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  • Pope Leo XIV sought a pastoral role in his first year, but verbal sparring with Trump intervened

    Pope Leo XIV sought a pastoral role in his first year, but verbal sparring with Trump intervened

    As Pope Leo XIV marked the first anniversary of his election to the papacy on Friday, the milestone was overshadowed by an escalating public feud with former president and current U.S. leader Donald Trump – a conflict that has dragged the soft-spoken, pastorally focused pontiff into the center of global geopolitical tensions.

    When Leo took office one year ago, he framed his papacy as centered on walking alongside the global Catholic flock, prioritizing pastoral care over high-profile political confrontation. The 70-year-old pontiff, a former Midwestern U.S. missionary and Augustinian priest, has always been known for his reserved, mild-mannered demeanor: he prefers solitary tennis matches, can quote 5th-century St. Augustine from memory, and frames his calls for global peace as simple, faithful readings of Christian scripture, not political posturing.

    But repeated public criticisms from Trump have forced Leo into the public fray, with the pontiff delivering increasingly sharp responses to the U.S. president’s attacks. The back-and-forth, which centers on competing stances on the ongoing Iran war, has strained diplomatic ties between the U.S. and the Holy See. On the eve of his anniversary, Leo hosted U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who traveled to Vatican City for a fence-mending meeting aimed at repairing bilateral relations. While both the Vatican and U.S. State Department reaffirmed their longstanding strong ties after the meeting, the conflict has nonetheless pushed Leo far outside his expected comfort zone on the global stage.

    Most recently, after Trump misrepresented the pontiff’s positions, Leo hit back: “If someone wants to criticize me for announcing the Gospel, let him do it with the truth.”

    Beyond the high-profile conflict with Trump, Leo’s first year in office has been defined by his promise to heal deep rifts within the Catholic Church and a polarized global community, a mission he has advanced steadily after 12 years of Pope Francis’ revolutionary, often divisive papacy. The pontiff has worked to calm tensions across the church, even amid rising threats of schism, as he navigates thorny challenges including friction between traditionalist and progressive factions, longstanding financial instability at the Holy See, and the geopolitical rift opened by his clashes with the Trump administration.

    Cardinal Wilton Gregory, a retired Washington archbishop and fellow Chicago native, noted that social media has amplified existing divisions within the church, creating a unique test for any sitting pope. “He has to call us to our better angels,” Gregory said of Leo’s approach, which has focused on de-escalating tensions rather than leaning into partisan friction. This approach was on display during Leo’s recent trip to Africa, where he sought to downplay the feud with Trump, saying that entering a public debate with the U.S. president “is not in my interest at all.” “I primarily come to Africa as a pastor, as the head of the Catholic Church to be with, to celebrate with, to encourage and accompany all the Catholics throughout Africa,” he said, repeating his stance that the political trappings of his role as a head of state and global moral figure are not his primary focus.

    For many observers, the novelty of having the first-ever U.S. pope, a development that breaks the longstanding unwritten norm that the papacy would not be held by a citizen of the world’s dominant superpower, has yet to fade. Unlike his predecessor Pope Francis, who frequently clashed with U.S. conservatives over his criticism of American-style capitalism and was often dismissed as out of touch with U.S. Catholic life, Leo speaks fluent English as a native speaker and has a deep, firsthand understanding of U.S. culture and institutions.

    Anthea Butler, a senior fellow at the Koch Institute at the University of Oxford, noted that Leo’s criticism of current U.S. policy differs sharply from Francis’ confrontational style. “He’s doing it not coming full-on like Francis would,” Butler explained, “but approaching issues from the side. He’s not naming names, he’s merely preaching the Gospel.”

    This approach has already yielded notable shifts in relations between the Holy See and U.S. Catholic institutions. During Francis’ papacy, tensions ran high between the Argentine pontiff and U.S. conservative Catholics, with unrelenting coverage of mismanagement and scandal at the Vatican leading many U.S. donors to stop contributing to the Holy See. Today, with a native-born U.S. leader in St. Peter’s, many U.S. Catholic leaders report newfound unity among American bishops, particularly around shared commitments to advocating for migrants and people living in poverty – a cohesion that leaders attribute in part to Leo’s unifying, accessible message.

