Europe

Farmers demonstrate against changes to legislation that would ease restrictions on pesticide and water use in farming.

French farmers have disrupted highway traffic around Paris and rallied in front of parliament to protest against amendments filed by opposition lawmakers to a bill that would loosen environmental regulations on farming.

Members of France’s leading farming union, the FNSEA, parked about 10 tractors outside the National Assembly on Monday to put pressure on MPs, who began debating the legislation in the afternoon.

The legislation, tabled by far-right MP Laurent Duplomb, proposes simplifying approvals for breeding facilities, loosening restrictions around water use to promote irrigation reservoirs and reauthorising a banned neonicotinoid pesticide used in sugar beet cultivation that environmentalists say is harmful to bees.

The proposed law is part of a wider trend in numerous European Union states to unwind environmental legislation as farmers grapple with rising costs and households struggle with the cost-of-living crisis.

More than 150 farmers from the Ile-de-France, Grand Est and Provence-Alpes-Cote d’Azur regions gathered peacefully in front of the National Assembly, drinking coffee and eating croissants, after blocking the main roads around the capital.

“This bill to lift the constraints on the farming profession is very important to us,” FNSEA Secretary-General Herve Lapie told the AFP news agency.

“What we are asking for is simply to be able to work in a European environment: a single market, a single set of rules. We’ve been fighting for this for 20 years. For once, there’s a bill along these lines. … We don’t have the patience to wait any longer.”

The FNSEA and its allies say the neonicotinoid pesticide acetamiprid, which has been prohibited in France since 2018 due to environmental and health concerns, should be authorised in France like it is across the EU because it is less toxic to wildlife than other neonicotinoids and stops crops from being ravaged by pests.

Environmental campaigners and some unions representing small-scale and organic farmers say the bill benefits the large-scale agriculture industry at the expense of independent operators.

President Emmanuel Macron’s opponents on the political left have proposed multiple amendments that the protesting farmers said threatened the bill.

“We’re asking the lawmakers, our lawmakers, to be serious and vote for it as it stands,” Julien Thierry, a grain farmer from the Yvelines department outside Paris, told The Associated Press news agency, criticising politicians from the Greens and left-wing France Unbowed (LFI).

Ecologists party MP Delphine Batho said the text of the bill is “Trump-inspired” while LFI MP Aurelie Trouve wrote in an article for the French daily Le Monde that it signified “a political capitulation, one that marks an ecological junction”.

FNSEA chief Arnaud Rousseau said protests would continue until Wednesday with farmers from the Centre-Val de Loire and Hauts-de-France regions expected to join their colleagues.

Protests are also expected in Brussels next week, targeting the EU’s environmental regulations and green policies.

Farmers across France and Europe won concessions last year after railing against cheap foreign competition and what they say are unnecessary regulations.

ECB President Christine Lagarde argues the US economic policy shifts have created inroads for the euro to the standard currency for future global trade.

The euro could become a viable alternative to the US dollar as the global standard currency for international trade, according to European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde.

In a speech in Berlin, Germany, Lagarde said on Monday that the erratic economic policy of the United States has spooked global investors into limiting their exposure to the dollar in recent months. Many have opted to invest in gold, without seeing a viable alternative.

“The ongoing changes create the opening for a ‘global euro moment’,” she said.

Lagarde said investors seek “geopolitical assurance in another form: they invest in the assets of regions that are reliable security partners and can honour alliances with hard power”.

“The global economy thrived on a foundation of openness and multilateralism underpinned by US leadership … but today it is fracturing.”

The dollar’s role has been on the decline for years and now makes up 58 percent of international reserves, the lowest in decades, but still well above the euro’s 20 percent share.

Any enhanced role for the euro must coincide with greater military strength that can back up partnerships, Lagarde said.

Europe should also make the euro the currency of choice for businesses invoicing international trade, she said. This could be supported by forging new trade agreements, enhanced cross-border payments and liquidity agreements with the ECB.

Looming challenges

The euro’s global role has been stagnant for decades now since the European Union’s financial institutions remain unfinished and governments have shown little appetite to embark on more integration.

For this, Europe needs a deeper, more liquid capital market, must bolster its legal foundations, and needs to underpin its commitment to open trade with security capabilities, Lagarde argued.

Reforming the domestic economy may be more pressing, however, she said. The euro area capital market is still fragmented, inefficient and lacks a truly liquid, widely available safe asset that investors could flock to.

“Economic logic tells us that public goods need to be jointly financed. And this joint financing could provide the basis for Europe to gradually increase its supply of safe assets,” Lagarde said.

Joint borrowing has been taboo for some key eurozone members, particularly Germany, which fears that its taxpayers could end up having to pay for the fiscal irresponsibility of others.

If Europe succeeded, the benefits would be large, Lagarde said. The investment inflow would allow domestic players to borrow at lower cost, insulate the bloc from exchange rate movements and protect it against international sanctions.

NOTTINGHAM FOREST would have earned a Champions League spot at the expense of Newcastle if VAR did not exist.

And the Magpies’ escape from any consequences for their home defeat by Everton is put into even starker content as they would have missed out on European football altogether without the technology.

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SunSport have analysed all 380 Prem matches this term and worked out how the table would have looked if the original on-field decisions had not been overturned after intervention by the Stockley Park video booth.

Our number crunchers found that Eddie Howe’s men were by far the biggest beneficiaries of VAR changes. 

Newcastle had a staggering 13 decisions changed in their favour, with just five reversals hurting them.

That brought a net figure of +8, with Aston Villa and West Ham next in the benefits column with each having four more interventions in their favour than against them.

Our analysis, which assumes every penalty that was initially awarded and then wiped was scored, suggests that without VAR Newcastle would have picked up four fewer points – dropping them to eighth in the table – and conceded seven more goals.

Forest, whose home defeat by Chelsea left them in the Conference League slot, would have finished fifth in our “No VAR” table.

And Bournemouth, ninth in the actual table, would have been preparing for a first continental campaign in the Europa League without the technology changes.

