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  • US in closely guarded talks to open new bases in Greenland

    US in closely guarded talks to open new bases in Greenland

    Months after a sharp diplomatic crisis triggered by former President Donald Trump’s controversial threat to take control of Greenland by force, high-level talks between the United States and Denmark are moving forward to expand Washington’s military footprint on the Arctic island, according to multiple sources familiar with the closed-door discussions.

    Earlier this year, U.S. Vice President JD Vance visited Pituffik Space Base, the only active U.S. military facility currently operating on Greenland’s territory, a semi-autonomous region under Danish sovereignty. In January, Trump reignited debate over U.S. policy in the Arctic by stating that the U.S. needed to “own” Greenland to block growing influence from Russia and China, adding that the acquisition could happen through the “easy way or the hard way”—language widely interpreted as a threat of forcible seizure.

    The White House has confirmed that the current administration is engaged in top-tier talks with Danish and Greenlandic authorities, but has declined to disclose specific details of the negotiations. A senior White House official told the BBC that the administration remains optimistic the discussions are moving toward a mutually acceptable outcome. Denmark’s foreign ministry also acknowledged the ongoing diplomatic process, noting that “there is an ongoing diplomatic track with the United States” and declining to share further details at this stage.

    Multiple U.S. officials involved in the talks have proposed a framework that would designate three planned new bases in southern Greenland as formally U.S. sovereign territory, one insider with direct knowledge of the negotiations confirmed. The proposed outposts would be positioned along the GIUK Gap—an critical strategic stretch of the North Atlantic between Greenland, Iceland, and the United Kingdom—and their core mission would be conducting enhanced surveillance of maritime activity by Russia and China in the region.

    Sources emphasize that no final agreement has been reached, and the total number of new bases could shift before any deal is finalized. One of the proposed sites is already penciled in for Narsarsuaq, the location of a decommissioned U.S. military base that currently hosts a small civilian airport. Security analysts note that all planned new facilities are likely to be built on existing infrastructure, including pre-existing airfields and ports, cutting construction costs significantly compared to breaking ground on entirely new sites.

    Contrary to Trump’s earlier public threats, U.S. negotiators have not raised the prospect of seizing full control of Greenland during discussions, a move that both Denmark and NATO have publicly rejected outright. Despite the initial diplomatic uproar, both sides have made consistent progress on negotiations over recent months, with talks being held by a small, low-profile working group of officials based in Washington. The quiet negotiation process has continued largely out of public view even as the administration has focused heavily on the ongoing war in Iran.

    Initial broad confirmation of the push for new bases came from U.S. Northern Command chief General Gregory Guillot during congressional testimony in March, but sources with direct access to the talks have shared new details showing a consistent schedule of high-level meetings that have delivered tangible progress in recent months. Leading the sensitive diplomatic effort is Michael Needham, a senior U.S. State Department official tapped to craft a deal that meets Trump’s demands while also respecting Denmark’s non-negotiable red lines on protecting its territorial sovereignty.

    “Needham is running point” on all Greenland-related negotiations, a senior diplomat with knowledge of the process confirmed. Behind the scenes, the administration has approached the talks in a “very professional” manner, the source added. Since mid-January, negotiating teams have met at least five times. Needham typically attends with one or two additional officials from the State Department or National Security Council, while the Danish side is led by Jesper Møller Sørensen, Denmark’s ambassador to the U.S., and Jacob Isbosethsen, Greenland’s top diplomatic representative in Washington.

    Notably, Jeff Landry, Republican Governor of Louisiana and Trump’s appointed special envoy for Greenland, has not participated in any negotiating sessions and remains largely sidelined from the diplomatic process, three separate sources confirmed. A close ally of Landry, speaking on condition of anonymity, noted that Landry was cast as a public advocate for the idea of U.S. expansion, framing the effort as a show of American strength to take control of Greenland as a strategic security asset, but “has never been to any of the actual talks.” Landry’s office did not respond to requests for comment on his absence from negotiations.

    The U.S. currently only maintains one active military facility in Greenland, a sharp drawdown from the 17 operational bases the U.S. ran here at the height of the Cold War. Pituffik Space Base, located in remote northwestern Greenland, supports NORAD’s missile monitoring mission but lacks the infrastructure and positioning to conduct large-scale maritime surveillance in the GIUK Gap, the core strategic priority driving the push for new southern bases.

