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At least 3 people died when thousands of starving Palestinians rushed to an aid distribution point run by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Aid agencies criticised the operation as Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to admit it is a tool to force Gaza’s population south.
Published On 28 May 202528 May 2025
Activists in Paris dyed a fountain red to symbolise what they called “the bloodbath” taking place in Gaza. The protesters said a lack of political will to confront Israel’s actions in Gaza was increasingly being seen as “a form of complicity” with genocide.
Published On 28 May 202528 May 2025
This surge — fueled by competitive pressure and promises of enhanced customer insights — has institutions like Bank of America allocating $4 billion to AI and other new tech initiatives. While early adopters report efficiency gains and cost reductions, the sector faces a pivotal challenge: The average expected ROI timeline of two years reflects both optimism and pressure to demonstrate quick wins. Success hinges on overcoming fragmented implementations and workforce skepticism that could dilute returns.
Within AI budgets, financial institutions are prioritizing data modernization (58% of AI budgets) and licensing generative AI software (53%) to unlock customer insights and streamline operations. These investments aim to address long-standing inefficiencies — from legacy system overhauls to real-time fraud detection. Bank of America’s seven-year AI journey demonstrates this principle. The bank reduced service costs and increased client satisfaction scores by centralizing data from 20 million Erica virtual assistant users.
Yet the focus remains narrow. Nearly two-thirds of institutions view AI primarily as a tool for “bottom-line productivity”, while only 12% have implemented enterprise-wide AI strategies. This myopia risks creating advanced capabilities in silos — a customer service chatbot here, a risk-modeling algorithm there — without cohesive integration. AI governance must be defined as part of enterprise strategy, not an afterthought.
Despite ambitious AI strategies, financial institutions face a stark execution gap. AI progress is threatened by fragmented data, talent shortages, and weak governance.
These challenges compound when viewed through an organizational lens. With 34% of AI strategies defined at regional levels, a European bank’s chatbot project, for example, might use data protocols different from those of its American counterpart’s credit scoring model, limiting scalability.
One of the great fallacies of the AI talent conundrum is that AI execution only requires technical or data science experience. However, the solution extends beyond hiring data scientists. The required talent mix covers strategy, technology, engineering, data science, business process, and risk and compliance. While AI technical talent is critical to cultivate, financial institutions should take their employees on the AI journey by upskilling them to use and benefit from AI investments. In the future, all talent must be AI talent. AI literacy will be essential — not just for specialists, but across all roles to effectively collaborate with, manage, and make the best use of AI-driven tools and insights.
Frontline employees resistant to algorithm-driven loan approvals or relationship managers skeptical of AI-generated client advice create adoption friction. AI’s potential falters without employee buy-in. Institutions reporting high AI adoption must:
To avoid becoming cautionary tales, financial institutions must:
Unlocking AI’s potential requires dismantling silos between IT spending and business value. Institutions that marry technological ambition with organizational trust-building will likely move ahead. In this high-stakes transition, the ultimate metric won’t be algorithms deployed or dollars spent but sustained alignment between silicon and human intelligence. The race isn’t for the biggest budget, but for the most coherent strategy.
Jay Nair
Executive Vice President and Industry Head for Financial Services in Europe, Middle East, and Africa| Infosys
Jay Nair is the Executive Vice President and Industry Head for Financial Services in Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Additionally, he leads the UK Public Service business for Infosys. He is also part of the Supervisory board for Stater.ni (which is largest independent end-to-end service provider for the mortgage market in the Benelux).
He has spent close to three decades in Engineering -both in process control engineering and since 1999, within the BFSI (Banking, Financial Services and Insurance) sector. Jay has extensive experience in Business and Technology Consulting, Practice development, Engineering and Largescale enterprise-wide technology program management. He has led global teams and programs around in the Americas ,Europe ,India, China ,LATAM, and the Asia Pacific.
He has post graduate qualifications in both Software Engineering as well as Business Management.
SpaceX's giant Starship rocket crashed into the Indian Ocean after controllers lost contact with the spacecraft.
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By Tina Teng
Published on
28/05/2025 – 7:29 GMT+2
ADVERTISEMENTEuropean stock markets extended their rally for a second consecutive trading day on Tuesday as concerns over escalating US-EU trade tensions eased. Germany’s DAX rose 0.82% to 24,226.49, marking a fresh record high, while the Euro Stoxx 600 climbed 0.33% to 552.33, edging within 0.2% of its March peak.
US President Donald Trump expressed optimism toward the trade negotiations. “I have just been informed that the EU has called to quickly establish meeting dates,” he wrote in the Truth Social, “This is a positive event, and I hope that they will, FINALLY, like my same demand to China, open up the European Nations for Trade with the United States of America. They will BOTH be very happy, and successful, if they do!!!”
The US president’s comments also lifted Wall Street, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.78%, the S&P 500 rising 2.05%, and the Nasdaq composite surging 2.47%.
On Sunday, Trump announced he had agreed to postpone the implementation of a 50% tariff on EU imports until 9 July, following a phone call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. During the call, von der Leyen expressed the EU’s readiness “to advance talks swiftly and decisively” in a bid to avert further trade escalation.
Trump had initially announced 20% “reciprocal tariffs” on EU goods on 2 April before reducing the rate to 10% for 90 days. However, last Friday, he threatened to impose a 50% tariff from 1 June, citing frustration over the pace of negotiations and disagreement among EU member states.
While specific meeting dates remain absent publicly, EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič is expected to meet his US counterpart in Paris next Tuesday during the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) summit. Talks are expected to focus on removing bilateral tariffs on industrial goods and addressing US import levies on steel, aluminium, semiconductors, automobiles, and pharmaceutical products, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Earlier this month, the EU postponed a proposed package of retaliatory tariffs on up to €95 billion worth of US imports, including wine, spirits, aircraft, auto parts, electrical products, and more.