Andoni Iraola’s side had 11 VAR changes against them and just three in their favour, costing the Cherries EIGHT points and seven goals.

The study of the 111 changed decisions cannot determine definitively what would have happened in real life if the initial decisions had not been overturned.

But one of the most contentious calls saw Dango Ouattara’s last-gasp “winner” against Newcastle in August chalked off for a handball PGMOL chief Howard Webb subsequently conceded was wrongly overturned after the VAR intervention.

Over the course of the season there were 12 goals and 25 penalties awarded through VAR intervention – with 21 of those spot-kicks converted – compared to 48 goals and 11 penalties disallowed.

Liverpool’s 10-point advantage over Arsenal at the top of the pile would have been reduced to just two without VAR, as the Gunners lost eight points from the six overturns against them – including “winning” goals against Chelsea, Fulham and Aston Villa.

Chelsea and Manchester City swap places, with the Londoners up to third, with Villa down one to take the Conference League slot.

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With 31 league goals and 62 points, Mbappe is European football’s top scorer this season.

Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe has ended his first season in Spain by collecting the European Golden Shoe award.

Mbappe, who also won the Pichichi Trophy for being the top goal scorer in La Liga, scored twice in Real’s final league game on Saturday to overtake Sporting Lisbon’s Viktor Gyokeres at the top of the weighted table, which counts only league goals.

Mbappe, 26, ended with 31 league goals and became the third Real Madrid player to win the award after Hugo Sanchez and Cristiano Ronaldo.

The last Frenchman to collect the Golden Shoe was Thierry Henry, who won it in 2004 and 2005 with Arsenal.

Mbappe could have been caught on Sunday while he was in Monaco watching the Formula One Grand Prix.

Mohamed Salah, who needed a hat-trick in English champions Liverpool’s last league game, scored once to finish third with 29 goals.

Robert Lewandowski of Barcelona, already certain to finish ahead of Real Madrid in the race for the Spanish league title, scored twice on Sunday at Bilbao. He achieved a total of 27 goals for fourth place in Europe and second in the Pichichi.

The Pole won the Golden Shoe twice with Bayern Munich and claimed the Pichichi in 2023.

Last year’s Golden Shoe winner, Harry Kane, finished fifth with 26 Bundesliga goals to go with his league champions medal at Bayern. Mateo Retegui with 25 for Atalanta was the top Serie A player in sixth place.

Gyokeres outscored Mbappe with 39 goals, but the table is weighted. Each goal in the “big five” European competitions – La Liga, Premier League, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A – is doubled. For the next 16 ranked leagues, goals are multiplied by 1.5.

Below that, a goal is just a goal.

In the final calculations, the top five in the rankings were as follows: Mbappe (62 points), Gyokeres (58.5), Salah (58), Robert Lewandowski (54) and Harry Kane (52).

Mbappe, the top scorer in the 2022 World Cup, hit 43 goals in all competitions for Real this season.

United States President Donald Trump has lambasted his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, describing him as “absolutely crazy” after Moscow launched its largest aerial attack of the war on Ukraine, killing at least 13 people.

Trump’s comments, issued on his Truth Social platform late on Sunday, marked a rare rebuke of Putin.

“I’ve always had a very good relationship with Vladimir Putin of Russia, but something has happened to him. He has gone absolutely CRAZY!” the US president wrote.

“I’ve always said that he wants ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it, and maybe that’s proving to be right, but if he does, it will lead to the downfall of Russia!” he added.

The comments came as Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia had launched a record number of drones against Ukraine overnight on Sunday. It said Russian forces deployed 298 drones and 69 missiles, but that it was able to down 266 drones and 45 missiles.

The Russian attack was the largest of the war in terms of weapons fired, although other strikes have killed more people.

Ukraine’s emergency services described an atmosphere of “terror” across the country on Sunday, and regional officials said those killed included victims aged eight, 12 and 17 in the northwestern region of Zhytomyr.

More than 60 others were wounded.

“Without truly strong pressure on the Russian leadership, this brutality cannot be stopped,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media.

“The silence of America, the silence of others around the world only encourages Putin,” he said, adding: “Sanctions will certainly help.”

Sanctions

Trump has increasingly voiced irritation with Putin and the inability to resolve the now three-year-old war, which the US leader had promised he would do within days of returning to the White House.

He had long boasted of his friendly relationship with Putin and repeatedly stressed that Russia is more willing than Ukraine to reach a peace deal.

But earlier on Sunday, Trump made it clear that he is losing patience with the Russian president.

“I’m not happy with what Putin’s doing. He’s killing a lot of people. And I don’t know what the hell happened to Putin,” Trump told reporters as he departed northern New Jersey, where he had spent most of the weekend.

“I’ve known him a long time, always gotten along with him, but he’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all.”

Asked if he was considering more sanctions on Russia, Trump said, “Absolutely.”

Trump also criticised Zelenskyy, a more frequent target of his ire, in his social media post, accusing him of “doing his Country no favours by talking the way he does”.

“Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop,” he said of Zelenskyy.

Europe condemns Russia

A peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine remains elusive.

Last week, Trump and Putin held a two-hour phone call, after which the US leader said Moscow and Kyiv would “immediately start negotiations towards a ceasefire”.

Putin, however, made no commitment to pause his three-year invasion of Ukraine, announcing only a vague proposal to work on a “memorandum” outlining Moscow’s demands for peace.

That conversation occurred after Russian and Ukrainian officials met in Turkiye for the first face-to-face talks since 2022. But on Thursday, the Kremlin said no direct talks were scheduled.

The Russian attack against Ukraine prompted criticism from Europe, too.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, called for “the strongest international pressure on Russia to stop this war”. In a post on X, she said the attacks “again show Russia bent on more suffering and the annihilation of Ukraine. Devastating to see children among innocent victims harmed and killed”.

German Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul also denounced the attacks, saying, “Putin does not want peace, he wants to carry on the war and we shouldn’t allow him to do this,” he said.

“For this reason, we will approve further sanctions at a European level.”