    Some current and former U.S. officials, as well as independent Arctic security experts, have criticized the Trump administration’s approach, arguing that Washington could have advanced its strategic goals in Greenland without issuing aggressive threats against a fellow NATO ally. “Why threaten an ally with a military operation or invasion when what you want is something that could be negotiated quite easily?” one former senior U.S. defense official asked.

    Other retired defense leaders have backed the expansion effort and the ongoing cooperation between Washington and Copenhagen. Retired General Glen VanHerck, who led U.S. Northern Command and NORAD from 2020 to 2024, told the BBC that “Wherever the US and our allies leave a vacuum, that vacuum is often filled by China and Russia.”

    Negotiators are currently working to craft a compromise that falls within the framework of a long-standing bilateral security agreement between the U.S. and Denmark first signed in 1951. That existing pact grants the U.S. broad latitude to expand its military operations in Greenland, requiring only formal Danish approval for any new infrastructure. Arctic security experts note that Denmark has historically supported U.S. military activity on the island and has never rejected a U.S. request to expand its presence.

    Representatives of the Greenlandic government in Washington and the U.S. State Department both declined to comment on the record about the ongoing talks. Trump first raised interest in expanded U.S. access to Greenland during his first presidential term, and his renewed public push earlier this year exposed open tensions between the administration and other NATO alliance members amid the initial diplomatic crisis.

  • World Cup debutant Curaçao parts with coach amid reports Advocaat could return

    World Cup debutant Curaçao parts with coach amid reports Advocaat could return

    Just five weeks ahead of its highly anticipated World Cup debut against Germany, Caribbean underdog Curaçao has shaken up its technical staff, announcing Monday that head coach Fred Rutten has left his post just months after taking the job. Multiple reports indicate that 78-year-old Dutch coaching legend Dick Advocaat is set to reclaim the position he held throughout the team’s historic qualifying campaign.

    As the smallest nation by population to ever qualify for a men’s World Cup, Curaçao enters the first-ever 48-team iteration of the tournament with unprecedented attention. Located in the southern Caribbean, this autonomous territory within the Kingdom of the Netherlands counts only around 156,000 residents, and its national squad draws nearly all its talent from players born and raised in the Netherlands.

    The coaching change comes after a clear sequence of events that began earlier this year, when Advocaat stepped down from the role in February, citing a need to care for his daughter’s ongoing health issues. At that time, Rutten — a well-respected Dutch coach with experience at top clubs including PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord, Twente and Germany’s FC Schalke 04 — was tapped to step in and lead the side into the World Cup.

    However, Rutten’s tenure got off to a rocky start during March international friendly matches held in Australia, where Curaçao dropped back-to-back losses to the Socceroos and China PR. Reports soon emerged that a majority of the Curaçao squad had pushed for Advocaat’s return to the bench, creating internal unrest that ultimately led to Monday’s leadership change.

    In a statement released by the Curaçao Football Federation, Rutten acknowledged the disappointing end to his short tenure. “I regret how things unfolded but I wish everyone the best,” he said.

    Curaçao is far from alone in making a late coaching change ahead of this World Cup: it joins Ghana, Morocco and Saudi Arabia as teams that have replaced their managers since the final tournament draw was held last December. The Curaçao federation has scheduled an official press conference for Tuesday to confirm the full details of the transition and Advocaat’s expected appointment.

    Advocaat brings a wealth of World Cup experience to the role, having previously led his native Netherlands to the 1994 World Cup quarterfinals when the tournament was hosted by the United States, and managed South Korea at the 2006 World Cup in Germany. His return comes as Curaçao prepares for a tough group stage: after opening against Germany in Houston on June 12, the side will face Ecuador at Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium and Ivory Coast in Philadelphia. Curaçao secured its place in the expanded tournament thanks to new rules that granted three additional guaranteed spots to CONCACAF, the confederation covering North and Central America and the Caribbean.

    With the entire tournament kicking off in just four weeks, teams across the globe are finalizing their coaching staffs and preparing to name their final 26-man rosters ahead of the opening match.

  • EU agrees sanctions on Israeli settlers over West Bank violence

    EU agrees sanctions on Israeli settlers over West Bank violence

    After months of political gridlock that stalled action against escalating settler violence in the occupied West Bank, the European Union’s 27 foreign ministers formally approved new targeted sanctions against extremist Israeli settlers and settlement-affiliated organizations on Monday. The breakthrough came after a recent change in Hungary’s government removed the veto that had blocked the measure under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a longstanding close ally of Israel.

    The approval marks a significant shift in the EU’s approach to the escalating crisis in the West Bank, where the United Nations has recorded a dramatic surge in settler-led attacks on Palestinian communities since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023. Settlements constructed on Israeli-occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem land are universally recognized as illegal under international law, and the territories remain the core of Palestinian claims for an independent future state.

    EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas emphasized the urgency of the action, stating, “It was high time we move from deadlock to delivery… extremisms and violence carry consequences.” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot echoed this sentiment in a social media post, clarifying that the sanctions target the leading Israeli organizations responsible for advancing the “extremist and violent colonisation of the West Bank.”

    According to EU diplomatic sources and Israeli media reports, seven individual settlers and settler organizations will be subject to the new measures. The sanctioned list includes Daniella Weiss, a veteran figure widely referred to as the “godmother of the settler movement,” who is already subject to United Kingdom sanctions. Four leading settlement promotion and support organizations are also targeted: Nachala and Regavim, which push for the expansion of Israeli settlements on occupied land, and HaShomer Yosh and Amana, which provide financing and logistical support for unauthorized outposts built without Israeli government approval. Senior leaders of Regavim and HaShomer Yosh, Meir Deutsch and Avichai Suissa respectively, are also named on the sanction list; Suissa was previously sanctioned by the U.S. in 2024 before being removed from the list during the second Trump administration.

    The sanctions also expand EU restrictive measures to include additional Hamas representatives, a move that Israeli officials have criticized as an unfair moral equivalence between Israeli civilians and the designated terrorist group.

    Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar rejected the decision in sharp terms, dismissing it as “arbitrary and political.” He asserted that Israel will continue to uphold “the right of Jews to settle in the heart of our homeland,” and added that the EU’s move “is equally outrageous… imposing sanctions on Israeli citizens and entities because of their political views and without any basis.” He also condemned the joint sanctions on both settlers and Hamas representatives, calling the comparison “completely distorted.”

    Successive Israeli governments have overseen the expansion of settlements since the 1967 Middle East War, when Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Today, roughly 700,000 Israeli settlers reside across approximately 160 established settlements in the occupied territories. Settlement expansion accelerated sharply after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned to office in late 2022 at the head of a far-right, pro-settler coalition, and the pace of both expansion and settler violence has grown even more rapidly since the start of the Gaza war.

    United Nations data underscores the scale of the ongoing violence: in 2025 alone, the UN documented more than 1,800 settler attacks that caused Palestinian casualties or property damage across 280 West Bank communities. Recent high-profile incidents have included an incident where settlers allegedly forced local Palestinians to exhume a grave – which the UN Human Rights Office condemned as “appalling” – the fatal shooting of a Palestinian man during a settler raid on the village of Tayasir, and multiple arson attacks targeting Palestinian homes, civilian vehicles, and agricultural land. One recent example cited earlier this year was an attack south of Nablus, where settlers set fire to a Bedouin tent and two civilian vehicles. Just weeks before the EU’s sanction vote, Israeli activists confirmed that the former Sa-Nur settlement had been reestablished on a hill southwest of Jenin, marking another expansion of settler presence in the northern West Bank.

    Before the sanctions can be formally implemented, the EU must complete remaining technical and legal procedural steps. While several EU member states have also pushed for a broader ban on goods produced in Israeli settlements, the bloc has not yet reached a collective consensus to move forward with that additional measure.

  • Advocaat open to return as Curacao boss resigns

    Advocaat open to return as Curacao boss resigns

    Just one month before Curacao makes its first ever appearance at the FIFA World Cup, the small Caribbean nation has been thrown into sudden coaching turmoil, with incumbent manager Fred Rutten stepping down just days after the country’s football federation publicly reaffirmed its support for him.

    The drama traces back to last November, when veteran Dutch manager Dick Advocaat guided Curacao through an undefeated Concacaf qualifying campaign to book the country’s historic first World Cup ticket, making Curacao the smallest nation ever to qualify for the global tournament. Three months after that historic achievement, Advocaat stepped away from the role, citing urgent need to attend to his daughter’s ongoing health issues. The federation appointed fellow Dutch coach Fred Rutten as his replacement to lead the side through the 2026 finals.

    But Rutten’s short tenure was marked by immediate tension. After Curacao dropped friendly matches to China and Australia in March, players and top sponsors publicly pressured the Curaçao Football Federation (FFK) to bring Advocaat back into the fold. Despite that unrest, the FFK issued a formal statement on Friday standing firmly behind 63-year-old Rutten, confirming he would remain in charge for the World Cup.

