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  • French far-right leader romantically linked to Italian princess

    French far-right leader romantically linked to Italian princess

    French far-right presidential candidate-in-waiting Jordan Bardella’s romantic relationship with Italian aristocrat and socialite Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies has been formally revealed in a high-profile exclusive by celebrity publication Paris Match, ending months of swirling public speculation about the pairing.

    The relationship, which the 30-year-old leader of the Rassemblement National (RN) had long guarded as private, was unveiled on this week’s Paris Match front page. The issue features candid new photos of the couple vacationing together on the French island of Corsica, under the headline “The idyll that no-one expected” — a reveal that many media observers have framed as a calculated, staged announcement rather than an accidental scoop.

    Rumors of the romance first emerged back in January, when the pair were spotted attending a Paris event together celebrating the 200th anniversary of French newspaper Le Figaro. For months, Bardella repeatedly declined to answer questions about his personal life, telling reporters that his private affairs remained his “last space of liberty.” The Paris Match exclusive confirms the couple has now made the voluntary decision to go public with their relationship.

    Bardella is set to stand as RN’s candidate in the 2027 French presidential election if a July court ruling bars RN’s historic party leader Marine Le Pen from running over her conviction for misappropriation of European Union parliamentary funds. Recent polling indicates that any RN candidate would be a strong contender to win the presidency, making details of Bardella’s personal life a matter of significant political interest.

    Political commentators speaking on Thursday noted two core political rationales for the timed announcement. First, they say it is critical for Bardella to enter a potential presidential campaign with full transparency around his personal life, including clarity about who would join him in the Elysée Palace as first lady if he wins. Second, the announcement is seen as a proactive move by RN to defuse potential backlash from working-class and lower-income voters, who may raise questions about the party’s populist positioning amid its leader’s connection to a member of one of Europe’s wealthiest aristocratic families.

    At 22 years old, Princess Maria Carolina holds the additional noble titles of Duchess of Calabria and Palermo. She is the daughter of Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro, one of two claimants to the headship of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies — the royal dynasty that ruled southern Italy and Sicily through much of the 19th century, before the unification of Italy stripped the family of its throne. While her royal title holds no official legal status in the modern Italian Republic, she is a distant direct descendant of King Louis XIV, France’s iconic 17th-century “Sun King.”

    According to her official public profile, Maria Carolina grew up across Rome, Monte Carlo and Paris, and currently leads a range of cultural, social and humanitarian initiatives aligned with her family’s historic heritage and values. She also collaborates on creative and philanthropic projects with her sister, Princess Maria Chiara. Fluent in six languages, she has built a social media following of more than 350,000 and maintains a close public connection to the global fashion industry. In a break from centuries of royal tradition, her father abolished the Salic law that restricted succession to male heirs, meaning she is positioned to become the next head of the Bourbon-Two Sicilies royal house.

    Paris Match’s coverage has framed the couple as a strikingly unconventional 21st-century pairing, describing them as “reinventing courtly love” for the modern era. The publication notes the stark contrast between their backgrounds: while Maria Carolina was raised in the opulence of elite European capitals, Bardella was born in a public housing flat in the working-class Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, with no inherited aristocratic title, and climbed the political ranks through his own ambition — fitting into France’s long tradition of self-made political leaders. According to the magazine’s reporting, the pair first crossed paths at the Monaco Grand Prix in May of last year, where Bardella had accompanied his father, a lifelong motor racing fan.

    It should be noted that Paris Match is owned by Bernard Arnault, the French billionaire who chairs the luxury goods conglomerate LVMH.

  • Irish government to consider Creeslough explosion inquest

    Irish government to consider Creeslough explosion inquest

    Nearly two years after a devastating explosion ripped through a small rural service station in Creeslough, County Donegal, claiming 10 lives, families of the victims are still fighting for clear answers and official accountability — and Irish officials have now signaled a potential path forward. On Thursday, 10 family representatives of those killed traveled to Dublin’s Department of Justice to meet with Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan for a 90-minute discussion about their long-held demand for a public inquest into the disaster.

    The October 7, 2022 blast killed 10 local residents from Creeslough and its surrounding communities, cutting short lives across generations: 5-year-old Shauna Flanagan-Garwe, her 50-year-old father Robert Garwe, 14-year-old Leona Harper, 13-year-old James Monaghan, his mother Catherine O’Donnell, Jessica Gallagher, Martin McGill, James O’Flaherty, Martina Martin, and Hugh Kelly. To date, investigators have not released any official public explanation for what caused the explosion. While multiple arrests have been made in connection with the ongoing investigation, no one has faced criminal charges.