The massive attacks on Ukraine came as Russia said it had exchanged another 303 Ukrainian prisoners of war for the same number of Russian soldiers held by Kyiv – the last phase of a swap agreed during talks in Istanbul on May 16.

That marked their biggest prisoner swap since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, with 1,000 captured soldiers and civilian prisoners in total sent back by each side.

These are the key events on day 1,187 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is where things stand on Monday, May 26:

Fighting

• Ukrainian officials say the death toll from the largest Russian aerial attack on Ukraine has risen from 12 to 13, and wounded at least 60 people.
• The victims included three children aged eight, 12 and 17 in the northwestern region of Zhytomyr.
• Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched 298 drones and 69 missiles in its overnight assault, adding that it was able to down 266 drones and 45 missiles.
• The Russian Ministry of Defence said its troops had taken control of the village of Romanivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.
• It also said Russian air defences intercepted 110 Ukrainian drones overnight on Sunday, including 13 over the Moscow and Tver regions.
• Russia and Ukraine completed a three-day exchange of 1,000 prisoners each, in the largest such swap since the war began three years ago.

Politics and diplomacy

• United States President Donald Trump lashed out at his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, following the attack, calling him “crazy” and warning that any attempt at a total takeover of Ukraine would “lead to the downfall of Russia”.
• Trump also raised the possibility of more punitive measures against Russia, saying he was “absolutely” considering increasing US sanctions on the country.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged international leaders to increase the pressure on Russia, saying that “the silence of America, the silence of others in the world only encourages Putin”. He also said that additional sanctions “will certainly help”.
• Trump also criticised Zelenskyy, saying in a post on social media that the Ukrainian leader “is doing his Country no favors by talking the way he does. Everything out of his mouth causes problems, I don’t like it, and it better stop.”
• Germany’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Johann Wadephul told public broadcaster ARD that Russia’s latest wave of attacks on Ukraine should be answered with additional Western sanctions. He said the weight of more sanctions on Moscow would get Putin to the negotiating table.
• The European Union’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, also called for “the strongest international pressure” on Russia to stop the war. “Devastating to see children among innocent victims harmed and killed,” she said on X.
• US Special Envoy to Ukraine Keith Kellogg said the latest Russian attack was “a clear violation” of the 1977 Geneva Peace Protocols, and called for an immediate ceasefire.

Military aid

• The Netherlands says it will send the last one of 24 promised F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine on Monday.

Rocafonda, Spain – The front page of Spain’s biggest sports tabloid Marca screamed LAMINE YA! (Lamine Now!) as speculation mounted over whether the teenage wonder boy would sign a new contract for FC Barcelona.

Lamine Yamal is expected to renew his contract with Barcelona before he turns 18 in July, his agent Jorge Mendes assured reporters last week.

Deco, the sporting director of Barca, denied reports that Yamal’s agent had asked that the 17-year-old be made the highest paid player in the dressing room, while Spanish media speculated that he could look forward to a 10-fold pay increase to more than 15 million euros ($17m) net per season.

Whatever the astronomical sums involved in signing the gifted winger who helped Barca clinch the La Liga title this season, it will seem a world away from the very humble beginnings of this Spanish sporting prodigy.

Yamal grew up in a poor area of Mataro, an industrial town located about 32km (20 miles) north of Barcelona, but it is a world away from the glitz and glamour of the Catalan capital.

The Barca footballer learned his craft on the streets of Rocafonda, a working-class neighbourhood of Mataro.

About half of the 11,000 people who live in this corner of Mataro are classified as “at risk of poverty”, according to the Spanish National Statistics Institute. Many flats appear run down and lack basic modern-day amenities like lifts. One centre in Rocafonda offers help to children who are struggling at school.

With 88 different nationalities in the area, Arabic halal butchers are a common sight.

Evictions are a daily occurrence in Rocafonda as many households struggle to pay the rent, which averages about $1,334 per month, a fortune to many.

Gen-next inspiration

Nevertheless, football – or rather Yamal – gives people hope here.

“In Rocafonda, more Lamine Yamals and fewer evictions”, reads the graffiti at the Club de Futbol Rocafonda, the municipal football pitch.

Children play nearby, perhaps dreaming that maybe, just maybe, they could be the next Lamine Yamal.

Wearing an Argentina shirt, Mohammed Kaddouri, who is a year younger than Yamal, says the Barca football player is an inspiration to young people here.

“Since Lamine, so many people have started playing football and believe they could be like him. It is not just boys but more girls are playing football too,” he says.

His friend Damia Castillo, also 16, met Yamal when he came back to see his family, who still live in the neighbourhood.

“He always talks to us like he is a normal person, not like he is some big star. He is from here, and so are we. It makes you think, you know, maybe it could be me,” Castillo told Al Jazeera.

The Messi effect

Friends said Yamal owes his precocious talents to a baptism of fire playing in the tough streets of Rocafonda.

“Lamine learned to play so well because he started playing with bigger kids. Some of these were bigger than him, and some of them were tough kids,” says family friend Mohammed Ben Serghine.

“Despite what has happened to him with all this fame, he has remained humble, and he is good with the kids when he comes back to Rocafonda to see his family.”

We meet in the Bar El Cordobes, the local bar frequented by Yamal’s father, Mounir Nasraoui, who pops in now and again.

On the wall is a yellowing Barca shirt signed by Yamal and replete with his photograph.

Last year, the Spain winger’s father published a photograph on social media of his son, which was taken when he was a baby.

Yamal was cradled by then-Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi. He wrote on social media: “Two beginnings of two legends. It now appears amazingly prescient.”

The Argentina superstar was 20 at the time and had taken part in a promotional campaign for FC Barcelona for UNICEF. Yamal was only five months old when his parents entered him into a raffle and he was paired up with Messi. Yamal’s smiles won over a nervous Messi at the photoshoot.

Statistically, Yamal is ahead of Messi for a 17-year-old player, according to football writer Ryan O’Hanlon of ESPN.

“Broadly, this is the conclusion: [Michael] Owen, Kylian Mbappe and Yamal are the best teenagers in modern soccer history,” he wrote, basing these assertions on the number of goals and assists.

