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  • US charges Iraqi national accused of plotting at least 18 terror attacks in Europe

    US charges Iraqi national accused of plotting at least 18 terror attacks in Europe

    MANHATTAN, N.Y. — Federal law enforcement authorities have secured terrorism-related charges against an Iraqi man accused of orchestrating a sprawling, Iran-linked plot to carry out violent attacks targeting Jewish communities and Western interests across three continents, court documents unsealed Friday confirm.

    Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, the 48-year-old suspect, stands accused of planning no fewer than 18 separate terrorist attacks across Europe, all framed as retaliation for U.S. military engagement in the Middle East. The alleged plots included plans to firebomb a major bank in Amsterdam and carry out stabbings targeting Jewish civilians in London, according to the unsealed complaint filed in Manhattan federal court.

    Beyond European targets, prosecutors allege Al-Saadi was actively developing plans to strike a synagogue in New York City as recently as last month. He is also accused of sharing visual intelligence — including photographs and detailed location maps — of Jewish community centers in Los Angeles, California, and Scottsdale, Arizona, to an undercover law enforcement agent, marking the sites as planned targets.

    The complaint also ties Al-Saadi to two high-profile violent attacks in Canada earlier this year: a targeted assault on a Canadian synagogue and a March shooting at the U.S. consulate general in Toronto.

    Al-Saadi faces four separate federal charges: conspiracy to provide material support to two U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organizations, Kata’ib Hizballah, an Iraqi Shia militant group backed by Tehran, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran; conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transnationally; providing material support to these terrorist acts; and conspiracy to bomb a facility of public use.

    Court records confirm Al-Saadi was arrested by Turkish law enforcement before being extradited to U.S. custody. He was transferred to a federal detention facility in Brooklyn Thursday evening, and has been held in solitary confinement since his arrival, according to his defense counsel.

    During his initial court appearance this week, Al-Saadi did not make any on-the-record statements. Through his attorney, Andrew Dalack, he has claimed he is being wrongfully detained as a political prisoner and prisoner of war, asserting persecution by U.S. authorities over his past personal ties to Qasem Soleimani, the former top commander of the IRGC Quds Force who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020.

    Under standard federal procedures, Al-Saadi was not required to enter a formal plea at his initial hearing. He remains in federal custody as of Friday, though his legal team has signaled he may file a motion for bail at a later date.

  • Dozens of European nations sign off on new interpretation of rights convention in migration cases

    Dozens of European nations sign off on new interpretation of rights convention in migration cases

    BRUSSELS, May 20 (Rewritten) — In a landmark meeting held Friday in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova, all 46 member states of the Council of Europe have formally adopted a non-binding political declaration that reinterprets the landmark European Convention on Human Rights for migration-related cases, including a controversial provision that explicitly allows member states to establish deportation processing centers, officially called return hubs, in non-member third countries. The agreement comes as growing political pressure from right-wing and conservative national governments across the continent has pushed for stricter, more enforceable measures to curb irregular migration and streamline cross-border deportation processes.

  • UK media regulator says X promises to crack down on terrorist and hate content

    UK media regulator says X promises to crack down on terrorist and hate content

    LONDON – Britain’s national media and telecommunications regulator Ofcom announced Friday that Elon Musk-owned social platform X has formally committed to sweeping new measures to crack down on the proliferation of illegal terrorist and hate speech content across its service within the United Kingdom.

    Under the terms of the public commitments laid out by Ofcom, X will implement strict geoblocking restrictions that bar UK-based users from accessing accounts operated directly or indirectly by terrorist organizations officially proscribed by the British government. The platform has also agreed to strict timelines for content review: it will average a 24-hour turnaround time for assessing user-flagged posts suspected of violating UK laws against terrorist and hate content, with a target of completing reviews of 85 percent of all flagged material within 48 hours of a user report being submitted.

    The new commitments come in direct response to longstanding criticism from British civil society organizations, which have repeatedly accused X of failing to take meaningful action on illegal content after it is reported by users. To address these gaps, X has agreed to collaborate with independent online safety experts to refine its user reporting and content moderation systems. Over the next 12 months, the platform will also submit quarterly performance data to Ofcom, allowing the regulator to publicly verify whether X is meeting its stated targets.