    Following the closed-door meeting, O’Callaghan confirmed that he would review the request for a formal inquest, echoing a longstanding government concern that launching an inquest too early could jeopardize the active criminal probe. But legal representatives for the families have pushed back, arguing that preliminary inquest work can proceed in parallel with the criminal investigation without disruption, pointing to the 1981 Stardust fire disaster inquest as a successful model that paired independent judicial review with ongoing criminal processes.

    “Two years ago, these families asked for an independent investigation. We are still waiting for a decision,” Darragh Mackin, a solicitor with Phoenix Law representing several families, told reporters outside the department. He added that there is “absolutely no prohibition” on starting preparatory work for the inquest immediately, saying “the ball is now in the minister’s court.”

    For the families left behind, the delay has meant being frozen in grief, unable to move forward without clarity about what caused the tragedy that took their loved ones. Donna Harper, whose 14-year-old daughter Leona died in the blast, pointed to the unmarked milestones her daughter will never get to experience — “She should have been 18 in January, she should have been making her prom” — and expressed frustration that almost four years will pass from the date of the explosion by the time any decision may come.

    Harper also noted that the disaster, one of the deadliest in modern Irish history, has yet to even receive an official public memorial. “We’re going down there every year, we’re just laying flowers at the side of the road. We’re stuck on the 7th of October 2022. How do you begin to move on when you have all this in front of you? We just need some answers,” she said.

    Damien Tierney, another legal representative for the families, said O’Callaghan’s primary concern is that any sworn public inquiry launched before the criminal investigation concludes could lead to injunctions filed by parties connected to the case. Tierney pushed for a timeline, asking “At what point will the government say, enough time has passed? Something now needs to be done.”

    Currently, multiple Irish state bodies are conducting overlapping investigations into the explosion. Aine Flanagan, who lost her partner Robert Garwe and daughter Shauna in the blast, confirmed that a completed health and safety investigation file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) this coming July. By standard process, the DPP typically takes between three and six months to make a decision on whether to pursue criminal prosecution after receiving case files.

    Anne Marie Boyle, who lost her sister Catherine O’Donnell and 13-year-old nephew James Monaghan in the disaster, said even launching preliminary inquest work now would help bring families closer to closure. “If preliminary work can get under way on the inquest it would speed things up,” she said. After two years of waiting, families remain firm in their demand for transparency, saying nothing less than a full independent inquiry will allow them to begin healing.

  • Four people die trying to board boat in Channel crossing attempt

    Four people die trying to board boat in Channel crossing attempt

    A deadly incident on the northern coast of France has left four migrants dead after dangerous currents swept them away as they attempted to board a smuggling vessel bound for the United Kingdom across the English Channel, local authorities confirmed Thursday. The fatal event unfolded off the shore of Saint-Etienne-au-Mont, located south of Boulogne-sur-Mer in the Pas-de-Calais region, between the Ecault and Équihen-Plage beaches, an area increasingly used by people smuggling gangs to avoid law enforcement patrols.

    Officials from the Pas-de-Calais prefecture told reporters that the four deceased—two men and two women—had already ventured a significant distance into the water when the strong local currents pulled them under. The death toll remains classified as provisional as of Thursday’s update. In the aftermath of the incident, rescue teams launched a large-scale response operation that got underway at approximately 7:30 a.m. local time, right after dawn, and included specialist diving firefighter units deployed to the scene. A total of 38 people were pulled from the water, three of whom required emergency medical care. Two children were transported to a local hospital as a safety precaution, while the smuggling vessel that was meant to carry the group continued its journey toward the UK with roughly 30 passengers still on board.

    This tragedy pushes the total number of confirmed migrant deaths linked to Channel crossing attempts this year to six, according to data from the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration, which recorded two earlier fatalities in 2026. Recent weeks have seen a sharp uptick in attempted crossings, driven by unusually calm sea conditions that smuggling gangs exploit to launch their perilous voyages. The incident comes on the heels of reports that French authorities rejected a new proposal from UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood that would have allowed British Border Force vessels to operate in French territorial waters to intercept and turn back small migrant boats.

    Political reactions to the tragedy have highlighted deep divides over how to address the ongoing Channel crossing crisis. Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp blamed the ruling Labour government’s approach for the loss of life, arguing that weak border enforcement has created incentives for smugglers to continue operating. “Crossing the Channel on often faulty and defective dinghies is immensely dangerous and puts lives at risk,” Philp said. “Labour’s weak approach which allows these crossings to continue is causing lives to be lost, and their unwillingness to take decisive action on illegal immigration is fuelling this crisis. Stopping the crossings requires more than disruption on the beaches. It requires the swift removal of those who enter illegally so the incentive to make these dangerous journeys disappears.”

