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  • Pro-Israel lobbying group Aipac ends endorsements, direct funding to US candidates

    Pro-Israel lobbying group Aipac ends endorsements, direct funding to US candidates

    Against a backdrop of rapidly shifting public opinion in the United States toward Israel, the nation’s most influential pro-Israel lobbying entity has announced a major restructuring of its political playbook, ending its longstanding practice of public candidate endorsements and direct financial contributions to electoral hopefuls.

    The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) laid out the new approach in a mass email to supporters Wednesday, framing the shift as a strategic adjustment to align with the evolving political landscape. The organization will move toward a less publicly visible operating model to continue backing pro-Israel candidates from both major U.S. political parties.

    “To win the fight for the future of the country and the US-Israel alliance, we must build a more strategic, consequential, and nimble political operation,” the organization’s statement read.

    Under the revised framework, AIPAC will prioritize expanding direct, coordinated donations from individual American supporters to candidates, while leaning into newly emerging political fundraising tools. Public endorsements, direct contributions from AIPAC’s political action committee (PAC), and earmarked funding will be eliminated from the group’s strategy to make room for scaled individual giving and innovative campaign tools.

    As a registered PAC, AIPAC is legally capped at $5,000 in direct contributions per candidate per election cycle. By contrast, independent super PACs face no limits on outside spending, which can heavily sway the outcome of electoral contests.

    AIPAC already operates a well-funded super PAC, the United Democracy Project (UDP), which is exclusively focused on advancing pro-Israel policy goals and ranks among the top spenders in U.S. federal elections. UDP has already poured more than $60 million into influencing the 2024 midterm election cycle, and its independent spending will continue uninterrupted under the new strategy, as it does not qualify as direct candidate contribution. In past cycles, AIPAC has also used so-called “shell PACs” to aggregate funds that are later transferred to UDP before the shell entities are dissolved.

    “We believe this approach positions us to capitalize on new innovations and deliver even greater political impact to influence policy,” AIPAC’s statement added. “We will focus our time and resources on what is most effective — disciplined, organized giving directly to candidates by individual Americans — and on the ability to adapt quickly in an ever-changing changing environment.”

    The strategic overhaul comes three years into the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, amid rising global backlash against Israel’s military campaign and a growing split in traditional U.S. pro-Israel consensus. Even the American right, long a stalwart backer of Israel through the lens of Evangelical Christian ideology, has increasingly begun questioning the massive flow of U.S. foreign aid to Israel, as the country remains the top recipient of U.S. assistance worldwide.

    The shift in opinion comes ahead of the November 3 U.S. midterm elections, where soaring cost of living has emerged as the dominant issue on the campaign trail. After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s years-long push to convince the U.S. to declare war on Iran culminated in a formal U.S. escalation, former President Donald Trump’s base has openly broken ranks on the issue. Some of the most vocal critics of unchecked pro-Israel policy today are pro-Trump Republicans, including high-profile names like former talk show host Tucker Carlson, far-right commentator Nick Fuentes, and former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

    Repeated public opinion polling confirms that unfavorable views of Israel have grown steadily across all segments of the U.S. public. Within the Democratic Party, even potential 2028 presidential candidates have begun publicly distancing themselves from AIPAC, even as many retain formal support for Israel.

    This growing transparency around AIPAC’s influence has been driven in large part by the work of AIPAC Tracker, a independent project that publishes detailed data on how much funding candidates receive to advance Israeli policy priorities.

    Still, Waleed Shahid, a former spokesperson for progressive PAC Justice Democrats, noted on social media platform X Wednesday that the political slogan “reject AIPAC money” will carry far less practical weight moving forward. This is because direct AIPAC contributions amounted to only around $3 million in the current cycle, compared to the $90 million donated by AIPAC’s individual members.

    Progressive Palestinian rights advocates, who have seen unprecedented electoral success in recent cycles despite starting as longshot underdogs, have long run without pro-Israel financial support. New York City Councilmember Zohran Mamdani and Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul el-Sayed are two high-profile examples of candidates who have advanced progressive, pro-Palestine platforms without AIPAC backing.

    Leading Senate progressive Bernie Sanders amplified opposition to AIPAC in a post on X Thursday, writing: “AIPAC is now spending as much as $9 million against Abdul El-Sayed. AIPAC is why we’re at war in Iran. AIPAC is why the US has supported genocide in Gaza. We must say NO to AIPAC. YES to electing Abdul as Michigan’s next US Senator.”

    If el-Sayed secures victory on November 3, he will not only become the first Muslim senator in U.S. history, but his win will also signal that left-leaning popular policies, including diplomatic and economic pressure on Israel, can gain traction in the industrial Midwest and competitive swing state of Michigan.