    That resolve crumbled just three days later. Following what both sides described as “open and constructive” negotiations, Rutten agreed to step down. In a statement announcing his departure, Rutten emphasized that unresolvable tension within the camp posed a tangible risk to the team’s preparations ahead of the tournament. “A climate that damages professional relationships among players and staff must not be allowed to emerge,” he said. “It is prudent to step back. Time is pressing and Curacao must move forward.”

    Multiple Dutch media outlets have now reported that 78-year-old Advocaat is willing and ready to return to the head coaching position, after his daughter’s health has seen significant improvement in recent months. If Advocaat formalizes his comeback, he will make history once again: he will become the oldest head coach to lead a national side at any World Cup, breaking the long-standing record for age in the role.

    Curacao is set to kick off its Group E campaign against four-time champion Germany on June 14, followed by group stage matches against Ecuador and Ivory Coast. Before the tournament begins, the side will wrap up its pre-finals warm-up schedule with a friendly against Scotland at Glasgow’s Hampden Park on May 30, serving as Steve Clarke’s side’s final home preparation match before Scotland also departs for the 2026 World Cup.

  • ‘Britain at the heart of Europe’: How Starmer’s plans are going down in the EU

    ‘Britain at the heart of Europe’: How Starmer’s plans are going down in the EU

    As the 10th anniversary of the Brexit referendum approaches this June, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has reignited debate over Britain’s post-Brexit relationship with the European Union, launching a high-profile push to rebuild tighter ties just one week after his Labour Party suffered a devastating defeat in local elections.

    In a widely anticipated defiant address, Starmer framed closer alignment with the EU as a core priority for his government, promising to lay the groundwork for deeper collaboration ahead of this summer’s EU-UK summit. “This Labour government will be defined by rebuilding our relationship with Europe, by putting Britain at the heart of Europe, so that we are stronger on the economy, stronger on trade, stronger on defence,” he told the audience. Starmer also argued that incremental changes are insufficient to address the UK’s current challenges in growth, energy and security, calling for a bolder approach to EU engagement than what his administration outlined after taking power in 2024.

    However, the speech has drawn widespread criticism for its lack of concrete new policies. Jill Rutter, a former British civil servant and senior research fellow at the UK in a Changing Europe think tank, dismissed Starmer’s announcement as “a damp squib”, noting it failed to deliver a single tangible new proposal. Reactions from across the Channel are deeply divided, split along the lines of defence and security versus economic and trade cooperation.

    On defence and global security, European leaders view the UK as a reliable and critical ally. With the EU focused on pressing threats including the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, rising tensions with Iran, and shifting transatlantic relations under Donald Trump’s second U.S. administration, Brussels sees consistent UK cooperation as a strategic asset. This stable dynamic is not expected to change regardless of Starmer’s political future: EU officials widely believe UK foreign policy will remain consistent, including continued support for Ukraine and plans to assemble an international maritime force to protect shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, even if Starmer is ousted by internal leadership rivals.

    The mood shifts dramatically when it comes to economic ties, where Brussels holds a stance of weary cynicism. While the EU has repeatedly stated it welcomes closer relations if the UK commits to that path, the sector-specific talks Starmer’s government has pursued so far remain extremely limited. The only active negotiations focus on three areas: a food and drink safety agreement (known as SPS), a carbon emissions trading pact, and a youth mobility scheme that Starmer now touts as a major initiative for underprivileged British youth. Even that proposal, however, was originally an EU demand led by Germany that the Labour government initially rejected. Analysts widely agree that none of these limited deals will deliver meaningful, broad-based growth to the UK economy, even if expanded to other small sectors such as electricity market integration.

    The policy measures that could actually move the needle economically – joining the EU single market or forming a full customs union to eliminate most trade barriers – remain off the table for now, bound by Starmer’s pre-election “red lines” that rule out accepting free movement of workers, a non-negotiable requirement for full single market access. When pressed by journalists on whether these red lines might be dropped ahead of the next general election scheduled for 2029, Starmer declined to give a direct answer, sparking speculation of a potential policy shift. But the long timeline to the next election has left Brussels frustrated with the government’s vague positioning.

    One senior EU diplomat from a traditionally UK-friendly member state summed up the widespread European view: “For the last two years since Labour won power, we have heard the same thing: we want a ‘reset’ with the EU after Brexit. But what is this famous reset? The words from UK ministers sound increasingly enthusiastic but the actual steps they take are baby steps. Probably because they know the closer you get back to us, the more we ask from you in return. Do their voters know that?”