    By contrast, refugee advocacy groups have framed the tragedy as a consequence of insufficient safe and legal pathways for migration to the UK. Imran Hussain, director of external affairs at the UK’s Refugee Council, argued that policing alone cannot stop dangerous crossings. “A lack of safe routes to the UK has left people feeling they have no other choice to rebuild their lives,” Hussain said. “Policing the Channel alone is not enough to prevent dangerous crossings. The government should work closely with our European neighbours to share responsibility and create more safe pathways for people to come to the UK without taking dangerous journeys.”

    Officially, a UK government spokesperson said officials were “deeply saddened” by the deaths, noting that every fatality in the Channel is a preventable tragedy. “Every death in the Channel is a tragedy and a stark reminder of the dangers posed by criminal gangs exploiting vulnerable people for profit,” the spokesperson said. “We will continue working relentlessly with the French and our partners overseas to prevent these perilous journeys.” The UK Home Office has been approached for additional comment on the incident and the rejected interception proposal.

    Long-term data shows that overall small boat arrivals have fallen slightly year-over-year in 2026, even as smuggling gangs have adapted their tactics to evade patrols. Over the full year of 2025, more than 41,000 people arrived in the UK via small boat crossings, marking a three-year trend of growing activity. Between January 1 and April 8 this year, 5,062 people completed the crossing, a 30% drop from the 7,228 recorded during the same period in 2025.

    To avoid detection by coastal patrols, smuggling networks have recently shifted to a new “water taxi” tactic, where larger smuggling vessels are launched from hidden locations dozens of kilometers from traditional departure points. These vessels then cruise along the coast to pick up groups of migrants who wait for them in shallow water out of sight of land-based police, rather than assembling and inflating boats on public beaches near patrol routes.

  • Russian court criminalizes the activities of the Nobel Prize-winning rights group Memorial

    Russian court criminalizes the activities of the Nobel Prize-winning rights group Memorial

    On Thursday, Russia’s highest judicial body delivered a landmark ruling that effectively outlaws all operations of Memorial, the Nobel Peace Prize-honored human rights organization, marking the most severe escalation yet in the Kremlin’s sustained crackdown on independent civil society and opposition voices amid its ongoing military campaign in Ukraine. The ruling came following a closed-door hearing on a petition filed by Russia’s Justice Ministry, which requested that the court label the so-called “Memorial international civic movement” an extremist organization and implement a full ban on its activities across Russian territory.

    In a pre-ruling statement, Memorial representatives noted that the specific entity named in the government’s petition does not actually exist as a formal registered body in the country. Even so, the organization warned that the sweeping extremist designation would give Russian law enforcement and regulatory authorities broad legal authority to target any ongoing Memorial-linked projects, as well as persecute their participants and public supporters.

    Founded in the late 1980s during the final years of the Soviet Union, Memorial emerged as one of Russia’s oldest and most widely respected human rights organizations, built originally on a mission to preserve the memory of millions of people killed or persecuted during the Soviet Union’s era of political repression. Over decades of operation, it grew into a sprawling global network of smaller independent groups spanning Russia and dozens of other countries, expanding its mandate to document ongoing human rights abuses across the region.

    Less than a year after Moscow launched its full-scale military invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Memorial was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of its decades-long work advancing human rights and accountability. It shared the prize with imprisoned Belarusian pro-democracy activist Ales Bialiatski and Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties, another prominent regional human rights organization.

    This latest legal action is not the first attempt by Russian authorities to shut down the group. In 2021, Russian courts ordered the dissolution of Memorial’s two core Russian entities: its national human rights center and the original International Memorial. The government had already labeled the group a “foreign agent” years earlier, a regulatory designation that imposes strict government surveillance, carries a heavy public stigma, and subjected the organization to repeated crippling fines for alleged violations of Russia’s restrictive foreign agent legislation. Undeterred by the 2021 shutdown order, Memorial activists continued their work through loosely structured, decentralized projects across the country.

    In 2023, former members formally established a new International Memorial Association based in Geneva, Switzerland, to coordinate the group’s global work. Earlier this year, Russian authorities designated the new Geneva-based association “undesirable” — a legal classification that allows the government to prosecute any Russian citizen found collaborating with the group. Thursday’s extremist designation raises the stakes even further: under Russian law, participating in activities linked to an extremist organization is a criminal offense punishable by multi-year prison sentences.

