Today

Pakistan’s military says it brought down 25 Indian drones over cities including Karachi and Lahore. India says Pakistan had targeted India and Indian-administered Kashmir with drones and missiles that were shot down. The exchanges are fueling fears of a new phase in the ongoing tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Student protest leader Mohsen Mahdawi has appeared at the Vermont state house to help launch a legal defence fund to help immigrants like himself who are facing deportation hearings.

His appearance on Thursday comes nearly a week after Mahdawi himself was released from immigration detention, after spending nearly 16 days in custody for his pro-Palestinian advocacy.

The administration of President Donald Trump has sought to deport Mahdawi and other student activists for their demonstrations, citing a Cold War-era law that allows the removal of foreign nationals deemed to have adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States.

Though released on bail, Mahdawi continues to face deportation proceedings. He reflected on his time behind bars at a news conference where he and state officials announced the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund.

“ I was unjustly kidnapped or detained, if you want to go by the legal term,” Mahdawi said with a wry smile.

“And without the support and the love that I received from the people of Vermont – Vermonters and the representatives of the people in Vermont – I may not have been here today among you.”

Mahdawi entered the national spotlight as a leader in the student protests at Columbia University, an Ivy League school in New York City that has been at the forefront of pro-Palestinian advocacy.

A legal permanent resident of the US, Mahdawi himself is Palestinian and grew up in the Far’a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank. He has publicly described the oppression he said he experienced there, including the deaths of family members and friends at the hands of the Israeli military.

Since Israel launched its war in Gaza on October 7, 2023, Mahdawi has been outspoken in his opposition to the military campaign.

As an undergraduate at Columbia, he helped found student groups like Dar: The Palestinian Student Society and Columbia University Apartheid Divest. The latter has taken a lead role in protesting ties between the school and organisations involved with Israel and its military activities.

But President Trump has described such protests as “illegal” and pledged to crack down on non-citizen participants.

On March 8, Mahdawi’s colleague at Dar, Mahmoud Khalil, was the first student protester to be taken into custody for his role in the nationwide student protest movement. Others have since been detained, including Tufts University doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk, who supporters say did little more than write an op-ed about the war in Gaza.

Just over a month later, on April 14, Mahdawi arrived at an appointment in Colchester, Vermont, ostensibly for his US citizenship application. Immigration officers, however, were waiting on site to arrest him, and he was led away in handcuffs.

Mahdawi was accused of no crime. The Trump administration, however, has accused him of harassing Jewish students and leading “pro-Hamas protests”, though it has not offered evidence to support those allegations.

“His rhetoric on the war in Israel proves his terrorist sympathies,” a recent document from the Department of Homeland Security said.

Mahdawi’s detention galvanised Vermont politicians on both sides of the political spectrum. Governor Phil Scott, a Republican, called on the federal government to release any evidence it had that Mahdawi was a threat to national security and denounced the surreptitious manner of his arrest.

“What cannot be justified is how this action was undertaken. Law enforcement officers in this country should not operate in the shadows or hide behind masks,” Scott wrote in a press release.

“The power of the executive branch of the federal government is immense, but it is not infinite, and it is not absolute.”

Meanwhile, Senator Peter Welch, a Democrat, visited Mahdawi behind bars at Vermont’s Northwest State Correctional Facility in an effort to raise awareness about his case.

Ultimately, on April 30, a federal district court deemed that Mahdawi was no flight risk and released him on bail, warning that the government’s actions could be interpreted as an attempt to “shut down debate”.

In his public appearance on Thursday, Mahdawi thanked his fellow Vermonters for showing him support and called on the state to act as an example to others.

“Home is where you feel safe and loved. And those who surround you, they are your people, and you are my people,” he told the crowd.

“This is a message of hope and light that our humanity is much larger than what divide us. Our humanity is much larger than unjust laws. Our humanity is much larger than being Democrat or Republican, Black or white, in a city or in rural area.”

Mahdawi also described how, when he was in detention, he saw an undocumented farm worker praying on his knees each night before going to sleep.

“ I think his prayers have been answered today by this initiative,” Mahdawi said of the legal defence fund.

The fund’s organisers said they hope to raise $1m to “build a lasting safety net” for immigrant families in Vermont. That sum, they said, would fund training and hiring legal staff to respond to what they described as an immigration “crisis”.

“Vermont is going to take action to ensure no one faces deportation, detention or family separation alone and unrepresented,” said State Senator Kesha Ram Hinsdale. “This will be embedded in our civic infrastructure in a way we have not achieved before and we hope will have long-term benefits beyond this immediate crisis.”

Vermont State Treasurer Mike Pieciak added that the fund would ensure justice is not solely reserved for those who can afford it.

“This effort is not about politics. This effort is about principle,” he said. “The fundamental right to due process means very little if somebody cannot access legal representation, especially when they’re navigating a system as complex and as high stakes as the US immigration law.”

Luke Humphries ended his 10-week wait for a Premier League nightly victory with a tense 6-5 win over Luke Littler in Leeds.

The 30-year-old, who had not won a final since beating Littler on Night 4 in Exeter, came from 2-0 down to beat ‘The Nuke’ in a thriller.

World number one Humphries averaged 100.96, with 18-year-old Littler at 99.89.

Wearing a Leeds United-inspired yellow and blue shirt at the First Direct Arena – days after his footballing heroes won the Championship title to mark their Premier League return in style – ‘Cool Hand Luke’ made a sluggish start as Littler took charge.

But Humphries, who was defending his Leeds crown from 12 months ago, then won three straight legs and edged 5-3 ahead.

As both mixed errors with brilliance in their performances, Littler hit back to take the match to a final-leg decider.

Both men missed bull finishes for 100-plus checkouts, but Humphries kept calm to hit double 10 and seal the much-needed success.

“When you know you’re playing against Luke Littler you know you’re not going to get away with mid-game performances, you need to be at your best to beat him,” he told Sky Sports.

“We weren’t at our best but it was a decent final and I do seem to raise my performance against him.

“It is extra special to win in Leeds, I feel at home here. I know it isn’t my hometown but it does feel extra special. I won here last year and it gave me extra confidence for the finals night and hopefully it does again – and I can get that elusive Premier League crown that I’ve always dreamed of.”

Humphries had earlier overcome bottom-of-the-table Stephen Bunting 6-4 in the semi-finals to set up a fourth Premier League final of the season against Littler.

A 6-4 win in the last eight over Michael van Gerwen also confirmed his place at finals night on May 29 at the 02 Arena, while Bunting’s defeat ruled him out of the finals reckoning.

Littler showed his quality in a convincing 6-3 semi-final victory over Gerwyn Price, where the defending Premier League champion came back from 2-0 down to dominate.

Price’s 6-5 quarter-final victory over Rob Cross had booked his place in the final four.

The mog/acc trend is gaining mainstream mindshare and sending the Mog Coin price skyrocketing.

Elon Musk is among several high-profile figures to pay homage, contributing to Mog Coin’s 40% daily gain. Meanwhile, meme coins such as MIND of Pepe, Gork, and Ponke are showing that they could be the next meme coins to explode.

Mog/Acc Draws Musk’s Attention

Naturally, this has piqued the interest of tech mogul Elon Musk. The X, Tesla, and SpaceX owner is known for his meme coin appreciation, so Mog Coin’s new move proved favorable with him.

Musk, alongside Y Combinator founder Garry Tan and Solana-based protocols Raydium and Jupiter, have added mog/acc’s futuristic pit-viper glasses to their profile images, providing credibility and new eyeballs to the trend.

Meme coin thought leader @Virotechnics said in a note to CoinDesk that “Mog accelerationism is the extension of mog memetics into the sphere of technological progress.”

He continued, “It’s about winning, competing, and performing well in everything.”

Mogcoin, Popcat Prices Break Mid-Term Highs

Mog Coin’s new move is marketing genius, but it’s not the only meme coin that’s soaring right now.

Currently, Mog Coin trades at $0.0000009, having increased by 40% today and 48% this week. The chart below shows that the uptick has increased exponentially in the last 24 hours, aligning with Elon Musk’s adoption of the mog/acc pit viper glasses.