    “It’s very different when you are hearing the message without it being mediated through translation,” said Kerry Alys Robinson, chief executive of Catholic Charities USA. Robinson noted that U.S. Catholic bishops are more united today than they have been in decades, a shift she credits in part to Leo’s consistent call for collective action around issues of shared concern to the church.

    Ward Fitzgerald, president of The Papal Foundation, which funds the pontiff’s global charity work, said the “Leo effect” has already translated to tangible growth in support from U.S. donors and new conversions to Catholicism across the U.S. and Europe. “I think there’s lots of reasons for it, but I certainly think that having a pope who speaks English helps young people understand the messages of the Holy Father,” Fitzgerald said. For U.S. donors, hearing the pontiff’s appeals directly in English resonates far more than translated remarks, Fitzgerald added, leading to increased giving. The Papal Foundation has already added 25 new donor families since Leo’s election – a significant gain, as membership requires a minimum pledge of $1.25 million.

    Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the influential U.S. prelate who was a key power broker in the 2025 conclave that elected Leo and who has close ties to Trump, celebrated a special anniversary Mass for foundation donors last week in St. Peter’s Basilica. In his homily, Dolan compared Leo to St. Joseph, the patron saint of the universal church, describing the pope as matching St. Joseph’s quiet, steady character. “A man who exuded a sense of depth and substance,” Dolan said. “A man who is shy, all right, a man who is focused on his mission. A man, always attentive to God’s plan. I can think of no one who fits that description better than Pope Leo.”

  • The WW2 spy killed in mystery crash days after the war ended

    The WW2 spy killed in mystery crash days after the war ended

    Eighty years after the end of World War II, one of the conflict’s most decorated joint heroes of Wales and France remains at the center of an unresolved, little-known mystery: how exactly did Jacques Vaillant de Guélis meet his death just days after the guns fell silent in Europe?

    Born in 1907 in central Cardiff to French parents who built their fortune exporting Welsh coal to Brittany, Vaillant de Guélis was a polyglot Oxford graduate with a thriving career in advertising when war broke out across Europe in 1939. Like many of his generation, he walked away from his comfortable civilian life to enlist in the British Army, and his unique background – a French-born upbringing paired with deep roots in the UK – quickly caught the eye of Britain’s most elite covert organization: the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the shadowy unit tasked with sabotage and resistance building behind enemy lines.

    Vaillant de Guélis’s military career was defined by near-miraculous escapes and relentless courage from its earliest days. In 1939, he served as a liaison officer with the British Expeditionary Force, and after Germany’s invasion of France forced the Dunkirk evacuation, he immediately volunteered to return to occupied France in June 1940 to help evacuate thousands of stranded Allied soldiers. When he completed that mission, it was too late to escape across the English Channel, so he led a small group south through Marseille, crossed the Pyrenees into neutral Spain, where he was interned for months before British diplomatic efforts secured his release and a return to Scotland.

    That bold exploit put him on the SOE’s radar in April 1941. Recruited by Major Lewis Gielgud (brother of legendary actor Sir John Gielgud) and even reportedly interviewed for the role personally by Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Vaillant de Guélis began his career as a covert operative. He completed four separate missions behind German lines over the course of the war. His first deployment, in August 1941, saw him parachute into Vichy France, where he supplied resistance fighters with forged documents, radio equipment, and critical military intelligence to coordinate attacks against Nazi forces. After successfully completing that mission, he extracted via a rough, makeshift airstrip picked up by the Royal Air Force.

    By 1943, Vaillant de Guélis had joined General Charles de Gaulle’s Free French Army in North Africa, fighting through the North African campaign before joining the assault to liberate Corsica, where he saw brutal hand-to-hand combat to oust German forces from the island. After D-Day in 1944, he was once again dropped behind enemy lines, tasked with coordinating resistance cells to disrupt German retreats from the Allied advance. Author and World War II historian Greg Lewis, who has researched Vaillant de Guélis extensively, notes that deploying an operative of his seniority and knowledge of SOE networks directly into the field was extremely risky – but Vaillant de Guélis’s proven skill and local familiarity made him irreplaceable.

