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  • Macron and Starmer hold international summit on reopening the Strait of Hormuz

    Macron and Starmer hold international summit on reopening the Strait of Hormuz

    PARIS — When the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical global energy chokepoints, was effectively closed by Iran following the outbreak of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, the resulting disruption rippled through every corner of the global economy. This Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will convene a high-level summit in Paris to advance a multinational initiative to reopen the waterway, a diplomatic and security effort that notably excludes the United States.

    The gathering marks the most visible step yet by non-belligerent nations that have chosen not to join the ongoing conflict to mitigate its widespread global spillover. Since Iran closed the strait — through which roughly 20% of all global crude oil shipments pass daily — global energy markets have swung sharply, dragging already fragile economic growth down and pushing up inflation worldwide. The new initiative, officially named the Strait of Hormuz Maritime Freedom of Navigation Initiative, has been planned entirely without input or participation from the U.S. government.

    Macron laid out the core parameters of the mission in a pre-summit post on social media platform X, emphasizing that the effort will be strictly limited to defensive operations, open only to countries that are not active participants in the current conflict, and will only be deployed once on-the-ground security conditions permit.

    Starmer, who has publicly accused Iran of holding the entire global economy hostage, has joined Macron in spearheading both diplomatic outreach and preliminary military planning for the initiative. The stakes have grown even higher following U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a full retaliatory blockade on Iranian ports, a move that has deepened global economic uncertainty and energy market volatility. Ahead of the summit, Starmer framed the urgency of the action, stating, “The unconditional and immediate reopening of the Strait is a global responsibility, and we need to act to get global energy and trade flowing freely again.”

    Preliminary military planning for the mission has been underway for weeks, mirroring the structure of the coalition of the willing assembled to support Ukraine during its conflict with Russia. French military spokesperson Colonel Guillaume Vernet confirmed Thursday that the mission framework remains a work in progress. A senior anonymous official, speaking in line with French presidency protocol, outlined the core practical needs of the operation: ship operators must have full confidence that their vessels will not be targeted when transiting the strait, which may require sharing real-time intelligence, mine-clearing support, military escort capability, and standardized communication protocols with coastal states.

    Independent defense and Iran experts have weighed in on the mission’s likely scope, noting that large-scale escorted transits are unfeasible for participating nations. Sidharth Kaushal, a sea power research fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute, explained that full tanker escort operations would require a far larger fleet than any coalition of participating countries could assemble. “You need huge numbers of vessels for that sort of thing, which nobody has,” Kaushal noted. Instead, experts point to mine-clearing and the development of a shared maritime threat warning system as the coalition’s most realistic core roles.

    Ellie Geranmayeh, Iran expert and deputy head of the Middle East and North Africa program at the European Council on Foreign Relations, added that European-led participation carries a key strategic advantage over U.S. involvement. “They would be a better party to do this than the United States, because once you have U.S. military doing this and lingering on Iranian shores, it creates a potential arena for Iran and the U.S. to have miscalculations and get back into a sort of military tension,” she explained.

    Military preparations have already begun. Britain has outlined plans to test mine-hunting drones deployed from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship Lyme Bay, while France — which fields the European Union’s most capable military — has already moved its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, a helicopter carrier, and multiple frigates to the region. Britain’s current force posture in the region highlights the constraints on the coalition: the Royal Navy currently has only one major warship, the destroyer HMS Dragon, deployed to the eastern Mediterranean.

    Over 40 countries have participated in preliminary diplomatic and planning meetings led by Paris and London in recent weeks, though far fewer are expected to commit dedicated military resources to the mission. Around 30 countries will attend Friday’s summit in Paris, including nations from the Middle East and Asia. The full attendee list has not been publicly released, but German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have confirmed they will attend in person, with other participating leaders joining via video conference.

    The initiative itself is widely viewed as a partial response to Trump’s public criticism of U.S. allies, who he has berated for refusing to join the war against Iran. Trump has repeatedly argued that reopening the strait is not America’s responsibility, has called allied leaders “cowards,” and attacked the alliance, claiming that “NATO wasn’t there when we needed them.” He even went so far as to mock Britain’s military capabilities, claiming “You don’t even have a navy.”

    For many participating European nations, the summit also represents an opportunity to demonstrate the ability to deliver regional security independent of U.S. leadership. “I imagine there’ll be some desire on the part of many European states, and potentially Canada, to demonstrate the ability to provide security in a way that’s distinct from if not completely separate from the U.S. and which also demonstrates a capacity for independent action,” Kaushal said. Still, he noted that the actual level of military capacity nations will be able to commit remains an open question.

  • UK seeks closer EU ties in volatile times – but at what cost?

    UK seeks closer EU ties in volatile times – but at what cost?

