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Trump has been flirting with Putin. Can Keir Starmer woo him back to the West? | Rob Picheta | It’s time for Keir Starmer to make his move.
Britain’s prime minister has spent months carefully crafting a chummy relationship with Donald Trump. He has showered the US president with flattery since even before his November election win; he has been, in Trump’s words, “very nice.”
On Thursday, Starmer could finally extract something tangible in return. His visit to Washington is the biggest foreign policy challenge yet for a leader who, at a critical time for Ukraine’s future, has emerged as a potential bridge-builder: someone who can sway Trump from his confrontational tendencies and communicate to him the anxieties of the West.
The other scenario is less rosy: Starmer might discover that he’s been building a bridge to nowhere. He and Trump are not natural political bedfellows; there is baggage in their past, and a glaring chasm in their worldviews. Starmer talks up the “special relationship” between Britain and the US at every opportunity, but that relationship is getting bumpy. They want different things.
“The stakes couldn’t be higher,” Claire Ainsley, Starmer’s former executive director of policy who now works at the US-based Progressive Policy Institute think tank, told CNN. “(The visit) is a big test for the relationships between Europe and the United States, and Europe and the United Kingdom.”
Trump’s stance on Ukraine has tipped this centuries-old transatlantic alliance into uncertainty, as it has done to so many others – including the American relationship with NATO. The president has purred at the advances of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, attacked Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, and has barely returned Europe’s calls, cutting the continent out of negotiations over the end of the conflict.
Starmer follows French President Emmanuel Macron, who visited Washington on Monday, in attempting to straighten those jumbled ties, and he will set the table for Zelensky’s trip to Washington on Friday. All three want to secure a version of peace that Ukraine and Europe can stomach: one that doesn’t sell out occupied Ukrainian territory, and that America will work to maintain.
Britain and France are leading diplomatic efforts on putting together a potential European peacekeeping force, which could enter Ukraine if a ceasefire deal were agreed, but the plan hinges on an American security presence: a “backstop” likely centered on air power, based in a nearby NATO country like Poland or Romania.
On Monday, Trump told reporters that “Europe is going to make sure nothing happens” after a deal is agreed. But Starmer has insisted Europe can’t carry that burden alone, and that American support is the only way to prevent Putin from attacking again. He reiterated that point on the flight to Washington, telling journalists that American security guarantees were the only way to prevent Putin from attacking again.
More urgently, Starmer will seek to persuade Trump to include Zelensky in talks over his country’s future. That is Europe’s most fundamental demand of Trump; the continent is intensely anxious about a pro-Moscow deal being forced on Zelensky.
But he is stepping onto an uneven playing field. Starmer’s problem is obvious: This visit matters far more to him than it does to Trump. The president has little time for European powers; he has threatened to impose major tariffs, and turned his back on decades of American foreign policy, which had placed Europe’s security at the top of Washington’s own priorities.
Starmer presented Trump with a significant gift ahead of his trip, announcing on Tuesday that Britain would hike its defense spending to 2.5% by 2027, and to 3% by the middle of the next decade. That is an unexpected acceleration of his government’s goal, and represents massive expenditure. It is also desperately needed; the British military is much depleted, experts say. A massive review of Britain’s army is due to conclude soon, and nobody expects its findings to be complimentary.
“We must change our national security posture, because a generational challenge requires a generational response,” Starmer said as he unveiled the new policy. “Courage is what our own era now demands of us.” Speaking to journalists later, he admitted the obvious: that events of recent weeks have hastened the move.
Thursday’s conversations will test more broadly the twin-track approach that Europe is taking towards Trump.
One camp wants to disengage. Germany’s likely next leader Friedrich Merz said after his election win on Sunday that Europe should “achieve independence” from the US, and slammed “outrageous” American interventions in his country’s politics.
Starmer, like Macron and Italy’s leader Giorgia Meloni, is firmly in the other group; he believes that Trump, if properly convinced, can be retrieved from the clutches of Putin’s embrace.
