Global Tensions and Political Shiftsactive

This exchange was mentioned at a briefing with the Russian Security Council

The Prime Minister's party has also lost Wales. The Green Party, the Liberal Democrats, and the independence movement performed well.

The slick, captured in satellite images near Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf, has raised concerns about the condition of Iran’s oil infrastructure.

Republican Tennessee state Rep. Todd Warner arrives to the House chamber for a special session of the legislature to redraw congressional voting maps on May 7, 2026, in Nashville. Photo: George Walker IV/AP The ink had barely dried on the Supreme Court’s ruling to gut the Voting Rights Act when Republican lawmakers raced to deliver on the barely veiled promises of the court’s decision: the decimation of Black political power and a revival of Jim Crow-era racist voter suppression. In Tennessee on Thursday, Gov. Lee signed a bill that repealed a half-century-old law prohibiting mid-decade redistricting, and then the overwhelmingly Republican legislature passed new redistricting maps that eliminate the state’s only Black-majority district. The 9th Congressional District, also Tennessee’s only reliable Democratic seat, will be carved into three — purposefully redrawn for each piece to have a white-majority and Republican-leaning electorate. The votes of Memphis’s 63 percent Black population will be diluted to near irrelevance; the entire state will be handed to Republicans. With the right-wing justices’ blessing, Republican lawmakers can now enact segregationist gerrymandering. No one can act surprised. This was the predicted outcome of the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais decision, which decimated Section 2 of the embattled Voting Rights Act, a provision that had protected minority voters from redistricting. With the right-wing justices’ blessing, Republican lawmakers can now enact segregationist gerrymandering and reestablish the pre-civil-rights-era status quo ante. It stands to reason that Republicans are not representing the interests of Black Tennesseans, some 17 percent of the population, overwhelmingly Democrats. These residents only have one representative in Washington, Rep. Steve Cohen — the lone Democrat among the state’s nine congressional seats. That is the seat being eliminated by the new maps passed by Tennessee’s largely white legislature. The situation is already one in which Black working-class interests are hardly represented — and nor would greater Black representation in the state necessarily ensure the delivery of racial justice and the economic justice it requires. The point is that Black disenfranchisement both reflects and produces conditions of white supremacist rule, wherein greater anti-Black oppression is assured. “These maps are racist tools of white supremacy, at the behest of the most powerful white supremacist in the United States of America, Donald J. Trump,” said Democratic state Rep. Justin Pearson at the Tennessee statehouse on Thursday. Pearson, a progressive activist and one of the state’s few Black representatives, is running for a seat in Congress and was neck and neck in polling for his August primary against Cohen, the 76-year-old incumbent. The redrawn maps would likely foreclose his chance to represent South Memphis in Washington. Pearson called the gerrymandered maps a “political lynching” that “set our state back over 150 years.” Trump’s Larger Project Trump, who is historically unpopular, has every reason to push his GOP to use newly unconstrained gerrymandering capacities in advance of the midterms. Right-wing redistricting efforts go beyond a scramble for November, though, and sit within a larger project of white supremacist backlash. Like in Tennessee, Republicans in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and South Carolina all called special legislative sessions — as explicitly ordered by Trump — to push new redistricting maps that will decimate majority-Black districts and deliver congressional seats to Republicans. Related The Supreme Court Ends Multiracial Democracy as We Know It According to the cynical rationale of the Supreme Court conservatives, such maps would not violate what’s left of the Voting Rights Act, because the GOP is not openly describing their gerrymander as targeting Black voters. “The more racist you are as a party, the more insulated you are from Voting Rights Act liability under this decision,” Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Law School, told Bolts Magazine about the Callais ruling. “If there were a party called the Klan party, right now, it would trigger an awful lot of nonwhite opposition based on the party’s platform. But this opinion says, you have to set the party’s platform entirely aside to figure out if there’s been any damage based on race. So the more you can tie the two together, the more insulated you are.” In short, as Levitt put it, “the most racist partisan gerrymandering is going to be the most immune from a VRA challenge.” Tennessee Republicans proved precisely this point on Thursday. Striding into the statehouse to disenfranchise Black voters, Republican state Rep. Todd Warner wore a giant Trump 2024 flag as a cape. Striding into the statehouse to disenfranchise Black voters, Republican state Rep. Todd Warner wore a giant Trump 2024 flag. As other states follow Tennessee’s example, the consequences of Callais could see the largest-ever drop in the number of Black lawmakers in Congress. The previous record was set, NPR reported, in the post-Reconstruction backlash, by the Congress that began in 1877 with four fewer House districts represented by Black lawmakers than the previous session. In response to racist Republican gerrymandering, Democrats can play their own game of redistricting — but there’s a reason the Callais decision is understood as a gift to Republicans. “The states controlled by Republicans where there are majority-minority districts have no internal constraint on how much they can screw over Black voters, because Black voters are not voting for that party,” Pamela Karlan, law professor at Stanford University and co-director of Stanford’s Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, told Slate. Democrats could expand a small number of safe seats in New York and California, for example, by eliminating minority voter districts. As Karlan noted, however, this would be politically unpalatable because “the politics of the state are not going to look favorably on that, and the Democrats in those states depend on Black and Latino voters in statewide races.” According to Karlan, in this race to the bottom, Republican-led election fixing will not be addressed without a different Congress, a different president, and a powerful political movement to hold politicians accountable. “Voters have to first build a political movement around this that makes elected officials afraid to do this,” she said. Meanwhile, Democratic redistricting efforts in Virginia were dealt a blow on Friday, when they were struck down by the state’s Supreme Court. Voters had approved in a referendum to redraw the state’s congressional map, but the court’s ruling hands Republicans a fierce electoral advantage. After Thursday’s vote, Tennessee Democratic state Rep. Justin Jones burned a paper Confederate flag in the statehouse rotunda, surrounded by protesters who had gathered to decry the racist gerrymandering. “We saw a time like this, in this building before,” Jones told his fellow lawmakers earlier this week during the unprecedented redistricting special session. “If you study Reconstruction. We had Black lawmakers after the Civil War, then from the end of the 1800s to the 1960s, we had no Black folks here” — meaning the statehouse. On Thursday afternoon, the NAACP’s Tennessee chapter filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the new congressional map, which is likely to be the first of several legal efforts against the rushed, conniving, and unrepentantly racist gerrymander. The post Tennessee GOP Moves to Decimate Black Voting Power After Supreme Court’s Blessing of Jim Crow appeared first on The Intercept.

Ukraine's Defense Forces struck an oil refinery and a drone storage warehouse inside Russia overnight on May 8, as well as the "Luhanska" oil depot and air defense facilities in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.

The US said it expects Iran to respond to its latest proposal to end their war imminently, as clashes in the Strait of Hormuz threatened to further fracture a monthlong ceasefire.

