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ABC News;What are Labor's core values, and what have they promised?;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/election-2025-what-have-labor-promised/105248518;Sun, 04 May 2025 07:39:43 +0000
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Anthony Albanese frequently pulled out a Medicare card during the campaign.
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ABC News;Votes in blue ribbon Sydney seat 'extremely close', result could take days;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/bradfield-sydney-north-shore-vote-close-lib-teal-contest/105245330;Sun, 04 May 2025 07:35:20 +0000
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Teal candidate Nicolette Boele is edging closer to winning the traditionally Liberal Sydney seat of Bradfield.
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ABC News;Peter Dutton rewrote history, just not in the way he had planned;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/election-dutton-liberal-rewrite-history/105249450;Sun, 04 May 2025 06:59:07 +0000
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Like his hero John Howard, Peter Dutton lost his seat while leader of the Liberals.
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ABC News;Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce reveals prostate cancer diagnosis;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/barnaby-joyce-to-have-prostate-cancer-surgery-after-re-election/105250398;Sun, 04 May 2025 06:32:05 +0000
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Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
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ABC News;Prince Harry fears he could be targeted due to military service;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/prince-harry-fears-being-targeted-for-military-service/105250238;Sun, 04 May 2025 06:09:28 +0000
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Prince Harry says the UK is his birthplace and will always be part of who he is.
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ABC News;Chinese Australians see frustration and humour in Liberal 'spies' claim;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/liberals-jane-hume-chinese-spies-claim-loses-seat-election/105250048;Sun, 04 May 2025 05:45:20 +0000
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Jane Hume's false claim that "Chinese spies" could be working with Labor didn't sway voters.
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ABC News;Katie Ledecky blasts past 9yo world record in ominous display;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/katie-ledecky-fires-warning-shot-with-stunning-800m-freest/105250606;Sun, 04 May 2025 05:31:01 +0000
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Katie Ledecky was thrilled to set a world record.
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ABC News;Victorians say Trump, nuclear power and NDIS swayed their votes;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/victorian-voters-react-federal-election-liberal-labor/105250460;Sun, 04 May 2025 05:13:39 +0000
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Many voters who spoke to the ABC on Sunday said they believed Australian voters made the right choice at the ballot box.
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ABC News;'Tough results' for Greens, as leader Adam Bandt fights close contest for his seat;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/greens-adam-bandt-close-max-griffith-loss-federal-election-2025/105250322;Sun, 04 May 2025 05:09:01 +0000
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Greens leader Adam Bandt at an early voting centre in Melbourne, May 2 2025.
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ABC News;Labor candidate who turned 21 on election night likely to win Senate seat;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/21-year-old-labor-candidate-federal-election/105250034;Sun, 04 May 2025 05:08:06 +0000
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SA Senate candidate Charlotte Walker, pictured with Hindmarsh MP Mark Butler, turned 21 on Saturday and is in pole position to win a seat.
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ABC News;There's no mistaking Dutton's campaign gave women the 'ick';https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/did-peter-dutton-nuke-himself-with-female-voters-/105249444;Sun, 04 May 2025 04:40:58 +0000
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Peter Dutton's language conflating working from home with "refusing to go to work" conveyed a set of values that was clearly heard by Australian women
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ABC News;Fast-food staff sprayed with unknown substance in filmed attack, police say;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/perth-burger-ice-cream-shop-attacked-with-noxious-substance-/105250548;Sun, 04 May 2025 03:49:45 +0000
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The attacks allegedly happened at two fast-food venues in Perth.
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ABC News;Anthony Albanese enters the Labor pantheon;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/albanese-history-two-party-preferred-election-win-labor-pantheon/105249446;Sun, 04 May 2025 03:21:02 +0000
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You have to go back to the wartime government of John Curtin to find a better Labor two-party preferred result.
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ABC News;Historic but 'bittersweet' bronze as Olympic qualification evades Aussie pair;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/australia-wins-historic-world-curling-bronze-medal-no-olympics/105250336;Sun, 04 May 2025 03:19:15 +0000
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Tahli Gill and Dean Hewitt were Australia's first-ever Olympic curlers in Beijing.
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ABC News;Liberals fail to win historically safe WA seat after ‘negative’ campaign;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/what-went-wrong-for-the-liberals-in-wa-after-labor-wins/105249948;Sun, 04 May 2025 03:11:34 +0000
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Liberal candidate Tom White failed in his bid to unseat Independent Kate Chaney in Curtin.
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ABC News;Labor set for easier Senate as Pocock, Lambie risk being sidelined;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/labor-set-for-easier-senate-federal-election-2025/105250414;Sun, 04 May 2025 03:10:13 +0000
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David Pocock has been re-elected but may no longer be a powerbroker with Labor set to gain ground, while Jacqui Lambie is not assured of being re-elected.
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ABC News;Live: Biggest Q-Clash in history pits in-form Lions against Suns;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/afl-round-eight-swans-giants-hawks-tigers-lions-suns/105250370;Sun, 04 May 2025 02:47:37 +0000
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Dayne Zorko in the warm-up before the Q-Clash.
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ABC News;Live: Panthers continue Broncos' torment as Cleary produces Magic Round classic;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/nrl-magic-round-panthers-broncos-storm-raiders-titans-bulldogs/105241706;Sun, 04 May 2025 02:01:56 +0000
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Nathan Cleary of the Panthers passes the ball during the round nine NRL match between the Penrith Panthers and Brisbane Broncos at Lang Park on May 04, 2025, in Brisbane, Australia.
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ABC News;Why some hotels in China don't accept foreign tourists;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/hotels-in-china-continue-to-knock-back-foreign-tourists/105229128;Sun, 04 May 2025 01:30:57 +0000
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Emily Qin travelled to China in January.
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ABC News;Justice hangs in the balance a year after Perth brothers killed in Mexico;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/mexico-perth-surfers-death-fight-for-justice/105197856;Sun, 04 May 2025 01:27:53 +0000
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WA brothers Jake (left) and Callum Robinson have been missing for several days in northern Mexico.
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ABC News;Vietnam War photographer reflects on fall of Saigon;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/vietnam-war-photographer-reflects-on-fall-of-saigon/105234892;Sun, 04 May 2025 00:51:24 +0000
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Sergeant John Fairley took photographs at orphanages in Vietnam.
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ABC News;No clear favourite as Liberals weigh Dutton successor;https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-04/liberal-leadership-four-contenders-federal-election-2025/105250010;Sun, 04 May 2025 00:37:40 +0000
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Andrew Hastie, Sussan Ley, Angus Taylor and Dan Tehan are likely leadership contenders.
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The Guardian;Middle East crisis live: Israeli ministers ‘approve plan to capture all of Gaza’;https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/may/05/israel-gaza-yemen-middle-east-crisis-live-updates;2025-05-05T08:52:08Z
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As news of Israel’s plans to for a renewed assault on the Gaza Strip emerge, Gaza rescuers said Israeli air strikes killed at least 19 people in the north overnight, AFP reports. Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on 18 March amid deadlock over how to proceed with a two-month ceasefire that had largely halted the war with Hamas, which was sparked by the militants’ October 2023 attack on Israel. The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said yesterday that at least 2,436 people had been killed since Israel resumed its campaign in March, bringing the overall death toll from the war to 52,535. An Israeli campaign group said that a new government plan for expanded military operations in Gaza is “sacrificing” hostages held in the Palestinian territory, AFP reports. “The plan approved by the cabinet deserves to be called the ‘Smotrich-Netanyahu Plan’ for sacrificing the hostages,” the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a statement on the plan adopted by Israel’s security cabinet. The reference was to far-right finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A report by Israel’s public broadcaster Kan, citing officials with knowledge of the details, said new plan to intensify operations in the Gaza Strip would be gradual and would take months, with forces focusing first on one area, Reuters reports. Such a timeline could leave the door open for a ceasefire and hostage release deal talks ahead of a visit by US president Donald Trump to the region next week, according to security cabinet minister Zeev Elkin. “There is still a window of opportunity until president Trump concludes his visit to the Middle East, if Hamas understands we are serious,” Elkin told Kan. Israel’s security cabinet approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified amount of time, two officials said, AP reports. The plan was approved today and is part of Israel’s efforts to increase pressure on Hamas to free hostages and negotiate a ceasefire on Israel’s terms. The two officials said the plan also includes the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing military plans. Israeli ministers on Monday agreed to ramp up the war against Hamas in Gaza, an official said. Associated Press reported Israel has plans to capture more territory in the beleaguered Palestinian territory and call up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers. The plan, which the official said would be gradual, could mark a significant escalation in the fighting in Gaza, which resumed in mid-March after Israel and Hamas failed to agree on an extension to an eight-week truce. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. On Sunday, Israel’s military chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, said the army was calling up tens of thousands of reserve soldiers and said Israel would “operate in additional areas” in Gaza and continue to strike militant infrastructure. Israel already controls roughly half of Gaza’s territory, including a buffer zone along the border with Israel as well as three corridors that run east-west along the strip. These have squeezed war-weary Palestinians into ever shrinking wedges of land in the devastated territory. We will bring you more developments as we have them.
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The Guardian;VE Day 80th anniversary ceremony to begin with flypast and military procession in central London – live;https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2025/may/05/ve-day-80th-anniversary-ceremony-flypast-procession-king-charles-live-latest-news;2025-05-05T08:47:26Z
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Ten years ago, the Imperial War Museum released colourised, amateur footage shot in London on Victory in Europe Day that showed how people in their thousands turned out to celebrate in the capital. The actor Sheila Hancock, who was evacuated from her London home during the second world war, wrote for the Guardian on her memories of VE Day, reminding readers that it was a muted celebration marked as much by tragedy as triumph. In an extract, she writes: This month, we are commemorating the 80th anniversary of VE Day, and I worry that we will turn it into a yet another jingoistic celebration of the second world war. Yes, in 1945 we were relieved that the bombs and doodlebugs and rocket weapons had stopped, and we heard there was fun going on in the West End of London – but where I lived it was less jubilant. The war there felt far from over: we were still waiting anxiously for the return of the young lad next door from the rumoured horror of a Japanese prisoner of war camp, and many of my friends were trying to accept as fathers strange men they barely knew. The unspeakable details of the Holocaust were being revealed, and I imagine the grownups were utterly exhausted and often grief-stricken. For five years, they had lived under the threat of occupation. Churchill said we would fight them on the beaches and never surrender, but he did not deny that we could be invaded. In fact, it was a miracle we were not. And that threat is what the grownups lived with, and presumably, being unequipped, knew they could not withstand. More than 30 veterans of the second world war are to attend celebrations in London to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day. The Royal British Legion has worked with their families and the government to ensure as many as possible can be there to see 1,300 members of the armed forces take part in a procession through London, PA Media reports. The charity will also host a VE Day tea party and service of remembrance at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire on 8 May, the anniversary of VE Day, where they expect to see more than 40 Second World War veterans. A total of 31 veterans are to attend official events on Monday, including 26 who will watch the parade, which will head from Parliament Square to Whitehall, then to Trafalgar Square, Admiralty Arch, The Mall, and finally to Buckingham Palace. RAF veteran Alan Kennett, who will turn 101 on May 29, will formally start the parade as he receives the Commonwealth War Graves’ Torch For Peace from air cadet warrant officer Emmy Jones. Mr Kennett was in a cinema in Celle, north-central Germany, when the doors burst open as a soldier drove a jeep into the venue and shouted: “The war is over.” He said the cinema erupted with joy, and celebrations soon spread through the streets. The British public is largely unaware of the contribution made by soldiers from Commonwealth countries such as Jamaica and Kenya to the second world war, research has found, as campaigners say greater recognition of the diversity of those who fought against fascism will strengthen national unity. Community affairs correspondent Chris Osuh writes: Before the 80th anniversary of VE Day on 8 May, a FocalData poll for the thinktank British Future, which works to highlight integration, found “a strong