, a Stanford-trained physician, entrepreneur and prominent online health influencer, faced fierce cross-partisan skepticism from lawmakers throughout the nomination process largely over her history of controversial statements on vaccine safety. Critically, Means does not hold an active medical license to practice in any U.S. state, a detail that amplified concerns about her suitability to lead the nation’s top public health agency.

    Means’ nomination stalled out immediately after her February Senate confirmation hearing, where she declined to answer a direct question on whether infants should receive routine childhood vaccines, and refused to reject the long-debunked conspiracy theory that links routine childhood vaccines to autism. While she told lawmakers at the hearing that she agrees “vaccines save lives” and are a core component of infectious disease public health strategy, she repeatedly emphasized prioritizing patient autonomy over public health guidelines throughout her testimony.

    Policy analysts also connected Means’ nomination to the wider vaccine skepticism that has gained traction in conservative politics, noting that Means was widely viewed as an ideological ally of Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., who has faced widespread alarm from lawmakers across both parties over his own long history of anti-vaccine activism.

    In his Thursday Truth Social post, Trump did not blame his own party’s internal divisions for the failed nomination, and instead placed full blame on Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a trained physician who led opposition to Means’ confirmation. Trump lambasted Cassidy for what he called “intransigence and political games” that blocked Means’ path to confirmation, and explicitly called on Louisiana voters to remove Cassidy from office in the next election cycle.

    Turning to his new pick, Trump offered glowing praise for Saphier, framing her as a highly qualified, public-facing leader on cancer care. “She is a STAR physician who has spent her career guiding women facing breast cancer through their diagnosis and treatment while tirelessly advocating to increase early cancer detection and prevention, while at the same time working with men and women on all other forms of cancer diagnoses and treatments,” Trump wrote. He added that Saphier is “also an INCREDIBLE COMMUNICATOR, who makes complicated health issues more easily understood by all Americans.”

    Saphier currently practices radiology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Monmouth. Beyond her clinical work, she has a high public profile: she published the 2020 book *Make America Healthy Again: How Bad Behavior and Big Government Caused a Trillion-Dollar Crisis*, and hosts a popular wellness-focused podcast titled *Wellness Unmasked*.

    This nomination marks the third time Trump has put forward a candidate for surgeon general, the top role overseeing the 6,000-person U.S. Public Health Service. His first pick, Janette Nesheiwat, another former Fox News contributor and physician, withdrew from consideration after facing criticism from a senior Trump administration adviser over her public positions on COVID-19 policy and questions raised about her professional credentials.

  • Drivers help study road-trip mystery: what became of bug splats?

    Drivers help study road-trip mystery: what became of bug splats?

    For generations of summer road-trippers, returning home with a windscreen and license plate plastered with squashed flying insects was an unavoidable, messy ritual. But in recent decades, drivers across the globe have noticed a quiet, dramatic shift: far fewer bug splats mark their journeys, a change that has sparked growing alarm among ecologists studying widespread insect population decline.

    While casual drivers may welcome the less frequent need to scrape sticky bug remains off their glass, ecologists warn that this so-called “windshield phenomenon” signals a devastating collapse of insect populations that underpin nearly every terrestrial ecosystem. Insects act as critical pollinators for 75% of global food crops, maintain balanced food webs as a core food source for birds, bats and small mammals, and break down organic waste to regenerate healthy soil. Even a steep decline in their numbers risks cascading damage to natural systems and global food security.

    Until now, most observations of falling insect splatter counts have stayed anecdotal. To turn these everyday driver observations into rigorous, large-scale scientific data, a coalition of French research and conservation organizations has launched a new citizen science project that turns ordinary motorists into volunteer researchers.

    Modeled after similar successful projects in the United Kingdom, the initiative centers on a free mobile app called *Bugs Matter*, launched jointly by France’s National Museum of Natural History (MNHN), environmental nonprofits OPIE and Noe, and the French Biodiversity Office. The data collection protocol is intentionally simple to lower barriers to participation: before starting a trip, drivers wipe their front license plate completely clean, log their starting geolocation via the app, complete their journey as planned, then open the app again to count the number of bug squashes on the plate and submit the final data.

    AFP joined project participant Marjorie for a test run of the protocol ahead of her planned long-distance summer road trip near Enghien-les-Bains, just north of Paris. Now 53, Marjorie recalled the mandatory ritual of cleaning bug-smeared windscreens during family road trips in her childhood — a step she rarely has to take today. After completing a 22-kilometer (14-mile) test drive, Marjorie counted zero bug splats on her license plate, a result that aligns with the trend the project expects to document.

    This new French study builds on a growing body of research confirming steep insect population declines across Europe and beyond. A 20-year Danish study that concluded in 2017 found shocking reductions of 80% to 97% in insect splat counts on two major test road routes. An ongoing UK study, which also uses the *Bugs Matter* app, has recorded a nearly 63% drop in bug splat numbers between 2021 and 2024. A landmark 2017 German study, meanwhile, found a more than 75% decline in the total biomass of flying insects in protected nature reserves over three decades.

