Global Pulse

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  • Trial for the man charged in Ukrainian woman’s killing on train is delayed for mental health reasons

    Trial for the man charged in Ukrainian woman’s killing on train is delayed for mental health reasons

    CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — In a pivotal ruling on Tuesday, a federal judge has cleared the path for court-ordered mental health treatment for a man charged with the fatal stabbing of a Ukrainian refugee on a local commuter train, after finding that his current mental illness leaves him unfit to proceed with trial.

    Thirty-five-year-old Decarlos Brown Jr. stands accused of one federal count: causing death on a mass transit system, in connection with the January killing of 23-year-old Iryna Zarutska in Charlotte. This federal charge carries the possibility of a death sentence, and a separate state-level first-degree murder charge against Brown has been put on hold until the federal proceedings reach a resolution.

    Acting on a formal request from Brown’s defense team, U.S. District Judge Kenneth D. Bell formalized the ruling that Brown does not currently meet the legal standard for competency to stand trial. The judge ordered Brown to be held in a prison medical facility for up to four months, where he will receive targeted treatment intended to restore his competency to participate in his own defense.

    In a court filing submitted Tuesday, Brown’s legal team shared a extraordinary statement the defendant insisted be passed to the court. In the message, Brown claims he is experiencing what he called a “body emergency”: he alleges that an unidentified party has unlawful full access to his body and is controlling him against his will, and that law enforcement has refused to open an investigation into his claims. Brown also pushed back against an earlier schizophrenia diagnosis, arguing the diagnosis misrepresents the technology he says is being used against him. He has formally requested a court order compelling law enforcement to launch an investigation into his allegations.

    A sealed forensic evaluation conducted by federal mental health examiners was submitted to the court in April. In his written order, Judge Bell noted that the evaluation reached two key conclusions: first, that Brown is currently not competent to stand trial, and second, that his prognosis for restoring competency with appropriate medication and treatment is favorable.

    Bell wrote that Brown’s ongoing mental disease or defect leaves him unable to grasp the nature and consequences of the legal proceedings against him, and unable to properly assist his own legal team in mounting a defense.

    Under the judge’s order, Brown will be transferred into the custody of the U.S. Attorney General for inpatient hospitalization and treatment. The goal of this commitment is to determine whether there is a substantial probability that Brown can regain competency to stand trial in the foreseeable future. Once the four-month treatment period concludes, Bell will hold a new hearing to evaluate Brown’s progress: at that time, he will rule whether competency has been restored and the case can move forward, whether additional treatment is necessary, or whether Brown can never be rendered competent to proceed to trial.

  • UK, France and other Western nations issue new sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank

    UK, France and other Western nations issue new sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank

    In a coordinated diplomatic move that amplifies international pressure on Israel over mounting settler violence against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank, a coalition of six Western nations announced new joint targeted sanctions against extremist settlers, pro-settlement organizations, and a senior hard-line Israeli cabinet minister on Tuesday. The joint declaration was released by top foreign policy officials from Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Norway, and New Zealand, marking a significant escalation of global pushback against Israel’s policies in the occupied territory.

    In their joint statement, the group of diplomats highlighted a long-standing pattern of abuse that has gone unchecked by Israeli authorities. “Extremist violent settlers, with the backing of their supporters, continue to attack Palestinians and abuse their human rights,” the statement read. “For too long, violent settlers have been able to act with near impunity, and settlement expansion and creation of outposts continue with the support and facilitation of the government of Israel.”

    For the past four years, Israel’s hard-right ruling coalition, which is heavily influenced and led by settler movement leaders and their political allies, has overseen a dramatic surge in new settlement construction across the West Bank. Parallel to this expansion, the territory has seen a sharp rise in violent attacks by settlers against Palestinian residents and their property, with very few perpetrators facing legal consequences. The overwhelming majority of the international community has long maintained that all Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank violates international law, and frames it as one of the core obstacles to a lasting two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

    These new coordinated sanctions come as European nations face growing public and political criticism of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and its ongoing land policies in the West Bank. Unlike the sweeping, economy-wide sanctions imposed on states such as Iran and Russia, the new measures remain narrowly targeted, leaving broad bilateral trade including military arms transactions completely unaffected. Each participating nation implemented its own specific set of restrictions under the coordinated framework.

    As part of its contribution to the sanctions, France has issued an entry ban against Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a far-right religious party leader who has spearheaded the government’s aggressive settlement expansion agenda. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed the ban in a social media post, noting it targets individuals “those responsible for the intensification of settlement activity and violence in the West Bank.”