The DAX is up 22% year-to-date, making it the top performer among major global indices. The index had pulled back sharply in April following Trump’s announcement of the reciprocal tariffs but has consistently rebounded on signs of de-escalation in trade tensions.
In sectors, the defence and banking stocks led the broad gains, underpinned by optimism over Germany’s fiscal and defence spending reforms. In March, Germany’s Friedrich Merz announced plans to increase defence spending beyond 1% of GDP and a €500 billion special fund for infrastructure investment. The landmark fiscal package particularly lifted sentiment in European defence and industrial stocks, with Rheinmetall AG shares soaring 207% so far this year, repeatedly hitting new highs.
Meanwhile, European banking stocks have been supported by the European Central Bank’s accommodative monetary policy stance, which has bolstered investment banking income and lending activity. Shares of Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank soared 50% and 75% respectively this year.
Despite the bullish momentum in equities, the euro weakened against the US dollar, as the greenback staged a strong rebound following Trump’s decision to delay tariffs — a move that mirrored previous dollar rallies during the US-China trade talks.
The EUR/USD pair fell to just above 1.13 during Wednesday’s Asian session, retreating from over 1.14 on Monday, as markets priced in renewed optimism over US-EU trade negotiations and an improved US economic outlook.
Federal prosecutors in the US will not seek the death sentence for Joaquin Guzman Lopez if he is found guilty at trial, court documents show.
Federal prosecutors in the United States said they will not seek the death penalty for the son of Mexican drug lord “El Chapo” if he is found guilty of multiple drug trafficking charges when he goes on trial.
According to media reports, federal prosecutors in Chicago filed a one-sentence notice on May 23, saying they would not seek the death penalty for Joaquin Guzman Lopez, the son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman – the former leader of Mexico’s feared Sinaloa Cartel who is serving a life sentence in a US prison.
The notice did not offer any explanation for the decision by the federal prosecutors, or further details.
Joaquin Guzman Lopez, 38, was indicted in 2023 along with three of his brothers – known as the “Chapitos”, or little Chapos – on US drug trafficking and money laundering charges after assuming leadership of their father’s drug cartel when “El Chapo” was extradited to the US in 2017.
Joaquin Guzman Lopez’s lawyer said in an email to The Associated Press news agency on Tuesday that he was pleased with the federal prosecutors’ decision, “as it’s the correct one”.
“Joaquin and I are looking forward to resolving the charges against him,” Lichtman said.
Joaquin Guzman Lopez has pleaded not guilty to the five charges of drug trafficking, conspiracy and money laundering against him, one of which carries the maximum sentence of death as it was allegedly carried out on US territory.
He was taken into US custody in a dramatic July 2024 arrest alongside alleged Sinaloa Cartel cofounder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada on a New Mexico airfield.
Zambada has also pleaded not guilty. But his lawyer told the Reuters news agency that he would be willing to plead guilty if prosecutors agreed to spare him the death penalty.
Another of the brothers, Ovidio Guzman, is expected to plead guilty to drug trafficking charges against him at a court hearing in Chicago on July 9, according to court records.
“El Chapo” Guzman is serving a life sentence at a maximum security prison in Colorado.
At least three Palestinians have been killed in Gaza after the Israeli military opened fire on crowds of people who rushed to an aid distribution point set up by a controversial organisation backed by Israel and the United States.
The deadly incident in the southern city of Rafah on Tuesday left 46 others wounded and seven missing, according to authorities in Gaza.
The aid group behind the initiative, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) denied the report, while the Israeli military said its troops had fired warning shots in the area outside the distribution site and that control was re-established.
The incident has prompted criticism from the United Nations and aid groups, but Israel and the US have defended it.
Here’s a round-up of the reaction:
A spokesman for the UN secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, said the images and videos from the aid points set up by GHF were “heartbreaking, to say the least”.
“We and our partners have a detailed, principled, operationally sound plan supported by member states to get aid to a desperate population,” Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
“Humanitarian aid needs to be distributed in a way that is safe under principles of independence [and] impartiality – in the way we’ve always done it… We saw the plan that they’ve [Gaza Humanitarian Foundation] published and that they presented to us, and it is not done with the parameters that we feel match our principles, which we apply across the board, from Gaza to Sudan to Myanmar, to anywhere you want to talk about.”
The Government Media Office in Gaza condemned the Israeli military’s actions in Rafah.
“The occupation forces, positioned in or around those areas, opened live fire on starving civilians who were lured to these locations under the pretense of receiving aid,” the office said in a statement.
“What happened today in Rafah is a deliberate massacre and a full-fledged war crime, committed in cold blood against civilians weakened by over 90 days of siege-induced starvation.”
The office added: “This incident provides undeniable evidence of the Israeli occupation’s total failure in managing the humanitarian catastrophe it has deliberately created.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged the chaos at the GHF site, but said the disruption was brief.
“We worked out a plan with our American friends to have controlled distribution sites where an American company would distribute the food to Palestinian families,” he said. “There was some loss of control momentarily. Happily, we brought it back under control.”
He also claimed that there was no proof of malnutrition in the Gaza Strip, saying, “You don’t see one, not one emaciated [person] from the beginning of the war to the present.”
The US State Department also downplayed the rush at the GHF site and dismissed criticism of the aid programme as “complaints about style”.
“Hamas has been opposed to this [aid] dynamic. They have attempted to stop the aid movement through Gaza to these distribution centres, but they have failed,” said Tammy Bruce, the spokesperson for the State Department.
“In that kind of environment, it’s not surprising that there might be a few issues involved. But the good news is that those seeking to get aid to the people of Gaza, which is not Hamas, have succeeded.”