    Ofcom officials emphasized that clear evidence confirms illegal terrorist content and hate speech remains a persistent problem across major social media platforms, and that the regulator expects all digital service providers operating in the UK to take decisive, accountable action to protect users. For the UK, this issue carries particular urgency in the wake of a recent surge in hate-motivated violence targeting the country’s Jewish community, noted Oliver Griffiths, director of Ofcom’s online safety division.

    The UK is home to roughly 300,000 Jewish people, and community members have faced a sharp rise in both offline and online antisemitic attacks in recent months. High-profile violent incidents include multiple targeted arson attacks and a fatal double stabbing, events that have stoked widespread fear and outrage across British Jewish communities.

    This is not the only regulatory pressure X is currently facing over content moderation failures. Earlier this year, the platform drew intense global backlash after Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot integrated directly into X’s service, was found to generate non-consensual deepfake pornography. Ofcom launched a formal investigation into whether Grok violated UK requirements to protect users from illegal content, and Griffiths confirmed Friday that the probe remains ongoing.

    The Grok controversy also prompted European Union regulators to open their own inquiry into whether X is doing enough to curb the spread of illegal content across its platform. Separately, French prosecutors confirmed last week they are pursuing criminal charges against both Musk and X, including charges related to the denial of crimes against humanity. As of Friday afternoon, X’s UK communications team had not responded to requests for comment on the new commitments.

  • Hungary’s new PM symbolically removes fences erected around Orbán’s former offices

    Hungary’s new PM symbolically removes fences erected around Orbán’s former offices

    BUDAPEST, Hungary – In a highly symbolic act marking Hungary’s post-Orbán political transition, new Prime Minister Péter Magyar personally took down security fencing surrounding the former prime ministerial office on Budapest’s historic Castle Hill Friday, opening the landmark Karmelita building to public access after years of restricted entry. The former Catholic monastery, which commands sweeping views of the Danube River, became an indelible symbol of Viktor Orbán’s 16-year authoritarian-leaning rule after the former prime minister cordoned the site off from the public in 2021.

    Standing before reporters as he pushed open the newly removed barriers, Magyar framed the move as a tangible break from the previous regime. “There is no place for cordons in Hungary after the change of regime,” he stated. Magyar emphasized that the site was constructed and renovated with public money from Hungarian taxpayers, making it rightfully belong to the people of the country rather than being locked away for exclusive government use.

    Magyar and his center-right Tisza party swept to power in a landmark April election, ousting Orbán after 16 years in office and securing a two-thirds parliamentary supermajority that grants the new government a clear mandate to deliver on its promise of sweeping institutional reform. Since taking office, the new administration has already moved forward on key campaign pledges: rolling back the concentrated executive power Orbán built, restoring eroded democratic checks and balances, cracking down on widespread public corruption, and recovering misappropriated state funds from the previous era.

    In a recent disclosure, the new government has already exposed details of luxury private renovations carried out on former government officials’ offices at public expense. Unlike his predecessor, Magyar plans to relocate the prime minister’s official office to the administrative district on the opposite bank of the Danube, leaving the Karmelita building open for public use while national authorities finalize a long-term plan for the site’s future.

    The Karmelita building will remain open to visitors for an extended period, with an official booking website already launched to accommodate public tours. Magyar noted that several structures within the Castle Hill district have already completed long-delayed renovations, while other restoration projects are still ongoing. He added that opening the landmark to the public will likely spark new public discussions and ideas about how the site can best serve the Hungarian people going forward, though he declined to share specific proposals for its permanent use.

    Beyond domestic institutional reform, Magyar has made mending frayed relations with the European Union a top foreign policy priority, with the explicit goal of restoring Hungary’s full standing within the community of Western democracies. To advance anti-corruption efforts, the new government plans to establish a specialized National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, which will be tasked with investigating allegations of misused public funds from Orbán’s tenure and working to recover stolen assets for the Hungarian state.

  • AI vigilante trap snares alleged paedophile ex-teacher in France

    AI vigilante trap snares alleged paedophile ex-teacher in France

    A high-stakes citizen sting operation leveraging artificial intelligence has landed a 66-year-old retired French sports teacher behind bars and ignited fierce public debate over the ethics of vigilante anti-pedophile action online.