    Smotrich, who recently ordered the eviction of a long-established Palestinian hamlet in the West Bank, openly framed the eviction as a retaliatory response to unconfirmed reports that he could face an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague over alleged war crimes. The ICC does not publicly confirm the existence of pending arrest warrants or investigation requests.

    Barrot outlined that Smotrich, in his role overseeing Israeli settlement policy, is “actively promoting” the unilateral annexation of the West Bank, further expansion of Israeli settlements, the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in Gaza, and economic policies designed to force the collapse of the Palestinian Authority. “These are policies that the overwhelming majority of the international community cannot accept,” Barrot added. Beyond the entry ban on Smotrich, France has also barred four leaders of pro-settlement extremist groups and 21 individual settlers accused of perpetrating violence against Palestinians from entering French territory.

    The United Kingdom also joined the action, with Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper telling the House of Commons that the U.K. was imposing sanctions on six entities and multiple individuals linked to settlement financing and settler violence. “We have targeted some of the most notorious individuals, the most significant settler entities, and the extremist figures in the Israeli cabinet who are inciting these acts,” Cooper said.

    Israeli officials have pushed back fiercely against the new measures. Israel’s Foreign Ministry described the sanctions as “disgraceful measures” that “only serve to fuel that antisemitism.” Ahead of the official announcement, Israel’s Ambassador to France Joshua Zarka told The Associated Press that the sanctions would ultimately backfire. “Sanctioning government entities or government-connected entities is not helping in any way. On the contrary, it is actually helping those extremists,” Zarka said.

    The six-nation action follows new sanctions implemented recently by the 27-member European Union, which targeted both Hamas leaders and Israeli settler organizations and their leadership. Today, more than 700,000 Israeli residents live in settlements across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War that Palestinians claim as the core of their future independent state.

    This report included contributions from multiple Associated Press journalists across Brussels, London, Paris, The Hague, and Ramallah.

  • FDA OKs first new sunscreen ingredient in more than 25 years

    FDA OKs first new sunscreen ingredient in more than 25 years

    After a decades-long wait, U.S. consumers are finally set to gain access to an advanced sunscreen active ingredient that has been widely used across Europe and much of the world for years. On Tuesday, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) federal health regulators officially approved bemotrizinol for the American market, marking the first addition of a new sunscreen ingredient to the approved U.S. list in more than 25 years.

    In an official public statement, the FDA confirmed that bemotrizinol meets all the agency’s strict safety and efficacy requirements for ultraviolet (UV) radiation protection. Testing data shows the chemical provides robust protection from dangerous UV rays, causes minimal skin irritation, and has very low absorption into human skin. The agency also cleared the ingredient for use on all populations, including adults and children six months of age and older.

    Initially, the Dutch manufacturer DSM Nutritional Products will distribute bemotrizinol to U.S. sunscreen brands under the registered brand name Parsol Shield, with a full commercial launch planned for later this year. Per FDA regulations, DSM will hold an 18-month exclusivity period for the newly approved ingredient, after which other cosmetic and pharmaceutical manufacturers will be permitted to incorporate bemotrizinol into their own sunscreen products.

    For decades, the process to update the FDA’s list of safe over-the-counter (nonprescription) sunscreen ingredients has been stalled by long-standing bureaucratic bottlenecks. This approval marks the first time a new sunscreen ingredient has been reviewed and cleared through the streamlined approval pathway authorized by federal Congress in 2020, a change designed to cut through years of regulatory backlog.

    Public health and industry experts note that bemotrizinol fills a critical gap in the current U.S. sunscreen market. Unlike existing options, the new ingredient provides built-in broad-spectrum protection against both UVA and UVB rays on its own — a benefit that current chemical sunscreen ingredients cannot match, as existing single ingredients only block one type of UV radiation, requiring brands to blend multiple chemical components to achieve full broad-spectrum protection.

    It also solves a common consumer complaint about mineral-based sunscreens, which use active ingredients like zinc oxide to block both UVA and UVB rays but often leave an unsightly chalky white residue on the skin. Bemotrizinol does not leave this characteristic white streaking, making it a more aesthetically appealing option for many consumers.