    The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which awards the prestigious peace prize, pre-emptively spoke out against the Russian government’s actions in a statement released one day ahead of the ruling. The committee condemned the crackdown on Memorial as “an affront to the fundamental values of human dignity and freedom of expression” and called on Russian authorities to immediately end all forms of harassment against the organization and its members.

  • Rutte the ‘Trump whisperer’ faces a fresh test as Trump turns on NATO over Iran

    Rutte the ‘Trump whisperer’ faces a fresh test as Trump turns on NATO over Iran

    BRUSSELS – Tensions between Washington and its trans-Atlantic allies have reached a new boiling point, as NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte finds himself once again managing diplomatic fallout from U.S. President Donald Trump’s anger over the Iran conflict – a war that the 31-nation defensive alliance was never consulted on, and which falls far outside its core defense mandate. Since the U.S.-led war against Iran began, Trump has launched a series of scathing attacks against U.S. allies, labeling many of them cowards, dismissing NATO itself as a toothless paper tiger, and drawing a damaging comparison between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Neville Chamberlain, the former UK leader widely associated with failed appeasement policy toward Nazi Germany. This latest confrontation only adds to a growing rift that has already been stretched thin by Trump’s repeated threats to annex Greenland, a move that has alarmed European allies and sparked fears that a unilateral U.S. power grab could unravel the alliance entirely. The current friction centers on Trump’s frustration that NATO allies refused to back the U.S. after Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz, the strategically critical global oil and trade chokepoint. Following Wednesday’s closed-door talks between Rutte and Trump, the U.S. leader made his disappointment public in a fiery social media post, writing: “NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN.” When pressed by CNN reporters on whether Trump planned to pull the U.S. out of the trans-Atlantic alliance – a threat he first issued during his first term in 2018 – Rutte acknowledged Trump’s deep dissatisfaction, admitting “He is clearly disappointed with many NATO allies, and I can see his point.” Known widely as a skilled “Trump whisperer” who has managed to keep the mercurial U.S. leader engaged with the alliance since taking the top NATO job in 2024, Rutte has previously scored diplomatic wins: he helped broker a deal that saw European allies and Canada purchase U.S. weapons for Ukraine, keeping the U.S. invested in managing Europe’s largest armed conflict in 70 years. Keeping the U.S. anchored in NATO has become Rutte’s top priority, especially as Washington has increasingly shifted its strategic focus to other global flashpoints, from the Indo-Pacific to Venezuela and now the Middle East. To maintain goodwill, Rutte has leaned into flattery, praising Trump for pushing NATO allies to meet their mandatory 2% GDP defense spending targets, congratulated the U.S. leader on the Iran war, and refused to push back on Trump’s apocalyptic warning that “a whole civilization will die” if Iran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Describing his meeting with Trump as “very frank, very open discussion but also a discussion between two good friends,” Rutte declined to confirm unreported claims that Trump is weighing pulling U.S. troops out of European nations that refuse to back the war. When asked if the world is safer following the U.S.-Iran war, Rutte replied plainly: “Absolutely.” What makes this dispute particularly unusual is that NATO has no natural role in the conflict. As a defensive alliance built to protect the collective territory of its Euro-Atlantic members, NATO only stepped in once to back member Turkey after Iranian retaliatory missile strikes targeted Turkish soil. The war itself was launched unilaterally by the U.S., a NATO member, but no attack on the alliance prompted it. Rutte has repeatedly stated NATO will not join the conflict, and there is no public evidence that the U.S. formally brought the request for alliance support to NATO’s Brussels headquarters, though informal discussions have not been ruled out. When asked about security efforts for the Strait of Hormuz, NATO declined comment, referring all questions to the United Kingdom, which is leading a standalone non-NATO initiative to secure the waterway once a ceasefire holds. Smaller NATO allies have signaled they are open to discussions if a formal request is submitted. Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna told CNBC Thursday that “If the U.S. or any other NATO ally is asking (for) our support, we are always ready to discuss it. But for that, we need of course the official ask to discuss then what is the mission, what is the goal? If allies need our support, then we need to plan together.” Rutte has doubled down on his position that NATO will only act to defend its own territory, and will avoid entanglement in conflicts outside the Euro-Atlantic area. “This is Iran, this is the Gulf, this is outside NATO territory,” he explained. While NATO has launched out-of-area operations in the past – most notably in Afghanistan and Libya – the alliance has little appetite for new foreign deployments after the chaotic 2021 U.S.-led withdrawal from Afghanistan, which former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg openly labeled a defeat. Much of Trump’s anger has been directed specifically at two NATO members, Spain and France, rather than the alliance as an institution. Spain has already closed its airspace to U.S. military aircraft involved in the Iran war and blocked U.S. forces from accessing shared military bases on Spanish territory. After a two-week ceasefire was announced, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez took to social media to criticize the war, writing that his government “will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they show up with a bucket. What’s needed now: diplomacy, international legality, and PEACE.” France has also taken a critical stance, arguing the war was launched in violation of international law and that Paris was never consulted ahead of time. While France has not issued blanket restrictions on U.S. use of shared bases or French airspace, authorities have confirmed they will review all requests on an individual, case-by-case basis.