‘304’ celebration

Rocafonda might have been forgotten, like many other fringe, outer-suburban Barcelona neighbourhoods, were it not for Yamal himself.

On the walls, someone has painted the number 304. It might just be graffiti, except for one thing. When Yamal scored a wonder goal against France in the Euro 2024 last year, he celebrated by making the sign three, zero, four with his fingers. It was a reference to the postcode of Rocafonda, which in full reads 08304.

As the world was transfixed by Yamal’s dazzling skills, it was a sign that even when footballers can expect seven- or even eight-figure salaries, some have not forgotten their roots.

At the Bar Familia L Y 304 Rocafonda, run by the player’s uncle, Abdul, you are left in no doubt that Yamal remains faithful to where he came from.

Decked out in photographs of Yamal and signed shirts, in one corner is a tiny, plastic version of the World Cup. It begs the thought: might Yamal one day lift the real thing for Spain?

Family is everything

The player’s own story starts 30 years ago when his maternal grandmother, Fatima, arrived from Morocco and took up a job in an old people’s residence.

She worked to bring her seven children over from Morocco and managed as a single mother.

Yamal’s mother, Sheila Ebana, is from Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony in Western Africa. The player’s parents divorced, and when she moved away from Rocafonda, she enrolled him in Club de Futbol La Torreta in Granollers, a nearby town.

Yamal speaks fondly about his mother, who gave him the best childhood she could despite the difficulties she faced.

“Maybe I didn’t have the best childhood, but I didn’t see it. I only saw the beautiful, thanks to her,” he said in an Instagram interview with user tumejorjugada.

Life for both parents has changed dramatically since their son became a superstar.

Ebana now has 258,000 followers on Instagram and has moved to Barcelona. His father has also moved to the Catalan capital.

Changing expectations

Yamal started playing for CF La Torreta, a small club with 200 players, when he was only five.

On the window of the club, there is a photograph of the player when he arrived as a small child and another more recent one.

“He came here when he was five years old and stayed just two years before Barcelona came for him,” says Jordi Vizcaino, president of CF La Torreta.

“I still can hardly believe it when I see how far he has gone, when I see Yamal playing for Barca and Spain. He was just a kid when he came here and is still just a kid really.”

Rocio Escandell, president of the Association of Rocafonda Neighbours, has known Yamal and his family all his life.

“Lamine has put Rocafonda on the world map. It is a working-class area with lots of migrants, but he has made people here believe they can be something. It does not have to be a footballer. It might be a doctor. Just to believe,” she told Al Jazeera.

Her nine-year-old daughter, Abril, is proof of how Yamal has changed expectations.

“I have been playing football since I was small, and I score more and more goals. When I am older, I want to be like Lamine,” says Abril.

Ties with China remain sensitive within the Catholic Church over a 2018 deal between the Holy See and Beijing.

Newly elected Pope Leo XIV has asked for prayers for China’s Catholics in his first reference to one of the most contentious issues that the Catholic Church and his papacy face in the arena of geopolitics.

Speaking on Sunday from the window of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, the pontiff recalled the World Day of Prayer for the Church in China, which falls each May 24 – a feast initiated by Pope Benedict XVI.

“In the churches and shrines of China and throughout the world, prayers were raised to God as a sign of concern and affection for Chinese Catholics and their communion with the universal church,” Leo said to about 35,000 faithful.

The pope hoped the prayers “obtain for them and for us the grace to be strong and joyful witnesses of the Gospel, even in the midst of trials, to always promote peace and harmony”, he said.

Pope Benedict XVI, who headed the church from 2005 until 2013, established the feast as part of his efforts to unify China’s estimated 12 million Catholics, who were divided between an official, state-controlled church that didn’t recognise papal authority, and an underground church that remained loyal to Rome through decades of persecution.

Ties with China remain a deeply sensitive issue within the church as some clergymen reject a 2018 deal between the Holy See and China that gave Beijing a say in the appointment of Catholic bishops there, since Catholics were repressed by the Communist Party. 

The agreement was aimed at uniting the flock, regularising the status of seven bishops who weren’t recognised by Rome, and thawing decades of estrangement between China and the Vatican.

While details of the agreement were never released, Pope Francis insisted he retained veto power over the ultimate choice.

Critics, particularly on the Catholic right wing, believed Francis had caved to Beijing’s demands and sold out the underground faithful in China. The Vatican has said it was the best deal it could get, and it has been renewed periodically since then.

Pope Leo will have to decide whether to continue renewing the accord. There have been some apparent violations on the Beijing side, with some unilateral appointments that occurred without papal consent.

The issue came to a head just before the conclave that elected Leo, when the Chinese church proceeded with the preliminary election of two bishops, a step that comes before official consecration.

The Vatican has been working for years to try to improve relations with China that were officially severed over seven decades ago when the Communists came to power.

Relations had long been fraught over China’s insistence on its exclusive right to name bishops as a matter of national sovereignty, while the Vatican insisted on the pope’s exclusive right to name the successors of the original Apostles.

The international community should look to impose sanctions on Israel to stop its war in Gaza, Spain’s foreign minister has said, ahead of a Madrid meeting of European and Arab nations, urging a halt to Israel’s punishing offensive in which Palestinian deaths and the spread of starvation are increasing each day.

The high-level talks on Sunday are the fifth official meeting of what is known as “The Madrid Group”.

Countries in the European Union that Israel had long counted on as close allies have been adding their voices to growing global pressure after it expanded military operations in the besieged and bombarded Gaza Strip.

A nearly three-month aid blockade has worsened shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine in the Palestinian enclave, which has been devastated and ravaged due to Israel’s relentless war that followed the Hamas-led October 7 attack in 2023.

Barely any aid has crossed into Gaza since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a week ago that Israel would allow limited aid in to assuage concerns from allies.

The United Nations has said the amount of aid allowed in so far is a “drop in the ocean”, while some aid groups have described Netanyahu’s announcement as a  “smokescreen”.