However, as Mog Coin rises, traders are also positioning in other meme coins. Popcat is up 13% today, for instance. Part of the reason for Popcat’s gain is that it was just listed on the centralized exchange Robinhood.

However, Popcat has outperformed Mog Coin over the month. Mog Coin has gained 160%, while Popcat is up 229%. Both projects have reached their highest prices in over two months.

The meme coin market is scorching hot right now. Many investors have doubled or tripled their money in the past month, or in Mog Coin’s case, gained a near-40% ROI today.

But with the sector reaching a fever pitch, there’s a huge opportunity for investors who preempt the next big move. With that in mind, here are our top picks of meme coins set to surge:

Next Meme Coins to Explode

Elon Musk’s X moniker changes can drive nine- and ten-figure market cap moves, and it’s not just Mog Coin that has enjoyed this windfall.

Musk famously orchestrated Dogecoin’s 2021 rally, during which it surged to a near-$80 billion market cap.

He’s also experimented with various meme coin monikers this cycle. Back in December, he adopted Kekius Maximus, Pepe the Frog reimagined as a gladiator. This sent Pepe soaring to an ATH market cap above $10 billion.

More recently, he adopted the Gork moniker, a satirical representation of his AI model, Grok.

But suppose there was a project that mixed Pepe the Frog with AI, it would have real potential to draw Musk’s attention, right?

And here’s the good news: there’s already a team working on just that. The project is called MIND of Pepe, it’s a Pepe-themed AI agent with multiple innovative capabilities.

The project’s first major product launch is coming up on 10 May, when it will unleash its social media X agent. The agent can post hot takes, engage with followers, and shape crypto narratives. If it’s witty enough, it might even notch a reply from Musk’s X account.

But the project isn’t only about posting on X. It will also compute social media and blockchain data to forecast market moves and update its holders on the best cryptos to buy.

And if it notices gaps in the market, MIND of Pepe can even create its own crypto project, and $MIND holders will get insider access. It’s on the cutting edge of agentic innovation, and it’s currently available to buy via a presale.

The $MIND presale has raised $8.8 million so far. This is a solid achievement, but with such a strong use case, the project’s success may just be getting started.

As mentioned, Musk changed his X moniker to Gork recently, and there’s already a token created around that meme called New XAI gork. It peaked at $0.08 after Musk rebranded his profile, but has retraced to $0.03.

However, the token is consolidating and showing bottom signals, which indicate that it could potentially rally to new highs. With a market cap of $31 million,

New XAI gork has serious room for growth.

While not tied to mog/acc, Ponke is also on fire today. It has gained 21% to reach $0.12, its highest price since early March.

Ponke is known for its strong community support, and today’s price action reflects that. No major catalysts have ignited its recent growth, just raw investor interest.

It currently trades at an 85% discount from its November 2024 ATH, leaving plenty of upside potential.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not provide financial advice. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, and the market can be unpredictable. Always perform thorough research before making any cryptocurrency-related decisions.

A new documentary claiming to have uncovered the name of the Israeli soldier responsible for shooting Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh has been released online.

Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American who had been with Al Jazeera since 1997, was killed while reporting from Jenin in the occupied West Bank in May 2022.

Shortly after her death, Israeli officials and media suggested she had been killed by Palestinian gunfire.

However, subsequent reports from human rights organisations and news agencies showed that the Palestinian fighters initially accused by Israel were some distance from Abu Akleh’s killing and, in September, Israel conceded there was a “high probability” its forces had “accidentally” killed the correspondent.

Contributors to the documentary, Who Killed Shireen? released on Thursday by Zeteo, suggested that Abu Akleh’s killing has helped further embolden a sense of impunity among Israeli soldiers, which has since contributed to the killing of more than 200 journalists by the Israeli military and settlers in the West Bank.

Here are four of the key takeaways from the investigation:

Biden administration knew that Israel was responsible for Abu Akleh’s killing

According to numerous testimonies featured in the film, officials within the Biden administration either knew or suspected that Abu Akleh had been shot by an Israeli soldier, but continued to support Israeli claims that she had been killed by Palestinians.

The filmmakers also claim that US officials had been informed by an unnamed Israeli general responsible for the West Bank within hours of Abu Akleh’s killing that one of his soldiers had likely shot her.

Despite this, US officials continued to support public Israeli accounts of Abu Akleh’s killing that attempted to shift the blame, and then, when Israel publicly admitted the likely culpability of one of its soldiers, that the killing was unintentional.

US officials did not publicly dispute that narrative, and instead said they were unable to determine if a crime had been committed without access to the shooter, which Israel refused to allow.

US refused to take the matter further

Speaking to reporter Dion Nissenbaum, one anonymous staffer within the former administration of President Joe Biden said that officials declined to press the Israeli administration on killing one of their citizens for fear of “anger[ing] the Israeli government”.

This is despite officials having concluded, the same source said, that Abu Akleh’s killing had been an intentional act.

Interviewed in the documentary, Eyal Hulata, who was Israel’s national security adviser at the time of the killing, defended Israel’s decision not to release the suspected soldier for questioning by the United States, saying that Israel had a “very good and trustworthy investigative mechanism”.

Asked if he could ever remember the subject of the US journalist’s murder arising in discussions between President Biden and Naftali Bennett, who was Israeli prime minister at the time, Hulala replies, “This wasn’t a topic between the prime minister and the president.”

Further requests from the Biden administration that Israel change the rules of engagement that some felt had led to Abu Akleh’s death met, according to one interviewee, “the brush off”.

The failure of the Biden administration to hold Israel to account or bring about a change to its rules of engagement after Abu Akleh’s murder has, US Senator Chris Van Hollen told filmmakers, contributed towards “the deaths of … other Americans and other civilians”.

The soldier blamed for killing Abu Akleh is now dead

The film reports that, according to soldiers active that day, Abu Akleh was killed by Alon Scagio, a sniper with the Israeli military’s elite “Duvdevan” unit.

Speaking of his response to having killed the journalist, despite her identity as a member of the press being clear, a friend of Scagio says he didn’t “remember anything special” about Abu Akleh’s killing, “so it wasn’t, like, an issue. He wasn’t happy, like, ‘Hey, I killed a journalist,’ of course, but he wasn’t … eating himself from the inside.”

Investigations by the filmmakers show Scagio was moved out of the Duvdevan to a commander position in a different unit, distancing him from any investigation, as a result, the filmmakers guess, of having killed Abu Akleh.

Scagio was later killed in June 2024 by a roadside bomb in Jenin, the same West Bank city in which he is accused of killing Abu Akleh.

As a result of the fallout from Abu Akleh’s killing, Scagio’s friend claims the Duvdevan unit took to using her image for target practice.

US government support for Israel is unwavering

The killing of Abu Akleh came during what at the time was considered an intense phase of Israeli raids on the occupied West Bank. She was one of at least 145 Palestinians killed during the raids in 2022.

But since then, Israel has only ramped up its violence in both the West Bank and Gaza.

Israel has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians since it launched its war on Gaza in October 2023, decimating the territory and refusing the entry of food since March, starving the local population.

And in the West Bank, Israel has increased the severity of its attacks, using heavy weaponry and air strikes, and forcing Palestinians out of their homes. More than 900 Palestinians have been killed there.

Despite that, the US – both under former President Joe Biden and current President Donald Trump – has maintained its support of Israel, even as much of the rest of the world has criticised its actions.

At the United Nations, the US regularly votes alongside Israel, while the majority of member states seek to use the international body to pressure Israel to stop. And the US has threatened the International Criminal Court for seeking to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for committing war crimes.

It is, therefore, perhaps no surprise that, even though Abu Akleh was a journalist doing her job when she was killed and an American citizen, the US has been willing to look the other way.

A documentary film has shed new light on how the administration of United States President Joe Biden responded to the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, suggesting Washington had evidence indicating her shooting death was likely intentional.

An Israeli sniper fatally shot Abu Akleh nearly three years ago while she reported from the Jenin refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on May 11, 2022.

The new film — a 40-minute investigative documentary from the Washington, DC-based media company Zeteo — was released on Thursday just ahead of the anniversary of her death.

Under the title Who Killed Shireen?, the documentary explores not only who pulled the trigger but why justice has been so elusive in Abu Akleh’s case. It also offers the clearest picture yet of the Biden administration’s political manoeuvring as public pressure mounted for accountability.

