Author: Emmanuel

Sudan’s devastating war is now entering its third year, and the conflict is far from over.The United Nations has called this the most devastating humanitarian and displacement crisis in the world.
Killings, rapes and famine are affecting millions of people. What will happen to the people of Sudan if things don’t change? And why is this crisis being mostly ignored by the international community?
Presenter: Stefanie Dekker
Guests:Elbashir Idris – Political affairs analystBayadir Mohamed-Osman – Activist and poetOmer Elnaiem – Head of UNHCR Africa content hub

The House has emptied out somewhat now, but Keir Starmer is still taking questions on trade deals and the EU. We are still expecting a statement from foreign secretary David Lammy this afternoon.Ellie Chowns, the Green party of England and Wales MP for North Herefordshire, has said the party “broadly welcomes” the UK-EU deal announced by the government yesterday.She told MPs:
On behalf of the Green party, I broadly welcome the progress that was made at the summit yesterday. It’s not quite the step change that we need, but it is a step forward towards the closest possible relationships with our closest neighbors that we continue to champion, although I would gently point out that it’s hardly unprecedented, because, of course, up until we left the EU we had a much better relationship.
She then asked why Keir Starmer was being “so timid on the youth mobility scheme, given the huge benefits that this would offer to our young people and our country as a whole.”Helena Horton has an update on Thames WaterThames Water has blocked controversial plans to pay executives “retention payments” out of a £3bn loan, the environment secretary told the Efra committee.Steve Reed said: “Just over the last few days we have seen a very unfortunate situation where Thames Water appeared to be attempting to circumvent that ban, calling their bonuses something different so they can continue to pay them. I am very happy indeed that Thames have now dropped those proposals. It was the wrong thing to do. They have now withdrawn their proposal to make those payments.”The company won a court battle that allowed it to accept the loan, which comes with an expensive 9.75% interest rate and fees. The chair of Thames Water has written to the committee to clarify his comments after the Guardian revealed he wrongly told it last week that the bonuses were “insisted upon” by the creditors.Sir Adrian Montague told the environment, food and rural affairs (Efra) select committee last week that the lenders had insisted that “very substantial” bonuses of up to 50% of salary should be paid to company executives from the controversial loan in order to retain key staff.The chair of Thames Water has now written to the committee to say he “misspoke” after the Guardian revealed his comments were not true.After the Guardian approached Thames to ask why its chair claimed the lenders “insisted” bonuses were paid, Montague wrote to the Efra committee to clarify his comments.“Following the session we have been approached by the Guardian who we understand intend to write a story suggesting that we misled the committee in relation to the Company’s management retention plan.“I appreciate that in the heat of the moment I may have misspoken when I stated that the creditors insisted on the management retention plan.”Helena Dollimore, Labour MP and member of the committee, said of Montague’s appearance: “He was trying to justify the paying of these retention payment … that the creditors of Thames Water had said it was a condition of the loan for top leaders to get retention payments. Since that evidence to our committee we’ve seen documents filed in the high court that suggest Sir Adrian misled in his wording … This is very serious behaviour from the bosses of Thames Water at our committee.”Richard Tice, the deputy Reform UK leader, is in parliament today. He tells MPs that the government has “surrendered the fishing industry”, and that “my constituents are furious that you have surrendered on freedom of movement and on rule taking under the ECJ.”He continues, saying, “there is good news, prime minister. Do you accept that you have also surrendered the jobs of many of your backbench MPs at the next general election to Reform?”Keir Starmer gently replies “I will happily explain to his constituents the huge benefits of these deals, measured in jobs that will be saved, jobs that can now thrive, bills that will come down. And it is really important for our economy that we have these deals. That is in the interests of his constituents. It’s in the interests of the whole country.”Long-term Brexit campaigner Mark Francois has just angrily accused the government of making the UK a rule-taker again from the European Union. Keir Starmer wearily replies “I’d forgotten about some of the nonsense that gets spouted.”Francois continues to heckle the prime minister as he answers, with multiple MPs calling on the Conservative MP to shut up.Just to confirm what Keir Starmer mentioned earlier, the MP for Clacton and Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, has not attended parliament for this statement on the UK-EU trade deal.SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has given his response to the UK-EU deal in this debate, suggesting that people on the frontbenches of other parties “need to calm their jets.”He continued:
This is obviously not a surrender, just as it’s obviously no substitute for membership of the European Union. Nor indeed is it, as the prime minister has repeatedly said today, providing unprecedented access to the EU market. That is simply absurd.
He then calls for more investment in Scotland.Emily Thornberry, chair of foreign affairs committee, made a short intervention earlier, and opened by saying “Can I begin by thanking the prime minister for what he has said about Gaza? It couldn’t be clearer the message that he’s sending to the far-right government of Netanyahu, and it should have the unanimous support of this house. It is essentially: this must stop.”Responding to veteran Brexit campaigner Bernard Jenkin, who accused Labour of betraying the referendum result with this UK-EU trade deal, Keir Starmer said the fact that Labour was doing trade deals with India and the US show the government wasn’t rejoining the European Union.Starmer says they have stuck to their red lines about not rejoining the EU, “no single market, no Customs Union, no freedom of movement.”Starmer says the fact there are deals elsewhere “could be no better evidence that we not going back into the EU.”Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has said his party does not think the newly announced UK-EU reset deal “goes far enough to fix our broken relationship with Europe,” but says that nevertheless the party welcomes parts of it.Speaking in the House of Commons, Ed Davey said:
We have long been arguing for an agri-food deal to help British farmers export to Europe.
We have long argued for a youth mobility scheme to give our young people incredible new opportunities, and British businesses, especially in hospitality, a boost.
We have long argued for closer alliances on defence in the face of Putin’s imperialism and Trump’s unpredictability.
So can I welcome the progress on these issues, even it is only very limited progress on things like youth mobility, because we’ve all seen the terrible damage caused by the Conservatives Brexit deal.
Hearing the Conservative leader complain today is like listening to a back seat driver who previously crashed the car.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of “trying to buy time” to “continue war”.“It is obvious that Russia is trying to buy time in order to continue its war and occupation,” Zelenskyy said in a post on social media on Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reports.Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Zelenskyy said Ukraine had no doubt the war must end at the negotiating table, but there must be clear and realistic proposals on the table, and called for more international sanctions pressure on Russia.He said he had spoken to Finnish President Alexander Stubb and that he would speak to more allies later on Tuesday.Ukrainian foreign minister Andriy Sybiha has called on the Group of Seven advanced economies to reduce its price cap on Russian seaborne oil to $30 per barrel.The current G7 price cap is $60 per barrel.“The oil price cap, from our point of view, our position, (the) reasonable price cap (is) 30 dollars,” Sybiha, who was speaking in English, told reporters in Brussels, Reuters reports.Germany is still counting on the US to pile more pressure on Russia for an immediate ceasefire in its war on Ukraine, Berlin said on Tuesday.“We have repeatedly made it clear that we expect one thing from Russia – an immediate ceasefire without preconditions,” German foreign minister Johann Wadephul said on the sidelines of a meeting with his EU counterparts in Brussels.“It is sobering to see that Russia has not taken this step, and we will have to react. We also expect our US allies not to tolerate this.”He added that there was a lot of readiness both in the European Union and in the United States to consider more sanctions on Moscow, but did not give any details regarding what additional sanctions might look like, Reuters reports.Here’s a little more detail from Reuters on Zakharova’s comments. Putin, after a call with President Donald Trump, has previously said Moscow was ready to work with Ukraine on a memorandum about a future peace accord, and that efforts to end the war in Ukraine were on the right track.Putin said discussions would include the principles of a settlement and the timing and definitions of a possible ceasefire – including its timeframe.On Tuesday, Zakharova tells reporters she hopes Ukraine takes what she calls a constructive position in relation to possible talks for the sake of its own “self-preservation”. She adds:
Now, accordingly, the ball is in Kyiv’s court.
On newly announced European Union sanctions, Zakharova says Russia will never bow to ultimatums from anyone, claiming it’s clear Europe wanted to rearm Ukraine to continue the war.Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova says Ukraine needs to decide whether or not it will cooperate in discussing a memorandum ahead of a future peace accord Moscow has proposed, Reuters reports.In her weekly briefing, Zakharova claims Ukraine’s European allies have sought, but failed, to prevent the resumption of direct dialogue with Russia.Referring to the latest EU sanctions announcement, Zakharova says Russia “never responds to ultimatums”.The UK and Europe have announced major sanctions against Russia as it became clear that Monday’s call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin had failed to deliver any meaningful concessions from Moscow.The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, accused Russia of “trying to buy time in order to continue its war and occupation”.The UK said its sanctions would target dozens of entities “supporting Russia’s military machine, energy exports and information war, as well as financial institutions helping to fund Putin’s invasion of Ukraine”.“Putin has so far not put in place the full, unconditional ceasefire that President Trump has called for, and which President Zelenskyy endorsed over two months ago,” the Foreign Office said.Shortly afterwards the EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said the EU had approved sanctions targeting Russia’s shadow fleet of about 200 vessels and that more sanctions were in the pipeline.You can read the full report here:The European Union has adopted new sanctions against Russia over the war in Ukraine, focusing on Moscow’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers, human rights violations and hybrid threats, the EU’s foreign policy chief said.Kaja Kallas said in a post on X:
The EU has approved its 17th sanctions package against Russia, targeting nearly 200 shadow fleet ships.
New measures also address hybrid threats and human rights.
More sanctions on Russia are in the works. The longer Russia wages war, the tougher our response.
The UK government has announced 100 new sanctions on Russia across Russian military, energy, financial sectors and those conducting “Putin’s information war against Ukraine”.In the press notice, the government said the UK and partners are “also working to tighten the Oil Price Cap, further restricting critical oil revenues for Putin’s war machine”.Here’s more of what Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram today.“It is obvious that Russia is trying to buy time to continue the war and occupation,” he said.“We are working with partners to put pressure on the Russians to behave differently. Sanctions matter, and I am grateful to everyone who makes them more tangible for the perpetrators of the war.”Zelenskyy added:
We have no doubt that the war must end at the negotiating table. There must be clear and realistic proposals on the table. Ukraine is ready for any effective negotiation formats. And if Russia continues to put forward unrealistic conditions and undermine possible results, there must be tough consequences.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of “trying to buy time” to “continue war”.“It is obvious that Russia is trying to buy time in order to continue its war and occupation,” Zelenskyy said in a post on social media on Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reports.Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Zelenskyy said Ukraine had no doubt the war must end at the negotiating table, but there must be clear and realistic proposals on the table, and called for more international sanctions pressure on Russia.He said he had spoken to Finnish President Alexander Stubb and that he would speak to more allies later on Tuesday.EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Tuesday called for the United States to take “strong action” against Russia if Moscow does not agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine.“America said that if Russia doesn’t agree on an unconditional ceasefire, then there are going to be consequences. So we want to see those consequences, also from the US side,” Kallas said at a meeting of EU ministers in Brussels.German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said following a separate call between Trump and European leaders Monday that the EU would “increase pressure” on Moscow through more sanctions.German defence minister Boris Pistorius has accused President Vladimir Putin of not really being interested in peace in Ukraine, saying the Russian leader was only “playing for time” in talks with the United States.Europe needs to increase the pressure on Russia by imposing more sanctions, especially on Russia’s energy sales, Pistorius added.“We have seen massive (Russian) attacks again in recent days … These speak louder than the lip service (to the peace process) we have heard for so long,” Pistorius said before a meeting of EU defence and foreign affairs ministers in Brussels.He added:
Putin is clearly playing for time, unfortunately we have to say Putin is not really interested in peace.
Pistorius said of Putin: “He is still not ready for concessions, only talks about a ceasefire under his conditions.”At least one civilian has been killed and 13 injured in Russian attacks across Ukrainian regions over the past day, regional authorities have reported.Ukrainian air defences intercepted 93 of the 108 Shahed-type attack drones and decoy drones launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force said.Thirty-five of them were shot down, while 58 were neutralised by electronic warfare systems, according to the statement, The Kyiv Independent reported.Russia has lost 975,800 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on 20 May.This number includes 1,030 Russian casualties over the past day.Russia has also lost 10,834 tanks, 22,567 armoured fighting vehicles, 49,093 vehicles and fuel tanks, 28,067 artillery systems, 1,388 multiple launch rocket systems, 1,167 air defence systems, 372 aircraft, 336 helicopters, 36,621 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine, according to the report.China says it backs “direct dialogue” between Russia and Ukraine, after US President Donald Trump announced the two would “immediately” start peace talks after he spoke with Vladimir Putin.“China supports all efforts aimed at achieving peace,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.China said on Tuesday it supported “direct dialogue and negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and advocate for the political resolution of the crisis”, Agence France-Presse reports.“It is hoped that the parties concerned will carry on with the dialogue and negotiation so as to reach a fair, lasting and binding peace agreement acceptable to all parties,” Mao said.Good morning and welcome to our blog covering developments in the Ukraine-Russia conflict following yesterday’s call between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.While the US leader described the conversation as “excellent”, the Kremlin refused to agree to a ceasefire, despite pressure from Washington and European allies.Speaking to reporters in Sochi after the two-hour conversation on Monday, Putin described the call as “very meaningful and frank” and said he was prepared to work with Ukraine on drafting a memorandum for future peace talks.However, the Russian leader declined to support the US-proposed 30-day unconditional ceasefire, which Ukraine had already agreed to – and which Washington had framed as the call’s primary objective. Putin also suggested his country’s maximalist objectives in the war with Ukraine were unchanged.Trump said he spoke with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and several European leaders after his call with Putin.In a statement late on Monday, Zelenskyy insisted Ukraine was ready for a full ceasefire and direct negotiations with Moscow, but said: “If the Russians are not ready to stop the killings, there must be stronger sanctions. Pressure on Russia will push it toward real peace.”Stay with us for all the day’s developments.

The UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, has been speaking to the BBC’s Radio 4’s Today’s programme about the dismal amount of aid Israel is letting into Gaza.International pressure over a looming famine forced Benjamin Netanyahu to announce on Sunday night that he would ease the devastating 11-week aid blockade to prevent a “starvation crisis” in Gaza – but only to a minimum level.Fletcher said five trucks of aid went into Gaza yesterday, but described this as a “drop in the ocean” and totally inadequate for the population’s needs.He said the aid lorries, which contain baby food and nutrition, are technically in Gaza but have not reached civilians as they are just on the other side of the border.Fletcher said 14,000 babies could die in 48 hours if aid doesn’t reach them in time.“I want to save as many as these 14,000 babies as we can in the next 48 hours,” he told the BBC.Asked how the UN arrived at this figure, he responded: “We have strong teams on the ground – and of course many of them have been killed… we he still have lots of people on the ground – they’re at the medical centres, they’re at the schools…trying to assess needs.”At least 53,573 Palestinian people have been killed and 121,688 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.The ministry said 87 people were killed by Israeli attacks and 290 others injured in the territory over the past 24 hours.“There are still a number of victims under the rubble and on the roads, the ambulance and civil defense teams cannot reach them,” it added in its post on Telegram.Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that nuclear talks with the United States were unlikely to yield any results, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).“We don’t think it will lead to any outcome. We don’t know what will happen,” said Khamenei during a speech, adding that denying Iran’s right to enrich uranium was “a big mistake”.Iran and the United States have held four rounds of Omani-mediated nuclear talks since 12 April, the highest-level contact between the two countries since Washington abandoned the 2015 nuclear accord. They had confirmed plans to hold another round of discussions during their last meeting on 11 May, which Iran described as “difficult but useful”, while a US official said Washington was “encouraged”.Iran currently enriches uranium to 60%, far above the 3.67% limit set in the 2015 deal and close though still short of the 90% needed for a nuclear warhead.Western countries, including the US have long accused Iran of seeking to acquire atomic weapons, while Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. Iran has repeatedly insisted its right to maintain uranium enrichment was “non-negotiable”, while chief US negotiator Steve Witkoff has called it a “red line”.On Sunday, Witkoff reiterated that the United States “cannot allow even one percent of an enrichment capability”.“The American side involved in these indirect negotiations should refrain from speaking nonsense,” said Khamenei.Earlier, Iran’s foreign minister and lead negotiator Abbas Araghchi said “enrichment in Iran, however, will continue with or without a deal”.He said in a post on X:
If the US is interested in ensuring that Iran will not have nuclear weapons, a deal is within reach, and we are ready for a serious conversation to achieve a solution that will forever ensure that outcome.
The UK said on Tuesday it had sanctioned a number of individuals and groups in the West Bank who it said had been linked with acts of violence against Palestinians.More details soon …Syria’s foreign minister said on Tuesday that the lifting of sanctions on his country shows an “international will” to support his country, after EU countries agreed to end most of its sanctions, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).In a press conference in Damascus alongside his Jordanian counterpart, Asaad al-Shaibani said that “lifting sanctions expresses the regional and international will to support Syria”, adding that “the Syrian people today have a very important and historic opportunity to rebuild their country”.The PA news agency has more detail on Tuesday’s comments by the UK prime minister, Keir Starmer.At the dispatch box, he told the House of Commons:
First I’d like to say something about the horrific situation in Gaza, where the level of suffering, innocent children being bombed again, is utterly intolerable.
Starmer later added:
We’re horrified by the escalation from Israel. We repeat our demand for a ceasefire as the only way to free the hostages.
We repeat our opposition to settlements in the West Bank, and we repeat our demand to massively scale-up humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
The recent announcement that Israel will allow a basic quantity of food into Gaza, a basic quantity, is totally and utterly inadequate, so we must coordinate our response because this war has gone on for far too long.
We cannot allow the people of Gaza to starve, and the foreign secretary [David Lammy] will come to the house shortly to set out our response in detail.
UK prime minister Keir Starmer said on Tuesday he, along with the leaders of France and Canada, was horrified by the military escalation in Gaza, repeating calls for a ceasefire.“I want to put on record today that we’re horrified by the escalation from Israel,” Starmer told parliament, after releasing a joint statement with French president Emmanuel Macron and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney (see 7.35am BST).According to Reuters, Starmer said that the foreign secretary, David Lammy, would set out the UK’s “response in detail” later on Tuesday.France seems increasingly likely to recognise a Palestinian state after Paris, along with London and Ottawa, threatened Israel with “concrete actions” for its renewed assault in Gaza.Asked if the UK was leaning towards official recognition of a Palestinian state, Keir Starmer’s official spokesperson said on Tuesday:
We have been clear that the UK will never give up on the two-state solution, with a Palestinian state and Israel living side-by-side in peace dignity and security.
The prime minister is clear that statehood is an inalienable right of the Palestinian people.
The spokesperson, according to the PA news agency, said the UK was “ready to work with our allies” when asked if the UK would follow France in official recognising a Palestinian state.French president Emmanuel Macron has indicated he could do this at a coming UN summit (for context: Spain, Ireland and Norway formally recognised a Palestinian state last year, provoking outrage in the Israeli government).Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the UN office for coordination for humanitarian affairs (OCHA), has responded to comments made by the UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, who told the BBC this morning that 14,000 babies in Gaza could die over the next 48 hours if aid doesn’t reach them (see post at 08.59 for more details).Speaking to reporters, Laerke said:
For now let me just say that we know for a fact that there are babies who are in urgent life-saving need of these supplements that need to come in because their mothers are unable to feed themselves.
And if they do not get those, they will be in mortal danger. That is as much as I can say right now. If we have more specifics, we’ll go back to you on that.
Israel is not only conducting a war in Gaza, it is also launching frequent attacks in Lebanon.The Lebanese health ministry said earlier today that an Israeli airstrike injured nine people in a drone attack on the coastal Tyre district in the south of the country.Three people are now in “critical condition”, the ministry said, adding that two children were among the injured.Israel has continued to launch strikes on Lebanon despite a ceasefire with Hezbollah, which sates only UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army should be deployed in southern Lebanon.Israel, however, has retained its forces in five areas it has declared strategic. Lebanon has called on the international community to pressure Israel to end its attacks and withdraw all its troops.Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Gaza:“We have requested and received approval of more trucks to enter today, many more than were approved yesterday,” Jens Laerke, spokesperson for UN office for coordination for humanitarian affairs (OCHA), told reporters in Geneva.Laerke added that “we expect, of course, with that approval, many of them, hopefully all of them, to cross today to a point where they can be picked up and get further into the Gaza Strip for distribution.”As we’ve reported earlier in the blog, the UN’s humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, said only five aid trucks were allowed into Gaza yesterday.The UN has just confirmed it has been given permission to send “around 100” aid trucks into Gaza today (for context: pre-war an average of 500 trucks were entering per day).Fletcher earlier acknowledged the risks to staff who may be caught in Israeli airstrikes as they try to deliver the supplies.Charities have warned of a looming famine across Gaza caused by Israel’s food blockade, which was eased yesterday to a bare minimum level only because of fears key allies (i.e. US senators) were distressed by images of “mass hunger” and could pull support over such scenes.Israel imposed its blockade in early March, cutting off all supplies including food, medicine, shelter and fuel in what has been widely condemned as the collective punishment of the civilian population in Gaza. Israel claimed the blockade was to pressure Hamas into releasing hostages.Because of the blockade, most community kitchens have now shut down. Vegetables and meat are inaccessible or unaffordable. The World Health Organization said yesterday that two million people were starving in the Gaza Strip while tonnes of food was being blocked at the border.Al Jazeera is reporting that at least two people were killed by Israeli drone fire in the Tuffah neighbourhood in Gaza City, while two others were killed by Israeli artillery shelling in the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza.Israel has justified its blockade of Gaza by claiming that Hamas steals food from humanitarian agencies and the UN. The Israeli government denies targeting civilians and says it is fighting a war of survival.EU policy on Israel has typically been hobbled by the difficulties in finding unanimity among 27 member states with different views, from countries that have recognised Palestine, such as Spain and Ireland, to staunch allies of Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu, such as Hungary and the Czech Republic.While the EU-Israel can only be suspended by unanimity, key provisions, including on trade and Israel’s participation in Europe’s Horizon research funding programme can be suspended on the basis of a weighted majority vote.Jennifer Rankin is Brussels correspondent for the GuardianEU foreign ministers will discuss plans to review the bloc’s relationship with Israel, amid growing alarm about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza and the West Bank.Arriving at a meeting in Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said ministers would discuss a Dutch proposal to review the EU-Israel association agreement, a trade accord signed in 2000.“It’s going to be a very, very hard discussion on Gaza,” she said, noting that member states took different views in their approach to Israel’s government.France’s foreign minister Jean-Noël Barrot told local media earlier on Tuesday that Paris backed a review of the EU-Israel agreement to see if Israel was respecting its commitments to human rights.In a letter to Kallas, Dutch foreign minister Casper Veldkamp said Israel’s aid blockade was a violation of its obligations under international humanitarian law and therefore the EU-Israel agreement, which includes provisions to respect human rights. He also expressed concern about Israel’s plans to entrust the delivery of aid to Palestinians to private companies, rather than the UN and humanitarian organisations.He wrote:
All of this merits a broader reflection on and discussion of our relationship with Israel.
Ireland’s development minister Neale Richmond told reporters that ten countries now supported the decision to review the agreement, up from only a handful a year ago.Commenting on the growing momentum to review the agreement, he said:
I can only imagine it’s because other member states have eyes and ears and they can see the absolute horrors that are unfolding on a daily basis live on our television screens in Gaza.
Children are dying, children are starving, families are being murdered every day. This is not acceptable and it’s clearly now time for the EU to look at that EU-Israel trade association and the very clear breaches of the human rights under article 2 [of the agreement].
He called on Kallas to provide “a clear message [that] we won’t stand for the status quo”.