She added: “The real story is that aid and food is moving into Gaza in a massive scale. We’re looking at 8,000 boxes… This is a complicated environment, and the story is the fact that it’s working.”
“The needs on the ground are great. At one moment in the late afternoon, the volume of people at the [distribution site] was such that the GHF team fell back to allow a small number of Gazans to take aid safely and dissipate,” the group said in a statement.
Operations have now returned to normal, the group claimed, adding that it has distributed approximately 8,000 food boxes, which it says will feed 5.5 people for 3.5 days, and adds up to about 462,000 meals.
Hardin Lang, the group’s vice president for policy and programmes, said the US-Israel-backed aid initiative is run by military, rather than humanitarian, logic.
“This is not the way in which you try to feed a population, much less a population that is on the verge of famine,” he told Al Jazeera, speaking from Washington, DC.
“The kind of operation that is required to prevent famine, or stop it if it’s already ongoing, is a tremendously large and complex logistical operation. And it’s not just food. You have to have access to medical facilities, access to acute malnutrition centres … which have not been factored into this plan.”
He added: “This is not set up to meet the needs of people. It very much feels like it’s been designed to locate people into the south of Gaza – into an area that’s been designated by the Israelis as ‘a humanitarian zone’, as opposed to trying to meet the needs of a very desperate population.”
Ahmed Bayram, spokesperson for the NRC, called on Israel and the US to cancel their initiative and let humanitarian organisations do their job.
“What we’re seeing is indeed a summary of the tragedy that the people of Gaza are living,” he said.
“This is not how aid is done; this is not how aid should be distributed, not least obviously an occupier doing that – a country that has destroyed and flattened Rafah, asking people to come back to Rafah, that has displaced people out of Rafah, and now tells them to come back and receive whatever they can get hold of.”
Here’s where things stand on Wednesday, May 28:
Labour prosecutors allege that workers were brought to Brazil illegally and toiled in ‘slavery-like conditions’.
Brazilian labour prosecutors have filed a lawsuit against the Chinese auto manufacturer BYD and two contractors over allegations of illegally trafficking labourers to live and work under conditions “analogous to slavery”.
On Tuesday, the prosecutors, charged with enforcing labour laws, said in a statement that they would seek 257 million reais ($45m) in damages from BYD as well as contractors China JinJiang Construction Brazil and Tecmonta Equipamentos Inteligentes.
They accused the three companies of trafficking Chinese workers to build a BYD plant in Camacari, in the northeastern state of Bahia. There, the prosecutors allege that the companies subjected the workers to “extremely degrading” conditions.
“In December last year, 220 Chinese workers were found to be in conditions analogous to slavery and victims of international human trafficking,” the statement said.
The damages the prosecutors are seeking amount to a penalty of 50,000 reais ($8,867) per violation, multiplied by the number of workers affected, in addition to moral damages.
The lawsuit is the result of a police raid in December 2024, during which authorities say they “rescued” 163 Chinese workers from Jinjiang and 57 from Tecmonta.
The prosecutors say the workers were victims of international human trafficking and were brought to Brazil with visas that did not fit their jobs.
They also allege that conditions at the construction site left the labourers almost totally dependent on their employers, by withholding up to 70 percent of their wages and imposing high contract termination costs. Some of the workers even had their passports taken away, limiting their ability to leave, according to the prosecutors.
The lawsuit also describes meagre living conditions, including some beds without mattresses.
“In one dormitory, only one toilet was identified for use by 31 people, forcing workers to wake up around 4am to wash themselves before starting their workday,” the prosecutors’ statement notes.
Brazil is the largest market for BYD outside China. The Chinese auto giant has said that it is committed to human rights, is cooperating with authorities and will respond to the lawsuit in court.
A spokesman for the company said in December that allegations of poor working conditions were part of an effort to “smear” China and Chinese companies.
But the Brazilian labour prosecutors rejected the notion that their lawsuit was based on anti-Chinese sentiment.
“Our lawsuit is very well-founded, with a substantial amount of evidence provided during the investigation process,” deputy labour prosecutor Fabio Leal said in an interview.
He stated that the workers, who have all returned to China, would receive any payments related to the lawsuit there, with the companies in Brazil responsible for providing proof of payment.
Water treatment stations attacked by RSF can no longer provide clean water in Khartoum state, which reported 90 percent of the cases.
Sudan’s Ministry of Health has reported a spike in cholera cases in the war-torn country, with 2,700 infections and 172 deaths in the past week.
In a statement on Tuesday, the ministry said 90 percent of cases were reported in Khartoum state, where water and electricity supply have been severely disrupted in recent weeks by drone strikes blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), at war with the army since April 2023.
Cases were also reported in the south, centre and north of the country.
Cholera is endemic to Sudan, but outbreaks have become far worse and more frequent since the war broke out, wrecking already fragile water and sanitation and health infrastructure.
Last Tuesday, the ministry said 51 people had died of cholera out of more than 2,300 reported cases over the past three weeks, 90 percent of them in Khartoum state.
The RSF this month launched drone strikes across Khartoum, including on three power stations, before being completely pushed out of their last holdout positions in the capital last week.
The strikes knocked the electricity – and subsequently the local water network – out of service, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), forcing residents to turn to unsafe water sources.
“Water treatment stations no longer have electricity and cannot provide clean water from the Nile,” Slaymen Ammar, MSF’s medical coordinator in Khartoum, said in a statement.
Cholera, an acute diarrhoeal illness caused by ingesting contaminated water or food, can kill within hours if untreated. Yet, it is easily preventable and treatable when clean water, sanitation and timely medical care are available.
Sudan’s already fragile healthcare system has been pushed to the “breaking point” by the war, according to the World Health Organization.