In a few weeks, a new World Cup will begin. North America 2026 is notable for being held in three host countries. Therefore, FIFA is preparing opening ceremonies for each of the first matches that will take place in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. According to reports in the American press, FIFA has prepared a diverse lineup of artists who will perform in each country, and Chilean artists will also be featured. In Canada, Michael Bublé, Alanis Morissette, and Alessia Cara are scheduled to perform before the match between the Canadian national team and Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12 in Toronto. On the same day, the United States will make its debut against Paraguay in Los Angeles. Katy Perry will be the main performer there. The performances of the rapper Future and the American artist of Bangladeshi origin, Sanjoy, are also confirmed. Lisa, the Thai rapper and singer who rose to fame with the South Korean girl group Blackpink, has also been hired by FIFA. Furthermore, Paraguay, the United States' opponent, will be represented by the Paraguayan artist Marilina Bogado. In Mexico, before the Mexican national team's debut against South Africa on June 11, Maná, Alejandro Fernández, and Belinda are scheduled to perform. Also expected to appear are the Colombian J Balvin, the Brazilian Anitta, the Venezuelan Danny Ocean, and Vegedream from France…

Referendum approving party’s plan to redraw congressional map is overturned by judges

ROME — U. S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared himself “a strong supporter of NATO” after talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday, as political friction between the two allies brews. The Italian leader described her meeting with Rubio to reporters as a”productive” and “frank” discussion “between two nations that both understand how necessary it is for each to defend their national interests,” signaling disagreements on some issues. The secretary of state’s meetings with the PM and her Foreign Minister, Antonio Tajani, come amid rising tensions between Rome and Washington after U. S. President Donald Trump threatened the EU with higher tariffs and hinted at withdrawing U. S. forces from Italy and Spain over what he sees as insufficient European support for the war in Iran. According to Italian media, Rubio said he had not raised the issue of troop withdrawals directly with Meloni, but added that “some European countries … have refused to allow us to use those bases in a very serious emergency,” which “has created some unnecessary risks” for the United States. Ultimately, though, removing American soldiers from European bases is “a decision for the president to make,” he concluded. Tajani stressed the importance of maintaining a strong American presence in Europe. “For us, an American presence in Europe is important to strengthen NATO,” he said, adding that “a strong commitment from Europeans is also important from this point of view, something Europeans are already doing.” The atmosphere during the visit was notably warmer than in recent weeks. Rubio spoke partly in Spanish during the meetings, joking that the language was “very similar” to Italian. He also said he had been trying to learn Italian himself, but that his subscription to language app Babbel had expired. Tajani, in an effort to appease the U. S. administration, repeated Italy’s pledge of support for a naval mission in the Strait of Hormuz once a lasting ceasefire between the United States and Iran is in place. He will join Defense Minister Guido Crosetto to brief the Italian parliament next week on the matter — lawmakers must approve any deployment before Italian naval vessels can leave port. The White House has been pressing European allies for stronger backing over the Iran conflict, while Meloni has described the war as “illegal.” The prime minister needs to preserve the country’s strategic relationship with Washington while navigating growing domestic opposition to both the conflict and Trump himself, particularly as rising energy prices and inflation begin to weigh on Italian households.

The state secretary also acknowledged that the United States and its allies should understand that American resources are not unlimited.

With all this global uncertainty, how can Keir Starmer maintain Labour’s position? Bloomberg Opinion columnist Rosa Prince explains. (Source: Bloomberg)

China’s international arbitration efforts have made significant progress, but more work is needed to attract foreign parties to arbitrate in China amid US-China rivalry, according to arbitrators and law scholars. China’s newly revised Arbitration Law took effect in March, marking the most significant overhaul of the country’s commercial dispute framework since 1994, in a move to promote cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen to develop into international arbitration centres, competing...

Since the start of the day, Russian forces have attacked the positions of Ukraine's Defense Forces 52 times. The enemy is concentrating its main efforts on the Pokrovsk direction.

Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alimov reaffirmed Russia’s steadfast position on the Iranian issue

A voting system created when two parties dominated is being tested by the rise of newer competitors.

U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit China on the 14th and 15th of this month for a summit meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. This will be the first in-person meeting between the two leaders since October of last year, and discussions are expected to cover a range of issues, including economic and trade relations, the situation surrounding Taiwan, and the situation in Iran.

Maria Zakharova said the Israeli importer Tzentziper made this decision in the light of certain unnamed circumstances and offered the supplier to find another buyer on its own

President Jovenel Moïse, 53, was gunned down in his bedroom in July 2021. His killing unleashed a yearslong spiral of gang violence and mayhem in Haiti.

Hong Kong has raised HK$27.6 billion (US$3.5 billion) through a green and infrastructure bond sale to finance the Northern Metropolis and low-carbon transformation projects. The offering drew investors from more than 30 markets across Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas, signalling global institutional investors’ confidence in Hong Kong’s development, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said in a statement on Friday. Orders totalled about HK$239 billion, 8.6 times the offer size. The...

The Virginia Supreme Court threw out Democrats’ redistricting referendum on Friday, ruling 4-3 that it didn’t follow the proper procedures.  The decision casts aside the state’s new congressional map that would’ve given Democrats a 10-1 tilt in Virginia. Under the ruling, the 6-5 map will stay in place. “This violation irreparably undermines the integrity of the resulting referendum vote and renders it null and void,”…

Former “Access Hollywood” host Billy Bush on Thursday said that former reality star Spencer Pratt, a Republican running to become mayor of Los Angeles, was “relentless” in Tuesday’s debate with incumbent Mayor Karen Bass (D). Bush told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo that he was initially “suspect” of Pratt debating Bass and Los Angeles City Council member…

U. S. military actions against Iran were effective, but the president has stumbled through negotiations.

The Pentagon on Friday released a major tranche of never-before-seen files about UFOs, the latest in a series of declassifications on topics that have long captivated Americans and spawned conspiracy theories. “The Department of War is in lockstep with President [Donald] Trump to bring unprecedented transparency regarding our government’s understanding of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement. “These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation — and it’s time the American people see it for themselves.” A new website made public Friday by the Defense Department — war.gov/UFO — is replete with a rotating carousel of black-and-white images of unidentified aerial phenomena. Viewers can sift through dozens of files containing detailed information on alleged UFO sightings. Statements from several government officials suggested this was merely the first tranche of releases, and that more UFO files would be declassified and released at a later date. Former President Barack Obama touched off the most recent round of rampant speculation about the existence of alien life when he said in a February interview that aliens are “real but I haven’t seen them.” Though Obama walked back his comments, suggesting statistically there probably is life out there but he has seen no evidence of it, Trump revealed plans to release the government’s UFO files later that month. The government has long collected information on UFOs, including through the Pentagon’s Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program study that began nearly two decades ago. While Americans regularly connect sightings to life outside of earth, experts also often suggest more terrestrial explanations, including advanced next-generation technologies from America’s geopolitical rivals. The Trump administration took no position on Friday, saying they were allowing Americans to make up their own minds. “We will remain candid about what we know to be true, what we have yet to understand, and all that remains to be discovered,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement accompanying the release. This isn’t the first major files drop carried out by the Trump administration. Trump also said he’d declassify information on other long-running American fascinations, including President John F. Kennedy’s assassination and aviator Amelia Earhart’s disappearance. But the biggest disclosure was not voluntary. Last December, the Department of Justice began releasing files related to deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in accordance with a law passed by Congress. The DOJ announced the release was complete in late January, the culmination of a monthslong fight over the files that revealed major fissures in the president’s MAGA coalition. The UFO files are unlikely to raise similar levels of dissent. “While past administrations sought to discredit or dissuade the American people, President Trump is focused on providing maximum transparency to the public, who can ultimately make up their own minds about the information contained in these files,” the Pentagon wrote.