Public spending cuts across six African countries have resulted in the incomes of health and education workers falling by up to 50 percent in five years, leaving them struggling to make ends meet, according to international NGO ActionAid.The Human Cost of Public Sector Cuts in Africa report published on Tuesday found that 97 percent of the healthcare workers it surveyed in Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi and Nigeria could not cover their basic needs like food and rent with their wages.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to blame for these countries’ failing public systems, the report said, as the agency advises governments to significantly cut public spending to pay back foreign debt. As the debt crisis rapidly worsens across the Global South, more than three-quarters of all low-income countries in the world are spending more on debt servicing than healthcare.
“The debt crisis and the IMF’s insistence on cuts to public services in favour of foreign debt repayments have severely hindered investments in healthcare and education across Africa. For example, in 2024, Nigeria allocated only 4% of its national revenue to health, while a staggering 20.1% went toward repaying foreign debt,” said ActionAid Nigeria’s Country Director Andrew Mamedu. Advertisement
The report highlighted how insufficient budgets in the healthcare system had resulted in chronic shortages and a decline in the quality of service.
Women also appear to be disproportionally affected.
“In the past month, I have witnessed four women giving birth at home due to unaffordable hospital fees. The community is forced to seek vaccines and immunisation in private hospitals since they are not available in public hospitals. Our [local] health services are limited in terms of catering for pregnant and lactating women,” said a healthcare worker from Kenya, who  ActionAid identified only as Maria.
Medicines for malaria – which remains a leading cause of death across the African continent, especially in young children and pregnant women – are now 10 times more expensive at private facilities, the NGO said. Millions don’t have access to lifesaving healthcare due to long travel distances, rising fees and a medical workforce shortage.
“Malaria is an epidemic in our area [because medication is now beyond the reach of many]. Five years ago, we could buy [antimalarial medication] for 50 birrs ($0.4), but now it costs more than 500 birr ($4) in private health centres,” a community member from Muyakela Kebele in Ethiopia, identified only as Marym, told ActionAid.