Abu Akleh was a US citizen, and during her final reporting assignment, she wore both a helmet and a blue vest clearly labelled with the word “press” to indicate her status as a journalist.

In the aftermath of her killing, the Biden administration faced pressure to investigate the circumstances of her death and whether the shooting was intentional.

But while the administration initially called for an “independent, credible investigation”, it shifted its stance as the months progressed. It walked back calls for the killer to be “prosecuted” and eventually described the shooting as “the result of tragic circumstances”.

It also eased its scrutiny of the Israeli military, calling for accountability only in the form of a review of its “rules of engagement”.

The documentary Who Killed Shireen? features interviews from former Washington insiders about why the Biden administration made such a pivot. Its most damaging testimony comes from an anonymous official, who spoke with his face and voice obscured.

In the film, the official claims the evidence available to the Biden administration indicated that Abu Akleh’s death “was an intentional killing”. He said that assessment was based on the “visual capabilities of that day” and the distance between the Israeli snipers and the journalists who were shot.

Another journalist, Ali al-Samoudi, was also wounded at the same time as Abu Akleh, though he survived his gunshot.

“Whether or not they knew it was her [Abu Akleh] or not can very well be debated, but they would have absolutely known it was a media person or a noncombatant at a minimum that [the Israeli soldier] shot and killed,” the anonymous Biden official said.

He added that it was his “belief” that the shooter would have been able to see Abu Akleh’s blue “press” jacket.

The official acknowledged the shift in the Biden administration’s position, from viewing the shooting as “an intentional killing” to describing it as “a tragic accident”. He linked that about-face to the historically close ties the US has shared with Israel.

“Ultimately, I think what it came down to was different pressure within the administration to not try to anger the government of Israel too much, by trying to force their hand at saying they intentionally killed a US citizen,” the official said.

Another former US official, Andrew Miller, also spoke to filmmakers as part of the documentary. Miller served as the deputy secretary of state for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs from 2022 to 2024, and he indicated that the Biden administration had not been forthcoming about the stonewalling it faced from the Israeli government.

He said the government of then-Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett refused to allow the US access to the soldier who fired the fatal shot, even for “informal” questioning.

Miller also cast doubt on Israeli claims that Abu Akleh was shot during a crossfire with Palestinian fighters. He explained that the Biden administration had information from the start that contradicted those claims.

“The fact that the official Israeli position remains that this was a case of crossfire … [that] the entire episode was a mistake — as opposed to potentially a mistake in identification or the deliberate targeting of this individual — points to, I think, a broader policy of seeking to manage the narrative,” Miller said.

The Biden administration had never publicly contradicted Israel’s assessment. Instead, when the Israeli military released its final report on the killing in September 2022, it said it “welcomed” the assessment.

That report asserted that Abu Akleh was “accidentally hit” by an Israeli bullet “during an exchange of fire in which life-risking, widespread and indiscriminate shots were fired toward” Israeli soldiers.

To date, the US government has never declassified a State Department report on the killing or confirmed media reports that the Department of Justice was conducting a separate probe.

Rights groups, press freedom organisations, and lawmakers have long called the Biden administration’s response inadequate, appealing for greater transparency and for the US to withhold aid to the military unit responsible.

Advocates said the latest revelations underscore a continued cycle of impunity.

“The US government has acted as an accomplice to Israeli war crimes, not only against Palestinians but Americans, too, trumping loyalty to its own laws and citizens,” said Raed Jarrar, advocacy director at the human rights organisation Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), in a statement responding to the documentary.

James Vince, Chris Jordan, Tom Curran, David Willey, Sam Billings, Luke Wood and Tom Kohler-Cadmore are the English players involved in the PSL, while there are also English coaches at various franchises.

Thursday’s match between Peshawar Zalmi and Karachi Kings, due to be held in Rawalpindi, was postponed after Pakistan’s military said Indian drones were destroyed in various Pakistan cities.

A Pakistan Cricket Board official told BBC Sport one drone misfired and led to an explosion in the street behind the stadium in Rawalpindi. The BBC has been unable to verify these claims.

PSL organisers remain keen for the tournament, which has eight fixtures outstanding, to be completed, but the safety of players remains their priority.

A senior Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official told BBC Sport: “If Rawalpindi is not safe, Lahore and Karachi are not safe because drones also attacked there. Any city of Pakistan is not safe because the drones have targeted smaller cities of Pakistan.”

The seven English players have held separate discussions over whether to return to the UK, with a split in opinion over whether to remain.

They held talks with the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) on Wednesday to discuss the situation. It is understood feelings among those in Pakistan were mixed.

Other leading overseas names in the PSL include Australian David Warner (Karachi Kings) and former West Indies captain Jason Holder (Islamabad United).

The UK foreign office currently advises against all but essential travel within five miles of the international border between Pakistan and India.

The Indian Premier League match between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals began as planned in Dharamsala on Thursday, but was called off after 10.1 overs after the floodlights went out.

Sunday’s match between the Kings and Mumbai Indians has been moved from Dharamsala to Ahmedabad.

Dharamsala is in the state of Himachal Pradesh, which borders Kashmir, and flights were cancelled to its airport on Wednesday, making it difficult for Mumbai Indians to travel.

“The venue change has been necessitated due to logistical challenges,” India’s cricket board (BCCI) said in a statement.

Twenty-six civilians were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir last month and India has accused Pakistan of supporting militants behind the attack – an allegation the neighbouring country has rejected.

The situation escalated on Tuesday evening when India launched a series of strikes in a move named “Operation Sindoor”.

Bitcoin just broke back above $99,000 as the crypto market reacts to some pretty big geopolitical news. After Trump teased a “major trade deal” with a “highly respected” country, traders took it as a sign that global tensions might ease up.

That’s been a weight on risk assets for weeks, so this shift could spike demand. If you’re looking for the best crypto to buy while momentum builds, a few altcoins are looking primed to take off.

Is Bitcoin Heading for $100K as Trade Deal Buzz Lifts Markets?

Bitcoin is now sitting at $99,500, its highest point since the late-January squeeze, and things look bullish. Spot volumes have exploded by 51% overnight, and futures open interest has sailed back above $30 billion, telling us there’s real capital – not just retail trader FOMO – behind the move.

The catalyst is simple enough: tariff-relief hopes. As mentioned above, when President Trump jumped on Truth Social and promised a major trade deal, traders instantly re-priced the risk spectrum. Less tariff heat means fewer supply-chain issues, a weaker dollar and, in theory, larger corporate margins.

These are conditions that push investors out of safe-haven assets and into high-beta plays like crypto. The opposite happened last month. Trump’s tariffs on China caused Bitcoin to drop from $88,000 to $74,000 in a few days. Tariffs create uncertainty – and uncertainty is bad for crypto.

Now that things are flipping, sentiment is changing fast. That’s what we’re seeing with Bitcoin: a 3% jump in 24 hours and a 25% rally over the past month as traders get excited about easing global trade tensions.

And this could also be great news for the rest of the crypto market. When Bitcoin rallies, liquidity inevitably spills into smaller-cap coins. So if Bitcoin breaks above $100,000 on the back of this news, the same optimism could prompt outsized moves in altcoins that haven’t yet capitalized.

Overall, conditions are looking bullish for crypto. We could be on the verge of another Bitcoin-led bull run if momentum keeps building.

What Are the Best Cryptos to Buy if Bitcoin Breaks $100K?

1. Solaxy (SOLX)

Solaxy (SOLX) might be one of the best cryptos to buy if Bitcoin keeps rising. The project’s presale has raised $33.6 million, making it the largest Solana-based ICO to date – and it isn’t slowing down. But why all the excitement?

It’s because Solaxy is building the first Solana Layer-2 using rollup tech, promising speeds up to 10,000 transactions per second (TPS) while still using Solana’s base layer for security. That’s faster than Solana itself, and way faster than Ethereum’s Layer-2s like Base or Arbitrum.

Solaxy basically offers security and scalability without compromising on utility. Its testnet has already processed over a million transactions since going live. There are also plans to create a cross-chain bridge to Ethereum – something crypto analyst ClayBro is hyped about.