    Grégoire Lois, a researcher with MNHN working on the project, compared the scale of the decline to a grocery store running out of 75% of its stock: “It’s pretty incredible. Imagine going into the supermarket and finding only two out of every 10 products are in stock.”

    Scientists broadly agree that human activity is the primary driver of this collapse, with overlapping pressures including widespread habitat destruction, intensive agricultural pesticide use, light and chemical pollution, and climate change. The French project aims to answer still-open questions about the decline: how does the loss vary across different landscapes, from dense urban areas to intensive agricultural zones to intact forests? What specific local factors have the biggest impact on insect populations down to the species level? Down the line, researchers plan to expand the project to collect DNA from sampled bug splats to identify which specific species are experiencing the steepest losses, data that is critical for targeted conservation action.

    Researchers chose standard front license plates as the standardized measurement point for a simple, practical reason: “It’s the only shared, standardised thing on every car, in both size and position: facing the road, perpendicular to the ground and travelling forward,” Lois explained. The simple protocol means the project can collect data from thousands of trips across the country, far more than a small team of professional researchers could ever gather on their own, turning everyday road trips into a powerful tool for insect conservation.

  • Boat with Sudanese migrants capsizes off Libya, leaving at least 17 dead, UN says

    Boat with Sudanese migrants capsizes off Libya, leaving at least 17 dead, UN says

    A crowded vessel carrying 33 Sudanese migrants has capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Tobruk, a coastal town in eastern Libya, leaving at least 17 passengers dead and nine others unaccounted for, United Nations officials confirmed in a statement released Thursday. Just seven people on board the ill-fated craft survived the disaster, the U.N. Refugee Agency shared via its social media platform X. Authorities have not yet released a definitive timeline for when the overturning occurred.

    According to the U.N. International Organization for Migration (IOM), the survivors had been stranded adrift in open waters for multiple days before they were pulled from the sea, and a number of the fatalities were caused by starvation and dehydration in the days before the rescue. The boat departed Tobruk and was bound for Greece when it overturned roughly 100 kilometers (62 miles) northwest of the Libyan city, the organization confirmed. Local rescue efforts were led by Libya’s national navy, the country’s coast guard, and the Libyan Red Crescent.

    On Thursday, the Libyan Red Crescent published on-site photos from the rescue operation that showed emergency personnel moving multiple deceased victims sealed in black body bags. Medical details on the condition of the seven survivors have not been released to the public as of Thursday’s update.

    For more than a decade, Libya has served as a primary departure and transit hub for thousands of migrants fleeing conflict, political instability, and extreme poverty across Africa and the Middle East. The nation descended into ongoing factional chaos following the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that removed and killed long-time authoritarian ruler Moammar Gadhafi, leaving central government weak and unable to regulate unregulated migrant smuggling operations along its long Mediterranean coastline.

    This latest tragedy comes less than two weeks after another deadly shipwreck off Libya’s coast: earlier this month, more than 80 migrants were reported missing after their vessel capsized in the central Mediterranean. Data from IOM shows that 2026 is on track to be the deadliest year for Mediterranean migrant crossings since record-keeping began in 2014. In the first four months of the year, 765 people were confirmed dead along the dangerous Central Mediterranean route alone — a 150% jump in fatalities compared to the same period in 2025. IOM Director General Amy Pope told the Associated Press earlier this month that the agency has recorded a sharp rise in migrants from South Asia and the Horn of Africa — including Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Sudan — attempting the dangerous crossing to European shores in recent months.

  • Brazil’s Congress overrides Lula’s veto of a bill to reduce Bolsonaro’s sentence

    Brazil’s Congress overrides Lula’s veto of a bill to reduce Bolsonaro’s sentence

    SAO PAULO — In a high-stakes political upset that has reshaped Brazil’s political landscape months ahead of October’s presidential election, Brazil’s National Congress voted Thursday to override a presidential veto and enact a controversial sentencing reform bill that will slash former President Jair Bolsonaro’s 27-year prison term for his conviction on coup plotting charges. The legislative move marks a major political blow to incumbent leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Bolsonaro’s long-time rival, and signals a notable erosion of Lula’s governing power in Congress ahead of his reelection bid.

    The new legislation, which immediately faces planned legal challenges in Brazil’s Supreme Court, revises sentencing rules for defendants convicted of multiple political crimes. Under the new policy, when a defendant is found guilty of multiple offenses including crimes against democratic rule of law and leading a coup attempt, their final sentence will only reflect the single count carrying the maximum penalty, rather than an aggregate of all convictions. While the exact remaining sentence for Bolsonaro has not yet been finalized, political and legal analysts project the reform could cut as much as 20 years off the former right-wing leader’s original 27-year sentence. Bolsonaro, who was convicted and began his sentence in November 2024, is currently serving time under house arrest.