public appetite” for greater awareness and teaching in schools of the diversity of the war effort – but a lack of knowledge about the contribution of Black and Asian personnel. The research found 86% of respondents agreed “all those who fought for Britain in the world wars, regardless of where they came from” should be commemorated and 77% felt remembering the “shared wartime history” of British and Commonwealth troops could help build cohesion in today’s “multi-ethnic society”. But only 24% of respondents were aware troops from Jamaica and Kenya fought for Britain, while only 34% were aware of Muslim soldiers’ contributions and only 43% knew about the service of Sikh personnel. The findings of the poll, from a representative sample of 1,079 adults, come as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) urges people to reflect on the “loss of so many from across the globe” this VE Day, which marks the official surrender of Nazi Germany. Read the full story here. Garrison Sergeant Major Vern Stokes, who is in charge of the VE Day military procession, said the participation of Ukrainian and Nato troops is a reminder that “allies really do matter”. He told BBC Breakfast that it is “right” for Ukrainian and Nato troops to take part in the procession in central London, where from midday 1,300 people will march along The Mall. He said: “Eighty years ago we were stronger together and today we are stronger together, and it’s just a reminder for us that allies really do matter and it’s nice for them to be able to take part.” Calling veterans the “VVIPs”, he added: “Today is very much their day and we’re very proud to be able to honour them.” Eighty years after Winston Churchill addressed the nation from Downing Street with the words “This is your victory!” a recitation of his famous VE Day speech will be broadcast as the nation commemorates the day the Allies formally accepted Germany’s surrender in 1945. The actor Timothy Spall, who portrayed Churchill in the film The King’s Speech, will read extracts from the wartime prime minister’s VE Day broadcast on Monday, as the Normandy veteran Alan Kennett, 100, formally starts the procession. In Whitehall the Cenotaph has been draped in a large Union flag, with the south and north face of the landmark covered. It is the first time the war memorial has been draped in Union flags since it was unveiled by King George V more than a century ago, in 1920. Crowds have started to gather on The Mall, with some arriving on Sunday evening to secure a good viewing spot. Alan Kennett, a 100-year-old Normandy veteran, will start the procession in London which is set to march down Whitehall, through Admiralty Arch and up The Mall towards Buckingham Palace. The King, Queen, Keir Starmer and second world war veterans will be on a platform on the Queen Victoria Memorial in front of Buckingham Palace. Members of the royal family are later expected to make an appearance on the Buckingham Palace balcony to watch the RAF flypast. On VE Day 1945, the then Princess Elizabeth, dressed in her Auxiliary Territorial Service uniform, slipped out of the palace and joined the cheering crowds outside incognito. She once described it as “one of the most memorable nights of my life”. Following her death in 2022, this year will be the first landmark VE Day commemoration without any of the royals who stood on the balcony that day. A Nato detachment, which will also include personnel from Poland, Lithuania and Sweden, will march in the procession wearing the uniforms of their respective nations under the Nato flag. Representatives of the Ukrainian military, selected from the UK armed forces’ training programme for Ukrainian recruits Operation Interflex, will also take part. Victory in Europe Day (VE Day) on 8 May 1945 was the day the allies accepted Nazi Germany’s surrender in the war in Europe. The war in the East did not end until 15 August 1945, when Japan surrendered on a day celebrated as Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day). At 3pm BST Winston Churchill spoke to the nation and announced that Germany had signed an unconditional surrender of all German land, sea and air forces in Europe to the Allied Expeditionary Forces and Soviet High Command. “Hostilities will end officially at one minute after midnight tonight,” he said. Later he made another speech, to cheering crowds, after he had made his way down Whitehall and on to the balcony of the ministry of health. Crowds had massed in Trafalgar Square and along the Mall to Buckingham Palace. My dear friends, this is your hour. This is not victory of a party or of any class. It’s a victory of the great British nation as a whole. We were the first, in this ancient island, to draw the sword against tyranny. After a while we were left all alone against the most tremendous military power that has been seen. We were all alone for a whole year. “There we stood, alone. Did anyone want to give in? Were we down-hearted? “The lights went out and the bombs came down. But every man, woman and child in the country had no thought of quitting the struggle. London can take it. “So we came back after long months from the jaws of death, out of the mouth of hell, while all the world wondered. When shall the reputation and faith of this generation of English men and women fail? “I say that in the long years to come not only will the people of this island but of the world, wherever the bird of freedom chirps in human hearts, look back to what we’ve done and they will say: ‘Do not despair, do not yield to violence and tyranny, march straightforward and die if need be-unconquered.’ “Now we have emerged from one deadly struggle – a terrible foe has been cast on the ground and awaits our judgment and our mercy. “But there is another foe who occupies large portions of the British Empire, a foe stained with cruelty and greed – the Japanese. I rejoice we can all take a night off today and another day tomorrow. “Tomorrow our great Russian allies will also be celebrating victory and after that we must begin the task of rebuilding our hearth and homes, doing our utmost to make this country a land in which all have a chance, in which all have a duty, and we must turn ourselves to fulfill our duty to our own countrymen, and to our gallant allies of the United States who were so foully and treacherously attacked by Japan. “We will go hand and hand with them. “Even if it is a hard struggle we will not be the ones who will fail.” Keir Starmer has praised the “selfless dedication” of those who have served in the military before the anniversary of VE Day as the government unveiled a new £50m support system for veterans. In an open letter to mark 80 years since the end of the second world war in Europe, the prime minister said the sacrifice made by members of the armed forces was a debt that could “never fully be repaid”. He said the country would show how thankful it was during events to commemorate VE Day, which signalled the end of fighting on 8 May 1945. “It was also a victory for good against the assembled forces of hatred, tyranny and evil,” Starmer wrote. “VE Day is a chance to acknowledge, again, that our debt to those who achieved it can never fully be repaid.” Starmer said his thoughts would turn both to those who served in the second world war and those who carried “the torch of their legacy” today. “Alongside our history and our values, service is the other great force that binds a nation together,” he said. “So this week, I want you to know: the whole nation is inspired by the selfless dedication of your example.” Midday BST: The ceremony begins in Parliament Square when Big Ben strikes midday, and an actor will recite extracts from the iconic Winston Churchill VE Day speech. A young person will then pass the Commonwealth War Graves Torch for Peace to Alan Kennett, 100, a Second World War veteran who served in the Normandy campaign. The Torch for Peace is an enduring symbol, honouring the contributions made by individuals, which will act as a baton to pass and share stories to future generations. At 12.10 BST The procession will make its way to Buckingham Palace. The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment and The King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery will then lead the procession from Parliament Square, down Whitehall and past the Cenotaph which will be dressed in Union Flags, through Admiralty Arch and up The Mall through to Buckingham Palace where the procession will finish. They will be followed by a tri-service procession group featuring marching members of the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the British Army and the Royal Air Force. Cadets from all three services and other uniformed youth groups will also take part in the procession to ensure the message of VE Day is handed down to a new generation. The Prime Minister and Second World War veterans supported by the Royal British Legion will watch the procession from a specially built dais on the Queen Victoria Memorial. The King and Queen will be joined by the Prince and Princess of Wales to watch the procession At 1.45pm BST a flypast featuring the Red Arrows and current and historic aircraft will take place The King and Queen will host a tea party at Buckingham Palace for veterans, families and members of the wartime generation. VE Day 80 street parties, picnics and community events will take place around the country. Welcome to live coverage of the UK commemorations of VE Day. On 8 May 1945, Winston Churchill announced that the war in Europe was over and crowd took to the streets to celebrate. Commemorative evens will be held across the UK and further afield over the next week to mark the anniversary with a procession down Whitehall and a flypast from the Red Arrows over central London later today. There will be a service in Westminster Abbey on Thursday and, in August, another commemoration of Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day).
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The Guardian;Monday briefing: How Australia became the second nation in a week to reject the Trumpist right;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/05/monday-briefing-how-australia-became-the-second-nation-in-a-week-to-reject-the-trumpist-right;2025-05-05T05:43:20Z
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Good morning. Last week, a left-of-centre party that had looked to be on the ropes triumphed after an astonishing turnaround partly triggered by the reverberations from Donald Trump’s arrival in the White House – and the Trump-adjacent leader of the rightwing party faced the humiliation of losing his seat. Well, it’s happened again. The Australian election was different from the Canadian one in a lot of ways. But a second term for Anthony Albanese and the Labor party, and such a crushing defeat for the Coalition leader, Peter Dutton, is a significant result – the first time an Australian prime minister has won a second term in 21 years, coming even as a growing number of voters turn their backs on the main parties. Labor’s victory will strengthen the case of those who think that offering a moderate alternative to the kind of chaotic politics unleashed by Trump is the right approach for progressive parties – but, as the news of far right success in Romania in the headlines below suggests, that is not a universal playbook. We’ll return to Romania in the weeks ahead. For today’s newsletter, I asked Lenore Taylor, editor of Guardian Australia, to unpack what just happened, what to expect from the returning Labor government, and whether the right will conclude that it’s time to abandon a Trumpist approach. Here are the headlines. Five big stories UK politics | The sacked former transport secretary Louise Haigh has urged Keir Starmer to avoid a “simplistic and naive” lurch to the right after Reform UK’s success in the local elections. Haigh, the most senior Labour MP to publicly criticise the party’s strategy, said that Labour was “shying away from the battles that we need to have”. Romania | An ultranationalist who opposes military aid to Ukraine, has vilified the EU’s leaders, and calls himself Donald Trump’s “natural ally” has won the first round of Romania’s rerun presidential vote and will face a centrist in the runoff. George Simion’s far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) began as an anti-vax movement during the pandemic. Middle East | Israel will strike back against Yemen’s Houthis after a missile fired by the militia movement hit close to Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport on Sunday. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel would respond to the attack “at a time and place of our choosing”. Terrorism | Eight men, including four Iranian nationals, have been arrested in armed anti-terrorist raids in England. Some of the suspects were planning a terrorist plot, police allege, amid growing concern about Tehran-backed plots in the UK. Greens | A leading Green has launched a surprise campaign to oust Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay as party leaders, saying the party needs to transform itself into a radical, mass-membership “eco-populism” movement. Deputy leader Zack Polanski said: “We should never turn into Nigel Farage. But there are things we can learn in terms of being really clear in speaking to people.” In depth: Collapse of conservative vote hands Labor a thumping victory As recently as February, YouGov’s MRP poll gave a 1% chance of a Labor government; by last week, that figure had rocketed to 97%. But while some models pointed to Labor being the largest party in a hung parliament, even the most optimistic analysts on the left didn’t expect the 85 seats (out of 151 in total) that they are on track to win, with the potential for even more in the final tally. The result is a renewed Labor government that will not need to rely on the support of smaller parties or independents to govern – and a rare moment of stability in Australian politics. “It’s an extraordinary achievement to win two terms in office,” Lenore Taylor said. “Albanese has a lot of political capital to spend now, and it’ll be very interesting to see how he does it.” *** How did it happen? You might imagine that an outright majority for the government would be an indication of a settled two-party system. But the evidence of the votes suggests that this was much more a story of disaster for the Coalition, the long-term right-leaning alliance of the Liberal and National parties, led by the Liberals. “What happened above anything else is that the conservative vote collapsed,” Lenore Taylor said. In this data analysis of the result, Nick Evershed points out that despite Labor’s success, once all the votes are tallied, more than a third of Australians may have voted for someone other than a Labor or Coalition candidate for the first time. It’s too early to have a firm understanding of why the polls overestimated Coalition support. “They all got burned in 2019, when they were absolutely sure Labor would win, and they were wrong,” Lenore said. “My suspicion is that they overcorrected their methodology, but we don’t know that yet.” An important factor in all this is Australia’s compulsory preferential voting system, which asks voters to rank their choices, eliminating the last-placed candidate until someone has a majority. (Here’s a useful explainer.) “When a third of the electorate is not voting for a major party, and you have a compulsory system, it’s really tricky to predict,” Lenore said. “People who aren’t engaged in politics but still have to vote are hard to poll accurately.” *** What does the result tell us about Labor and the Coalition? In an election dominated by housing and cost of living concerns, Albanese will feel vindicated for a steady, centrist approach despite the apparent threat on his left from the Greens (who ended up losing seats, and blamed it on Liberals in their target constituencies lending their votes to Labor). “Things changed a lot during the course of the campaign, but Labor stuck to its plan,” Lenore said. “There was a mood of aversion to conflict: Albanese promised to oversee a reforming government, but not a radical government.” The result was a “thumping victory for Labor. But it’s important to say that they had some good fortune: interest rates and petrol prices have come down recently, and the Liberal party comprehensively screwed it up.” On that subject: “Their policies were really poorly thought through,” Lenore said. “Dutton opposed a top-up tax cut introduced by Labor and presented himself as more fiscally responsible – and then a week later he announced his own tax