  • Attack on actor Tiger Shroff is dark reminder of Bollywood’s gangster past

    Attack on actor Tiger Shroff is dark reminder of Bollywood’s gangster past

    On a recent Sunday evening in Juhu, Mumbai’s iconic leafy upscale neighborhood where countless A-list Bollywood stars reside and celebrity sightings are a daily routine, action icon Tiger Shroff faced a brush with death that has upended Indian public discourse. The 36-year-old actor, famous for his high-octane on-screen fight scenes and choreographed escape sequences, had just finished a casual football match and was exiting the playing field in his BMW when gunfire erupted. Two people – Shroff’s personal driver and a vlogger who had traveled to the spot to film the star – were struck by bullets, leaving the unharmed actor at the center of a unfolding national criminal investigation. Four days after the incident, the case remains the lead story across Indian media, with every new leak of information spawning a flood of competing conspiracy theories, conflicting claims, and wild speculation about hidden motives.

    Indian law enforcement has so far apprehended or detained 10 suspects connected to the attack. Investigators are currently tracing suspected weapons shipments across multiple Indian states and tracing suspicious financial transfers to the men accused of carrying out the shooting. The attempted attack has also thrust the name of Lawrence Bishnoi, one of India’s most infamous active gangsters, back into national headlines. Within hours of the shooting, a screenshot of a social media post supposedly shared by an associate of the Bishnoi gang circulated widely online, claiming responsibility for the attack. A separate audio recording also emerged, featuring a man identifying himself as Anil Pandit who repeated the claim, explaining that Shroff was targeted due to his reported close ties to fellow Bollywood superstar Salman Khan – a figure Bishnoi has threatened repeatedly for years. Mumbai police have yet to verify these claims or confirm that the Bishnoi gang actually orchestrated the attempted shooting, and investigators are still working to identify who ordered the attack and what their ultimate motive was.

    This targeting of Shroff is only the latest in a string of violent attacks and threats against high-profile Bollywood figures that have shaken the Indian film industry. In 2024 alone, gunshots were fired outside Salman Khan’s Mumbai residence, and shots were also reported outside the home of acclaimed filmmaker Rohit Shetty earlier this year. Taken together, these incidents have revived long-dormant public fears that organized crime is once again extending its reach into Bollywood, stirring up uncomfortable memories of a dark, violent chapter in Mumbai’s modern history.

    Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, Mumbai’s underworld held formidable, open influence over the Indian film industry. Criminal groups financed big-budget productions, demanded massive protection payments from producers and stars, and regularly used violence to enforce their demands. It took decades of targeted police crackdowns and the gradual rise of legitimate, institutional film financing to loosen the underworld’s stranglehold on the industry. Today, as new allegations and conspiracy theories emerge nearly every day, a question long thought to be confined to Mumbai’s past has reemerged: Is the underworld attempting to retake control of Bollywood?

    Veteran law enforcement officials who confronted organized crime at its peak in Mumbai say the answer is far more nuanced than a simple yes or no. D Sivanandhan, who led Mumbai’s Crime Branch starting in 1998, recalls an era when a single phone call from Dubai – where many of India’s most notorious gang leaders operated from exile – could decide the entire fate of a major film: who would star in it, who would finance it, and who would profit from its distribution. At the time, the industry relied almost entirely on unregulated private capital, and the line between a legitimate investor and an extortionist was often dangerously blurry. The threats were not just abstract: in 1997, legendary Indian music industry executive Gulshan Kumar was shot and killed outside a Mumbai temple, and just three years later, acclaimed filmmaker Rakesh Roshan survived a targeted assassination attempt.

    Sivanandhan himself led the investigation into the financing of *Chori Chori Chupke Chupke*, a hit Salman Khan film. The movie’s producer and his assistant were each sentenced to six years in prison under Maharashtra’s organized crime laws for their ties to underworld figures, while the film’s financier received a one-year sentence for hiding information about those connections. Police seized the film’s original negatives, and it was only released eventually under direct court supervision. Sivanandhan also recalled that criminal influence was not always imposed on a reluctant industry: many filmmakers actively sought out underworld funding, entering into mutually beneficial arrangements that proved extremely difficult for police to dismantle.

    Even so, Sivanandhan argues that the current wave of violence should not be interpreted as a return of the old Mumbai mafia he spent decades fighting. The criminal networks he pursued, led by figures such as Dawood Ibrahim, Chhota Shakeel, and Arun Gawli, were deeply rooted in Mumbai’s local networks, even when their leaders operated from foreign soil. “This is not the Mumbai mafia which we know in the last 60 years,” he explained. “This is something else.”

    That “something else” is inextricably linked to Lawrence Bishnoi. A gangster with origins in northern India who has been incarcerated since 2015, Bishnoi has cultivated a mythic, menacing public persona: he is widely reputed to command a network of gunmen across multiple continents, and his name is regularly attached to threats and claims of responsibility that spread across social media within minutes.

    Bishnoi has publicly targeted Salman Khan for years over a 1998 poaching case involving blackbucks – a species of antelope that holds religious reverence for the Bishnoi community. In April 2024, unidentified gunmen fired five rounds outside Khan’s Mumbai home. Six months after that attack, Baba Siddique, a senior Indian politician with close ties to Khan and multiple other Bollywood stars, was gunned down in a public assassination. Mumbai police have connected both attacks to the Bishnoi gang, though investigators have not confirmed any direct personal involvement by Bishnoi in Siddique’s murder.