    It was his final mission, however, that would end his life just days after the war in Europe officially ended. On May 16, 1945, just eight days after VE Day, Vaillant de Guélis was sent to the newly liberated Flossenbürg concentration camp near the modern-day Czech-German border to gather intelligence on captured SOE operatives who had been imprisoned and killed there. While he was standing just yards from the camp gates, he was struck by a car driven by a German soldier who had worked as a camp guard just days earlier. He was rushed to emergency care in Paris, then transferred to a military hospital in Staffordshire, England, where he died from his injuries three months later on August 7, 1945.

    To this day, the circumstances of the crash remain unclear, fueling decades of speculation. Many have suggested that Vaillant de Guélis may have been deliberately targeted by a former Nazi camp guard who wanted to prevent evidence of war crimes from reaching Allied authorities – evidence that would later be used to prosecute Nazi leaders at the Nuremberg Trials. Lewis, who first became interested in Vaillant de Guélis while researching Cathays Cemetery in Cardiff, where the hero’s ashes are buried in a family plot, says there is no concrete evidence to support claims of an organized assassination. But the speed with which the case was closed – it was shut down almost immediately after it was opened – and the lack of surviving documentation has left critical questions unanswered. Lewis acknowledges that while chaos across post-war Germany makes an organized plot unlikely, a rogue former Nazi acting alone to silence Vaillant de Guélis cannot be ruled out.

    Vaillant de Guélis was posthumously honored for his extraordinary bravery by both his home nations: he received the Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) from the United Kingdom and the Croix de Guerre with Palm, France’s highest award for gallantry, from the French government. Today, a blue plaque marks the Cardiff building where he was born, honoring his service. For Lewis, the tragedy of Vaillant de Guélis’s story extends beyond his early death: unlike many SOE operatives who survived the war and left firsthand recollections of their service, all that remains of his legacy is an official military file, with no personal memoir or firsthand account of his extraordinary exploits.

  • Partial results show losses for Starmer’s Labour and wins for Reform UK in local elections

    Partial results show losses for Starmer’s Labour and wins for Reform UK in local elections

    LONDON – Early partial outcomes from England’s 2025 local elections have delivered a sharp early warning to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his governing Labour Party, with the party facing significant electoral setbacks and the hard-right Reform UK party, under the leadership of veteran populist politician Nigel Farage, recording major vote gains.

    Counting for the nationwide local contests, alongside separate elections for the devolved legislatures of Scotland and Wales, kicked off overnight Thursday, with results continuing to roll in across the full day of Friday. Early counts were concentrated in smaller regional authorities, with full results from major population centers including London, a long-time Labour stronghold, still pending by early Friday.

    In the working-class regions of northern England that have historically leaned Labour, Reform UK’s early performance has shaken British political observers: the party has already secured hundreds of local council seats in constituencies including Hartlepool, a result that underscores its growing traction among disillusioned working voters. Farage’s party has positioned itself as a radical right alternative to both major parties in recent years, capitalizing on public frustration over post-Brexit economic stagnation and migration policy to build support.

    Political analysts across the UK have framed these local elections as an informal midterm referendum on Starmer’s leadership, less than two years after he won the 2024 general election that brought Labour back to power after 14 years in opposition. Early signs of a heavy Labour defeat have already fueled speculation of internal unrest within the party, with restive backbench lawmakers reportedly preparing to push for a leadership challenge if the final overall result proves catastrophic for Labour.

    Even if Starmer manages to fend off an immediate challenge to his leadership, multiple senior political analysts have cast serious doubt on whether he will remain in post to lead the party into the next required national general election, scheduled to take place no later than 2029. The growing speculation has prompted a public intervention from Starmer’s own deputy, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy, who has urged party factions to stand behind the current leadership, warning that “you don’t change the pilot during the flight.”

    As counting continues through Friday, political leaders and observers across the country are waiting to see whether the early grim trends for Labour hold in results from larger, more heavily populated areas, a final outcome that could reshape the trajectory of British politics for the rest of the decade.