Scandal over theft at his private game farm in 2020 has dogged South Africa’s president

Deeper economic cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will hinge on whether a code can be laid down to govern maritime territory and activity in the South China Sea, Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has said. “We cannot institutionalise any of those things until the code of conduct is finalised,” he told a press conference on Friday at the close of the 48th Asean summit in Cebu, when asked about aspects that held the most potential in relations between...

According to an analysis published this week, Moscow lost territory on the battlefield in April 2026 for the first time since Ukraine's bold incursion into Russia's Kursk oblast in August 2024. Moscow's losses amounted to approximately 116 square kilometers across several areas of the front line.

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett says the April jobs report should not make the Federal Reserve want to raise interest rates. He also talks about bringing down the national debt and President Trump's trip to China next week. He speaks on Bloomberg Open Interest. (Source: Bloomberg)

The Virginia Supreme Court has prevented state officials from using a new congressional map, approved by voters this year, that was expected to help Democrats gain additional seats in the US House.

France has sent back its ambassador to Algeria in a bid to ease tensions between Paris and its former North African colony. The envoy was recalled more than a year ago after relations between the two countries soured over France’s decision to back Moroccan sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara.

At a New York City ballroom late last month, a crowd of hi-tech luminaries gathered at an honours ceremony. The biggest draw for the assembled tech geniuses was Nvidia founder Jensen Huang, the superstar head of one of the world’s most valuable companies, set to receive the night’s top award. In some ways, engineers have been at the centre of every industrial revolution, Huang told the crowd, from steam to electricity to information technology. But this one, artificial intelligence (AI), will be...

Director James Cameron and The Walt Disney Company are being sued by Q'orianka Kilcher, an Indigenous actress who did not participate in Avatar, but whose face appears in the films. At least, that is the basis of the woman's claim, who asserts that Cameron "extracted her facial features and ordered his design team" to make one of the main characters, Neytiri, look like her. "One of the most powerful filmmakers in Hollywood exploited the biometric identity and cultural heritage of a young Indigenous woman to create a film franchise that broke records, without giving her credit or compensation, through a series of deliberate and non-consensual commercial acts," reads a statement from the lawsuit, which has been widely reported by American media outlets. According to Kilcher, of Peruvian origin, the director allegedly saw the actress in a commercial for the film *The New World* (2005), where she played Pocahontas, and based the character of Neytiri (played by Zoe Saldana) on her appearance. Evidence against James Cameron for using Q'orianka Kilcher's face: The statement recounts a meeting that actress Q'orianka Kilcher had with James Cameron in 2010, shortly after the release of the first *Avatar* film. There, the director gave her a framed sketch of Neytiri drawn and signed by him. In addition, there was a note that said: "Your beauty was my initial inspiration for Neytiri. It's a shame that..."

Since his election last September with an impressive result, Zack Polanski has dramatically boosted the Green Party's profile. For a long time on the fringes, the Green Party has gained over 100,000 members in just a few months, thanks to the personality of its new leader, who was still relatively unknown a year ago. Initially an actor and hypnotherapist, this 43-year-old man, who describes himself as "gay, Jewish, and vegan," entered British politics relatively late. A former activist in the radical Extinction Rebellion movement, he first joined the Liberal Democrats in 2015 and then the Greens two years later. A member of the London Assembly since 2021, he is now very popular in urban centers, among young people to whom he speaks about housing costs and the fight against unemployment, social welfare, and public services, as well as among Muslim voters. The UK's Green Party leader, Zack Polanski, has been compared to Zohran Mamdani of New York for his popular blend of environmental and socialist policies. Here's what you need to know about the leader of the Greens: [link to article] [Tweet from Al Jazeera English, May 7, 2026] His method is simple: he draws on his experience as an actor to break down the conventions of politics and dominates social media with aggressive communication. "Polanski brings a breath of fresh air because he is not seen as a conventional politician..."

On August 8th, U.S. Secretary of State Rubio, while visiting Italy, told a group of reporters, "We are hoping to receive a response from Iran today. We have not yet received it, but we expect it will arrive." This statement indicated that the U.S. anticipated receiving Iran's response to the U.S. proposal by the end of the day on August 8th.

Opinion polls before the election suggested that the right-wing anti-immigration Reform U. K. party and the center-left Plaid Cymru would battle for the top spot in Wales.

According to Ivo Daalder, since assuming the position of Secretary of State in January 2025, Marco Rubio has undertaken 18 trips abroad, spending 75 days on these assignments and visiting 31 countries.

Close relations with Israel and the United States have placed the United Arab Emirates in Iran's crosshairs as Abu Dhabi pursues a more independent foreign policy than many Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia.

Bernd Lange, the European Parliament's lead negotiator on the EU-US trade deal, has rejected pressure from Washington to expedite implementation, insisting that the bloc's democratic procedures cannot be dictated by tariff threats from President Donald Trump.

Potato-linked financial contracts have risen over 700% in a few weeks, despite a current oversupply in Europe, due to speculative trading surrounding the volatile environment caused by the Iran war.

A memorial service was held in Taiwan for Ichiro Hatta, a Japanese engineer who dedicated his efforts to the development of agriculture during the period of Japanese rule. Over 700 people, including President Lai Ching-te, attended the ceremony to honor his achievements.

The Iranian Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, stated this Friday that the United States appears to be avoiding, at all costs, the possibility of achieving a negotiated solution to the conflict between the two countries. He warned that, contrary to American estimates suggesting a depletion of their arsenal, Iran's missiles are "reloaded to 120%" and prepared for a full-scale resumption of hostilities. "Every time a diplomatic solution is proposed, the United States opts for a reckless military adventure," Araqchi criticized in a message posted on social media. He expressed his "bewilderment" at the attitude of the Trump administration and suggested the existence of a "saboteur," referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "Is this a clumsy tactic of pressure? Or is it the result of a saboteur once again deceiving the president and leading him into another quagmire?" the Iranian Foreign Minister pondered before concluding that "whatever the causes, the result is the same: Iranians never give in to pressure, and diplomacy is always the victim." Furthermore, Araqchi asserted that all American estimates regarding a supposed decline in Iran's military capabilities are far from reality. "The CIA is wrong. Our missile inventory and launch capability are not at 75% compared to February 28th," the date when...

