Male exotic dancer Sharay Hayes testifies at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ sex trafficking trial in New York City,
An exotic dancer called The Punisher discovered his client’s identity when he turned on a hotel suite television before an encounter and the screen said, “Welcome Sean Combs”.
Sharay Hayes testified at the hip-hop mogul’s sex-trafficking trial that he was hired to create what he called “sexy, erotic scenes” with Combs’ then-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura while a naked man watched from the corner.
But he did not realise at first that the man was Mr Combs. That changed when Mr Hayes was in a luxury hotel suite in New York waiting for his clients and he saw his name on the television’s welcome screen.
Mr Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Mr Hayes testified in a New York courtroom on Tuesday about his first meeting with the couple. He was “specifically told to not acknowledge” the man in the room and he said Mr Combs wore a veil over his face.
They were in a hotel room in Trump Tower on Central Park West and Ms Ventura greeted him at the door wearing a bath robe, Mr Hayes said.
Inside the room, the furniture was covered in sheets and there were “little bowls” on the floor with bottles of baby oil.
Mr Hayes’ testimony comes after the court heard from Daniel Phillip, who last week claimed he was paid to have sex with Ms Ventura while Mr Combs watched.
Cassie’s mother took photographs of daughter’s injuries
Also on Tuesday, the court heard from Regina Ventura, the mother of R&B singer Cassie.
An email from Ms Ventura to her mother from 23 December, 2011 was shown as evidence. In it, she wrote that Mr Combs had made threats towards her, and that he would “release 2 explicit sex tapes of me”.
The email also said Mr Combs had told Ms Ventura he would be “having someone hurt me” and “he made a point that it wouldn’t be by his hands, he actually said he’d be out of the country when it happened”.
After the email was shown in court, Ms Ventura’s mother identified several images of her daughter taken in her family home in Connecticut around the same time.
They show bruises across Ms Ventura’s upper and lower back, and her leg.
Ms Ventura’s mother alleged the bruises were from being her being “beaten by Sean Combs”.
US Federal Court
She also testified that Mr Combs had demanded $20,000, because “he was angry that he had spent money” on Ms Ventura.
Ms Ventura’s mother testified that she took out a loan with her husband and sent the money to an account as directed by Mr Combs’ “bookkeeper”.
“I was scared for my daughter’s safety,” Ms Ventura told the court, adding that she felt she had to pay “because he demanded it”.
The money then reappeared in their account about four days later, Ms Ventura said. There was no communication about its return.
Earlier on Tuesday, the defence vigourously cross-examined a former personal assistant of Mr Combs and pointed out some inconsistencies in the versions of events he had previously told the government.
The trial is expected to last several weeks and Mr Combs could face a life sentence if found guilty.
Picture a four‑lane highway at 5 p.m. The sun is dipping, brake lights flare, and every driver wonders the same thing—Why can’t this road move faster? Engineers answer that question with highway capacity analysis. By measuring how many vehicles a road can carry while staying safe and comfortable, they guide billion‑dollar investments and everyday signal‑timing tweaks alike.
Whether it’sTransportation engineering services in Floridaworking to untangle I-95 or a city planner fine-tuning a small-town corridor, the same principle holds: without solid capacity numbers, agencies over- or under-build. Budgets blow up, and the public loses faith. With them, planners can widen lanes only where they earn payback, fine-tune merge zones to shave minutes off commutes, and prioritize bus routes that truly cut congestion. Capacity analysis is the flashlight that shows where every extra dollar or lane will do the most good.
Highway Capacity Analysis Core Ideas—Demystified
Before diving into software and formulas, nail down three cues that steer the entire discipline:
Flow (vph) – How many vehicles pass a point in one hour?
Density (veh/mi) – How tightly those vehicles pack together.
Speed (mph) – Self‑explanatory, yet the first metric angry drivers quote.
The Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) ties those three variables together. If flow rises beyond a corridor’s sweet spot, density balloons, speed tumbles, and frustration spikes. Capacity analysis finds the balance where people move quickly yet safely.
Data Collection: The Bedrock of Good Numbers
Fancy models collapse without real‑world data. At a minimum, analysts gather:
Traffic counts – 15‑minute or hourly volumes at each approach, ideally for multiple typical days.
Speed runs – Spot speeds from Bluetooth sensors, radar, or test vehicles.
Geometry – Lane widths, grades, curvature, shoulder condition, and sight distance.
Control type – Signals, stop signs, roundabouts, or no control.
Heavy vehicle mix – Trucks and buses chew up more space.
Peak vs. off‑peak behavior – Commuter corridors flip personalities throughout the day.
Modern crews lean on drone footage, LiDAR, and connected‑car feeds. Yet old‑fashioned tube counters and manual turning‑movement surveys still earn their keep, especially when verifying anomalies an algorithm can’t explain.
Analytical Techniques in Plain English
1. Deterministic (HCM‑Style) Methods
These follow printed equations and default adjustment factors. Plug counts and geometric traits into tables, and out pops an estimate of volume‑to‑capacity ratio, delay, or level of service (LOS). Use them when budgets are tight, data are sparse, or agencies require HCM compliance.
2. Microscopic Simulation
Programs like VISSIM or Aimsun track each car, truck, and bus as a unique “agent.” The engine updates position every fraction of a second, letting analysts test lane closures, variable speed limits, or adaptive ramp metering in a risk‑free sandbox.
Pros
Rich visuals that win stakeholder buy‑in
Captures driver psychology (gap acceptance, lane changing)
Cons
Steeper learning curve
Heavy on calibration time
3. Mesoscopic and Macroscopic Models
Mesoscopic engines (e.g., DynusT) blend grouped traffic packets with individual behavior, offering a sweet spot between speed and realism. Macroscopic packages (e.g., VISUM) aggregate entire links, perfect for regional freight forecasts or policy studies looking 20 years ahead.
4. Hybrid AI Boosters
Machine learning now hunts patterns across billions of GPS pings, updating capacity values daily instead of yearly. Cloud dashboards alert operators the moment recurring bottlenecks drift outside normal bands—no spreadsheet macros required.
Tool
Best For
Quick‑Hit Strengths
Watch‑Outs
Highway Capacity Software (HCS‑7)
HCM chapter compliance: quick studies
Wizard‑style inputs, batch LOS reports
Limited animation; needs external graphics for public outreach
SIDRA Intersection
Roundabouts, signals in mixed traffic
Built‑in micro‑sim, queue spillback warnings
License per seat; may require regional default tweaks
Synchro & SimTraffic
Signal timing, corridor coordination
Fast offset optimization, density plots
Microscopic module less robust than VISSIM for multilane weaving
Demands strong calibration discipline; can overwhelm new users
Aimsun Next
Hybrid micro‑/meso networks; real‑time DSS
Single file houses micro, meso, macro; live feeds
GPU requirements climb with city‑wide meshes
PTV Vistro
Development impact studies
ITE trip‑generation baked in; clean LOS diagrams
Less suitable for freeway weaving or managed‑lane ops
Pro tip: License more than one tool when budgets allow. Deterministic LOS tables catch red flags early; simulation then focuses time on the sharpest pain points.
From Field to Model—and Back Again
Seasoned analysts never trust a first run. They:
Pre‑calibrate driving styles using free‑flow speed surveys (no congestion).
Seed observed volumes across peak hours.
Tweak car‑following, lane‑change aggressiveness, and reaction times until simulated speeds, queues, and delays echo what cameras recorded.
Stress‑test future year scenarios (population growth, lane closures, special events).
Ground‑truth periodically—spot checks tell you when commuters evolve faster than your defaults.
This loop keeps models honest and prevents the dreaded “garbage in, gospel out” trap.
Emerging Trends You Should Track Now
Connected Vehicle Probes – Tens of millions of anonymized GPS traces stream instant speed and density snapshots, wiping out expensive manual counts.
Edge‑Based Simulation – Lightweight models run on roadside units, adjusting ramp meters in real time without waiting for a central server.
Digital Twins – Continuous 3‑D replicas ingest live detector data, construction schedules, and weather forecasts, showing what the network will look like 30 minutes ahead.
Equity Dashboards – Capacity fixes now score on access to opportunity, not just travel time. Analysts overlay demographic layers to ensure low‑income communities benefit instead of simply bearing detour fumes.
Turning Numbers Into Smoother Journeys
Highway capacity analysis might sound like pure math, yet its heartbeat is human. Behind every VPH figure sit nurses racing to shifts, parents dashing to day‑care pick‑ups, and truck drivers fighting delivery windows. When engineers pair solid field data with the right software, they give those travelers time back—and often save money and fuel in the process.
From quick HCM look‑ups to advanced AI‑driven twins, the techniques outlined here equip any practitioner to diagnose today’s chokepoints and sketch tomorrow’s fixes with confidence. Stay curious, keep calibrating, and remember: a well‑tuned corridor is the quiet success story commuters never notice—because they’re already home.
The leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Canada have “strongly opposed” the expansion of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, threatening to “take concrete actions” if Israel does not cease its onslaught and lift restrictions on aid supply to the Palestinian enclave.
In a statement released on Monday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said they also oppose settlement expansions in the occupied West Bank. Settler violence has surged in the occupied West Bank as the world’s focus has remained on Gaza. Nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and thousands displaced in Israeli raids.
The statement comes weeks after the Netherlands urged the European Union (EU) to review a trade agreement with Israel as the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has intensified its bombardment of Gaza amid an aid blockade in place since March 2.
Western countries backed Israel’s right to self-defence when Netanyahu’s government launched a devastating offensive in Gaza on October 7, 2023. That offensive has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians and turned vast swathes of Gaza into rubble.
On Tuesday, the EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that Israel has the right to defend itself, but its current actions go beyond proportionate self-defence.
So what steps might Western countries take against Israel, and has Israel’s latest Gaza onslaught forced them to change their position? Here is what you need to know:
What did the UK, France and Canada say?
The countries’ three leaders criticised Israel’s renewed Gaza offensive, while describing the “human suffering” of Palestinians in the coastal enclave as “intolerable”.
They also said that Israel’s announcement of letting some aid in was “wholly inadequate”.
“If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response,” the leaders’ statement said.
“The Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law.
“We condemn the abhorrent language used recently by members of the Israeli Government, threatening that, in their despair at the destruction of Gaza, civilians will start to relocate. Permanent forced displacement is a breach of international humanitarian law.”