    Against a backdrop of unprecedented global volatility, the United Kingdom has laid out a clear strategy to deepen practical cooperation with its European neighbors, guided by what the country’s EU Relations Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds calls an “ambitious and ruthlessly pragmatic” approach focused squarely on advancing UK national interests. Speaking exclusively to the BBC from the British ambassador’s Brussels residence, Thomas-Symonds framed the shift toward warmer UK-EU relations as a direct response to growing global instability, arguing that British voters have grown increasingly receptive to closer cross-channel collaboration amid mounting global threats. “We find ourselves in a dangerous situation in the world, and there is a particular imperative for closer ties right now, I find broad public support for this direction,” he noted.

    Today’s geopolitical landscape paints a stark picture of the pressures driving this policy shift: Europe is entering its fifth year of the largest continental conflict since World War II in Ukraine, global energy markets are roiled by rising fuel prices and spillover tensions from tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, and the global economy remains under sustained strain. Meanwhile, longstanding diplomatic ties between the UK and its traditional closest ally, the United States, have deteriorated sharply in recent months, creating new incentives for London to align more closely with Brussels.

    The push for deeper cooperation is already visible in the security and defence space, where the UK has taken a leading role in coordinating a unified European response to the war in Ukraine. Following a commitment from European leaders to increase the continent’s own defence capacity to Washington, London and Brussels are also moving forward with plans for joint arms procurement.

    Beyond defence, the administration of Prime Minister Keir Starmer has prioritized unwinding the thick layers of post-Brexit red tape that have raised costs for UK businesses trading with the EU – the UK’s largest export market, nearly a decade after the original Brexit referendum. By the time of the second post-Brexit UK-EU summit scheduled for this summer (a final date has not yet been set), the UK government expects to conclude three key new agreements: a food and agricultural safety pact that will cut bureaucratic burdens for exporters shipping products such as meat to Northern Ireland and the EU bloc, a mutual carbon emissions trading arrangement, and a youth mobility program that allows British and European young people to study and work in each other’s territories for limited periods. This week, the two sides also formally confirmed the UK will rejoin the EU’s iconic Erasmus+ education exchange scheme, expanding study abroad opportunities for British youth across the bloc.

    The Starmer government has been careful to stress that all new cooperation agreements respect the result of the 2016 Brexit referendum and the party’s manifesto red lines: the UK will not seek re-entry to the EU, its single market, or its customs union. This position has failed to satisfy critics on both sides of the Brexit divide, however.

    Opponents of closer alignment, including the leadership of the Conservative Party and Reform UK, argue that any deeper cooperation requires the UK to adopt EU regulations without having a seat at the table when rules are written, turning Britain into a “rule-taker” rather than a rule-maker – directly contradicting the 2016 Leave campaign’s core promise to “take back control” from Brussels. Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has gone as far as to label planned upcoming legislation to create a fast-track process for aligning UK regulation with future EU standards a “backdoor attempt to drag Britain back under EU control.” Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has similarly accused the government of lacking transparency, arguing that if ministers want to rejoin the EU, they should state that goal openly.

    On the other side of the debate, opposition parties including the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party argue that the government’s incremental approach does not go far enough to deliver the economic benefits of closer alignment that the UK desperately needs. Political analysts have summed up the government’s position as a awkward balancing act: caught between the economic imperatives of reducing trade barriers with the EU and the political constraints imposed by the narrow 2016 Brexit result and ongoing division over the issue.

    All incremental cooperation agreements also come with a direct financial cost for British taxpayers, a reality the government has not shied away from. Rejoining Erasmus+ will cost UK taxpayers £570 million in its first year alone, while the UK’s participation in the EU’s Horizon science research program – agreed under the previous Conservative administration – costs £2.2 billion annually. Supporters of the arrangement note that two years after rejoining Horizon, the UK has become one of the program’s top beneficiaries, securing a disproportionate share of research grants and collaborative opportunities.

    Thomas-Symonds has repeatedly emphasized that all cooperation will be strictly limited to areas that deliver clear net benefits to the UK, with no compromise on national interests. For example, he said the UK plans to pursue an independent regulatory path for artificial intelligence that diverges from Brussels’ approach, and has so far declined to join the EU’s SAFE defence loans scheme because the €2 billion (£1.7 billion) membership fee demanded by Brussels – roughly 10% of the UK’s entire annual defence budget – remains too high.

    EU officials have made clear that the closer the UK seeks to get to the EU single market, the more it will be required to align with EU rules and accept core EU principles – a reality that creates ongoing friction. French MEP Nathalie Loiseau, a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron, confirmed that the EU’s core terms have not changed since the 2016 Brexit vote: the deeper the integration, the higher the requirement for regulatory alignment. In the most extreme scenario of near-single market access, the EU could demand the UK reinstate freedom of movement – a longstanding red line for the current UK government.

    The ongoing negotiations over UK access to the EU’s internal electricity market highlight this tension. Thomas-Symonds describes energy market integration as a top national priority for the UK, a lesson learned after the dramatic energy price spikes following Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine and recent market volatility caused by tanker disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. Even so, Brussels has demanded that the UK contribute to the EU’s Cohesion Fund, a pot of money designed to support economic development in poorer EU regions, as a condition of accessing the electricity market. When asked if the UK would accept this demand, Thomas-Symonds brushed it off as merely the EU’s opening negotiating position, declining to elaborate further.