Up to 90 percent of the country’s hospitals have at some point been forced to close because of the fighting, according to the doctors’ union, with health facilities regularly stormed, bombed and looted.
The war, now in its third year, has killed tens of thousands, displaced 13 million and created the world’s largest displacement and hunger crisis.
Israel is applying many of the tactics used in its war on Gaza to seize and control territory across the occupied West Bank during its Operation Iron Wall campaign, a new report says.
Israel launched the operation in January. Defending what the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) termed “by far the longest and most destructive operation in the occupied West Bank since the second intifada in the 2000s”, the Israeli military claimed its intention was to preserve its “freedom of action” within the Palestinian territory as it continued to rip up roads and destroy buildings, infrastructure, and water and electricity lines.
The report by the British research group Forensic Architecture suggested Israel has imposed what researchers call a system of “spatial control”, essentially a series of mechanisms that allow it to deploy military units across Palestinian territory at will.
The report focused on Israeli action in the refugee camps of Jenin and Far’a in the northern West Bank and Nur Shams and Tulkarem in the northwestern West Bank. Researchers interviewed and analysed witness statements, satellite imagery and hundreds of videos to demonstrate a systematic plan of coordinated Israeli action intended to impose a network of military control in refugee camps across the West Bank similar to that imposed upon Gaza.
In the process, existing roads have been widened while homes, private gardens and adjacent properties have been demolished to allow for the rapid deployment of Israeli military vehicles.
“This network of military routes is clearly visible in the Jenin refugee camp and evidence indicates that the same tactic is, at the time of publication, being repeated in the Nur Shams and Tulkarm refugee camps,” the report’s authors noted.
Israeli ministers have previously stated that they planned to use the same methods in the West Bank that have destroyed the Gaza Strip, leading to more than 54,000 Palestinians killed and the majority of buildings damaged or destroyed.
In January, Defence Minister Israel Katz said Israel would apply the “lesson” of “repeated raids in Gaza” to the Jenin refugee camp. The following month, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has control over much of the administration of the West Bank, boasted that “Tulkarem and Jenin will look like Jabalia and Shujayea. Nablus and Ramallah will resemble Rafah and Khan Younis,” comparing refugee camps in the West Bank to areas in Gaza that have been devastated by Israeli bombing and ground offensives.
“They will also be turned into uninhabitable ruins, and their residents will be forced to migrate and seek a new life in other countries,” Smotrich said.
Hamze Attar, a Luxembourg-based defence analyst, told Al Jazeera these tactics are not new in Palestinian territory, having first been deployed by the British during their mandate over historic Palestine, which preceded Israel’s foundation in 1948.
“It’s part of the “counterinsurgency” strategy,” he said. “Bigger roads [mean] easy access to forces – bigger roads, less congested battle management; bigger roads, less ability for fighters to escape from house to house.”
About 75,000 Palestinians live in the Jenin, Nur Shams, Far’a and Tulkarem refugee camps. They were either displaced themselves or descended from those displaced during the Nakba (which means “catastrophe”) when roughly 750,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes by Zionist forces from 1947 to 1949 as part of the creation of Israel.
Now, at least 40,000 of those living in the West Bank refugee camps have been displaced as a result of Operation Iron Wall, according to the United Nations.
As in Gaza, many of these people were forced from their homes on orders from the Israeli military, which researchers said have been “weaponised” against the local population.
Once an area had been cleared of its buildings and roads, it becomes a kill zone and the Israeli military is free to reshape and build whatever it likes without interference from residents, the report said.
“Such engineered mass displacement has allowed the Israeli military to reshape these built environments unobstructed,” the report noted, adding that when Palestinian residents did try to return to their homes after Israeli military action, they were often obstructed by the continued presence of troops.
Forensic Architecture researchers said Israeli attacks on medical facilities in Gaza have also spilled over into the West Bank.
“Israeli attacks on medical infrastructure in the West Bank have included placing hospitals under siege, obstructing ambulance access to areas with injured civilians, targeting medical personnel, and using at least one medical facility as a detention and interrogation centre,” the report said.
During Israel’s initial attacks on the Jenin refugee camp on January 21, multiple hospitals were surrounded by the Israeli military, including Jenin Government Hospital, al-Amal Hospital and al-Razi Hospital, researchers noted.
The following day, civilians and hospital staff reported that the main road leading to Jenin Government Hospital was destroyed by Israeli military bulldozers and access to the hospital was blocked by newly constructed berms, or land barriers,
On February 4, reports from Jenin said the Israeli military was obstructing ambulances carrying injured people from reaching the hospital.
Also carrying unmistakable echoes of Gaza was an UNRWA report in early February saying the Israeli military had forcibly co-opted one of the health centres at the UNRWA-run Arroub camp near Jerusalem as an interrogation and detention site.
The attacks on healthcare facilities were part of a wider campaign to damage civilian infrastructure in the West Bank, the Forensic Architecture report said, using armoured bulldozers, controlled demolitions and air attacks.
Researchers said they verified more than 200 examples of Israeli soldiers deliberately destroying buildings and street networks in all four of the refugee camps with armoured bulldozers reducing civilian roads to barely passable piles of exposed earth and rubble.
Civilian property, including parked vehicles, food carts and agricultural buildings, such as greenhouses, were also destroyed during Israeli military operations, they said.
Government escalates row with university over demands to curb pro-Palestine student activism and change racial diversity policies.
The administration of US President Donald Trump will move to sever remaining federal contracts with Harvard University, escalating a row centred on issues such as pro-Palestine student activism and racial diversity.
The New York Times and Reuters news agency reported on Tuesday that a draft letter from the General Services Administration (GSA) instructs all federal agencies to review and possibly cancel existing contracts with Harvard, worth an estimated $100m.