‘Delivering quality education is nearly impossible’
The situation is equally dire in education, as budget cuts have led to failing public education systems crippled by rising costs, a shortage of learning materials and overcrowded classrooms. Advertisement
Teachers report being overwhelmed by overcrowded classrooms, with some having to manage more than 200 students. In addition, about 87 percent of teachers said they lacked basic classroom materials, with 73 percent saying they paid for the materials themselves.
Meanwhile, teachers’ wages have been gradually falling, with 84 percent reporting a 10-15 percent drop in their income over the past five years.
“I often struggle to put enough food on the table,” said a teacher from Liberia, identified as Kasor.
Four of the six countries included in the report are spending less than the recommended one-fifth of their national budget on education, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
“I now believe teaching is the least valued profession. With over 200 students in my class and inadequate teaching and learning materials, delivering quality education is nearly impossible,” said a primary school teacher in Malawi’s Rumphi District, identified as Maluwa.
Action Aid said its report shows that the consequences of IMF-endorsed policies are far-reaching. Healthcare workers and educators are severely limited in the work they can do, which has direct consequences on the quality of services they can provide, it said.
“The debt crisis and drive for austerity is amplified for countries in the Global South and low-income countries, especially due to an unfair global economic system held in place by outdated institutions, such as the IMF,” said Roos Saalbrink, the global economic justice lead at ActionAid International. “This means the burden of debt falls on those most marginalised – once again. This must end.” Advertisement

Qatar’s offer to give Donald Trump a $400m Boeing 747 airplane is a “normal thing that happens between allies,” prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has said at an economic forum held in Doha.Al Thani dismissed concerns about Qatar trying to buy influence with its key ally, after the Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer introduced a bill on Monday that would prevent any foreign aircraft operating as Air Force One amid ethical and security concerns.“I hope that the United States looks to Qatar as a reliable partner in diplomacy that is not trying to buy influence,” Al Thani said.Trump has shrugged off worries, saying it would be “stupid” to turn down the generous offer. He said the Boeing 747-8 would eventually be donated to his presidential library – a repository housing research materials from his administration, and that he had no plans to use it for personal reasons after leaving office.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that the aircraft “will be accepted according to all legal and ethical obligations.”“Retrofitting the Qatari plane would cost billions and could never even truly eliminate all catastrophic risks,” Schumer said on X.The bill would prevent the US from spending taxpayer dollars to retrofit a foreign-owned plane for presidential use.“There’s absolutely no amount of modifications that can guarantee it will be secure,” Schumer added.In other developments:

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump have held a rare phone call, which the US leader described as “excellent”, but the Kremlin refused to agree to a ceasefire in the war with Ukraine, despite pressure from Washington and European allies.

Donald Trump lashed out at celebrities who endorsed Kamala Harris in late night and early morning screeds on Monday, saying he would investigate them to see if they were paid for the endorsements – repeating a common refrain on the right about the star-studded list of Harris supporters.

At least 50 Venezuelan men sent by the Trump administration to a prison in El Salvador had entered the US legally, according to a review by the Cato Institute. Published by the libertarian thinktank on Monday, the report analyzed the available immigration data for only a portion of the men who were deported to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), and focuses on the cases where records could be found.

Donald Trump’s administration can end legal protections that have shielded about 350,000 Venezuelans from potential deportation, the supreme court ruled on Monday. America’s highest court granted a request by Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, to revoke temporary protected status (TPS) for the Venezuelans while an appeal proceeds in a lower court.

US representative LaMonica McIver, a Democrat, was charged with assaulting federal agents after a clash outside an immigration detention center in New Jersey, the state’s federal prosecutor announced on Monday.

The former FBI director James Comey has brushed off criticism about a photo of seashells he posted on social media, saying it is “crazy” to think the messaged was intended as a threat against Donald Trump. “I posted it on my Instagram account and thought nothing more of it, until I heard … that people were saying it was some sort of a call for assassination, which is crazy,” Comey said in interview on MSNBC.

The Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi, who was released only weeks ago from federal detention, has crossed the graduation stage to cheers from his fellow graduates. The Palestinian activist was arrested by immigration authorities in Colchester, Vermont, while attending a naturalization interview.