    Another persistent criticism of the government’s current approach is its heavy focus on agreements for trade in goods, which critics argue will not deliver the widespread economic gains Chancellor Rachel Reeves has promised, given that the UK’s economy is overwhelmingly focused on services. The government pushes back on this, projecting that the new food safety and carbon trading agreements alone will add £9 billion to the UK economy by 2040 – a timeline that critics note is decades away.

    The European Commission, the EU’s executive body that handles trade negotiations on behalf of member states, has also faced criticism from within the bloc. Several EU member states that maintain close trade and political ties with London have complained off the record that the commission is being unnecessarily rigid in its negotiations, and should show more flexibility to strike bespoke deals with the UK – especially given the shared security and economic threats the bloc faces from Russia, China, and increasingly, the United States, according to senior EU diplomats who spoke to the BBC.

    When asked if the push for closer UK-EU ties amounted to an admission that the UK’s long-cherished “special relationship” with the United States was over, amid repeated public criticism of Starmer from US President Donald Trump over the UK’s refusal to join Washington’s conflict with Iran, Thomas-Symonds rejected the framing. “The special relationship is deep and enduring,” he said, adding that the UK does not have to choose between its European and transatlantic allies. Even so, the question remains: as the UK increasingly aligns its regulations with the EU across multiple sectors, it will become progressively more difficult to deliver on the core Brexit promise of striking independent free trade deals with third countries including the United States. Tensions have already flared: last May, Trump and Starmer agreed to a limited bilateral trade deal that modestly expanded agricultural access and cut punitive US tariffs on British car exports, but left broader 10% US tariffs on most British exports in place. This week, Trump even threatened to scrap even that limited deal entirely in retaliation for the UK’s refusal to back his Iran policy.

    As negotiations progress, the UK government’s balancing act between domestic political constraints, economic imperatives, and shifting global alliances will only grow more challenging, with the outcome set to reshape Britain’s place in the world for decades to come.

  • School shootings a new trauma for Turkey as nation mourns

    School shootings a new trauma for Turkey as nation mourns

    On a gray, somber day in Kahramanmaras, a southeastern Turkish city long known for its creamy, renowned pistachio ice cream, a grim procession unfolded outside a local morgue. A dozen men stepped forward quickly to lift a simple wooden coffin, and those watching caught their breath when they felt how light it was: it held the body of just a 10-year-old child. Behind the group of bearers walked the boy’s father, held upright by relatives flanking his sides, his entire frame bent under the unbearable weight of unthinkable loss. “Oh, my martyred child,” he wailed into the quiet air, “oh my darling.”

    This 10-year-old boy was one of eight children cut down in a shooting rampage that shook Turkey on Wednesday, carried out by a 14-year-old fellow student who also took the life of a teacher before being killed at the scene. The attack marks the first deadly mass school shooting in Turkish history, a new, horrific milestone for a country that had previously avoided this particular type of public tragedy that has become all too common in other parts of the world.

    As coffins wrapped in the red and white Turkish flag were carried out one by one, hundreds of grieving relatives, neighbors and first responders crowded the surrounding streets, their sorrow mixing with raw anger. One woman shouted angrily at a line of standing police officers, repeating “Too late, too late” through her tears, blaming authorities for failing to stop the attack and save the children. Another demanded the teenage attacker be publicly hanged in the city’s main square, a demand that went unanswered – the gunman had already died at the scene before any arrest could be made.

    Outside the city’s main mosque, a mother leaned over the casket of her 10-year-old daughter Zeynep, her shoulders shaking with sobs as she stroked the flag covering the wood. From the family home, just steps away from Ayser Calik Secondary School, she had heard the gunshots that ended her child’s life, shots that have sent shockwaves across the entire country. Zeynep’s uncle Mahmut described his niece as a clever, respectful girl who had her whole life ahead of her. “She became an angel, and she flew away,” he told reporters, his voice breaking with emotion. “My only wish is to have more security at the schools, so this does not happen again. This pain landed on us. I do not want it to fall on anyone else.”

    The Kahramanmaras shooting was the second school attack in the same region in 48 hours. Just a day earlier, a former student entered another local school, opened fire on those inside, wounded 16 people and ultimately killed himself. Experts warn that these clustered attacks could signal a dangerous new trend for Turkey. Asli Carkoglu, a professor specializing in teen psychology, noted that both attacks took place in lower-income cities within a short window of time, and that high-profile acts of violent violence often have a contagion effect. “These things do have a way of spreading,” she explained. Carkoglu added that she fears this deadly attack could become a template for other young people who are struggling with anger and frustration. While the shooting is an unthinkable tragedy, it is not a surprise to experts who work with Turkish adolescents, she said: “There have been stabbings, beatings and attempted suicides in the school system. The guns weren’t there before, but the violence was.”