The three Western leaders said that while they supported Israel’s right to defend itself following Hamas’s attack on October 7, “this escalation is wholly disproportionate”.
“We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions,” they said.
On Tuesday, the UK announced it would suspend trade talks with Israel over the Gaza war. It also imposed sanctions on settlers and organisations backing violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Israel’s conduct in its war on Gaza and the government’s support for illegal settlements is “damaging our relationship with your government”, said British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Amid intense international pressure, Israeli authorities on Monday cleared nine aid trucks to enter Gaza, where harsh restrictions on food and aid have sparked accusations that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war.
However, the United Nations’ relief chief Tom Fletcher called the entry of the trucks a “drop in the ocean”, adding that “significantly more aid must be allowed into Gaza”.
Fletcher on Tuesday warned that 14,000 Palestinian babies were at risk of dying in the next 48 hours if aid doesn’t reach them – a figure he called “utterly chilling”. Some half a million people in Gaza, or one in five Palestinians, are facing starvation due to the Israeli blockade.
Starving Palestinians have resorted to eating animal feed and flour mixed with sand, highlighting acute suffering among the 2.3 million people in Gaza.
The UN humanitarian office’s spokesman Jens Laerke said on Tuesday that about 100 more trucks have been approved by Israel to enter Gaza.
Shifting their focus to the occupied West Bank, the leaders of the UK, France and Canada said they opposed all attempts to expand Israeli settlements, as they are “illegal and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state and the security of both Israelis and Palestinians”.
“We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions,” they said.
Yara Hawari, co-director of Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, says the statement by the UK, Canada, and France is “reflective of states wanting to backtrack and try and cover up their complicity”, highlighting that the situation in Gaza is the “worst that it has ever been” and that “the genocide is reaching new levels of cruelty and inhumaneness”.
“They can point to the statement and say, you know, well, we did … stand up against it,” Hawari told Al Jazeera, adding that none have stopped arms sales to Israel.
Hawari specifically referenced the UK’s role, saying it was “particularly complicit in this”. “There are reports coming out every day on how many weapons have been transferred from the UK to Israel over the course of the last 19 months,” she said.
Displaced Palestinians flee from Khan Younis, Gaza, amid the ongoing Israeli military offensive in the area, on Monday, May 19, 2025. [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
What else have Western nations said?
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said on Tuesday that her country will push for EU sanctions against Israeli ministers because of insufficient steps to protect civilians in Gaza.
“Since we do not see a clear improvement for the civilians in Gaza, we need to raise the tone further. We will therefore now also push for EU sanctions against individual Israeli ministers,” Stenergard said in a statement.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot demanded that Israel’s “blind violence” and blockade of humanitarian assistance must come to an end.
On Monday, 24 countries, overwhelmingly European ones, issued a joint statement saying Israel’s decision to allow a “limited restart” of aid operations in Gaza must be followed by a complete resumption of unfettered humanitarian assistance.
It was signed by the foreign ministers of countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and the UK.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s top diplomat, Kallas, has decided to order a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, a free trade deal between the two regions.
Kallas told Al Jazeera that the Netherlands earlier this month had sought review of the Association Agreement, particularly Article 2 – which states that both parties must respect human rights.
The move has been backed by other member states, including Belgium, France, Portugal and Sweden.
Robert Patman, a professor of international relations at the University of Otago in New Zealand, says the recent criticism emanating from Western capitals was in part due to public pressure.
“I think there’s a sense that in liberal democracies, they can’t ultimately be indifferent to public concern about the situation … I think another factor is a perception among many countries that [US President Donald] Trump himself is getting impatient with the Netanyahu government,” he told Al Jazeera.
Patman explained that with many countries in the Global South having experienced colonialism before, they were quicker than the West to condemn Israel’s actions.
“They have a history of having to struggle for their own political self-determination, and given that experience, they can empathise with the Palestinians who’ve been denied the right,” he said.
Palestinian mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli army airstrike at the morgue of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah on May 20, 2025. [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
How has Israel responded?
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Monday criticised Carney, Macron and Starmer following their joint statement.
“By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on 7 October while inviting more such atrocities,” he posted on X.
By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottowa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more…
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) May 19, 2025
Meanwhile, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich lashed out at the three leaders, saying his country “will not bow its head before this moral hypocrisy, antisemitism, and one-sidedness”.
In a post on X, Smotrich accused the three countries of “morally aligning themselves with a terrorist organisation”.
In particular, Smotrich took issue with the three countries saying they are “committed to recognising a Palestinian state”.
“They have gone so far as to seek to reward terrorism by granting it a state,” he said.
Netanyahu’s government and his far-right coalition partners have been vocal against the realisation of a sovereign Palestinian state despite broad international support for the so-called two-state solution.
What is ‘Operation Gideon’s Chariot’?
This major ground offensive, launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip on Sunday, came after days of intense bombardment that killed hundreds of Palestinians.
Since Sunday, more than 200 people have been killed in a relentless wave of strikes.
Major hospitals, including the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, have been rendered nonoperational after attacks by Israeli forces. Medical professionals said it could lead to the deaths of thousands of sick and wounded people.
With the backing of Israel’s lethal air force, the operation is targeting both southern and northern Gaza.
The Israeli military said the offensive was launched to expand “operational control” in the Gaza Strip. Israel says its campaign also aims to free the remaining captives held in Gaza and defeat Hamas.
However, Netanyahu has been repeatedly criticised by segments of Israeli society, including captives’ families, for failing to prioritise their return. He has also rejected Hamas’s offers to end the war and free the captives.
Relatives of journalist Mohammed Amin Abu Dhaka, who was killed in Israeli attack on the town of Abasan al-Kebira, mourn after the body is taken from Nasser Hospital for funeral in Khan Yunis on May 20 [Hani Alshaer/Anadolu Agency]
How will the Western actions impact Israel, and what’s next?
Andreas Krieg, senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London, said that the threats from the UK, France and Canada against Israel set a precedent for other Western governments to emulate.
“While it will not have a direct impact on Israel’s behaviour on the ground, it widens the boundaries of discourse internationally and makes it easier for other governments to openly stand against Israeli atrocities,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Key to a change of behaviour in Israel, however, remains the United States,” he said. The US supplies the bulk of arms to Israel as well as providing diplomatic cover at the United Nations.
“Yet, there is a tangible erosion of consensus at play internationally as to the perception of Israel, which taints Israel increasingly as a rogue actor,” Krieg said.
Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, told Al Jazeera that the “number one” thing the three countries could do was impose an arms embargo on Israel. “The UK has taken some measures to suspend some arms exports. It’s not enough. It has got to be full and comprehensive,” he said.
Zomlot also said that the states should act to ensure that “war criminals” were “held accountable”. “They must absolutely support our efforts at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice,” he said.
Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant face ICC arrest warrant for war crimes, but some European nations have said that they won’t arrest them.
Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, questioned how the threatened sanctions would be targeted.
“Targeting whom? You need to impose sanctions on the state. It’s not about the prime minister. This is the entire government enterprise,” she told Al Jazeera.
Krieg from King’s College London says the reputational damage will affect Israel far beyond the current war in Gaza.
“It will be difficult to build consensus in the future around the narrative that Israel is an ‘ally’ because it is ‘the only democracy in the Middle East’,” he told Al Jazeera.
Donald Trump made a rare trip to Capitol Hill to try and convince Republican members of Congress to approve his “big, beautiful bill” that would cut programmes for the poor and lower taxes while raising the US’ national debt.
Who: Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspur What: UEFA Europa League final 2025 Where: San Mames Stadium in Bilbao, Spain When: Wednesday at 9pm (19:00 GMT)
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Manchester United clash with Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday in an all-English Europa League final, which has major implications on and off the field.
The winner of this final not only – and unexpectedly, based on their horrendous bottom-five domestic form – take home a European crown, but also punch their golden ticket for entry into next season’s lucrative UEFA Champions League, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in extra revenue.
Al Jazeera Sport chronicles the key talking points ahead of a classic winner-takes-most showdown between two of England’s highest-profile clubs looking to reverse their regrettable seasons with an unexpected European triumph.
Are Man Utd, Spurs the lowest-ranked teams to play in the Europa League final?
There has never been any final, in any UEFA competition, where both clubs have been so low in their domestic league tables.
Both clubs head to Bilbao for the final, assailed by stinging criticism amid their worst seasons of the English Premier League era.
United sit 16th on the ladder, and Tottenham are one point worse off in 17th, with just one league game remaining.
Only the struggles of relegated trio Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton saved United and Tottenham from a highly embarrassing battle to avoid crashing into the second-tier championship.
Ruben Amorim, manager of Manchester United, walks off the pitch after losing to West Ham 2-0 in a Premier League match at Old Trafford on May 11, 2025, in Manchester, England, UK [James Gill/Danehouse via Getty Images]
Do the winners directly qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League?
UEFA allows the winners of their second-tier Europa League competition direct entry into the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League, without the need for additional qualifying matches.
Additionally, they will earn the right to play against the winners of the 2024-25 Champions League in the UEFA Super Cup on August 13.
For the losers of the final in Bilbao, the hangover from this catastrophic domestic season threatens to be a long one, with the possibility of European football exile until at least the 2026-27 season.
How much is Champions League qualification worth?
The winners of the Europa League final could receive up to a 65-million-euro ($73m) boost.
This calculation is reached by combining the Europa League prize money and the TV and gate revenue derived from the winning team’s participation in the league phase of next season’s Champions League.
What happened the last time these teams played?
The teams last met at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on February 16, with James Maddison’s 13th-minute game-winner handing the home team a 1-0 victory against United.
Spurs have won all three of their meetings with United in all competitions this season, twice in the Premier League and once in the EFL Cup quarterfinals.
James Maddison was the match-winner the last time Tottenham played Manchester United on February 16 [Sebastian Frej/MB Media via Getty Images]
What is Manchester United’s form?
United’s last win in the Premier League was on March 16, a 3-0 victory at Leicester. Since then, Ruben Amorim’s side has registered six defeats and two draws in the domestic competition.
United’s only two victories in May came in the Europa League semifinals against Athletic Club.
What is Tottenham’s form?
Spurs have been equally dreadful in the final two months of the Premier League season, losing five and drawing once in their last six games.
Their last domestic league victory was a 3-1 home win against Southampton way back on April 6, leading to constant media speculation that manager Ange Postecoglou’s job is under threat for next season.