In Romania, the Social Democrats joined forces with the far right to bring down the pro-EU government. Elsewhere, some mainstream parties are considering deals, or already cooperating with, parties they previously saw as too radical.

Officials said the group had been hiking up the active volcano despite a climbing ban.

The US Court of International Trade struck down the 10% import tax imposed on all countries on Thursday. This measure had replaced previous tariffs that the Supreme Court had ruled illegal.

Norway has announced it plans to reopen three old gas fields in the North Sea in order to boost Europe's supply. Already the largest supplier for the EU, Oslo also proposed 70 new offshore locations for oil and gas exploration. Environmental activists accuse the government of using geopolitical tensions and conflicts like the wars in Ukraine and Iran as an excuse to continue drilling for fossil fuels despite the climate crisis.

China’s health authorities have tried to address public concern about the recent hantavirus outbreak by saying there was no cause for concern. The Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Friday that the country had recorded no human infections from the strain of the virus linked to the current outbreak. It is thought to have its origins in the Andes and the CDC said there were no natural hosts for that particular variant in China. “Hantavirus infections generally do not...

PARIS. – All the polls predicted it, but that didn't make the results of the local elections in the United Kingdom on Thursday any less painful for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose Labour Party suffered a significant defeat, benefiting the anti-immigration far-right party, Reform UK. Starmer acknowledged that the results were "very difficult" and took responsibility, but ruled out resigning, as proposed not only by the Conservative opposition but also by some factions within his own party. "I am not going to resign and plunge the country into chaos," he stated in a press release. "Days like this do not diminish my determination to implement the changes I have promised," he added. These are tough results for Labour. There’s no sugarcoating it. We’ve lost brilliant Labour representatives who’ve stood up for their communities. People are still frustrated. Their lives aren’t changing fast enough. We haven’t offered enough hope or optimism for the future. I… pic.twitter.com/fX70cmFKpQ — Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) May 8, 2026 Approximately 25,000 candidates ran in these elections, which were intended to partially renew municipal councils: 5,066 councilor seats out of a total of 16,000, in 136 local authorities (32 London boroughs, 32 metropolitan boroughs, 18 unitary authorities, 6 counties, and 48 districts) and 6 directly elected mayors in England; 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament (…

On May 8, operators of the Alpha special operations center of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) carried out overnight strikes against the Lukoil-Permnefteorgsintez oil refinery and the Perm linear production and dispatch station.

The elections in England, Scotland, and Wales represent the most significant electoral challenge for Keir Starmer since he became prime minister in 2024.

Abbas Araghchi described the United States' actions as "reckless."

This sharpening convergence was on full display in early May, when the EU and Japan convened the 7th High-Level Economic Dialogue (HLED) in Brussels. The meeting reflected a notable hardening of language and intent. European and Japanese officials focused squarely on vulnerabilities stemming from concentrated supply chains, particularly China’s dominance in critical minerals and clean […] The post EU-Japan joining hands to break China’s supply chain grip appeared first on Asia Times.

Paris is returning its ambassador to Algeria and sending a senior envoy to ceremonies marking a colonial-era massacre in its former colony in a bid to improve frayed relations, the French presidency has announced.

The US and Iran clashed near the Strait of Hormuz, putting a fragile ceasefire under new strain. The skirmishes risk undermining talks over a US-proposed deal to permanently end the war, with Iran expected to respond soon. (Source: Bloomberg)

The Prime Minister and the U.S. Secretary of State shook hands and exchanged greetings, including kisses. Prior to that, they held a bilateral meeting with the Foreign Minister.

The United States is still awaiting a response from Iran regarding a potential agreement that would end the war, according to Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who spoke on Friday after meeting with his American counterpart, Marco Rubio, in Rome. "The Secretary said that they are waiting for a response from Iran, and we have encouraged dialogue," Tajani stated in a press conference following the meeting. The war between the United States and Iran, which began on February 28th, has now reached its one-month mark, following a fragile ceasefire agreement reached by the parties. However, tensions between the two countries escalated yesterday with a series of reciprocal attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. In this context, Washington is still hoping that Tehran will respond to a proposal to end the war and reopen the Strait. Yesterday, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that his country was continuing negotiations with Iran despite this exchange of attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. Tajani told Rubio that Italy "is in favor of any initiative that could lead to a permanent ceasefire." He also offered the American Secretary the availability of the Italian Navy to clear mines from the Strait and ensure its navigability once the area is completely pacified. "They want the agreement more than I do," U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Thursday evening that Washington is still engaged in negotiations with Iran despite the latest exchange of...

As Europe commemorates the 81st anniversary of the Allied victory over the Nazis this May 8, many in Germany are discovering long-buried family secrets. Nazi party membership lists – saved from destruction in 1945 – are now available online. In just a few clicks, the Nazi past of millions of German families is within reach.

Iraq has the fifth largest proven oil reserves in the world, estimated at 145 billion barrels, representing about 17% of total Middle Eastern reserves and around 9% of global reserves, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that U. S. President Donald Trump's envoys are expected to visit Kyiv at the turn of spring and summer.

The U.S. is an energy superpower, but its inadequate infrastructure for transporting energy to where it's needed results in high energy costs for many Americans. This problem is further compounded by a permitting process that makes it difficult to construct new energy projects.

Chinese authorities confirmed this Friday that an oil tanker belonging to the Marshall Islands and crewed by Chinese nationals was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz. This situation has caused "serious concern" in Beijing, which has, for the time being, ruled out any casualties on board the vessel. The spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lin Jian, stated at a press conference that the attack occurred on Monday near the strait, an area "used for international navigation." "China is deeply concerned about the large number of ships and crews that have been affected by the conflict and are stranded in the area," he said. "We believe that restoring transit through the strait as soon as possible and safeguarding the safety of civilian ships and their crews is in the interests of all countries in the region and the international community," he stated, according to a press release. Therefore, he urged "all parties to take practical measures to prevent the situation from worsening in the region." "We are willing to work with the international community to continue efforts to achieve a ceasefire and peace talks that will resolve the situation," he clarified.

Potential jet fuel shortages due to the war in Iran could force a shift in fuel types, raising operational and safety risks across airlines and airports.

In early results, Nigel Farage’s Reform U. K. party has won more than 400 council races across England.

U. K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed he would stay in his post even as his Labour Party saw heavy losses in local elections.

ISW says Moscow's advance is slowing as Ukraine claims Russia's army suffered more than 35,000 casualties in April.

The United Arab Emirates has borne the brunt of Iranian attacks throughout the war, hardening the government’s resolve to reassess its list of friends and foes.

This year's May 9 military parades in Moscow will be much more modest and have been canceled altogether in other parts of Russia. The Kremlin has blamed Ukraine.

Hundreds of squatters protest Nepal govt's move to dismantle structures in Kathmandu

No region of the world produces more oil and gas than the countries straddling the Persian Gulf. Most of this energy can only be exported aboard tankers that cross the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway that’s effectively been blocked for more than two months.