    To date, even modest steps toward closer cooperation have required the UK to accept EU terms, including the “pay to play” model for participation in EU programs. Rejoining the Horizon science research program, agreed by the previous Conservative government, costs the UK £2.2 billion annually, though proponents note British researchers have emerged as leading beneficiaries after two years of membership. In the ongoing sectoral talks, Starmer’s government has also had to agree to align with current and future EU regulations on relevant issues – a compromise that has already drawn fire from eurosceptic opponents. Nigel Farage’s Reform Party, which saw strong gains in last week’s local elections, has accused Labour of quietly reversing Brexit through incremental regulatory alignment. This alignment also complicates the UK’s long-held goal of reaching a comprehensive free trade agreement with the United States, as closer alignment with EU rules narrows the room for negotiating a separate deal that meets U.S. demands.

    Reform’s strong performance in last week’s local elections has not gone unnoticed in Brussels. Farage, who spent more than 20 years as a Member of the European Parliament campaigning for Brexit, is a well-known and controversial figure across the EU. While the EU will continue negotiating with the current Labour government, insiders say the European Commission is considering adding penalty clauses to future agreements, which would require the UK to pay compensation if a future eurosceptic government withdraws from existing cooperation deals.

    UK Minister for EU Relations Nick Thomas-Symonds has defended the government’s approach, saying Labour is pursuing a “ruthlessly pragmatic” and “ambitious” strategy that will never accept deals that conflict with UK national interests. But with the public increasingly divided over Brexit a decade on, and a rising eurosceptic opposition gaining traction, Starmer’s push to reset relations with the EU remains mired in vagueness – leaving both British voters and European leaders waiting for concrete action.

  • Good news for Spain as Williams and Sancet hamstring injuries not so bad

    Good news for Spain as Williams and Sancet hamstring injuries not so bad

    BILBAO, Spain — Two key Athletic Bilbao players and Spain World Cup hopefuls, forward Nico Williams and midfielder Oihan Sancet, have been confirmed with moderate hamstring injuries, though medical and club projections suggest both will be fit to compete in the upcoming World Cup kicking off in one month. The pair picked up their injuries during Athletic Bilbao’s tense 1-0 La Liga defeat to Valencia on Sunday, forcing both to be substituted off before full time. Nico Williams was forced to exit the pitch before halftime, with his older brother and fellow Athletic attacker Iñaki Williams coming on in his place. Sancet, meanwhile, was pulled from the match in the second half after feeling discomfort in his leg.

    Following the match, both players underwent formal medical assessments on Monday to evaluate the severity of their injuries. In an official statement released after the tests, Athletic Bilbao confirmed that both athletes are scheduled for further observation to monitor their recovery progress. Local Spanish football reporting has indicated that the injury timeline will force the pair to miss Athletic’s final three La Liga matches before the World Cup break, but their recovery trajectories put them on track to regain full fitness in time for the global tournament.

    Speaking after the match about his younger brother’s condition, Iñaki Williams shared the family’s anxiety over the injury, given how close the World Cup squad selection is. “He was limping a lot. He hadn’t felt that type of pain before,” the elder Williams told reporters. “It’s concerning considering the moment we are in right now. Let’s wait and hope for the best possible scenario.”

    Nico Williams, 23, has established himself as a core starter for the Spanish men’s national team, frequently featuring in the attacking line alongside Barcelona teen sensation Lamine Yamal—who is also currently sidelined with an injury of his own. Sancet, by comparison, is a relatively new call-up to the national side, earning only a handful of caps for Spain since he received his first international invitation in late 2023. The injury comes at a critical moment for both players: Spain’s head coach Luis de La Fuente is set to unveil his final 2026 World Cup squad to the public on May 25, leaving little room for extended recovery delays that could knock either player out of contention.

  • EU sanctions Hamas leaders and Israeli settlers, but shelves stronger economic pressure

    EU sanctions Hamas leaders and Israeli settlers, but shelves stronger economic pressure

    BRUSSELS — After years of gridlock and mounting public anger fueled by the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, the 27-member European Union has struck a historic unanimous political deal to impose fresh sanctions on senior Hamas leaders and extremist actors within the Israeli settler movement, top EU diplomatic officials confirmed Monday.

    The breakthrough came during a meeting of EU foreign ministers in the Belgian capital, where EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas hailed the agreement as a long-overdue shift from stalemate to action. “Extremism and violence should carry consequences,” Kallas wrote in a social media statement following the vote. “It was high time we move from deadlock to delivery.”