rebate and a petrol tax cut even though prices were coming down anyway.” The Coalition actually had higher deficits projected for the next two years than Labor, not lower. “The view of Dutton you heard a lot from people was that he was all over the shop. The whole thing didn’t add up.” Sure enough, voters in his own constituency booted him out after 24 years. (He was gracious in defeat to Labor’s Ali France, a disability advocate who lost her leg in a car accident in 2011, and whose son Henry died of leukaemia last year. You can read more about her here, and see her remarkable tribute to Henry in her acceptance speech here.) The contrast between the pitches from the two sides worked out badly for the Coalition in a time when many Australians believe the economy has turned a corner: “Dutton kept saying, do you feel better off than three years ago? Whereas Labor were saying, this is how we will make you better off in three years’ time.” In this piece, political historian Judith Brett reflects on the dire position the Liberal party now finds itself in, perhaps as bad as any in its history since the Second World War. *** How significant an impact did Donald Trump have? It’s not long since Dutton was quite happy to take a tone that was strikingly reminiscent of Trump and the Maga movement: he has praised Trump’s grasp of “the art of the deal” over his suggestion that the US could take over Gaza; proposed a Doge-style government efficiency unit; promised to slash the education department; warned that young men are being “disenfranchised and ostracised” by diversity initiatives; and vowed a “war on woke”. He has also called Guardian Australia and national broadcaster the ABC “hate media”. All of that earned him the excellent nickname Temu Trump, in honour of the Chinese website known for cheap knock-offs of well known brands. The Coalition’s approach was modelled on the referendum over the Indigenous Voice proposal – a plan to establish a formal body for Indigenous people to advise on laws that was resoundingly defeated in 2023. “The Coalition ran a very nasty, negative campaign against the Indigenous Voice proposals, and they thought that that would be a template for a successful federal campaign,” Lenore said. “But then the reality of Trump governing hits, and suddenly that doesn’t work any more.” Trump’s ascent was not directly at issue in Australia in the same way it was in Canada – but, said Lenore, “it was incredibly influential background music. It’s not like people were thinking about him as they cast their vote for the most part. But his return to office has made that kind of politics anathema. And it may also be a sense of it being better to stick with the devil you know in an unstable wider world.” *** What does the result mean for climate policies? Australia’s per capita greenhouse gas emissions are the highest in the OECD, and the country is also one of the biggest exporters of fossil fuels – so climate policy really matters. In this piece published on Friday, Adam Morton lays out the stark differences between the two sides – even if neither is exactly inspiring for climate campaigners. The Coalition’s climate policies have been a significant victim of their vacation of the centre ground, Lenore said. “For as long as I can remember, the internal conflict has been between people who are climate sceptics and those who believe they need a credible policy. Their promise to build seven nuclear reactors in 10 years and do literally nothing in the meantime was not taken seriously. Nobody thought they would get built - it was climate scepticism in a thin disguise.” Now, Albanese’s climate policies – executed without the pressure of a Green bloc in government – will be a key measure of how he will govern. “He went into the last election promising to fix environmental laws that are not fit for purpose, but then it looked like doing that would cost them some seats, and it was shelved. Progressives will want him to return to serious climate action now – to roll out renewables further and faster, and to announce a renewed 2035 emissions reduction target.” What else we’ve been reading A wonderful birthday tribute to the Goat of national treasures David Attenborough: 99 nature lovers – one to mark each year of Sir David’s life – pay tribute including Barack Obama, Jane Fonda, Margaret Atwood and Billie Eilish. Annie Nicky Bandini writes powerfully about the experience of trans women like her since the supreme court’s ruling on the Equality Act last month: lives that feel “more difficult and less safe”, but which “are not suddenly going to fit neatly into the boxes you imagine for them”. Archie John Harris wonders whether Brits are all suffering “the political equivalent of road rage” as he writes about his experience of witnessing the bitterness and bad feeling underpinning local elections last week. Annie This picture essay by Christian Doyle is a beautiful document of the lives of a group of women born before the second world war. Doyle writes: “To the question ‘how are you today?’, the reply is invariably: ‘Oh, you know, I have my moments, but you’ve just got to get on with it, haven’t you?’” Archie The heavy price we are all paying now Ticketmaster has come to dominate the live music scene is laid bare in this comprehensive piece by Dorian Lynskey on the great gig ticket ripoff. Annie Sport Football | In the Premier League Chelsea beat Liverpool 3-1 at Stamford Bridge, consolidating their bid for a place in next season’s Champions League. In the days other games, Brentford beat Manchester United 4-3; Brighton Hove & Albion drew 1-1 with Newcastle United; and Westham United drew 1-1 with Tottenham Hotspur. Formula One | Oscar Piastri won the Miami Grand Prix from Lando Norris in second, stretching his lead in the drivers’ championship as the McLaren teammates dominated the race. George Russell completed the podium with a third place for Mercedes. Snooker | The Crucible qualifier Zhao Xintong took a commanding 11-6 lead over Mark Williams on day one of the final, getting the best of the three-time champion on the biggest stage of his career. The front pages The Guardian splashes on “Starmer urged to avoid ‘simplistic’ lurch to right after Reform success”, while the i has “Labour hopes immigration crackdown can halt Reform UK”. The Times says “EU blocks efforts to curb flow of migrants”. The lead story in the Telegraph is “Imminent suspected Iran ‘terror raid’ foiled” and the Daily Mail also has that – “‘Major terror plot by Iran’ is foiled”. “Please don’t give up your Ukraine support now” – that’s a Ukrainian second world war veteran’s message in the Express for VE Day. “Salute for my friends” – the Mirror also has the story of a veteran, aged 99 but still visiting Arnhem where he fought. Top story in the Financial Times is “Chinese exporters plot paths through third countries to dodge Trump tariffs”. Today in Focus Sabotage and secret identities: Russia’s spy network Shaun Walker reports on the history of Russia’s ‘Illegals’ programme and what it looks like today Cartoon of the day | Edith Pritchett The Upside A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad For a decade, Jeewanthi Adhikari watched as she was passed over for promotion time and time again. An aspiring hotel manager in Sri Lanka’s tourism industry, even if she made it to interview she was forced to field relentless questions about her commitment to her career and whether she was planning to have children. A few months ago, her big break came courtesy of Sri Lanka’s first all-female staffed hotel, Amba Yaalu. Now, as manager, she and her 83-female colleagues are not only looking after guests but busting gender stereotypes in a country where less than 10% of the tourism workforce is female. Amba Yaalu has recruited women from all different walks of life across the country. The hotel is already proving a hit with guests, hopefully helping to create a model that will provide the incentive for more hotel chains to follow suit. Bored at work? And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply
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The Guardian;Rights groups condemn arrest of Hong Kong activist Anna Kwok’s father and brother ;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/05/anna-kwok-father-brother-arrested-hong-kong;2025-05-05T04:23:58Z
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Human rights groups have condemned the arrest of relatives of Anna Kwok, an exiled pro-democracy activist who is wanted by the Hong Kong police, in the first example of the city’s national security law being used to target the family members of an activist living overseas. Kwok, 28, is the executive director of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, and is one of 19 overseas activists wanted by the national security police, who are offering bounties of HK$1m (£97,000) for information leading to arrest. Kwok’s father, 68, and her brother, 35, were arrested on 30 April on suspicion of “attempting to deal with directly or indirectly, any funds or other financial assets or economic resources belonging to, or owned or controlled by, a relevant absconder”. The police said the men were suspected of helping Kwok to change the details of a life insurance policy and withdraw its remaining value. Kwok’s father was charged and detained while her brother was released on bail pending further investigations. Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “The Chinese government has increased its appalling use of collective punishment against family members of peaceful activists from Hong Kong. The Hong Kong authorities should immediately and unconditionally release Anna Kwok’s father and cease harassing families of Hong Kong activists.” ChinaAid, a US-based human rights group, said: “This represents a deeply unsettling and significant escalation of the ongoing retaliatory actions against the families of exiled activists … this is a blatant attempt to silence overseas dissidents by targeting their family members at home, a tactic that brazenly disregards fundamental human rights and the rule of law.” Police in Hong Kong have repeatedly questioned the relatives of exiled activists. In recent months relatives of Tony Chung, Frances Hui and Carmen Lau, overseas pro-democracy activists who are also wanted by the Hong Kong police, have been questioned. Chung and Lau, who are in the UK, have both had threatening letters sent to their neighbours offering rewards for information leading to their capture. The arrests in Kwok’s case mark the first time that relatives have been criminally charged. Kwok’s father faces a sentence of up to seven years in prison if convicted. He has been denied bail with the case adjourned to 13 June, according to Reuters. The Hong Kong police and the Hong Kong Democracy Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Kwok could not be reached for comment.
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The Guardian;Greece’s booming tourism sector in race to find workers as summer season looms;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/05/greece-booming-tourist-economy-workers;2025-05-05T04:00:27Z
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On the facade of the Karyatis taverna in a plaza of palm trees and garden plants beneath the Acropolis, the notice says it all: “Seeking staff, chefs, waiters, kitchen personnel.” With record numbers of tourists slated this summer to visit Athens, the restaurant’s owners are not taking any chances. “It’s becoming harder and harder to find employees,” said Dimitris Stathokostopoulos, who runs the eatery with his brother. “Tourism is definitely on the rise but these days Greeks prefer to work 9 to 5 office jobs that don’t require putting in hours at night, or over the weekend.” In the countdown to the season getting into full swing, the search for staff to keep the industry afloat has assumed an unexpected urgency. Greece may be among Europe’s most popular destinations but workers are in short supply. Shortages are such that just weeks away from tourists flying in, an estimated 80,000 work slots have yet to be filled in the food and hotel sector – the backbone of an industry that, at 25% of GDP, is the engine of the Greek economy. Stathokostopoulos is not the only entrepreneur struggling to find staff to meet the demands of the popular taverna at what is likely to be the busiest time of the year. Nationwide, hoteliers are in race to find front desk managers, cleaners, lifeguards, door staff, waiters and cooks. On big-draw islands such as Crete and Rhodes, reports of hoteliers poaching employees from competitors with promises of better pay and work conditions have soared. “It’s partly a legacy of the [Covid-19] pandemic, which all of Europe has felt but in Greece the problem is particularly acute,” said Giorgos Hotzoglou, president of the Panhellenic Federation of Workers in Food Service and Tourism (POEET). “What we’re seeing is an unprecedented lack of qualified and experienced workers, especially in the hotel and food industry, following the exodus of employees during the lockdown. Many never returned. As a result an estimated 80,000 jobs are now needed.” For Hotzoglou the sector’s seasonality is to blame. “Once the season is over workers are entitled to only three months of unemployment benefit. When there’s a cost of living crisis, how are they expected the rest of the year to possibly survive?” Tourism is not the only sector hit by the labour shortages. Construction and agriculture have also been affected by the scarcity in a country not only confronting a dramatic demographic decline but still reeling from the exodus of more than 500,000 mostly high-skilled students and workers at the height of its near decade-long economic crisis. In a bid to address the problem, partly because of pressure from local MPs, the centre-right government has sought to legalise the status of about 30,000 unregistered migrants. It has also signed an array of bilateral agreements “for labour mobility” with third countries including Egypt, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Georgia, India and Moldova. “I’ve just received a recruitment offer from a company in Dubai that I’m considering,” said Stathokostopoulos. “A Bangladeshi is working in our kitchen and he’s excellent. It’s people from Asia and other parts of the world who are now applying for this type of work.” Asylum seekers, until recently languishing in refugee facilities, will take up jobs in northern Greece later this month after being trained by the Hellenic Hotel Association – a groundbreaking step in a nation where the coastguard and other officials have been accused by human rights groups of illegal pushbacks to keep migrants at bay. Since assuming the helm of the migration ministry in March, Makis Voridis, a former far-right student activist, has vowed to expel “illegal migrants”, tightening a government policy that takes a “tough but fair” approach to immigration. “It’s inconceivable that we’re discussing an increasing number of deportations when statistics show that in Greece 750,000 work positions will need filling by 2050,” said Sofia Kouvelaki, who heads the Home Project, an organisation that supports refugee and migrant children in Athens. “More than 1,400 kids have passed through our shelters and hundreds have thrived when given the opportunity in often very high-skilled jobs.” It is not lost on officials that Greece’s dilemma has also been spurred by its own success: in a resurgent economy that is also one of the fastest growing in Europe, unemployment rates have halved, dropping from 18% to 9%, over the past six years. “Five hundred thousand new jobs have been created in areas ranging from construction to logistics, retail services and healthcare,” said Spiros Protopsaltis, the governor of the Greek public employment service, DYPA. “The rhetoric around job vacancies is, I think, a little inflated but there are still untapped sources of labour … starting with women.” Time is of the essence. By 2028, Athens’ tourism ministry has forecast 40 million visitors – nearly four times the country’s population – a result of increased arrivals mostly from the emerging markets of India and China. The tourist season is also lengthening as travel habits change with climate change. Greece has begun actively recruiting abroad, holding career day job fairs in Germany, Holland and the UK. In addition to foreigners, the hope is that Greeks who left during the financial crisis will also return, said Protopsaltis. “We tell people: ‘come back,’” he said. “The Greek economy is not what you remember. It’s doing very well.”