Beijing and Manila have traded barbs over a Chinese research vessel near a disputed South China Sea reef, with each warning of further countermeasures, a sign of lingering tensions between the two rival claimants. In a statement issued on Thursday night, China Coast Guard (CCG) spokesman Jiang Lue said a Philippine Coast Guard Islander aircraft had “deliberately approached and harassed” China’s Xiang Yang Hong 33 scientific research vessel on Wednesday while the ship was conducting a “legitimate...

China’s rapid technological gains and aggressive pricing are making it increasingly difficult for South Korean firms to find profitable areas of industrial synergy with their Chinese counterparts, according to experts. Speakers at a recent forum in Beijing urged firms from both countries to pivot towards building more interdependent ecosystems in high-growth sectors such as batteries and artificial intelligence, while also calling for the advancement of negotiations towards an upgraded...

A bilateral meeting took place between the Foreign Minister and the U.S. Secretary of State, during which the Secretary of State joked, "Next time, I'll speak Italian."

The initial results from the local elections held this Thursday in the United Kingdom, where 5,000 councilors are being elected in over a hundred local authorities, reveal the first setbacks for the Labour Party. With 37 out of 136 councils counted, the party has already lost control in seven of them, while the far-right Reform UK party is gaining ground. According to the vote count, the Labour Party, to which Prime Minister Keir Starmer belongs, appears to have lost power in areas such as Tameside, a metropolitan borough in Manchester, where they have secured 25 seats but lost 14, while Reform UK has achieved 19 and gained 18, according to data from the counting center reported by The Guardian newspaper. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing a difficult set of election results, as the Labour Party has suffered significant losses in the English local council elections. Follow our live blog for the latest developments: https://t.co/wGxVKusJgW pic.twitter.com/A4QFOuI55b — Financial Times (@FT) May 8, 2026 A similar situation appears to be unfolding in Redditch, south of Birmingham, where Starmer's party has lost five seats, leaving them with 13 councilors, while the party led by the far-right figure Nigel Farage has gained eight; or in Tamworth, a town in central England, where Labour has lost one councilor, leaving them with 14, and Reform UK has increased to 10, after gaining nine. Notably, the case of Hartlepool, a town located in northeastern England, also stands out...

A Malta-flagged tanker, carrying one million barrels of crude oil, has successfully reached the western coast of South Korea after passing through the Strait of Hormuz in mid-April.

A massive explosion at a fireworks factory in Hunan Province, in the inland region of China, has resulted in the confirmed deaths of at least 37 people, according to state-run media. The reports also indicate that the company operating the fireworks factory had previously been cited for safety violations.

A new exchange of fire between Iran and the US occurred late Thursday night in the Strait of Hormuz, with both countries accusing each other of firing first. The latest by Simon Moritz.

The far right are making gains in England as the results of local elections are counted overnight. The governing Labour party has lost control of a number of councils... and pressure is piling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer. While most results won’t be declared until later Friday, Reform UK — led by populist Nigel Farage — is on course for a major victory. Details by FRANCE 24’s correspondent in London, Bénédicte Paviot.

Israel has taken responsibility for Wednesday night's strike on the southern suburbs of Beirut, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying he personally authorised the attack to kill a top Hezbollah Commander identified as Malek Balou. The continued ceasefire incursions are further pressuring talks between Tel Aviv and Beirut, which are being supported by the US. Hezbollah initially indicated it would support a deal if it was respected by Israel but the two parties continue to trade blows, despite the truce. Details by Eliza Herbert.

The United States said it had attacked Iranian military targets in response to strikes on American ships. Washington and Tehran are debating a peace proposal, Iranian officials said.

An armed suspect has taken a bank employee hostage after intercepting a cash transport at a small bank in a German town. Police have sealed off the area as special forces respond.

The Hong Kong government has appointed veteran politician Jeffrey Lam Kin-fung to chair the board of directors of the Hung Shui Kiu Industry Park Company – the first entity established to accelerate the development of the Northern Metropolis project. The Development Bureau said on Friday that the board of directors comprises five bureau chiefs and five non-official members, tasked with formulating a “forward-looking development positioning and strategy” for the 23-hectare logistics park, the...

Take part in a live Ask an Expert Q&A with columnist and writer of the Inside Politics newsletter, Stephen Bush, and UK chief political commentator Robert Shrimsley

The radiation situation across Ukraine, including the northern part of the Kyiv region, remained stable as of 11:00 on May 8, with firefighting efforts ongoing in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone.

Victory Day commemorations are taking place across Europe. It was on 8 May 1945 that Germany surrendered and the Allied powers celebrated victory in Europe. 81 years later, details of what to expect from the commemorations in France with FRANCE 24 reporter Olivia Bizot.

The US claims that Iranian forces launched the first attacks against American destroyers, while Tehran accuses the US military of violating the truce. Despite this, the US president insists that negotiations are progressing, even as he continues to threaten the Islamic Republic.

By 8 am local time, Nigel Farage's anti-immigrant Reform UK had gained over 350 seats, while Labour under Keir Starmer had lost over 240 across 40 of the 136 English councils to announce results so far.

Two months ago, Donald Trump claimed the United States would liberate the Iranian people when it launched the offensive alongside Israel. Two months into the war, the regime is still there, the repression continues, and the country stands on the verge of economic asphyxiation. Our colleagues at France 2 had the rare opportunity to film the lives of Iranians in the heart of Tehran, where runaway inflation has led to a cost of living crisis.

BRUSSELS — Countries that don’t welcome European companies into their markets shouldn’t expect access to EU goods and services contracts, the bloc’s top industry official has warned. In comments to POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook on Friday, European Commission Executive Vice-President Stéphane Séjourné said “support is growing” among EU capitals for “a major shift in doctrine” that would see more taxpayers’ money stay on the continent. “If we do not act against unfair competition from global rivals, Europe risks losing control over critical production chains in clean tech, automotive and nuclear energy,” said the French commissioner, who oversees the single market. Séjourné has long championed a “European Preference” as part of his flagship Industrial Accelerator Act (which aims to make Europe more competitive by favoring local manufacturers of green technologies) and for projects funded by the EU’s long-term budget. However, some EU countries — led by Germany — oppose what they say are too rigid criteria that could disrupt supply chains. However, Séjourné said “the more the world is changing,” the stronger the case for the policy grows and “the debate is no longer about why Europe should do this, but about how to do it effectively.” The intervention comes as trade tensions grow with the U. S., with President Donald Trump announcing Thursday that he would impose “much higher” tariffs on the EU’s exports if the bloc does not drop its own rates to zero. A landmark trade deal, struck between Trump and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in July last year, has been held up in negotiations in Brussels as lawmakers weigh up safeguards in case Washington reneges on its commitments. Séjourné argued that giving taxpayers’ money to companies based inside the EU “changes the balance in global trade negotiations. Countries that want access to those European public procurement markets will have to open their own markets in return. That gives Europe a powerful new trade instrument.” According to classified German government documents, seen by POLITICO, Berlin is joining calls for the Industrial Accelerator Act to include requirements that publicly-funded projects should procure steel from EU manufacturers where possible. Meanwhile, calls are growing for the EU to get tougher on China, which has been accused of shutting foreign firms out of its own market while cornering key clean energy and technology industries abroad. Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot called on the EU to tackle oversupply from the country, following a trip to Beijing, pointing to industries such as metals, carmaking and chemicals.