Aid organisations say the trickle of supplies Israel that allowed to enter in recent days falls far short of needs, which is between 500-600 trucks a day. Israel has allowed some 100 trucks carrying aid into Gaza since Wednesday, officials say.

Madrid, Spain is hosting 20 countries as well as international organisations on Sunday with the aim of “stopping this war, which no longer has any goal”, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said.

“In this terrible moment, in this humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, we aim to … stop this war … [and to] break the blockade of humanitarian assistance that must go in unimpeded,” Albares told Al Jazeera ahead of the meeting.

‘We must consider sanctions’

The Madrid meeting will serve as preparation for a high-level UN conference on the two-state solution, which France and Saudi Arabia will host in New York on June 17.

“We want to create momentum” ahead of the UN conference, Albares said, so that “everyone” can recognise Palestine as an independent state.

“That conference in New York must be a big moment to push towards recognition of the state of Palestine,” he added.

A previous such gathering in Madrid last year brought together countries including Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye as well as European nations such as Norway and the Republic of Ireland that have recognised a Palestinian state.

Sunday’s meeting, which also includes representatives from the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, will promote a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

After the EU decided this week to review its cooperation deal with Israel, Albares said, “We must consider sanctions, we must do everything, consider everything to stop this war.”

Germany’s Deputy Foreign Minister Florian Hahn on Sunday also warned about the impact of Gaza’s deteriorating, “unbearable” humanitarian crisis, calling for an immediate ceasefire and diplomatic solution.

Hahn stressed that ending the war in Gaza and creating a path for diplomatic efforts toward a political solution is currently one of German foreign policy’s main priorities.

Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Madrid, said Sunday’s meeting is going to be “crucial”.

Members are going to be “seeking the potential of further political talks that could be conducive to the Israelis coming along with the Palestinians, discussing the need to end the war and achieve a Palestinian state”, Ahelbarra said.

Israel’s deadly assault has killed almost 54,000 people, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, mostly women and children.

United finish with their lowest standing in the Premier League era as Newcastle confirm Champions League spot.

Manchester United have ended their disappointing 2024-25 season with a 2-0 victory over Aston Villa on the final day of the Premier League campaign, denying the visitors a Champions League qualification spot in the process.

United surprisingly dominated the first half of Sunday’s game against a side chasing a top-five finish.

Against the run of play, Morgan Rogers appeared to have netted Villa a crucial goal 18 minutes from time, but referee Thomas Bramall ruled that he had fouled United goalkeeper Altay Bayindir before slotting home.

The hosts’ cause was aided as Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez was sent off just before the break.

Furious Villa’s mood worsened after Amad Diallo immediately headed the hosts in front down the other end, before Christian Eriksen’s penalty ensured United finished 15th and sixth-placed Villa had to settle for a place in the Europa League next term.

Newcastle United breathed a sigh of relief as their 1-0 defeat by Everton could have opened the door for Villa to climb above them with a win over United.

Villa manager Unai Emery confronted Bramall after the final whistle, unhappy at what he believed was a “big mistake” by the match official.

“The TV is clear with the move but of course we have to accept it,” Emery said. “It was a mistake. A big mistake.”

At the final whistle, Emery stood motionless on the touchline and stared at Bramall for a long time. After confronting the official as he came off the field, Emery continued his discussions with him as they went down the tunnel.

Protest songs against Manchester United’s ownership greeted the final whistle, even if supporters had been treated to a rare home success.

This season’s final standings 🤝 pic.twitter.com/lRWyvmvkXQ

— Premier League (@premierleague) May 25, 2025

Meanwhile, Manchester City’s disappointing season ended with the consolation of a place in the Champions League after a 2-0 victory at Fulham, earned by Ilkay Gundogan’s overhead kick and an Erling Haaland penalty.

The victory ensured City finish third in the table with 71 points from 38 games, the first time they have ended outside the top two since the 2016-17 season. Fulham finished 11th with 54 points.

City opened the scoring at 21 minutes when Matheus Nunes’s chipped shot on the angle was clawed away by Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno and into the path of Gundogan, whose acrobatic effort steered the ball into the net off the crossbar.

The visitors doubled their advantage when Sasa Lukic fouled Gundogan in the box and Haaland converted the spot kick to score his 22nd league goal of the campaign, while Kevin De Bruyne came off the bench for the final five minutes in his farewell to City.

City left Jack Grealish out of their match-day squad amid talk he could leave the club, while De Bruyne spent time with the City fans at the final whistle, many of them holding up signs of thanks to the Belgian for his decade at the club.

City ended up with 71 points, Chelsea on 69 and Villa on 66, but with an inferior goal difference to Newcastle on the same points.

Forest, who still had hopes of a top-five finish going into the last day, will go into the UEFA Conference League.

Champions Liverpool ended their campaign with a 1-1 home draw against Crystal Palace in a party atmosphere at Anfield.

Runners-up Arsenal, who ended 10 points behind Liverpool, beat bottom club Southampton 2-1 away.

Brighton and Hove Albion brought Europa Cup winners Tottenham Hotspur down to earth with a bump as they won 4-1 in north London to finish eighth, but that will not be good enough to secure a European berth for the south coast side next season.

Tottenham finished a woeful league season in 17th place, their worst performance since being relegated in 1977.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets of Warsaw to show support for the opposing candidates in next weekend’s tightly contested Polish presidential run-off, which the government views as crucial to its efforts for pro-European democratic reform.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk hopes to galvanise support for his candidate, liberal Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, to replace outgoing Andrzej Duda, a nationalist who has vetoed many of Tusk’s efforts to reform the judiciary.

“All of Poland is looking at us. All of Europe is looking at us. The whole world is looking at us,” Trzaskowski told supporters who waved Polish and European Union flags on Sunday.

Tusk swept to power in 2023 with a broad alliance of leftist and centrist parties on a promise to undo changes made by the nationalist Law and Justice government that the EU said had undermined democracy and women’s and minority rights.

Trzaskowski beat nationalist opponent Karol Nawrocki by 2 percentage points in the first round of the election on May 18 but is struggling to sustain his lead, according to opinion polls.