If Bitcoin’s surge continues to bring fresh capital to the crypto market, early-stage altcoins like Solaxy could be first in line to explode.

2. Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) has a habit of trailing just behind Bitcoin – then suddenly taking off when Bitcoin experiences a bull run. As Bitcoin heads toward $100,000, BCH is already seeing a boost thanks to its tight correlation and shared infrastructure.

It’s cheaper, faster, and easier to spend than Bitcoin, making it an easy target for traders rotating profits or chasing altcoins that haven’t yet pumped. Plus, given its familiar name, Bitcoin Cash often attracts retail interest during BTC breakouts – especially from beginner investors.

As liquidity floods the market again, legacy forks like BCH tend to benefit. If Bitcoin keeps rising, BCH could move fast, just like it has many times in the past.

3. Balance (EPT)

Balance (EPT) could be one of the best cryptos to buy if you have a high risk tolerance. It’s a low-cap altcoin – ranked outside the top 700 – with a tiny price tag and wild swings. But that’s exactly the kind of setup that can lead to big profits during a crypto rally.

When Bitcoin runs, money tends to spill into low-cap altcoins as traders seek larger returns, and EPT’s small price tag makes it an appealing option. Plus, with only 24% of the supply in circulation, there’s room for price movement if demand ramps up.

Of course, Balance isn’t without its risks. The team is anonymous, and no detailed roadmap or whitepaper exists. But that doesn’t always matter in a hot market – making EPT another hidden gem to consider buying.

4. Stacks (STX)

Stacks (STX) is built to expand what Bitcoin can already do. As a Bitcoin Layer-2, Stacks lets developers build smart contracts, DeFi, and NFTs that settle back to the Bitcoin blockchain, giving BTC some serious utility beyond just “digital gold.”

STX has already jumped 9% in the past 24 hours and, with daily volume above $180 million, it’s gaining traction. Its unique “Stacking” system also rewards holders in Bitcoin, which becomes a much more attractive feature as Bitcoin approaches $100,000.

Add in the recent Nakamoto upgrade – bringing faster transactions and sBTC integration – and you’ve got a project that’s tightly linked to Bitcoin’s success. It’s another exciting crypto to consider buying if you’re looking for outsized growth.

Conclusion

Stacks looks solid, Bitcoin Cash is gaining attention, and Solaxy’s record-breaking presale is one to keep an eye on for those seeking even higher potential returns. As always, do your own research and only invest what you’re willing to lose.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not provide financial advice. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile, and the market can be unpredictable. Always perform thorough research before making any cryptocurrency-related decisions.

United States President Donald Trump plans to tout trillions of dollars of Arab investments in the US as a major achievement, but other issues are at stake, says University of Maryland professor Shibley Telhami.

Israel is threatening to further destroy the Gaza Strip unless progress is made in its ceasefire talks with Hamas. Meanwhile, Israel has refused to allow any food to enter Gaza – home to more than 2 million Palestinians – for more than two months.

And despite Israeli objections, Trump may soon be able to reach a deal with Iran on its nuclear program.

Kyiv says deal ‘operational’ in a few weeks, hopes it will revive flagging US support against Russian aggression.

Ukrainian legislators have unanimously voted to ratify a minerals deal with the United States in the hope of securing military assistance to deter future Russian aggression.

The country’s parliament gave its assent to the agreement, which grants the US priority access to Ukrainian minerals and sets up an investment fund for Ukraine’s reconstruction, with 338 members voting in favour and none against it.

Ukraine’s First Vice Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on Thursday that the deal, which stops short of offering security guarantees but has raised hopes of revived US support, was “the foundation of a new model of interaction with a key strategic partner”.

The Ukrainian Parliament has ratified the historic Economic Partnership Agreement between Ukraine and the United States.

This document is not merely a legal construct — it is the foundation of a new model of interaction with a key strategic partner. pic.twitter.com/pIkMG1gUVu

— Yulia Svyrydenko (@Svyrydenko_Y) May 8, 2025

The deal, signed by the US and Ukraine at the end of April, was approved despite legislators’ concerns over a lack of detail regarding issues such as how the reconstruction fund will be governed and how contributions will be made.

In a news conference earlier that day, Svyrydenko had sought to assuage these concerns, indicating the deal would be operational in a few weeks.

“We have managed to ensure that the agreement is equitable. The key principle is that management is 50-50. Neither side has an advantage, there is no dictatorship from either side, and decisions are taken by consensus,” she said.

Svyrydenko underlined on X that the deal has no “debt provisions”, absolving Ukraine from earlier US demands that it cover the repayment of billions of dollars in military aid supplied by Washington since Russia invaded in February 2022.

Ukraine managed to obtain the concession despite getting off to a bad start in negotiations back in February, when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy clashed with US President Donald Trump during a testy Oval Office sit-down.

Kyiv was initially hoping the US would provide security guarantees to help deter future Russian attacks, in exchange for preferential access to Ukraine’s mineral resources.

But Washington refused, instead arguing that boosting its business interests in Ukraine would itself act as a bulwark against Russia.

Pakistan’s military said on Thursday morning that the country’s air defence system had brought down 25 Indian drones overnight over some of the country’s chief cities, including Lahore and Karachi. At least one civilian has died, and five people were wounded, it said.

India’s Defence Ministry confirmed hours later that it had targeted Pakistan’s air defence radars and claimed that it was able to “neutralize” one defence system in Lahore. It said Pakistan had attempted to attack India and Indian-administered Kashmir with drones and missiles overnight, but that these had been shot down.

The drone attacks represent the latest escalation between the nuclear-armed neighbours, a day after India launched deadly missile strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, killing at least 31 people, according to Islamabad. Those were the most extensive Indian strikes ever on Pakistan outside the four wars that they have fought. Heavy artillery shelling from both sides overnight caused border communities in the disputed Kashmir region to flee.

Simmering tensions erupted on April 22 after gunmen killed 25 tourists and a local pony rider in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir. India blamed Pakistan for backing fighters who claimed the attack. Islamabad has denied any involvement.

Here’s what we know about the latest escalation of drone attacks:

What happened?

In a briefing on Thursday, Pakistani army spokesman Lieutenant General Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry said the country came under attack from a wave of drones overnight, targeting many of the most populated cities, including Karachi and Lahore.

Pakistan’s air defence system intercepted and brought down these drones, he said. Pakistan’s military said 25 such drones were jammed and shot out of the sky.

The falling debris killed one civilian and injured another person in the southern Sindh province, while an additional drone targeted and wounded four soldiers in a military installation in Lahore, Chaudhry said in the news briefing. Partial damage to “military equipment” was recorded in that latter incident.

Chaudhry described the drone attacks as an act of “naked aggression” and a “serious provocation”, and pledged that Pakistan was ready to retaliate.

“It appears that India has apparently lost the plot and, rather than going on a path of rationality, is further escalating in a highly charged environment. Pakistan Armed Forces remain fully vigilant to any type of threat,” he said.

What has India said?

Hours after the drone attacks, India accepted responsibility – but insisted it had been provoked.

On the night of May 7-8, India’s Ministry of Defence said, Pakistani forces attempted to “engage a number of military targets” in multiple areas in northern and western India and Indian-administered Kashmir using “drones and missiles”. These were shot down by India’s air defence systems, the ministry said.

“Today morning Indian Armed Forces targeted Air Defence Radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan. Indian response has been in the same domain with same intensity as Pakistan,” the ministry’s statement said. “It has been reliably learnt that an Air Defence system at Lahore has been neutralised.”

Pakistan has not commented on Indian claims that it attempted to strike India with drones and missiles.

Where were the drones in Pakistan brought down?

In his briefing, Pakistan army spokesperson Chaudhry said drones either attacked or were shot down in the following locations:

Lahore: The capital of the eastern Punjab region, and Pakistan’s second-largest city of 14 million people. Local police official Mohammad Rizwan told reporters a drone was downed near Walton Airport, an airfield that the Pakistani military manages and uses for radars. The airport also has training schools.

Gujranwala: The fourth-largest city in Punjab, with a population of 2.5 million people.

Chakwal: Also in the Punjab region, with a population of about 1.5 million.