Donald Trump has signed into law the Take It Down Act, a measure that imposes penalties for online sexual exploitation that Melania Trump helped usher through Congress.
US health and human services secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr dismissed the World Health Organization as bloated and “moribund” in a video shown to global health officials meeting earlier today for the body’s annual assembly in Geneva.The United States, the UN agency’s top donor, announced it would withdraw from the WHO on the first day of Donald Trump’s presidency, leaving the organisation with a massive budget shortfall that it is seeking to address through reforms at this week’s assembly.In a video recorded on Fox News and then streamed to the assembly RFK Jr said:
I urge the world’s health ministers and the WHO to take our withdrawal from the organisation as a wake-up call. We’ve already been in contact with like-minded countries and we encourage others to consider joining us.
His speech did not prompt any immediate response from the assembly. Diplomats and ministers mostly watched the address in silence.Trump has accused the WHO of mishandling Covid and of being too close to China – allegations it denies.Kennedy is an environmental lawyer who has long sown doubts about the safety and efficacy of vaccines that have helped curb disease and prevented millions of deaths for decades, and clashed with US lawmakers last week in a hearing disrupted by protesters.In his comments to the WHO, Kennedy called it “mired in bureaucratic bloat, entrenched paradigms, conflicts of interest and international power politics”.
We don’t have to suffer the limits of a moribund WHO – let’s create new institutions or revisit existing institutions that are lean, efficient, transparent and accountable.
Kennedy’s comments were broadcast hours after WHO member states adopted an agreement to better prepare for future pandemics.Kennedy said the accord would “lock in all the dysfunctions of the WHO pandemic response”.At least 50 Venezuelan men sent by the Trump administration to a prison in El Salvador had entered the United States legally, according to a review by the Cato Institute.The report, published by the libertarian thinktank on Monday, analyzed the available immigration data for only a portion of the men who were deported to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), and focuses on the cases where records could be found.“The government calls them all ‘illegal aliens.’ But of the 90 cases where the method of crossing is known, 50 men report that they came legally to the United States, with advanced US government permission, at an official border crossing point,” Cato said in its report.This number aligns with broader trends among Venezuelan migrants, many of whom entered the country either as refugees or through a Biden-era parole program that granted two-year work permits to those with US-based sponsors.“The proportion isn’t what matters the most: the astounding absolute numbers are,” reads the report. “Dozens of legal immigrants were stripped of their status and imprisoned in El Salvador.”Cato’s analysis goes against the Trump administration’s justification for sending the men to El Salvador, saying that only undocumented people were deported.Retiree and disability beneficiaries are worried about delays in payments, processing and services amid cuts being made to the US’s social security system under the Trump administration.Angel Morgan, a 44-year-old disability benefits recipient in Nashville, Tennessee, said she felt like she was “running in circles” navigating long lines at her local social security office and difficulties in trying to make an appointment online to talk about her benefits and how to participate in the Ticket to Work program, which provides career development services for disability beneficiaries.“I struggle with social settings and these things just make it worse. Trump doesn’t care about the struggles we go through and won’t quit until we are all bankrupt and either dead or wanting to die,” said Morgan.An average of nearly 69 million Americans will receive social security benefits a month in 2025, most of them older people or those with disabilities.The agency has been a significant target of the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) and its former leader Elon Musk, who has called social security “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time”.Attacks on social security are not new – Republicans have long pushed to privatize social security and raise the retirement age to 69 years old – but the latest salvoes are having a profound impact on the agency and those who rely upon it.These are challenging days for Florida governor Ron DeSantis, the man who would have been king. Barely two and a half years since his landslide re-election and anointment as “DeFuture” of the Republican party in a fawning New York Post cover, he stands isolated from the national political stage, feuding with his once blindingly loyal Florida legislature, and limping towards the finish line of his second term with an uncertain pathway beyond.It has been, in the view of many analysts, a fall of stunning velocity and magnitude. And while few are willing to completely rule out a comeback for a 46-year-old politician who was the darling of the Republican hard right until he dared to challenge Donald Trump for his party’s 2024 presidential nomination, it is also clear that everything has changed.“He’s completely crashed to the ground at this point and is certainly being treated like a more standard, average governor now,” said Aubrey Jewett, professor of political science at the University of Central Florida.Jewett added:
He’s lost the ability to push things through. He’s lost that luster he had that at one time seemed like he could do no wrong in Republican conservative circles. He’s definitely come back down to earth and some of it is his own doing because if you govern with an autocratic style, that doesn’t usually make you a lot of allies.
DeSantis’s once vise-like grip on Florida’s lawmakers has weakened, replaced by open dissent, bitter hostility and a hurling of slurs over a number of issues as the two Republican dominated legislative chambers try to reverse six years of passivity and reestablish themselves as a co-equal branch of government.DeSantis, in the words of Republican House speaker Daniel Perez, has begun to tell “lies and stories that never happened”, and has become increasingly prone to “temper tantrums”.Two Democrats on the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) who were fired by President Donald Trump in March will urge a federal judge in Washington to declare the move illegal on Tuesday, in the latest showdown over the limits of presidential power.Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter seek an order declaring their terminations unlawful and allowing them to resume their work at the agency, which enforces consumer protection and antitrust law, reports Reuters.The case is one of several testing a 90-year-old supreme court precedent that shields independent agencies from direct White House control. A ruling overturning it could reverberate far and wide, shaking the independence of agencies that regulate road safety, stock markets, telecommunications and monetary policy.Bedoya and Slaughter say their terminations on 18 March openly defied a law allowing the president to fire FTC commissioners only for good cause, such as neglecting their duties.The supreme court upheld that law in the 1935 case Humphrey’s Executor v. US, after the last time a US president attempted to fire an FTC commissioner over a policy disagreement.Congress has the power to create agencies that serve legislative or judicial functions, and allowing the president to control those agencies violates the separation of powers, the supreme court ruled.The Trump administration has argued Humphrey’s Executor does not apply to the current FTC, which gained the authority to sue in federal court to block mergers and seek financial penalties after the case was decided, reports Reuters.As it now exists, the FTC should be considered part of the executive branch controlled by the president, not Congress, the administration has said.Multiple courts have considered that argument and rejected it, saying the supreme court settled the matter, Slaughter and Bedoya said.The FTC, now led by three Republicans, is structured so that no more than three of its five commissioners come from the same party.The case is playing out at the same time as similar challenges by members of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPPB) and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) who were fired by Trump.The supreme court could rule at anytime on whether the Trump administration must reinstate the MSPB and NLRB members, while this case is being reviewed.South Africa’s government plans to offer a workaround of local Black ownership laws for Elon Musk’s Starlink internet service to operate in the country, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing three people familiar with the discussions.The offer will come at a last-minute meeting planned for Tuesday night between Musk or his representatives and a delegation of South African officials traveling with president Cyril Ramaphosa, the report added, according to Reuters.Musk objects to a law requiring that investors in the telecoms sector provide 30% of the equity in the South African part of the enterprise to Black-owned businesses.JP Morgan’s chief executive, Jamie Dimon, warned on Monday that investors were being too complacent as markets shook off news that the US has lost its last triple-A credit rating amid fresh concern over the federal government’s burgeoning debt pile.Credit rating agency Moody’s dealt a blow to Washington on Friday when it stripped the US of its top-notch rating, downgrading the world’s largest economy by one notch to AA1 and become becoming the last of the big three agencies to drop its triple-A rating for the US.The announcement unnerved markets on Monday morning, but stock markets had recovered by the end of the day.Speaking at JP Morgan’s annual investor day meeting in New York, Dimon warned against complacency. “We have huge deficits; we have what I consider almost complacent central banks. You all think they can manage all this. I don’t think [they can],” he said.Dimon said he saw an “extraordinary amount of complacency” and added that he believes the possibility of stagflation – a recession with rising prices – was far higher than investors believe.Moody’s downgrade came as Donald Trump struggles to push his “big, beautiful” tax and spending bill through Congress, Moody’s said it expected the US budget deficit to keep rising.