A copy of the draft letter shared by the Times states that Harvard has continued to engage in “race discrimination, including in its admissions process” and that the university’s failure to halt alleged acts of anti-Semitism suggests a “disturbing lack of concern for the safety and wellbeing of Jewish students”.
The move would be the latest effort by the government to use federal funds to force universities to accept changes sought by the Trump administration, including greater control over curricula, harsher steps against pro-Palestine students, and an end to policies that encourage racial diversity and greater opportunities for racial minorities.
The Trump administration has portrayed efforts to encourage greater racial diversity at US universities as a form of discrimination that prioritises racial identity over merit. Supporters say that such efforts, such as using race as one factor of many in admissions decisions, are necessary to remedy long histories of racist discrimination and exclusion in US higher education.
“GSA understands that Harvard continues to engage in race discrimination, including in its admissions process and in other areas of student life,” the letter reads.
The administration has also taken an aggressive stance on pro-Palestine activism on university campuses, which erupted after the beginning of Israel’s most recent war in Gaza in October 2023.
Critics have portrayed those steps as part of a larger assault on US universities, which Trump has depicted as hotbeds of political dissent and radical ideas at odds with the goals of his administration.
“The Trump administration has gone after Harvard because of the pro-Palestinian protests, and also has made a list of demands that goes far beyond any of that,” Al Jazeera correspondent Patty Culhane reported from Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Harvard is located.
“It wants detailed information on foreign students that Harvard is refusing to give. It wants basically a political audit to see where people’s ideologies are. So Harvard University has sued in court to stop many of these moves, and this will undoubtedly be the next one that goes before a judge.”
In March, the GSA and the Departments of Education (DOE) and Health and Human Services (HHS) announced an official review of $255.6m in Harvard contracts and $8.7bn in multi-year grants, stating that the review was part of an effort to combat alleged anti-Semitism on college campuses.
The administration also cut $400m in grants to Columbia University in New York City in March, despite a series of concessions to government demands.
The administration has said that campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza and the US provision of billions of dollars of weapons to Israel are driven by anti-Semitism and create an unsafe environment for Jewish students on campus.
Several international students have been arrested and detained by the administration for their involvement in pro-Palestine activism, including a Turkish international student named Rumeysa Ozturk at Tufts University, who was arrested on the street by federal agents for co-signing an op-ed calling for an end to the war.
Trump has consistently threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status, and moved last week to block the university’s ability to accept international students, who currently make up about 27 percent of the university’s total enrolment.
A judge blocked that effort, which Harvard had called an act of retaliation for “our refusal to surrender our academic independence and to submit to the federal government’s illegal assertion of control over our curriculum, our faculty, and our student body”.
Chaos erupted in Rafah as thousands of desperate Palestinians swarmed a new aid distribution site, set up by the controversial US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Live ammunition was fired to disperse the large crowds.
Published On 27 May 202527 May 2025
Palestinian groups slam the raids targeting exchanges in several cities in a widespread operation in the territory.
Israeli forces have raided money exchanges across the occupied West Bank, using live fire and tear gas as they stormed the city of Nablus, killing at least one Palestinian and wounding more than 30.
Exchange shops in the cities of Ramallah, Nablus, Hebron Arrabeh, el-Bireh, Bethlehem, Jenin and Tubas were attacked on Tuesday, residents said.
In the northern city of Nablus, Israeli soldiers raided a foreign exchange belonging to the Al-Khaleej company and a gold store, according to local media reports. They also fired smoke bombs in the centre of Jenin, and streets were closed in Tubas and Bethlehem in the occupied Palestinian territory.
The Ramallah-based Ministry of Health said one man was killed and eight injured by live ammunition during a raid in Nablus.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it treated 20 people for tear gas inhalation and three injured by rubber bullets.
The raids on foreign exchanges came as Israel continued its intensified military campaign in Gaza, killing more than 54,000 Palestinians since the war began on October 7, 2023, as tens of thousands of people starve in the besieged enclave.
Israeli Army Radio on Tuesday said Israel conducted the raids on foreign exchanges on suspicions that the shops supported “terrorism”. The radio station also said the operation resulted in the confiscation of large amounts of money designated for “terrorism infrastructure” in the West Bank.
“Israeli forces are taking action against Al-Khaleej Exchange Company due to its connections with terrorist organisations,” a leaflet left by Israeli forces at the company’s Ramallah location read.
Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said Israeli authorities have not released an official statement yet but an official talked to the Israeli media about the raids.
“This official said earlier that Israel ‘believes’ – not that it has any evidence or proof – but ‘believes’ that these cash exchange places are funnelling money to what they call terror organisations,” said Salhut, who was reporting from Amman, Jordan, because Israel has banned Al Jazeera from reporting from Israel and the West Bank.
“The people who own these shops say they were not given any sort of proof by the Israeli military,” she added.
Salhut said it was the fourth time such raids have taken place since the start of the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
“The first time was in December of 2023 when five different cash exchange places were raided by the Israeli military and they seized nearly $3m,” she said. “It happened again in August 2024 and again in September of that same year.”
Hamas denounced the Israeli raids, saying they “constitute a new chapter in the occupation’s open war against the Palestinian people, their lives, their economy, and all the foundations of their steadfastness and perseverance on their land”.
“These assaults on economic institutions, accompanied by the looting of large sums of money and the confiscation of property, are an extension of the piracy policies adopted by the [Israeli] occupation government,” the Palestinian group said in a statement, adding that the targeted companies were “operating within the law”.
Hamas urged the Palestinian Authority to take measures against the Israeli attacks.