  • Elaborately decorated skeletons in Catholic churches across Bavaria take some visitors by surprise

    Elaborately decorated skeletons in Catholic churches across Bavaria take some visitors by surprise

    In the ornate Baroque Catholic monastery church of Banz, nestled near the Bavarian town of Bad Staffelstein in southern Germany, a striking, centuries-old exhibit continues to draw curiosity and quiet unease from visitors: four fully intact skeletons, draped in luxurious silk and brocade, embellished with gemstones, delicate filigree gold, silver and fine lace. These remains, known by the names Vincenzius, Valerius, Benedictus and Felix Benedictus, count among Europe’s little-known collection of catacomb saints, a set of religious relics with a unique history stretching back hundreds of years.

    These holy skeletons were transported from Roman catacombs to the Benedictine monastery between the late 17th century and mid-18th century, a period when demand for early Christian martyr relics boomed across Catholic Europe. For many first-time visitors, the display is unsettling. “It’s actually a little creepy,” church custodian Anita Gottschlich shared quietly, standing before one skeleton whose hollow eye sockets seem to lock gaze with onlookers. Even so, Gottschlich notes the relics hold enduring cross-generational fascination: older guests who first saw the skeletons as children still make a point to seek out what locals call the Holy Bodies, their memories of the display undimmed after decades.

    While catacomb saints may be unknown to many modern travelers, their decorated remains can still be found in dozens of Baroque churches and monasteries across Bavaria, as well as in neighboring Austria, Switzerland, Czechia and their native Italy. Most are permanently displayed in glass, coffin-style cabinets, keeping the long-dead relics accessible to visitors centuries after they arrived.

    The story of catacomb saints begins in 16th century Rome, when excavators uncovered thousands of unmarked graves in the city’s ancient underground catacombs. Church leadership quickly classified all uncovered remains as early Christian martyrs, making them desirable relics for churches and monastic communities across the continent. “At the time, the church simply designated them all as saints,” explained Walter Ries, the Catholic priest who serves the Banz church congregation today. “And of course, in many countries, including Germany, people wanted to have such holy remains, such relics, simply because this enhanced the status of their own church or monastery and perhaps turned it into a place of pilgrimage.”

    Banz Monastery itself has changed dramatically since the four skeletons arrived. Founded by Benedictine monks in 1070, the community flourished for more than 700 years before it was dissolved in 1803 during widespread German secularization. Today, only the church remains an active place of worship, housing a small congregation of just 211 people, while the former monastery buildings are occupied by a political foundation. “A great deal has changed over the course of the centuries,” Ries said. “Back then, these relics were very important, but today they really aren’t anymore.”

    The surge in devotion to catacomb saints in the 17th and 18th centuries emerged from a period of profound crisis in central Europe. Just decades before the Banz skeletons arrived, the region was still recovering from the Thirty Years’ War, a brutal conflict that began as a religious struggle between Catholics and Protestants and killed an estimated 4 to 8 million people through combat, famine and widespread disease. “That was a terrible time,” Ries said. “And so people tried to open the gates of heaven through the Baroque. That’s why everything was designed so beautifully. It was an escape from the present, which was often so terrible. That’s also why these eerie skeletons were so beautifully draped and depicted as lifelike as possible.”

    Abbots of Banz Monastery sent official delegations to Rome twice, first in 1680 and again in 1645, to secure the four relics. After their arrival, nuns from the nearby town of Bamberg spent hours carefully adorning the skeletons in the lavish textiles and finery they still wear today.

    To this day, the Holy Bodies are only put on full public display for special religious occasions including All Saints’ Day. For most of the year, wooden panels painted with portraits of the saints cover the glass display cases, turning a rare viewing into a meaningful experience for faithful visitors. According to Günter Dippold, a historian who has spent years researching both catacomb saints and the history of Banz Monastery, the elaborate decoration of the skeletons serves a specific theological purpose that many modern visitors miss.

    The adornment “is not meant to show the dead body of a saint, but rather to show his glorified body,” Dippold explained. “It is therefore intended to show the faithful who view it what we will look like after the resurrection, after being raised from the dead, when we no longer have our earthly bodies but rather glorified ones.”

    —
    This report is part of Associated Press religion coverage, supported through a collaboration with The Conversation US via funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP holds sole responsibility for all content.