Rawalpindi: The city in Punjab is home to the headquarters of Pakistan’s powerful military. The city has a population of close to 6 million people.

Attock: Close to the capital, Islamabad, Attock is a cantonment city with a population of 2.1 million.

Nankana Sahib: The Punjab city has a population of just more than 100,000 but enjoys far greater significance than that number suggests: It was the birthplace of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, and is one of the holiest sites of the faith.

Bahawalpur: Also in Punjab, it has a population of nearly one million.

Miano: A town in Sindh province, housing a major oil field.

Chor: A small town in the Umerkot district of the southeastern province of Sindh.

Ghotki: A city in northern Sindh known for its date palms, with a population of about 120,000.

Karachi: Pakistan’s most populous city of 20 million people is based in Sindh.

Which cities did India claim Pakistan was targeting?

India said Pakistani missiles and drones attempted to strike 15 cities and towns but that all were brought down.

Awantipora: A town of 12,000 people, on the Jhelum River in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Srinagar: The biggest city in the Kashmir valley, Srinagar has a population of 1.2 million people.

Jammu: The winter capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, it has a population of 500,000 people.

Pathankot: Also in Indian-administered Kashmir, Pathankot is a major nerve centre of the Indian army’s operations. It is home to the largest military base in Asia.

Amritsar: The city in India’s Punjab state has a population of 1.1 million and is home to the Golden Temple, one of Sikhism’s holiest shrines.

Kapurthala: A smaller town of 100,000 people in Indian Punjab.

Jalandhar: Right next to Kapurthala, Jalandhar has a population of nearly 900,000.

Ludhiana: The most populous city in Indian Punjab is home to 1.6 million people.

Adampur: The Punjab town is tiny, with just 20,000 people. But it is home to India’s second-largest air force base.

Bhatinda: The city in Indian Punjab has a population of nearly 300,000.

Chandigarh: The capital of both Indian Punjab and the neighbouring state of Haryana, Chandigarh has a population of just more than one million.

Nal: A tiny town near the India-Pakistan border in the desert state of Rajasthan, it is home to a civilian airport and an air force base.

Phalodi: A city of 66,000 people in Rajasthan, Phalodi is famous for its salt industry.

Uttarlai: A small village in Rajasthan that is home to an air force station.

Bhuj: A city of 190,000 people, Bhuj is in Gujarat, the western state of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

What drones were used in the attack on Pakistan?

Chaudhry, the Pakistani military spokesperson, identified the Indian projectiles as Harop drones.

Harop drones are a form of what are known as loitering munitions, and are developed by the Israeli government’s primary aviation manufacturer and supplier, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

Loitering munitions are usually remotely controlled unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) designed to hover in the air after being deployed, waiting for a precise target to be exposed before they crash into it and self-detonate.

They are not meant to survive a confrontation, and so are also known as suicide drones or kamikaze drones.

The IAI Harop is reputed to be one of the deadliest drones because it combines ordinary UAV and missile capabilities. Spanning two metres (6.6ft) in length, the vehicle is small enough to bypass most aircraft detection systems. It can fly over a range of 200km (120 miles) and is programmed for about six hours of flight. The drone can return and land at its launch base if it fails to engage a target.

The Indian Armed Force (IAF) is one of Israel’s biggest clients for drones. Between 2009 and 2019, India bought at least 25 Harop drones, with a single sale of 10 units costing $100m, according to reporting by The Jerusalem Post.

India’s fleet also includes Searcher and Heron drones, similarly manufactured by the IAI. Searchers are typically used for reconnaissance missions, while the Heron has similar missile capabilities to the Harop.

Why are the drone attacks on Pakistan significant?

Multiple drones breaching Pakistan’s airspace, hovering in the country’s most populous regions, and managing to attack a military location imply that India has the capabilities to breach Pakistan’s air defence and strike its most crucial nerve centres.

The attacks, according to the Pakistani army, were an “extreme act of provocation” that could lead to a major escalation of violence between the two nuclear powers.

Additionally, the drone breach poses a potential threat to civil aviation safety in Pakistan.

The country’s civil aviation authorities temporarily suspended operations in four airports on Thursday, before lifting the restrictions: Allama Iqbal International Airport in Lahore, Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Islamabad International Airport, and Sialkot International Airport.

What’s the wider context?

Kashmir, famed for its picturesque lakes, meadows and snow-capped mountains, is at the heart of tensions between the two countries.

India and Pakistan both administer parts of it, as does China. But India claims all of it, and Pakistan claims Indian-administered Kashmir, too. Three of the four previous India-Pakistan wars have been over Kashmir, which spans 22,200 sq km (8,570 square miles).

India has for years blamed Pakistan for supporting, arming, and training armed groups seeking secession from India. Pakistan has insisted it provides only moral and diplomatic support to Kashmir’s separatist movement.

New Delhi blamed April’s attack on an obscure group, The Resistance Front (TRF), and claimed it was Pakistan-backed. Islamabad, however, has denounced the attacks and denied involvement, calling for a “transparent, credible, impartial” investigation into the incident.

Both countries, with a combined population of 1.6 billion, are nuclear powers, raising fears among security experts that further escalation could be disastrous.

Canadians have long spent wintertime in Florida, trading in frigid temperatures for the Sunshine State’s sunny beaches and spending money in restaurants and hotels that cater to Canadian tourists.

But President Donald Trump’s rhetoric and actions targeting Canada have given some Canadians pause about spending money in the United States. Trump has repeatedly said Canada should become the 51st US state, called then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “governor” and enacted substantial tariffs.

Canadians replied, “excusez-moi?” and, on April 28, elected Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal Party. And according to a Florida congressman, many Canadians also ditched their Florida travel plans.

In a May 1 interview with Representative Jared Moskowitz, a Democrat who represents parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer said he had heard from friends in Boca Raton, Florida, that many Canadians are not travelling to the state because of Trump’s actions. Blitzer asked Moskowitz: “Have you noticed a drop in Canadian tourism to Florida?”

Moskowitz said: “It’s 80 percent less is what we’re seeing in the travel data.”

When we asked Moskowitz’s team for comment, his spokesperson Christopher Bowman said Moskowitz referred to an April 2 report by WPTV, the NBC affiliate in West Palm Beach. The WPTV report said, “Airline reservations from Canada to Florida are down 76 percent this April compared to April 2024.”

WPTV’s report cited OAG, an aviation firm. In a blog post, the firm said April bookings recorded in March for the entire US-Canada market were down 75.7 percent compared with March 2024. It did not report Florida-specific numbers.

OAG said the nationwide drop “suggests that travellers are holding off on making reservations, likely due to ongoing uncertainty surrounding the broader trade dispute“.

We found other sources of data pointing to a decline in Canadian visitors to Florida, but by much less than the 80 percent cited by Moskowitz.

In 2024, more Canadians travelled to Florida by air (2.1 million) than by other means (1.1 million), such as road travel, according to Visit Florida, the state’s tourism arm.

Some data points to Canadian tourism drop, but full picture not yet available

Statewide estimated visitor data for the first quarter of 2025 won’t be available until May 15, according to Visit Florida. In 2024, about 3.27 million Canadians visited Florida, representing about 2 percent of tourists to the state.

Governor Ron DeSantis’s office said in April that in January and February, Florida saw a “0.5 percent increase in Canadian air visitation” compared with the same months in 2024.

Aviation firms and airports have said they’ve seen decreases.

OAG Chief Analyst John Grant told PolitiFact that in early March, there were 698,000 scheduled airline seats, or seats made available by airlines, between Canada and Florida from May to August. “That now stands at 628,000, so a reduction of 10 percent,” he said. He noted that his firm’s data includes anyone booked on a flight between Canada and the US, so a traveller could be a connecting passenger from China travelling via Vancouver to Denver, for instance.

Courtney Miller, founder of aviation data firm Visual Approach Analytics, told PolitiFact that Canadian airline seats to Florida are down by 13 percent for May and 10 percent for June compared with the same periods in 2024.

“I have not seen any data that suggest 80 percent,” Miller said. “We are seeing overall Canadian travel to the entire US down no more than 25 percent.”

A Visual Approach Analytics analysis showed that from January to March 27, two Florida airports – Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Orlando International Airport – had the biggest decrease in monthly arrivals from Canadian airlines, at 20 percent and 12 percent, respectively.