Separately, the Palestinian Mujahideen Movement said the raids are “part of the open war against our people, targeting their very existence and cause”. The group also urged the Palestinian Authority to “defend” Palestinians from such attacks and “halt its policy of security coordination” with Israel.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla are on their first official visit to Canada since Charles became the British monarch in 2022.
The two-day trip, though brief, carries symbolic weight at a time when Canada has faced tariffs and threats from US President Donald Trump.
Here’s what you need to know about the visit.
A major highlight of Charles’s visit is his scheduled address on Tuesday from the Canadian Senate.
Often referred to as a “Speech from the Throne”, the address is traditionally used to open a new session of Parliament and is usually delivered by the governor general on the monarch’s behalf.
The speech is ceremonial and not tied to any new legislative session. It is expected to include reflections on Canada’s democratic institutions, messages of unity, and an emphasis on reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.
Although symbolic, the speech is a rare opportunity for Canadians to hear directly from the monarch in a parliamentary setting. It also serves as a public reaffirmation of the king’s role as head of state in Canada.
It is the first such address to be delivered by a British monarch in Canada since 1977.
In a statement on Monday, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said the speech will outline the government’s plan to deliver the change Canadians “want and deserve”.
This includes defining “a new economic and security relationship with the United States … to bring down the cost of living, and to keep communities safe,” Carney said.
Charles is set to deliver the speech shortly after 11am local time (15:00 GMT).
The royal couple are in Canada for a two-day tour, which began on Monday.
They came at Carney’s invitation. While the visit is short, it has included several important engagements that reflect Canada’s historical ties to the monarchy.
The itinerary features official ceremonies, cultural events, and meetings with Indigenous leaders, according to the Canadian government’s official website.
Charles’s visit to Canada serves multiple purposes, both symbolic and practical. Primarily, it aims to reinforce the enduring relationship between Canada and the Crown, highlighting shared values and historical ties.
The timing of the visit is particularly noteworthy as it coincides with heightened tensions following US President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs as well as controversial remarks suggesting the annexation of Canada.
Carney’s invitation for Charles to deliver the “Speech from the Throne” has been viewed as seeking to reaffirm Canada’s sovereignty and constitutional framework.
Barbara Messamore, professor of history at the University of the Fraser Valley, said Canadians have found comments by Trump about turning the country into the 51st US state “deeply offensive”.
“I think it is a good moment to show the world that we are a distinct nation with a distinct history, and we’d like to keep it that way,” Messamore told Al Jazeera. “We value, of course, our relationship with our American friends and neighbours, but we don’t want to join them.”
While members of the British royal family have frequently toured Canada over the years, visits by the reigning monarch are relatively uncommon. Queen Elizabeth II, for example, visited Canada 22 times during her seven-decade reign.
This is Charles’s first time visiting the country as monarch. He last visited in 2022, when he was still the prince of Wales.
What is Canada’s connection to the monarchy?
Canada is a constitutional monarchy, which means the country recognises the king as its official head of state.
While the role is largely ceremonial, the Crown plays a critical function in Canada’s political system. The king’s duties are carried out in Canada by the governor general, currently Mary Simon, who represents the monarch at the federal level.
The monarchy is built into Canada’s constitutional framework. The Constitution Act of 1867 established the king – or queen – as part of the Parliament of Canada, alongside the House of Commons and the Senate.
Beyond politics, the Crown holds particular importance in Indigenous relations. Many historical treaties were made directly with the British Crown, not with the government of Canada.
This has been largely highlighted in local media coverage, Messamore said.
“Indigenous nations are front and centre, and they value that kinship relationship,” she said.
Although support for the monarchy varies across Canada, with many Canadians questioning its relevance, the institution remains embedded in the nation’s political and legal foundations.
This is because it has always provided a “bulwark against American ambitions”, Messamore said.
“These moments are really important ones about Canadian patriotism. The reaction to the king’s visit has been very positive,” she said.
“We don’t always all agree on our form of governance, but we’ve made it very difficult to change that fundamental aspect of our Canadian Constitution.”
London, United Kingdom — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has proudly described a new deal with the European Union spanning defence, security, and trade as a “win-win” pact that puts the nation “back on the world stage”.
But nine years after Britain narrowly voted in favour of leaving the EU, the deal announced on May 19 has prompted a sigh of relief for some and stinging criticism from others, underscoring just how divisive the legacy of Brexit remains in the country.
While many sections of British society have welcomed the agreement, Richard Tice, an MP for the anti-immigration party Reform UK, responded to the deal with a single-word post on social media: “Betrayal.”
The deal offers concessions on European visas for British citizens, shorter queues at European airports, and possibly cheaper food in the UK. But on the flip side, the UK has agreed to allow European fishing fleets access to British waters for an extra 12 years.
Phil Rusted, who runs a firm called Practical Plants in Suffolk that imports plants from Europe, is among those who are delighted.
“My instinct is it is the best news we have got in nine years,” he said. “It almost gets us back to where were before Brexit. It helps me to take on more staff, to develop my business. The last few years have been very unpredictable; I will be more assured about what my costs are going to be.”
The business sector, more broadly, has also largely responded positively to the agreement.
“In a world where higher US tariffs are threatening to throw globalisation into reverse, trade deals, even if relatively minor, are generally good news,” said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec Bank. “The obvious gainer is the food sector, which will benefit from a reduction in checks at the EU border, which could make a material difference to exporters’ and importers’ costs.”
The Federation of Small Businesses, a group that represents small- and medium-sized firms in the UK, described the EU deal as “genuine progress”, crediting it for “untangling the rules for small exporters of plant and animal products”.
“For too long, small businesses have shouldered the burden of unpredictable customs rules and red tape that sap confidence and ambition,” it said.