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The Guardian;Explosive sex toys and cosmetics: the story behind the DHL parcels plot;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/05/explosive-sex-toys-and-cosmetics-the-story-behind-the-dhl-parcels-plot;2025-05-05T04:00:26Z
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On a frosty November morning last year, a broad-shouldered man with short grey hair staggered, exhausted, into a small guesthouse on the outskirts of Bosanska Krupa – a quaint Bosnian border town where ancient stone bridges span the emerald-green waters of the Una River. Alexander Bezrukavyi had been on the run for more than three months, pursued by European security services who accused him of working for Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU. Bezrukavyi, 44, had set out from Croatia on foot two days earlier, navigating dense Balkan forests and rugged hills to cross into Bosnia illicitly. As evening arrived, Bezrukavyi messaged his wife, promising her that they would soon be reunited in Russia, and contacted his friend to finalise his plans for getting back home, using new forged papers and a flight from neighbouring Serbia. But a few hours later, at about 2am, a group of Bosnian intelligence officers and police burst into his room. Bezrukavyi’s arrest was part of a Polish-led operation targeting a suspected Russian-backed criminal network. The cell is accused of sending parcels containing camouflaged explosives on cargo planes across Europe, triggering fires at three locations. Polish prosecutors believe Bezrukavyi was part of a plot to send shipments with explosives to the US and Canada, a brazen plan that would have marked a major escalation of a sabotage campaign that western security officials believe Moscow has unleashed over the past three years across Europe. Western security officials believe the exploding parcels could have led to a plane crash and mass casualties. When intelligence about the alleged plot reached Washington, it caused so much alarm that top officials in Joe Biden’s administration had called their Russian counterparts to demand that Vladimir Putin call it off. On 13 February, three months after his arrest in Bosnia, Bezrukavyi was extradited to Poland amid much fanfare. An image published in Polish media showed a man in handcuffs, chained at the ankles, being escorted off a plane by two masked law enforcement officers. “A Russian hiding in Bosnia-Herzegovina, suspected of coordinating acts of sabotage against Poland, the US, and other allies, was extradited to Poland and arrested by court order,” the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, wrote on X. The country’s interior minister described his extradition as “a serious blow to the Russian sabotage network in Europe”. This exclusive account – based on the first known interviews with two direct participants in the parcel operations, as well as others close to Bezrukavyi’s group and current and former western intelligence sources – reveals previously unreported details into how the Russian sabotage campaign played out, and the multinational effort to track down the wider network behind it. It also raises questions about the chain of command in today’s Russian intelligence operations, in which staff officers tend to remain in Moscow, leaving the dirty work on the ground to proxies and recruits. The Polish prosecutor, in a statement, said Bezrukavyi would be charged “with coordinating acts of sabotage in Poland and other countries, consisting of setting fire to buildings and sending courier packages with incendiary materials”. In communications with those close to him, Bezrukavyi has claimed he was duped – unknowingly used to deliver packages coordinated via the Telegram messaging app, without understanding their true purpose. Others in the group claimed the same. “We were being used like blind mules,” one of them told the Guardian. “We were set up.” On the run across Europe Bezrukavyi grew up in Rostov-on-Don, a Russian city near the Ukrainian border, where court records suggest he has a long history of violent offences. Over the years, he faced multiple criminal charges, including illegal possession of weapons, burglary, robbery and drug-related crimes. According to those who know him from his time in Russia, he made much of his money in various smuggling schemes in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, including moving cigarettes across the separatist-controlled border into Russia. In 2019, Russian court documents show he was briefly detained and later charged with participation in an organised criminal ring. Before he could be re-arrested, he fled to Ukraine and settled in Kharkiv – a city nearly captured by Russian forces in the early days of the invasion. As the war raged, Bezrukavyi supposedly lay low in Ukraine, eventually managing to leave for Moldova on 17 February 2024, according to leaked border data. By May, he had entered the Schengen zone via Croatia, and later obtained Spanish residency through a fictitious marriage to a Ukrainian woman. “He couldn’t return to Russia because he was still wanted there, so he stayed in Europe waiting for Moscow to drop the charges,” claimed his real wife, Natalia, in a phone interview. The Guardian has a photograph of Bezrukavyi’s Spanish residency permit. From Spain, Bezrukavyi moved to Warsaw, where he hung out with a group of Ukrainian friends and acquaintances. He shared a flat on the city’s outskirts with Vyacheslav Chabanenko, a clean-shaven Ukrainian, nicknamed “Ponchik” or “Doughnut” for his stocky physique, whom Bezrukavyi had met back in Kharkiv. Chabanenko also had a criminal past, allegedly spending five years in a Russian jail for beating his wife and mother-in-law. He also became friends with Serhiy Yevseyev from the Ukrainian city of Lutsk, who was later detained and is believed to have aided the operation. In the summer of 2024, the group reportedly began searching for jobs among Russian-language Telegram channels commonly used by Ukrainian refugees. Amid the legitimate job listings and housing tips, they apparently came across an anonymous account that went by the name VWarrior, which Polish authorities believe was operated by a GRU handler. The account began offering courier jobs paying hundreds of dollars per assignment. A close associate of Bezrukavyi who supplied cars for the operation disclosed new details of the parcel shipments to the Guardian. “The packages looked very random – sex toys from China, vibrators, lubricants, cosmetics … we thought it was pretty worthless shit,” said Kirill, whose name has been changed to allow him to speak freely, and who is hiding from law enforcement in a third country, outside Europe and Russia. Kirill said an account they knew only as VWarrior would send the group lists of items to buy via Telegram, which they would then collect and pack into boxes. Kirill said the account would post from several different accounts, all with names that included the word “warrior”. VWarrior usually tasked the group with delivering the boxes from one location to another across Poland and Lithuania, though on at least two occasions, he instructed them to send them via DHL, according to Kirill. All payments to the couriers were done in cryptocurrency. “It could be true that the purpose of the parcels was sinister,” Kirill admitted. “We just wanted easy money, work that wouldn’t involve drugs or weapons … but it turned out to be some packages to test some fucked up shit,” he said. Polish officials would later discover that at least one of the parcels sent by Bezrukavyi’s group concealed a homemade incendiary device, hidden among the sex toys and reportedly crafted from a cocktail of chemicals, including highly reactive magnesium. Multinational race to find culprits Over the course of three days in July, European security agencies were shaken by three separate package explosions – each sent from Lithuania – that detonated in Birmingham, UK; Leipzig, Germany; and near Warsaw, Poland. Western security agencies were quick to suspect Russian intelligence was behind the incidents, which came amid a series of other hostile acts – including arson, cyber-attacks, data theft and the targeting of undersea cables. It was a fourth package – sent by another member of Bezrukavyi’s network – that helped Polish authorities piece together what was happening. Dispatched from Vilnius on 18 July, the parcel was prepared by a Ukrainian national, Vladyslav Derkavets, and disguised as a shipment of cosmetics and sex toys. Unlike the others, the package failed to detonate at a depot in Warsaw, allowing investigators to recover it intact and analyse its contents. Reuters earlier reported that the devices were rigged to ignite using pre-set timers repurposed from inexpensive Chinese electronics typically used for tracking lost items. Their impact was intensified by tubes disguised as cosmetics, which were actually filled with a flammable gel containing compounds such as nitromethane. The Guardian obtained what a second source involved in the scheme described as a photograph of the alleged order before it was dispatched. The image – the first of its kind to be published – shows four massage pillows, along with several cosmetic tubes and sex toys, laid on a mattress. The source said the shipment was coordinated by the VWarrior account who paid for it via cryptocurrency, specifically the Tether crypto token, through a middleman. According to information seen by the Guardian, a cryptocurrency wallet said by a source to be linked to VWarrior transferred the equivalent of $960 (£720) to another wallet in July as payment for the delivery. A screenshot of the VWarrior telegram account, no longer active, shows a person in tactical gear and helmet, face hidden. The Guardian was unable to reach VWarrior for comment. It remains unclear what role exactly Bezrukavyi and his associates played in the three parcel deliveries that caught fire. However, all the couriers appear to have operated within the same network and transported similar content of sex toys and massage pillow devices. As European officials set off on a multinational race to find the culprits behind the mysterious fires, Bezrukavyi’s group continued their courier work, apparently under the instructions of VWarrior. On 1 August, Bezrukavyi, together with Chabanenko, strolled through a market on the outskirts of Warsaw. They picked out two pairs of Nike sneakers and six sets of sportswear, stuffing them into a plastic bag. VWarrior then instructed them to ship the goods to fictitious addresses in Washington and Ottawa via DHL. These shipments appear to have raised suspicion among Polish security services, who had already been on high alert after the string of explosions. Sending American-branded clothes back to North America – at steep transatlantic shipping costs – made little sense. Polish investigators soon concluded the packages with clothes did not contain explosives in contrast to the other shipments. Instead, the shipments, they believed, were a test – a dry run to probe international delivery routes and timing for future Russian operations to target North American-bound cargo. After receiving intelligence about the alleged plot, top officials in the Biden administration were shocked, and wondered whether the Kremlin was aware of the possible implications. “It’s unclear whether the Russian services were aware of the fact that a fairly large number of cargo traffic goes on passenger planes,” said a former US security official, pointing out that the consequences of a mid-flight explosion could be catastrophic. Several top officials called their Russian counterparts and asked them to tell Putin to put a stop to the operation. “I think the calls were successful,” the former security official added. Arrests across Europe Four days after the trip to the Warsaw market, Polish police forces arrived at the flat shared by Bezrukavyi and Chabanenko in Warsaw, arresting the latter. “From that moment on, they started picking up our friends one by one,” said Kirill. Yevseyev, who together with Kirill had provided the car, fled to Spain where he was later apprehended and was handed over to Polish authorities. Derkavets, the Ukrainian who had sent the package that did not catch fire, was arrested in Poland. Kirill spoke to the Guardian from a third country, where he is hiding. A law enforcement source confirmed there was an Interpol red notice issued by Poland for Kirill for “sabotage and espionage of a terrorism nature”. Bezrukavyi was out grocery shopping when the police came for him. His friends warned him about the raid, according to his wife, Natalia, and instead of returning home, he went on the run. He fled to Slovakia, where he spent the next few weeks hiding out in small villages. He decided to attempt to return to Russia, telling Natalia he would rather risk arrest at home than keep hiding in Europe. But on the way, while in Bosnia, Polish authorities caught his scent. Natalia painted the whole case as a huge misunderstanding. “He is completely innocent. This is all a very bad dream,” she said. Warsaw, however, considered Bezrukavyi important enough for the head of its domestic intelligence services to fly to Bosnia to discuss his extradition with his counterpart in the Balkan nation, according to a source with direct knowledge of the meeting. There are also indications that Russia valued Bezrukavyi. Shortly after his arrest in Bosnia, Russian officials initiated a parallel extradition request – citing a 2019 criminal case as the basis. Moscow frequently relies on old charges – or launches new ones – against its own citizens, including intelligence operatives and Kremlin-linked businessmen, to establish legal grounds for demanding them back. Bezrukavyi’s background, in the criminal circles of Rostov region, does not contain any of the red flags previously present in staff GRU officers who travelled to direct operations in Europe. Western intelligence officials say that, hit by travel bans and western sanctions, Moscow now prefers to use freelancers on the ground. “What we see recently is that staff officers of the Russian intelligence services rarely leave Russian territory, instead recruiting agents to do the work remotely, often via Telegram,” said one European security official. These freelancers might know nothing about what they are doing, or they might be trusted coordinators, taking orders from contacts in the security services and recruiting others to run operations. Another western security official, who was briefed on the case, said they believed Bezrukavyi was knowingly working for the GRU, who directed the operation to send the clothing parcels. He recruited friends – many of them financially struggling and with criminal records – who may not have fully understood the true purpose behind the tasks they were given. Kirill told the Guardian he had never suspected the parcels could be linked to intelligence work. He admitted he could not be fully certain that his old friend Bezrukavyi was also in the dark about the true purpose of the packages. Perhaps he knew more than he let on. But even then, he said, he did not think his friend would have been acting from any sense of higher calling. “I’m sure he didn’t do it ‘for the Motherland’ – he just wanted easy money. He’s been a criminal his whole life,” said Kirill. One thing is certain, he added. If the Russian services continue their sabotage offensive, there are sure to be more arrests: “There will be others who’ll want to make some money, and someone will be there to take advantage of that.” • Russia’s spies: Uncovering Russia’s secret espionage programmes. On 22 May, join Shaun Walker, Christo Grozev and Daniela Richterova as they discuss how Russia is using deep undercover agents known as “illegals” to infiltrate the west, live in central London and livestreamed globally. Book tickets here or at Guardian Live
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The Guardian;Who is Luis Antonio Tagle? The Philippine cardinal and ‘karaoke priest’ in the running for pope ;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/05/luis-antonio-tagle-cardinal-philippines-catholic-karaoke-priest-pope;2025-05-05T03:51:47Z
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Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle laughed when asked in 2015 if he had ever considered that he might one day be pope. “I make a public confession here. I cannot even manage my life. How can I imagine a worldwide community?” Despite his self-deprecating response, the Filipino cardinal is among those tipped as a potential successor to Pope Francis. If appointed, he would be the first Asian pope in modern times. Tagle, who goes by the nickname “Chito,” has been described as the Asian Francis, due to his progressive outlook and humble lifestyle. He has previously criticised the “harsh” stance toward single mothers, and people who are gay or divorced. As bishop of Imus, a city near Manila, he rode jeepneys, cheap public minivans and invited the destitute to eat with him. Known as approachable and unpretentious, Tagle is also a fan of singing and dancing. Videos of him on Tiktok have been shared widely, winning him the approval of many in the Philippines, where karaoke is practically a national sport, and beyond. “When he speaks and gives lectures he’s not the usual, formal priest. He sings. He’s a Filipino. He is a karaoke priest,” said Michael Xiao Chua, a historian at De La Salle University. Tagle has an “off the cuff” style, and is like “a rock star” after mass, he added, saying he had seen volunteers circle around Tagle to manage queues of people wanting to greet him. Tagle, 67, was born in Imus, near the capital region Metro Manila, to Catholic parents who worked in a bank. “He’s [from] a very simple family – not poor but not rich,” said Mary John Mananzan, a missionary benedictine sister who has known Tagle for decades. Tagle reportedly wanted to become a doctor, but entered the church after a priest tricked him into applying to a seminary in Quezon City. He obtained a doctorate at the Catholic University of America and became Bishop of Imus and, later, archbishop of Manila. He was made a cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. But his rise to the top echelons of the Catholic church has not been without controversy. Tagle served as president of Caritas Internationalis from 2015 until 2022 when the leadership team was removed due to concerns over mismanagement. At the time Tagle – who was not involved in day-to-day operations – said the decision did not relate to allegations of sexual abuse or mismanagement of money. This March a survivors group, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, called for an investigation into Tagle, and five other cardinals, in relation to the handling of alleged child abuses cases by Caritas Internationalis in New Zealand and the Central African Republic. Tagle has not commented on these calls. Campaigners have said Tagle has not worked hard enough to tackle sexual abuse in the church. Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, said last week the church in the Philippines was in the “dark ages” on the issue, and that guidelines on dealing with allegations have not been published on the website of the Manila archdiocese or the Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. Questioning his suitability, she said: “If Cardinal Tagle cannot even get his brother bishops from his home country to publish guidelines. What on earth can we expect for him to achieve as pope of a global church?” However the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines defended Tagle, stating that during his tenure as bishop of Imus and archbishop of Manila he had “actively participated in the development and implementation” of guidelines on handling sexual abuse cases but that he “no longer holds direct authority over any diocese in the Philippines”. Tagle, it said, “has consistently advocated for a humble and responsive Church that listens to the cries of the wounded and acts decisively to protect the vulnerable.” In the Philippines, Tagle has also been accused of being slow to condemn former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called war on drugs. As many as 30,000 people were killed in the crackdowns, which began after Duterte took office in June 2016. Many victims were young men, who were shot dead in the streets. In 2017, Tagle wrote a pastoral letter criticising the killings, saying: “We cannot govern the nation by killing. We cannot foster a humane and decent Filipino culture by killing.” However, some say he should have spoken out more clearly earlier. Duterte’s war on drugs marked a difficult chapter for the Catholic church in the Philippines. Some priests risked retaliation by criticising the killings, and despite international outrage over the killings, Duterte remained highly popular among the Catholic-majority population. Mananzan said Tagle was not “the condemning type”. “He had very strong statements about the extrajudicial killings… But he never [talked] about Duterte as a person.” Tagle opposed the passing of the Reproductive Health Bill in the Philippines, which offered free contraceptives and information on family planning. He also opposes abortion rights. Were Tagle to be appointed pope, it would be met by huge celebrations in the Philippines, where 80% of the population is Catholic. Despite a 500-year history with the Catholic church, the Philippines has always felt that it exists on the outskirts, said historian Xiao Chua. Pope Francis was the first non-European pope in centuries, he said, of a trend that should continue. “We need [another] pope from the peripheries.”