    “For decades, Americans have relied on outdated sunscreen technology while the rest of the world adopted newer, more effective options,” said David Andrews, a senior scientist with the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit advocacy organization that has spent years pushing the FDA to update its sunscreen regulations and open the market to new ingredients. “The approval of bemotrizinol will help change that disparity for American consumers.”

    FDA regulations currently require all commercially sold sunscreens marketed for daily use to provide protection against both forms of harmful UV radiation: UVB rays, which are the primary cause of sunburn and contribute to skin cancer development, and UVA rays, which penetrate deeper into the skin and are the leading cause of premature wrinkles and the highest risk of invasive skin cancer.

    First authorized for commercial use by European regulatory authorities all the way back in 1999, bemotrizinol was first submitted to the FDA for regulatory review in 2005, meaning it took 18 years to navigate the agency’s prior outdated approval process to reach final approval.

    “The FDA is committed to ensuring the American consumer has access to the most effective and safe therapies, including over-the-counter products like sunscreens,” said Dr. Mike Davis, acting director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a statement accompanying the approval.

    The approval of bemotrizinol is part of the agency’s gradual, ongoing process to update U.S. sunscreen safety and efficacy standards. In 2011, the agency implemented a landmark update that banned misleading marketing terms such as “waterproof,” which regulators found overstated product performance, and mandated that all commercially sold sunscreens provide protection against both UVA and UVB rays — a requirement that did not exist before, when many products only blocked UVB radiation. In 2021, the FDA proposed a further round of updates, including capping maximum labeled SPF numbers and enforcing stricter minimum UVA protection requirements, but those rule changes are still pending finalization.

    This reporting from The Associated Press Health and Science Department is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the AP retains full editorial control over all content.

  • AP Interview: Albania’s leader defends Kushner-linked luxury development

    AP Interview: Albania’s leader defends Kushner-linked luxury development

    Mass public demonstrations and competing investigations have failed to shift the Albanian government’s commitment to a high-end coastal development project tied to Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former U.S. President Donald Trump, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama confirmed in an exclusive interview with the Associated Press this week.

    The controversial multi-component project, which plans to build luxury hotels, private apartments, upscale villas, and a superyacht marina, has drawn thousands of daily protesters to the streets outside the prime minister’s office in central Tirana. Critics have raised urgent red flags over the project’s planned footprint: one section sits on the protected Narta Lagoon, a critical nature reserve for migratory wild birds, while the second smaller resort component is earmarked for Sazan, an uninhabited former Cold War-era communist military base untouched by large-scale development.

    Rama has pushed back hard against environmental and public backlash, framing widespread opposition as a product of amplified misinformation and manipulated half-truths. He noted that the project originated from an unexpected chance encounter: Kushner and his wife Ivanka Trump stopped to refuel their yacht in the Albanian port of Durres during a trip to Montenegro, where they praised the nation’s natural scenery at a dinner with Rama. Months later, the pair reconnected at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Kushner formally expressed interest in investing in Albania’s growing tourism sector. An investment firm affiliated with Kushner has since been granted special investor status by Albanian regulators.

    Despite heavy machinery already arriving on site to clear vegetation, build access roads, and install fencing in the protected reserve starting in late May, Rama maintains the project remains in the preliminary planning stage. He stressed that no formal environmental impact assessment has been launched because the final blueprints are still being refined by international architects and environmental specialists. The prime minister pushed back on claims the government is disregarding ecological protections, pointing to his administration’s existing conservation wins including a 10-year national hunting moratorium that helped restore flamboyingo populations and other native wildlife across the country.

    For the Albanian government, the project represents far more than a private investment: it is framed as a transformative step for the small former communist nation, which has spent decades working to raise its international profile, attract high-value foreign capital, and expand its nascent luxury tourism sector as it pursues official European Union membership. Rama argued the project signals a landmark shift for Albania, moving it from a nation largely overlooked by global investors to a top destination for large-scale international capital.

    When asked directly if he would consider stepping back from the controversial plan, Rama rejected the possibility outright, responding simply, “Step back from what?” Critics have raised multiple red flags beyond environmental harm, however: Albania’s national anti-corruption agency has already opened an investigation into the project, amid competing legal claims over the privatization of the project’s land. While the government asserts the acreage is now privately owned, opposing parties have challenged the legitimacy of the original privatization process.

    Rama acknowledged that much of the current backlash has been amplified by outside influences, pointing to a long-running pattern of cyber interference from Iran, which Albania has repeatedly accused of orchestrating hacking campaigns against the country’s digital infrastructure in retaliation for Albania hosting a major Iranian opposition group. Tehran has consistently denied these allegations. The prime minister was careful to clarify that he does not accuse individual, grassroots protesters of being foreign agents, but said bad-faith foreign manipulation has inflated public anger and spread distorted claims about the project.