And popular opinion in the UK appears to be behind the agreement. Polling by YouGov shows that 66 percent want to have a closer relationship with the EU, compared with just 14 percent who do not.
To be sure, experts say the UK has to compromise too. “The devil in a trade deal is of course always in the detail,” said Paul Dales, chief economist at Capital Economics. In addition to accepting EU access to British waters for fishing, the UK has also agreed to pay an unspecified “appropriate financial contribution” to join the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice, Dales pointed out.
But the deal has also faced strong pushback.
The National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, in a statement on May 19, said the agreement “surrenders the best prospect that the fishing industry and coastal communities had for growth over the coming decade”.
Three days later, it issued a more biting statement, saying the deal “drags UK fishing back into a past we thought had been left behind”.
Shaw conceded that if the food industry had benefitted from the deal, the fishing sector stood “at the other end of the scale”.
And it is not just fishers. The deal has also revived a broader debate over whether the UK, in seeking to realign itself with elements of the EU’s rules and regulations, is violating the mandate of Brexit.
Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, under whom Britain formally withdrew from the EU in 2020, described the deal as an “appalling sell out” in a post on X.
Tony Gabana, a web developer from London who was too young to vote in 2016, holds that view.
“Whether it’s a good deal or not, it does seem an attempt to reverse what a lot of people voted for,” Gabana said. “It doesn’t sit right with me. It feels like a step to further concessions, which, again, no one voted for.
“Are we a democracy or not?”
In 2015, as a civil war was raging in South Sudan, the United Nations Security Council imposed the first set of sanctions on the country, including asset freezes and travel bans on various senior officials. Three years later, after a ceasefire agreement was repeatedly violated, the UNSC mustered the votes to impose a full arms embargo. Fragile peace eventually settled in, but the embargo was kept in place and was extended every year.
The review of the embargo is now coming up on May 29 and there is a push from African members of the UNSC – Sierra Leone, Somalia and Algeria – to lift it. On March 18, the African Union Peace and Security Council (AUPSC) publicly called for this measure to end.
But lifting the embargo on South Sudan at this moment would be a mistake. Violence has come back to plague the country, killing at least 180 people between March and mid-April, amid deepening divisions between President Salva Kiir and First Vice President Riek Machar, who has been placed under house arrest.
Allowing more weapons to enter the country would only escalate the dire situation. This would not be in the interest of neighbouring countries and the African Union as a whole.
Under the AU’s development plan, Agenda 2063, the continent set itself an ambitious goal of “Silencing the Guns” by 2020, later extended to 2030. With this, the AU wants to “end all wars and violent conflicts and promote dialogue-based mechanisms for conflict prevention and resolution”.
Yet, the AUPSC’s call for lifting the embargo on South Sudan does not fall in line with these goals. The justification for this stance is that free access to more weapons can enable the unification of government and opposition forces and reform the security sector.
But this logic ignores the growing fractures in South Sudan amid the renewed tensions between Kiir and Machar. Placing more guns in the hands of warring parties involved in serious human rights violations and crimes under international law would only make the situation worse.
South Sudan’s security and defence forces have attacked the very people they are tasked to protect: Civilians. The South Sudanese army, National Security Service and armed opposition forces have been implicated in war crimes and human rights violations for well more than a decade, including by the AU’s Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan and the UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan.
Indeed, around the time the AUPSC called for the lifting of the arms embargo, South Sudan’s government reportedly used improvised incendiary weapons in aerial attacks, killing at least 58 people and injuring others, including children.
To be sure, the existence of the arms embargo is not enough – its enforcement is key. That is already faltering after in early March, Uganda sent troops and military equipment to South Sudan without providing notification or receiving special exemption from the UNSC Sanctions Committee. This is a clear violation of the embargo.
South Sudan’s Mi-24 helicopters also seem to be on the move, despite the government’s fleet reportedly being non-functional and grounded since the arms embargo was imposed in 2018. This suggests spare parts have been sourced in violation of the embargo.
On May 4, Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, reported that two helicopter gunships had bombed its medical facility in Old Fangak the day before and fired at the town, killing seven and injuring 20 others. Deliberate attacks on a medical facility performing its humanitarian function violate international humanitarian law and would constitute a war crime. This is yet another indication of why the UNSC must renew the arms embargo and strengthen its enforcement.
If properly implemented and enforced, a renewed UNSC arms embargo would not obstruct security sector reform. Instead, it would block the disorderly and destabilising accumulation of arms in South Sudan, which is spurring the current conflict and contributing to violations against civilians.
If the AU is serious about silencing the guns, it should back the strict controls prohibiting arms transfers to South Sudan, and the African states in the UNSC should vote to renew the arms embargo.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
Video shows a cargo ship capsizing off Kerala’s coast in India, leaking oil and hazardous materials
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a career playoff-high 40 points to put Oklahoma City Thunder 3-1 up against Minnesota Timberwolves in the series.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 40 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished 10 assists as the Oklahoma City Thunder escaped with a 128-126 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals in Minneapolis.
Jalen Williams added 34 points on 13-for-24 shooting for Oklahoma City, which seized a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Chet Holmgren finished with 21 points on 9-for-14 shooting.
Gilgeous-Alexander sank 5 of 6 free throw attempts in the final 15 seconds to seal the victory on Monday night.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 23 points off the bench to lead Minnesota. Jaden McDaniels contributed 22 points, and Donte DiVincenzo finished with 21 points off the bench.
The series will shift back to Oklahoma City for Game 5 on Wednesday night where the Thunder will have the opportunity to close out the series and progress to the NBA Finals.
Both teams battled in the final minutes as the Thunder staved off the Timberwolves’ comeback attempt.