    While the bloc ultimately rejected bolder penalties pushed by a cohort of progressive European governments and has not yet published the full text of the new sanctions framework, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot outlined the scope of the agreed measures: sanctions will target top Hamas commanders, as well as leading figures and key organizations tied to the Israeli settler movement operating in the occupied West Bank.

    “The European Union is sanctioning today the main Israeli organizations guilty of supporting the extremist and violent colonization of the West Bank, as well as their leaders,” Barrot wrote in his own social media post Monday. “These most serious and intolerable acts must cease without delay.”

    Addressing the targeting of Hamas leaders, Barrot added: “It is sanctioning the main leaders of Hamas, responsible for the worst antisemitic massacre in our history since the Shoah during which 51 French people lost their lives, a terrorist movement that must imperatively be disarmed and excluded from any participation in the future of Palestine.”

    The push for new sanctions against West Bank settler groups comes amid growing international alarm over a sharp surge in settler violence against Palestinian communities in the occupied territory. Palestinian authorities, human rights organizations and international monitors have repeatedly warned that routine attacks by settlers — including arson, property vandalism, the displacement of agricultural communities, and lethal violence against civilians — are worsening at an alarming rate. Data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs shows that at least 40 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since the start of 2026, with a record 11 of those deaths at the hands of Israeli settlers — two more fatalities than were recorded in all of 2025.

    Diplomatic analysts widely attribute the sudden breakthrough on sanctions to the recent electoral ouster of former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who stepped down last month after 16 consecutive years in power. A steadfast ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Orbán had single-handedly blocked all previous EU attempts to impose sanctions on Israeli settlers for years, leaving the bloc unable to act despite widespread support among other member states.

    Orbán was defeated in April’s general election by opposition leader Péter Magyar, who was sworn in as Hungary’s new prime minister just days before Monday’s vote. Martin Konečný, head of the Brussels-based European Middle East Project, noted that the successful approval of the sanctions package confirms long-held assessments that Orbán was the sole barrier to action. “This validates the notion that Orbán was blocking them single-handedly,” Konečný said.

    Many foreign policy observers say the new sanctions could mark a pivotal shift in the EU’s long-standing approach to Israel. For months, a growing bloc of European governments led by Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands has pushed for punitive measures over the Israeli government’s military campaign in Gaza, as well as its expanding settlement activity and rising violence in the West Bank, and escalating cross-border conflicts in Lebanon, Syria and Iran.

    Ahead of Monday’s meeting, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel summed up the growing pressure to act: “You can’t just turn a blind eye.”

    Even with the historic agreement, the EU fell short of adopting the more sweeping measures that many activists and progressive governments had called for. Diplomats failed to reach consensus on harsher economic measures, such as a bloc-wide ban on goods produced in Israeli settlements in the West Bank or the suspension of a key bilateral trade agreement between the EU and Israel.

    Hugh Lovatt, a senior fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, criticized the bloc’s limited scope of action. “There’s so much that you can and should be doing, and so to get stuck in this question of adding a few more settlers is missing the big picture,” Lovatt said. “The EU’s narrowed the scope of action now to individuals and to a few entities, and in doing that it’s ignoring the far more systemic issues at play.”

    Claudio Francavilla, associate EU director at Human Rights Watch, called the sanctions a tentative step forward but said far more action is required to bring the bloc into compliance with international law. The measures are “a step in the right direction, but so many more needed for the EU to comply with international law,” Francavilla said.

    Italy, one of the more prominent EU member states skeptical of harsher measures, has already signaled it is not ready to back a French-Swedish proposal that would cut West Bank settlers off from EU markets. Ahead of Monday’s meeting, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said his government needed additional time to review the plan, withholding its support despite growing public pressure across the continent for tougher action.

    Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen noted that individual EU member states retain the right to implement national bans on settlement goods if bloc-wide negotiations stall in Brussels. The next meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, scheduled for later this May, will focus specifically on trade policy related to the region.

    Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares Bueno pushed for swift action on broader measures in comments to reporters in Brussels Monday. “We have been talking about measures for too long,” he said. “Let’s move on to a vote and stop saying that there is no qualified majority for it. Let’s see how many of us are in agreement and who is not.”

  • Bosnia’s powerful peace envoy quits, with questions over role’s future

    Bosnia’s powerful peace envoy quits, with questions over role’s future

    After more than three years in one of the most contentious positions in Balkan politics, Christian Schmidt, the international High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina, has formally announced he will step down from his role, ending a tenure marked by persistent confrontation with ethno-separatist leaders and growing geopolitical friction.