  • Hungary’s incoming prime minister plans a ‘regime-change celebration’ to mark Orbán’s departure

    Hungary’s incoming prime minister plans a ‘regime-change celebration’ to mark Orbán’s departure

    BUDAPEST, Hungary – On Saturday, a historic political transition will unfold in Hungary’s capital: incoming center-right Prime Minister Péter Magyar will take his oath of office inside the country’s iconic neo-Gothic parliament building, while thousands of supporters gather on the adjacent square to celebrate the close of Viktor Orbán’s 16 years in power.

    Last month, Magyar’s newly formed Tisza party delivered a stunning rebuke to Orbán’s nationalist-populist Fidesz party, securing a landslide electoral victory unmatched in Hungary’s post-Communist era. The mandate, widely described as a political earthquake, clears the way for Tisza to reverse the controversial policies that led critics to label Orbán a far-right authoritarian, and to dismantle the economic network that enabled massive wealth accumulation among the outgoing prime minister’s close allies and family. Ahead of assuming governing duties, Magyar has called on all Hungarians to join an all-day “regime change” celebration to mark both his inauguration and the definitive end of the Orbán era. “We will step through the gateway of regime change with a huge party. Come along, and invite your family and friends!” Magyar shared in a social media post over the preceding weekend.

    A 45-year-old lawyer who built Tisza in 2024 after years as an insider within Orbán’s own party, Magyar has centered his incoming administration on undoing the harm he says the previous regime inflicted on Hungary and its people. Top of his policy agenda is unlocking roughly €17 billion (US$20 billion) in frozen European Union cohesion funds, which Brussels blocked during Orbán’s tenure over widespread rule-of-law breaches and corruption. This capital infusion is widely seen as critical to reversing four straight years of economic stagnation that has held back living standards for ordinary Hungarians.

    Magyar has also pledged to repair Hungary’s frayed relationships with EU partners, which Orbán pushed to near collapse during his final years in office, and to restore the country’s standing as a committed member of the community of Western democracies – a status that came under intense scrutiny as Orbán increasingly aligned Hungary with the Kremlin amid Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In a tangible early signal of this new commitment, Tisza party officials confirmed that the European Union flag will return to the parliament building’s facade starting Saturday, 10 years after Orbán’s government ordered its removal.

    For the nearly 3.4 million Hungarians who cast ballots for Tisza, the transition comes with high expectations that the new administration will hold outgoing Fidesz officials and their business associates accountable for years of alleged misconduct. In response, Magyar plans to launch the National Asset Recovery and Protection Office, a dedicated new agency tasked with investigating and clawing back public funds misappropriated during Orbán’s tenure. He has also promised to suspend operations at Hungary’s public broadcaster – long derided as a partisan mouthpiece for Fidesz – until sweeping reforms can guarantee independent, objective news coverage.

    A full structural overhaul of Hungary’s government is also on the immediate agenda, with Tisza set to re-establish standalone cabinet ministries for health, environmental protection and education, all of which were merged under Orbán’s administration. To deliver on his promise of restoring professional competence to government, Magyar has nominated a slate of internationally recognized experts to top cabinet posts. Among them are veteran diplomat and foreign policy analyst Anita Orbán – who is not related to the outgoing prime minister – tapped for foreign minister; former Shell executive István Kapitány, selected to lead the economy and energy portfolio; and prominent economist András Kármán, nominated for finance minister.

    Saturday’s inauguration is scheduled to begin with Magyar’s oath at approximately 3 p.m. local time, followed by an address to the crowd gathered outside parliament, where the celebration will include live artistic performances and unannounced special guests. Separately, Gergely Karácsony, the liberal mayor of Budapest, has organized a parallel “system-closing” celebration along the banks of the Danube River, designed to honor Hungarians who spent years organizing opposition to Orbán’s government. “Teachers fired, civilians and journalists humiliated, small churches torn apart,” Karácsony wrote in his social media invitation. “We can finally leave this era behind us — but first, let us remember the everyday heroes and express our gratitude with a farewell to the system.”