    While some allegations against Bishnoi’s network have been confirmed by official police investigations, many others remain unproven. But the line between what the gang has actually done and what is claimed in its name often blurs in public discourse, only amplifying Bishnoi’s notoriety. Rakesh Maria, a former Mumbai police commissioner, has described Bishnoi as a representative of a new generation of Indian gangsters who are far more technologically savvy and globally connected than their predecessors. “The old underworld was visible and territorial, but the new one is dispersed, fluid, making it harder to pin down,” Maria told Indian outlet *The Print* last year. “They no longer need to reside in the city to command it.”

    The relationship between criminal groups and Bollywood has shifted in another key way: who gets to shape the gangster’s public image. In the 1990s, Bollywood itself turned Mumbai’s feared underworld figures into objects of widespread public fascination. Films such as *Satya* (1998) and *Company* (2002) brought a gritty, raw realism to the portrayal of gang life, and Manoj Bajpayee’s iconic performance as gangster Bhiku Mhatre in *Satya* became what film scholar Ashvin Immanuel Devasundaram calls “mythologised and talismanic.” The fear and fascination of that era are “seared into the collective consciousness” of the Indian public, Devasundaram told the BBC. Each new attack pulls those old memories back to the surface.

    But today’s gangsters no longer need mainstream cinema to build their own mythology. Social media platforms allow them to craft and spread their own public image directly, circulating threats, claims of responsibility, and carefully staged content to audiences that reach far beyond Mumbai’s borders.

    In the wake of the Shroff shooting, Indian police have reportedly increased security detail outside the homes of Salman Khan and Rohit Shetty. The All Indian Cine Workers Association has called for enhanced protection for Bollywood figures, asking publicly: “Today it is Tiger Shroff. Who is next?”

    So far, there is little concrete evidence that criminal networks have regained the level of overt influence over Bollywood financing and creative decisions that the old underworld held in the 1990s and early 2000s. But the recent string of attacks has exposed a new, different vulnerability for the industry. Modern gangsters no longer need to control the entire $2.7 billion Indian film industry to destabilize it and spread widespread fear. A single attempted shooting, amplified across millions of social media feeds and phone screens, can create panic that extends far beyond the original target.

    Sivanandhan, who spent decades confronting Mumbai’s most powerful criminal groups, understands that even the most robust security has gaps. “There is always a crack in the armour,” he observed.

  • Powerful earthquake hits Tibet killing 16 people, reports say

    Powerful earthquake hits Tibet killing 16 people, reports say

    A powerful magnitude 7 earthquake has rattled the remote, mountainous terrain of Baqên County in Tibet’s northern Nagqu region, triggering widespread destruction that has claimed at least 16 lives and left dozens injured, according to official Chinese state media reports.

    Citing data from the local emergency management bureau, state-run news agency Xinhua confirmed the seismic event struck just after nightfall on Thursday, with its epicenter located roughly 400 kilometers northeast of Lhasa, Tibet’s regional capital. In the immediate aftermath of the quake, regional and national authorities swiftly activated a level-one emergency response and deployed specialized search-and-rescue teams to the hard-hit area, where 32 people have been confirmed with injuries ranging from minor to critical.

    Local official updates paint a grim picture of the damage: more than 300 residential structures have completely collapsed across the affected county, and widespread damage to grid infrastructure has left most of the region without electrical power. Compounding the challenges for first responders, triggered rockfalls along mountain highways have forced the closure of key access routes, slowing the arrival of emergency supplies and rescue personnel to cut-off communities.

    This earthquake comes less than two months after a separate catastrophic disaster in the Himalayan region, when a massive glacial lake collapse unleashed devastating flash floods and landslides across southern Tibet and neighboring Nepal. That disaster killed more than 1,400 people, with hundreds of residents still unaccounted for months later, underscoring the high natural disaster risk facing Tibet’s geologically active mountain ecosystems.

  • Surveillance and ‘constant paranoia’: Western diplomats tell BBC of life in war-time Moscow

    Surveillance and ‘constant paranoia’: Western diplomats tell BBC of life in war-time Moscow

    For decades through the Cold War and beyond, Western diplomats based in Moscow served as critical bridges between competing powers, defusing escalating tensions even when bilateral relations hit their lowest points. But three years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the role of Western envoys in Russia has been transformed into one of the most dangerous and isolating assignments in global diplomacy, according to firsthand accounts from five senior former diplomats who served in Moscow in the post-invasion era. In exclusive interviews with the BBC, these envoys – including former U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy and former French Ambassador Pierre Lévy – detail a surveillance and pressure campaign that harkens back to the darkest days of the Cold War, while bringing new logistical and psychological challenges that many say outstrip even the most high-risk postings around the world.

  • Hospitals deliberately targeted by Sudan’s RSF fighters, BBC investigation finds

    Hospitals deliberately targeted by Sudan’s RSF fighters, BBC investigation finds

    One year after Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary fighters captured the key Darfur city of el-Fasher following a months-long brutal siege, a new BBC investigation has uncovered overwhelming evidence of a coordinated campaign to eliminate the city’s entire healthcare network — a violation of international humanitarian law that the United Nations’ top human rights official says may constitute war crimes.