    As the last victims were being lowered into their graves, new details emerged about the 14-year-old Kahramanmaras attacker. Turkish authorities say the teen referenced American mass killer Elliot Rodger – who murdered six people near a University of California campus in 2014 – in posts he shared on social media. They also found an entry on his computer dated April 11 that warned a major attack would come “in the near future.” The gunman did not have to travel far to obtain his weapons: he took them from the bedroom of his father, a former police officer who is now in police custody. Local media reports quote the father’s statement to investigators, which describes a boy who was academically bright but deeply troubled, spent hours playing violent war games online, and had previously been attending therapy with a psychologist.

    While mass school shootings have been a recurring nightmare for the United States for decades, this pair of attacks is an unprecedented trauma for Turkey. In an effort to calm public panic and control public discussion of the tragedy, Turkish authorities have taken aggressive action online: around 150 people have been detained over social media posts about the killings, with authorities accusing them of spreading misinformation or glorifying the attacker and his crime. More than 1,000 social media accounts and Telegram discussion groups have been blocked. Police have confirmed there is no evidence linking the two recent attacks, and initial investigations show the Kahramanmaras gunman acted alone with no connections to any terrorist organization.

    Today, the gates of Ayser Calik Secondary School remain locked, guarded by uniformed police. Outside, teachers have laid a small, growing pile of flowers at the entrance, a quiet tribute to the nine victims who lost their lives in a place that was supposed to keep them safe.

  • Garda vehicle rammed by NI registered car

    Garda vehicle rammed by NI registered car

    A violent incident in rural County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, has left two Irish police officers (gardaí) hospitalized and triggered a widespread manhunt for a fleeing suspect on Thursday afternoon, local law enforcement confirmed. The incident unfolded in two connected phases, beginning just before 11:30 a.m. local time when two plain-clothes gardaí on routine patrol stopped to question a man in his 20s. What started as a routine interaction quickly escalated: the suspect became physically aggressive and assaulted one of the attending officers before fleeing into nearby open fields. An initial search operation failed to locate the man, leaving law enforcement searching for leads.

    Less than two hours later, shortly after 1 p.m., a marked garda patrol car was traveling along the R184 route in Tullycorbett when it was deliberately rammed by an Audi vehicle registered in Northern Ireland. Immediately after the collision, both people inside the Audi abandoned the vehicle and ran from the scene, prompting an emergency, large-scale search of the surrounding area.

    Quick action from responding officers led to the arrest of the passenger, the same 20-something man linked to the earlier assault on the plain-clothes officers. However, the driver of the striking vehicle remains at large. Law enforcement has released a public description of the at-large suspect: he is also in his 20s, of medium height and build, and was last seen wearing a dark grey tracksuit top paired with grey tracksuit bottoms.

    The two gardaí in the rammed patrol car, one male and one female, were transported to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda to receive medical assessment for their injuries sustained in the collision. As of Thursday afternoon, the search operation is still active, with specialized resources deployed including regional armed support units and the garda air support unit to cover the large search area.

    Gardaí have issued a public appeal for information, asking any member of the public who was traveling along the R184 in Tullycorbett on Thursday, or anyone with details about the Audi vehicle or the at-large suspect that have not yet shared their information to contact local law enforcement immediately.

  • Jet fuel supplies are lagging. What does that mean for airlines and travelers?

    Jet fuel supplies are lagging. What does that mean for airlines and travelers?

    As the peak summer travel season rapidly approaches, a looming jet fuel crisis driven by the Iran war and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz threatens to upend global air travel within just a matter of weeks, bringing steeply higher ticket prices and widespread flight cancellations if crude oil supplies do not resume quickly. In an exclusive interview with the Associated Press published Thursday, Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), warned that Europe currently holds only roughly six weeks of usable jet fuel inventories, warning the global economy is barreling toward what he calls the largest energy crisis in modern history.

    Normally, most European nations maintain jet fuel stockpiles sufficient to last multiple months, according to a new IEA report published this week. For global airlines, jet fuel — a kerosene-based refined petroleum product — represents the single largest operating expense, accounting for approximately 30% of total carrier costs, data from the International Air Transport Association shows. Since the outbreak of the war, jet fuel prices have already roughly doubled, and industry analysts warn that physical supply shortages could be the next critical blow to the sector.

    “Every passing day that the Strait of Hormuz remains shut, Europe is edging closer to supply shortages,” explained Amaar Khan, head of European jet fuel pricing at energy market analytics firm Argus Media. Khan noted that the strategic waterway accounts for roughly 40% of Europe’s jet fuel imports, and no shipments have passed through the strait since hostilities began.

    The latest IEA data underscores the severity of the supply crunch: multiple European countries currently hold less than 20 days of jet fuel coverage, a level not seen since 2000 when the agency began standardized tracking. Stockpiles have not dropped below 29 days since the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and the report warns that if inventories fall below 23 days, physical shortages will begin to emerge at major airports, triggering immediate flight cancellations and forced demand reduction.