    Dominique B, a former official with France’s National Union of School Sports (UNSS), turned himself in to local police in eastern France on Tuesday, just 24 hours after a recording of his sexually explicit conversation with who he believed was a 14-year-old girl was streamed to thousands of viewers across major social platforms. What Dominique B did not know was that the young girl he was messaging was not a minor at all: the feminine face and voice he interacted with were entirely AI-generated, overlaid on the live feed of a male influencer who goes by the handle FINNYZYY, a content creator who specializes in public entrapment operations targeting alleged child predators.

    Footage of the 40-minute exchange, which has now amassed more than one million views, shows Dominique B lounging in a chair on one side of the split screen, while FINNYZYY appears on the other with his AI-altered identity. Though the AI deepfake was not perfectly polished – the influencer had to cover the lower portion of his chin to conceal his beard – the deception was more than convincing enough to fool the retired educator. During the conversation, Dominique B propositioned the “minor” to meet him at Paris’ Parc des Princes football stadium, made explicit sexual requests including asking if she would kiss him and if she would view his nude body, and asked inappropriate questions about whether she had ever shared nude selfies with peers. When reminded that his conversation partner was only 14 years old, Dominique B brushed off the concern, claiming many girls younger than that had already had sexual intercourse.

    The interaction was streamed live to an audience of more than 40,000 concurrent viewers, and multiple audience members quickly recognized the retired teacher and reported the content to Pharos, France’s official government platform for reporting harmful illegal online content. Before law enforcement could launch an official manhunt, Dominique B turned himself in at a local precinct.

    Vesoul’s state prosecutor has confirmed that Dominique B faces two formal criminal charges: sexual solicitation of a person under 15 years of age, and soliciting pornographic images of a minor. Legal experts have noted that it remains unclear whether the fact that the target of his advances was an AI-powered decoy rather than an actual minor will impact the criminal proceedings or potential sentencing.

    While the influencer says his operations are rooted in a mission to raise public awareness of the pervasive threat of child sexual exploitation, the case has sparked sharp division over the ethics of independent vigilante entrapment, particularly when AI is used to create fake identities. Legal commentator and lawyer Mourad Battikh has publicly criticized FINNYZYY’s methods as deeply concerning, arguing that the creator may be prioritized viral publicity over public safety. “If he truly wanted to act as a responsible citizen, he could have shared the recording directly with police rather than broadcasting it to millions online,” Battikh told French news channel BFMTV.

    Aurélien Martini, a representative of the USM French magistrates’ union, echoed these concerns, noting that unregulated civilian vigilante operations risk compromising ongoing official law enforcement investigations into targeted suspects.

    Despite pushback from legal professionals, the influencer has gained high-profile political support from France’s far-right National Rally party. Party deputy Jean-Philippe Tanguy praised the mobilization of civil society against child sexual abuse, arguing that established political institutions have failed to adequately address the crisis.

    The case has also drawn new attention to the rapidly expanding capabilities of consumer-facing artificial intelligence tools, which have made it easier than ever for everyday users to create convincing deepfakes for everything from entertainment to activist vigilante operations.

  • Eurovision is almost here! But how much do you know about Europe’s biggest pop spectacular?

    Eurovision is almost here! But how much do you know about Europe’s biggest pop spectacular?

    As the highly anticipated Eurovision Song Contest grand final rapidly approaches, fans across the globe are gearing up for one of the biggest cultural events in the international entertainment calendar. For those looking to get into the competitive spirit before the live show kicks off, a fun new challenge has emerged: put your Eurovision expertise to the test, and aim to walk away with a strong score – rather than the competition’s most infamous blank result, nul points.

    For more than six decades, the Eurovision Song Contest has brought together musical acts from across Europe and beyond, captivating millions of viewers with its unique blend of catchy pop music, over-the-top stage productions, and cross-cultural celebration. Each year, the event builds for weeks of semi-finals before culminating in the iconic grand final, where 26 finalists compete for the coveted winner’s trophy, with viewers and professional juries from each participating country casting their votes to crown a champion.