As Pakistan mediates between the U. S. and Iran, its ties to the Emirates have deteriorated. Pakistani workers say they are now being sent home en masse.

Vivek Ramaswamy built a political brand casting racism as an obsession of Democrats. As a Republican running for Ohio governor, he’s facing racism on the right.

China's coastal aquaculture ponds are shrinking due to environmental policies, while India's are expanding at the fastest rate of any country, according to a new global overview of fish farms. The conclusions are based on a new dataset compiled from millions of satellite images of coastal aquaculture around the world in 2022. From 1990 to 2016, the global area of ponds used for aquaculture expanded rapidly. After 2017, the overall area declined, but changes varied between countries. The...

White smoke rises from a Freeport-McMoRan copper smelter in eastern Arizona, one of more than 180 facilities granted exemptions to the Clean Air Act by the Trump administration. Roberto “Bear” Guerra for ProPublica In March 2025, President Donald Trump’s administration made a tantalizing offer to coal-fired power plants, chemical manufacturing facilities and other factories: Their operations could be exempted from key provisions under the Clean Air Act, the bedrock environmental law estimated to have prevented thousands of premature deaths. All they had to do was ask. No rigorous application was needed. An email, which they had until the end of the month to send, would suffice. Within two weeks, executives across major industries began flooding an inbox set up to receive and funnel requests from the Environmental Protection Agency to the White House. They asked that their facilities be excused from expensive Clean Air Act requirements, relief that would save their companies money but pollute the air breathed by millions of Americans. At least 3,000 pages of emails were sent to and from this inbox in the weeks that followed. ProPublica obtained them via public records requests, giving the most complete look to date at a key aspect of what Trump’s EPA calls the “biggest deregulatory action in U. S. history.” Richard Shaffer, asset manager at Scrubgrass Reclamation Company, emailed asking for an exemption covering a western Pennsylvania power plant that burns coal waste. A significant portion of the electricity it generates is used to mine bitcoin. Keeping the cost of environmental compliance low was important “for the security of the United States,” Shaffer wrote. A response came 11 days later in a presidential proclamation. Approved. A Citgo Petroleum Corporation lawyer, Ann Al-Bahish, sought exemptions for petroleum refineries in Illinois, Louisiana and Texas, which had all been hit with Clean Air Act violations in recent years. The rule at issue, the agency had previously concluded, would “provide critical health protections to hundreds of thousands of people living near chemical plants.” (The company agreed to install new pollution controls to resolve some of its violations.) Kevin Wagner, vice president of the medical sterilizer company Sterigenics, messaged asking that nine facilities emitting the carcinogenic gas ethylene oxide, including near Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Charlotte and Atlanta, be exempted. More than 45,000 people, most of them not white, live within a mile of these facilities, according to federal data. Both companies got their response in July proclamations. Approved and approved. The companies did not respond to ProPublica’s requests for comment. In requesting an exemption to a Clean Air Act rule, Richard Shaffer, with Scrubgrass Reclamation Company, told the EPA that his company’s power plant, which uses much of its electricity to mine bitcoin, is key to national security. Obtained and highlighted by ProPublica In granting these requests, the White House didn’t seek input from EPA scientists. The administration cited authority under the Clean Air Act that had never before been used. More approvals followed. All told, more than 180 facilities in 38 states and Puerto Rico have, by Trump’s unilateral decision, been given a two-year reprieve from following the latest Clean Air Act rules. About 250,000 people live within a mile of these facilities, according to EPA and U. S. Census Bureau data collected by the Environmental Defense Fund. A majority are coal power plants and medical sterilizers. And more than 70 had faced formal enforcement action in the past five years by the EPA for violations such as emitting contaminants above regulatory limits and failing to properly track facilities’ pollution. Few requests appear to have been denied. The administration hasn’t made public its decisions on requests from three classes of plants that it said it would consider exempting: manufacturers of rubber tires, iron and steel, and lime, which is used in products ranging from metals to concrete. About 55 facilities are covered by those rules, although Republicans in Congress have already repealed the rubber tire updated rule. In response to ProPublica’s questions, an EPA spokesperson said in a statement: “EPA played no role in the determinations set out in the statute and specifically vested in the President. Any requests sent to the EPA’s electronic mailbox were forwarded to the White House.” In defending the exemptions, the administration cited two standards in the Clean Air Act that a president must invoke to exercise such powers: The industry must be integral to national security, and the technology needed to meet the EPA requirements must be unavailable. Sticking with Biden-era requirements could shut down businesses, Trump argued. “The President has provided regulatory relief from certain burdensome Clean Air Act requirements due to national security concerns that critical industries would no longer be able to operate under such stringent standards,” White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement. “Exemptions were issued due to crushing Biden-era regulations that required large swaths of our industrial base to adopt technologies that don’t exist outside the imagination of Biden’s EPA bureaucrats.” Numerous policy experts told ProPublica that they do not believe the White House’s justifications for the use of the exemptions. “It’s being absolutely abused now, and it couldn’t be more obvious,” said one EPA staffer who asked not to be named because they currently work for the agency. Indeed, multiple utilities have publicly said that they were already implementing pollution controls to comply with the more stringent rules, undercutting the administration’s claim that the technologies necessary to do so don’t exist. Watch the Gray TV Report Community groups and environmental nonprofits have sued the administration five times to halt the exemptions. A coalition of 12 organizations labeled the action an “illegal scheme.” (Four of the cases have been consolidated and are ongoing. In a motion to dismiss them, the administration argued that the groups did not have legal standing to sue and reiterated its stance that the law gives the president the authority to grant such exemptions.) “The cancer risk presented by these facilities is huge,” said Sarah Buckley, a senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council, adding that years of scientific study and public input informed the rules. “With a stroke of a pen, President Trump thinks he can just brush all that away.” A mural in Miami, Arizona, proclaims the importance of the copper industry to the state’s economy. Roberto “Bear” Guerra for ProPublica “He Disregards the Checks-and-Balances System” Freeport-McMoRan’s massive copper mining and smelting operation sits on the hills above the towns of Miami, Claypool and Globe in eastern Arizona. A Clean Air Act rule that was updated in 2024 regulates the smelter’s emissions and, by extension, the air breathed by the 10,000 people who live in these towns. Nearly two and a half years of fine-tuning passed between publication of a draft rule and the final product. Some of it was spent gathering input from residents, public health groups, Native American governments and companies — feedback the agency addressed in subsequent rewrites. Years of air monitoring data also informed the process. Implementing the updated rule would “reduce emissions of toxic metals, primarily lead and arsenic, by nearly 50 percent” at the country’s several copper smelters, the EPA concluded. Trump undid that work when he signed a proclamation in October pausing implementation and approving Freeport’s request that its Arizona copper smelter be given a pass on “all the deadlines promulgated under” the rule. On a sunny morning a few weeks after Freeport received the exemption, white smoke poured from its smelter above a Baptist church and residential neighborhood. The plant’s low rumble reverberated across the surrounding desert, unusually green from a recent rain. Trina Bunger has lived her life next to this smelter. Decades ago, the air was so polluted that her children wore handkerchiefs over their mouths when they went to school. So many of the family’s cattle fell ill that she no longer believed the sicknesses were a coincidence. Years ago, on particularly bad days, when the air around the smelter was hazy, “it would choke you out. It was like walking in a cloud,” Bunger said. “If you read the obituaries, ‘Died of cancer. Died of cancer,’” she said of her neighbors. “Well, that’s our destination, so I better get done what I’m gonna get done.” Trina Bunger remembers the time before updated air quality regulations required stricter pollution controls. In those days, pollution in Globe, Arizona, would get so bad that it “would choke you out.” Roberto “Bear” Guerra for ProPublica But she’s seen air quality steadily improve as regulations tightened, following advances in emissions control technology. Freeport spent $250 million on improvements completed in 2017 to better control sulfur dioxide emissions. “It’s better than in the ’70s and ’80s and ’90s,” Bunger said. Trump paused the requirement that Freeport follow the latest rule, including by installing additional pollution control equipment. William Cobb and Todd Weaver, Freeport’s vice president and senior counsel, respectively, emailed the EPA in March 2025 to request a reprieve from the Clean Air Act. They argued that complying with the rule governing copper smelters would cost hundreds of millions of dollars, while bringing minimal emissions reductions. “Significant investments have been made over the smelter’s long history to manage sulfur dioxide, lead and other regulated emissions in accordance with applicable standards, contributing to sustained improvements in local air quality,” Linda Hayes, Freeport’s spokesperson, said in a statement. The company has increased monitoring around the smelter and asked for the additional time to work with the EPA on evaluating “flaws” in the updated rule, she said. For this conservative county, where more than two-thirds of voters went for Trump, the smelter is an economic blessing. Freeport’s broader copper operation here employs nearly 950 people, according to the company. A brightly painted mural down the road from the smelter reads: “If it can’t be grown, it must be mined.” Eduardo Sanchez lauds the company’s economic impact and is hesitant to criticize the smelter. But, he said, Trump has no right to unilaterally decide when laws do and do not apply. “In order to help the rich get richer, he’s deregulating everything,” Sanchez said. “He’s a tyrant. He disregards the checks-and-balances system. He overreaches through executive dictates.” Freeport-McMoRan’s copper smelter sits on a bluff above three Arizona towns that are home to about 10,000 people. Roberto “Bear” Guerra for ProPublica Eduardo Sanchez, a retiree who moved to Globe to be closer to his family, believes President Donald Trump is rolling back air quality regulations to further enrich executives. Roberto “Bear” Guerra for ProPublica An Error-Ridden Process While Trump’s exemptions will affect millions of Americans like those in Miami, Claypool and Globe, the process for granting them has been sloppy. Because presidents have never previously used this authority to circumvent the Clean Air Act, industries were left guessing how to make the request, experts said. “Hello, I am a gas company looking for an exemption. How do I start?” one businessman wrote in an email to the EPA. Others appeared to mock the administration’s regulatory rollback, with one email calling for a coal power plant to be built on a 300-foot-wide m…