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The Guardian;Far-right Trump ally secures decisive win in first round of Romania’s presidential election rerun;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/04/ultranationalist-wins-first-round-of-romanias-rerun-presidential-election;2025-05-05T02:05:01Z
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An ultranationalist who opposes military aid to Ukraine, has vilified the EU’s leaders, and calls himself Donald Trump’s “natural ally” has won the first round of Romania’s rerun presidential vote and will face a centrist in the runoff, as vote counting nears its end. With 99% of votes counted late on Sunday, George Simion, whose far-right Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) began as an anti-vax movement during the pandemic, was comfortably in the lead on a projected 40.5% of the vote. Far behind in second place was Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan with 20.89%, and in third place the governing coalition’s joint candidate, Crin Antonescu, with 20.34%. He conceded defeat after midnight, saying he believes it’s an “irreversible result.” Final results are not expected until early on Monday. The two highest-scoring candidates are scheduled to face each other in a second-round runoff on 18 May, nearly six months after the original ballot was cancelled amid evidence of an alleged “massive” Russian influence campaign. After the exit polls were published, Simion said: “This is not just an electoral victory, it is a victory of Romanian dignity. It is the victory of those who have not lost hope, of those who still believe in Romania, a free, respected, sovereign country.” Polls are not highly reliable in Romania but several have suggested Simion could beat Dan in a runoff, but would face a harder race against Antonescu, who has been out of politics for a decade but is a well-known figure. A far-right victory could lead to Romania – which shares a border with Ukraine and is a member of the EU and Nato – veering from its present pro-western path and becoming another disruptive force within the bloc and the transatlantic defence alliance. It would also be welcomed by conservative nationalists in Europe and beyond, including senior Trump administration figures such as the US vice-president, JD Vance, who accused Bucharest of denying democracy after the original ballot was cancelled. That vote was won by Călin Georgescu, a far-right, Moscow-friendly independent who declared zero campaign spending. It was annulled by Romania’s top court after declassified intelligence documents revealed an alleged Russian influence operation. In February, Georgescu, who denies any wrongdoing, was placed under investigation on counts including misreporting campaign finances, misuse of digital technology and promoting fascist groups. In March, he was barred from standing in the rerun. Romania’s president has a semi-executive role with considerable powers over foreign policy, national security, defence spending and judicial appointments. They also represent the country on the international stage and can veto important EU votes. Anti-establishment sentiment is running high in Romania, where median household income is one-third of the EU average. More than 30% of the country’s 19 million people are at risk of poverty and social exclusion, and nearly 20% of the workforce is working abroad. Casting his ballot alongside Georgescu in Bucharest on Sunday, Simion, 38, said the pair had “one mission only: the return to constitutional order, the return to democracy. I have no other goal than first place for the Romanian people.” Georgescu, 63, called the vote rerun “a fraud orchestrated by those who have made deceit the only state policy”, but said he was voting to “acknowledge the power of democracy, the power of the vote that frightens the system, that terrifies the system”. Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician and former anti-corruption activist who founded the Save Romania Union party (USR), is running on an independent, pro-EU “Honest Romania” ticket. He said he voted “for hope and a new beginning” for Romania. Antonescu, 65, whose presidential run is backed by the ruling Social Democratic party (PSD) and the centre-right National Liberal party (PNL), said he was voting for “a united Romania, for a strong Romania, for a dignified Romania”. Simion has described himself as “more moderate” than Georgescu but has repeatedly insisted on Romania’s “sovereignty”, and called for the country’s pre-second world war borders to be restored by Moldova and Ukraine, from both of which he is banned. In contrast to Georgescu, Simion has frequently denounced Russia, while lashing out at Brussels and praising Trump’s Republicans in the US. He has said he aims to set up an alliance of countries within the EU “in the spirit of Maga”. He said on Sunday that he aimed to bring Georgescu into government if he won. “There are several ways in which, if the Romanian people want, Mr Georgescu can be in our country’s leadership, and we will use it,” Simion said. “We can form a majority and have him as a prime minister, we can have snap elections or call for a referendum.” Romania held parliamentary elections in December, with Simion’s AUR and other far-right groups winning 35% of seats. A snap election can be triggered if MPs reject two proposed governments within the space of 60 days. Experts have said this is unlikely since it has never happened before, and for the time being at least, the ruling centrist coalition appears united. If he is elected, Simion has said he would reveal “how much we have contributed to the war effort in Ukraine, to the detriment of Romanian children and our elderly”. To date, Romania has donated a Patriot air defence battery to Kyiv, is training Ukrainian fighter pilots and has enabled the export of 30m tonnes of Ukrainian grain through its Black Sea port of Constanta since Russia’s invasion.
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The Guardian;Ukraine war briefing: Three million shells coming from our allies, says Zelenskyy;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/05/ukraine-war-briefing-three-million-shells-coming-from-our-allies-says-zelenskyy;2025-05-05T01:00:15Z
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Ukraine hopes to receive 3m artillery shells from allies and partners in 2025 including 1.8m under a Czech-led programme, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in Prague on Sunday. “The Czech artillery initiative is working brilliantly,” the Ukrainian president said. Prague steers a European drive to supply artillery ammunition to Ukraine, financed largely by Nato allies. “Not only North Korea is capable of helping [Russia] in the war – we have allies who are helping Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in comments reported by the Kyiv Independent. Zelenskyy added there would be a meeting on Monday with “Czech defence companies”, with details to be announced later. Discussions were under way for a Ukrainian-Czech pilot training school for F16 fighter jets, which could not be established in Ukraine “due to current security concerns”. Zelenskyy spoke alongside Petr Pavel, president of the Czech Republic and a former Nato general, who said that “Putin can end the war with a single decision but he has not shown any willingness so far”. The Czech prime minister, Petr Fiala, and the speakers of both parliament chambers said they would meet Zelenskyy in Prague on Monday. Ukrainian forces struck an electrical equipment factory in Russia’s Bryansk region close to the border with Ukraine, destroying much of the plant, said the local governor, Alexander Bogomaz. Ukraine said the factory specialised in the production of electronics for Russia’s defence industry. “According to preliminary information, the Strela factory in Suzemka, Bryansk region, is no longer operational following the strike,” said Andriy Kovalenko, head of the government’s Centre for Countering Disinformation. Mash, a Telegram channel with links to Russia’s security services, said the factory produced electrical equipment and was hit by a Grad rocket system. Russian air defences destroyed four Ukrainian drones flying towards Moscow, the city’s mayor said early on Monday. A total of 26 Ukrainian drones targeted Russian territory overnight, Russia’s defence ministry said, including those aimed at Moscow as well as 17 over the Bryansk region and five over the Kaluga region. The aviation authority Rosaviatsia said it halted flights at Domodedovo airport, which serves Moscow, for about one and a half hours. Zelenskyy said on Sunday that he did not believe Putin would adhere to a self-declared three-day truce to coincide with Russia’s “victory day” celebrations on 9 May. “This is not the first challenge, nor are these the first promises made by Russia to cease fire. We understand who we are dealing with, we do not believe them.” Citing a military report, he said Russia had carried out more than 200 attacks on Saturday, “so there is no faith [in them]”. Zelenskyy said, though, that a ceasefire with Russia was possible at any moment and called on Kyiv’s allies to apply greater pressure on Moscow otherwise Putin would take no real steps to end the war. The Guardian’s Shaun Walker has investigated how Moscow is using “disposable people” recruited online to carry out sabotage, arson and disinformation campaigns in Europe – sometimes against specific targets related to support for the Ukrainian war effort, but more often simply to cause chaos and unease. While some know exactly what they are doing and why, others do not realise they are ultimately working for Moscow. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said in comments broadcast on Sunday said that the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine had not arisen, and that he hoped it would not, writes Angelique Chrisafis. Putin said Russia could bring the conflict in Ukraine to what he called a “logical conclusion … There has been no need to use those [nuclear] weapons … and I hope they will not be required.”
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The Guardian;Starmer praises ‘selfless dedication’ of armed forces before VE Day anniversary;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/04/keir-starmer-open-letter-ve-day-80th-anniversary-veterans-support;2025-05-04T22:13:08Z
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Keir Starmer has praised the “selfless dedication” of those who have served in the military before the anniversary of VE Day as the government unveiled a new £50m support system for veterans. In an open letter to mark 80 years since the end of the second world war in Europe, the prime minister said the sacrifice made by members of the armed forces was a debt that could “never fully be repaid”. He said the country would show how thankful it was during events to commemorate VE Day, which signalled the end of fighting on 8 May 1945. “It was also a victory for good against the assembled forces of hatred, tyranny and evil,” Starmer wrote. “VE Day is a chance to acknowledge, again, that our debt to those who achieved it can never fully be repaid.” A procession of 1,300 military personnel and civilians through London will take place on Monday, accompanied by Nato, Ukraine and Commonwealth armed forces representatives, and a flypast by the Red Arrows and Voyager transport aircraft. There will also be a two-minute silence at noon on Thursday followed by a service in Westminster Abbey attended by King Charles. Street parties will be held in towns and cities across the UK as part of the special events – including community tea parties, 1940s dress-up events, and gatherings onboard second world war warships. In addition, a display of almost 30,000 ceramic poppies will go on show at the Tower of London. On Monday, the government will announce a £50m pot of funding for services to support veterans with housing, employment, health and welfare. The new Valour service is to help fulfil Labour’s manifesto pledge to implement the armed forces covenant and fund initiatives for veterans, some of whom face struggles to integrate back into civilian life after serving in the military. John Healey, the defence secretary, said: “The nation owes a duty to those who’ve served to defend our country, and it is only right that the government steps up our support to them. “The armed forces set most people up for success in life but when veterans need help, then support is too often a postcode patchwork. Our plan to develop a UK-wide veterans support service will work with enterprising health, employment and housing charities and it is backed by the one of the largest ever government funding commitments to veterans.” Starmer said his thoughts would turn both to those who served in the second world war and those who carried “the torch of their legacy” today. “Alongside our history and our values, service is the other great force that binds a nation together,” he said. “So this week, I want you to know: the whole nation is inspired by the selfless dedication of your example.”
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The Guardian;Thousands detained, homes blown up: Kashmiris tell of crackdown ‘living hell’;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/04/kashmir-crackdown-india-response-to-deadly-tourist-attack;2025-05-04T13:59:09Z
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When the news broke of the bloody attack in Kashmir’s popular rolling valleys of Pahalgam, in which militant gunmen shot dead 25 tourists and a guide, Ahmad felt sickened. In a region so familiar with bloodshed and the loss of innocent lives, the gut-wrenching stories that emerged – of newlyweds being killed, of victims singled out and targeted for their religion – brought back his own memories of grief and loss growing up in Kashmir. “It broke my heart,” said Ahmad, who requested to use a single name. “I understand the pain of seeing death around you. That night, I was too distraught to eat or sleep.” The next day he awoke to a summons by the police counter-insurgency unit. Knowing that a worse fate awaited him if he refused, he went down to the station. Ahmad had no known connection to any of the militants alleged to have carried out the killings, and lived more than 50 miles (80km) from the site where it happened, but he was detained for four days. “No reason was given,” he said. “They confiscated my phone, and searched through it. Some days, they interrogated me about militants, though I have no involvement or information. Every time I denied knowing anything, they slapped me or beat me with a stick.” Over the past week – amid a huge operation to track down the militants – a climate of fear has gripped Kashmir as more than 2,000 people have been detained, many pulled from their beds in the middle of the night, and held under draconian security and anti-terrorism laws. The attack was the deadliest on civilians in India in more than a decade, and with the ringleaders still on the run, the authorities have taken to harsh measures in response. Over the last week, two people were killed in separate incidents allegedly involving security forces. The crackdown has precipitated fear and anxiety in Kashmir, stirring traumatic memories of the region’s decades-long violent insurgency and India’s brutally repressive response. The Indian government denies any abuses. Ahmad said life was now being made “hell” for him and thousands of other Kashmiris. “We’re being punished for crimes we didn’t commit,” he said. “They should go after the real militants – I’m not against that. But by punishing innocents, they’re alienating locals. I want to leave Kashmir, but Kashmiris aren’t safe elsewhere in India either. We’re targeted everywhere.” Sumaiya Jaan, another resident of Kashmir who did not want to be identified by her real name for fear of reprisals, said police and soldiers raided her house a few days after the attack, with no warrant or any reason given. Her father, a farmer with no known connections to the militants, was picked up. “They threw away belongings, emptied the cupboards, and checked every nook and cranny, but found nothing. Then they detained my father and took him away. He is being held at a police station, but we are not allowed to see him, nor will the police tell us why he has been detained. There is no formal case against him. This is nothing but harassment,” Jaan said. Two police officials confirmed that about 2,000 people were rounded up across Kashmir. They said most of the detained had previously been found to be linked to militancy or had been taking part in the “anti-national” activities. “Given the nature of the attack, police are investigating all angles. Most of the people who were detained have been released now,” said one senior officer. One of the more controversial tactics deployed by the authorities in Kashmir has been to blow up the houses of the relatives of militants, even when the accused has not seen their families for years. Shahzada Banu last waved goodbye to her son Adil Hussain Thoker seven years ago, thinking he was leaving for a job interview. Her worst fears were realised when he was named and pictured as one of the suspected Pahalgam militants. Two days later, police and soldiers arrived at Banu’s house in the middle of the night and ordered the whole family to leave. “They said no one should remain within a 100-metre radius. Then they blew up our house,” she said. The punitive destruction of their home last week, without warning and with no due legal process, has left her devastated and destitute. The next day, her husband, sons and two other male relatives were detained by police and have yet to return. “I am not defending the attackers or my son,” she said in tears, amid the rubble of her home. “If my son is involved in these killings, he should be punished. But why are we being dragged into this? My [other] sons and husband are innocent and we are suffering unbearable atrocities. Our house was our only property. Now, we have nowhere to go. Who will feed me? Where will I go?” It was one of about 10 that was unilaterally blown up by security forces over the past week, despite the supreme court previously ruling such actions were illegal. The force of the nightly explosions left dozens of surrounding houses also severely damaged. Sarwa Begum, who is in her 70s, was carried out of her house by police before they detonated the explosives next door, as she was too scared and frail to walk. “They take pleasure in destroying our homes, in our suffering. Otherwise, why would they use explosives to demolish them?” said Begum. After an outcry by regional politicians, the authorities agreed to halt the demolitions, but the state-wide crackdown and raids on communities has otherwise continued unabated. Kashmir has been caught in an often bloody battle between India and Pakistan since the countries’ independence in 1947. Both claim ownership of the Muslim-majority region and it remains split between the two countries, although they have fought three wars to claim it fully. Since the 1990s, Indian-administered Kashmir has been home to a separatist insurgency with an allegiance to Pakistan, which stands accused of backing and bankrolling the violence. Indian-administered Kashmir is now one of the world’s most heavily militarised zones, with an estimated 500,000 Indian troops stationed there. Kashmir experienced a renewed crackdown in 2019, after the ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) government, led by the prime minister, Narendra Modi, stripped the region of its autonomy and statehood and began to systematically crush all forms of dissent. Since then, the BJP had widely been promoting Kashmir as a peaceful tourist destination, in an effort to show the insurgency had been brought fully under control – a narrative of “normalcy” that was shattered by the Pahalgam attack. Kavinder Gupta, a senior BJP leader in Kashmir and a former deputy chief minister of the region, called for more strict measures to be imposed. “The government of India has adopted a policy of zero tolerance towards those Indians who are working on Pakistan’s agenda,” he said. “There should be no mercy against these people who are providing support for militants.” Though Kashmiri tourist guides and pony operators were lauded for helping rescue Indian tourists at the scene of Pahalgam – and after the attack, Kashmiris took to the streets in marches and candlelit vigils to condemn the violence – a wave of anti-Kashmir sentiment has gripped much of India. The details that emerged of the attack, with accounts by witnesses that the gunmen singled out and shot only Hindus, has led to particularly vitriolic calls for revenge by Hindu rightwing news channels and among Hindu rightwing groups. One called for the Indian government to follow the example of Israel after the 7 October Hamas-led attacks and for Kashmir to be “flattened like Gaza”. Kashmiris living across India also faced violent attacks and public death threats and been evicted from their homes and fired from their jobs. Himanshi Narwal, whose husband, Vinay, was among those killed by the militants, made a public plea on Friday for his death not to be weaponised. “We don’t want people going against Muslims or Kashmiris. We want peace and only peace,’ she said.