“Successive US administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs,” Moody’s said, announcing its downgrade. “We do not believe that material multi-year reductions in mandatory spending and deficits will result from current fiscal proposals under consideration.”President Donald Trump is expected to head to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to meet congressional Republicans as they aim to reach agreement on a sweeping tax-cut bill, with their narrow majority divided over the scope of spending cuts, reports Reuters.Hardline Republicans in the US House of Representatives on Friday briefly blocked the advance of the bill – which nonpartisan analysts say could add $3tn to $5tn to the federal government’s $36.2tn debt – but relented on Sunday.The bill would extend the 2017 tax cuts that were Trump’s signature first-term legislative achievement, and also add tax breaks on income from tips and overtime pay that were part of his populist push on the campaign trail.According to Reuters, he is expected to try to unify the divided 220-213 House majority, including hardliners eager for deep spending cuts, moderates worried about protecting Medicaid and Republican lawmakers from coastal states eager to protect their constituents’ ability to deduct state and local taxes.Republicans are looking to parliamentary maneuvres to bypass the objections of Democrats, who say the bill disproportionately benefits the wealthy and will take a deep bite out of social programs.“I think he’ll urge people to get together and I think it’ll be an upbeat speech … I’m glad he’s coming,” said hardline Republican Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina, one of the handful who voted against the bill on Friday.House speaker Mike Johnson aims to pass the measure by Thursday, before the Memorial Day holiday weekend, setting the stage for the Senate to take it up next month.“I’m very optimistic we will find the right equilibrium point to get this bill delivered,” Johnson told reporters on Monday, even as he acknowledged that some thorny issues were unresolved.Hanging over Republicans is a move by credit-ratings firm Moody’s, which last week stripped the US federal government of its top-tier credit rating. It cited multiple administrations and Congress failing to address the nation’s growing debt. The Republican-controlled Congress so far has not rejected any of Trump’s legislative requests.If the House passes the bill, the Senate will have to labor to pass a partisan bill that could differ significantly from the House’s.“It’s not going to happen overnight. But it should happen in a timely way,” Senate majority leader John Thune of South Dakota told reporters on Monday, according to Reuters.Republicans control the Senate by a 53-47 margin and at least one conservative, Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, has already stated reservations with the House’s Medicaid provisions.The Kennedy Center announced its lineup on Monday, which includes performances of “Chicago,” “Moulin Rouge” and “Back to the Future: The Musical.” The offerings for kids includes a theatrical version of the cartoon hit “Bluey”, reports the Associated Press (AP).The center previously abandoned a week’s worth of July events celebrating LGBTQ+ rights as part of this summer’s World Pride festival in Washington.The White House has further moved to cancel millions in previously awarded federal humanities grants to arts and culture groups. And Donald Trump’s budget framework has proposed eliminating the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities altogether.According to the AP, Trump told the Kennedy Center dinner that congressional Republicans have pushed for more than $250m for repairs and maintenance at the Kennedy Center, and said that, over the past decade, “tremendous amounts of money” was spent there. “I don’t know where they spent it,” he said. “They certainly didn’t spend it on wallpaper, carpet or painting.”Richard Grenell, a Trump envoy for special missions who is interim head of the Kennedy Center, said a previous budget included “$26m in phantom revenue.” He suggested the behavior could be a criminal matter for prosecutors and that attorney general Pam Bondi, in addition to being on the center’s board, heard the details at a meeting earlier on Monday.“She heard the details, and this is unacceptable,” Grenell said.Trump said the center would raise funds but added of the building’s state that it’s “falling apart”. He said previous “programming was out of control with rampant political propaganda” and featured “some very inappropriate shows” including a “Marxist anti-police performance” and “Lesbian-only Shakespeare”.“Who thinks of these ideas, really?” Trump cried, drawing loud laughs from those present, reports the AP.President Donald Trump hosted the Kennedy Center’s leadership at the White House on Monday night, reinforcing how much attention he is devoting to remaking a premier cultural center as part of a larger effort to overhaul the social and ideological dynamics of the national arts scene.According to the Associated Press (AP), the meeting of the center’s board in the state dining room followed Trump firing its previous members and announcing in February that he would serve as the board’s chair. The new board, which unanimously approved Trump as its chair, is stocked with loyalists.They include White House chief of staff Susie Wiles; attorney general Pam Bondi; Usha Vance, the wife of vice-president JD Vance; and Lee Greenwood, whose song “God Bless the USA,” plays at Trump rallies as well as many official events, including during his trip to the Middle East last week. Trump called it a “hot board.”“We’re gonna turn it around,” Trump told dinner attendees of the center. He said of running the board, “When I said, ‘I’ll do this,’ I hadn’t been there” and joked, “That’s the last time I’ll take a job without looking at it”.Trump has called the center’s past programming “woke” and “terrible,” while more broadly seeking to slash federal funding for the arts – complaining that too much programming promotes leftist ideology and political correctness. In his view, molding the Kennedy Center to his own liking can go a long way toward creating a new arts and social culture nationwide, reports the AP.US representative LaMonica McIver, a Democrat, was charged with assaulting federal agents after a clash outside an immigration detention center in New Jersey, the state’s federal prosecutor announced on Monday.Alina Habba, interim US attorney, said in a post on social media that McIver was facing charges “for assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement” when she visited the detention center along with two other Democratic members of the New Jersey congressional delegation on 9 May.“No one is above the law – politicians or otherwise,” Habba said in a statement. “It is the job of this office to uphold justice impartially, regardless of who you are. Now we will let the justice system work.”McIver on Monday accused federal law enforcement of escalating the situation, saying that it was the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents who “created an unnecessary and unsafe confrontation”.“The charges against me are purely political – they mischaracterise and distort my actions, and are meant to criminalise and deter legislative oversight,” she said.At the same time, Habba announced her office was dismissing a misdemeanor trespassing charge against Ras Baraka, the Democratic mayor of Newark, whose arrest instigated the clash with federal agents.The left-learning advocacy group Demand Justice plans to undetake a six-figure advertising effort as part of a new campaign to highlight Donald Trump’s continued attacks on the rule of law.The adverting campaign, which will include online and print ads in national publications is part of a multi-pronged effort called “Justice Under Siege” will include polling, research, and educational initiatives focused on how the Trump administration is attacking the rule of law, a fundamental pillar of American society“Since his inauguration, President Trump has repeatedly defied lawful court orders on issues ranging from illegally firing thousands of public servants to deporting lawful US residents without due process,” Maggie Jo Buchanan, the group’s executive director, said in a statement.
We’ll systematically document and expose this pattern of attacks on the rule of law, which is made even more alarming by congressional Republicans who aren’t just letting Trump get away with it, but actively participating through threats to defund courts, legislative stunts to take away the ability of the judiciary to check Trump’s overreach, and baseless impeachment efforts against judges whose rulings they disagree with.
The group has previously targeted major law firms who capitulated to Trump with posters around Washington DC near the offices of the firms in the US capitol.Since taking office in January, Trump’s attacks on the rule of law have been brazen and unrelenting.He has openly defied court orders halting deportations, called for a federal judge who ruled against him to be impeached, issued executive orders punishing law firms connected to political rivals, and used the power of his office to revoke the security clearance and investigate officials who spoke out against him.There have also been an alarming rise in threats and harassment against federal judges in recent months as the president has escalated his attacks.There has been little pushback from Republicans to Trump’s actions. Chief Justice John Roberts spoke out in defense of judges in March, saying:
For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision. The normal appellate process exists for that purpose.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the newest member of the court and one of its liberal members, said this monththat the attacks on judges “are not random. They seem designed to intimidate those of us who serve in this critical capacity.”Qatar’s offer to give Donald Trump a $400m Boeing 747 airplane is a “normal thing that happens between allies,” prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has said at an economic forum held in Doha.Al Thani dismissed concerns about Qatar trying to buy influence with its key ally, after the Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer introduced a bill on Monday that would prevent any foreign aircraft operating as Air Force One amid ethical and security concerns.“I hope that the United States looks to Qatar as a reliable partner in diplomacy that is not trying to buy influence,” Al Thani said.Trump has shrugged off worries, saying it would be “stupid” to turn down the generous offer. He said the Boeing 747-8 would eventually be donated to his presidential library – a repository housing research materials from his administration, and that he had no plans to use it for personal reasons after leaving office.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Monday that the aircraft “will be accepted according to all legal and ethical obligations.”“Retrofitting the Qatari plane would cost billions and could never even truly eliminate all catastrophic risks,” Schumer said on X.The bill would prevent the US from spending taxpayer dollars to retrofit a foreign-owned plane for presidential use.“There’s absolutely no amount of modifications that can guarantee it will be secure,” Schumer added.In other developments:

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump have held a rare phone call, which the US leader described as “excellent”, but the Kremlin refused to agree to a ceasefire in the war with Ukraine, despite pressure from Washington and European allies.

Donald Trump lashed out at celebrities who endorsed Kamala Harris in late night and early morning screeds on Monday, saying he would investigate them to see if they were paid for the endorsements – repeating a common refrain on the right about the star-studded list of Harris supporters.

At least 50 Venezuelan men sent by the Trump administration to a prison in El Salvador had entered the US legally, according to a review by the Cato Institute. Published by the libertarian thinktank on Monday, the report analyzed the available immigration data for only a portion of the men who were deported to El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), and focuses on the cases where records could be found.

Donald Trump’s administration can end legal protections that have shielded about 350,000 Venezuelans from potential deportation, the supreme court ruled on Monday. America’s highest court granted a request by Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, to revoke temporary protected status (TPS) for the Venezuelans while an appeal proceeds in a lower court.

US representative LaMonica McIver, a Democrat, was charged with assaulting federal agents after a clash outside an immigration detention center in New Jersey, the state’s federal prosecutor announced on Monday.

The former FBI director James Comey has brushed off criticism about a photo of seashells he posted on social media, saying it is “crazy” to think the messaged was intended as a threat against Donald Trump. “I posted it on my Instagram account and thought nothing more of it, until I heard … that people were saying it was some sort of a call for assassination, which is crazy,” Comey said in interview on MSNBC.

The Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi, who was released only weeks ago from federal detention, has crossed the graduation stage to cheers from his fellow graduates. The Palestinian activist was arrested by immigration authorities in Colchester, Vermont, while attending a naturalization interview.

Donald Trump has signed into law the Take It Down Act, a measure that imposes penalties for online sexual exploitation that Melania Trump helped usher through Congress.

24 minutes agoShareSaveGuy HedgecoeIn MadridShareSaveGetty ImagesThe Spanish government has called for the removal of the listings of nearly 66,000 properties on rental platform Airbnb on the grounds that they breach regulations for tourist accommodation. The clampdown comes as protests against over-tourism have begun ahead of the summer season. Demonstrations in the Canary Islands on Sunday attracted thousands of people.The minister for social rights, consumer affairs and the 2030 Agenda, Pablo Bustinduy, said the rental properties in question had “violated various norms regarding housing for tourist use”.The announcement followed a Madrid court ruling that Airbnb must immediately withdraw from the market 5,800 of the properties cited by the ministry.The properties are in six regions: Madrid, Andalusia, Catalonia, Valencia, the Basque Country and the Balearic Islands. Bustinduy’s ministry is now awaiting further judicial rulings on the other 60,000 or so properties whose listings it deems unlawful.According to the ministry, the properties it has identified either did not provide a licence number, provided an erroneous number, or did not specify the legal status of the owner to show whether they were renting on a professional basis or as a private individual.He described the court’s decision as “a clear victory for those who fight to protect the right to housing”.Bustinduy added that “it can be possible to ensure that no economic interest has priority over housing and that no company, however big or powerful, is above the law”.Housing has emerged as Spaniards’ biggest concern in recent months, due to spiralling rental costs, particularly in larger towns and cities. Read more: Spanish fightback against record tourismThe cost of an average rental has doubled over the last decade, while salaries have failed to keep up.Tourist apartments have been identified by many as a major cause of the problem, depriving local residents of accommodation. Spain is the world’s second most popular tourist destination after France, with 94 million foreign visitors in 2024, a 13% rise on the previous year.Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said earlier this year “there are too many Airbnbs and not enough homes”, and he promised to prevent the “uncontrolled” expansion of the use of properties for tourism.Getty ImagesSome local governments have also started to act against Airbnb. Barcelona City Hall has said it will eliminate its 10,000 short-term tourist apartments by the end of 2028. Others have taken a different approach. In recent months, Airbnb has reached agreements with local authorities in the Canary Islands, Ibiza and Murcia aimed at ensuring property owners comply with tourist rental rules.Airbnb responded to the court ruling and Bustinduy’s announcement by insisting it would appeal against decisions linked to this case and that no evidence of rule-breaking by hosts had been provided. It also cited a 2022 ruling by the Spanish Supreme Court which found that the responsibility for listing information lay with the host of each property, not the company, which was a “neutral intermediary” and not a real estate provider.The firm also made a broader point about the Spanish housing problem.”The root cause of the affordable housing crisis in Spain is a lack of supply to meet demand,” said a spokesperson. “Governments across the world are seeing that regulating Airbnb does not alleviate housing concerns or return homes to the market – it only hurts local families who rely on hosting to afford their homes and rising costs.”Last summer, Spain saw a wave of protests against over-tourism in many popular destinations, with its impact on housing the biggest grievance. With the number of foreign visitors to Spain fast approaching 100 million per year, the unrest is expected to continue this summer.On Sunday, several thousand people took to the streets across the Canary Islands under the slogan “Canaries have a limit”. In Majorca, a group called Menys Turisme, Més Vida (Less tourism, more life) is preparing for similar actions, with a protest scheduled for 15 June.

A people smuggler based in the UK who helped to “ruthlessly and cynically” exploit people seeking asylum as part of a £12m Mediterranean operation has been jailed for 25 years.Ahmed Ebid, 42, helped bring nearly 3,800 people, including women and children, on just seven fishing boat crossings from north Africa to Italy between October 2022 and June 2023, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said. Some eventually made it to the UK.Ebid, an Egyptian national, told an associate to kill and throw into the sea any people caught with phones, in an attempt to avoid law enforcement, the NCA said. While directing operations in Libya, he was living 2,500 miles away in Isleworth, south-west London.The defendant, who is believed to be the first person convicted of organising boat crossings across the Mediterranean from the UK, was sentenced at Southwark crown court on Tuesday to 25 years, having pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.Judge Hiddleston said Ebid had a “significant managerial role within an organised crime group” and his “primary motivation was to make money out of human trafficking”.The judge told Ebid the “conspiracy that you were a part of generated millions of pounds” and that he must have been a “beneficiary” of “a significant amount”. The “truly staggering” amount of money came from the “hard-earned savings of desperate individuals”, who were “ruthlessly and cynically exploited” by Ebid and the crime group, Hiddleston said.Ebid arrived in the UK in October 2022 after crossing the Channel in a small boat, having been sentenced in Italy in 2017 to six years and two months in prison for drug smuggling. Soon after, he began arranging the operations in the Mediterranean.He was working with people-smuggling networks to organise boats, bringing over hundreds of people at a time on extremely dangerous vessels from Libya and advertising the crossings on Facebook.View image in fullscreenEbid sourced and provided boats and crews, provided technical advice during the crossings, helped house migrants and dealt with any required paperwork, prosecutors said.In one conversation with an associate, recorded via a listening device planted by NCA officers, he said migrants were not to carry phones with them on his boats.He said: “Tell them guys anyone caught with a phone will be killed, threw in the sea.”On one crossing, on 25 October 2022, more than 640 people were rescued by the Italian authorities after they attempted to cross in a wooden boat, the NCA said. It was taken into port in Sicily and two bodies were recovered.In another, 265 people were rescued by the Italian coastguard from a 20-metre fishing boat found adrift in the Mediterranean in early December 2022 after it left Benghazi.Two search and rescue operations took place in April 2023 after distress calls to the coastguard, and in each case more than 600 people were onboard the boats, the NCA said.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionEbid helped with at least seven crossings, which carried 3,781 people into Italian waters. Each migrant had been charged an average of about £3,200, netting those involved £12.3m, the NCA said.Ebid was detained in Isleworth in June 2023 after the NCA, along with the Italian Guardia di Finanza police force and coastguard, linked him to the crossings.On a phone seized from him, investigators found pictures of boats, conversations about the possible purchase of vessels, videos of migrants making the journey and screenshots of money transfers.Tim Burton, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Ahmed Ebid played a leading role in a sophisticated operation, which breached immigration laws and endangered lives, for his own and others’ financial gain.“Vulnerable people were transported on long sea journeys in ill-equipped fishing vessels completely unsuitable for carrying the large number of passengers who were onboard.“His repeated involvement in helping to facilitate these dangerous crossings showed a complete disregard for the safety of thousands of people, whose lives were put at serious risk.”Jacque Beer of the NCA said: “Ebid was part of a crime network who preyed upon the desperation of migrants to ship them across the Mediterranean in death trap boats.“The cruel nature of his business was demonstrated by the callous way he spoke of throwing migrants into the sea if they didn’t follow his rules. To him they were just a source of profit.“He was based in the UK but organising crossings from north Africa. A proportion of those he moved to Italy would also have ended up in northern Europe, attempting to cross the Channel to the UK.”