  • Films by Almodovar, Pawlikowski and Hamaguchi lead an auteur-heavy Cannes Film Festival lineup

    Films by Almodovar, Pawlikowski and Hamaguchi lead an auteur-heavy Cannes Film Festival lineup

    The 79th annual Cannes Film Festival, one of the most prestigious and influential film gatherings on the global cultural calendar, is set to kick off next month from May 12 to 23 on the French Riviera. Organizers officially announced the highly anticipated 2025 lineup at a Paris press conference Thursday, assembling a slate packed with award-winning international auteurs that reaffirms the festival’s reputation as a launching pad for the year’s most acclaimed cinematic works. This year’s edition, however, marks a stark shift: major Hollywood studios are largely absent, a trend festival leadership has acknowledged as reflective of larger shifts in global film production and distribution.

    The festival’s most prestigious category, the main competition for the coveted Palme d’Or, features 21 competing films from established and beloved filmmakers across the globe. Multiple previous Palme d’Or winners are returning to contest the top prize this year, adding extra prestige to the 2025 lineup. Polish filmmaker Paweł Pawlikowski, who earned international acclaim for *Ida* and *Cold War*, will premiere *Fatherland*, a Cold War-era drama starring Oscar-nominated performer Sandra Hüller. Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi, whose *Drive My Car* won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film after its Cannes debut, will present *All of a Sudden* — his first French-language feature. Spanish cinematic icon Pedro Almodóvar’s *Bitter Christmas*, which has already launched in Spanish cinemas, will also make its world premiere in competition.

    Past Palme recipients returning to the lineup include Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, whose 2007 winner *4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days* remains a landmark of global art house cinema. His 2025 entry *Fjord*, set in Norway, stars recently Oscar-nominated Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan. Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, who took home the Palme in 2018 for *Shoplifters*, will debut a new sci-fi work, *Sheep in the Box*, which follows a grieving couple in the near future who welcome a humanoid android into their home as their late son. Other notable returning competitors include Russian auteur Andrey Zvyagintsev, whose previous works *Loveless* and *Leviathan* both earned Oscar nominations after Cannes premieres, with his new drama *Minotaur*. Additional competition entries come from two-time Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi with *Parallel Stories*, Lukas Dhont with *Cowboy*, and László Nemes with *Moulin*.

    American filmmakers are underrepresented in competition this year, with only a small handful of U.S. projects selected. The lone American competitive entry is Ira Sachs’ *The Man I Love*, a 1980s New York-based drama centered on the AIDS crisis, starring Rami Malek. In the festival’s Un Certain Regard sidebar, Jane Schoenbrun will premiere *Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma* — their follow-up to 2024’s cult hit *I Saw the TV Glow* — a story about the production of a 1980s slasher film starring Hannah Einbinder and Gillian Anderson. Two prominent American directors will screen documentaries in special out-of-competition screenings: Steven Soderbergh’s *John Lennon: The Last Interview* and Ron Howard’s *Avedon*, a portrait of iconic fashion and fine art photographer Richard Avedon. John Travolta’s directorial debut *Propeller One-Way Night Coach* will also screen in the Cannes Premiere section.

    Independent U.S. distribution company Neon has already secured distribution rights to three of the most anticipated competition titles: *Fjord*, *Sheep in the Box*, and *All of a Sudden*. The acquisition puts Neon in a position to extend an unprecedented historic streak: the distributor has won the Palme d’Or six consecutive years, most recently with Jafar Panahi’s *It Was Just an Accident* in 2024. Neon is also backing Nicolas Winding Refn’s out-of-competition thriller *Her Private Hell*, starring Sophie Thatcher and Charles Melton, which marks Refn’s first feature film since 2016’s *The Neon Demon*.