    Sudan’s devastating civil war erupted in April 2023 when tensions between the national Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF boiled over into open conflict. While both sides have faced accusations of targeting medical infrastructure, the destruction in el-Fasher stands out as one of the clearest and most severe examples of healthcare collapse amid the ongoing crisis, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

    Drawing on firsthand testimony from on-the-ground medical workers who survived the siege, the investigation documents at least 43 separate attacks on hospitals and medical sites across el-Fasher between May 2024 and October 2025, with some facilities hit multiple times. Between the start of the war and the RSF’s final takeover of the city, the investigation recorded 55 medical workers killed, 120 injured, and 10 more forcibly abducted or disappeared.

    Dr. Muhamed Suliman, a surgeon who remained in el-Fasher through the siege, told the BBC the campaign against healthcare was deliberate and strategic. “The RSF [were] trying to evacuate the hospitals, to put them out of service because the health system is the cornerstone of any city or any state,” he explained. “The RSF started hitting these areas so citizens have no longer any way to stay there. It was intense. It was deliberate. It was planned.”

    The collapse of el-Fasher’s healthcare system unfolded gradually as the conflict dragged on. Within weeks of the war’s start in 2023, one of the city’s largest core facilities, the Teaching Hospital located near central SAF positions, was forced to shut down, relocating all operations to the city’s South Hospital. For months, South Hospital continued operating, but service was increasingly disrupted by widespread power outages and rapidly dwindling medical supplies. The situation deteriorated dramatically when the RSF launched its full siege of el-Fasher in May 2024, and South Hospital came under repeated shelling as RSF fighters advanced from the city’s eastern outskirts.

    On June 8, 2024, RSF fighters raided South Hospital in an attack that still haunts survivors. Dr. Izzeldin Ahmed Dawaud Asow, the hospital’s director general, was confronted by paramilitaries outside his office who targeted him with ethnic slurs, using a derogatory term that labels non-Arab Sudanese as foreigners. He was beaten unconscious with rifle butts and only survived by playing dead. “They put their hand on my chest, and I stopped breathing. And they said: ‘Leave him, leave him. The rubbish has died. Leave him.’ They left me,” he recalled. After the attack, the hospital shut down and later fell under RSF control when SAF forces retreated.

    Dr. Alaa Eldin Nugud, a Sudanese surgeon who now serves as health minister in the RSF-backed civilian administration, has defended the group’s actions, claiming South Hospital was being used as a military base with missile launchers positioned on its grounds. He shared a video of weapon remains filmed more than a year after the hospital closed to support his claim, and also released purported maps of landmines planted by SAF around the adjacent Teaching Hospital. However, the BBC found no independent evidence to verify these allegations, and local Darfur government officials have categorically rejected the claims. El-Fasher doctors also confirmed the hospital was never integrated into the nearby military base and that staff continued to access the facility to retrieve supplies throughout the conflict.

    After South Hospital closed, remaining staff and equipment moved to the Saudi Maternity Hospital in western el-Fasher, near the main SAF stronghold. It did not take long for attacks on the new last remaining major medical facility to ramp up. Six doctors who spoke to the BBC independently described a clear pattern of systematic targeting, with the Saudi Hospital hit repeatedly — sometimes as many as 25 times in a single day — by a mix of artillery shelling and precision-guided drone strikes. Smaller clinics and specialized facilities fared no better: when medical sites relocated to escape attack, their new locations were also targeted. The Specialised Children’s Hospital, which closed early in the war, was forced to shut down twice more after moving to two alternate sites, both of which were shelled. The city’s main dialysis center was also struck, then attacked again after relocating.

    As attacks intensified, medical workers improvised desperate measures to keep care running. They built sandbag barricades around the Saudi Hospital, converted steel containers into underground operating bunkers, and set up a network of secret alternative patient wards and surgical sites to reduce the risk of mass casualties from strikes. Even in these conditions, life-saving care continued: on the day the Saudi Hospital was hit by bombing, medical staff conducted an emergency C-section using only light from their mobile phones.

    Dr. Asow, who continued operating through the siege, shared harrowing accounts of close calls and deliberate targeting. On one occasion, he ordered an operating theater deep cleaned before a procedure, forcing the patient to be moved to an alternate site just hours before the room was destroyed by a shell — a twist that led his staff to nickname him “Mr. Deep Cleaning.” On another occasion, he was mid-surgery on a patient’s neck when an explosion shook the building; all other staff fled, but he stayed to complete the procedure. He also described drones systematically tracking patient movements: in March 2025, a drone followed a group of people carrying injured patients to a temporary ward and struck at the hospital gate, killing nine. Five months later, a drone hit a donkey cart transferring patients — all ambulances had already been destroyed — killing two patients, the driver, and the donkey.

    By the time RSF fighters seized full control of el-Fasher in October 2025, the Saudi Hospital was the only functioning medical facility left in the entire city. The RSF stormed the facility on October 25, with allegations emerging of a massacre that killed more than 460 patients and accompanying civilians. The RSF has denied the massacre took place, but the WHO has condemned the reported killings, and satellite imagery published after the attack showed clusters of bodies on the hospital grounds.