  • EU orders Meta to restore WhatsApp access for rival AI chatbots

    EU orders Meta to restore WhatsApp access for rival AI chatbots

    BRUSSELS – In a landmark move targeting Big Tech market power in the fast-expanding artificial intelligence sector, European Union antitrust regulators issued a mandatory interim order on Tuesday requiring Meta Platforms to reinstate full access to the WhatsApp platform for competing AI chatbot developers, a requirement that will stay in effect for the duration of an ongoing antitrust investigation into the tech giant’s restrictive business practices.

    The European Commission, the EU’s 27-nation executive body and primary competition enforcement authority, framed the intervention as a proactive step to protect emerging competition in the AI assistant market before irreversible harm to market dynamics can occur. The regulator launched its investigation into Meta’s WhatsApp AI policies last year, after flagging concerns that the company had violated EU competition rules by blocking third-party AI developers from offering their own AI assistant services on the popular messaging platform, effectively locking the market for Meta’s in-house chatbot.

    The probe centered on updated terms of service Meta rolled out for business customers that use AI-powered tools to engage with consumers via WhatsApp. After regulators raised objections, Meta attempted to resolve the investigation by offering to grant access to competitors for a fee. But the offer failed to allay regulatory concerns, with the Commission threatening in April to force Meta to allow free access for rival developers. Teresa Ribera, the Commission’s Executive Vice-President in charge of competition policy, told reporters Tuesday that Meta’s proposed pricing was so prohibitive that it remained “not economically sustainable for competitors” to operate on the platform.

    Under the terms of the new order, Meta must open the paid WhatsApp Business platform to competing AI chatbot providers for no charge. The interim measure will remain in force until either the conclusion of the full antitrust investigation or June 2029, whichever comes first – the investigation currently has no set deadline for completion. Non-compliance with the order could expose Meta to heavy penalties, with fines reaching as high as 10% of the company’s global annual revenue.

    Meta immediately announced it would challenge the order, calling the Commission’s decision an overreach of regulatory authority. “The European Commission has decided that OpenAI and some of the largest companies in the world can use the paid-for WhatsApp Business product for free,” the company said in an official statement. “This is regulatory overreach subsidized by the many European companies that pay.”

    Tuesday’s action marks a notable shift in the Commission’s approach to Big Tech antitrust enforcement. For years, the regulator faced widespread criticism that its multi-year investigations into major tech platforms moved far too slowly to curb abusive market power, allowing anti-competitive practices to become entrenched before regulators could intervene. In response, the Commission has increasingly turned to interim measures in fast-moving markets where consumer and competitive harm can accumulate rapidly. Ribera emphasized that this urgency is particularly warranted in the AI sector, which is evolving at an unprecedented pace.

    “AI markets are developing exceptionally fast, and AI assistants are expected to become an important way for consumers all across Europe to access and use AI,” Ribera said. “Therefore, when the damage can happen quickly and there is a risk of companies being forced to leave the market, we need to use our tools.”

  • Scrapping of Franco-German fighter jet leaves allies at odds on defence future

    Scrapping of Franco-German fighter jet leaves allies at odds on defence future

    Europe’s high-profile ambition to build a homegrown next-generation fighter jet as a cornerstone of independent collective defence has collapsed after Germany formally pulled out of the flagship joint programme with France, throwing into doubt the future of European military cooperation at a moment of heightened geopolitical tension.

    Once hailed as a landmark demonstration of Europe’s ability to pursue unified strategic action and reduce dependence on uncertain outside allies, the next-generation fighter component of the wider Future Combat Air System (FCAS) initiative has instead become a stark symbol of intractable Franco-German discord. The termination of the project comes as transatlantic relations remain strained, and Russia continues its full-scale military aggression against Ukraine, creating a geopolitical context that makes the breakdown of the partnership particularly consequential for European security.

    First conceived in 2017 during the joint leadership of former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron, the FCAS programme was designed from its inception to reset Franco-German relations, pool limited European defence budgets, and advance the goal of a sovereign European defence posture. At the programme’s launch, Macron framed the effort as a peaceful, carefully planned revolution for European security, a vision aligned with his longstanding push for European strategic autonomy to reduce reliance on potentially unreliable international partners.