    Conservative opposition lawmakers successfully rallied centrist senators and federal deputies to secure a comfortable majority to override Lula’s veto of the bill, which was originally passed by Congress in 2024. Bolsonaro’s supporters had openly predicted the outcome before voting got underway, and many framed the move as a stepping stone to broader political pardons. “This is a first and much awaited step by those who are afflicted. The next stage is full amnesty,” said Sen. Espiridião Amin, a prominent Bolsonaro ally.

    Senate leaders claimed ahead of the vote that the reduced penalties would only apply to cases directly connected to the convictions of Bolsonaro, his allies, and supporters charged in connection with the 2023 coup attempt. But legal experts have already signaled they will challenge this narrow framing in court, noting the legislation’s wording applies broadly to eligible cases.

    Pedro Uczai, congressional whip for Lula’s Workers’ Party in the Chamber of Deputies, confirmed the party will file an appeal with the Supreme Court to have the legislation annulled, arguing the reform violates Brazil’s constitution. As of Thursday evening, the court had not yet received the formal complaint.

    Bolsonaro’s congressional allies have been open that the bill will benefit not just the former president, but also hundreds of his supporters convicted for their role in the January 8, 2023 riot that destroyed multiple government buildings in Brazil’s capital Brasilia. The attack, which sought to overturn Lula’s 2022 election victory, was widely compared to the 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

    Alexandre Knopfholz, a lawyer and legal scholar, told the Associated Press the bill’s wording could also reduce penalties for offenses committed by large crowds, extending legal leniency to dozens of rioters already charged in connection with the Brasilia attack. Knopfholz emphasized that even if the Supreme Court upholds the new legislation, Bolsonaro will not be released from detention automatically, and additional legal proceedings will be required to adjust his sentence.

    Thursday’s vote marks the second high-profile congressional defeat for Lula in 24 hours, capping a rough week for the incumbent ahead of his campaign for a fourth non-consecutive term. On Wednesday evening, the Senate rejected Lula’s nominee for a Supreme Court seat — the first time a sitting president’s Supreme Court pick has been rejected in 132 years.

    “They want to release Bolsonaro, his jailed generals and stop federal police investigations that implicate them,” said Lindberg Farias, a lawmaker and Lula ally, calling Thursday’s vote “a day of infamy.”

    The legislative battle has already spilled over into the upcoming presidential campaign. Lula, who narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in 2022 to return to the presidency, will face Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, the former president’s eldest son, as his main challenger in October. During Thursday’s vote, Flávio Bolsonaro laid out his campaign pitch to voters: “If it is God’s will, I will govern this country. I will hug you and take care of you, no matter what your political view is.”

    As of Friday morning, Lula had not issued any public comment on the back-to-back congressional defeats. Political analysts say the vote is a clear warning sign for Lula’s reelection prospects, though many note there is still five months until election day, and public attention could shift to other events including the upcoming men’s soccer World Cup.

    “This vote is another sign that Bolsonaro is not finished as a political actor, his son will be competitive against Lula,” said Carlos Melo, a political science professor at Insper University in Sao Paulo.

  • Trump says he’s lifting certain tariffs on Scotch whisky after royal visit

    Trump says he’s lifting certain tariffs on Scotch whisky after royal visit

    In a social media announcement made Thursday, former U.S. President Donald Trump revealed that he will lift specific tariffs on Scotch whisky, a decision that came just days after King Charles III and Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom completed an official visit to the White House this week.

    Trump posted that the British monarch and his wife convinced him to take a step no other political or diplomatic party had managed to push through, noting that the request barely required any formal asking on their part. He added that industry stakeholders across both countries have long pushed for this policy adjustment, particularly surrounding rules surrounding the wooden barrels used to age both Scotch whisky and American bourbon.

    This tariff announcement fits a longstanding pattern of the Trump administration using alcohol trade policies as a leverage point in international trade negotiations. Just one year prior, Trump made headlines threatening to impose a steep 200% tariff on imported European wine, a move that would have delivered a devastating financial blow to winemaking operations across France and Italy. That threatened tariff ultimately never took effect.

    In response to past U.S. tariff measures, foreign trading partners have repeatedly retaliated with their own targeted tariff threats against American bourbon and other U.S.-made goods. In a previous resolution that eased cross-Atlantic trade tensions, the Trump administration ultimately granted a full tariff exemption for cork, a decision that was widely celebrated by Portugal, the world’s top supplier of the material used to seal most wine bottles.

    Following Trump’s social media announcement, Chris Swonger, president and chief executive officer of the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, confirmed that the policy change would remove the existing 10% tariff on whisky imported from the United Kingdom. In an official statement, Swonger applauded the former president’s move to reinstate what he called a tested “zero-for-zero” framework for fair, reciprocal trade between the U.S. and the UK. He added that the tariff removal will strengthen longstanding transatlantic economic ties, deliver much-needed market stability for spirit producers on both sides of the Atlantic, and create space for industry growth, capital investment, and job support at a time of global economic uncertainty.