Hasan Piker, the Twitch streamer and political commentator, appeared at a May Day rally on May 1 in St. Louis to support Cori Bush’s congressional run. Photo: Tristan Beatty In a letter to Twitch and Amazon, New York Democratic Rep. Richie Torres once slammed Hasan Piker, the popular political streamer, for his “depravity” and called him “the poster child for the post-October 7th outbreak of antisemitism.” While mainstream Democrats and their allies have for months weighed the “problem” of Piker for the party, his star has only continued to rise. Insurgent candidates on the left are now making him their go-to surrogate, with Piker as a new kind of kingmaker, one they hope can shepherd his mass of online supporters behind them. Piker recently touched down in Missouri to lend his star power to Cori Bush, who is looking to reclaim her position in the House after serving as the first Black woman to represent the state’s 1st Congressional District from 2021 to 2025. During her first term in office, Bush authored a bill calling for an “immediate deescalation and cease-fire in Israel and occupied Palestine.” In what was widely read as retribution, Bush was primaried by a Democratic opponent, Wesley Bell, who ended his own Senate campaign against Republican Josh Hawley for the run; Bell defeated Bush with the help of an unprecedented nearly $9 million in spending from the super PAC for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. Now Bush is back, and like Piker, is unbowed: During the rally, she wore a T-shirt with her campaign slogan “FIGHT BACK” in big, bold letters. “I love seeing you all,” Bush told the May Day crowd. “I just don’t love why I keep seeing you all.” Bush, who rose to prominence as an activist with the Black Lives Matter movement, quickly gained a reputation in office for bucking establishment Democrats — even outpacing other members of “the Squad” — and being outspoken in her criticism of party leadership. On his wildly popular Twitch stream, Piker has argued that “80 percent of the Democratic Party now agrees with the principles that Cori Bush was defending at a time when it was inopportune for her to do so.” Piker’s visit to St. Louis coincided with weeks of national media scrutiny condemning the popular streamer’s views as antisemitic, culminating in Reps. Mike Lawler, R-N. Y., and Josh Gottheimer, D-N. J., pushing a bipartisan bill to explicitly denounce Piker. Related The Democrats Don’t Know Who They’ll Be in 2028. Michigan May Offer an Answer. But for the left, the criticism rings more like an endorsement, and Piker has hit the campaign trail for a number of progressive Democrats including Abdul El-Sayed, who’s running for the Senate in Michigan; Dr. Adam Hamawy, who’s running for a New Jersey House seat; and Rep. Ilhan Omar, who’s up for reelection in Minnesota. On stage with Bush, Piker described Bell as an “AIPAC stooge,” and urged St. Louisans to rally around the Bush campaign. “Republicans are monsters who traffic in hatred,” said Piker. “But we’re no longer going to vote for do-nothing Democrats, either.” He told the crowd about a St. Louis woman at the airport who was shocked to see him, visiting the city. “There’s this attitude in places like Missouri where city slickers like myself, the bicoastal elite, don’t come to places like St. Louis. Like, she genuinely was shocked,” Piker said on a stream re-cap. At the rally, Piker described St. Louis as part of a growing coalition of the discontented. “I’ve seen a lot of places like St. Louis. Places that have been left behind by wealthy corporations that pollute your waters and steal your productive output … but today we say, ‘No more!’” In a statement to The Intercept, a spokesperson for Bell pointed to common criticisms from mainstream figures over Piker’s past online comments. “If Cori Bush spent as much time meeting with her constituents as she does associating with people who condone sexual assault and blame America for September 11th, she may have fared better in her last election,” said Bell campaign spokesperson Jordan Blase. “Republicans are monsters who traffic in hatred. But we’re no longer going to vote for do-nothing Democrats, either.” Before Piker and Bush, historian Ángel Flores Fontánez took the stage as an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, anchoring the day in proud St. Louis labor history. One of the first American general strikes took place in the city in July 1877, when railroad workers across the United States objected to immiseration imposed by Gilded Age robber barons. In 1877, railroad workers across the United States shut down rail line capital from New York to Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania to Ohio, all the way out west to Missouri. In St. Louis, the strike escalated, evolving into a general action which drew river levee roustabouts, coopers, newsboys, foundry workers, and refinery laborers into a weeklong action. The strike was a multiracial coalition, and the strike’s executive committee briefly ran St. Louis as one of the first commune governments before it was violently suppressed. Fontánez recalled the city’s legacy of socialists, which dates back to the abolitionist German ’48ers, and the Funsten Nut Strike of May 1933. As University of Missouri history professor Keona Ervin notes in “Gateway to Equality: Black Women and the Struggle for Economic Justice in St. Louis,” the Funsten strike was one of the first successful strike actions of the era, with the Communist Party USA using the strike as a moment to “mark the urban Midwest as a new hotbed for radical labor politics spearheaded by black working women.” In the aftermath of the 2014 Black Lives Matter movement, which began in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, many hoped to see St. Louis once again become a beacon of progressivism. But Missouri poses a cadre of challenges: The 1st District is a gerrymandered product of a red state that used to be purple. Missouri was a bellwether for a century, but as polarization intensified in the early 2000s, Missouri Republicans successfully drew maps that neutralized the state’s urban progressive