    In response to the BBC’s findings, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk called the evidence “deeply disturbing,” confirming the findings align with his office’s own monitoring. “Our monitoring and documentation shows the RSF repeatedly struck el-Fasher’s main hospitals and makeshift health facilities, destroying or seriously damaging them and severely impacting access to health services for thousands of civilians trapped in the city,” Türk said. He added that the repeated attacks on civilian healthcare infrastructure amount to serious violations of international humanitarian law and may constitute war crimes.

    The RSF has uniformly rejected the BBC’s findings, framing the allegations as political propaganda designed to damage the group’s reputation by SAF and its local allies. Dr. Nugud dismissed the testimonies of el-Fasher doctors as lies, claiming their accounts are skewed by tribal and political loyalties to the SAF. He also claimed the RSF has reopened major facilities including the Saudi Hospital and Teaching Hospital, and that South Hospital will soon reopen, asserting that medical workers who stayed did so voluntarily. But multiple doctors who appeared in RSF government videos claiming they were working voluntarily told the BBC they were forced to participate, with one noting “If I spoke out of line, they’d put a bullet through my head.”

    A full year after el-Fasher fell, the trauma of the siege remains raw for survivors. Sudan’s civil war shows no sign of ending, with front lines shifted to other regions but attacks on healthcare continuing across the country as part of a worsening nationwide humanitarian catastrophe. UN investigators have previously noted that the violence in el-Fasher carried all the “hallmarks of genocide”, with RSF forces — built from former Arab militias with a history of ethnic violence in Darfur — systematically targeting non-Arab civilian populations that make up most of the city’s population.

  • Approach African GP with humility, says Hamilton

    Approach African GP with humility, says Hamilton

    From his post at the US Grand Prix circuit in Austin, Formula 1 veteran and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has publicly addressed mounting human rights concerns surrounding the sport’s newly signed 10-year hosting agreement with Rwanda, set to launch in the early 2030s. The proposed race track, situated near the Rwandan capital of Kigali, has been intentionally engineered to weave through the country’s dramatic natural landscapes, positioning the event as a landmark moment for motorsport’s expansion across the African continent.

    Hamilton, a long-time advocate for bringing a Formula 1 grand prix to African soil for over a decade, acknowledged widespread public scrutiny of the Rwandan government’s record, urging critics to avoid rushed judgment. “I do not hold the authority to dictate the F1 calendar’s destinations, and it is an unavoidable truth that social and political challenges persist across every corner of the globe today. I have read the extensive media coverage of the concerns raised, but I firmly believe the only constructive way forward is to approach this initiative with deep humility,” the 39-year-old Ferrari driver stated. He further contextualized regional instability as a lingering consequence of centuries of colonial exploitation and uninvited Western intervention, noting that mainstream British education curricula have historically erased critical African history, leaving many global audiences ill-informed about the continent’s complex realities.

    The announcement of the Rwandan grand prix has sparked sharp diplomatic pushback from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, which has filed an active case against Rwanda at the International Court of Justice alleging violations of international treaties covering genocide prevention, anti-racial discrimination frameworks, women’s rights protections, and prohibitions on state-sponsored torture. DRC Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner issued a formal public statement last week arguing that granting the high-profile global sporting platform to Rwandan President Paul Kagame would effectively launder the reputation of an authoritarian administration that has directly fueled a prolonged, devastating armed conflict on Congolese territory. Wagner also cited existing U.S. government sanctions against the Rwandan national army and four senior military officials for their documented role in regional destabilization, unauthorized cross-border military operations in the DRC, and direct support, training, and joint combat alongside the M23 rebel insurgency. The DRC government has additionally demanded that Formula 1 implement strict, independent auditing protocols to verify that no portion of the race’s hosting budget is derived from conflict-linked mineral extraction or the illegal exploitation of Congolese natural resources.

    Hamilton, whose current F1 contract runs through 2027 and who will turn 42 in January, revealed that the prospect of competing in the historic African grand prix has motivated him to consider extending his professional racing career far beyond his previously anticipated retirement timeline. “This long-held dream of mine to race on African soil is now a tangible reality on the horizon, so I am committed to prioritizing my fitness and performance for as long as I can deliver competitive results on the track,” he explained. He emphasized that the grand prix is far more than a single sporting event for Rwanda: it is an opportunity to showcase the entire African continent’s vibrant cultures, warm communities, and breathtaking landscapes to a global audience of hundreds of millions of F1 fans, inspiring young people across the world to learn more about regions that have long been underrepresented in mainstream international media.

    Crucially, Hamilton clarified that his support for the race does not equate to ignoring documented human rights abuses or regional conflicts. He expressed hope that the high-profile global attention drawn by the grand prix would push more people to educate themselves on the long, complex history of colonial harm and ongoing humanitarian crises across the region, sparking constructive public conversations about justice and accountability. The star driver closed his remarks by voicing a broader vision for global peace, calling for collective action to advance freedom and stability for communities in the DRC, Sudan, Syria, and Palestine.