    The broader FCAS initiative includes multiple interconnected components, from advanced jet engines and next-generation sensor systems to a shared digital “combat cloud” intelligence network, but the manned next-generation fighter jet always remained the programme’s centrepiece. Spain joined the partnership after its founding, with Germany’s defence interests represented by aerospace giant Airbus, while France’s defence sector was led by iconic aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation.

    According to German officials, core non-fighter elements of the FCAS programme will continue forward, though details of what that ongoing collaboration will look like remain unclear. What is well-documented, however, is the steady escalation of disagreements that ultimately sank the fighter jet project: rifts emerged over leadership of the programme, the distribution of development work, and fundamental differing design requirements between the two nations.

    Prominent German defence analyst Nico Lange has pinned the primary responsibility for the collapse on Dassault Aviation, noting that the French firm pushed aggressively for a leading role that German industry was unwilling to cede. “FCAS is not synonymous with European defence… there will be many other good projects,” Lange noted in a post on social media platform X. Dassault Aviation has not yet issued a public comment on the termination.

    Beyond industrial disputes, there were deep mismatches in what each country needed from the new jet. Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) air power analyst Christoph Bergs explained that France sought a small, lightweight aircraft capable of operating from the country’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, while Germany prioritized a larger jet built to establish dominant air superiority.

    Shifts in Germany’s defence policy also changed the negotiating dynamic significantly. Following Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine and years of pressure from former U.S. President Donald Trump for European nations to increase their own defence spending, Germany made a dramatic U-turn from its decades-long posture of relatively restrained defence investment, approving a massive 100 billion euro special defence fund. This increase in domestic resources left German industry far less willing to make concessions that it viewed as misaligned with its national interests, Bergs explained.

    By early 2025, the head of Germany’s ruling Christian Democratic Union, Chancellor Friedrich Merz, had become an open critic of the programme, publicly questioning whether a costly manned fighter jet would even be necessary 20 years from now amid rapid advances in uncrewed aerial technology. A summit meeting between Merz and Macron last week proved to be the final turning point: Merz proposed ending work on the fighter jet component, and the two leaders reached a shared conclusion that the involved industrial partners could not bridge their differences.

    Germany publicly announced the decision on Monday, while the Élysée Palace’s subsequent statement conveyed clear disappointment. “The leaders expressed regret that the industries involved hadn’t been able to make it work,” the statement read. The French presidency added that Paris remains committed to Franco-German defence and security cooperation, framing it as essential for both nations and their European partners.

    While Bergs described the timing of the collapse as deeply inopportune against the backdrop of ongoing war in Europe and tense transatlantic relations, he also noted that the termination creates an opening for participating nations to reassess their defence priorities in light of rapid technological advances that have reshaped air power since the programme was first launched in 2017.

  • Murder of Lyhanna, 11, enrages France and turns up heat on government

    Murder of Lyhanna, 11, enrages France and turns up heat on government

    A wave of national outrage has swept across France after the brutal murder of 11-year-old Lyhanna, a case that has exposed catastrophic failures in the country’s justice system and left President Emmanuel Macron’s government grappling with unprecedented political pressure. More than 60,000 protesters marched in cities across the nation on Monday, demanding the resignation of top government official Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin over systemic missteps that many believe directly contributed to the young girl’s senseless death.

    The accused killer, 41-year-old Jérome Barella, who is the father of one of Lyhanna’s friends, had been repeatedly reported to French law enforcement as a suspected sex offender long before Lyhanna’s disappearance. The first formal complaint was lodged in August of last year by the mother of 10-year-old Rosa, who claimed Barella had sexually abused her daughter on multiple occasions. Medical examinations confirmed the abuse had occurred, yet in the nine months that followed the filing of that complaint, investigating authorities never once summoned Barella for questioning.

    Lyhanna was last seen leaving her school in southwestern France six days before her body was discovered last Thursday on a rural farm roughly 10 kilometers from her hometown of Fleurance. Barella was taken into police custody three days after Lyhanna went missing. While he has denied any involvement in the child’s death, he admitted to driving her to a local swimming pool on the day she disappeared, and has since exercised his right to remain silent when questioned by an investigating judge. Further investigations have revealed that Barella was named as a suspect in multiple other alleged sexual abuse cases in recent years, a red flag that legally should have elevated the Rosa complaint to high-priority status — a step that was never taken.

