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On Saturday, Palestinian residents across the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the central Gaza district of Deir el-Balah cast ballots in municipal elections, marking the first popular vote held by Palestinians since the outbreak of the latest Israel-Hamas war. This long-awaited electoral process unfolds against a backdrop of a restricted political field, widespread public apathy, and deep-seated challenges posed by ongoing conflict and occupation.

According to official figures from the Ramallah-based Central Elections Commission, approximately 1.5 million registered voters are eligible to participate in the West Bank, while another 70,000 residents in Deir el-Balah, one of the only areas of Gaza with a largely non-displaced population after more than two years of war, can also cast their ballots.

The structure of the electoral race reflects long-standing political divisions within Palestinian society. Nearly all competing candidate lists are either aligned with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s secular-nationalist Fatah party or running as independent candidates. Notably, no candidate lists are affiliated with Hamas, Fatah’s long-time political rival which controls roughly half of the Gaza Strip. In most contested constituencies, Fatah-backed tickets face off against independent lists led by figures from smaller factions including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Widespread public disillusionment defines the lead-up to the vote, with many Palestinians questioning whether the election will deliver any tangible change to their daily lives under occupation. In Tulkarem, a northern West Bank city where two adjacent refugee camps have been under continuous Israeli military control for more than a year, local businessman Mahmud Bader said he would still cast a ballot, even as he saw little hope for improvement. “Whether candidates are independent or partisan, it has no effect and will have no effect or benefit for the city,” Bader told Agence France-Presse. “The Israeli occupation is the one that rules Tulkarem. It would only be an image shown to the international media — as if we have elections, a state or independence.”

In a sign of the limited political competition, multiple major population centers including Nablus and Ramallah, the administrative seat of the Palestinian Authority, only saw a single candidate list submitted for each local council. Those candidates will automatically claim their seats without any public vote.

Electoral officials have adjusted voting procedures to accommodate the extreme conditions in war-ravaged Gaza. Polling stations in the West Bank will operate from 7 a.m. local time to 7 p.m., while voting in Deir el-Balah will end two hours earlier at 5 p.m. This early closing is designed to allow vote counting to finish before dark, as widespread damage to infrastructure has left most of Gaza facing chronic electricity shortages.

International observers have framed the vote as an important milestone for Palestinian democratic process. UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Ramiz Alakbarov praised the Central Elections Commission for organizing a “credible process” amid extraordinary hardship. “Saturday’s elections represent an important opportunity for Palestinians to exercise their democratic rights during an exceptionally challenging period,” Alakbarov said in an official statement.

For Palestinian political analysts, the limited scope of the Gaza vote — restricted only to Deir el-Balah — carries clear strategic meaning for the Palestinian Authority. Deir el-Balah was selected for the pilot vote in large part because it is one of the only areas of Gaza where the majority of the original population has remained in place, rather than being displaced by the war, explained Jamal al-Fadi, a political scientist at Cairo’s Al-Azhar University. Al-Fadi added that the restricted election is an experiment for the Palestinian Authority to test public support after the war, when no formal opinion polling has been conducted.

The vote comes amid long-standing criticism of Abbas, who is 90 years old and has held the presidency for more than 20 years without winning a single re-election. Abbas has repeatedly promised to hold national legislative and presidential elections, but none have been held since 2006.

Despite widespread cynicism, some first-time voters in Gaza see the election as an act of political resilience. Twenty-five-year-old Farah Shaath, who is voting for the first time in her life, said she felt excited to participate even amid the chaos of war. “Although it is unlike any election in the world, it is a confirmation of our continued existence in the Gaza Strip despite everything,” Shaath said.

Logistical and security arrangements for the Gaza vote have already highlighted overlapping authority between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. Election commission spokesman Fareed Taamallah said the body had recruited polling staff from local civil society groups and hired a private security firm to secure voting locations in Deir el-Balah. However, an anonymous source within the Gaza branch of the election commission told AFP that Hamas police have insisted on taking responsibility for securing the electoral process. The source added that Hamas will deploy unarmed personnel in civilian clothing around the 12 polling stations established in Deir el-Balah.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has announced plans to table new legislation within coming weeks to formally proscribe Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), according to a recent report from Agence France-Presse. The commitment was delivered during an interview with the Jewish Chronicle, carried out during Starmer’s visit to a London synagogue that survived an attempted arson attack just seven days prior to his trip.

This policy pledge follows a similar move by the European Union, which voted in January to officially label the IRGC a terrorist organization in response to the group’s brutal crackdown on large-scale anti-government protests inside Iran. When questioned about the timeline for the proscription, Starmer confirmed that targeted legislative action is required to crack down on hostile foreign actors operating within UK borders, and his government intends to move forward with the bill as rapidly as possible.

“We go into a new session (of parliament) in a few weeks’ time and we’ll bring that legislation forward,” Starmer added.

Tensions have been running high across Jewish communities in northwest London in recent weeks, with local residents remaining on high alert after a string of arson attacks targeting synagogues and Jewish community infrastructure. The wave of incidents began shortly after U.S.-Israeli military strikes on Iranian targets launched on February 28. Starmer has publicly stated he is growing increasingly concerned about foreign states conducting malicious activities through proxies on British soil.