Where will the 2025 final be played?
San Mames Stadium in Bilbao, Spain is the venue for the final.
With a seating capacity in excess of 50,000, the stadium is home to Athletic Club, who, by chance, are the team Manchester United defeated on May 8 in the Europa League semifinal to progress to the final.
UEFA has confirmed that the two teams will receive an allocation of 15,000 tickets each, with a further 11,000 tickets up for general sale and the remainder offered to hospitality and sponsors.
A drone view shows San Mames Stadium before the Europa League final [Guillermo Martinez/Reuters]
Team news: Manchester United
According to Manchester United’s official website, the Red Devils received a triple boost on the eve of the UEFA Europa League final with sidelined stars Diogo Dalot, Leny Yoro, and Joshua Zirkzee spotted taking part in the team’s build-up training session on Tuesday.
Zirkzee had been ruled out for the rest of the season after suffering a hamstring injury in April, but could be available for selection after missing United’s last eight games.
Another Dutchman, centre-back Matthijs de Ligt, is also questionable ahead of the match, but he was seen running through some training drills in an individual workout on Tuesday.
Striker Rasmus Hojlund, who has struggled up front for large parts of the season, is tipped to lead the line for Amorim’s side.
Sidelined Manchester United striker Joshua Zirkzee, centre, could still play a part in the UEFA Europa League Final 2025 against Tottenham [Ben Roberts Photo/Getty Images]
Team News: Tottenham
Spurs will line up without key midfield players Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski, as well as promising youngster Lucas Bergvall, who are all ruled out with injury.
Maddison, who was set to miss the rest of the season with a knee issue, did board the team bus for Bilbao, leading to rampant media speculation he might play in the final, despite being ruled out by Postecoglou.
Tottenham captain Son Heung-Min, who sustained a foot injury in April and missed seven consecutive matches, is on course to be fit for the final after making his first start against Aston Villa last Friday, according to the team.
Better news in the backline for Tottenham, with previously injured defenders Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven both available for selection.
Cheerleader or midfielder? Tottenham Hotspur fans are hoping injured star James Maddison is in Bilbao to play against Manchester United in the Europa League final [Andrew Milligan/PA Images via Getty Images]
Possible lineups
United possible starting XI: Onana (GK); Yoro, Maguire, Lindelof; Mazraoui, Casemiro, Ugarte, Dorgu; Fernandes, Amad; Hojlund
Tottenham possible starting XI: Vicario (GK); Porro, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie; Sarr, Bissouma, Bentancur; Johnson, Solanke, Son
What’s the prize money for the Europa League winners?
The winners of the 2025 Europa League final will receive a prize money of 13 million euros ($14.6m). The runners-up are allocated 7 million euros ($7.87m).
Both clubs could use the money to pay down their debt: Spurs recorded an annual operating loss of 26 million pounds ($34.7m) last year, while United’s deficit was 113 million pounds ($151m) over the same period.
The Europa League Trophy and a winners’ medal [Michael Rega/UEFA via Getty Images]
What the managers and players had to say
Ruben Amorim, Manchester United manager: “I feel it’s a mixed feeling. I’m really excited, but at the same time, I know my responsibility as Manchester United coach. I have always [had] that feeling of frustration for the season, so I want really badly to help the team win this final. We’ve got to give something to the club, to the fans, to the staff, to everybody.”
Ange Postecoglou, Tottenham Hotspur manager: “I mean, who cares if we’re struggling in the league? Why is that important? If it’s so easy to get to a final, then why doesn’t everyone who finishes in the top three do it?
“We understand our league form hasn’t been great. We understand the struggles we’ve had. A lot of them are because of the situation we’ve been in. But how does that diminish the achievement of getting to a final?
“I couldn’t care less who’s struggling and who’s not. I think both us and United have earned the right to be there.”
Son Heung-Min, Tottenham captain: “We always respect our opponents, but I think it’s important to do what we need to do. I think the Manchester United players would think the same. It’s definitely going to be a great game, but it will be a difficult one. But I think we want to win it even more.
“I have accomplished everything in the 10 years I’ve been at Tottenham, except for one thing [winning a European title]. I’ve worked hard to make up for that and have always dreamed of winning a trophy in a Tottenham shirt. So, I hope we can make that dream a reality.”
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou arrives at Bilbao airport, Spain, on May 18, 2025 [Juanma/UEFA via Getty Images]
Kyra Hill was attending a birthday party at Liquid Leisure in Berkshire when she got into difficulty
An 11-year-old girl who drowned during a birthday party at a water park in Berkshire was unlawfully killed following gross breaches in health and safety, a coroner has concluded.
Kyra Hill got into difficulty in a designated swimming area at Liquid Leisure near Windsor on 6 August 2022.
An inquest at Berkshire Coroner’s Court in Reading was told how Kyra, from Croydon, south London, was found more than an hour after emergency services were first alerted.
Breaches included the lack of an emergency plan or a risk assessment, the inquest heard.
The only warning signs related to shallow water, despite depths reaching 4.67m (15.3ft) in parts of the swimming area, which senior coroner Heidi Connor said were “falsely reassuring”.
Mrs Connor said the fact parents were not made aware of the risks or the depth of the water was “likely to have caused or contributed more than minimally” to Kyra’s death.
“If there had been systems in place to make parents and carers aware that there were deep parts of the water, that there was a requirement for one adult per four children in the water… then it is unlikely that Kyra would have got into trouble in the water as she did,” she said.
Mrs Connor also said poor visibility in the water – described as “zero” by the diver who found Kyra – also contributed to her death, and that if an emergency plan or risk assessment was in place, the other risk factors would have been reduced.
Kyra’s father Leonard Hill read a statement outside the coroner’s court alongside other members of his family
Her father, Leonard Hill, fought back tears as he read a pen portrait of his daughter at the inquest on Tuesday.
“Kyra was a beautiful, beaming beacon of light in the lives of all who were fortunate enough to know her”, he said.
Speaking outside court, Kyra’s father described his daughter as “precious and irreplaceable”.
“Our beloved Kyra was a remarkably strong and exceptional swimmer, a true champion in the water,” he said.
“Yet, despite her strength, her life was tragically cut short.”
Flowers were left outside Liquid Leisure following Kyra’s death in August 2022
A 17-year-old lifeguard spotted Kyra struggling at about 15:20 BST on 6 August 2022 and dived in after her, before leaving the water to tell colleagues.
A manager quickly attended, but emergency services were only called 37 minutes afterwards, Mrs Connor said previously.
A diver missed several calls and he enter the water in an effort to find Kyra at about 16:30, finding her at about 17:10.
Life jackets were only required for children aged three to five at the water park, or for those who were not competent swimmers.
At a major United Nations conference focused on international criminal law, world experts came together to raise a powerful warning: children are facing growing threats in the digital world. The 34th Session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) brought attention to how modern technologies, while often beneficial, are also being used to harm and exploit the most vulnerable members of society—our children.
The International Institute for Middle East and Balkan Studies (IFIMES), an organization in special consultative status with the UN (EcoSoc) that works on international policy issues, shared its recent findings during the session. Their presentation focused on how online platforms, digital tools, and artificial intelligence (AI) are increasingly being used by criminals to target and exploit minors around the world. The institute’s “Global Mini Study on Technology and Abuse,” postulated and supervised by its mission head, Prof. Anis H. Bajrektarevic, highlighted how widespread and serious this issue has become.
According to IFIMES, digital child exploitation is not just a distant or rare problem. It is happening now, in real-time, on the same apps and platforms that children use for learning, playing, and socializing. From social media and messaging apps to online games and video platforms, digital spaces have become hunting grounds for people who wish to do harm.
Having all this in mind, the institute decided to conduct its own global, interdisciplinary, cross-sectional, and multi-spatial program on ‘Understanding AI and Robotics.’ With the consortium of its global partners and under the supervision of Philipe Reinisch, Dr. Ing. (SR4.0 CEO), IFIMES starts its first 8-week course on 22 May.
A Worrying Trend
The Global Mini Study presented by IFIMES shows how technology is playing a double role in today’s world. On one hand, it unites both individuals and communities, supports education, and provides endless opportunities to learn. On the other hand, it can be used in harmful ways—especially when it comes to children and those most vulnerable.
The study compiled research from many parts of the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and diaspora communities. It found that criminals are using advanced digital tools to reach and recruit children. One of the most disturbing developments is the use of AI-generated images and videos, also known as “deepfakes.” These can make it look like a child is involved in something they were never a part of and have become a tactic to scare, control, and exploit children into doing things against their will.
Encrypted messaging apps and hidden online communities—sometimes called the “dark web”—are also being used to carry out these crimes in secret. This makes it harder for law enforcement and child protection agencies to track and stop the abuse.
Why It Matters:
During the UN session, IFIMES highlighted astonishing estimates that 55 million people are trafficked each year worldwide. While trafficking is not a new phenomenon, the internet has added new ways for it to expand and develop. While children from all backgrounds are at risk, those who are already vulnerable—such as kids who have been displaced by war, natural disasters, or poverty—face even greater danger. Without strong social supports, digital literacy, or parental guidance, they can become easy targets and increasingly vulnerable.
These crimes are not just happening in hidden corners of the internet. They are taking place in the everyday digital lives of millions of children, often without the knowledge of parents, teachers, or caregivers. Predators can strike through something as common as a chat message or a friend request.
Gaps in Protection
Although there are international agreements in place—such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child—IFIMES argues that real-world protections still lack proper checks and balances. Many countries have signed important treaties that say they will protect children, but implementation often falls short.
Some countries have well-elaborated legislation and also its enforcement to keep minors safe online, but others lack the resources or political will to enforce these protections. In many cases, laws are outdated and don’t consider newer technologies like generative AI, encrypted messaging, or the borderless nature of these crimes. This leaves children exposed and governments playing catch-up.
Four Key Global Challenges
IFIMES identified four major trends that explain why digital child exploitation is such a growing problem:
Technology as a Double-Edged Sword: The same tools that help educate and connect children are also being used to harm them. Algorithms that keep people engaged can also expose them to traffickers looking to enact harm.
Legal and Policy Gaps: Despite efforts, many legal systems are not ready to handle the complexity of online crimes. International cooperation is limited, and the international community lacks proper checks and balances to monitor, evaluate, and protect children from exploitation online.