    Schmidt, who took up the post in 2021, leaves behind a role that has been central to Bosnia’s post-conflict stability since the 1995 Dayton Peace Agreement. That landmark accord, which brought an end to three years of devastating ethnic conflict that tore the country apart, established the Office of the High Representative (OHR) as a UN-mandated watchdog tasked with upholding the terms of the peace deal. Endowed with sweeping executive authority known as the Bonn Powers, the post holder can intervene to override domestic legislation and remove fractious ethno-political leaders from office to preserve the country’s territorial integrity.

    Early high-profile office holders like Paddy Ashdown, who held the role in the early 2000s, embraced these expansive powers, famously removing 60 Bosnian-Serb officials from office in a single 2004 day over their refusal to cooperate with the UN’s war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The move earned Ashdown the unflattering moniker the “Viceroy of Bosnia”, and later office holders adopted a far more restrained approach, pushing for Bosnian leaders to take ownership of domestic affairs. This hands-off strategy ultimately yielded limited progress, however, paving the way for Schmidt to take a far more activist approach when he assumed the role.

    Schmidt’s tenure was defined almost entirely by his standoff with Milorad Dodik, the powerful Bosnian-Serb leader who has long pushed for separatist secession from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Schmidt repeatedly used his Bonn Powers to block laws advanced by Dodik that would have advanced separatist goals, a confrontation that ultimately resulted in a one-year prison sentence and six-year ban from public office for Dodik. But the conflict ultimately eroded Schmidt’s own position: after Dodik spent heavily on high-powered Washington lobbying, the U.S. reversed its long-standing sanctions on the Bosnian-Serb leader. Observers have linked this policy shift to Dodik’s decision to award a major trans-Balkan gas pipeline contract to a little-known U.S. firm with close ties to former President Donald Trump’s family, a project that Schmidt openly opposed.

    Beyond his standoff with Dodik, Schmidt’s appointment was never formally recognized by Russia from the start. With the loss of U.S. backing, his position became untenable, leading to his personal decision to end his service supporting peace implementation in Bosnia, as confirmed by his office.

    Schmidt has confirmed he will remain in post until a successor is appointed, but the future of the OHR itself is now in serious question. Russia has long aligned with Dodik in calls to shut down the office entirely. If the U.S. now joins Russia in supporting closure, Bosnia will lose the only international check on ethno-nationalist separatist ambitions, leaving the country’s future stability and territorial integrity deeply uncertain.

  • EU imposes sanctions over helping Russia abduct thousands of Ukrainian children

    EU imposes sanctions over helping Russia abduct thousands of Ukrainian children

    BRUSSELS – In a coordinated action condemning the mass forced displacement of Ukrainian minors, the European Union rolled out a new round of restrictive measures on Monday, targeting 16 individuals and seven facilities tied to Russia’s alleged campaign of abducting tens of thousands of Ukrainian children.

    The newly sanctioned individuals span senior Russian government representatives, military officers overseeing youth training programs, and directors of children’s facilities operating in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories. Among the named targets is Lilya Shvetsova, head of the so-called “Red Carnation” children’s camp in occupied Crimea. EU regulatory documents outline that Shvetsova oversaw deliberate programming designed to reshape the political and ideological identities of detained Ukrainian children, aligning with broader efforts to force assimilation of the minors.

    The seven additional sanctioned entities are institutions suspected of running coercive ideological indoctrination programs for abducted children, or providing military training to the minors for service in Russian armed forces or pro-Moscow separatist militias active inside Ukraine. All sanctioned individuals and groups face immediate asset freezes across EU member states and strict bans on entering or traveling through the bloc.

    With this latest update, the total number of individuals and entities placed under EU sanctions for involvement in the child abduction campaign now exceeds 130. EU authorities justify the measures by noting the targeted actors are “responsible for actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” a framing that aligns with the bloc’s longstanding position on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched in early 2022.

    Since the invasion began, Ukrainian and international authorities have documented that an estimated 20,500 Ukrainian children have been unlawfully deported to Russia or forcibly transferred to Russian-held territories in eastern Ukraine. Multiple investigations confirm that most of these children are systematically stripped of their Ukrainian cultural and national identities, issued Russian citizenship documents, and placed for adoption by Russian families. Others are funneled into state-run camps for forced ideological reeducation or military training ahead of deployment.

    Addressing her fellow EU foreign ministers in Brussels ahead of the sanctions endorsement, Latvian Foreign Minister Baiba Braže emphasized the gravity of the campaign. “Russia is trying to erase their identity,” Braže stated. “When you look at the Genocide Convention, it’s one of the features of the genocide crime. So, it’s very serious.”