    Among the most recognizable phrases to come out of the contest is “nul points”, the French term for “zero points” that was historically announced when a country failed to earn any votes from other participants. Finishing with nul points is seen as the ultimate disappointment for competing acts, and has become a beloved part of Eurovision folklore among fans.

    Now, ahead of this year’s final, the challenge invites fans to test their own knowledge of Eurovision history, iconic entries, past winners, and quirky contest facts to see if they can score high and avoid the humiliation of a nul points result on their own quiz. Whether you are a long-time superfan who has watched every contest for decades, or a first-time viewer tuning in for this year’s show, the quiz offers a lighthearted way to build excitement in the final hours before the grand final gets underway.

  • Prisoner swap goes ahead as Kyiv mourns 24 killed in Russian strike on flats

    Prisoner swap goes ahead as Kyiv mourns 24 killed in Russian strike on flats

    On Friday, as the Kyiv city government declared a day of mourning for 24 civilians killed in a devastating Russian missile strike, Russia and Ukraine carried out the first phase of a planned large-scale prisoner of war exchange, freeing 205 captives from each side. This dual development underscores the stark contradiction that continues to define the 2022 full-scale invasion: fleeting diplomatic progress toward de-escalation is consistently overshadowed by mounting civilian casualties and escalating military hostilities.

    Hours before the POW transfer, Ukrainian rescue workers concluded a 28-hour search operation through the rubble of a nine-story residential apartment block in Kyiv’s southeastern Darnytskyi district, which was reduced to ruin by a Russian X-101 cruise missile attack launched Thursday. The strike completely destroyed 18 apartments and killed 24 people, among them three teenage girls – 12-year-old Lyubava Yakovleva, whose father had already been killed earlier in the war, and two 15-year-old girls. Lyubava’s older sister was initially reported missing before her death was confirmed, adding another layer of grief to the tragedy. Other fatalities included two postal workers, a kindergarten teacher, an English language instructor, and a former professional hockey player.

    First responders and civilian volunteers, including 18-year-old Ivan who rushed to the site with his father, described chaotic scenes of smoke and fire as they pulled survivors from the debris. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko confirmed that 30 people were rescued from the rubble. A day of mourning was held across Kyiv on Friday, and President Volodymyr Zelensky joined crowds of mourners laying flowers at the site of the destroyed building. Zelensky emphasized that the missile used in the attack had been manufactured in recent weeks, arguing that this proves Russia continues to evade international sanctions to import critical components for weapons production. “Russia deliberately destroys lives and hopes to remain unpunished,” Zelensky said, calling for increased international pressure on Moscow.

    Parallel to the mourning in Kyiv, Russian officials reported that a Ukrainian drone attack on the city of Ryazan, located southeast of Moscow, killed four people including one child and injured 28 more. Governor Pavel Malkov said debris from downed drones damaged two residential apartment blocks, while a Ukrainian drone commander confirmed that the attack targeted Ryazan’s major oil refinery, one of the largest energy facilities in central Russia.

    The POW exchange completed Friday marks the opening phase of a broader agreement to swap 1,000 prisoners from each side of the conflict, brokered jointly by the United States and the United Arab Emirates. Zelensky confirmed that most of the 205 released Ukrainian prisoners had been in Russian captivity since the early months of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Among those freed were fighters who defended the besieged port city of Mariupol, troops who held the Chornobyl nuclear plant in the opening weeks of the war, and service members from contested border regions. Russia’s defense ministry stated that the 205 released Russian prisoners have been transferred to Belarus for medical and psychological assessment.

    The exchange was negotiated as part of a three-day ceasefire agreement between the two warring parties, which ran from May 9 to May 11, coinciding with Russia’s annual Victory Day holiday. The truce was marred by repeated violations from both sides from its start, and collapsed entirely earlier this week when Russian forces launched one of the largest combined drone and missile offensives of the entire war. Ukrainian defense officials reported that between May 13 and 14 alone, Russia launched 1,410 drones and 56 missiles targeting civilian and infrastructure sites across the country.

    Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent comment that the war is “heading to an end,” no peace negotiations have been held between the two sides since February, and there is no visible indication of upcoming diplomatic progress. Ukrainian officials and political analysts have suggested the timing of the recent Russian escalation is intentional: it coincided with a planned visit by U.S. President Donald Trump to Beijing for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Zelensky accused Moscow of seeking to “disrupt the overall political atmosphere” ahead of the high-level meeting. The Kremlin has since announced that Putin will travel to China to meet with Xi “really soon” following Trump’s Beijing visit, with talks set to cover bilateral relations and pressing global issues.

  • Boy, 15, shot dead in France as prosecutors blame drug war

    Boy, 15, shot dead in France as prosecutors blame drug war

    A quiet riverside neighborhood in western France’s Nantes has been plunged into grief and outrage after a brazen, drug-linked shooting that left one 15-year-old boy dead and two other teenagers critically injured, marking the second fatal attack in the same area within just 30 days.

    French prosecutors confirmed that the violence unfolded when assailants opened fire on three young males. Antoine Leroy, Nantes’ chief prosecutor, told reporters the attack bore all the markers of a targeted settling of scores tied to local illegal drug activity. According to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez, the attackers wore balaclavas to conceal their identities and carried out the assault with automatic weapons, marking a dramatic escalation in brutality compared to the previous month’s shooting.

    Of the three victims, the 15-year-old boy succumbed to his injuries at the scene. A 13-year-old boy remains in critical, life-threatening condition in hospital, while a third teenage boy was also wounded in the attack. The claim of drug involvement has been fiercely contested by the family of the deceased 15-year-old, who lived in Port-Boyer, a working-class district of Nantes where the shooting took place.

    Paola, the boy’s aunt, rejected prosecutors’ assessment outright in comments to reporters, insisting her nephew “was not a criminal.” “He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said. “He wasn’t involved in any of that; he had simply come to visit a friend.”

    As local residents gathered behind a police cordon cordoning off the crime scene, the anguish of the community was palpable. The wailing of one victim’s mother could be heard from her car parked nearby. The neighborhood sits along the banks of the Erdre River, lined with mid-century high-rise apartment blocks that have in recent years become a hub for open drug trafficking.

    Stella, 35, a local resident whose own son was at the scene and whose nephew was wounded, described the incident as a waking nightmare. “The boys were on their way to their grandmother’s house,” she explained. “I was home when it happened. A police officer called me to bring my son back and tell me my nephew was injured. I feel like I’m in a nightmare and I’m angry because I almost lost my son.”

    Another 18-year-old local resident, Angeline, recalled the chaotic moments immediately after the shooting: she heard two volleys of roughly 10 gunshots each, before spotting several hooded figures dressed all in black fleeing across a grassy area nearby.

    Nantes Mayor Johanna Rolland has publicly condemned the attack, calling out the drug trafficking networks that she says are “plaguing the country” and tearing apart vulnerable local communities. She stressed that the neighborhood was already reeling from the trauma of the previous fatal shooting that took place at the end of last month, which also killed one man and left another seriously injured. That attack, also linked to the local drug trade, was carried out with a pistol before the gunman escaped.

    Rolland has called on national law enforcement to deploy all available resources to track down and arrest the attackers behind the latest shooting. The incident comes amid a growing national crisis over drug-related youth violence across France: official data from the French Ministry of Justice shows that the number of teenagers involved in illegal drug trade has increased more than fourfold over the past eight years. In 2025, a number of major French cities implemented overnight curfews for minors in an attempt to curb the rising tide of violence tied to drug trafficking.

  • Why is Ireland not taking part in this year’s Eurovision?

    Why is Ireland not taking part in this year’s Eurovision?

    For decades, Ireland has stood as one of the most decorated competitors in the Eurovision Song Contest, sharing the record for the most tournament wins with neighboring Sweden and producing some of the competition’s most iconic moments from the 1980s through its dominant run in the early 1990s. In most years, the Irish public and national broadcaster RTÉ would join millions of viewers across the continent in counting down to the annual grand final. But 2025 marks a historic break from that tradition: Ireland is one of five European nations – joining Iceland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain – that have withdrawn from the contest in protest of the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) decision to allow Israel to compete amid its ongoing military campaign in Gaza.