Vulnerable Children at Greater Risk: Children who are displaced by war or disasters often lack adult supervision or stable environments. Without access to safety nets or digital education, they become easy targets online.
Need for Global Partnerships: Governments cannot solve this issue alone. IFIMES stresses the need for collaboration among tech companies, schools, civil society, and international organizations to create safer online environments.
What Needs to Be Done
To respond to these challenges, IFIMES Director Prof. Zijad Becirovic is calling for stronger global cooperation and new ideas to better protect everyone (particularly minors) in the digital world. The organization recommends
Clear Rules for Data Use: Children’s personal data must be handled carefully. Governments and companies should follow rules about how they collect and use this information.
Holding Platforms Accountable: Social media and major tech companies should take responsibility for what happens on their platforms. There must be accountability for gaps in protection.
AI That Respects Children’s Rights: As AI becomes more common, it’s important to set rules and regulations that protect children from misuse, such as fake images and online threats.
Cross-Sector Collaboration: Solutions should involve everyone and be horizontal—from government agencies and police to tech developers, teachers, parents, and youth themselves. Long-lasting solutions will come from a global response.
A Call for Urgent Action
“This is a global emergency,” said Jenna Ellis, IFIMES Information Officer, speaking on behalf of the institute’s director, Prof. Zijad Becirovic. “We must take immediate steps to make the digital world safer for children. This means new laws, better education, stronger partnerships, and a shared sense of responsibility.”
The session at the UN ended with a clear message: online child exploitation is not just a legal issue; it’s a moral and generational issue, and it is everyone’s responsibility to find a solution. Children everywhere deserve to be safe—not just in their homes and schools in the digital spaces they use every day, and we must commit to monitoring, evaluation, and capacity building at all levels. The global response must be uniform and supported by all sectors and states—public, private, individual, or corporate. Collaboration is not an option when it comes to finding universal and lasting solutions.
IFIMES is committed to sharing its findings with countries and organizations around the world and is offering support to any group that wants to act. The institute hopes that this global effort will grow into a powerful movement that protects children and ensures that technology becomes a force for good—not harm—and is there to support all sectors and individuals involved in resolution along the way.
Negotiations between Washington and Tehran looking shaky as Iran resists US negotiator Witkoff’s ‘red line’.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has derided demands from the United States that it halt nuclear enrichment as negotiations between the two countries hang in the balance.
“Saying things like ‘We will not allow Iran to enrich uranium’ is nonsense. No one [in Iran] is waiting for others’ permission,” said Khamenei in a speech reported by the country’s semi-official Mehr News Agency on Tuesday.
He added that he did not know whether talks would “bring results”.
Since mid-April, Washington and Tehran have held four rounds of Omani-mediated talks aimed at getting Iran to limit its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.
However, repeated clashes between the pair have thrown the next round of negotiations, which the news agency Reuters said were expected to take place in Rome at the weekend, into doubt.
US President Donald Trump ditched the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action signed by Iran and world powers during his last term in office. Intent on striking a new deal since his return to power in January, he has revived his “maximum pressure” approach against Iran, warning last week that talks needed to “move quickly or something bad is going to happen”.
Tehran confirmed on Tuesday that it has received and is reviewing a US proposal, but Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi had said the previous day that talks would fail if Washington insisted that Tehran refrained from domestic enrichment of uranium, which the US says is a possible pathway to developing nuclear bombs.
Iran currently enriches uranium to 60 percent, far above the 3.67-percent limit set in the 2015 deal but below the 90 percent needed for a nuclear warhead. It has repeatedly insisted its programme is for peaceful purposes and is “non-negotiable”.
However, US negotiator Steve Witkoff has dubbed the continuation of the programme a “red line”. On Sunday, he reiterated that the US “cannot allow even 1 percent of an enrichment capability”.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday that a deal ensuring Iran would not have nuclear weapons was “within reach”.
However, he underlined, Iran would continue enriching uranium “with or without a deal”.
In addressing the talks regarding Iran’s peaceful nuclear program, our U.S. interlocutors are naturally free to publicly state whatever they deem fit to ward off Special Interest groups; malign actors which set the agendas of at least previous Administrations.
Ukraine’s European allies are considering the possibility of using their air forces to defend the country’s western skies from drone and missile attacks without the help of the United States, sources familiar with the talks tell Al Jazeera.
The plan, known as Skyshield, could put NATO planes and pilots into Ukrainian airspace for the first time, sending a powerful political message to Russia that Europe is committed to Ukraine’s defence.
Skyshield is more likely to come into effect as part of any ceasefire, especially if European ground forces are committed. But it was designed by Ukrainian and British aviation experts to work under combat conditions as well.
“It’s being taken very seriously into consideration by the UK, France,” said Victoria Vdovychenko, an expert on hybrid warfare at Cambridge University’s Centre for Geopolitics, who has sat at some of the meetings. “German colleagues and Italian colleagues also do know about that, as well as the Scandinavian colleagues,” she said.
When it comes to implementing Skyshield in wartime conditions, she admits, “some of the partners are still fluctuating in their decision making”.
Skyshield was published in February and is the brainchild of Price of Freedom, a Ukrainian think tank founded by Lesya Orobets. She came up with the idea during an air defence crisis last spring, when Republican lawmakers in the US delayed the passage of a $60bn bill to send more aid to Ukraine.
During a phone call with the head of Ukraine’s air force, Orobets was told, “We are in the middle of a missile crisis. We don’t have enough [interceptors] to shoot down the missiles.”
Skyshield calls for the deployment of 120 European aircraft to protect Ukrainian civilian infrastructure and export corridors along the Danube River and the Black Sea, freeing up the Ukrainian Air Force to focus on the first line of defence in the contested east of the country.
“There would be a piece of land of 200 kilometres [125 miles] between them at least,” said Orobets.
European jets would be based in neighbouring Poland and Romania, and fly mostly west of the Dnipro, protecting Kyiv on both sides of the river in the north of the country.
A higher-risk strategy
Western commanders are wary of costs, casualties and military implications.
Hourly flight costs, which include training, parts and maintenance, range from $28,000 for an F-16 to about $45,000 for a fourth-generation Rafale jet, Colonel Konstantinos Zikidis of the Hellenic Air Force told Al Jazeera.
“We’d have to pay for people to be there, several shifts a day in all specialities … it will be exhausting,” he said, referring to aircraft technicians and pilots.
“On the other hand, the proposal downplays the effectiveness of air defence systems, which are very effective against cruise missiles and have a far lower hourly operating cost than aircraft,” Zikidis said.
“It’s also not really the job of aircraft to hunt down cruise missiles. They can do it if they are given coordinates by air command. They can’t go out on flight patrol and spot them by chance. So you need a very thick radar array to cover a given area, especially at low altitude.”
European NATO members do not operate AWACS airborne radar, which would be the ideal tool for the job according to Zikidis, but Ukrainian pilots have already downed Russian cruise missiles using air-to-air missiles, suggesting the ground-based radar assets are there.
Europe has provided Ukraine with Patriot and Samp-T long-range air defence systems and Iris-T medium-range systems, but these are enough only to protect larger urban centres, said Vdovychenko. Russia is also stepping up its attacks. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on May 4 that Russia had launched almost 1,200 long-range kamikaze drones and 10 missiles in just a week.
These types of weapons are routinely directed at civilian and industrial infrastructure, not the front lines, and Russian President Vladimir Putin is increasing production. Last year, Russia’s factory at Alabuga produced 6,000 Shahed/Geran long-range drones, said Ukraine’s head of the Center for Countering Disinformation, Andriy Kovalenko, last month. He said Putin set production at 8,000-10,000 drones this year.
The effects are visible. High-profile attacks on Kryvyi Rih, Kharkiv and Kyiv have killed dozens of people this year.
The second problem European air forces would face is that of casualties.
“If one European plane falls and a pilot is killed, it will be very difficult for a European government to explain it,” said Zikidis. “For a Greek pilot to go and get killed in Ukraine could bring the government down,” he added.
“I don’t think that there is a political will [for that], and that is what stops this partially,” said Vdovychenko.
But Orobets put this risk in a wider context.
“We’re talking about catching cruise missiles and putting down the offensive drones, which is quite an easy target for trained pilots,” she told Al Jazeera. “So we do consider Skyshield to be less risky [than enforcing a no-fly zone] or any participation of the European troops closer to the front line.”
Strategic intimidation
Thirdly, there are the military implications. Skyshield is partly about freeing up the Ukrainian Air Force to strike deeper inside Russia, deploying the estimated 85 F-16s it is being given.
That is because Russia has this year intensified its use of controlled air bombs (CABs), which are directed against front lines, reportedly dropping 5,000 in April versus 4,800 in March, 3,370 in February and 1,830 in January.
Ukraine would target the airfields from which Russian jets take off to drop the CABs. It would also move missile launch systems closer to the front lines, increasing their reach inside Russia.
CABs are Russia’s most effective weapon at the front, and it has successfully leveraged its nuclear arsenal to intimidate NATO into allowing them to be flown in.
The Biden administration had refused to allow Ukraine to deploy Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMSs), which have a range of 300km (190 miles), because Russia considered their use dependent on US intelligence, in its view, making the US a cobelligerent in the war.
It has expressed exactly the same view of Germany sending its 500km (310-mile) range Taurus missile to Ukraine.
In the same vein, Russia has threatened to act against any European force deployment to Ukraine.
Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu last month told a summit of the foreign ministers of the BRICS group of states in Rio de Janeiro that “military units of Western states on Ukrainian territory … will be considered as legitimate targets”.
These threats have been effective. The Biden administration was against the idea of allowing the Polish and Romanian air forces to shoot down drones and missiles in Ukrainian airspace that were headed into Polish and Romanian airspace, Orobets said.
The Biden administration “thought that if any American pilot on any American jet or any Western jet would enter the Ukrainian airspace, then America or another country would become cobelligerent”, she said.
The same applied to the notion of Europeans entering Ukraine’s airspace.
“They were scared that Russians would then escalate to the level of a conflict they could not sustain. So that was the only reason. There was no reason like, ‘Oh, we cannot do that’,” she said.
A distributor to the UK’s major supermarkets has said it is being held to ransom by cyber hackers.
Logistics firm Peter Green Chilled said it supplies supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Aldi, but it is relatively small compared with larger UK food distributors.
It told BBC’s Wake Up to Money clients were “receiving regular updates” including “workarounds” on how to continue deliveries while one of its customers said thousands of their products could go to waste.