    For the vast majority of the angry French public, the conclusion is clear: if investigators had even contacted Barella after the initial abuse complaint, he would have known he was under surveillance, and Lyhanna’s murder would almost certainly have been prevented. In response to the public fury, Rosa’s mother has announced through her legal team that she is filing a civil lawsuit against the French state and against Darmanin personally, holding both accountable for their roles in the systemic failures that led to the tragedy.

    Darmanin, a senior leader of Macron’s ruling Renaissance party, has publicly acknowledged that the Lyhanna case exposed “shocking and unacceptable failings in the services of the state,” but has rejected all calls to step down from his post. The minister and the broader government are now caught between a rapidly radicalizing public and the country’s judicial establishment, which has pushed back hard against attempts to frame magistrates as the sole scapegoats for the failure.

    The Higher Magistrature Council (CSM), France’s top judicial oversight body, issued a statement deploring that thousands of hardworking magistrates were being unfairly discredited by the affair, claiming the case was being “instrumentalised by people who have decided in advance that magistrates are the guilty parties.” The CSM also argued that French magistrates, who lead criminal investigations in the country’s justice system, have long been starved of the funding and staffing needed to properly process the huge volume of pending cases.

    Darmanin pushed back against that claim during testimony before a Senate committee on Tuesday, asserting that a lack of resources was not the root cause of the failure in the Lyhanna case. “What is missing in this story is not a new law; it’s not more money; it’s not better IT. It’s the need to prioritise allegations of rape,” Darmanin told lawmakers. “The principle of precaution should have been applied to take Mr Barella out of circulation and determine whether the allegations against him were true. We had all the elements. Nine months later it is quite incomprehensible that he was never taken into custody.”

    In the wake of the tragedy, Darmanin has ordered state prosecutors to immediately review an estimated 70,000 unresolved sexual abuse complaints involving minor victims that are currently backlogged in the French system. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has also announced plans to toughen pending child protection legislation currently moving through parliament, which would increase the maximum penalty for serial child rapists from 20 years in prison to a potential life sentence. As the nation mourns Lyhanna, demands for sweeping reform of France’s troubled justice system continue to grow, with no clear end to the political standoff in sight.

  • Michael Olise could be France’s attacking star at the World Cup

    Michael Olise could be France’s attacking star at the World Cup

    As two-time World Cup champion France prepares to kick off its pre-tournament friendly campaign against Senegal on June 16 in New Jersey, a surprise star is stepping into the spotlight to lead Les Bleus’ attacking line, outshining even the sport’s biggest names ahead of the global competition.

    Unlike high-profile superstars Kylian Mbappé and reigning Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé, 24-year-old Bayern Munich winger Michael Olise carries a quiet, unassuming demeanor — but his on-pitch impact has been anything but understated. He enters the World Cup in red-hot form, fresh off a stunning hat trick against Northern Ireland that pushed his senior international goal tally to seven across just 17 appearances for France.

    In a recent tune-up match where Didier Deschamps fielded his full first-choice attacking unit featuring Mbappé, Dembélé and breakout young talent Désiré Doué, it was Olise who emerged as the standout performer. Deschamps heaped praise on the in-form winger following the match, highlighting both his clinical finishing and relentless work ethic that have made him an invaluable member of the squad.

    “He’s been shining brightly this season at Bayern and he’s done great things for us. He’s brimming with confidence, he’s so decisive,” Deschamps said of Olise. “On top of that, as an attacking player he also has a remarkable capacity for hard work.”

    Olise’s signature attacking move — a sharp, sudden cut inside from the right flank followed by a curled effort on goal — proved deadly against Northern Ireland. After burying two close-range finishes inside the penalty box, he cut inside from his wing, changed direction with his trademark blistering speed, and bent a sublime strike into the top-left corner of the net. This deft, rapid skill has become his calling card, and it helped him net 22 goals for Bayern Munich during the 2025-26 domestic season.

    Deschamps first noticed Olise’s elite potential during the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, where Olise played under French and Arsenal legend Thierry Henry for France’s Olympic squad. Olise notched two goals and five assists throughout the tournament, leading Les Bleus to the Olympic final and cementing his status as a player worth promoting to the senior national side.

    For Olise, the Paris Games remain a career-defining experience. “It was the best football experience of my life, because it allowed people to get to know me,” he said, crediting Henry for shaping his understanding of the game and helping him unlock his potential at the international level.