  • L’Oreal says weight loss drugs are impacting beauty and skin care sales

    L’Oreal says weight loss drugs are impacting beauty and skin care sales

    The global beauty industry is facing a new, unexpected shift driven by the exploding popularity of GLP-1 weight loss medications, and one of the world’s largest beauty conglomerates is already adapting its product lineup to meet changing consumer needs.

    In recent years, GLP-1 agonists — originally developed to treat type 2 diabetes — have seen a meteoric rise in mainstream use after clinical trials found drugs including Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro deliver dramatic weight loss by suppressing user appetite. What started as a medical treatment has quickly become a widespread cultural and wellness trend, with millions of people around the world turning to the medications to reach weight loss goals.

    But while the medications deliver significant health and aesthetic benefits for many users, rapid weight loss often brings an unintended cosmetic side effect: loose, sagging skin, particularly around the face and neck. Though GLP-1s do not directly cause skin laxity, the quick pace of weight loss common with these medications leaves skin unable to retract quickly enough to match a user’s new body contours, leaving many patients searching for solutions to address visible changes to their appearance.

    French beauty giant L’Oréal, which owns dozens of household beauty and skincare brands including Maybelline, La Roche-Posay, SkinCeuticals and Kiehl’s, has publicly acknowledged that this growing trend is already shifting consumer spending on beauty and skincare products. During a recent investor call, L’Oréal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus called the rising adoption of GLP-1s “a very important phenomenon for us” that is having a measurable impact on overall beauty consumption, especially in the skincare category.

    Rather than seeing the trend as a pure headwind, the company has moved quickly to capitalize on the new consumer demand it has created. Hieronimus confirmed that the company’s premium skincare brands SkinCeuticals and Kiehl’s have already launched specially formulated products designed to complement GLP-1 use and target common side effects like skin sagging linked to rapid weight loss.

    L’Oréal has also expanded its footprint in the clinical aesthetics space to better position itself for this growing market. In December 2023, the company increased its stake in leading dermatology and aesthetics firm Galderma to 20%, deepening a partnership focused on developing solutions for GLP-1 users. According to reports from Reuters, the two companies are running separate ongoing clinical trials testing new products on GLP-1 users who report concerns about loose, sagging skin after rapid weight loss.

    Galderma, which owns market-leading aesthetic injectables including collagen-stimulating treatment Sculptra and dermal filler Restylane, was one of the first major firms to flag the link between rising GLP-1 use and growing demand for facial aesthetic solutions. Last year, the company released an industry report analyzing the impact of GLP-1 adoption on facial appearance concerns. Its internal survey of weight loss medication users found that an overwhelming majority of respondents had noticed visible changes to their face shape and skin tightness after starting GLP-1 treatment.

    Despite the market shift created by GLP-1 adoption, L’Oréal’s recent financial performance has outperformed market expectations. The company announced Thursday that its total sales rose 7.7% year-over-year in the three months ending September 2024, a growth rate that beat forecasts from industry analysts. Hieronimus noted that the global beauty market has remained resilient even amid broader economic uncertainty around the world, and the company’s proactive strategy to adapt to the GLP-1 trend positions it to capture new growth in a shifting market.

  • Trump says Musk has restored Ukraine’s access after Starlink row

    Trump says Musk has restored Ukraine’s access after Starlink row

    A new political storm has emerged over the critical satellite internet infrastructure Ukraine relies on for its frontline operations, after former President Donald Trump confirmed that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has reversed service restrictions placed on the Starlink network for Kyiv’s military.

    The confirmation came hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters that full connectivity to Musk’s satellite system had not yet been reinstated, noting that operating speeds remained well below the levels Ukrainian forces require for effective combat operations. In his public remarks Thursday, Zelenskyy said “the speed has not been restored to 400 km/h yet, we are still working on the issue” and added that he was awaiting a formal update from U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had promised to deliver clarity within a 48-hour window.

    Zelenskyy’s comments came shortly before the *Wall Street Journal* published a report citing anonymous administration officials claiming Trump personally phoned Musk to pressure him to lift the speed caps that had hamstrung Ukraine’s military operations. According to the outlet, Trump told Musk he was frustrated that Starlink speeds remained capped at roughly 160 km/h, a restriction that had rendered Ukraine’s offensive drones and air defense interceptors largely ineffective against Russian strikes. The report added that connectivity returned to near-normal levels shortly after the call between the U.S. president and SpaceX’s CEO. BBC News has not independently verified the *Journal*’s claims, and has reached out to both the White House and SpaceX for comment on the situation.

    Musk has previously denied any personal involvement in imposing the slowdowns, which directly undercut Ukraine’s ability to deploy drones against Russian positions. Last week, the billionaire noted that the U.S. government retains ultimate control over Starshield — the military-grade variant of Starlink that Ukrainian forces use for many frontline operations — and argued the system was built specifically for the Pentagon, implying the U.S. military could have been behind the restrictions. The White House has repeatedly pushed back on these claims, issuing multiple public denials that it ever ordered any restrictions on Starlink access for Ukraine.