Recent major cyber-attacks on Marks & Spencer and Co-op were larger, but the attack highlights the challenges smaller logistics firms face, an industry source said.
In an email sent on Thursday, seen by the BBC, Peter Green Chilled said it had been the victim of a ransomware attack.
A ransomware attack is when hackers encrypt a victim’s data and lock them out of computer systems, demanding payment to hand back control.
The email said no orders would be processed on Thursday, although any order prepared on Wednesday would be sent.
Peter Green Chilled confirmed to the BBC the cyber attack happened on Wednesday evening but it said it was not in a position to discuss further.
“The transport activities of the business have continued unaffected throughout this incident,” its managing director Tom Binks said.
One of Peter Green Chilled’s customers, Black Farmer founder Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, said he had “something like ten pallets worth of meat products” with Peter Green Chilled.
He said if those products don’t get to the retailers in time they will have to be “thrown in the bin”.
Ten pallets is “thousands and thousands of packs of products, sitting there, and the clock is ticking,” he said. “There’s no information. Everything along the chain has to be stopped, and then there are thousands of pounds worth of product that are just wasting away.”
Peter Green Chilled is a firm based near Shepton Mallet in Somerset that transports chilled food, mainly to regional stores.
There are much larger chilled food distributors in the UK – for example, Lineage, GXO, and Culina.
An industry source said these big firms, which distribute the largest volume of chilled food in the UK and internationally, have the resources to try to combat cyber attacks, while smaller firms may not.
However, Phil Pluck, chief executive of the Cold Chain Federation, said the warehousing, food storage and distribution sectors were “constantly under attack”.
A few years ago, there were a few cyber and ransomware attacks, but in the last year there has been “a huge increase”, he said.
About half of the food consumed in the UK “goes through the cold chain sector”, he said, so hackers “know how critical” distribution is for “putting food on supermarket shelves”.
He added that was “a really good lever to put the pressure on our companies to actually pay that ransomware”.
Mr Pluck said that he knew of at least ten attacks on member companies, but that firms like to keep attacks “under the radar”.
He said cyber attacks were “hugely underreported” in any sector “because once you’re attacked you lose control of your company” both through the attack and the mitigations by police and insurers.
Co-op narrowly avoided being locked out of its systems during an attack which exposed customer data and caused shortages of stock.
A ransomware group claimed responsibility for the attack on M&S which saw customer data stolen and empty shelves. The retailer itself said it had suffered a cyber attack.
The divisions within America’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) right are deepening by the day. On one side are the far-right nationalists, and on the other is the tech right. MAGA is the Trump brand, from the campaign slogan to the red hats emblazoned with the letters to the closing line of Trump’s speeches. A […]
A small town in western France has set a new world record for the largest gathering of people dressed as Smurfs, organisers say, with more than 3,000 participants counted over the weekend.
Landerneau, a town of 16,000 in Brittany’s far west, had twice previously attempted to claim the record from Lauchringen, a German town that brought together 2,762 Smurfs in 2019.
But on Saturday, the French enthusiasts finally broke through, assembling 3,076 people clad in blue outfits, faces painted, donning white hats and singing “smurfy songs”.
The Smurfs – created by Belgian cartoonist Peyo in 1958 and known as “Schtroumpfs” in French – are tiny, human-like beings who live in the forest.
The beloved characters have since become a global franchise, spawning films, television series, advertising, video games, theme parks and toys.
“A friend encouraged me to join and I thought: ‘Why not?’” said Simone Pronost, 82, dressed as a Smurfette.
Albane Delariviere, a 20-year-old student, made the journey from Rennes, more than 200km (125 miles) away, to join the festivities.
“We thought it was a cool idea to help Landerneau out,” she said.
Landerneau’s mayor, Patrick Leclerc, also in full Smurf attire, said the event “brings people together and gives them something else to think about than the times we’re living in”.
Pascal Soun, head of the association behind the gathering, said the event “allows people to have fun and enter an imaginary world for a few hours”.
Participants were relieved to have good weather, after last year’s attempt was hampered by heavy rain that deterred many from attending.
On Sunday, a key congressional committee in the United States approved President Donald Trump’s new tax cut bill, which could pass in the House of Representatives later this week.
The bill extends Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and may add up to $5 trillion to the national debt, deepening worries after a recent US credit ratings downgrade by Moody’s on Friday, which cited concerns about the nation’s growing $36 trillion debt.
The US has the highest amount of national debt in the world and is facing growing concerns about its long-term fiscal stability.
What is US debt?
Debt is simply the total amount of money the US government owes to its lenders, currently amounting to $36.2 trillion. This represents 122 percent of the country’s annual economic output or gross domestic product (GDP), and it is growing by about $1 trillion every three months.
The highest debt-to-GDP ratio was during the pandemic in 2020, when the ratio hit 133 percent. The US is among the top 10 countries in the world with the highest debt-to-GDP ratio.
What is the debt ceiling, and why does it keep increasing?
When the government spends more money than it collects, it creates a deficit.
To cover this deficit, the government borrows more money. To ensure that borrowing is subject to legislative approval, the US Congress sets a limit to how much the government can borrow to fund existing obligations like Social Security, healthcare and defence. This limit is known as the debt ceiling.
Once the ceiling is reached, the government cannot borrow more unless Congress raises or suspends the limit. Since 1960, Congress has raised, suspended or changed the terms of the debt ceiling 78 times, allowing the US to borrow more money.
The federal deficit under different presidents
The federal deficit is how much more money the government spends than it brings in during a single year. A federal surplus would mean the US is bringing in more money than it is spending.
The deficit grew sharply during Trump’s first term, especially in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the government spent heavily while tax revenues dropped due to job losses. That year, the deficit reached nearly 15 percent of the entire economy (GDP).
Under former President Bill Clinton, there was a federal surplus – the result of favourable economic conditions such as the dot-com boom, as well as tax increases which raised more revenues.
What are Treasury bills, notes and bonds?
When the US wants to borrow money, it turns to the Treasury – the finance department of the federal government.
To borrow money, the Treasury sells various types of debt securities, such as Treasury bills, Treasury notes and Treasury bonds to investors.
These securities are essentially loans made by investors to the US government, with a promise to repay them with interest.
US Treasuries have long been considered a safe asset because the risk of the US failing to repay its investors has been very low.
Different debt securities mature over different times – this is when the debt is repaid to the investor.
Treasury bills (T-bills) are short-term and mature within one year
Treasury notes (T-notes) are medium-term and mature between 2 and 10 years
Treasury bonds (T-bonds) are long-term and mature in 20 to 30 years.
(Al Jazeera)
Who holds US debt?
Three-quarters of the $36.2 trillion US debt, approximately $27.2 trillion, is held domestically, of which:
$15.16 trillion (42 percent) is held by US private investors and entities, mostly in the form of savings bonds, mutual funds and pension funds.
$7.36 trillion (20 percent) is held by intra-governmental US agencies and trusts.
$4.63 trillion (13 percent) is held by the Federal Reserve.
Among individuals, Warren Buffett, through his company Berkshire Hathaway, is the single largest non-government holder of US Treasury bills, valued at $314bn.
Foreign investors hold the remaining quarter, valued at $9.05 trillion (25 percent).
Over the past 50 years, the share of US debt held by foreign entities has increased fivefold. In 1970, only 5 percent was owned by overseas investors; today, that figure has risen to 25 percent.
Which countries hold the most foreign debt?
Countries buy US debt because it offers a safe, stable investment for their foreign currency reserves, helps manage exchange rates and provides reliable interest income.
Foreign investors hold $9.05 trillion of debt, of which:
Japan holds $1.13 trillion
The United Kingdom holds $779.3bn, overtaking China in March as the second-largest non-US holder of treasuries
China holds $765.4bn
The Cayman Islands ($455.3bn) holds a large amount of US debt because it is a tax haven
Canada ($426.2bn)
In response to Trump’s tariffs, both Japan and China have indicated they will use their substantial holdings of US treasuries as leverage in trade negotiations with the Trump administration.
Earlier this month, Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato said Japan’s massive holding of US treasuries could be a “card on the table” in trade negotiations.
Similarly, China has been gradually selling US treasuries for years. In February, China’s US treasury holdings dropped to their lowest level since 2009, reflecting efforts to diversify reserves and ongoing trade tensions.
(Al Jazeera)
What does high US debt mean for the average American?
If the US government is spending more on debt interest repayments, it can affect budgets and public spending as it becomes more costly for the government to sustain itself.
The government may raise taxes to generate more revenue to pay down its national debt, increasing costs for average people. Increasing debt could also lead to higher interest rates, making mortgages, car loans and credit card debt more expensive.
For Spurs, the prospect of a first trophy since 2008 is also a chance to salvage something from a desperate Premier League campaign that – just like United – has redefined what domestic failure looks like for a so-called ‘Big Six’ club.
Their season has also featured furious fan protests over a perceived lack of investment by the club’s owner Enic and the approach of chairman Daniel Levy.
“Qualifying for the Champions League would be in the desirable category for Spurs, rather than essential,” says Maguire.
“They are the best-run business in the Premier League. They have the most profits historically. They have an ability to generate money from non-football activities to a far greater extent than any other club, so they’ve always got this as a support mechanism.”
At United, a second consecutive season out of the Champions League means the club will have to pay kit provider Adidas a £10m penalty under the terms of their deal.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, one former senior United figure predicts that the sponsorship revenue the club have prided themselves on over so many years could be at risk of “collapsing” if they are out of Europe for only the second time in 35 years, and that their brand value is now at a pivotal moment.
“Not being a European team creates more existential issues around the whole model” they told BBC Sport, pointing to the end of the Tezos sponsorship of the club’s training kit this summer.
“It’s not healthy, and people start to question whether you are still a ‘big club’. But win, and it keeps the wheels spinning. The cash will be ‘lifeblood’ that allows them to keep trading. If not, they’ll have to look at selling homegrown talent like Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo to give them the funds they want.”
Some United fans travelling to Bilbao will hope the match evokes memories of the 1991 Cup Winners’ Cup triumph – which helped spark the subsequent Sir Alex Ferguson glory years, and showed the club could perform again at a European level.
Others will look to 2017 as inspiration, when Jose Mourinho’s team won the Europa League final to rescue Champions League qualification after finishing sixth in the Premier League. But given how much worse United’s league performance has become, this feels much more significant.