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The Guardian;France and EU to incentivise US-based scientists to come to Europe;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/04/france-eu-us-based-scientists-come-to-europe-emmanuel-macron-ursula-von-der-leyen;2025-05-04T13:56:25Z
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France and the EU are to step up their efforts to attract US-based scientists hit by Donald Trump’s crackdown on academia, as they prepare announcements on incentives for researchers to settle in Europe. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, alongside the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, will make speeches on Monday morning at Sorbonne University in Paris, flanked by European university leaders and researchers, in which they are expected to announce potential incentives and protections for researchers seeking to relocate to Europe. The event, bringing together European academics and European commissioners, is the latest push to open Europe’s doors to US-based academics and researchers who fear their work is threatened by federal spending cuts for universities and research bodies, as well as the targeting of US higher education institutions over diversity policies. Macron’s office said the move comes “at a time when academic freedoms face a number … of threats” and when Europe “is an attractive continent”. An Élysée official said: “We are a space where there is freedom of research and no taboo topics.” The official said the event was about “affirming France and Europe as stable spaces that can guarantee freedoms and academic research”. France is thought to be particularly keen to attract scientists working on health – particularly infectious diseases – as well as climate research and artificial intelligence. Monday’s event, titled Choose Europe for science, comes after 13 European countries, including France, Germany and Spain, wrote to the European Commission urging it to move fast to attract academic talent. France launched its own Choose France for science initiative in April with a dedicated platform for applications to host international researchers. The French research ministry told Agence France-Presse: “Some foreign researchers have already arrived in France to familiarise themselves with the infrastructure, waiting for the funds and platform to be set up.” In recent days, France’s flagship scientific research centre CNRS launched a new initiative to attract foreign workers whose research is threatened, as well as French researchers working abroad, some of whom “don’t want to live and raise their children in Trump’s United States”, its president, Antoine Petit, told AFP. In France, Aix-Marseille University launched its “Safe place for science” programme in March. It will receive its first foreign researchers in June. In a letter to French universities in March, Philippe Baptiste, France’s minister for higher education and research, wrote: “Many well-known researchers are already questioning their future in the United States. We would naturally wish to welcome a certain number of them.” Challenges remain because research investment in the US – including private-public partnerships – has for many years been greater than in Europe. For decades, Europe has lagged behind the US on investment in universities and research centres. French researchers have regularly raised the issue of the comparatively low salaries and precarious contracts for many researchers in France. On average, an academic researcher in the US is paid more than their French equivalent. Trade unions in France have called for better contracts, better salary provisions and better funding across the board at research institutions. Some in France hoped the pay gap between scientists in France and the US would narrow, once the lower cost of education and health, and more generous social benefits in France were taken into account. Germany’s incoming chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said last month: “The American government is currently using brute force against the universities in the US, so that researchers from America are now contacting Europe. This is a huge opportunity for us.”
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The Guardian;Badenoch says more children, not immigration, will help with ageing population;https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/may/04/badenoch-says-more-children-not-immigration-will-help-with-ageing-population;2025-05-04T12:50:41Z
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People should be having more children rather than the UK relying on immigration to deal with an ageing population, Kemi Badenoch has suggested. The Conservative leader said the UK needed to answer the question of how we “make sure we can deal with [an] ageing society, people not having enough children”. She said it was not the right option to rely on immigration which is “making things worse; it is making us all poorer”. Asked during the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme whether she thought people should be having more children, she said: “I do, but that’s a personal choice. But we have to look at the demographics of our country. We cannot solve it with immigration.” She said trying to “fix” the problem of an ageing population with immigration “had not worked” when governments had tried it in the past. Her focus on the birthrate was challenged on the same programme by Justine Greening, a former Conservative education secretary, who said: “I heard Kemi talking about people having more children twice. We’ve got enough children. Let’s develop the ones we’ve got in our schools and look at how we can make sure gaps don’t open up in the education system as they already do. “There are some really practical questions facing the Conservative party and I think more fundamentally the question of what is the point of the Conservative party now. If we can’t find an answer to that I think we shouldn’t assume things won’t continue to get worse.” Badenoch’s position suggests she could develop policy solutions to encourage women to have more children. So far, since becoming leader last year, Badenoch has presented barely any policy, but she has said she wants to come up with honest solutions to long-term problems facing the country. Hungary’s rightwing populist government has exempted mothers from income tax, while in South Korea, new parents are paid a monthly stipend. The birthrate fell to its lowest level for many decades last year, with women in England and Wales having an average of 1.44 children between 2022 and 2023. Only 591,072 babies were born in 2023, fewer than in any year since 1977 and a fall of more than 14,000 on the previous year, figures from the Office for National Statistics showed. However, Badenoch has previously suggested that maternity pay has “gone too far” before backtracking on the remarks amid a backlash. In September last year, she said maternity pay is “excessive” and people should exercise “more personal responsibility”. During the leadership contest, she said she was fighting for the principle of the state doing less, as “the answer cannot be let the government help people to have babies”. She subsequently clarified her remarks, saying: “Contrary to what some have said, I clearly said the burden of regulation on businesses had gone too far … of course I believe in maternity pay!” After that, she said there were “things that we have to do to make sure that we make life comfortable for those people who are … starting families” and suggested that some people are scared to start families. Badenoch’s position on the birthrate appears to be shared by Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary and her leadership rival, who said last year: “We want to have a higher birthrate as a country. With an ageing society it is critically important. “There are lots of reasons we’re not unique as a country for that. It is across the western world. The things that government can do is improve childcare, and above all housing, because there’s a massive link between how late people eventually settle down and the ability to have kids.”
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The Guardian;Paris-based thriller offers fresh inside take on French-Tamil community;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/04/paris-based-thriller-offers-fresh-inside-take-on-french-tamil-community-little-jaffna;2025-05-04T12:00:06Z
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It has been hailed as one of the most innovative and surprising French gangster films this year: a suspense movie that tears through Paris’s Tamil neighbourhood. The police thriller Little Jaffna, which opened in France this week, is set in the French capital’s Tamil community, which has rarely been represented on screen – and never in an action film by a French actor, writer and director of Tamil heritage giving his inside take on the legacy of Sri Lanka’s bloody ethnic conflict for younger generations living far away in Europe. Lawrence Valin, 35, who was born in the Greater Paris area to Tamil parents, wrote, directed and starred in his own film after feeling exasperated at never being offered leading roles in France and instead being cast in bit parts as a mystic or rose-seller and asked to put on a fake Indian accent. “In France, the image we have of a French-Tamil person is a migrant – I wanted to change that, have a new representation, to show new role models,” Valin told Arte TV. Little Jaffna, which won this year’s top jury prize and the audience award at France’s major thriller festival, Reims Polar, is set among the many Tamil restaurants and boutiques in the area between Paris’s Gare du Nord station and La Chapelle, known as Little Jaffna after the capital of the Tamil-majority Northern Province in Sri Lanka. Michael, a French police officer of Tamil heritage, played by Valin, is tasked with infiltrating a gang involved in people-smuggling and racketeering that channels funds to the separatist militant group known as the Tamil Tigers. The film is shot in Tamil and French on the streets of Paris. TV screens in living rooms and cafes show a backdrop of Sri Lanka’s 26-year brutal and bloody ethnic conflict in which least 100,000 people were killed. The conflict officially ended in 2009, but its complex legacy remains. The film, a colourful exploration of Paris’s Little Jaffna and a comment on civil war, is ultimately about the complexities of French identity and how younger generations deal with a conflict far away. The French culture magazine Telerama called it a mix of “highly stylised action and geopolitical immersion”. The last major feature film centred on Tamils in France was a decade ago when the French director Jacques Audiard – who made the recent trans Mexican cartel musical, Emilia Pérez – won the Cannes film festival Palme d’Or for Dheepan, about three Tamil refugees on a housing estate outside Paris. Audiard said at the time that he wanted to show characters radically different from his own experience. This time, Valin wanted to show the Tamil community in Paris from the inside. He chose the thriller format because he wanted to find a gripping way to introduce French cinemagoers to the Sri Lankan conflict, he said. But he has acknowledged that a violent police drama was far from a portrayal of all Tamils in Paris. “I thought that a thriller, an action film, suspense – all those universal codes of cinema we know – is what would bring people in to watch the film,” Valin said. “They’ll come to see it saying that above all it’s a good thriller. Then, as a kind of doggy bag, I send them home [with an insight into] the Sri Lankan conflict, and this community. For me it’s a way to open doors. I’ve made a first film, and that now allows a generation of younger film-makers to make their own films, saying: ‘If he did it, I can too.’”
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The Guardian;French police investigate spate of cryptocurrency millionaire kidnappings;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/04/french-police-investigate-spate-of-cryptocurrency-millionaire-kidnappings;2025-05-04T11:28:51Z
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French police are investigating a series of kidnappings of investors linked to cryptocurrency after a 60-year-old man had a finger chopped off by attackers who demanded his crypto-millionaire son pay a ransom. In the latest of several kidnappings of cryptocurrency figures in France and western Europe, the man, who owned a cryptocurrency marketing company with his son, was freed from a house south of Paris on Saturday night. He had been held for more than two days. One of the man’s fingers had been chopped off and investigators feared further mutilations could have happened if he had not been rescued. The man, who has not been publicly identified, was abducted in broad daylight at 10.30am on Thursday morning as he walked down a street in Paris’s 14th arrondissement. Four men in ski masks forced him into a delivery van. He was freed by armed police in a raid at 9pm on Saturday night from a house 20km (12 miles) south of Paris, in the Essonne area. Five suspects in their 20s were arrested at the house. The state prosecutor said in a statement: “The victim appears to be the father of a man who made his fortune in cryptocurrencies, with the crime involving a ransom demand.” The victim’s wife told investigators that her husband and wealthy son, who both owned a crypto marketing firm in Malta, had received threats in the past, a police source said. Le Parisien reported that the attackers had demanded a ransom of €5-7m (£4-6m), which was not paid. The five kidnapping suspects, aged between 20 and 27, were still being questioned by police on Sunday. The kidnapping is the latest in a series of abductions of cryptocurrency figures in France and neighbouring countries. David Balland, the co-founder of the crypto firm Ledger, which is valued at more than $1bn , was abducted with his partner on 21 January at their home in Méreau, near Bourges in central France. He also had a finger cut off. The attackers arrived at Balland’s house in the early hours of the morning, taking him and his partner and separating them. Balland was taken to a house in the town of Châteauroux, where one of his fingers was cut off. Police were contacted by Balland’s business partner who received a video of the finger alongside a demand for a large ransom in cryptocurrency, of around €10m. Balland was freed in a police raid soon after. His partner was found tied up in the boot of a car in a carpark in the Essonne area south of Paris the next day. Nine suspects are under criminal investigation in that case, including the alleged ringleader, 26, who has a police record for a previous kidnapping. In December 2024, the 56-year-old father of a French cryptocurrency influencer based in Dubai, was the target of an alleged kidnapping in eastern France, local media reported. Attackers arrived at the man’s home, tied up his wife and daughter and forced him into a car. The man’s influencer son received a ransom demand and contacted police. The two women were then quickly freed. The father was only discovered 24 hours later in the boot of a car in Normandy, tied up and showing signs of physical violence, having been sprinkled with petrol. Other abductions of cryptocurrency figures or their partners were reported in Spain and Belgium in the past five months.