    Festival leadership used the press conference to reaffirm the core mission of Cannes in a turbulent global era. “In this moment, bringing together films and artists from around the world is not a luxury, it’s a necessity,” festival president Iris Knobloch said. “Because when the world darkens, we lose our bearings. Showcasing films from all horizons is not a trivial act. It is defending what is most precious to humanity, its ability to dream and think freely.” Artistic director Thierry Frémaux added that 2,541 feature films were submitted for consideration this year, and that Thursday’s announcement covered roughly 95% of the official selection, with a small number of additional entries to be revealed in the coming weeks. He addressed the absence of major Hollywood studios, noting that while American filmmakers are still present, reduced studio participation reflects a broader retreat from the type of prestige theatrical cinema that once defined major studio output. Large studio blockbusters that made splashy Cannes debuts in recent years, such as *Top Gun: Maverick* and *Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning*, will not be on the 2025 lineup.

    True to longstanding festival rules, all competition entries require a theatrical release in French cinemas, a stipulation that has excluded streaming platforms such as Netflix from the competitive lineup since 2017, aligned with France’s strict theatrical window protection laws. The festival will open with the 1920s French drama *The Electric Kiss*, screening out of competition, which will meet the requirement of opening day-and-date in French theaters this May.

    This year’s Palme d’Or will be decided by a nine-member jury led by iconic Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook. The festival will also bestow honorary Palme d’Or awards to two entertainment legends: singer, actor and filmmaker Barbra Streisand, and New Zealand director Peter Jackson, the visionary behind *The Lord of the Rings* trilogy. Coming off a 2024 edition that launched multiple Oscar contenders, including two Best Picture nominees Joachim Trier’s *Sentimental Value* and Kleber Mendonça Filho’s *The Secret Agent*, the 2025 Cannes Film Festival is positioned to uphold its status as the global premier stage for ambitious cinematic storytelling.

  • 4 dead, 38 rescued during attempted channel crossing from France to UK

    4 dead, 38 rescued during attempted channel crossing from France to UK

    At Equihen Beach on France’s northern coast, a devastating tragedy unfolded Thursday that claimed the lives of four migrants — two men and two women — as they attempted to reach the United Kingdom via the perilous English Channel crossing. The fatal incident occurred when the group, part of a larger cohort of people hoping to reach Britain, tried to board a small trafficker-operated inflatable vessel before being pulled out to sea by powerful, dangerous coastal currents.

    According to François-Xavier Lauch, the regional prefect of Pas-de-Calais, 38 other migrants were pulled from the water by rescue teams, with one individual in critical medical condition as operations continued through Thursday morning. This deadly incident marks the latest spike in fatalities as attempted cross-Channel crossings have surged in recent days.
    Unlike the small inflatable craft that migrants carry to the water themselves, the vessel involved in Thursday’s tragedy was what French authorities term a “taxi-boat” — a small motorized inflatable craft launched empty from hidden coastal locations by people smugglers, which then meets migrants at pre-arranged beach pickup spots. Equihen Beach, a long stretch of open sand backed by forest and sand dunes, is a common hiding area for migrants, who often wait for days in the cover of the dunes and trees for favorable weather and sea conditions, as well as for their prearranged pickup by smugglers.
    French police patrol the extensive coastline on all-terrain vehicles and maintain observation posts in repurposed World War II bunker ruins, but the length of the shoreline makes it impossible to intercept every attempted departure.
    The pattern of deadly crossings has accelerated sharply in recent days. Just one day before the Equihen Beach tragedy, on Wednesday, French maritime rescue services pulled 102 migrants from the Channel in two separate separate rescue operations. The previous week saw two more migrants die in a nearly identical incident off the coast north of Calais.
    An Associated Press reporter who witnessed an attempted pickup near Dunkirk at Malo-les-Bains on Wednesday described the dangerous conditions migrants face. Migrants wade out from the beach, often carrying small children in their arms or on their shoulders, to reach the waiting taxi-boats anchored offshore. Depending on tide levels, police presence, and weather, migrants often have to walk hundreds of yards out into the sea, with water reaching their chests, before reaching the vessel. This deep wading dramatically increases the risk of losing footing, being swept away by currents, or drowning before even boarding the craft.
    Migrant rights advocacy groups have long sounded the alarm about the growing risks of the current enforcement approach. French police have increasingly responded to the surge in crossings by destroying small inflatable boats carried by migrants themselves, puncturing the craft with knives to prevent departures. Campaigners warn this crackdown has directly pushed smuggling networks to rely more heavily on the taxi-boat model, which forces migrants to wade through deep, dangerous waters to reach pickup points — ultimately increasing the likelihood of drowning, serious injury, and life-threatening emergencies that require large-scale rescue operations.