Lose against Spurs, and many will feel that Ineos’ already ambitious Mission 21 plan to turn United into Premier League champions by 2028 could start to look like Mission Impossible. However, senior United insiders dispute the suggestion that this is “win or bust”, insisting that the cost-cutting programme the club are implementing is designed to give flexibility in the summer transfer window, and has been predicated on a ‘no-Europe’ scenario.
While they accept that winning the Europa League would provide a major boost, they say the key is fixing the club’s structure.
Both Amorim and his counterpart, Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou, have played down suggestions that the Europa League offers some kind of panacea. Indeed, with Spurs also on course for their worst-ever Premier League season, victory may not be enough to keep Postecoglou in his job, while Amorim seems secure in his, even if his team loses.
And yet there is no denying that there will still be a huge amount at stake on Wednesday, making this one of the most eagerly anticipated matches of the season.
While the neutrals can enjoy the jeopardy, United and Spurs fans will long for a much-needed sense of hope at the end of a season to forget. Here in Bilbao, a city known for its regeneration, lies a chance to kickstart a revival.
Lose, however, and the road to recovery will feel much longer.
April 30, 1975, marked a brilliant milestone in the history of the Vietnamese nation when the country was officially reunified after more than twenty years of protracted resistance. Since that sacred moment, national defense and security have always played a key role in protecting the achievements of the revolution, rebuilding the country, and affirming Vietnam’s position in the international arena. After half a century of development, Vietnam has transformed from a country suffering many consequences of war into a dynamic entity, contributing to peace and stability in the region.
This article analyzes the development process of Vietnam’s defense and security over the past 50 years, from the focus on protecting sovereignty and territorial integrity to the increasingly clear role of creating a regional position. During his lifetime, the then Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan wrote an essay titled “Security, development, and influence,” which are not only the three strategic goals in the process of “building and protecting the homeland” during the Doi Moi period but also strongly affirm the role of security for Vietnam in the current “era of rising up.” With guaranteed security and defense, the economy is developed in the highest and most sustainable way. With strong security and defense, it creates a strong voice in the international arena, weighing down on bad wills that threaten national sovereignty.
After national reunification, Vietnam entered a post-war recovery period with numerous socio-economic difficulties. In that context, the primary task of national defense was to maintain revolutionary achievements and protect independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity from external threats. During the 1980s, Vietnam faced border wars in the North and Southwest and was subject to embargoes from Western countries. This was a period that demonstrated the bravery, resilience, and absolute loyalty of the people’s armed forces to the cause of defending the Fatherland.
The turning point came after the 6th Congress in 1986, when the Communist Party of Vietnam initiated the Doi Moi process. In the national development strategy in the new period, national defense and security were placed in correlation with the tasks of economic development and international integration. The policy of national defense and people’s security was consolidated, closely combining the people’s hearts and military and security positions. Vietnam shifted from a defensive mindset to a preventive mindset, taking stability as the foundation, cooperation as the tool, and development as the motto.
Entering the 21st century, especially since 2010, Vietnam’s defense and security have recorded many significant advances, reflecting flexible adaptation to the changing regional and global security environment. In the context of increasing sovereignty disputes in the East Sea, Vietnam has always persevered in resolving disputes by peaceful means , on the basis of international law, especially the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS 1982). At the same time, Vietnam has actively modernized its army, focusing on building a strong enough navy and air force to protect its sovereignty over its seas and islands. According to the 2019 Vietnam Defense White Paper, Vietnam maintains a defense policy of “no military alliances, no use of force or threat of force, no participation in military alliances, and no foreign military bases on Vietnamese territory.” This is a principle that demonstrates the peaceful, autonomous, and transparent nature of Vietnam’s defense.
In the context of the Asia-Pacific region, especially the East Sea, becoming the focus of strategic competition between major powers, Vietnam must both strengthen its defense capacity and persist in its independent, multilateral, and diversified foreign policy. The “four no’s” defense policy continues to affirm Vietnam’s commitment to peace and stability.
A highlight in the defense and security policy over the past 50 years has been the expansion of international defense cooperation. Vietnam has continuously strengthened bilateral and multilateral defense cooperation with many partners, from traditional Russia and India to “former enemies” such as the United States, Japan, and France, demonstrating Hanoi’s skillful strategic balancing role in a period of complex geopolitical competition. In addition, Vietnam is currently an active member of regional defense cooperation mechanisms such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting Plus (ADMM+), the Shangri-La Dialogue, etc. Vietnam has also sent forces to participate in United Nations peacekeeping operations since 2014 in South Sudan and the Central African Republic. This is evidence that Vietnam not only focuses on protecting domestic security but also actively contributes to the common security of the region and the world.
In addition, ensuring national security and defense has also undergone major changes. In the context of non-traditional security emerging as a transnational challenge, Vietnam has promptly adjusted its awareness and response methods. Risks such as cybercrime, terrorism, energy security, environmental security, epidemics, etc. are included in the national security strategy. Vietnam has strengthened cooperation with INTERPOL, ASEANPOL, and major partners in preventing transnational crimes, ensuring social order and safety, and strengthening people’s trust in the national security apparatus.
On the basis of socio-political stability and firmly protected national sovereignty, Vietnam has increasingly affirmed its role in creating and promoting a stable, peaceful, and rule-based regional order. As the 2020 ASEAN Chair and a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 term, Vietnam has actively proposed initiatives on preventive diplomacy, security dialogue, and trust building in the region. Vietnam’s extensive participation in new-generation trade agreements such as CPTPP, EVFTA, and RCEP is not only an economic achievement but also a lever to enhance economic security and national comprehensive strength.
In addition, Vietnam is gradually investing heavily in military science and technology and applying technological achievements in protecting national sovereignty and security. Fields such as digital technology, artificial intelligence, big data, remote sensing, and cybersecurity are gradually being integrated into smart defense strategies. The construction and deployment of cybersecurity operations centers, organized cyberattack prevention, and the development of high-quality human resources in the defense and security sector are opening up a new step of development in depth and breadth.
At the same time, defense policies also play a fundamental role in enhancing soft power, creating the image of a peace-loving nation, ready to cooperate and responsible to the international community. Vietnam’s efforts in humanitarian initiatives, disarmament, humanitarian assistance, and regional disaster response have contributed to enhancing the country’s prestige and position. In particular, Vietnam has always promoted its role as a mediator and coordinator in regional and international disputes, which shows that its capacity for conflict management and defense diplomacy is increasingly mature and professional.
In conclusion, after half a century of unification, it can be affirmed that national defense and security have always been a solid pillar of the cause of “building and defending the Fatherland.” At the same time, Vietnam’s national defense and security have transformed from a model tasked with protecting territorial sovereignty in the early post-war years to participating in shaping the regional and global security structure. Vietnam has gradually enhanced its strategic position, affirming its role as a partner of peace, stability, and cooperation. The achievements are clear evidence of the effectiveness of the national defense and people’s security policy under the correct leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam. In the future, Vietnam’s national defense and security will not only stop at protecting sovereignty but also aim to create a peaceful environment for development, making a more positive contribution to global security.
About 80 years ago, guitarist and inventor Les Paul built a home recording studio in his Hollywood garage on North Curson Avenue and began developing his “new sound,” which incorporated cutting-edge recording techniques such as overdubbing, close miking, echo and delay.
Dissatisfied with the quality of the day’s commercial recordings, Paul, who’d worked with pop stars including Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters, and was a guitar virtuoso and bandleader, endeavored to push the practice forward — to make recording a kind of erudite art form. His instrumental single “Lover” became the first commercial pop record to incorporate multiple layers of music, all of which were performed by Paul’s dexterous fingers. “Sextuplet guitar-ing,” Billboard magazine declared in its Feb. 21, 1948, review, “… technique so good it’s ridiculous.”
Today, a new studio in Hollywood celebrates the former Angeleno’s legacy as a recording pioneer. Over the last three years, the Les Paul Foundation and a team of engineers have gone to extraordinary lengths to build the Les Paul Recording Studio, housed in United Recording on Sunset Boulevard. The facility includes Paul’s original equipment, such as the first-ever multitrack Ampex tape machine and multitrack recording console, as well as a selection of Paul’s customized guitars, including his namesake model for Gibson.
Paul’s recording equipment is monumental for its historical value but also because it still works. “We have the Wright Brothers’ plane in there and it actually flies,” said Michael Braunstein, executive director of the Les Paul Foundation, by way of comparison. The new studio is essentially a rare hands-on museum where students and commercial artists may study and perform the same techniques Paul employed, using his tools.
Los Angeles-based musician Dweezil Zappa interviewed Paul on MTV in 1987, which created a fondness between the pair. During a phone call from the road — Zappa was on a tour celebrating his father’s album “Apostrophe” — he explained the importance of Paul’s innovations. “He was so far ahead of the game in so many ways, not only as a great guitar player, but also how he figured out ways to record music live,” he said. “The foundation of the sound capture is still better than anything else that you would find today. The products that were put into use and the way that it was machined … it’s unmatched.”
Zappa says he’s visited the new studio and intends to use it to record some of his own music after his tour concludes. The studio also has an educational mission.
“This is also a real opportunity for students to learn about analog recording from the master,” said Steve Rosenthal, a Grammy-winning producer who serves as the head archivist and music producer for the Les Paul Foundation. Rosenthal’s also known for his Manhattan recording studio the Magic Shop, which closed in 2016, where he worked with David Bowie, Lou Reed, Sonic Youth, Ramones and many others.
Tom Camuso, director of audio engineering at the Les Paul Recording Studio, is photographed in Hollywood on May 15.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Groups from Carnegie Mellon University and Syracuse University have already participated in seminars at the studio led by Rosenthal and Tom Camuso, a Grammy-winning engineer who’s also the Les Paul Foundation’s director of audio engineering. “The console looks like it’s from a battleship, and we let students record on it and see how hard it is compared to today’s digital audio workstations,” Camuso explained. “The connection they make is that this is where it started, this is the first of all of it.”
The idea for the studio began in 2022 amid Rosenthal’s quest to source, organize, curate and restore Paul’s vast catalog of music from the Library of Congress archives. “It became clear to me that the best solution would be to mix the music on Les’ original gear,” he said. He brought in Camuso, a longtime associate who’d worked at the Magic Shop, and the pair endeavored to repair the eight-track recording console nicknamed “The Monster” that Paul built with engineer Rein Narma, which featured leading-edge in-line equalization and vibrato effects.