First established after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, the IRGC functions as the ideological wing of Iran’s military, tasked with protecting the country’s clerical ruling system. Beyond its security and military mandate, the organization also holds direct or controlling ownership of businesses across nearly every major strategic sector of the Iranian economy, giving it extensive influence over the nation’s domestic and international affairs.

Fresh divisions have erupted among European Union leaders as they kick off high-stakes negotiations over the bloc’s next seven-year budget, setting the stage for weeks of tense bargaining between net-contributing frugal states, institutional leaders and pro-spending blocs. The talks, held Friday in Nicosia, Cyprus, come as EU institutions race to lock in a final agreement for the 2028-2034 budget cycle by the end of 2026, well ahead of pivotal national elections across the bloc next year. Last year, the European Commission tabled a €2 trillion ($2.3 trillion) spending plan that would cover everything from common agricultural policy subsidies to cross-border research initiatives, representing a notable increase over the bloc’s current long-term budget. That proposal has already drawn sharp pushback from the EU’s biggest net contributors, led by the so-called “frugal four” core members Germany and the Netherlands, who have drawn a clear line in the sand against the proposed spending increase. Ahead of Friday’s opening talks, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz rejected calls from France for higher collective debt to fund expanded spending, arguing that the EU must prioritize targeted spending cuts in non-critical areas to make room for new priorities rather than raising overall outlays. “We will be setting new priorities. This means that we will also have to reduce spending in the European budget in other areas,” Merz told reporters ahead of the closed-door discussions. Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten echoed that hardline position, saying the commission’s proposed total “needs to be significantly reduced.” For the Netherlands, one of the largest per-capita contributors to the EU budget, an unchecked increase in national contributions would be “unacceptable,” he added. Reaching a final deal will require compromise not just among member states, but also between EU national governments and the European Parliament, which must sign off on any final long-term budget agreement. EU leaders have prioritized wrapping up talks by the end of 2026 to avoid political disruption from 2027 national elections, most notably in France, where a far-right election win could complicate efforts to pass a budget deal. The commission’s proposal includes a key provision requiring the EU to begin paying off tens of billions of euros in annual debt accumulated during the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic recovery program, a requirement that many EU lawmakers oppose, with some pushing to extend the debt repayment timeline. Parliamentary leaders have also thrown their weight behind a push for new bloc-wide taxation of large global technology firms to generate fresh revenue, rather than leaning entirely on increased contributions from member states or cutting existing spending programs. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola emphasized Friday that the bloc needs new revenue streams to cover existing debt obligations, telling reporters in Nicosia: “We cannot solve all the crises and the difficulties we are facing. We need new money to service old debt, and that is something that we will ask the member states to look at.” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen echoed that position, framing the creation of new tax-based revenue streams as “indispensable” for the bloc’s fiscal stability. “Without them, the choice is stark. It’s either higher national contributions or it’s lower spending capacity,” she told a press conference following the opening round of talks. Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, whose country will take over the rotating EU Council presidency from Cyprus in July, warned that negotiations would be grueling and require give-and-take from all sides. “There will have to be compromise,” Martin said. “Some think the budget is too high as it is. Others think it’s not high enough.” With the deadline for a 2026 agreement fast approaching, European Council President Antonio Costa stressed that the bloc faces a collective responsibility to strike a deal on time. “The clock is ticking,” Costa said after Friday’s opening talks concluded. “We have a collective responsibility to reach an agreement by the end of the year.”

In a move that resolves a high-stakes political standoff over the independence of America’s central bank, the US Department of Justice announced Friday it has ended its criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The development clears a major procedural hurdle for the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Fed, after weeks of controversy over what critics called a politically motivated inquiry.

US Attorney Jeanine Pirro made the announcement of the probe’s closure via the social platform X, confirming that oversight of the Fed’s headquarters renovation cost overruns — the core issue that sparked the Justice Department investigation — will now be handled by the Federal Reserve’s own inspector general. The investigation, which opened under intense public and private pressure from President Trump, will remain dormant for the time being, but Pirro left open the possibility of reviving criminal proceedings if new evidence emerges.

“I will not hesitate to restart a criminal investigation should the facts warrant doing so,” Pirro said in her public statement.

The probe has been a flashpoint in US politics for months, as Trump has repeatedly broken longstanding Washington norms to publicly and personally attack Powell, repeatedly calling on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates far more aggressively than the central bank’s independent policy framework has allowed. With Powell’s four-year term as Fed chair set to expire on May 15, the looming investigation threatened to delay the Senate’s consideration of Trump’s pick to replace him, former Fed governor Kevin Warsh.

Shortly after the Justice Department’s announcement, White House spokesman Kush Desai reaffirmed the administration’s optimism that the Senate will move quickly to confirm Warsh. “The Trump administration remains as confident as before that the Senate will swiftly confirm Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve Chairman,” Desai said.