    Which regions face the greatest risk? Industry analysts note that Asia-Pacific economies are the most dependent on Middle Eastern crude and jet fuel supplies, followed closely by Europe. While most of Europe’s jet fuel is refined domestically, an estimated 20% to 25% of total regional supply has been taken offline by the conflict, according to Jacques Rousseau, managing director at energy investment firm Clearview Energy Partners.

    To offset near-term gaps, the United States — a major global crude producer with excess jet fuel refining capacity — has drastically ramped up exports to Europe, shipping roughly 150,000 barrels per day in April, around six times the typical monthly volume. For the U.S. domestic market, Rousseau noted that significant supply shortages are unlikely, though consumers will still face higher prices. “I tell my kids … we’re not so much going to run out of supply,” Rousseau said. “It’s just going to cost more here, whereas in different parts of the world you could actually get to a point where there’s just no fuel.”

    Globally, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has cut off 10 million to 15 million barrels of daily crude oil supplies to global markets, according to Pavel Molchanov, senior investment strategist at Raymond James & Associates. “There are exactly the same refineries in exactly the same places in Asia and Europe, but if there is not enough oil for those refineries to operate, it’s going to lead to physical supply disruption,” Molchanov explained. While the IEA has authorized the release of 400 million barrels of crude from member states’ emergency reserves, Molchanov added that these supplies will not reach the market quickly enough to offset the near-term shortage. “It could take until the end of the year to get all of those barrels onto the market,” he said.

    For consumers planning summer travel, the impacts will extend far beyond higher base airfares, according to Christopher Anderson, a professor of operations, technology and information management at Cornell University. “This is no longer just a fuel-price story. For airlines, it is now a network-planning story,” Anderson said. “Higher fuel costs matter, but so do longer routings, reduced scheduling flexibility and greater uncertainty about what demand will look like even a few weeks out.” If the supply disruption continues into the peak June to August travel season, Anderson added, travelers can expect later booking windows, more frequent schedule changes, and far fewer discounted low-fare tickets.

    Airlines have responded to the crisis with a mix of caution and proactive cost-cutting, with many already passing elevated fuel costs directly to consumers. Multiple major carriers have already announced flight cuts, capacity reductions, and price adjustments to adapt to the new market conditions.

    Dutch flag carrier KLM announced Thursday it will cut 160 flights next month, equal to roughly 1% of its total European route network, citing rising kerosene costs that have rendered a small number of flights no longer financially viable. U.K. budget carrier easyJet reported Thursday that it expects a pretax loss of 540 million to 560 million pounds (approximately $731 million to $758 million) for the first half of fiscal 2026, though CEO Kenton Jarvis noted that overall consumer travel demand remains strong, with Easter 2025 marking the carrier’s busiest ever Easter travel period. Both KLM and easyJet told the AP they are not currently experiencing direct fuel supply shortages, and declined further comment on the IEA’s warning.

    Germany’s Lufthansa announced Thursday that it is accelerating the permanent shutdown of its regional feeder airline CityLine, originally planned for 2026, to immediate implementation, in response to labor unrest and sky-high fuel prices. The move will also remove 27 older, less fuel-efficient aircraft from the Lufthansa group fleet permanently.

    U.S. major carrier Delta Air Lines, which operates dozens of daily flights to European destinations, said Thursday it is monitoring the potential jet fuel supply issue on the continent but does not expect near-term operational disruptions. Delta purchased a Philadelphia refinery in 2012 specifically to hedge against jet fuel price volatility, a move that is helping the carrier absorb current cost increases.

    Beyond capacity cuts, dozens of airlines around the world have already passed higher fuel costs to consumers through a range of fee and fare adjustments. All four of the largest U.S. carriers — Delta, United, American Airlines, and Southwest Airlines — along with JetBlue, have raised checked baggage fees in recent weeks. United CEO Scott Kirby warned in a recent internal memo to staff that sustained elevated fuel prices could add $10 billion in annual costs for the carrier. “For perspective,” Kirby wrote, “in United’s best year ever, we made less than $5B.”

    Overseas carriers have taken similar action: Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific recently increased fuel surcharges by roughly 34% across all its route network, while Air India added up to $280 in supplementary fees to select long-haul routes earlier this month. Emirates, Lufthansa, and KLM have also implemented incremental fare and fee adjustments to keep pace with ongoing jet fuel price volatility.

  • Hungary’s Orbán says ‘complete renewal’ needed within his party after election loss

    Hungary’s Orbán says ‘complete renewal’ needed within his party after election loss

    BUDAPEST, Hungary – Four days after a historic electoral earthquake brought an abrupt end to Viktor Orbán’s 16 consecutive years as Hungary’s prime minister, the long-serving populist nationalist leader announced Thursday that his ruling Fidesz party must undergo a complete organizational and ideological renewal to remain a relevant force in Hungarian politics. The landslide defeat handed a two-thirds parliamentary supermajority to Orbán’s center-right challenger, the Tisza party, led by former Orbán ally Péter Magyar, who has already begun moving quickly to form a new government.