  • Trump gives 4 July ultimatum to EU to approve trade deal with US

    Trump gives 4 July ultimatum to EU to approve trade deal with US

    A fresh flashpoint has emerged in transatlantic trade negotiations, after U.S. President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum to the European Union: slash all levies on American goods to zero by July 4, or face sharply increased tariffs on EU exports entering the United States.

    The ultimatum came following a phone conversation between Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. In a post on social media, Trump claimed the EU had already committed to the zero-tariff plan as part of a landmark bilateral trade agreement reached between the two leaders last July. He wrote that he granted von der Leyen an extension until the U.S. Independence Day – the nation’s 250th birthday – warning that failure to meet the demand would trigger immediate, far higher tariffs than currently in place.

    Von der Leyen offered a more measured assessment in her own post on the social platform X, acknowledging that negotiators have made solid progress toward tariff reduction ahead of Trump’s deadline. She emphasized that both sides remain fully dedicated to implementing the framework agreement the two leaders signed last year.

    The path to finalizing the deal has hit a major snag this week, however. A round of negotiations between EU lawmakers and representatives of the bloc’s 27 member states concluded Wednesday without a consensus on how to move forward with enactment.

    The original deal, struck after Trump played a round of golf at his Turnberry luxury resort in Scotland, rolled back a planned 30% Trump tariff on European goods, settling on a permanent 15% levy for EU exports to the U.S. The pact secured conditional backing from the European Parliament back in March, when a majority of lawmakers voted in favor of implementing legislation. But legislators attached critical safeguards to their approval, tying any commitment to eliminate tariffs on U.S. goods to one key demand: the U.S. must permanently exempt European-made steel and aluminum from Trump’s 50% global tariff on those metals.

    Even with parliamentary approval in hand, the deal still requires formal sign-off from all 27 EU national governments, a hurdle that has divided negotiators. Ahead of Trump’s latest social media announcement, Bernd Lange, the European Parliament’s lead negotiator on the file, noted Thursday that talks were moving forward but still had ground to cover. “We remain more committed than ever to advance and defend Parliament’s mandate so as to provide additional guarantees that will benefit citizens and companies in both the EU and the US,” Lange said in a statement. Negotiators have scheduled their next round of talks for May 19 in Strasbourg.

    This is not the first time Trump has pressed the EU to speed up compliance. Last week, he took to his Truth Social platform to accuse the bloc of failing to honor the terms of the already agreed deal, announcing he would raise tariffs on EU-produced trucks and cars to 25%. The latest ultimatum raises the stakes considerably, putting transatlantic trade relations on a countdown to a potential new trade war just over a month from now.

  • How operation to disembark passengers on virus-hit cruise will work

    How operation to disembark passengers on virus-hit cruise will work

    A high-stakes operation to get passengers off a cruise ship struck by a viral outbreak is moving forward off the coast of Tenerife, where local communities have already raised alarm over potential public health dangers posed by the vessel’s arrival. The BBC’s Guy Hedgecoe has filed on-the-ground reporting from the Spanish island, shedding light on both the logistical intricacies of the disembarkation process and the growing anxiety among residents who worry the infected ship could introduce new transmission risks to the island.

    The unusual situation has required coordinated planning across public health agencies, port authorities and cruise line operators to put in place a protocol that balances the needs of passengers trapped on board with the need to protect the local population. Every step of the process, from initial health screenings to the movement of passengers off the vessel and into either quarantine facilities or onward travel, has been mapped out to minimize the chance of viral spread. Even with these rigorous preparations in place, however, many people who call Tenerife home remain unconvinced that the risks are fully mitigated. For these locals, the presence of a virus-hit ship so close to shore represents an unwelcome threat to public health that could upend daily life and put local communities at risk of new outbreaks.

    The situation highlights the unique challenges that global tourism and cruise travel faced during viral outbreaks, when the closed environment of a passenger ship can turn a vacation voyage into a public health emergency. It also underscores the tension that often emerges between the need to assist stranded passengers and the responsibility of local officials to protect the communities they serve, as Tenerife works through one of the first major test cases of cruise ship disembarkation during a public health crisis.

  • Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year’s trade deal or it will face higher tariffs

    Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year’s trade deal or it will face higher tariffs

    WASHINGTON – In a Thursday post on social media, former U.S. President Donald Trump has issued a new ultimatum to the European Union, setting a July 4 deadline for the 27-nation bloc to formalize approval of a bilateral trade framework struck last year — or face steeply elevated tariff rates on goods imported into the United States.