Other Florida areas are also experiencing declines in travel. “Fort Myers and Palm Beach are down 30 percent and 43 percent, respectively, compared to April schedules as they existed on January 1, 2025,” the analysis said.

A Miami International Airport spokesperson told PolitiFact that from January 1 to April 23, the number of arriving passengers from Canada was down 5.9 percent.

National data for Canada-US road travel also shows a drop.

US Customs and Border Protection data shows about 4.1 million travellers arriving from the northern border in March 2025, compared with 4.9 million the same time last year – a 17.4 percent decrease. The data doesn’t specify whether the travellers entered the US as tourists.

Richard Clavet, a longtime owner of Hollywood, Florida, motels and hotels, said his properties for years have attracted Canadians who gather at the pool or Friday night hot dog cookouts. Clavet told PolitiFact he saw a drop in Canadian visitors starting in February.

“A lot of them were blaming it on the political situation,” said Clavet, who is originally from Quebec. “They were not happy with the way Trump was talking about their prime minister. They wanted to boycott the US and make a statement so a lot of them cancelled.”

Clavet estimated that in recent months the number of Canadians staying in his properties was 50 percent less than last winter.

Usually, Canadians rush to book for the following year, but that hasn’t happened this year, Clavet said.

“They want a piece of the sun where it’s safe, the weather is great, that’s what I have been working on for so many years,” Clavet said. “I really enjoyed dealing with Canadians; hopefully they will come back.”

Our ruling

Moskowitz said Canadian tourism to Florida has declined by 80 percent.

His office pointed to information from a TV report, which cited information from aviation data firm OAG. The firm said April airline bookings recorded in March for the entire US-Canada market were down 75.7 percent compared with 2024. It did not report Florida-specific numbers.

Other data sources confirm a drop in Canadian tourism to Florida, but by far less than the percentage cited by Moskowitz. For example, individual airports in Florida cited declines from 6 percent to 43 percent over a few months.

The statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression. We rate it Mostly False.

After over a decade of displacement, 63-year-old Fanne Goni believed life was finally returning to normalcy for her, her husband, and their seven children. It was 2019, and the Borno State government had announced the resettlement of displaced families to Kawuri, their hometown in northeastern Nigeria.

During those long years away, Fanne and her family stayed in a relative’s house in Maiduguri, the state capital. It had been offered to them after they fled their village. However, the living conditions were deplorable. 

The town looked familiar and strange when the government eventually conveyed Fanne’s family and other households to Kawuri. Streets once alive with children’s laughter, cultural monuments, and sacred groves were now overgrown with weeds. Their crumbled mud homes were replaced with newly constructed housing units, uniform in shape and pale in colour.

For Fanne, stepping into her new home brought relief and a hope that the long years of suffering were finally behind them.

But it wasn’t. Not even close.

Every essential supply they had brought was gone a few months after their return.

“We are left with nothing,” Fanne said.

The harsh reality soon set in. They needed to rebuild their means of livelihood, but the persistent presence and growing threat of Boko Haram insurgents made that nearly impossible. 

“We lack access to clean water and functional schools. Our children aren’t attending school, and the little we gather from the bush is taken from us at night,” she told HumAngle. “There are structures now. But no teachers because of the insecurity. Even those among us who are qualified to teach can’t do so. The schools are there, but they don’t function.”

What was meant to be a fresh start slowly began to feel like another form of displacement, this time, without leaving home. 

Healthcare offered no comfort either. Fanne recalled falling seriously ill and being taken to the local clinic. “There were no drugs, no doctor to treat me. They had to refer me to the University Teaching Hospital in Maiduguri,” she recounted. 

Then came a more personal blow. Her 18-year-old daughter, Kaltum Batuja, married a man who used to be a Boko Haram insurgent. Without telling anyone, Kaltum followed her husband to Sambisa Forest to live with the terror group.

“They married without our knowledge,” Fanne said. “Now I have two children with Boko Haram and the rest with me.” The other children had been abducted by the insurgents years earlier.

Although eloping may not be unusual in Kawuri’s folklore, a young girl running away with a terrorist deserter was seen as an abominable act that left the entire community in shock.

By November 2024, life in Kawuri had become unbearable. Insecurity, hunger, and the constant threat of Boko Haram attacks made living an everyday life impossible. Quietly, families began fleeing—one after the other. Fanne’s family slipped away at night in December, resettling again in Dalori, a village near Maiduguri.

We returned to Kawuri, but nothing worked. We were forced to leave again,” she said.

Once again displaced, Fanne now tries to piece her life together, just as she had tried to do in Kawuri. She now supports herself by processing and selling groundnuts. With ₦3,000 a month, she rents two small rooms in Dalori’s 1000 Housing Unit.

A fragile settlement 

Unlike many other towns and villages in Borno State, Kawuri, a roadside town, was displaced as early as 2014, at the height of Boko Haram’s violent rampage against local communities. Situated along the Konduga–Bama road, Kawuri was once a prominent and historic settlement in Konduga Local Government Area, a place its people proudly called home.

The residents were predominantly farmers and traders, while the community’s hunters were well known for their skilled game activities in the nearby Sambisa Forest, which has now become a stronghold for the insurgents. All of that changed when terror seized everything, forcing the entire population to flee and leaving behind only silence and ruins.

For over a decade, Kawuri’s displaced population lived in makeshift camps and host communities across Maiduguri, or crossed borders into neighbouring countries like Cameroon, Chad, and Niger, waiting for a chance to return home.

That opportunity came in 2019, when the Borno State government began an ambitious programme to repatriate displaced communities. Kawuri was among the first to be resettled. As part of the effort, 500 housing units and additional shelters were constructed to accommodate returnees who had spent years in exile.

Upon their return, residents began rebuilding their lives, turning to small-scale farming and firewood collection to survive. Despite security presence, locals told HumAngle the forces were limited in their capacity to defend the community, relying largely on rudimentary trenches.

Kawuri’s proximity to the Sambisa Forest soon turned fragile hope into renewed fear. The surrounding bushes became deadly terrain. Insurgents began abducting and killing people who ventured out to farm or fetch firewood.

The son of Bunu Modu Jiddor, a 75-year-old retired civil servant, was one of the victims. “We paid a ransom to get him back,” he said. The abductors demanded a million naira as ransom at first, according to Bunu, but eventually they negotiated ₦250,000 for his release.

With time, Boko Haram insurgents carrying rifles started infiltrating the town more frequently. Locals told HumAngle that the insurgents would steal foodstuffs, clothes, buckets, and household items, often breaking into homes and looting at will, with no resistance from the terrified population. 

Some Kawuri residents, desperate to survive, reluctantly agreed to run errands for the insurgents. In a region where venturing into the bush to fetch firewood is vital for daily living, complying with their demands often meant avoiding harassment or violent attacks. 

“When our wives and children go to the bush to collect firewood or fetch water, Boko Haram stops them,” said Kadai Kawuri, a 72-year-old elder from Dubdori ward in Kawuri, who has been displaced twice in the past decade. “Sometimes, they demand something before allowing them to pass. Other times, they kidnap them, and we’re forced to gather what little we have to pay ransom.” 

Cooperating with the insurgents, residents explained, was never out of loyalty; it was a desperate strategy to preserve a fragile semblance of peace and reduce the risk of becoming a target during routine activities.

But this uneasy relationship brought more trouble. Local sources said the Civilian Joint Task Force (CJTF) and soldiers began arresting people suspected of delivering items like salt, seasoning cubes, or cassava to the insurgents. Anyone caught was taken to military barracks. Fearing arrest, many avoided such errands entirely.

While some arrests were justified, community members say they are also subject to harassment and false accusations. “Sometimes they just pick someone and say he’s working with Boko Haram, even when it’s not true,” said Kadai. “They have accused people unfairly, and it causes fear and division among us.”

These accusations have made it difficult for the community to rebuild trust and stability. Instead of feeling protected, some residents now feel watched and judged, adding another layer of anxiety to an already fragile resettlement experience.

The situation escalated further when security agencies began punishing and prosecuting those found guilty of trading with Boko Haram. According to Abbagana Mohammed, a resident, this provoked the insurgents into retaliating with violence. “They took violent action against men, women, and children of Kawuri,” he said. 