    Despite his rapid success, Olise’s reserved personality initially slowed his adjustment to the senior national team, according to Deschamps. The France manager noted it took four or five matches for the shy winger to settle in and show his true quality on the pitch.

    “He’s not a very expressive character. He’s rather introverted, but he’s very endearing,” Deschamps added.

    Olise’s first senior international goal — a perfectly bent free kick into the top corner against Croatia in the 2025 Nations League — gave a clear preview of the clinical skill he would bring to the squad. His journey to the top of international football is also an underdog story: born in London, he was released by both Chelsea and Manchester City in his youth before launching his professional career with EFL Championship side Reading. He earned the league’s Young Player of the Season award during his time with Reading, earning a transfer to Premier League side Crystal Palace in 2021. Three impressive seasons at Palace convinced Bayern Munich to sign him for a 60 million euro ($65 million) transfer, and he has thrived at the German giant, scoring 42 goals in 103 appearances across all competitions while adding consistent goal-scoring to his already elite passing range.

    Olise’s match-winning performance against Northern Ireland also drew attention to a recent slump in form for France’s star man Kylian Mbappé, who failed to score for the second consecutive friendly after a 2-1 loss to Ivory Coast last Thursday. Deschamps acknowledged that Mbappé squandered multiple clear chances and was far from his clinical best, but played down any concerns about the forward’s form ahead of the World Cup.

    “It’s true that he had several chances and wasn’t efficient,” Deschamps said. When asked about Mbappè’s dry spell, the manager joked, “He told me he’s holding back for the United States. So that suits me.”

    Mbappé currently sits on 56 international goals for France, just two strikes away from breaking Olivier Giroud’s all-time senior goal record for the national team, a milestone he is widely expected to hit during the World Cup tournament in North America.

  • Apple and Brussels blame each other for delaying European Union rollout of Siri AI

    Apple and Brussels blame each other for delaying European Union rollout of Siri AI

    A public dispute has erupted between Apple and the European Commission over who is responsible for the delayed rollout of Apple’s highly anticipated AI-powered Siri upgrade to European users, with both sides trading sharply conflicting accounts of the impasse. The standoff centers on the European Union’s landmark Digital Markets Act (DMA), a sweeping regulatory framework designed to curb anti-competitive behavior by large Big Tech “gatekeepers” and open up their platforms to rival services. The controversy unfolded just one day after Apple unveiled its updated AI-enhanced Siri at its annual worldwide developers conference, where the company announced the tool would not be available to iPhone and iPad users in the EU when it launches later this year, offering no firm timeline for a regional launch. In its public statements following the announcement, Apple pinned the delay squarely on the DMA. The tech giant claimed that the European Commission’s “extreme interpretation” of the regulation would force it to grant competing virtual assistants unfiltered “direct access” to user data, eliminating critical privacy protections that Apple built into its systems. Apple added that it had developed a proposed workaround and a gradual 18-month rollout plan to address regulatory concerns, but the commission rejected this proposal out of hand. But European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier pushed back forcefully against Apple’s narrative during a regular press briefing in Brussels on Tuesday, seeking to set what he called the “record straight” on the delay. Regnier emphasized that the decision to withhold Siri AI from the EU market rests entirely with Apple, arguing that no provision of the DMA blocks the company from rolling out new products and services to European consumers. Contrary to Apple’s account, Regnier said Apple did not present a workable compliant solution to regulators — instead, the company simply requested an 18-month full exemption from DMA requirements for the new Siri AI tool. Regnier rejected that request as incompatible with the core goals of the regulation, noting that an exemption would give Siri AI an unfair competitive advantage over rival AI agents, including those developed by Google, by denying equal opportunity for European iPhone users to choose between competing services. Drawing a sharp comparison to underscore the commission’s stance, Regnier framed the DMA as non-negotiable, comparing the rejection of an exemption to a police officer not allowing a driver to ignore posted speed limits. The clash highlights growing tensions between major U.S. Big Tech firms and European regulators as the DMA, one of the world’s most stringent tech regulations, comes into full force, forcing firms to make major adjustments to their operating models to comply with new open market and competition rules.

  • Pope Leo wades into Spain’s culture wars over soccer and the Catalan language in Barcelona

    Pope Leo wades into Spain’s culture wars over soccer and the Catalan language in Barcelona

    On Tuesday, U.S.-born Pope Leo XIV touched down in Barcelona for the second leg of his week-long visit to Spain, stepping straight into two of the nation’s most long-running and divisive cultural flashpoints. Days before his arrival, the pontiff had already sparked anger among FC Barcelona’s loyal fanbase with an unapologetic reveal: his soccer allegiance lies not with their beloved local club, but with their bitter historic rival, Real Madrid.