    The scale of Fidesz’s loss triggered immediate widespread speculation that Orbán, who has served as Fidesz’s party president almost continuously since the early 1990s, would step down from his leadership post. But in an exclusive interview with a pro-Orbán YouTube channel, Orbán made clear he has no intention of exiting the political stage, saying he is already working to rebuild the party from the ground up.

    “This is not a matter of swapping out one or two positions,” Orbán explained. “In its old form, the Hungarian right-wing community can no longer function. We need a complete renewal.” He added that the election result marked the close of an entire political era, one defined by his populist nationalist leadership that upended Hungarian democratic norms and strained Budapest’s ties with the European Union and NATO.

    Sunday’s poll delivered a stunning rebuke of Orbán, a close ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who publicly acknowledged defeat just hours after polls closed, describing the outcome as “painful.” Orbán opened up about his personal reaction to the loss Thursday, saying election night sent him on an “emotional roller coaster” that left him feeling “pain and emptiness” in the aftermath. “I too believed we would win,” he said. “We had large crowds of supporters everywhere, and I expected victory.”

    Even in defeat, however, Orbán pushed back against narratives that Fidesz has been fully rejected by the Hungarian public, pointing out that the party retained a solid core of support: nearly 2.4 million Hungarians cast ballots for Fidesz in the country of 9.5 million people. “We cannot pretend the entire country rejected our government,” he noted.

    Magyar, who defected from Orbán’s circle to launch an anti-corruption campaign focused on pocketbook issues including failing public health care and inadequate public transport, has moved swiftly to cement his transition to power. He has pledged to repair Hungary’s frayed relationships with EU institutions and NATO, a key foreign policy shift from Orbán’s confrontational, Euroskeptic course. Following a private meeting with Hungary’s sitting president on Wednesday, Magyar told reporters he had received confirmation that the inaugural session of the new parliament – where he is all but certain to be confirmed as prime minister – will likely be held on May 6 or 7, matching his push for an accelerated transfer of power.

  • Starmer faces calls to resign as UK government admits ambassador to US failed vetting process

    Starmer faces calls to resign as UK government admits ambassador to US failed vetting process

    LONDON – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing mounting pressure to step down this week after a bombshell revelation: senior Labour figure Peter Mandelson, his pick for UK ambassador to the United States who was later fired over deep ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was originally denied formal security clearance for the sensitive diplomatic role. The Guardian first broke the story of the rejected vetting application, which senior officials later overruled to clear Mandelson’s path to Washington.

    Downing Street confirmed Thursday that Starmer only learned of the Foreign Office’s override of the initial security vetting decision earlier this week, contradicting months of the prime minister’s public assertions that full, proper protocol was followed during Mandelson’s appointment process. Starmer, who appointed Mandelson to the coveted Washington post in late 2024, has maintained that the former Labour cabinet minister deliberately lied about the full scope of his connections to Epstein, who died in prison in 2019 while serving a sentence for child sex trafficking. A government spokesperson stated that once Starmer received the new information, he immediately ordered senior civil servants to launch a full inquiry into why the final developed security clearance was ultimately granted, with plans to update the House of Commons on findings in the coming days.

    Opposition leaders have quickly seized on the revelation to demand Starmer’s resignation, arguing that his repeated claims of following proper vetting procedure amount to misleading Parliament and the British public. Kemi Badenoch, leader of the main opposition Conservative Party, told reporters Thursday that Starmer has now entered “definitely in resigning territory”, while Ed Davey, head of the centrist Liberal Democrats, echoed the call, saying Starmer “must go” if it is confirmed he misled the public and lawmakers. Multiple linked reports have also confirmed that Starmer was warned as early as the appointment process that naming Mandelson, a known close associate of Epstein, would carry severe “reputational risk” for his government.

    The scandal marks the most severe test of Starmer’s premiership since February, when the U.S. Department of Justice released millions of pages of court documents tied to Epstein’s conviction, laying bare the full extent of Mandelson’s longstanding personal and professional ties to the disgraced financier. Among the most damaging disclosures from the so-called Epstein Files were 2009 emails showing Mandelson, who served in a previous Labour government, passed sensitive, potentially market-moving confidential government information to Epstein. Both Starmer and the Labour Party have faced widespread criticism for overlooking these red flags to appoint Mandelson, who was seen as a skilled trade negotiator capable of striking a favorable post-Brexit trade deal with the then-U.S. Trump administration. That gamble initially appeared to pay off, when the two countries finalized a bilateral trade agreement just months after Mandelson took office, but the scandal has since overshadowed that policy win.

    Starmer has issued multiple public apologies to the British public and to Epstein’s trafficking victims, saying he regrets trusting what he now calls “Mandelson’s lies” about the extent of the relationship. Starmer fired Mandelson from the ambassador post in September 2025, after initial disclosures about his ongoing ties to Epstein emerged.