The two candidates are locked in a tight contest before the June 1 run-off with the latest polls projecting a tie of 47 percent of the vote each.

Nawrocki’s voters – some wearing hats with the words “Poland is the most important,” a nod to United States President Donald Trump’s America First policies – gathered in a different part of the capital to show support for his drive to align Poland more closely with Trump and the region’s populists.

“I am the voice of all those whose cries do not reach Donald Tusk today. The voice of all those who do not want Polish schools to be places of ideology, our Polish agriculture to be destroyed or our freedom taken away,” Nawrocki told the crowd.

Some of his supporters carried banners with slogans such as “Stop Migration Pact” and “This is Poland” or displayed images of Trump.

“He is the best candidate, the most patriotic, one who can guarantee that Poland is independent and sovereign,” Jan Sulanowski, 42, said.

An estimated 50,000 people attended the gathering of Nawrocki’s supporters while about 140,000 people participated in the march supporting Trzaskowski, the Polish Press Agency reported, citing unofficial preliminary estimates from city authorities.

Jakub Kaszycki, 21, joined the pro-Trzaskowski march, saying it could determine Poland’s future direction. “I very much favour … the West’s way to Europe, not to Russia,” he said.

At Trzaskowski’s march, newly elected Romanian President Nicusor Dan pledged to work closely with Tusk and Trzaskowski “to ensure Poland and the European Union remain strong”.

Dan’s unexpected victory in a vote on May 18 over a hard-right Trump supporter was greeted with relief in Brussels and other parts of Europe because many were concerned that his rival George Simion would have complicated EU efforts to tackle Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Lando Norris wins at Monte Carlo for first time, leading home Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and current drivers’ standings leader and McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri.

Lando Norris celebrated his first Monaco Grand Prix win from pole position and slashed McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri’s Formula One drivers’ championship lead to just three points in a race more about strategy than speed.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished runner-up in the home race he won last year, with Piastri third and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen fourth – all four finishing in the order they started.

The Sunday afternoon race featured two mandatory pit stops for the first time, but hopes of more action around the cramped harbourside circuit fell short.

Drivers through the field played a waiting game, with Verstappen holding off his final stop until the penultimate lap and those behind biding their time while keeping out of trouble. Norris ultimately lapped all but four cars.

The win was the Briton’s second in eight races and first since the Australian GP season opener in March, as well as McLaren’s first at Monaco since 2008.

“Monaco baby!” Norris shouted over the radio as the chequered flag finally fell.

“The last quarter was stressful with Leclerc behind and Max ahead, but we won in Monaco,” he said.

“This is what I dreamed of when I was a kid, so I achieved one of my dreams.”

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was fifth, with Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar sixth and Haas’s Esteban Ocon seventh.

Liam Lawson scored his first points of the season for Racing Bulls in eighth place, and Williams completed the top 10 with Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz.

Mercedes had a dismal afternoon in the Mediterranean sunshine, after a nightmare in qualifying, with George Russell 11th and Italian rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli 18th and the last car still running.

The virtual safety car was deployed on the opening lap when Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto went into the tyre wall at Portier, the turn before the tunnel, as Antonelli passed on the inside.

Bortoleto made it back to the pits and continued.

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was the first retirement, the Frenchman crashing into the back of Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull car at the tunnel exit on lap nine and limping back to the pits with the front left wheel hanging off.

“Is he an idiot? What is he doing?” exclaimed Tsunoda.

Gasly, who said he had no brakes, almost took out Argentine rookie teammate Franco Colapinto as he careered through the Nouvelle Chicane.

Aston Martin’s double world champion Fernando Alonso was the second retirement, pulling off on lap 38 with a smoking car to continue his scoreless run for the season.

The Spanish Grand Prix is the next race on the F1 calendar and will take place on Sunday, June 1.

Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi takes first MotoGP win in 20 months after leader Fabio Quartararo exits with a technical issue.

Marco Bezzecchi has won a chaotic British Grand Prix for Aprilia’s first victory of the 2025 season in a race that was initially red-flagged for an oil spill as riders crashed or retired while in the lead, including pole-sitter Fabio Quartararo.

The victory was a first for Aprilia since the Grand Prix of the Americas last year. LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco came second on Sunday and Ducati’s Marc Marquez pipped Franco Morbidelli to finish third and extend his lead in the riders world championship.

Both Alex Marquez and his brother Marc crashed while leading before the race was restarted for an oil spill while Yamaha’s Quartararo took the lead at the second time of asking before being forced to retire on lap 12 due to a technical issue with his bike.

Bezzecchi’s victory was his first since the 2023 Indian Grand Prix, and the Italian also became the 11th different winner at Silverstone in the past 11 races.

“It’s amazing. It has been a really tough time for me in this past month. …  Aprilia trusted in me, and we worked really hard,” Bezzecchi said.

“The team made a wonderful job. … I was waiting for a day like this since my last win.”

On the first start, sprint winner Alex Marquez had a perfect launch to take the lead from Quartararo, but just as he leaned into turn one, he lost control and crashed, allowing Marc Marquez to take the lead.

The elder Marquez also lost control, however, and crashed out of the lead – but the Marquez brothers earned a reprieve when the red flag came out for an oil spill in the final sector after Franco Morbidelli and Aleix Espargaro collided and crashed.

Race restarted

Since three laps had not been completed, all riders were eligible for the restart. Quartararo took the lead from Francesco Bagnaia and streaked away to a full second’s lead on the opening lap.

Both factory Ducatis suffered on lap three at Copse corner when they went wide as Marc Marquez and Bagnaia dropped to ninth and 10th place.

Bagnaia’s race ended on the following lap when he crashed while Bezzecchi moved up to third behind Pramac Racing’s Jack Miller.

Behind them, Marc Marquez was a man on a mission as he methodically picked his way through the pack, and by lap 11, he had moved up to fourth.

Yamaha’s dreams of taking the chequered flag went up in smoke as Quartararo signalled he had a problem with his bike, and the Frenchman relinquished his lead of nearly five seconds as his ride-height device had failed.