    The new announcement marks a shift from Trump’s prior hardline position: just last Friday, he warned that a 25% punitive tariff on European automobiles would go into effect as early as this week. The revised timeline followed what Trump called a “great call” with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, prompting him to extend the negotiating window by roughly two months.

    Despite the extension, Trump made clear his frustration with the European Parliament’s slow progress in ratifying the agreement, which has already been upended by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling from February. In that decision, the high court found that Trump lacked legal authority to invoke a national economic emergency to put the initial pressure tariffs in place — the tariffs that launched the current round of negotiations in the first place.

    “A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!” Trump wrote in his social media post. “I agreed to give her until our Country’s 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels.” The U.S. will celebrate the 250th anniversary of its declaration of independence on July 4 this year.

    Trump’s post left a key detail ambiguous: it did not specify whether the tariff hike would apply to all EU exports to the U.S., or would be limited to the auto sector that has been the central focus of trade tensions in this round. Most policy analysts read the extension as a partial retreat from Trump’s earlier immediate threat, granting European legislators extra weeks to complete the ratification process.

    Under the original terms of the 2023 trade framework, the U.S. was set to impose a 15% tariff on the vast majority of imports from EU member states. But following the Supreme Court’s ruling stripping the administration of authority for the original emergency tariffs, the White House has currently levied a 10% tariff while it conducts new probes into bilateral trade imbalances and national security implications of EU imports. The administration plans to implement new, legally sound tariffs to recover the revenue lost from the lower current rate.

  • Valverde taken to hospital after alleged incident with Tchouameni

    Valverde taken to hospital after alleged incident with Tchouameni

    Spanish football is bracing for one of its most high-stakes fixtures of the season, but a sudden and shocking dressing room incident at Real Madrid has thrown the club into chaos just 72 hours before they face Barcelona in a title-deciding El Clasico clash. Uruguayan midfielder Federico Valverde required hospital treatment for a head injury following a physical altercation with French teammate Aurelien Tchouameni, the club has confirmed. Real Madrid launched immediate internal disciplinary proceedings against both players after the incident, which unfolded at the team’s Valdebebas training complex. The club’s official statement confirms Valverde received a diagnosis of cranioencephalic trauma, a common form of concussion. Following evaluation, Valverde was sent home to recover in stable condition, with medical staff ordering a 10 to 14 day rest period to manage his injury. Multiple independent sports outlets have shared additional details from anonymous sources close to the club: BBC Sport reports Valverde was knocked unconscious during the confrontation, while ESPN notes the midfielder required stitches to close a wound from the incident. Tensions between the two players first emerged during a training session on Wednesday, according to multiple on-the-ground reports. While the initial verbal disagreement carried over into the dressing room after that day’s practice, no physical conflict broke out at that time. The confrontation escalated to violence Thursday after training concluded at Valdebebas, when Tchouameni initiated a new confrontation with Valverde that turned physical, multiple sources confirm. In the hours after the incident came to light, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez called an emergency high-level meeting with club leadership, interim head coach Alvaro Arbeloa, and team captain Dani Carvajal to address the situation. “The club will provide updates on the resolutions of both proceedings once the corresponding internal procedures have been completed,” the club said in its statement, leaving fans and analysts waiting for clarity on potential sanctions. BBC Sport has reached out to both club representatives and player agents for additional comment, but no further statements have been released as of publication. The timing of the incident could not be worse for Real Madrid, who face Barcelona at the Nou Camp this Sunday in a match that will decide the 2025-26 La Liga title. A failure to secure three points for Real will see Barcelona claim their second consecutive league championship with three matchweeks still left to play, putting the title out of Real’s reach. Multiple Spanish media outlets report that club staff have described the incident as the most serious internal conflict ever recorded at the Valdebebas training facility. Beyond the immediate disciplinary investigation, the altercation has also drawn attention to a pattern of growing unrest in the Real Madrid first team squad in recent days. This incident marks the third reported internal conflict at the club in a single week. Earlier in the same week, reports emerged of a separate altercation between Spanish left-back Alvaro Carreras and German defender Antonio Rudiger. Carreras later addressed the rumors in an Instagram statement, denying that the incident was as serious as reported. “In recent days, certain insinuations and comments about me have emerged that do not correspond to reality,” Carreras wrote. “My commitment to this club and to the coaches I have had has been complete from day one, and it will continue to be so. Since I returned [after spells at Manchester United and Benfica], I have always worked with the utmost professionalism, respect and dedication. I have fought very hard to fulfil my dream of returning home. Regarding the incident with a colleague, it is a specific matter of no relevance that has already been settled. My relationship with the whole team is very good.” The unrest has also extended to fan relations, with supporters voicing public criticism of star striker Kylian Mbappe this week after the forward took a short trip to Sardinia with his girlfriend during a scheduled recovery break from team activities.