  • UK and Norway led a military operation to deter Russian submarines in the North Atlantic

    UK and Norway led a military operation to deter Russian submarines in the North Atlantic

    In an official announcement released Thursday, the United Kingdom’s military confirmed that British and Norwegian armed forces have wrapped up a more than month-long security operation in the North Atlantic, aimed at countering suspected malign Russian submarine activity near critical undersea infrastructure. The coordinated deployment, led by the two NATO allies, involved a British frigate, multiple surveillance aircraft, and hundreds of military personnel tasked with monitoring three Russian vessels: one attack submarine and two intelligence-gathering spy submarines operating in waters north of the UK. According to UK Defense Secretary John Healey, the show of allied force successfully achieved its core goal, with the Russian submarines ultimately departing the area after the sustained surveillance operation.

    In a blunt public message directed at Moscow during the announcement, Healey emphasized that the UK and its allies maintain unwavering vigilance over key undersea cables and energy pipelines that underpin European energy security and digital connectivity. “We see your activity over our cables and our pipelines, and you should know that any attempt to damage them will not be tolerated and will have serious consequences,” Healey stated, underscoring the alliance’s commitment to protecting critical shared infrastructure in the North Atlantic.

    Notably, the announcement comes as global attention remains overwhelmingly focused on ongoing armed conflict in the Middle East, a shift that UK officials have warned Russia seeks to exploit to advance its hostile activities in the Euro-Atlantic region. Healey explicitly rejected the idea of diverting focus from Russian aggression amid the Middle East crisis, telling reporters that “Putin would want us to be distracted by the Middle East, but Russia is the main threat to the U.K. and its allies. We will not take our distracted by the Middle East, but Russia is the main threat to the U.K. and its allies. We will not take our eyes off Putin.” UK officials have also repeatedly drawn connections between Russian activities in Europe and the Middle East, noting that Moscow has supplied Iran with drone components and other military support that bolsters Iran’s regional activities.

    As of Thursday, representatives from Norway’s defense ministry, foreign ministry, and armed forces had not yet responded to requests for comment on the joint operation.

    The latest North Atlantic operation aligns with the UK’s increasingly aggressive posture toward Russian activities violating international sanctions and European security amid Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Just two months prior, in late March, Healey announced that the UK military would expand its enforcement of Russian oil sanctions, moving beyond the previous role of supporting French and U.S. monitoring operations to actively intercept and seize vessels belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet of sanction-breaking oil tankers. “We are ready to take action” against these violating vessels, Healey confirmed at that time, signaling the UK’s commitment to ramping up pressure on Moscow across multiple domains.

  • Aston Villa visits Bologna in the first leg of the Europa League quarterfinals

    Aston Villa visits Bologna in the first leg of the Europa League quarterfinals

    The first legs of UEFA Europa League and Conference League quarterfinal ties are poised to get underway this week, with a collection of surprising underdog runs and historic milestone moments shaping the upcoming slate of matches across the continent.

    The action opens in Bologna, Italy, where Serie A side Bologna will host English Premier League outfit Aston Villa in a highly anticipated Europa League opening leg on Thursday. Aston Villa has already carved out an impressive piece of consistency this season, advancing to the final eight of a European competition for the third consecutive campaign. Domestically, Unai Emery’s side currently sits in fourth place in the Premier League table, well on track to secure a coveted spot in next season’s UEFA Champions League, marking a remarkable rise for the club in recent years.

    For Bologna, Thursday’s match marks a historic first: the club has never advanced this far in a major European competition in its history. Their quarterfinal berth was earned with a thrilling extra-time upset over Roma, one of the tournament’s pre-draw favorites and a fellow Serie A side, cementing their status as one of the competition’s most exciting surprise packages.

    The two clubs have history on the European stage already this season and last. They faced off in the opening match of the Europa League league phase, where Aston Villa claimed a tight 1-0 win. Last season, the pair also met in Champions League qualifying, with the Premier League side taking a 2-0 victory at their home ground Villa Park. Aston Villa captain John McGinn made his mark in both of those previous encounters, finding the back of the net in each fixture.

    A second all-cross-continental Europa League tie will see another English club, Nottingham Forest, travel to take on Portuguese powerhouse Porto. Both sides boast past European glory, adding extra narrative weight to their matchup. For Porto, this run marks their first appearance in a European quarterfinal since 2014, ending a decade-long drought at this stage of continental competition. For Nottingham Forest, the 2024-25 campaign marks their first return to European competition in 30 years, a stunning comeback for the historic club that won the European Cup back in 1979 and 1980. The two sides previously met in the league phase of this season’s Europa League, where Forest claimed a 2-0 home win at the City Ground.