    The controversy has also spawned a formal criminal investigation by British law enforcement. Officers executed search warrants at Mandelson’s two homes in London and western England earlier this year, and arrested him on February 23 on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was released on bail the next morning after more than nine hours of questioning, and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, with no formal charges filed to date. Just days before Mandelson’s arrest, Prince Andrew, King Charles III’s younger brother and another close Epstein associate, was arrested on the same misconduct charge.

    Parliament has recently forced the Starmer government to commit to releasing a full cache of additional documents tied to Mandelson’s appointment and vetting process, which officials have agreed to publish in the coming weeks. The unfolding scandal has thrown Starmer’s leadership into question just over a year into his premiership, with opposition parties already preparing to table a motion of no confidence if the prime minister refuses to launch an independent inquiry into the appointment process.

  • Rescuers to use air cushions in latest effort to save stranded whale

    Rescuers to use air cushions in latest effort to save stranded whale

    For weeks, a young humpback whale that wandered far from its natural ocean habitat has been stranded in the shallow coastal waters off Germany’s Baltic Sea coast, capturing global public attention and sparking a tense debate over wildlife rescue ethics. Now, state authorities have given the green light to a new, low-impact operation to free the animal, nicknamed Timmy by local media, even as many leading wildlife experts warn the mission carries severe risks and stands little chance of success.

    Timmy was first spotted in the low-salinity waters of the Baltic Sea at the start of March, hundreds of kilometers away from the humpback’s native range in the North Atlantic Ocean. After the whale became stuck on a sandbank off the coast of Poel Island in the state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, rescuers launched an earlier intervention: they dug a channel with heavy excavators to help the animal swim free, but the plan fell apart when the disoriented whale turned back into shallow water instead of following the plotted route toward the North Sea.

    Wildlife biologists who have examined the animal say Timmy has sustained extensive life-threatening injuries. Visible damage includes large patches of detached skin, caused in part by the Baltic’s much lower salt concentration that triggered a debilitating skin condition. Experts also assume significant internal organ damage, brought on by weeks of the whale’s own body weight pressing down on its frame in shallow waters. Trauma consistent with contact with a ship propeller and entanglement in commercial fishing netting has also been documented, confirming the animal has been struggling with multiple harm for an extended period. After the first rescue attempt failed, many specialists concluded the whale’s chance of long-term survival was extremely low, and authorities initially agreed that the kindest option would be to let the animal pass peacefully.

    But a recent reassessment of possible intervention methods has led state environment minister Till Backhaus to reverse that decision, approving a new plan led by a private rescue initiative. The operation relies on a simple, minimally invasive tool: large air cushions, similar in concept to inflatable arm bands, that will be positioned around the whale’s flippers to gently lift it off the seabed and onto a reinforced tarp connected to a tugboat. Once the whale is secured, the tug will transport it around Denmark’s Jutland peninsula into the North Sea, with the potential to release it further into the Atlantic Ocean, where humpback whales normally live.

    Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania officials confirmed as of this week that the injured whale is still showing clear signs of life, though it remains severely weakened. “The prognosis remains critical. But a chance of survival cannot be completely ruled out,” Backhaus said in a statement announcing the new attempt. “Against this background, it is justifiable to allow this attempt, and I thank the initiative for it.”

    Not all groups involved in earlier rescue work back the new operation, however. Greenpeace Germany, which assisted in the first attempt to free Timmy, has publicly announced it will not participate in or support the latest effort, citing the whale’s critical condition and the high risk of increasing its suffering. Independent experts from the German Oceanographic Museum and the Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research have echoed that concern, stressing that any transportation or physical manipulation of the already severely weakened animal carries substantial risk of exacerbating its injuries and hastening its death.

    Timmy’s prolonged struggle has drawn international media coverage, but it has also created problems for authorities managing the site. The state government has issued formal warnings about rampant misinformation and unfounded conspiracy theories spreading across social media about the whale’s condition and the rescue process, and a 500-meter exclusion zone has been established around the stranded animal to protect both the whale and rescue teams. Even with that restriction in place, a 67-year-old woman made headlines over the weekend when she jumped off a private boat in an attempt to swim closer to Timmy, before being stopped by on-site enforcement officers.

    Backhaus acknowledged the deep public empathy that has driven the global interest in Timmy’s fate. “The outpouring of sympathy shows how deeply the animal’s fate moves people,” he said. “At the same time, I ask that you respect the work of the emergency services and adhere to the existing protective measures.”

    To this day, researchers remain uncertain how the humpback whale ended up so far outside its normal range in the Baltic Sea. Experts say the unusual stranding highlights the growing risks large marine mammals face from human maritime activities, including shipping traffic and commercial fishing, even in well-monitored European coastal waters.