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The Guardian;US jury’s $30m verdict brings hope for Cuban exiles over confiscated land;https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/04/cuba-cayo-coco-florida-land;2025-05-04T11:00:06Z
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Long before it became one of Cuba’s most popular tourist destinations in the 1990s, the small island of Cayo Coco, with its pristine beaches and powdery white sands, attracted a different kind of clientele. Inspired by its unspoiled beauty, and his observations of shack-dwelling fishermen scratching out a meager living, Ernest Hemingway set scenes from two of his most famous books there, including the 1952 classic The Old Man and the Sea. Then came the giant all-inclusive mega-resort hotels that have proliferated in recent decades along the island’s northern coast, and brought in millions of desperately needed dollars for a largely destitute Cuban government. Now, there’s a bitterly contested multimillion-dollar lawsuit that has implications for the descendants of dozens of Cuban exiles in the US who have been fighting for decades for compensation for land and property seized following Fidel Castro’s 1959 communist revolution. Mario Echeverría, head of a Cuban American family in Miami that says it owned Cayo Coco, and saw it stolen from them in Castro’s aggressive land reforms, won a $30m verdict this month from the travel giant Expedia after a two-week trial. The jury said Expedia, and subsidiaries Orbitz and hotels.com, illegally profited from promoting and selling vacation packages at hotels there. The rare lawsuit was one of the first brought under Title III of the 1996 Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act, also known as the Helms-Burton Act. The act was designed to finally open a legal pathway for such compensation claims, but was suspended by successive presidents until Donald Trump made the decision to activate it in 2019. The intention was to deter US and international companies from investing in Cuba by exposing them to potentially huge financial penalties for conducting business there. For Echeverría, who reminisced about his grandmother tending the beachfront at Cayo Coco in a moving Spanish-language interview with UniVista TV earlier this year, the verdict is not the end of the story. He and his family may never see a penny after Federico Moreno, the district court judge overseeing the case, paused the award and set a further hearing for August seeking “specific evidence” that the family itself legally acquired the land on Cuba’s independence from Spain in 1898. The only other previously adjudicated Helms-Burton penalty, a $439m illegal tourism ruling in 2022 against four major cruise lines operating from Havana, was overturned last year. An appeals court said a claim by descendants of the original dock owners was essentially out of time. A handful of other cases, meanwhile, have stalled – including one by the oil giant Exxon Mobil that claims various Cuban state corporations are profiting from its confiscated land. But those at the forefront of the fight for justice say the Expedia case in particular brings hope to scores of others pursuing compensation for property they insist was illegally seized. “There are 45 other suits that are making their way through the courts, there may be more new ones after this verdict also,” said Nicolás Gutiérrez, president of the National Association of Sugar Mill Owners of Cuba. Gutiérrez is a Miami-based consultant who has worked with hundreds of dispossessed exiles and their families, in addition to pursuing amends for his own family’s lost houses, farmland and mills. “We are hopeful that this is just the beginning. We waited 23 years, from 1996 to 2019, to have the key provisions of Title III be put into effect by President Trump, and now there’s new generations of families in these cases I’m working with,” he said, adding: “The old guys back then are gone, but in many cases their kids have continued with their crusade. Some have given up, some have been sort of reactivated along the way, and it’s not only justice for the families, it’s like a historic and moral commitment. We sacrificed and built up prosperity in Cuba that was taken for no good reason.” Gutiérrez also believes that desperate conditions on the island could hasten the fight. “They never recovered from the pandemic with tourism. The sugar, nickel and rum industries, and tobacco to a lesser extent, have been run into the ground. Remittances and trips are going to be further cut by the Trump administration, and that’s really what they’re relying on now,” he said. “They don’t even have electricity for more than a couple hours a day. “Someday, relatively soon, there will be a big change, and if a future Cuba wants to attract the serious level of investment it will need to dig itself out of the hole that this totalitarian nightmare has dug over the last 66 years, what better way to inspire confidence than to recognize the victims of the illegal confiscations?” Analysts of Cuban politics say the government is taking notice of the Helms-Burton actions. These analysts are also looking into the ramifications of Trump’s existing and planned crackdowns designed to increase financial pressure on the communist regime. “There are people looking at the impact it’s having overall in the investment scenario in the island, and apparently it’s having some chilling effect,” said Sebastian Arcos, director of Florida International University’s Cuban Research Institute. “The most important chilling effect is the fact that the Cuban economy is going nowhere, and everybody knows it. “The government stole properties from many thousands of Cubans, and what we’re seeing now is a systematic attempt of many of the people who inherited these claims from their families not to try to recover, because it’s impossible to recover anything as long as the Cuban regime is there, but at least to punish the regime financially for doing what they did.” It’s unclear if Echeverría’s family will become the first to actually receive compensation, but with stretches of Cayo Coco’s northern coastline now consumed by the concrete of almost a dozen super-resorts offering more than 5,000 hotel rooms, they accept the land will not be returned. Their attorney, Andrés Rivero, said in a statement: “This is a major victory not only for our client, but also for the broader community of Cuban Americans whose property was wrongfully taken and has been exploited by US companies in partnership with the Cuban communist dictatorship. “We are proud to have played a role in securing justice under a law that had never before been tested before a jury.” Expedia did not reply to specific questions. A spokesperson said in a statement to the Guardian: “We are disappointed in the jury’s verdict, which we do not believe was supported by the law or evidence. We believe the court was correct to decline immediate entry of judgment and look forward to the court’s consideration of the legal sufficiency of the evidence presented to the jury.”
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NPR;Tourist boats capsize in sudden storm in southwest China, leaving 10 dead;https://www.npr.org/2025/05/05/nx-s1-5387170/china-tourist-boats-capsize;Mon, 05 May 2025 04:41:32 -0400
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<img alt="In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, rescuers conduct a search and rescue operation at one of the two passenger boats capsized in Qianxi City, southwest China" src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2876x2050+0+0/resize/2876x2050!/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F2e%2F20%2F768b16c54d14bd213d5734f3a733%2Fap25125145053234.jpg" /><p>More than 80 people fell into a river when strong winds hit the scenic area in Guizhou province late Sunday afternoon, state broadcaster CCTV said.</p><p>(Image credit: Liu Xu/Xinhua)</p><img src="https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=nx-s1-5387170" />
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NPR;An exhibit honoring victims of gun violence is taken down at ATF headquarters;https://www.npr.org/2025/05/04/nx-s1-5386668/atf-trump-administration-gun-violence-memorial;Sun, 04 May 2025 20:52:30 -0400
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<img alt="Attorney General Merrick Garland looks at an exhibit titled the Faces of Gun Violence while on a tour led by Steve Dettelbach, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, at ATF headquarters on April 23, 2024, in Washington, D.C. The display has now been taken down." src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5226x3484+0+0/resize/5226x3484!/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F42%2F3f%2F78f93a1d4f65afddd5c476ce298e%2Fgettyimages-2149873363.jpg" /><p>The Faces of Gun Violence exhibit at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) headquarters showed the portraits of 120 people killed in gun violence in the U.S.</p><p>(Image credit: Anna Moneymaker)</p><img src="https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=nx-s1-5386668" />
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NPR;Catholic leaders criticize Trump for posting apparent AI photo of himself as the pope;https://www.npr.org/2025/05/04/nx-s1-5386516/catholic-leaders-criticize-trump-ai-pope-photo;Sun, 04 May 2025 11:34:46 -0400
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<img alt="President Trump is pictured at the Vatican in 2017 with Pope Francis, who died last month. Trump posted on social media Friday what appears to be an AI-generated image of himself dressed as the pope." src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/4176x2784+0+0/resize/4176x2784!/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F8d%2F6a%2F1255d9fe4ec8b354f1079ae42cec%2Fgettyimages-687568262.jpg" /><p>When asked about the image, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York who is friendly with Trump, said "it wasn't good" and that he hoped Trump had nothing to do with it.</p><p>(Image credit: Alessandra Tarantino)</p><img src="https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=nx-s1-5386516" />
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NPR;Does a president need to uphold the Constitution? Trump says 'I don't know';https://www.npr.org/2025/05/04/g-s1-64239/does-a-president-need-to-uphold-the-constitution-trump-says-i-dont-know;Sun, 04 May 2025 10:58:32 -0400
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<img alt="President Donald Trump arrives to give a commencement address at the University of Alabama, Thursday, May 1, 2025, in Tuscaloosa, Ala.(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)" src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/2803x1869+0+0/resize/2803x1869!/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F16%2F41%2F7abe04b14ce09c8f881d9f506ac0%2Fap25122038296216.jpg" /><p>The president says a third term is "not something I'm looking to do," and the U.S. economy is in a "transition period."</p><p>(Image credit: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)</p><img src="https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=g-s1-64239" />
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NPR;Kidnappers in France target cryptocurrency entrepreneurs for ransom;https://www.npr.org/2025/05/04/g-s1-64244/france-kidnappers-cryptocurrency;Sun, 04 May 2025 10:45:28 -0400
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<img alt="FILE - An employee watches an electronic signboard displaying the prices of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies at the lounge of Bithumb cryptocurrency exchange in Seoul, South Korea, Nov. 21, 2024." src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7145x4763+0+0/resize/7145x4763!/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F4b%2Fb1%2Fff93b57745b7a7351fc90451530f%2Fap25124383024192.jpg" /><p>French police say they rescued the father of a wealthy crypto entrepreneur, the second ransom case linked to the crypto world this year.</p><p>(Image credit: Ahn Young-joon)</p><img src="https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=g-s1-64244" />
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NPR;Ports brace for the impact of tariffs as shipments from China drop drastically;https://www.npr.org/2025/05/04/nx-s1-5383315/ports-brace-for-the-impact-of-tariffs-as-shipments-from-china-drop-drastically;Sun, 04 May 2025 09:11:51 -0400
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<p>The Trump administration's tariffs are already having an impact on the nation's ports. NPR's Ayesha Rascoe speaks with Mario Cordero, CEO of the Port of Long Beach, about the effect.</p><img src="https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=nx-s1-5383315" />
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NPR;Houthi missile strike at Israel airport halts flights ahead of key vote on Gaza war;https://www.npr.org/2025/05/04/g-s1-64233/houthi-missile-halts-israel-flights;Sun, 04 May 2025 08:39:18 -0400
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<img alt="Israeli security forces inspect the site where the Israeli military said a projectile fired by Yemen" src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5148x3432+0+0/resize/5148x3432!/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ffd%2F04%2Ff29f8ccf4265b09a29693185df22%2Fap25124293810306.jpg" /><p>Israel said it would retaliate after four people were injured and flights temporarily suspended.</p><p>(Image credit: Ohad Zwigenberg)</p><img src="https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=g-s1-64233" />
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NPR;How this teen fled Russian occupation and became a hero in Ukraine;https://www.npr.org/2025/05/04/nx-s1-5348841/ukraine-russian-occupied-luhansk-teen-escape;Sun, 04 May 2025 06:00:00 -0400
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<img alt="Ivan Sarancha, 18, who left Luhansk after 11 years of living under occupation, stands in front of a memorial for the fallen at Maidan Square — where the pro-Europe uprising known as the "Revolution of Dignity" took place in February 2014 — in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 26." src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7008x4672+0+0/resize/7008x4672!/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F14%2F01%2F7d2f728845058c9351f25c8ba5b1%2Fdsc05239-enhanced-nr.jpg" /><p>An 18-year-old from Russian-occupied Luhansk tells NPR how and why he escaped to Kyiv.</p><p>(Image credit: Anton Shtuka for NPR)</p><img src="https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=nx-s1-5348841" />
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NPR;Brazilian police say they prevented a bomb attack at the free Lady Gaga concert;https://www.npr.org/2025/05/04/nx-s1-5386457/lady-gaga-copacabana-beach-brazil-free-concert;Sun, 04 May 2025 05:11:58 -0400
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<img alt="Lady Gaga performs during a massive free show at Copacabana Beach on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil." src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/3100x2067+0+0/resize/3100x2067!/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F09%2Fd8%2F76e099c64b348535eea94a9c4c75%2Fgettyimages-2213282376.jpg" /><p>Police say they arrested two people involved. The target was a free Lady Gaga concert in Rio de Janeiro, which drew more than 2 million people to Copacabana Beach on Saturday night.</p><p>(Image credit: Buda Mendes)</p><img src="https://media.npr.org/include/images/tracking/npr-rss-pixel.png?story=nx-s1-5386457" />
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Al Jazeera;Trump orders rebuilding and reopening of notorious Alcatraz prison in US;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/5/trump-orders-rebuilding-and-reopening-of-notorious-alcatraz-prison-in-us?traffic_source=rss;Mon, 05 May 2025 08:25:58 +0000
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Now an important tourist site, the California federal penitentiary has been shut for more than six decades.
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Al Jazeera;Australia’s Albanese says he had ‘warm’ call with Trump after election win;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/5/australias-albanese-says-he-had-warm-call-with-trump-after-election-win?traffic_source=rss;Mon, 05 May 2025 08:16:58 +0000
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Australian prime minister says he discussed tariffs and AUKUS security partnership in call with US president.
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Al Jazeera;Video: Yemen’s Houthis vow to impose a ‘full aerial blockade’ on Israel;https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2025/5/5/video-yemens-houthis-vow-to-impose-a-full-aerial-blockade-on-israel?traffic_source=rss;Mon, 05 May 2025 07:53:01 +0000
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Yemen's Houthi rebels vow to keep firing missiles at Ben Gurion airport to impose a ‘full aerial blockade’ on Israel.
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Al Jazeera;Storm kills 10 in China as tourist boats capsize;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/5/storm-kills-10-in-china-as-tourist-boats-capsize?traffic_source=rss;Mon, 05 May 2025 07:10:24 +0000
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Noting string of fatal incidents, President Xi Jinping calls for stronger safety measures for tourism and public events.
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Al Jazeera;Skype shuts down on May 5: Ever wondered why it was called Skype?;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/5/skype-shuts-down-on-may-5-ever-wondered-why-it-was-called-skype?traffic_source=rss;Mon, 05 May 2025 06:42:29 +0000
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Skype, once a leading video-calling platform, is set to shut down on May 5. How well do you know its history?
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Al Jazeera;Hield, Warriors win Game 7 against Rockets to advance in NBA playoffs;https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2025/5/5/hield-warriors-win-game-7-against-rockets-to-advance-in-nba-playoffs?traffic_source=rss;Mon, 05 May 2025 05:51:58 +0000
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Buddy Hield's 33 points allowed Golden State to knock out Houston, while Indiana upset Cleveland in series opener.