  • Trump’s ‘irresponsible war’ to blame for economic slowdown, German minister says

    Trump’s ‘irresponsible war’ to blame for economic slowdown, German minister says

    A fresh escalation in tensions between two key NATO allies has emerged after Germany’s top finance official blamed U.S. President Donald Trump’s handling of the war in Iran for a massive downward revision of the country’s projected tax revenues, piling more strain on already fractured transatlantic relations.

    Lars Klingbeil, Germany’s finance minister, told reporters in Berlin that Trump’s “irresponsible war in Iran” has triggered a widespread global energy shock that has severely damaged German economic prospects. In response to shifting economic headwinds, German federal officials have cut their expected tax revenue forecasts for the 2026–2030 period by roughly €70 billion (equivalent to $82 billion or £60.52 billion). Klingbeil emphasized that the sharp downgrade makes clear how directly the ongoing conflict in the Middle East is weighing on Germany’s stagnant domestic economy.

    Klingbeil’s remarks come just weeks after a public dispute between German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and President Trump that already led to a U.S. announcement of troop withdrawals from German soil. Last month, Merz drew Trump’s fury when he claimed the White House had been “humiliated” by Iranian negotiators, arguing that the U.S. had no clear exit strategy for the conflict and that Iran had outmaneuvered American diplomats. Merz added that it was humiliating for the U.S. to send negotiators to international talks only to return home without any tangible progress.

    Trump hit back rapidly on his social platform Truth Social, dismissing Merz as misinformed, falsely claiming the German leader supported Iran developing nuclear weapons, and arguing that Germany’s own poor economic performance justified his criticism. The U.S. president doubled down on his rebuke, urging Merz to prioritize fixing Germany’s own domestic challenges – including immigration and energy policy – instead of criticizing U.S. foreign policy. Days after Merz’s original comments, the U.S. Department of Defense unveiled a plan to withdraw 5,000 American troops from Germany, a move linked to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. German defense officials have described the withdrawal as a foreseeable outcome of the growing diplomatic rift.

    Currently, the U.S. maintains its largest European military footprint in Germany, with roughly 12,000 troops deployed in Italy and an additional 10,000 in the United Kingdom. Trump has a long record of criticizing NATO alliance members, and has repeatedly pressured European allies to back his efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil shipping chokepoint that has been effectively closed by Iran since the outbreak of hostilities. Roughly 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies transit through the strait, and the conflict has sent global energy prices skyrocketing, hitting Germany’s already fragile economy, which has struggled with stagnation, elevated energy costs and weak export demand for years.

    Alongside other European nations, Germany has openly opposed the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran that began on February 28, warning that the conflict raises severe risks of a full-blown global economic recession. While Merz has repeatedly acknowledged that Trump’s policy agenda has opened a “deep divide” between the United States and Europe since he took office a year ago, the German chancellor has also made two trips to the White House in 12 months in an effort to repair damaged bilateral ties.

    At present, a fragile ceasefire is in place between warring parties, framed as a stepping stone to a formal peace deal. President Trump claimed this week the conflict would end quickly, and Iranian officials have confirmed they are reviewing a U.S. peace proposal. However, negotiations have stalled amid a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports, even as American work continues to clear the Strait of Hormuz to allow the nearly 2,000 commercial ships stranded in the Gulf since February to transit safely.