centers. Most Missourians live in the blue islands of St. Louis, Kansas City, and Springfield, which also make up 80 percent of the state’s annual GDP. Previously, the state elected Democratic governors, senators, and controlled a handful of congressional seats. But now the 1st District is one of the few remaining positions not controlled by Republicans. Decades of state and federal Republican rule have been disastrous for the Greater St. Louis area, plunging the city into a pattern of capital flight and population loss. The city is still reeling from the May 2025 tornado which ripped through the city and hit historically Black neighborhoods in North St. Louis the hardest. From the Federal Emergency Management Agency to the St. Louis mayor’s office, many residents feel the recovery has been botched and worry that the North Side will not be rebuilt. Last month, protesters confronted Mayor Cara Spencer over the sluggish cleanup effort, where houses have been left half-destroyed and their residents sleeping in tents. “When we’re going to our electeds, we’re saying fully fund the North Side,” Bush told the crowd. “If you can’t stand up to Donald Trump and his administration — at the city level, the state level, or the federal level — then you’re no representative for us. If you can’t stand up to Donald Trump and his allies, then how are you supposed to stand up for us?” St. Louisans are calling on their elected officials to fight for more disaster relief, and also against attacks by the state legislature. At the direct request of President Donald Trump, Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, a former car dealership owner turned Republican politician, is attempting to further gerrymander the voting map for Kansas City. Kehoe also wants to abolish Missouri’s income tax, which critics say will send the state into a budget tailspin not unlike Sam Brownback’s failed tax-cutting policy, the “Kansas Experiment.” Hasan Piker on stage during Web Summit Qatar 2026 in Doha. Photo: Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile for Web Summit Qatar via Getty Images The governor also caused an uproar by legally invading St. Louis in 2025, taking over state control of the city’s police department. In doing so, Kehoe defied a 2012 statewide vote which granted local control of the police to the St. Louis mayor. Missouri is the only state in the U. S. where the governor controls the police of the major cities, including the police budget. Many St. Louisans are vehemently opposed to the police takeover and disgruntled with the status quo, but Missouri’s 1st District includes several neighborhoods in St. Louis County that went heavily for Bell in 2024. G Gamache, a union organizer with Starbucks Workers United who attended May Day rally, told The Intercept that Bush is still the fighter St. Louis needs. “When you see her in person, you see how much she hasn’t changed who she is. … She’s still 10 toes down on things like Medicare for All, affordable housing, and ending the genocide of Palestinians by Israel. A wide majority of Democratic voters, and even many Republican voters, even in Missouri, support all these things,” he said. Related Wesley Bell’s Swan Song: Felonies for Ferguson Protesters Back in August 2025, Bush’s opponent, Wesley Bell, held his first and only in-person town hall, which was disrupted by protesters. Local activists challenged the congressman on his support of Israel, his refusal to call Gaza a genocide, and his trip to Tel Aviv, which was sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation. During the town hall, a man providing security for Bell was caught on video attempting to forcefully physically remove the protesters. Between Missouri Republicans and Bell, the 2.8 million St. Louisans living in the greater metropolitan area are generally represented by pro-Israel politicians. According to the Pew Research Center, most U. S. voters have soured on Israel, which is now engaged in an invasion of Lebanon, continued violence in the West Bank, the further annihilation of Gaza, and now an ongoing conflict with Iran, which has shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane. As of April 2026, 60 percent of U. S. adults have an unfavorable view of Israel, up from 53 percent last year, and the trend seems to be accelerating. Bell has tried to square this circle by recognizing the Armenian genocide, voting against Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, and denouncing Kehoe’s attempts to redraw Missouri’s congressional maps. Since the initial almost $9 million, AIPAC has continued supporting Bell, directing donors through its PAC’s portal to fund his campaign. Blase, the Bell spokesperson, told The Intercept that “Congressman Bell remains focused on standing up to Trump and fighting for the people of Missouri’s first Congressional District.” Related At DNC, the Squad Warns Democrats to Wake Up to the Threat of AIPAC While Bush called for a ceasefire early on, her criticisms of Israel don’t quite explain why AIPAC would spend so much on a Missouri congressional campaign. A more complete answer may lie in Missouri as a node in the country’s military–industrial complex. St. Louis is home to several Boeing facilities, with the Seattle-headquartered aerospace company selling a range of weapons to the Israeli military, including F-35 and F-15IA fighter jets, missiles, and smart bombs. In 2020, pro-Palestine student groups in St. Louis protested the St. Charles Boeing facility over a $2.2 billion contract to manufacture small-diameter bombs sold to foreign nations, including Israel, and in 2024, the Washington University Student Union Senate passed a resolution to divest from Boeing. In one of its corporat…

Ambassador Stéphane Romatet, who had been recalled to Paris in April 2025 amid tensions with Algiers, is set to resume his duties in Algeria, 'to restore an effective dialogue' between the two countries, according to the presidency.

Batteries are vital to using electricity from solar and wind efficiently. Battery capacities vary widely across European countries, with several planning significant expansion in their pipelines.