    With no Irish entrant selected for this year’s competition hosted in Austria, RTÉ has opted to replace its traditional live grand final broadcast with a popular 1996 Eurovision-themed episode of the classic Irish sitcom *Father Ted*, a scheduling choice that has only amplified the fierce national debate around the boycott.

    Controversy around Israel’s Eurovision participation has simmered since the country launched its Gaza offensive in October 2023, following a deadly attack by Hamas that Israeli authorities say killed roughly 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza reports that Israeli military operations have killed more than 72,600 people in the territory to date, triggering widespread humanitarian catastrophe. In both the 2024 and 2025 contests, anti-Israel protests have been a consistent presence, and Israeli participants have required armed security for their appearances. Last year’s competition erupted in additional scandal after Israel’s entry unexpectedly finished first in the public vote, with multiple nations alleging that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government orchestrated a coordinated social media campaign to drive up votes for the entry. The EBU revised its voting and promotional rules in response to the outcry, but the reforms were not enough to prevent the 2025 boycott.

    Shortly before this year’s contest, the EBU issued a formal warning to Israeli public broadcaster Kan after Israeli entrant Noam Bettan released social media videos urging fans to vote for Israel 10 times each. Bettan has said he was caught off guard by protests that interrupted his semi-final performance earlier this month.

    In its official statement announcing the boycott, RTÉ argued that sending an Irish competitor and broadcasting the 2025 contest would be unconscionable given the massive loss of civilian life and unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. The broadcaster also highlighted its deep concern over the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza and the ongoing Israeli ban on international media access to the enclave. Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin framed the withdrawal as an act of solidarity with journalists killed in violation of international humanitarian law during the conflict.

    But the decision has drawn sharp criticism from across the political and social spectrum in Ireland. Alan Shatter, a former Irish government minister and member of Ireland’s Jewish community, has accused RTÉ of moral bankruptcy, claiming the broadcaster acted solely to appease domestic political pressure. The controversy extended even to the replacement programming: Graham Linehan, co-creator of *Father Ted* and a prominent public supporter of Israel, issued a scathing rebuke of RTÉ’s choice to air the sitcom’s Eurovision episode during the grand final time slot. In a social media petition, Linehan called for the resignation of RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst and labeled the broadcaster’s stance antisemitic. RTÉ has declined to issue a formal response to Linehan’s comments.

    The Eurovision boycott is only the latest high-profile step in what has become one of Europe’s most unequivocally pro-Palestine national positions. In 2024, the Irish government formally recognized a Palestinian state, and it joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Last December, Israel announced it would close its embassy in Dublin, citing what it called the Irish government’s extreme anti-Israel policies. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has even labeled Dublin “the capital of antisemitism.” A separate controversy unfolded last year over a local proposal to rename south Dublin’s Herzog Park, named for former Israeli president Chaim Herzog, who was born in Belfast and raised in Dublin; Martin called the proposal overtly divisive and wrong.

    Public opinion on the boycott is deeply split across Ireland. Young people and visitors surveyed on the streets of Dublin overwhelmingly expressed support for the move. Two visitors from Manchester, Celine Flanagan and Niamh Worthington, said the United Kingdom should follow Ireland’s lead, arguing that participation in the contest amounts to tacit acceptance of Israel’s military actions. Two local students, Neha Anna Joseph and Nidhy Anna Abraham, said they supported the boycott even as they missed watching the contest amid their exam schedule, with Neha calling the move “great.” Brazilian visitors Aline Capucho and Augusto Neto also backed the boycott, saying nations linked to human rights crises should not be allowed to participate in the pan-European cultural event.

    For Ireland’s small Jewish community, estimated at around 2,500 people, the boycott has sparked feelings of marginalization and anxiety. Oliver Sears, a 40-year resident of Ireland and founder of Holocaust Awareness Ireland, said he has long opposed cultural boycotts of Israel, arguing that the move amounts to collective punishment that will not save a single Palestinian life. “We have no power and we don’t really count in retail politics and don’t really count at all. That very much feeds into how we are feeling as a community, we feel dismissed, our concerns disbelieved and it’s been horribly isolating,” Sears told reporters. He added that Jewish residents in Ireland have faced a sharp rise in antisemitic language and incidents, fueled by widespread public confusion around Jewish identity, antisemitism and Zionism. “Those three words, Jews, antisemitism and Zionism have all been weaponized and distorted,” he said.