Critics across the political spectrum, including former Federal Reserve chairs and sitting lawmakers from both parties, had denounced the investigation as an unprecedented attempt to erode the central bank’s long-held independence from political interference. The standoff reached a breaking point this week, when Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, made clear he would continue blocking all new Fed appointments if the Powell investigation was not resolved. A single defection from Tillis would have been enough to create a deadlock on the panel, which Warsh must pass to move to a full Senate vote.

Even with the probe closed, however, top Democratic lawmakers warn that political pressure on the Federal Reserve remains far from over. Senate Banking Committee ranking member Senator Elizabeth Warren called the investigation a “bogus” inquiry, noting that the Justice Department’s action still leaves open the threat of renewed proceedings against Powell at any time, while a separate criminal investigation into Fed Governor Lisa Cook remains active. That probe stems from Trump’s move to attempt to fire Cook over unproven mortgage fraud allegations, a case that is currently before the US Supreme Court. Justices are set to rule on whether Trump has the legal authority to oust a sitting Fed governor.

Powell, who first took office as Fed chair in 2018 during Trump’s first term and was reappointed by Democratic President Joe Biden in 2022, said last month that he would not step down from his lifetime seat on the Fed’s Board of Governors until the investigation against him was concluded with full transparency and finality. It is unusual for a former Fed chair to remain on the board after leaving the leadership post, and Powell’s current term as governor runs through 2028. It remains unclear whether Powell will choose to stay on the board now that the probe has been closed.

All market and political observers are now turning their attention to Powell’s scheduled press conference next week, which will follow the conclusion of a two-day monetary policy meeting by the Federal Open Market Committee, where he is expected to address his future plans and the end of the investigation.

A controversial decision by one of Australia’s most established publishing houses to scrap a printed Indigenous children’s book has ignited fierce national debate over free speech, antisemitism, and political censorship, with dozens of prominent authors severing ties in protest.

The canceled work, *Bila, A River Cycle*, was written by award-winning Wiradjuri poet Jazz Money and illustrated by Melbourne-based artist Matt Chun. Thousands of copies of the book had already gone to press before the publisher, University of Queensland Press (UQP), announced it would halt distribution and explore recycling options for the entire print run, currently held in storage.

The cancellation came in response to public comments Chun made in a Substack essay published earlier this year, where he reflected on public and media reactions to the December 2024 Bondi beach shooting. In that attack, two gunmen opened fire on a Jewish festival hosted at the iconic Sydney beach, killing 15 people including prominent Chabad rabbi Eli Schlanger, head of the local Chabad mission which organized the gathering.

In his essay, Chun argued that the Australian political left had rushed to perform public respectability in the wake of the attack to avoid unfounded accusations of antisemitism, and criticized widespread media framing of the incident. He also publicly called out Schlanger and the Chabad organization for their longstanding support of Israeli military actions and illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian territories.

In an official statement to the BBC, The University of Queensland, UQP’s parent institution, described Chun’s comments as “abhorrent and hateful to the innocent victims of the attack.” The institution added that it could not overlook or condone the remarks, nor move forward with publication in any way that could be interpreted as institutional endorsement or association with Chun’s views. UQP also expressed regret over the negative impact of the decision on Jazz Money, noting the institution holds deep respect for the award-winning Indigenous author and would welcome the chance to collaborate with her on future projects.

Separately, New South Wales Police confirmed to the BBC that the force’s Engagement and Hate Crime Unit is leading an investigation into Chun’s social media and Substack post.

Chun has pushed back against UQP’s decision, arguing on his public Instagram that the institution has failed to identify which specific passages of his political writing violate its internal policies and values, nor has it pointed to any clause in the existing publishing contract that justifies terminating the agreement. He also revealed that he and Money have been aware of UQP’s cancellation decision for several months, long before it became public.

Money, whose poetry has earned national accolades including the 2025 Kate Challis RAKA Award for Indigenous artists and the Australia Council for the Arts First Nations Emerging Career Award, announced her relationship with UQP is permanently over. In an Instagram post, she warned that the decision to pulp *Bila* sets a dangerous precedent that any book exploring political, urgent or sensitive topics can be targeted for censorship, cancellation and retaliation.

UQP’s move has prompted widespread backlash from Australia’s literary community, with multiple high-profile writers launching a boycott and severing all existing professional ties with the 76-year-old publisher. Award-winning Indigenous poet Evelyn Araluen said she was extremely disappointed by UQP’s handling of the book, and would terminate all remaining contracts she held with the press. Australian-Palestinian author Randa Abdel-Fattah, who made headlines earlier this year when she was disinvited from a major Adelaide literary festival sparking national outcry, said her upcoming upcoming UQP title *Discipline* will be her first and last book with the publisher. Other prominent writers including Melissa Lucashenko and Natalia Figueroa Barroso have also publicly announced they are ending their partnerships with the press.

Founded in 1948 as an academic publishing house, UQP has grown into one of Australia’s leading independent publishers, releasing titles across fiction, nonfiction, poetry and children’s literature.