  • Naples bank robbers hold 25 people hostage then vanish through tunnel

    Naples bank robbers hold 25 people hostage then vanish through tunnel

    In a brazen broad-daylight heist that shocked southern Italy, a group of armed men carried out a well-planned robbery at a Naples branch of Crédit Agricole, holding 25 people hostage before vanishing through a hand-dug tunnel connecting the bank to the city’s sewer system. The incident unfolded shortly before midday local time, 10:00 GMT, triggering an immediate massive emergency and law enforcement response across the region.

    Local police moved quickly to cordon off the entire bank block within minutes of the robbery being reported. For nearly two hours, negotiators held closed-door talks with the armed robbers to secure the release of all trapped hostages, before tactical teams prepared a final assault. Graphic footage circulated on social media captured firefighters using heavy battering rams to break through reinforced bank windows, assisting escaping hostages to climb out of the damaged building.

    Witness accounts paint a varied picture of the captives’ experiences: many hostages remained composed enough to brush glass shards off their clothing and walk away from the scene unassisted, while others were visibly traumatized, weeping and clinging tightly to waiting family members. Six people suffering from acute shock were evaluated and treated by on-site paramedics, though authorities confirmed no one suffered serious physical injuries during the standoff. One hostage who spoke to Italian local news outlet Fanpage.it confirmed that while the robbers were all heavily armed, they did not resort to physical violence against any of the people trapped inside.

    Regional official Michele di Bari praised first responders in an official statement, crediting their swift, coordinated intervention for the safe release of all hostages by shortly after 1:30 p.m. local time. As the crisis unfolded, hundreds of local residents and onlookers gathered in the adjacent public square to follow developments, while tens of thousands of people tuned in to live social media streams broadcasting the standoff in real time.

    Elite special operations units from Italy’s carabinieri national armed police were airlifted to Naples from the central region of Tuscany to assist in the raid. Several hours after the initial hostage release, tactical teams stormed the bank through a broken exterior window; live broadcasts captured the sound of multiple gunshots and deafening stun grenade detonations during the assault. However, when forces secured the building, they discovered the robbers had already fled through an underground tunnel that investigators believe links the bank basement to the city’s extensive public sewer network.

    Footage captured after the raid shows carabinieri and firefighters leaning into a nearby open manhole, launching an ongoing manhunt for the escapees. Investigators have not yet been able to calculate the total value of what the robbers stole, as the gang specifically targeted private safety deposit boxes rather than withdrawable cash stored in the bank’s main vault. The well-executed escape has raised questions about security protocols for Italian bank branches, as law enforcement continues to comb through the sewer network and surrounding neighborhoods for any trace of the attackers.

  • Former Arsenal goalkeeper Alex Manninger dies after car reportedly hit by a train

    Former Arsenal goalkeeper Alex Manninger dies after car reportedly hit by a train

    The global football community is mourning the sudden passing of Alex Manninger, the 48-year-old former Austria and Arsenal goalkeeper who lost his life in a collision between his car and a local train at a level crossing near Salzburg, Austria, on Thursday. The tragic incident has drawn tributes from football clubs and governing bodies across the continent, honoring the decorated shot-stopper’s decorated decades-long career.

    Local law enforcement confirmed the timeline and details of the crash, which unfolded shortly after 8 a.m. in Nußdorf am Haunsberg, a municipality close to Salzburg. First responders pulled the 48-year-old driver, who was alone in the vehicle, from the wreckage and immediately began cardiopulmonary resuscitation, with police officers joining the life-saving efforts and deploying an automated external defibrillator. Despite the coordinated intervention from emergency workers, paramedics and an on-site emergency doctor could not revive Manninger, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. The train operator was not injured in the incident, police confirmed.

    While Salzburg police have not officially released the victim’s name publicly, Austria’s national public broadcaster ORF was first to identify Manninger as the deceased driver. The Associated Press has reached out to law enforcement for full official confirmation of the identity.

    Manninger built a standout 18-year professional career across top European leagues, rising to prominence as part of Arsenal’s iconic 1997-98 squad that won the historic Premier League and FA Cup double. He later moved to Italy’s Juventus, where he claimed a Serie A title, and also played for his hometown club Red Bull Salzburg, alongside stints at multiple other European sides. On the international stage, he earned 33 caps for the Austrian men’s national team, establishing himself as one of the country’s most recognizable football exports of his generation.

    In the hours after news of his death broke, former clubs and national football leadership shared heartfelt tributes across social media. “We mourn our former goalkeeper Alexander Manninger, who tragically lost his life in a traffic accident. Our thoughts are with his family and friends. Rest in peace, Alexander,” Salzburg club officials wrote in a post on X.

    Peter Schottel, sporting director of the Austrian Football Association, lauded Manninger’s legacy both on and off the field. “Alexander Manninger was a great ambassador for Austrian football both on and off the pitch who set a benchmark in his international career and inspired and shaped so many young goalkeepers,” Schottel said. “His professionalism, calmness and reliability made him an important part of his teams and the national team. His achievements are worthy of the highest respect and will be remembered.”