Quartararo stopped by the side of the track, hopped off his bike and sank to his knees with his head on the tarmac as the shell-shocked Yamaha garage looked on.

“When I saw Fabio with a technical problem, I even thought about a victory,” said Zarco, the first Honda rider to take back-to-back podiums since Marc Marquez in 2021.

Bezzecchi held on to win, though, while Marc Marquez swapped places with VR46 Racing’s Franco Morbidelli several times on the final lap before taking third in a photo finish.

“Today we were lucky because I made a mistake,” said a fuming Marc Marquez, who now leads his brother by 24 points in the world championship.

Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s film, It Was Just an Accident, has been awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. The dissident has endured years of travel bans and prison terms in Iran for his filmmaking, which served as inspiration for his award-winning work.

Here is where things stand on Sunday, May 25:

Fighting

• At least four people were killed and 16 others injured, including three children, after Russian forces hit Kyiv and surrounding areas in a “massive night attack”. The strikes also damaged dwellings and other buildings, officials said.
• At least four people were reported dead and five others wounded in Ukraine’s western Khmelnytskyi region, according to Sergiy Tyurin, the deputy head of the regional military administration.
• A Russian attack killed three children in Ukraine’s northwestern Zhytomyr region as Moscow unleashed massive overnight air attacks across the country, emergency services said. The victims were aged eight, 12 and 17, emergency services said, adding 10 other people were wounded.
• A man was also killed when a residential building was hit by a drone in Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, the emergency services said.
• At least three people were injured in northeastern Ukraine, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said, as Russian drones hit three city districts. Blasts shattered windows in high-rise apartment blocks.
• Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 12 drones flying towards the Russian capital had been intercepted. Restrictions were imposed on at least four airports, including the main hub Sheremetyevo, the Russian civilian aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya, said.
• The Russian military said on Saturday that Ukraine had targeted it with at least 788 drones and missiles since Tuesday.
• The Russian Ministry of Defence announced that its troops advancing slowly on the eastern front have captured two settlements in the Donetsk region as well as one in Ukraine’s northern region of Sumy.

Politics and diplomacy

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s attacks indicated Moscow was “prolonging the war” and repeated his call for ramped-up sanctions.
• The Russian Defence Ministry announced that it released an additional 307 Ukrainian prisoners of war in exchange for as many Russian servicemen, who are being cared for in Belarus before their return to Russia.
• Russia announced that it would send Ukraine its terms for a peace settlement once a “1,000-for-1,000” prisoner swap between the two was complete, without saying what those terms would be. At least two prisoner exchanges have been carried out between the two countries on Friday and Saturday.
• Ukraine announced that it had opened inquiries into the alleged executions of 268 Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian troops since their invasion in February 2022. Ukraine’s prosecutor general said it had opened 75 criminal proceedings into the 268 alleged killings.

Ukrainian foreign minister describes air attacks on third day of prisoner swap as biggest in weeks.

Russia has targeted Ukraine for a second consecutive night with drones and missiles, killing at least 12 people as the two countries pursue a major prisoner swap.

Ukraine’s air force said on Sunday that Russian forces attacked Ukrainian regions with 298 drones and 69 missiles overnight, one of the largest aerial attacks of the war.

“Most regions of Ukraine were affected by the hostile attack. Enemy air strikes were recorded in 22 areas, and downed cruise missiles and attack UAVs (drones) fell in 15 locations,” the air force said on Telegram.

Ukraine’s security service reported that at least four people were killed and 16 were injured in the capital, Kyiv.

The country’s emergency service reported that three children – aged eight, 12 and 17 – were killed in the region of Zhytomyr, while another person was killed in the southern city of Mykolaiv.

Four others were killed in attacks across the Khmelnytskyi region, Sergiy Tyurin, the deputy head of the regional military administration, said in a post on Telegram, adding that civilian infrastructure had been destroyed.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said it had been a “difficult Sunday morning in Ukraine after a sleepless night” following “the most massive Russian air attack in many weeks”.

A difficult Sunday morning in Ukraine after a sleepless night. The most massive Russian air attack in many weeks lasted all night.

Russia launched hundreds of drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles into Ukrainian cities and communities during the night, injuring and… pic.twitter.com/FcawH6DJD4

— Andrii Sybiha 🇺🇦 (@andrii_sybiha) May 25, 2025

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported on Telegram that “more than a dozen enemy drones” were in the airspace around the capital.

He reported damage to a student dormitory in Holosiivskyi district, a house in Dniprovskyi district and a residential building in Shevchenkivskyi district.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces shot down 110 Ukrainian drones overnight.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 12 drones flying towards the Russian capital had been intercepted.

Restrictions were imposed on at least four airports, including the main hub Sheremetyevo, the Russian civilian aviation authority, Rosaviatsiya, said.

Major prisoner swap

The two sides traded fire as they engaged in their biggest prisoner swap since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Kyiv and Moscow agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners of war and civilian detainees each in talks held in Istanbul, Turkiye, earlier this month – the first time the two sides had met face to face for peace talks.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russia’s Defence Ministry said each side brought home 307 more soldiers on Saturday, a day after each released a total of 390 servicemen and civilians.

Zelenskyy said on his official Telegram channel that further releases are expected on Sunday.

The Russian Defence Ministry also said it expected the exchange to continue.

The renewed attacks followed a massive wave of attacks the previous day, with Ukraine reporting on Saturday that Russia had hit it with 250 drones and 14 ballistic missiles, while Russia said it was attacked by at least 100 Ukrainian drones.

The film is inspired by dissident director Jafar Panahi’s own experience in jail.

An Iranian thriller film that explores corruption and state violence in the country has won the the Palme d’Or, the coveted top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

It Was Just an Accident, directed by dissident Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, was crowned at the world-famous festival on Saturday, hours after a power outage briefly threw the event off course.

The festival’s crowd burst into a roaring standing ovation for Panahi, who has endured years of travel bans and prison terms in Iran due to his provocative cinema, often produced in secret. He had been banned from leaving Iran for more than 15 years.