They also retrieved Paul’s Ampex 5258 Sel-Sync multitrack tape machine, familiarly known as the Octopus, which sits alongside the console, and was the first-ever eight-track. The studio also has a three-track machine that was in Paul’s home in Mahwah, N.J., which he used to play tapes recorded at other studios. At the time, Paul was the only person with eight-track capabilities. “That was his way of communicating with the outside world, so to speak,” Camuso said.
The first-ever multitrack tape machine, called “The Octopus,” resides at the Les Paul Recording Studio in Hollywood.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
The equipment was in varying stages of disrepair, and there was no documentation accompanying it. Many of the recording console’s wires had been cut, and some of its modules were missing. Camuso and a group from Thump Recording Studios in Brooklyn spent 10 months replacing and repairing pieces that were missing or had failed, without changing anything about the way the machine was originally made. “We had to source old stock parts from the ’50s,” Camuso said, “and there were little plastic pieces that had disintegrated. The team would drum scan those and then 3D print them in their original form.” An Ampex expert from Canada broke down the tape machines and then rebuilt them from the ground up, exactly as they were when Paul used them.
Before he used the multitrack tape machine and recording console, Paul’s early experiments with overdubbing, or what he called “sound on sound,” involved two recording-cutting lathes, a record player, a mixer and hundreds of blank wax discs, all of which he used to layer tracks manually. In 1948, Bing Crosby gave Paul his first mono Ampex recorder, to which Paul added a second playback head, which enabled him to record multiple tracks on the same reel of tape. He and his second wife, Mary Ford, took this machine on the road, recording their songs in hotel rooms and in apartments.
Ford was a skilled singer with perfect pitch who could execute lead vocals and harmonize with herself in very few takes using Paul’s early version of multitracking, which was revolutionary but primitive and didn’t allow for mistakes. Given the analog nature of Paul’s setup, she had to sing everything live and unmanipulated. The pair recorded a string of 28 hit singles between 1950 to 1957, beginning with a cover of the jazz standard “How High the Moon.” They were so popular that Listerine sponsored a widely syndicated television show, “Les Paul & Mary Ford at Home,” during which they performed their intricate songs live.
A photograph of Les Paul inside his recording studio in New Jersey is displayed at the Les Paul Recording Studio in Hollywood.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
“Their discs sell like dimes going for a nickel,” Florabel Muir reported in the Los Angeles Mirror in January 1952. The pair’s “Vaya Con Dios” spent 11 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart (which was discontinued in favor of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958). Paul and Ford’s sultry version of “Smoke Rings,” released in 1952, features in Todd Haynes’ 2015 film “Carol.”
“The only singer I’ve encountered in my life who can compare to Mary is Aretha Franklin,” said Gene Paul, Les’ son from his first marriage, who became a recording engineer for Atlantic Records. “Neither one of them ever hit a bad note. You couldn’t pay them to.” The younger Paul learned about recording in his father’s home studio in Mahwah and played drums in his touring band from 1959 to 1969. “It took me years after my dad died to realize he was a genius,” he added. “Yes, he had a studio in his house, and built his own guitar and his own eight-track, but I thought every dad did this.”
Rosenthal and Camuso are in the process of restoring Paul’s original recordings, including his hits with Ford. The pair is using demixing and speed correction software to create new stereo mixes of the songs, which don’t have any of the crunchiness or distortion that were a byproduct of Paul’s original experiments in multitracking. It’ll be the first time any of Paul’s music has been released in stereo. The project has created a library of multitrack stems, which is another singular feature of the new studio. “Lana Del Rey could come in and sing with Mary Ford, or she could sing ‘A Fool to Care’ with the original Les Paul guitar parts,” Rosenthal said.
Guitars on display inside the Les Paul Recording Studio in Hollywood.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Camuso says a number of famous musicians have already expressed interest in using the new studio. “There’s lots of people who would be in your record collection for sure,” he said. Its historical significance and superior sound quality is a major draw, but the Les Paul Recording Studio also provides a chance for musicians to work more intentionally. Though its equipment was once cutting-edge, by today’s digital standards — in which there are unlimited tracks and effects and every mistake is erasable — Paul’s console and tape machines are limited. To work with them, musicians must think about what they want to record ahead of time. “The average person may not know what they’re hearing, but they will feel it because the performances will be better,” Zappa pointed out.
He views the new studio as a welcome counterpart to the too-perfect sonic monotony that can occur from every commercial recording artist using the same software. “There’s just so much music that’s disposable today,” Zappa added. “We’ve never had as many amazing tools to make stuff, and then have it be used in the lamest way possible.”
Former United States President Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis has rekindled questions about whether he deceived the public about his health while in office, with his successor, Donald Trump, adding his voice to those suggesting a coverup.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, President Trump cast doubt on the timing of Biden’s advanced cancer diagnosis amid renewed scrutiny of the former president’s physical and mental fitness during his tenure.
“I’m surprised that the public wasn’t notified a long time ago,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“Why did it take so long? This takes a long time, it can take years to get this level of danger,” Trump added.
“So, look, it’s a very sad situation, I feel very badly about it. And I think people should try and find out what happened.”
Trump also said that the doctors who had examined Biden while in office were “not telling the facts”.
“That’s a big problem,” he said.
Biden’s office said in a statement on Sunday that the former president was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.
The statement said Biden was diagnosed on Friday after experiencing “increasing urinary symptoms” and that he and his family were reviewing treatment options.
Doctors graded Biden’s cancer with a score of 9 under the Gleason classification system, according to the statement, indicating it is among the most aggressive kinds.
Late-stage prostate cancer has an average five-year survival rate of 28 percent, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Biden earlier on Monday expressed gratitude to well-wishers for their words of support and encouragement.
“Cancer touches us all,” Biden wrote on social media.
“Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.”
Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support. pic.twitter.com/oSS1vGIiwU
The news of Biden’s cancer diagnosis came as the former president’s health was already under renewed scrutiny ahead of the publication of a new book detailing the alleged coverup of his physical and mental deterioration by his inner circle.
Original Sin, written by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios correspondent Alex Thompson, contains various damning accounts of Biden’s alleged decline, including an incident in which the then-president was reportedly unable to recognise Hollywood actor George Clooney at a 2024 fundraiser.
In his comments on Biden’s diagnosis on Monday, Trump drew a link between the former president’s cancer and the alleged concealment of his mental acuity.
“If you take a look, it’s the same doctor that said Joe was cognitively fine, there was nothing wrong with him,” Trump said.
“There are things going on that the public wasn’t informed of, and I think somebody is going to have to speak to his doctor,” he added.
Some doctors have publicly questioned the account of Biden’s cancer diagnosis provided by his office, pointing out that such advanced cancer would have had to progress over a period of years.
“For even with the most aggressive form, it is a 5-7 year journey without treatment before it becomes metastatic,” Steven Quay, a pathologist who is the chief executive of biopharmaceutical company Atossa Therapeutics, said in a post on X.
“Meaning, it would be malpractice for this patient to show up and be first diagnosed with metastatic disease in May 2025. It is highly likely he was carrying a diagnosis of prostate cancer throughout his White House tenure and the American people were uninformed.”
Howard P Forman, a professor of radiology at Yale University, said it was “inconceivable” that Biden’s cancer was not detected before he left office, as it would have been picked up by a blood test known as a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test.
“Gleason grade 9 would have had an elevated PSA level for some time before this diagnosis. And he must have had a PSA test numerous times before. This is odd,” Forman said in a post on X.
However, Daniel W Lin, a prostate cancer expert at UW Medicine in Washington state, said that while Biden has “very likely” had cancer for years, it is possible he was not given a PSA test.
“There are screening controversies with the use of PSA, and many medical groups do not recommend PSA testing after 70 or 75 years of age, although others recommend based on life expectancy or state of health rather than age cut-points,” Lin told Al Jazeera.
Lin said it was also possible that Biden has a rarer form of cancer that is not detectable by the test.
“This situation is less common, but not considered overly rare. Additionally, when this situation occurs, it is more common in high-grade cancers, such as former President Biden’s case,” he said.
“Playing the odds, he does not fall into this category, however, it can definitely occur.”
The offensive comes on the back of a more than two-month total blockade on Gaza after Israel decided to unilaterally end a ceasefire with Hamas in March.
Israel has come under increasing international pressure, including from its staunch allies in the United States government, to agree to a ceasefire and allow aid into Gaza.
Here’s everything you need to know about Israel’s latest ground assault:
What is Operation Gideon’s Chariots, and why did it begin now?
Operation Gideon’s Chariots is a major ground offensive launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip that comes after air attacks killed hundreds of Palestinians in recent days and further debilitated Gaza’s healthcare network. With the backing of Israel’s lethal air force, the operation is targeting both southern and northern Gaza.
The assault began as the second day of ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas ended on Saturday in Doha. Israel tends to intensify operations and attacks during such negotiations. It said this latest offensive is exerting “tremendous pressure” on Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched this latest assault as US President Donald Trump concluded his Middle East tour of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates but did not stop in Israel.
Hundreds of displaced Palestinians wait outside a charity kitchen in Gaza City to receive limited food rations on May 18, 2025 [Haitham Imad/EPA]
What are Israel’s stated objectives for this assault?
The Israeli military said the offensive was launched to expand “operational control” in the Gaza Strip.
Israel says its campaign also aims to free the remaining captives held in Gaza and defeat Hamas.
However, Netanyahu has been repeatedly criticised by segments of Israeli society, including captives’ families, for failing to prioritise their return and has also rejected Hamas’s offers to end the war and free the captives.
A week before the start of the operation, quotes were leaked of Netanyahu speaking about the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza outside the Gaza Strip.
“We are destroying more and more homes. They have nowhere to return to,” Netanyahu said in closed-door testimony made to the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee. “The only inevitable outcome will be the desire of Gazans to emigrate outside of the Gaza Strip.”
What has happened in Gaza since the offensive began?
Since Sunday, the day Israel confirmed the operation, at least 144 people have been killed in a relentless wave of strikes. At least 42 people died in the heavily bombarded northern part of the Strip, according to medical sources. Five of those killed were journalists.
In southern Gaza, at least 36 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in Israeli air strikes on a tent encampment of displaced Palestinians in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Younis governorate, according to medical sources.
But the lead-up to the operation also included heavy attacks.