    The connectivity restrictions emerged against a backdrop of growing friction between the Trump administration and Kyiv, as Trump has publicly pressured Zelenskyy to halt attacks on Russian oil refineries. The U.S. president has argued these strikes have driven up global energy prices, creating economic headwinds ahead of next month’s U.S. midterm elections. To ease domestic fuel costs, Trump has recently waived some U.S. sanctions on Russian energy exports and struck a deal to allow imports of Russian diesel into the U.S. market, a policy shift that has drawn sharp criticism from both Ukraine and its European allies.

    Ukraine has become heavily dependent on the Starlink network, owned and operated by Musk’s SpaceX, to support a wide range of critical military functions. Beyond frontline troop communications, the system is a core component of Ukraine’s early warning systems that alert civilian and military populations to incoming Russian missile attacks. The first reports of disruptions to Ukrainian access to U.S.-provided digital infrastructure emerged in mid-October, when Kyiv first reported an interruption to U.S. intelligence sharing.

    When asked Thursday whether he had pressured Musk to restore full service, Trump declined to elaborate on the specifics of any interaction, but offered a clear confirmation that access had been reinstated. When pressed on the issue, the U.S. president told reporters: “Bottom line, he put it back.” The Trump administration has previously stood by its insistence that it never issued any instruction to SpaceX to restrict Starlink connectivity for Ukrainian forces.

  • Prominent Virginia senator charged over allegations she ran criminal marijuana scheme

    Prominent Virginia senator charged over allegations she ran criminal marijuana scheme

    On Thursday, federal law enforcement officials took into custody one of Virginia’s longest-serving and most influential Democratic lawmakers, L Louise Lucas, leveling charges connected to what prosecutors describe as a large-scale criminal marijuana operation. The 82-year-old state senator, who has held her seat in the Virginia State Senate since 1992 and rose to the high-ranking post of Senate president pro tempore in 2000, faces charges alongside six other co-defendants — including multiple members of her own family. The sweeping indictment spans allegations of racketeering conspiracy, fraud, narcotics violations, money laundering, and bribery.

    Lucas, who is not seeking re-election this cycle, has publicly pushed back against the charges, framing the prosecution as a politically motivated attack against her. In a defiant statement posted to the social media platform X shortly after her arrest, Lucas made clear she would not step back from her position. “I will not be intimidated,” she wrote. “I will not be bullied. And I will not back down.” Drawing on her lifetime of experience navigating racial discrimination in the United States, she added: “I grew up under Jim Crow. I’ve seen what happens when people in power try to silence those who stand up to them. I spent my entire life fighting back, and I’m not stopping now.”

    Though Lucas has not yet entered a formal plea in the case, her attorney Anthony Capozzolo confirmed to the BBC that his client intends to plead not guilty to all counts. In a statement on the indictment, Capozzolo said the legal team was “surprised and disheartened” by the announcement of charges, emphasizing that Lucas “denies these charges in their entirety.”

    Federal prosecutors detail five separate counts against Lucas personally: racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to distribute marijuana, conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and maintaining a premises involved in drug activity. Additional charges against other co-defendants include a firearms violation and wire fraud. One of the charged co-defendants is Lucas’ daughter, Lisa Lucas-Burke, who is currently on the ballot for a Portsmouth City Council seat, with early voting already underway across Virginia.

    Speaking at a Thursday press conference, U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche laid out the federal government’s case, accusing Lucas of actively overseeing a coordinated criminal enterprise focused on the illegal acquisition and distribution of marijuana. Blanche alleged the long-serving senator exploited her political influence as a sitting lawmaker to shape legislation that would deliver personal and financial benefits to herself and her family.

    Lucas has been a high-profile advocate for marijuana policy reform in Virginia for years, and publicly owns The Cannabis Outlet, a retail dispensary located in Portsmouth that opened in 2021. The business launched after Virginia moved to decriminalize simple marijuana possession and legalize small amounts of cannabis for personal use. Lucas even leaned into her public support for legalization in a 2022 social media post, writing: “I’m a 78 year grandma who legalized pot and now has her own cannabis store. And I’m the last thing standing between The GOP and total control of Virginia. That’s worth an RT!”

    While Virginia currently allows small amounts of cannabis for personal and medical use, strict regulatory restrictions still govern commercial marijuana sale and distribution. As early as 2022, reporting from the Virginia Mercury flagged potential violations at Lucas’ dispensary, noting that products sold at the store may have contained active ingredients and dosages that ran afoul of existing state regulations at the time. The arrest this week is the culmination of a lengthy federal investigation; the FBI previously executed search warrants on Lucas’ legislative office and her cannabis business back in May, according to prior reporting from The Washington Post.

    The timing of the indictment has sparked significant political controversy, as it comes just weeks ahead of the November 5 general election, when early voting is already ongoing across the United States. Longstanding Department of Justice policy traditionally bars major law enforcement actions, including indictments and high-profile investigative steps, that could impact electoral outcomes in the period immediately preceding an election. This announcement is not an isolated incident: in recent days, the DOJ has rolled out a series of investigative actions involving sitting lawmakers and election officials, including a raid on the Washington D.C. home of Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar as part of an investigation into her financial and immigration background.