    Israeli broadcaster Kan has characterized the boycott as an attack on creative freedom, describing the mass withdrawal as a cultural boycott that harms freedom of creation and freedom of expression.

    Looking ahead, the controversy is set to spill over into Irish sports this fall, when the Republic of Ireland is scheduled to face Israel in UEFA Nations League matches. A group of Irish pro-Palestine activists, sports figures and musicians including former Irish national football manager Brian Kerr has published an open letter calling on the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) to boycott the fixtures. The FAI has confirmed it will go forward with the scheduled matches as planned.

  • UK government faces weeks of uncertainty over the prime minister’s future

    UK government faces weeks of uncertainty over the prime minister’s future

    LONDON – The United Kingdom has entered a period of prolonged political uncertainty, as embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer confronts an open, high-stakes leadership challenge that has shaken the governing Labour Party just months after the party took power. The challenge is being led by Andy Burnham, the widely popular Greater Manchester mayor, who has laid out his intention to contest the top job but faces a critical barrier: he cannot formally launch his leadership bid until he secures a seat in the UK Parliament.

    Burnham’s path back to Westminster is anything but guaranteed. A Labour lawmaker from Northern England, Josh Simons, stepped down from his Makerfield constituency seat on Thursday specifically to clear a path for Burnham’s return. But the upcoming by-election will test Burnham’s political strength: the anti-immigrant Reform UK party delivered unexpectedly strong performances in last week’s local elections across the country, and the party is expected to mount a fierce campaign to seize the Makerfield seat.

    In a statement confirming his plan to run in the by-election, Burnham acknowledged the uphill battle ahead. “I truly do not take a single vote for granted and will work hard to regain the trust of people in the Makerfield constituency, many of whom have long supported our party but lost faith in recent times,” he said.

    The brewing leadership crisis has already sent ripples through global financial markets. On Friday, British government borrowing costs jumped, and the pound sterling weakened against the U.S. dollar, as investors reacted to fears of sustained political gridlock at the core of the UK government. For the week, the pound has fallen 1.4% against the greenback, marking one of its worst weekly performances this year.

    What began as weeks of behind-the-scenes speculation about Starmer’s future erupted into open rebellion within the Labour Party on Thursday. After Starmer led the party to disastrous results in last week’s local elections – losing right-leaning votes to Reform UK and left-leaning support to the Green Party – pressure for his resignation reached a breaking point. Burnham publicly confirmed his intention to seek the party leadership, and two other senior Labour figures have also begun positioning their own potential bids.

    The crisis deepened Thursday when Wes Streeting, the UK’s Health Secretary, became the first sitting Cabinet minister to resign in protest of Starmer’s leadership. In a scathing resignation letter, Streeting praised Starmer’s work on international affairs but said he had lost confidence in his ability to lead on domestic policy. “Where we need vision, we have a vacuum. Where we need direction, we have drift,” Streeting wrote. He added that Starmer’s heavy-handed crackdown on internal dissent had weakened the party, and that the prime minister had too often forced junior lawmakers to take blame for policy missteps instead of accepting responsibility himself. Streeting stopped short of declaring his own candidacy, instead calling on Starmer to step aside to allow a full, open contest for the leadership.

    Senior party moderates have now issued urgent calls to halt the leadership challenge, warning a divisive contest will derail the government’s policy agenda and hand a major political advantage to Reform UK. Housing Secretary Steve Reed, a close ally of Starmer, urged party members to pause the push for a leadership vote during an interview with the BBC on Friday. He argued that a drawn-out contest would prevent the government from addressing urgent national issues, most notably the ongoing cost of living crisis that remains the top concern for British voters.

    “This weekend people just need to take a breath, look at what’s gone wrong this week, and come back next week ready to do what we said we’d do — country first, party second — and focus on delivering the change we were elected to deliver,” Reed said.

    His appeal comes after a full week of relentless political jockeying that overshadowed all other government business in Westminster. Dozens of backbench Labour lawmakers have already publicly called for Starmer to step down, leaving the prime minister fighting to hold onto his position as the country faces economic uncertainty and growing political fragmentation across the ideological spectrum.