XALAPA, Mexico — Dozens of people gathered overnight in the street where one of the Mexican naval cadets who died when their training vessel hit the Brooklyn Bridge lived.América Yamilet Sánchez, 20, was in the final year of her studies at the naval academy when she was killed aboard the naval teaching vessel Cuauhtemoc on Saturday.A small crowd gathered near her home in the early hours of Tuesday, many holding white roses and their cell phones to illuminate the way for the hearse carrying her body.Naval officers accompanied her arrival around midnight at the orange painted house in Veracruz’s state capital Xalapa.Sánchez was the pride of her family, a standout student and athlete, who had already distinguished herself — scoring top marks in her naval systems engineering studies. She was a squadron leader and among those selected for the special group that accompanied President Claudia Sheinbaum at her inauguration.“I’m going to carry you in my heart. My daughter is the pride of all of Mexico, for all the world,” Cosme Sánchez said, holding a photograph of his daughter in her dress uniform. “I’m devastated, but we’re going to move forward. My daughter was an example for everyone, she’s going to be remembered as she should be.” Among the flower arrangements at her family’s home was one with a one with a white sash reading, “Barracudas family, with love.” It came from the local swimming school where Sánchez learned to take her first strokes a decade ago. At the naval academy she won medals and represented the institution nationally in open water swimming competitions.Her most recent honor was being awarded a place aboard the Cuauhtemoc, which planned to visit 22 ports in 15 countries. On Saturday, she sent her parents photos, told them she loved them and spoke excitedly of the ship’s next stop: Iceland.Sánchez was high in one of the Cuauhtemoc’s three masts Saturday night when it slid out of its dock in New York, authorities told her family. It’s a ceremonial practice to greet and pay respects entering and leaving ports. “It’s a display of discipline, skill and respect, common in training sailboats,” said her uncle, Rodolfo Hernández Sayago.“She was the pride (of the family),” Hernández said. “My girl stood out in everything she did.”U.S. investigators laid out a timeline Monday showing the Cuauhtemoc was underway for less than 5 minutes before its masts crashed into the historic span, and radio calls indicating it was in distress went out only 45 seconds before the deadly collision.With the help of a tugboat, the Cuauhtemoc backed away from a Manhattan pier filled with cheering people at 8:20 p.m. on Saturday, U.S. officials said.Four minutes after the ship left, a radio call went out asking for help from any additional tugboats in the area, followed by other requests for assistance, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Brian Young told a media briefing Monday. Forty-five seconds after the first call, the ship, struck the bridge, snapping its three masts. After a few minutes, the ship separated from the tug and picked up speed, still moving in reverse, heading for the bridge.The Brooklyn Bridge escaped major damage but at least 19 of the ship’s 277 sailors needed medical treatment, according to officials. Seven officers and 172 cadets who were aboard the Cuauhtemoc arrived early Monday at the port of Veracruz, where Mexico’s naval school is, the Mexican navy said in a post on X.The body of the other sailor killed, 23-year-old Adal Jair Maldonado Marcos, was also returned to Mexico on Monday.

Across Africa, debates about cultural preservation and traditional values are increasingly being influenced by forces that promote conservative social agendas rooted in colonial and missionary legacies. These movements, often backed by generous Western funding, seek to impose rigid, exclusionary values that contradict the continent’s diverse and historically dynamic cultures.A recent example of this dynamic played out last week in Nairobi, where the second Pan-African Conference on Family Values organised by the Africa Christian Professionals Forum sparked controversy by claiming to defend “traditional” African family values.
The event’s foreign supporters, including the Center for Family and Human Rights (C-Fam) and Family Watch International, are known for their opposition to LGBTQ rights, reproductive health, and comprehensive sex education.
These organisations, some classified as hate groups by the United States-based Southern Poverty Law Center, often present their positions as inherently African, despite their deep connections to Western conservative funding. Advertisement
This duplicity came to the fore ahead of the conference in Nairobi when it was revealed that the preliminary list of speakers consisted entirely of white men.
During the event, participants were urged to “resist growing trends that seek to redefine marriage, weaken the institution of family, or devalue human sexuality” and to rise up to defend the African family from a “new colonialism”.
Yet the fact is that the narrative of preserving tradition that was on full display at the conference is far from organic. Instead, it itself continues a pattern established during the colonial era, when imperial powers imposed patriarchal norms and strict social hierarchies under the guise of paradoxically both preserving and “civilising” indigenous cultures.
In doing so, missionary and colonial institutions both reimagined and reframed African social structures to align with Victorian ideals, embedding rigid gender roles and heteronormative family models into the social fabric and inventing supposedly ancient and unchanging “traditions” to support them.
The latter were themselves built on self-serving ideas of Africans as “noble savages”, living in happy conformity with supposedly “natural” values, trapped by petrified “culture”, and undisturbed by the moral questions that plagued their civilised Western counterparts from whose corruption they needed to be protected.
As the conference demonstrated, local political actors and governments often support these agendas, either for political expediency or due to genuine alignment with their conservative worldview. There is also support from some quarters of the NGO sector, which gives the movements a veneer of legitimacy while obscuring their colonial roots. Advertisement
The Nairobi conference put the Kenya Red Cross Society (KRCS) in the spotlight when it was accused of endorsing the event by allowing it to be hosted at the Boma Hotel, which it co-owns. Though KRCS has denied any direct involvement in the event, pointing out that it was not involved in the day-to-day decisions of the hotel management, the controversy still highlights the challenges and dangers even well-meaning humanitarian organisations can face.
Humanitarian institutions have historically been complicit in the colonial enterprise, and it is perhaps not surprising that they struggle to see through narratives that seek to solidify colonial agendas under the guise of protecting indigenous values.
Part of the problem is that there is increasing confusion about what approach needs to be taken to address growing calls to “decolonise” the activities of the aid industry. One aspect of this process is a recognition of the primacy of indigenous values and local practices of mutual aid.
However, when organisations fail to critically examine whether the values coded as indigenous or, in this case, “African”, in reality reflect and embed colonial logics and assumptions about indigenous societies, they may inadvertently find themselves perpetuating harmful agendas.
That is why, when faced with narratives such as the ones propagated at the Pan-African Conference on Family Values, it is important to understand the difference between decolonisation and decoloniality.
Though related, the two frameworks are distinct. The first largely focuses on transferring power to the formerly colonised, while the latter deals with the logics and values that are the legacy of colonisation. Advertisement
In the aftermath of the 1960s’ decolonisation, the failure to address coloniality left many African countries saddled with elites, states, and governance arrangements that upheld colonial frameworks and approaches. Kenya itself was a case in point.
In 1967, nearly four years after independence, Masinde Muliro, a prominent Kenyan politician, observed: “Today we have a black man’s Government, and the black man’s Government administers exactly the same regulations, rigorously, as the colonial administration used to do.”
Similarly, aid organisations focusing solely on empowering local actors could end up reinforcing the deliberate reframing of regressive, colonial-era values as authentic African traditions.
Confusing decolonisation for decoloniality risks legitimising harmful ideologies by allowing them to masquerade as cultural preservation. Recognising the historical roots of these supposed traditions is essential, not just for humanitarian agencies but for societies at large. Without this awareness, we risk enabling movements that use tradition as a weapon to oppress, rather than as a tool to heal and unify.
The lesson is clear: to genuinely move forward, we must be willing to constantly reflect on how colonial legacies continue to shape contemporary cultural and social norms and debates. Only then can we build a future rooted in genuine, diverse, and inclusive understandings of African identity.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.