Gilgeous-Alexander displayed his athleticism as he found Williams for a 3-pointer from the left wing to make it 116-109 with 3:34 remaining. The 1.98 metre (6ft 6in) guard was falling down on the play, and he slipped a pass between McDaniels’ legs to the open Williams.
The lead went back to seven when Williams hit another 3-pointer to put the Thunder on top 123-116 with 1:21 to go.
The Timberwolves clawed back thanks to McDaniels, who made a driving layup with 1:10 left and followed up with a 3-pointer with 23.1 seconds remaining. The latter hoop sliced the Thunder’s lead to 123-121.
Both teams exchanged free throws in the final seconds.
The Thunder led 128-125 when Anthony Edwards stepped to the free throw line with 3.5 seconds left. Edwards made the first attempt and missed the second attempt on purpose, but Gilgeous-Alexander chased down the rebound and fired a long pass out of bounds to stop the clock with 0.3 seconds to go.
Williams intercepted Julius Randle’s inbounds pass as time expired.
Oklahoma City led 90-85 at the end of the third quarter.
The Timberwolves went on an 8-0 run to cut their deficit to 77-76 with five minutes remaining in the third. DiVincenzo buried a 3-pointer from the left corner to punctuate the run.
The Thunder responded on the next possession when Gilgeous-Alexander knocked down a jump shot to give his team a 79-76 lead with 4:41 left in the quarter.
Minnesota trailed 65-57 at the half. Edwards had only four points before the break, and he finished the game with 16 points on 5-for-13 shooting. He made only 1-of-7 attempts from 3-point range.
A car ploughed into a crowd of Liverpool fans on Monday evening, injuring 47 people, including four children. The incident took place during a Premier League victory parade through Liverpool’s city centre by the city’s official football team.
Here is what we know about the incident, victims, suspect and rescue efforts.
Just after 6pm (17:00 GMT) on Monday, a car crashed into a crowd of Liverpool fans who were celebrating Liverpool’s victory in the Premier League football title.
The fans had gathered to catch a sight of the Liverpool football team, who had paraded the trophy through the area in an open-top bus moments before the incident. The car crash took place about 1 mile (1.6km) before the finishing point of the 10-mile (16km) parade.
Videos circulating on social media showed the car zigzag through the crowd of fans ostensibly clad in Liverpool FC merchandise. Several people were thrown into the air as they were hit by the car.
The Merseyside Police said they were called soon after the incident.
As the car came to a stop, angered members of the crowd swarmed towards it, smashing its windows. The police had to intervene to prevent them from getting to the driver.
The police said they arrested a “53-year-old white British man from the Liverpool area” who they believed was driving the car.
They have not released any additional details about the driver or his motivations yet.
The crash took place on Water Street, which is in the city centre and near the Strand. The street is home to historic buildings, including the office block, Oriel Chambers, built in 1864. Liverpool is located towards the northwest of England.
Dozens of people, including four children, were injured in the incident.
Out of the victims, 20 people sustained minor injuries and were treated at the scene, not requiring hospital treatment. Another 27 people were taken to a hospital by ambulance. Authorities said two of the people hospitalised, including one child, have sustained serious injuries.
The police said the incident was not being treated as a “terrorism case”.
“We believe this to be an isolated incident, and we are not currently looking for anyone else in relation to it. The incident is not being treated as terrorism,” Jenny Sims, temporary deputy chief constable, told reporters.
“I would urge people not to speculate as to the motives behind this appalling incident and to allow Merseyside police to conduct their investigation,” Liverpool City Council leader Liam Robinson said during a news conference late on Monday.
Late on Monday, police officer Sims told a media briefing that several people were treated at the scene and many were taken to hospital.
She added that the police force’s emergency services colleagues from the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) and Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service (MFRS) were also present at the scene.
NWAS officer Dave Kitchin said ambulances were dispatched, as well as a hazardous area response team, an air ambulance, doctors and senior clinicians to the site.
“Our emergency ambulances took patients to our NHS colleagues at Royal Liverpool, Alder Hey, Arrowe Park and Aintree Hospitals,” Kitchin said, referring to the hospitals the injured were taken to.
Nick Searle, MFRS chief fire officer, told the news conference that, after learning about the incident, they promptly dispatched three fire engines to Water Street. “Our crews rapidly lifted the vehicle, removed people from beneath and passed them to our ambulance colleagues.”
Liverpool City Council leader Robinson told the news conference that the incident “cast a very dark shadow over what had been a joyous day”.
“We are working closely with Merseyside Police to support their investigation, and with other relevant organisations to make sure those affected get the appropriate support,” he added.
In an update on X on Monday evening, NWAS wrote that it had “cleared the scene following the incident in Liverpool”.
“Specialist officers have been put in place to support the injured and their families,” Sims said.
She requested people to refrain from sharing the “distressing footage” of the incident, adding that information, including video footage, can be submitted to the Major Incident Police Portal (MIPP).
“My fire crews will maintain a visible and reassuring presence in the coming days and weeks,” MFRS’s Searle said.
“The scenes in Liverpool are appalling — my thoughts are with all those injured or affected,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote in an X post. “I want to thank the police and emergency services for their swift and ongoing response to this shocking incident.”
The scenes in Liverpool are appalling — my thoughts are with all those injured or affected.
I want to thank the police and emergency services for their swift and ongoing response to this shocking incident.
I’m being kept updated on developments and ask that we give the police…
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) May 26, 2025
Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram said: “Our hearts go out to all of those affected, especially those who have been injured. Thank you, as ever, to the first responders for their professionalism and swift action.”
Our hearts go out to all of those affected, especially those who have been injured.
Thank you, as ever, to the first responders for their professionalism and swift action.
This is a difficult day for our city region, but we stand together. https://t.co/ua4xSY2UjX
— Steve Rotheram (@MetroMayorSteve) May 26, 2025