    The third Europa League quarterfinal opening leg will see Bundesliga side Freiburg host La Liga outfit Celta Vigo. Like Bologna, Freiburg is making its first ever appearance in a European quarterfinal, continuing a breakout season for the German side. Celta Vigo, by contrast, has experience at this stage: the Spanish side is chasing just its second ever European semifinal appearance, having last reached the final four back in 2017, when they were eliminated by Manchester United.

    Across UEFA’s third-tier continental competition, the Europa Conference League, another English side will kick off their quarterfinal campaign at home: Crystal Palace will host Italian side Fiorentina in London on Thursday, with both sides entering the tie as pre-tournament favorites to lift the Conference League trophy at the end of the season.

    This collection of matches brings together a mix of established European contenders and clubs making long-awaited or first-time appearances at the quarterfinal stage, setting the stage for two weeks of dramatic continental soccer action.

  • Antonio Conte is never one to sit still. He’s hinting at a Napoli exit and a return to the Italy job

    Antonio Conte is never one to sit still. He’s hinting at a Napoli exit and a return to the Italy job

    ROME — For iconic Italian soccer coach Antonio Conte, the pattern of success followed by a new challenge has become a well-worn career trajectory — and now, less than 12 months after delivering Napoli’s fourth Italian top-flight Scudetto, it appears the outspoken coach is set to move on once again.

    Conte has publicly thrown his name into the running for the vacant head coaching position of the Italian men’s national team, a role he previously held a decade ago during the 2014 European Championship. The vacancy opened after the Azzurri failed to qualify for their third consecutive World Cup, triggering resignations from both head coach Gennaro Gattuso and Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) president Gabriele Gravina. New federation presidential elections are scheduled for June 22, leaving the organization led by an interim lame-duck leadership for the time being.

    Speaking to reporters following Napoli’s tight 1-0 win over AC Milan this Monday, Conte made his ambitions clear. “If I were the federation president I would consider myself,” he stated. “I’ve already been with the national team and I know what it’s like.”

    The move would align with Conte’s long-established career pattern: following a title-winning campaign, he departs for a new opportunity almost immediately. This trend stretches back to 2009, when he left Bari just after securing the Serie B title. It continued at Juventus in 2014, where he exited after claiming his third straight Serie A crown; at Chelsea in 2018, one year after winning the Premier League and just after lifting the FA Cup; and most recently at Inter Milan in 2021, where he left immediately after delivering a Scudetto.

    While the national team speculation swirls, Conte remains focused on Napoli’s current late-season Serie A push. Napoli recently overtook AC Milan to claim second place in the league table, and will face Parma in an upcoming fixture this Sunday. Despite Napoli’s strong recent form, Conte struck a realistic tone about the club’s title chances: current league leader Inter Milan holds a seven-point advantage with only seven matchdays remaining.

    “It’s not a question of believing or not; it’s about being realistic,” Conte explained. “We would have to be perfect and Inter would have to make several missteps. And from what we’ve seen, that seems unlikely because Inter is strong.”

    This weekend, Inter faces a uniquely short away trip when they travel to face nearby Como. Inter’s Appiano Gentile training facility, located north of Milan, sits less than 20 kilometers from Como’s Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia — less than half the distance of the trip from the training ground to Inter’s home San Siro stadium. The two sides have recent history: Inter secured a 4-0 rout of Como back in December, but Como held Inter to a goalless draw in the first leg of the Italian Cup semifinal at Sinigaglia last month. The second leg of that cup fixture is scheduled for April 21.

    Inter comes into the match off a confidence-boosting 5-2 thrashing of AS Roma last weekend, the club’s first league victory since February. Como, led by former Barcelona and Arsenal star Cesc Fàbregas, enters the match unbeaten for nearly two months, and sits in fourth place fighting to hold onto the final guaranteed Champions League qualification spot.

    One player set to capture attention this weekend is Inter midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu. The Turkish playmaker delivered one of the goals of the season against Roma, a 30-yard long-range stunner that dipped under the crossbar. The goal marked Calhanoglu’s ninth league goal of the season, to go with three assists, and he recently helped Turkey qualify for its first World Cup since 2002.

    In injury news, Juventus star center forward Dusan Vlahovic will miss another three weeks of action with a calf injury. The injury comes just after Vlahovic recovered from a previous muscular issue he sustained back in November, and the ongoing fitness problems could complicate his ongoing contract negotiations with Juventus, which has offered the striker a short-term extension at a reduced salary.

    Off the pitch, current Juventus head coach Luciano Spalletti, who was fired as Italy national team coach last year after an opening qualifying loss to Norway, has proposed a structural solution to Italy’s national team struggles. Spalletti suggested that the FIGC mandate every Serie A club field at least one Italian under-19 player in their starting lineup each match to develop homegrown talent.