In a chilling warning, over 200 armed Boko Haram members on motorbikes and vehicles stormed into Kawuri, and their message was simple: “If the community continued to refuse their errands, they would return to slaughter everyone, and burn the village down,” recalled a resident who declined to be named for fear of retaliation.

Caught between the wrath of Boko Haram and the suspicion and harassment of state security forces, Kawuri residents found themselves with no safe option. This unbearable pressure forced many to quietly flee again, abandoning the homes they had just begun to rebuild.

“There was nothing anyone could do. People left,” said Kadai. He fled his ancestral home to Dalori just four months before HumAngle met him.

Kawuri’s hope was sown, sprouted, and then withered, all within just four years of resettlement. 

Could this be considered a failed return?

Renewed threats

Through investigations and field visits, HumAngle has been closely monitoring the conditions of resettled communities across Borno State, particularly those repatriated over the past couple of years. 

Rather than returning to stability, many returnees have found themselves in even more difficult and insecure living conditions. Like Kawuri, these communities live under the constant threat of insurgent attacks and within tight military restrictions. Returnees report living in fear, with limited access to farmland and strict rules on what crops can be grown, often confined to shorter varieties like groundnuts, beans, and millet, making long-term food security nearly impossible.

In recent weeks, resettled communities across Borno have faced renewed threats from Boko Haram and its splinter faction, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). These insurgent groups have launched deadly attacks on several communities where residents had only just returned to their ancestral homes.

On April 17, for instance, militants stormed Yamtake in Gwoza Local Government Area, killing two soldiers and an unconfirmed number of civilians in a coordinated nighttime assault. A day earlier, suspected insurgents attacked Pulka, a community hosting thousands of resettled families, triggering heavy gunfire and sporadic shooting.

In Kirawa, a quiet border town near Cameroon, two local vigilantes were killed on Friday, April 25, while trying to repel a Boko Haram attack. The victims, Abba Aja and Abbaye Shettima, were members of the local hunters and vigilante group protecting the community. They died instantly during a confrontation with the insurgents around noon.

Locals in Kirawa blame the persistent insecurity in their community on the continued use of the Kirawa–Pulka road, which they say has become increasingly dangerous due to Boko Haram’s stronghold along a critical crossing point. 

“There is a Boko Haram crossroad between two deserted towns, Manava and Sabon Gari,” Mohammed Amada, a councillor representing Kirawa Jimini Ward, told HumAngle. “They use it frequently to move between the mountainous terrain and the Sambisa Forest.” 

Two years ago, HumAngle published a video documentary exposing the poor condition of this treacherous road and the grim realities faced by repatriated residents, just a year after their return to Kirawa.

The two vigilantes recently killed had been stationed at this strategic junction to help secure safe passage for military-escorted convoys.

“Our main challenge is the lack of active and effective security operations. We are calling on the government to strengthen the military base here,” Amada lamented. “Most of the security work, like escorts and patrols, is left to the vigilantes and Civilian Joint Task Force members.”

They often work without enough weapons, pay, or support. Some have even quit because they haven’t been paid for months.

According to Amada, the community has repeatedly appealed to the security forces, including the Multinational Joint Task Force, to increase their presence by conducting regular escorts for commuters and patrol operations along the dangerous road. However, he said, those requests have gone unanswered.

Kirawa was once a ghost town after Boko Haram attacked and seized it in 2014. 

For almost a decade, its people lived in displacement camps across Nigeria or as refugees in Cameroon, waiting for the day they could return home.

That opportunity came in 2022, when the government began resettling communities. Kirawa was among them, and its people returned with hope to rebuild their homes, restart farming, and live in peace.

However, since their return, many families have faced hardship. Schools lack teachers and teaching materials. The health clinic is often closed because it lacks staff and amenities like electricity and medicine. Enough clean water is still hard to find, and residents usually walk back into Cameroon to access healthcare, buy medicine, or seek basic services.

When night falls, fear takes over. Boko Haram elements continue to infiltrate the town. People sleep with one eye open, and some even cross the border to sleep in Cameroon, only returning to Nigeria in the morning.

About 15,000 individuals from over 2,500 households were reported to have returned to Kirawa in 2022. However, within just two years, that population has declined drastically. According to the local councillor, the number of households remaining has dropped to around 1,500, as families continue to flee.

In February, the Borno State government led a delegation to repatriate over 7,000 Nigerian refugees from the Republic of Chad, where they had sought refuge for a decade after fleeing their communities in Nigeria. However, shortly after their cross-border return, many faced significant challenges, including inadequate security, food shortages, limited access to safe farmlands, and a lack of essential services such as healthcare and functional education. These hardships forced some to flee again, returning to Chad for the safety and stability they had left behind.

Coupled with continued attacks on resettled communities across Borno State, residents say it only reinforces their doubt in the government’s capacity to protect lives, provide basic services, and maintain stability.

There’s even a more brutal blow to this fragile trust. HumAngle’s investigation recently found issues relating to a lack of accountability from private and government bodies implementing projects and services in these resettled communities. These findings raise critical questions about the sustainability and safety of resettlement efforts in regions where the threat of violence is resurfacing across the Lake Chad region and targeting of repatriated communities is evident.

However, local authorities continue to resettle internally displaced families. Just last week, over 6000 residents of the Muna IDP camp in Maiduguri, one of the largest displaced persons settlements in the state, were set to be resettled to their ancestral homeland. While this marks a significant step in closing down the remaining IDP camps in the state capital, the experiences of residents in resettled communities like Kawuri and Kirawa raise disturbing concerns that the Muna resettlement may repeat past failures. 

Ukraine’s Zelenskyy has not committed to abide by the measure, standing by his offer of a 30-day ceasefire.

Ukraine has accused Russia of bombing the Sumy region after the latter’s unilaterally declared three-day ceasefire started.

Ukraine’s air force said on Thursday that Russian aircraft launched guided bombs on the Sumy region of northern Ukraine three times after midnight local time (21:00 GMT), when Vladimir Putin’s May 8-10 ceasefire entered into force.

The Kremlin has claimed the brief ceasefire – coinciding with the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II – will “test” Kyiv’s readiness for peace but Ukraine has slammed it as a farce.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has not committed to abide by the truce, insisted on Wednesday that his country stood by its offer to observe a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Russia.

“We are not withdrawing this proposal, which could give diplomacy a chance,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. Russia, he said, had made no response to the 30-day offer except for new strikes.

The United States, which has placed both countries under pressure to make peace, proposed the 30-day ceasefire in March, but Moscow said the measure could only be introduced after mechanisms to enforce and uphold it are put in place, later proposing the three-day truce as a “humanitarian” gesture.

Military parade

Apart from the two launches of guided bombs, there were no reports in Ukraine of any Russian long-range drones or missiles being launched on Ukrainian cities, Ukraine’s air force said early on Thursday.

The Kremlin has said Russian forces will honour Putin’s order for the duration of the holiday, but will respond “immediately” if Ukraine launches any fire.

As part of the anniversary events, Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping and other leaders in Moscow and will review a military parade on Moscow’s Red Square on May 9.

Hours before Putin’s order was scheduled to enter force, Moscow and Kyiv staged aerial attacks, prompting airport closures in Russia and killing at least two people in Ukraine.

In Wednesday’s video address, Zelenskyy also appeared to acknowledge Ukraine’s targeting of Russian sites as the World War II commemorations approached.

“It is absolutely fair that Russian skies, the skies of the aggressor, are also not calm today, in a mirror-like way,” he said.

Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir – As the camera panned around a home blown up by the mortar fire in Poonch, an embattled hill city perched on the disputed border between India and Pakistan, a disembodied female voice cried out.

“This is a calamity.”

The video, shared with Al Jazeera by locals in Poonch, revealed a collapsed staircase, large craters in the walls, and a courtyard cluttered with rubble and clothes, and painted in blood.

“Everything I built is in ruins,” the voice exclaimed, loaded with anguish.