“Art mobilises the creative energy of the most precious, most alive part of us. A force that transforms darkness into forgiveness, hope and new life,” said jury president Juliette Binoche when announcing the award.

On stage, Panahi said what mattered most was the future of his country.

“Let us join forces,” Panahi said. “No one should tell us what kind of clothes we should wear, or what we should or shouldn’t do.”

Partly inspired by Panahi’s own experience in jail, It Was Just An Accident follows a man named Vahid (played by Vahid Mobasseri), who kidnaps a man with a false leg who looks just like the one who tortured him in prison and ruined his life.

Vahid sets out to verify with other prison survivors that it is indeed their torturer, and then decide what to do with him.

Critics have praised the film as a clever, symbolic exploration of justice that blends dark humour with its intense themes.

Iraqi film “The President’s Cake” wins Best First Film

The festival’s Grand Prix, or second prize, was awarded to Joachim Trier’s Norwegian family drama, Sentimental Value, his lauded follow-up to The Worst Person in the World.

Kleber Mendonca Filho’s Brazilian political thriller, The Secret Agent, won two big awards: best director for Fihlo and best actor for Wagner Moura.

The jury prize was split between two films: Oliver Laxe’s desert road trip, Sirat and Mascha Schilinski’s German, generation-spanning drama, Sound of Falling.”

Best actress went to Nadia Melliti for The Little Sister, Hafsia Herzi’s French coming-of-age drama.

Cannes also honoured Hasan Hadi’s The President’s Cake with a best first film award, marking the first time an Iraqi film has won an award at the festival.

The Cannes closing ceremony took place after a major power outage struck southeastern France on Saturday, knocking out traffic lights and forcing businesses to close along the main shopping street in the Alpes-Maritimes holiday region. Police suspect arson as the cause.

Geopolitical tensions were also a constant backdrop at the festival, with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the genocide in Gaza and US President Donald Trump’s proposal of tariffs on foreign-made films fuelling discussion.

More than 900 actors and filmmakers signed an open letter denouncing the genocide in Gaza, according to the organisers.

Arsenal lift the UEFA Women’s Champions League with a 1-0 win that ended Barcelona’s hopes of a three-peat.

Arsenal upset defending champions Barcelona 1-0 to win the Women’s Champions League for a second time.

Stina Blackstenius scored in the 75th minute after being set up by fellow second-half substitute Beth Mead in the final at the Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon on Saturday.

Arsenal’s title came 18 years after it became the first, and still the only, English club to win the top club title in women’s football.

Arsenal’s players embraced on the final whistle and ran to celebrate in front of the red-and-white corner of the stands, which were otherwise mostly dressed in burgundy and blue.

“We believed from the moment our Champions League journey started,” Arsenal striker Alessia Russo told broadcaster TNT Sports. “We knew that we had the capabilities. We knew that we could be good enough. It was just about going and doing it. And we’ve done it!”

Barcelona were considered the heavy favourite. They were aiming for a fourth title in five years and to become the only team other than Lyon to win three consecutive titles. The team led by two-time Ballon d’Or winners Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas won nine straight in the competition and blew out Wolfsburg and English champion Chelsea in the knockout rounds.

But Arsenal locked down in defence, except for early in the second half, and created the best chances. Only two superb saves by Barcelona goalkeeper Cata Coll to deny Frida Maanum and Blackstenius kept it scoreless, until Blackstenius finally beat her.

The victory marks an incredible finish to a rocky season for Arsenal, which included coach Jonas Eidevall resigning and being replaced by assistant Renee Seglers.

Since taking over, Seglers steered the team through a spectacular European campaign. Arsenal built its confidence from come-from-behind wins over Real Madrid and eight-time champion Lyon in the knockout rounds before laying low the almighty Barcelona.

The loss was a huge disappointment for the large group of Barcelona fans who filled the stadium that is home to Sporting Lisbon. Blue-and-burgundy shirts and flags outnumbered the red-and-white section, but their calls of “Yes we can!” in the final minutes were not enough to inspire a comeback by the Catalan club.

The closest Barcelona came to a goal was a shot by Claudia Pina that hit the crossbar just after halftime when the Spanish team had its best period. Otherwise, the game was to Arsenal’s liking.

“We are very sorry for all our fans who have come to support us,” Bonmati told Catalunya Radio in the field before the award ceremony. “We will try to do it again.”

Arsenal shook off some early jitters in defence and soon had Barcelona on the back foot. Arsenal’s pressure up the field stopped Barcelona from getting their possession game going, and Arsenal found spaces with long balls down the left flank.

England striker Russo was a rock for Arsenal, using her size to win balls and keep the attack going.

Arsenal thought it went ahead in the 22nd but a video review waived off an own goal by Barcelona’s Irene Paredes when the referee spotted an offside by Frida Maanum. Maanum then went close with a long shot in the 27th that Coll did well to stretch and push over her bar.

Bonmatí was the only Barcelona player who seemed to be in the flow before halftime. Her dribble moves through the middle created a few threats and kept Arsenal on guard in defence. Leah Williamson blocked her best shot deep in the box in the 12th.

Barcelona came out of the restart firing.

Pina hit the woodwork with her chipped shot from a sharp angle in the 49th. Bonmati forced goalie Daphne van Domselaar to get low to parry her shot, and Ona Batlle bombarded the area with three shots from long range.

But Blackstenius set the tone when she had a golden chance when she stole a ball with only Cata to beat, but the goalie got her leg out to block her effort in the 72nd. The Sweden forward would not be denied a second time.

US President Donald Trump is once again taking aim at trading partners of the United States. This time it’s the European Union.

The US president is now threatening to impose a 50-percent tariff on all goods from the EU starting June 1. If he follows through, that will mean much higher import taxes on the EU’s hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of exported goods.

So is Europe about to pay a high price for not settling with Trump sooner? Or will Trump’s tariffs – now his signature move – backfire for US manufacturing?

Presenter: Tom Mcrae

Guests:

Paolo von Schirach, President, Global Policy Institute

Will Hutton, President, Academy of Social Sciences.

Brian Wong, Fellow, Centre on Contemporary China and the World