    Aboard the papal flight bound for Spain, when asked about his sporting preferences, Pope Leo clarified: “The pope is for all teams, but Prevost is for Real Madrid” — a reference to his birth name Robert F. Prevost. Real Madrid’s official social media channels quickly shared the clip of the exchange, with fans joking online that the club is “the team of God.” Popular Spanish sports commentator Tomás Roncero of leading daily AS doubled down on the partisan tone in a viral video, claiming “the pope can’t be for Barça because it is a sinful club … in his heart he is of a pure and clean club like Madrid.”

    Prior to arriving in Catalonia, the pope’s schedule in Madrid further cemented his public connection to the capital’s iconic club. He toured Real Madrid’s trophy-laden museum alongside club president Florentino Pérez, who gifted him a custom team jersey emblazoned with his full name. Thousands of Catholic worshippers also gathered at Real Madrid’s home stadium for a papal rally, where performers clad in the Holy See’s white and yellow colors juggled soccer balls for the crowd. In remarks at the event, Pope Leo declared, “Today the Church in Madrid has scored a great goal to always be remembered!”

    For many Catalans and fans of non-Madrid clubs across Spain’s regionally diverse country, Real Madrid is far more than just a soccer team. It is widely viewed as a symbol of conservative central Spanish power, long tied to the national government and the Catholic Church as one of the core institutional pillars of the unified Spanish state — a framing that stings particularly in regions like Catalonia with strong separatist sentiment and distinct local identities.

    That context made the pope’s soccer loyalty a sore point even before he arrived in Barcelona. Standing outside the iconic Sagrada Familia basilica — where Pope Leo will lead a major public Mass on Wednesday, the centerpiece of his Catalan stop — local office worker and lifelong Barça fan Eduard Modroño expressed disappointment. “A figure as important as he is shouldn’t take sides. Now that he has said that he supports Real Madrid, well, I am sorry, he has messed it up,” Modroño told reporters.

    The second, far more politically charged controversy revolves around language use. Catalan, a tongue spoken by roughly 10 million people mostly in northeastern Spain, was brutally suppressed under Francisco Franco’s 20th-century fascist dictatorship. Decades after Franco’s death, Catalans remain fiercely protective of their language, and the fight to preserve its public status has been a core driver of the region’s independence movement, which reached a peak with a failed 2017 secession bid that remains a raw national wound.

    Many Catalan activists and residents had publicly called on the pope to prioritize Catalan over Spanish during his public remarks in Barcelona, ahead of his onward journey to the Canary Islands. In a small but symbolic gesture to defuse tensions ahead of his visit, Pope Leo opened his first public address at Barcelona’s cathedral with introductory remarks in Catalan, alternating between the language and Spanish throughout his homily.

    “Beloved brothers and sisters, it is with great pleasure that I start my visit holding the midday prayer at this cathedral,” he said in Catalan. Previous popes including John Paul II and Benedict XVI made small nods to Catalan during their 1982 and 2010 visits to the city, and the Spanish king regularly uses the language when visiting the region — though it remains rare for non-Catalan national politicians from central Spain to do so.

    Even so, the gesture of a few opening words in Catalan has failed to satisfy many local residents and separatist politicians. During a brief meeting with the pope at the Spanish parliament on Monday, Míriam Noqueras of the pro-independence party Junts told him in English: “Speaking the language of the land that welcomes you is a wonderful act of love and respect. I hope you enjoy your visit to Catalonia, my nation.”

    Barcelona’s archbishop Juan José Omella has sought to play down expectations, explaining that the pope prepared his remarks with full awareness of Catalonia’s linguistic history, but has no illusions about his own limited fluency. “The pope knew beforehand that he is coming to a country (Catalonia) where people speak a very old language that has never been lost through the centuries,” Omella told reporters. “He knows this and has prepared his speeches and his homily, while keeping in mind that he can only do so much and doesn’t want to end up looking silly in a language he doesn’t speak.”

    For many locals, the language question outweighs even the soccer controversy. Even Modroño, the Barça fan who criticized the pope’s Real Madrid allegiance, says the failure to speak more Catalan is a bigger grievance. “It is a lack of respect not to speak entirely in Catalan,” he said.