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Al Jazeera;Piastri beats Norris at F1 Miami GP to extend championship lead;https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2025/5/5/piastri-beats-norris-at-f1-miami-gp-to-extend-championship-lead?traffic_source=rss;Mon, 05 May 2025 05:17:54 +0000
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McLaren driver Oscar Piastri won his fourth race of 2025, beating teammate Lando Norris in an action-packed Miami GP.
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Al Jazeera;Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,166;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/5/russia-ukraine-war-list-of-key-events-day-1166?traffic_source=rss;Mon, 05 May 2025 04:44:52 +0000
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These are the key events on day 1,166 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
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Al Jazeera;Who are the main contenders to be the next pope?;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/5/who-are-the-main-contenders-to-be-the-next-pope?traffic_source=rss;Mon, 05 May 2025 04:00:29 +0000
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Francis-era reforms that saw a diverse group of cardinals join the mix make his successor nearly impossible to call.
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Al Jazeera;Trump says Mexico’s Sheinbaum refused US troop offer out of fear of cartels;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/5/trump-says-mexicos-sheinbaum-refused-us-troop-offer-out-of-fear-of-cartels?traffic_source=rss;Mon, 05 May 2025 03:02:14 +0000
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US president makes claim after Mexican leader says her country's sovereignty 'not for sale.'
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Al Jazeera;Trump says he will put 100% tariff on all foreign films;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/5/trump-says-he-will-put-100-tariff-on-all-foreign-films?traffic_source=rss;Mon, 05 May 2025 00:59:06 +0000
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US president claims that Hollywood is undergoing a 'very fast death' despite raking in $30bn in revenues in 2024.
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Al Jazeera;Brazil police arrest two suspects over Lady Gaga gig bomb plot;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/4/brazil-police-arrest-two-suspects-over-lady-gaga-gig-bomb-plot?traffic_source=rss;Sun, 04 May 2025 21:44:16 +0000
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Police believe attackers targeted LGBTQ fans attending American star’s free concert on Rio’s Copacabana Beach.
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Al Jazeera;Starving under Israel’s siege – what is next for the people of Gaza?;https://www.aljazeera.com/program/inside-story/2025/5/4/starving-under-israels-siege-what-is-next-for-the-people-of-gaza?traffic_source=rss;Sun, 04 May 2025 20:08:51 +0000
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Dozens of people are already dead from starvation as Israel bars trucks with food and aid.
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Al Jazeera;Putin expresses ‘hope’ that nuclear weapons will not be needed in Ukraine;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/4/putin-expresses-hope-that-nuclear-weapons-will-not-be-needed-in-ukraine?traffic_source=rss;Sun, 04 May 2025 19:42:01 +0000
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Comments aired ahead of Putin’s three-day ceasefire; Zelenskyy says he does ‘not believe’ Russia will stick to pledge.
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Al Jazeera;UK police arrest seven Iranians over alleged threats to national security;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/4/uk-police-arrest-seven-iranians-over-alleged-threats-to-national-security?traffic_source=rss;Sun, 04 May 2025 17:56:38 +0000
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Country on high alert since MI5 warning last year about ‘potentially lethal’ Iran-backed activities.
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Al Jazeera;NGO in talks with Malta to repair Gaza-bound aid ship ‘attacked by Israel’;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/4/ngo-in-talks-with-malta-to-repair-gaza-bound-aid-ship-attacked-by-israel?traffic_source=rss;Sun, 04 May 2025 17:51:18 +0000
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Ship hit by two drones near Malta on Friday; NGO blames Israel for attack.
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Al Jazeera;Rapid US transformation: Is Trump succeeding?;https://www.aljazeera.com/program/the-bottom-line/2025/5/4/rapid-us-transformation-is-trump-succeeding?traffic_source=rss;Sun, 04 May 2025 16:47:24 +0000
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Republican and Democratic strategists assess Trump’s policy priorities from immigration to the economy.
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Al Jazeera;Israel calling up tens of thousands of reservists to expand war on Gaza;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/4/israel-calls-up-thousands-of-reservists-to-expand-war-on-gaza?traffic_source=rss;Sun, 04 May 2025 16:34:25 +0000
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Move comes despite global outrage over humanitarian blockade and calls to reach lasting ceasefire.
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Al Jazeera;Trump says ‘I don’t know’ when asked if he should uphold the Constitution;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/4/trump-says-i-dont-know-when-asked-if-he-backs-us-due-process-rights?traffic_source=rss;Sun, 04 May 2025 16:07:31 +0000
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US president makes comments in interview with NBC's Meet the Press after being asked about deportation of immigrants.
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Al Jazeera;Brazil’s ex-President Bolsonaro discharged after three weeks in hospital;https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/5/4/brazils-ex-president-bolsonaro-discharged-after-three-weeks-in-hospital?traffic_source=rss;Sun, 04 May 2025 15:43:29 +0000
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Jair Bolsonaro, who lost his re-election bid in 2022, had major abdominal surgery last month.
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Al Jazeera;What’s the connection between Israeli wildfires and ‘green colonialism’?;https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2025/5/4/whats-the-connection-between-israeli-wildfires-and-green-colonialism?traffic_source=rss;Sun, 04 May 2025 15:06:10 +0000
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Researchers say Israel’s worst wildfires were exacerbated by non-native trees that Israel has been planting for decades.
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Al Jazeera;Real Madrid-Celta Vigo: Mbappe brace keeps LaLiga title hopes alive;https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2025/5/4/mbappe-keeps-real-madrids-laliga-hopes-alive-in-celta-vigo-thriller?traffic_source=rss;Sun, 04 May 2025 14:21:19 +0000
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Madrid see off late comeback by Celta to stay within four points of LaLiga leaders Barca, whom they visit next weekend.
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Al Jazeera;Israel uses Druze community to justify “interfering in Syria”;https://www.aljazeera.com/program/quotable/2025/5/4/israel-uses-druze-community-to-justify-interfering-in?traffic_source=rss;Sun, 04 May 2025 14:09:11 +0000
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“Interestingly, that their [Druze] location in the Golan Heights presents, if you like, a strategic interest for Israel.
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Al Jazeera;AI-generated image of Trump as pope is the latest White House controversy;https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2025/5/4/ai-generated-image-of-trump-as-pope-is-the-latest-white-house-controversy?traffic_source=rss;Sun, 04 May 2025 14:06:51 +0000
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US President Donald Trump is facing backlash for publishing an AI-generated image of himself as the pope.
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Al Jazeera;Syrian gov’t reaches deal with Druze community, as Israel steps up attacks;https://www.aljazeera.com/video/newsfeed/2025/5/4/syrian-govt-reaches-deal-with-druze-community-as-israel-steps-up-attacks?traffic_source=rss;Sun, 04 May 2025 13:17:24 +0000
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Syrian government reaches a deal with the Druze community, as Israel keeps attacking Syria.
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BBC News;Royals hope nothing distracts from VE Day celebrations after Harry interview;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8q6nv91x4o;Sun, 04 May 2025 23:07:54 GMT
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The King and others in the Royal Family will join the nation in commemorating the 80th anniversary.
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BBC News;Non-US movies to be hit with 100% tariffs, Trump says;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjr7e2z1rxyo;Mon, 05 May 2025 06:25:09 GMT
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The president blamed foreign-made movies for the American film industry's "very fast death".
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BBC News;Iranian men questioned by police over alleged UK terror plot;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgp2pg3njko;Mon, 05 May 2025 08:08:22 GMT
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Seven Iranian nationals are among those arrested in two major counter-terrorism investigations.
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BBC News;27 lives per kilometre: How Russia took record losses in Ukraine;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yg4z6v600o;Mon, 05 May 2025 00:11:02 GMT
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Last year was the deadliest for Russian forces since the start of the full-scale war with at least 45,287 killed.
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BBC News;Trump orders reopening of notorious Alcatraz prison;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cze17n02gego;Mon, 05 May 2025 08:03:21 GMT
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President Trump says the famous island prison off San Francisco is to be reopened to house "ruthless and violent" offenders.
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BBC News;Watch: How Lady Gaga's record-breaking concert almost ended in disaster;https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cy48jnw2pnpo;Sun, 04 May 2025 22:17:25 GMT
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A large-scale bomb attack was thwarted by police before Gaga's first concert in Brazil since 2012.
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BBC News;Syrian security forces monitored armed civilians who killed Alawites, accused man says;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2erkr1n15o;Sun, 04 May 2025 21:10:56 GMT
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One man accused of killing an Alawite during the sectarian violence in March tells the BBC that armed civilians were advised and monitored by government forces.
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BBC News;Bank of mum and dad 'helps half of first-time buyers';https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly1jzl9eedo;Sun, 04 May 2025 23:02:32 GMT
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An average of £55,572 was given in loans and gifts by members of the family, estimates show.
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BBC News;Russian spies attended Brexit event in Parliament;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqj4kze7kvdo;Mon, 05 May 2025 04:55:44 GMT
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Bulgarians Orlin Roussev, Biser Dzhambazov and Katrin Ivanova attended an event in the Palace of Westminster, the BBC finds.
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BBC News;Nationalist Simion ahead in Romanian election re-run;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj0zl1702ego;Mon, 05 May 2025 08:56:52 GMT
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Romania's previous presidential election was cancelled over allegations of campaign fraud and Russian interference.
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BBC News;Lewis Hamilton to co-host Met Gala with spotlight on menswear and black style;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3r807j7xrwo;Mon, 05 May 2025 02:32:23 GMT
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Menswear and black style will be celebrated at this year's fashion extravaganza in New York City.
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BBC News;Custom fireworks and standby firefighters: How the Vatican makes its smoke signal;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp31gnn93kvo;Mon, 05 May 2025 02:56:47 GMT
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Experts say the process requires "two custom fireworks", smoke test rehearsals and Vatican firefighters on standby.
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BBC News;The Papers: Terror plot 'foiled' and 'fight off Reform';https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxg1rzvrzwo;Mon, 05 May 2025 04:32:00 GMT
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Counter-terrorism arrests and the government's reaction to Reform's success make Monday's fronts.
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BBC News;Molly-Mae is back, and I Kissed a Boy returns: What's coming up this week;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyqxzlzw9jo;Sun, 04 May 2025 17:08:27 GMT
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Sir David Attenborough's new film and PinkPantheress's new album are also out this week.
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BBC News;Long-distance romance and closure from husband's death - your memories of Skype;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp913ze3k9jo;Sun, 04 May 2025 03:18:58 GMT
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As Microsoft shuts it down, we’ve spoken to people whose lives were impacted by the tools.
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BBC News;When is Sean 'Diddy' Combs' trial and what is he charged with?;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0qz32wzeego;Mon, 05 May 2025 01:23:25 GMT
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The rap mogul denies sex trafficking and racketeering charges, plus dozens of other lawsuits alleging abuse.
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BBC News;Shh... the rise of the silent book club;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8qzn6lewvo;Mon, 05 May 2025 03:28:45 GMT
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Book clubs where no-one speaks are growing in popularity across the UK.
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BBC News;Doing nothing on social care 'untenable', MPs warn;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c62zpwx74e6o;Mon, 05 May 2025 03:05:36 GMT
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The report says failure to fix England's social care system carries an unknown human and financial cost.
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BBC News;Teenager's fire death leaves school 'heartbroken';https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz95dwj8x98o;Mon, 05 May 2025 00:48:46 GMT
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Tributes are paid to Layton Carr whose death following a Gateshead fire leads to the arrest of 14 children.
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BBC News;Trump says he won't seek a third term;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd9l3399wvno;Sun, 04 May 2025 15:40:04 GMT
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"This is not something I'm looking to do," the US president says about speculation he may try to find a way to run again in 2028.
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BBC News;Israeli army starts calling up reservists for planned expansion to Gaza offensive;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2e44y44gjo;Mon, 05 May 2025 02:38:01 GMT
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The military says its aim is to increase pressure on Hamas militants to return hostages they still hold.
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BBC News;Woman missing since 1962 found 'alive and well';https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgpjgwxlxwo;Sun, 04 May 2025 16:24:22 GMT
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Police in Wisconsin say Audrey Backeberg left home 'by her own choice' and no foul play was involved.
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BBC News;Ten dead after tourist boats capsize in China;https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/creqgwg0qnvo;Mon, 05 May 2025 07:10:51 GMT
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Chinese leader Xi Jinping urged "all-out efforts" in the search and rescue mission.
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BBC News;'Fire in my belly' led to team orders controversy;https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/articles/ce8g5xlmxjgo;Mon, 05 May 2025 01:40:44 GMT
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Lewis Hamilton says a double controversy over team orders at Ferrari during the Miami Grand Prix was triggered because he has "still got fire in my belly".
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BBC News;Local Electioncast: The Reaction! (Part 3);https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0l86w8m;Sun, 04 May 2025 12:07:00 GMT
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What politicians are saying on and off mic.
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BBC News;The Interview: Is Prince Harry's safety at risk?;https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3ct7wzh;Mon, 05 May 2025 07:30:00 GMT
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Nada Tawfik speaks to Prince Harry about reconciliation with the royal family
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BBC News;Zhao leads but Williams fights back in compelling Crucible final;https://www.bbc.com/sport/snooker/articles/cj0zl5lp868o;Sun, 04 May 2025 21:19:46 GMT
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Zhao Xintong holds an 11-6 lead after three-time winner Mark Williams steadied the ship on day one of the World Championship final.
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BBC News;Nine bolters with a shot of making the Lions squad;https://www.bbc.com/sport/rugby-union/articles/cn0wj736r78o;Mon, 05 May 2025 05:35:31 GMT
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Unforeseen picks are part of the intrigue and tradition of the British and Irish Lions squad selection - so who might make a late run in 2025?
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Subsets and Splits
News Labels 2022-20
The query retrieves all records with labels containing specific years (2022-2025), providing basic filtering but limited analytical value.