In the past week, Israel has attacked more than 670 places in Gaza and claimed all were “Hamas targets” located both above and beneath the ground. Israel has been accused of disproportionately targeting civilians in Gaza, including displaced families. At least 370 Palestinians were killed over five days.
Since the start of the war in October 2023, at least 53,339 Palestinians have been killed and 121,034 wounded, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
The severity of the recentattacks has many Palestinians expressing fears on social media that their latest posts may be their last.
On Monday, the Israeli military issued forced evacuation orders for Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city, warning of an “unprecedented attack”.
What is Israel targeting?
Israel said it is targeting Hamas targets, a claim that has been increasingly challenged by human rights groups and experts as its more than 19-month war on Gaza continues.
Among the sites hit are hospitals, a recurring target for the Israeli military in Gaza. Muhammad Zaqout, the director general of hospitals in Gaza, described the tactic as part of “Israel’s systematic measures against hospitals”.
On Sunday, the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza was rendered nonoperational after it was besieged by Israeli forces. Medical professionals said it could lead to the deaths of thousands of sick and wounded people.
The situation was described as “catastrophic” by Marwan al-Sultan, the director of the facility, who also called on international organisations to push for the safety of medical teams.
Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza’s Jabalia and European Gaza Hospital in southern Gaza have also been bombed.
In recent days, Israel said it has killed Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip, Mohammad Sinwar, the brother and successor of the late Yahya Sinwar. It also reportedly killed another Sinwar brother, Zakaria Sinwar, a university lecturer, and three of his children in an air strike on central Gaza.
Netanyahu’s office says some aid would be allowed into Gaza to avoid famine [File: Marton Monus/Reuters]
How has Hamas responded?
On Sunday, Hamas released a statement calling the attacks on displaced Palestinians in Khan Younis a “brutal crime” and a flagrant violation of international laws and norms.
The group also placed blame on the US for backing Israel.
“By granting the terrorist occupation government political and military cover, the United States administration bears direct responsibility for this insane escalation in the targeting of innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip, including children, women, and the elderly,” Hamas said.
Family members mourn loved ones killed in an Israeli attack on the al-Saftawi region at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City on May 18, 2025 [Khames Alrefi/Anadolu]
What is the current humanitarian situation inside Gaza?
Basic humanitarian supplies, including food, fuel, medical aid and vaccines for children, have been blocked by Israel from entering the Strip. More than 90 percent of the population has been displaced since the war began on October 7, 2023. Many Palestinians have been displaced multiple times with some people being forced to relocate 10 times or more.
Israel has refused the entry of any aid since March 2. International actors and agencies have been pressing hard for Israel to resume the distribution of aid to Gaza to little effect.
“Two months into the latest blockade, two million people are starving, while 116,000 tonnes of food is blocked at the border just minutes away,” said World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaking at the opening of the annual World Health Assembly.
One in five Palestinians in Gaza is currently facing starvation, while 9,000 children, who are most vulnerable to Israel’s continued food blockade, have been hospitalised for acute malnutrition since the start of the year, according to the United Nations.
Late on Sunday, Netanyahu announced that some food would be allowed into the Gaza Strip in a much needed reprieve for the local population.
“Israel will allow a basic amount of food for the population to ensure that a hunger crisis does not develop in the Gaza Strip,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Netanyahu said on Monday that the move was motivated by pressure from Israel’s allies.
It is unclear when the border will open to allow in aid.
What’s the status of the ceasefire talks?
The latest round of talks started on Saturday, and by the end of Sunday, there had been little progress.
Talks are set to continue this week.
Israel and Hamas both claimed the talks began without conditions.
“The Hamas delegation outlined the position of the group and the necessity to end the war, swap prisoners, the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and allow humanitarian aid and all the needs of the people of Gaza back into the Strip,” Taher al-Nono, the media adviser for Hamas’s leadership, told the Reuters news agency.
The criticism of Israel is increasing.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “alarmed” by Israel’s expanded offensive in Gaza and called for an immediate ceasefire.
Germany, one of Israel’s foremost backers, expressed deep concern over the offensive.
Its Federal Foreign Office said in a statement: “A large-scale military offensive also entails the risk that the catastrophic humanitarian situation for the population in Gaza and the situation of the remaining hostages will continue to deteriorate and that the prospect of an urgently needed long-term ceasefire fades.”
After the offensive was confirmed, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called for the “immediate, massive and unhampered” resumption of aid into Gaza.
Even before the offensive, international pressure on Israel was growing.
The leaders of Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovenia, Spain and Norway released a joint statement on what they called a “man-made humanitarian catastrophe that is taking place before our eyes in Gaza”.
Tom Fletcher, the UN’s humanitarian chief, has called for decisive action to prevent genocide in Gaza.
He criticised the US-Israeli joint plan to replace international aid mechanisms in Gaza as a “waste of time”. More than 160,000 pallets of aid are “ready to move” at the border, he said, but are being blocked by Israel.
Volker Turk, the UN’s human rights chief, said on Friday that Israel’s bombing campaign is intended to bring about a “permanent demographic shift in Gaza” and is in “defiance of international law”.
Tom Fletcher has called for decisive action to prevent genocide and called the US-Israeli aid distribution plan a “waste of time” [Denis Balibouse/Reuters]
More than 80 witnesses are expected to testify via videoconference over the next two weeks.
The trial of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has begun, with charges that he plotted a coup d’etat and led a “criminal organisation” to overturn the result of the October 2022 election, in which he was narrowly defeated by current President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The country’s Supreme Court is hearing testimony from high-ranking military and political figures from Monday over the next two weeks.
The 70-year-old far-right leader, a former army captain, who governed Brazil from 2019 to 2022, could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted.
Bolsonaro denies the allegations, claiming he is a victim of “political persecution”.
More than 80 witnesses are set to testify via videoconference, including Generals Marco Antonio Freire Gomes and Carlos de Almeida Baptista Junior, who served as commanders of the army and air force under Bolsonaro.
In previous statements to federal police, both men said Bolsonaro had “raised the hypothetical possibility” of using legal means to annul the 2022 election and justify a military intervention.
According to prosecutors, the alleged plot included plans to declare a state of emergency, hold new elections and assassinate President Lula.
A 900-page federal police report details the scheme, which prosecutors say ultimately collapsed due to a lack of support within the military.
The charges also encompass the January 8, 2023 riots in Brasília, when thousands of Bolsonaro supporters stormed Congress, the Supreme Court, and the presidential palace one week after Lula’s inauguration.
Though Bolsonaro, a close ally of United States President Donald Trump when they were both in power, was in the US at the time, prosecutors argue he backed the violence, calling it the “last hope” of those seeking to overturn the election.
Seven of Bolsonaro’s former aides are being tried alongside him, including four former ministers, a former navy commander, and the head of Brazil’s intelligence services during his presidency.
This marks the first time a Brazilian president has faced coup charges since the end of the military dictatorship in 1985.
Bolsonaro, who has often expressed admiration for that era, is already banned from holding public office until 2030 after making claims about Brazil’s electronic voting system.
Despite the ban, Bolsonaro has indicated a desire to return to politics. But speaking to UOL last week, he likened the charges to a “telenovela scenario” and warned that a conviction would be a “death penalty, political and physical”.
Bolsonaro was heavily criticised when he was Brazil’s leader during the COVID-19 pandemic and when his policies and spread of misinformation contributed to the nation having the highest overall death toll in Latin America, and the second highest in the world after the US, from the coronavirus.
Earlier this month, he was recently discharged from hospital after undergoing major abdominal surgery, the latest in a series of procedures stemming from a stabbing attack in 2018.
The UK is now in a better place on trade “than any other country in the world”, the chancellor has claimed.
Rachel Reeves said Britain’s economic growth was on course to be upgraded as a result of the country’s recent three trade deals agreed with the US, India and the EU.
Reeves suggested the government wanted to go further on its new agreement with the EU but told the BBC a trade pact with countries in the Gulf, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, would be the “next deal”.
On Monday, the UK and the EU struck a deal across several areas including fishing, trade, defence and energy, which marked the biggest agreement between the parties since the UK left the trading bloc in 2020 following the Brexit vote.
The summit in London came after the government reached a trade deal with India to make it easier for UK firms to export whisky, cars and other products to the country, and cut taxes on India’s clothing and footwear exports.
Reeves described the recent trade deals as having “come along like buses” and hinted at expectations of an upgrade to UK economic growth forecasts as a result.
“Britain is in a better place than any other country in the world in terms of deals with those countries,” she said.
“The first deal and the best deal so far with the US, we’ve got the best deal with the EU for any country outside the EU, and we’ve got the best trade agreement with India,” Reeves added.
“Not only are these important in their own right, but it also shows that Britain now is the place for investment and business, because we’ve got preferential deals with the biggest economies around the world.”
The chancellor told the BBC another deal with Gulf nations was the “next deal”, with the government closing in on a pact with the six-member Gulf Co-operation Council including Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar.
It appears the government had the EU, the UK’s largest trading partner, in mind during its talks with the US and India.
As part of the deal with the EU, in return for extending current fishing rules, checks have been reduced on UK food exports.
Reeves said UK officials had made it clear to the Trump administration and India that food standards were not up for negotiation in their deals.
“We increased the quota for the import of beef from the US, it was all still on the high standards that we pride ourselves in, and in part because standards matter to us, but also because we wanted to secure this agreement with the EU, which is by far the biggest market for UK agriculture and fishing,” the chancellor said.
But while the government has hailed recent trade agreements as triumphs, some opposition parties have criticised Reeves and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for some of the concessions offered in return.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the latest EU deal took the UK “backwards” and previously said the country had been “shafted” in the America tariff pact.
The chancellor received a boost last week when the latest official figures revealed the UK economy had grown by 0.7% in the first three months of the year.
The growth was bigger than expected but is not forecast to last.
The government has made growing the economy its main priority in order to boost living standards. A higher growth rate usually means people are getting paid a little bit more, can spend more and more jobs are created by businesses investing.
Reeves suggested UK growth forecasts could be boosted because of the better figures, but economists have warned US tariffs and the chancellor’s decision to raise National Insurance for employers could hit the economy.
“We are forecasting growth of 1% this year, and we had 0.7% in Q1 and they’ll take into account the new trade deals that have been secured,” she said.
Jane Rosenberg /Reuters
US Federal Court
What’s the status of the ceasefire talks?