    The forced deportation of Ukrainian children is already the subject of an international arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, which named Russian President Vladimir Putin as personally responsible for the war crime in its 2023 warrant. Despite ongoing diplomatic and legal pressure, progress on returning the abducted minors has been slow: only roughly 2,200 children have been successfully repatriated to date. International aid workers note that the process of locating, identifying, and bringing children home remains extraordinarily challenging: children taken at very young ages often have little memory of their original families, and physical and identifying details shift dramatically over just a few years, making matches difficult. Even after repatriation, many children face social and integration hurdles in returning to Ukrainian life.

    Monday’s sanctions announcement coincided with a major diplomatic gathering hosted by the EU and Canada in Brussels, bringing together the 47-member International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children. The coalition’s core goals are to ramp up collective diplomatic pressure on Moscow to end the abduction campaign, and coordinate global support for the painstaking work of tracing, verifying, and repatriating displaced minors.

    Speaking ahead of the coalition meeting, EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos framed the child abduction campaign as one of the most egregious atrocities of the ongoing war. “War has really many faces, but stealing the children is really one of the most horrific,” Kos said. “We should stop this, and Russia should pay.”

  • Former Polish justice minister who faces prosecution at home says he’s traveled from Hungary to US

    Former Polish justice minister who faces prosecution at home says he’s traveled from Hungary to US

    In a dramatic development that has triggered a cross-border legal probe and raised questions of potential diplomatic friction, former Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro — a top figure in Poland’s nationalist conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government that ruled from 2015 to 2023 — has announced he traveled from Hungary, where he held asylum, to the United States. Polish prosecutors confirmed Monday they are now probing whether any third parties helped Ziobro evade the criminal charges he faces in his home country.

    Ziobro, a central architect of the PiS administration’s controversial overhaul of Poland’s judiciary, has been wanted by Polish authorities since last year for allegations of abuse of power. Under his leadership, the PiS government installed ideologically aligned judges to secure political control over Poland’s highest courts, and targeted judicial critics with disciplinary punishments and unwanted geographic reassignments, moves that drew widespread international criticism over democratic backsliding.

    In January, Ziobro confirmed he had been granted political asylum in Hungary, then led by long-time nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a close ideological ally of the PiS movement. His unexpected move to the U.S. was made public on Sunday, in an interview with Polish right-wing media outlet Republika — timed on the exact same day that Orbán’s elected successor, Péter Magyar, was sworn into office in Budapest following an upset election victory last month that ended Orbán’s 16-year tenure. According to Polish state news agency PAP, Ziobro stated he used travel documentation issued to him as part of his asylum status in Hungary to enter the U.S.

    The charges against Ziobro date back to October 2023, when Polish prosecutors requested that his parliamentary immunity be stripped to allow formal charges to proceed. Prosecutors accuse Ziobro of misappropriating funds from a public state fund established for victims of violence, including diverting money to purchase Israeli Pegasus spyware. Tusk’s governing Civic Coalition has repeatedly accused the former PiS administration of using Pegasus to conduct illegal surveillance on political opponents ahead of the 2020 parliamentary election. Ziobro has consistently denied all wrongdoing, maintaining every action he took was fully legal under Polish law.

    Poland’s new pro-European Union government, led by Prime Minister Donald Tusk, took office in late 2023 on a pledge to roll back the judicial overhaul implemented by the PiS and restore the rule of law. To date, however, those efforts have been blocked by two consecutive Polish presidents affiliated with the nationalist right, leaving the reform process deadlocked.

    On Monday, Poland’s national prosecutor’s office announced via social media that it has opened a new investigation into Ziobro’s sudden departure, focused on identifying any individuals who may have aided his flight and helped him avoid standing trial on existing charges, which would constitute obstruction of the ongoing inquiry into the management of the national justice fund.

    Current Polish Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek confirmed via a post on X Sunday evening that Polish authorities had already invalidated all of Ziobro’s Polish-issued travel documents, including his diplomatic passport, before his international travel. He added that Poland will formally request clarification from both the U.S. and Hungary on the legal basis that allowed Ziobro to exit Hungarian territory and enter the United States.

    The cross-border movement has opened the door to potential political tension between Warsaw and Washington, but Polish officials have moved quickly to downplay that risk. “We don’t want this issue to become political,” Polish Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maciej Wewiór told the Associated Press in an interview. “Our relationship with the U.S. goes much deeper than what happens with Ziobro. But we do want our citizen to eventually return to Poland and face justice.”