    Virginia’s Democratic Governor Abigail Spanberger was among the first to publicly criticize the timing of Lucas’ indictment. In a statement posted to X, Spanberger argued that the announcement “undermines the U.S. Department of Justice’s previously longstanding policy of not taking legal actions — to include indictments or significant investigative steps — close to an election.” She added that “sadly, this timing further erodes the trust the American people deserve to have in the Department of Justice.”

  • Israeli settlers suspected of attacking journalist and diplomats released: Press review

    Israeli settlers suspected of attacking journalist and diplomats released: Press review

    Three separate, high-profile controversies have emerged in Israel this week, drawing public scrutiny and international attention to issues of settler violence, military conduct, and discriminatory immigration policy. The first and most widely condemned centers on the near-total release of 10 Israeli settlers arrested just two days prior over alleged violent attacks targeting a senior journalist and European diplomatic delegates, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Wednesday. Of the 10 detainees, nine have already been granted release from custody, with only one suspect remaining behind bars on unrelated charges.

    The arrests were carried out in a rare coordinated operation by Israeli national police, the Israel Defense Forces, and the Shin Bet domestic intelligence service. Authorities detained the settlers over two separate alleged assaults that took place last weekend in the occupied West Bank, a region that has seen a sharp rise in settler violence against Palestinian communities, particularly during the annual olive harvest season. The first attack left veteran Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine hospitalized following an assault in the village of Abu Falah on Friday, while the second targeted a European diplomatic delegation visiting the nearby village of Taybeh a day later. Both incidents triggered widespread international condemnation before the arrests were even made.

    According to court records, Jerusalem District Court oversaw the release of five of the suspects on Wednesday, with police granting release to a sixth that same day. Three additional suspects were granted immediate release on the day of their arrest this Monday. While judges confirmed that law enforcement had presented credible evidence tying the suspects to the assaults, the presiding judge framed the violence as part of a broader chaotic event involving large-scale stone-throwing by Palestinians. Even after law enforcement formally requested that detention be extended for four of the West Bank-based settler suspects, courts still approved their release.

    Honenu, a far-right Israeli legal organization that provides representation to settlers accused of violence, praised Wednesday’s court rulings. In a statement following the releases, the group claimed the arrests were entirely manufactured and lacked any legal basis, arguing they were carried out solely to defuse international media pressure and appease foreign political interests.

    The only suspect still being held is Nadav Cohen Tzemach, an Israeli military reservist who is facing separate charges for allegedly running over a Palestinian civilian who was praying on the side of a road near Ramallah last year. Courts have extended his detention through next Monday.

    In a second separate controversy, circulating social media footage has sparked fresh calls for accountability over alleged animal abuse by Israeli soldiers. The video, published to the platform X Wednesday by Israeli journalist Daniel Amram, shows an uniformed Israeli soldier throwing a live cat over the perimeter fence of an Israeli military base. Amram reported that fellow soldiers stationed at the base have publicly called for the soldier to be immediately removed from his post, but senior military commanders have so far refused to take disciplinary action.

    In a statement to Amram, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson acknowledged that the military views animal cruelty as a serious offense that violates official military rules and expected standards of conduct for all service members. The spokesperson confirmed that a formal investigation into the incident has been launched. This latest accusation is far from an isolated case: over the past three years, a growing string of reports and circulating videos have documented multiple alleged cases of animal abuse carried out by Israeli soldiers and settlers across the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The documented incidents include the 2024 killing of a Palestinian family’s pet cat during a home raid in Masafer Yatta, an incident earlier this year in which an army officer threw a cat at a fellow soldier as an assault, and a viral September 2025 video showing Israeli soldiers blowing up a donkey in Gaza for recreational purposes.

    The third controversy unfolding this week centers on an immigration dispute, in which Israel’s Population and Immigration Authority is attempting to deport a Moroccan woman married to an Israeli citizen, despite the couple sharing a young daughter together, Israeli news outlet Ynet reported Wednesday. The couple first met in Morocco in 2023, married the following year, and entered Israel together in January 2025, at which point Israeli officials granted the woman, Salma Jud, formal permission to reside in the country. After Jud gave birth to the couple’s daughter several months later, she was summoned for two interviews with immigration officials, who openly questioned whether her relationship with her husband was legitimate.

    Following the announcement of a deportation order, the couple’s legal team filed an official appeal, highlighting two critical procedural flaws: first, immigration authorities failed to provide a qualified Moroccan Arabic interpreter for one of Jud’s interviews, and second, the order directly violates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, a treaty Israel is legally bound to uphold as a signatory.

    Jud’s husband, Yossef Inbar, an Israeli citizen who completed mandatory military service in the IDF, accused Israeli authorities of systemic discrimination based on ethnic and religious identity. “In the State of Israel, they distinguish between a Jew and an Arab,” Inbar told Ynet. “If I were a Jew, I would get everything easily, and they wouldn’t punish me. Sometimes I regret that I did military service.”

    Beersheba District Court has since issued a temporary stay on the deportation order, giving the Population and Immigration Authority 30 days to submit formal justification for the expulsion of Jud.