At least 11 people have been killed in Poonch district from Pakistani firing into Indian-administered Kashmir since early May 7, in retaliation for Indian missile strikes that hit multiple sites across Pakistan’s Punjab province and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The Indian strikes – themselves a response to a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22 – mark the most extensive attack on Pakistani soil since their 1971 war that ended with the eastern wing of Pakistan lopped off, resulting in the creation of Bangladesh.

Yet, as the nuclear-armed neighbours stand on the edge of a potential military conflict, many Kashmiris say they are facing the brunt of their tensions. Pakistan’s bombardment of Indian-administered Kashmir on Wednesday night was, according to locals and experts, the most intense shelling that villages and towns in the region have seen in more than 40 years.

“This was a night of terror,” Rameez Choudhary, a resident of Poonch, told Al Jazeera.

The dead, officials told Al Jazeera, included two siblings who were crushed to death after an exploding shell dropped on their house; two local store-owners who were hit by the raining munitions; a seven-year-old child; a teenage boy; a 35-year-old homemaker; and four other men.

The worst-hit villages in Poonch district were Shahpur, Mankote and Krishna Ghati, while shelling also intensified in Rajouri district’s Laam, Manjakote, and Gambhir Brahmana areas as residents fled to safety.

‘This war has been forced upon us’

The border skirmishes have followed the deadly attack at the tourist resort town of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir two weeks ago, in which 26 people, mostly Indian visitors holidaying in the disputed region, were killed.

During the wee hours on Wednesday, Indian military warplanes arced across the skyline and fired missiles and other munitions into neighbouring Pakistan. Indian authorities said they targeted at least nine locations inside Pakistan.

India charges Pakistan with supporting the armed group that attacked Indian tourists. Pakistan, however, has denied the accusation. India claims its missiles hit “terror base camps”, but Pakistan says the strikes killed 31 people, all of whom were “innocent civilians”.

The scale and spread of the current military tensions – India struck four cities separated by hundreds of kilometres in Pakistan’s Punjab province, in addition to sites in Pakistan-administered Kashmir – make them even graver, in some ways, than the last war between the neighbours in 1999, say some experts.

Back then, servicemen from the Pakistani army had disguised themselves as rebel fighters and taken up positions in the snow-covered, craggy mountains of Kargil, territory under de facto Indian control, leading to a conflict. Hundreds of soldiers died on each side, but the battles were – unlike this week – contained to Kargil.

“This war has been forced upon us. The [Pahalgam] attack was aimed at provoking a situation in which we have no option but to strike back,” said Tara Kartha, director at the Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS), a New Delhi-based think tank, and a former official at India’s National Security Council Secretariat.

To be sure, the countries came close to war in 2019 in the aftermath of the deadly attack in Pulwama town in South Kashmir when a suicide bomber blew up an Indian paramilitary motorcade, killing 40 Indian servicemen. Indian fighter jets fired missiles that struck Balakot in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

But according to Kartha, the current crisis is different.

“Both sides carefully managed 2019. Everything was kept confined to a certain limit. But this time, it has been brutal,” she said, while arguing that “India has been very mature”. Pakistan’s military and civilian government have, however, accused India of fanning the flames of war and escalating tensions.

Caught on the front lines of their confrontation are Kashmiris. On Wednesday, three different regions in Indian-administered Kashmir were struck by Pakistani shelling.

“Initially, we thought it was thunder. The skies rumbled at 1am,” Altaf Amin, a 22-year-old resident of Chandak village in Poonch, told Al Jazeera.

‘We don’t want war’

Poonch is just 10km (six miles) from the Line of Control (LoC), the contested border that separates the Indian- and Pakistan-controlled territories in Kashmir.  “The shelling has continued on and off since yesterday. But now, it has stopped,” said Amin.

Social media was quickly flooded with videos showing the severity of the human toll in the border shelling. A clip whose veracity was authenticated by Al Jazeera shows the bloodied body of a teenage boy being carried into a van in Poonch. One of his arms had been blown apart. The different segments in the same clip showed a lifeless body of a child, his head ripped open by a shell.

Amid it all, one refrain emerged loud and clear: “We don’t want war,” said Amin.

Yet, there is also anger on the ground against local authorities.

“People in Poonch are angry because there was no attempt to get them evacuated,” Zafar Choudhary, a political analyst and veteran journalist based in the Jammu region, told Al Jazeera.

Choudhary said that the strikes from the Pakistani side should have been anticipated by the Indian government, and people should have been evacuated to avoid the casualties.

“But none of that happened, which has left people infuriated. There’s a feeling that whenever the trouble between the two warring nations has erupted in the past, it is the people of these hill regions who have borne its brunt,” he said.

Silent guns roar again

The LoC traverses a 740km (459-mile) circuitous route through the mountains, forested ridges, alpine lakes and rivers of the disputed Kashmir region. The line came into being in 1949 after the newly independent India and Pakistan fought their first war over Kashmir, which was then one of the 565 princely states ruled indirectly by colonial Britain.

As both countries rallied their militaries to claim the picturesque region, they eventually settled for a stalemate that forced them to recognise each other’s spheres of influence. The ceasefire line was given recognition by the United Nations, which tried to mediate a referendum in Kashmir so that its people could choose their future.

The vote never happened, and both nations continued to spar occasionally along the disputed border. After the 1971 war that Pakistan lost to India, the ceasefire line was renamed as the LoC. In 2003, after a more than decade-long uprising in Kashmir began to subside, and both countries initiated a peace process to ease hostilities, India took advantage of the truce period to fence off its side of LoC with spools of concertina wire.

The two countries agreed to a ceasefire deal that they renewed in 2021.

Four years later, that agreement effectively lies in tatters.

‘This shelling is unprecedented’

Amin, the villager in Chandak, said that although artillery duels have been common in the border area, the guns had fallen relatively silent since both countries reaffirmed the 2003 ceasefire deal four years ago. “We are familiar with cross-border shelling. But this shelling is unprecedented.”

Another resident from Poonch, which is where most damage has taken place, said that people there have now started following a series of war protocols announced by the government, including building makeshift bunkers.

Residents said many schools in Chandak have been converted into relief centres, with provisions of food and other essentials.

Nearly 260km (162 miles) away from Poonch district, the residents of Salamabad Uri, a border village in Baramulla district, northern Kashmir, have fled their homes, too.

“Last night, the shelling was so intense that two houses were burned down and many people were wounded in the fire from across the border,” Mushtaq Ahmad, 40, a cab driver from the village, said. Ahmad has now moved to the town of Uri.

Salamabad, which is ringed by a pine-covered massif that juts out into Pakistan, has been devastated by near-continuous shelling. Powerful blasts have ripped away corrugated iron roofs from homes, exposing them to harsh sunlight. The inferno caused by the shelling has blazed through neighbourhoods, leaving behind smouldering debris.

“We fear the worst,” said Ahmad, adding that his two daughters, aged 9 and 11, are frightened.

“They are asking why it happened? Would we be killed?” Ahmad says, adding that the cross-border shelling started at 2am on Wednesday, and left two minors – a 13-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy – wounded.

Ghulam Muhammad Chopan, an 80-year-old resident, said that he felt too old to leave his home, but that there was no other option.

“At this age, I had to leave my house. At night, the firing was so intense that by dawn, the village was empty. Everyone fled,” he said.

In Wuyan town in Pampore, a highland area surrounded by a maze of escarpments where the prized Kashmiri saffron grows, townspeople said they were jolted out of their sleep at 1:30am after they heard a loud booming sound.

“A fireball exploded with a flash,” said Gulzar Ahmad, a resident. “I could see two aircraft. One of them returned promptly. But the other one that exploded, its wreckage had fallen into a school playground. Later, it started emitting acrid smoke that drew a large crowd.”

Pakistan claims it shot down five Indian fighter jets on Wednesday morning. While multiple independent reports suggest that at least three planes were indeed shot down, India is yet to confirm any such losses.

As uncertainty lingers over the escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan, locals in Indian-administered Kashmir are fearful and uncertain about their future.

Residents have started hoarding food, fuel and other essential items, anxious and desperate to survive violence they never invited.

“War should never be rejoiced. When the shells hit, they don’t ask your identity,” said Farooq Ahmad, a resident of Kamalkote village in Uri. “Those calling for the war do not know how it feels when a shell lands on your kids when they are asleep at night.”