And there are few other leaders who can do it. “We’re not going to have an election for the foreseeable future. We’ve got a stable, center-left government. Therefore we can play an integral part in these conversations, in a way that other leaders may find difficult,” Ainsley, the former policy chief, said.
But there may be awkward questions for Starmer to answer when he and Trump face the media. Several members of his center-left government have historically condemned Trump. When he was an opposition MP, Starmer himself said Trump’s endorsement of Boris Johnson showed that Johnson “isn’t fit to be prime minister.”
Last October, then-candidate Trump returned fire, accusing Starmer’s Labour Party of election interference after it emerged that dozens of activists had campaigned for Kamala Harris.
Since then, Starmer has kept a tight lid on any criticism of the president from within his ranks. But privately, Trump’s recent interventions on Gaza and Ukraine have appalled most within Labour.
“Diplomacy by Twitter isn’t the usual approach to managing complex geopolitical issues,” one MP told CNN. “It raises questions about European defence going forward under this presidency, (since) misinformation can be so widely believed.”
Starmer has several obstacles to clear at the White House, and they go beyond Ukraine. The visit is more broadly a challenge of his people-pleasing approach to global affairs.
The prime minister wants to keep everyone happy. He has been loath to criticize Trump, has warmed up Britain’s post-Brexit partnership with the European Union, avowedly backed Kyiv and thawed ties with China. At a time of geopolitical upheaval, he is attempting to squeeze Britain into an impossibly tight Venn diagram.
A case in point: Starmer’s intensely controversial plan to hand the Chagos Islands, Britain’s last African colony, to Mauritius, ending a years-long legal and ethical quandary.
Downing Street says the deal will secure the future of Diego Garcia, a US-UK military base on one of the islands, for 99 years. But Starmer needs Trump’s approval to finish the paperwork, and Westminster does not expect the self-stylized dealmaker-in-chief to be impressed by the terms: London is expected to pay billions of pounds to close the deal, and Mauritius is heavily reliant on imports from China, which has raised national security concerns on both sides of the Atlantic.
The deal is “insane,” according to a former Conservative minister, Grant Shapps, who as UK defense secretary halted the negotiations that Labour later revived.
“(China) will use territory to expand their influence. They will spy,” Shapps told CNN. “A lot of sensitive stuff goes on at British military bases. So you don’t want to be surrounded by potential adversaries.”
Mauritius has pushed for control of the islands for decades, and bodies including the International Court of Justice have backed its claims. But Shapps said: “You sometimes, as Trump is proving to the world, just have to say ‘no.’ You have to think about your own national interest.”
Another former Conservative defense secretary, Penny Mordaunt, also criticized the deal, which has been championed by current Foreign Secretary David Lammy. “The suspicion is that (Lammy’s) desire to atone for Britain’s colonial past has seen him enable China’s colonial present,” Mordaunt told CNN.
There are notable pockets of opposition from within Starmer’s camp, too. “The only thing that matters is what’s best for our national security. I am keeping an open mind, but I’m yet to be convinced this deal is that,” a Labour MP told CNN. “I’d have no problem if it were kicked into long grass because the US took considerable time to review the deal.”
Ukraine, Chagos, China and a colorful history of remarks about Trump are all awkward conversation topics that must be broached on Thursday. Starmer will do so delicately; unlike Macron, he is unlikely to fact-check Trump in front of the cameras. But he has run out of room for flattery; there is little time left to start some difficult discussions.
Starmer did not necessarily choose to be a statesman. His foremost stated objective is to grow Britain’s economy; he doesn’t want enemies, he wants investment and trade. But the world has had other ideas, and willingly or not, Starmer has found himself a key cog in a global structure on the verge of collapse.
On Monday, Starmer admitted Trump has “changed the global conversation” on Ukraine. Now it is Britain’s opportunity to do the talking. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/uk/starmer-trump-meeting-preview-ukraine-gbr-intl/index.html | 2025-02-26 | c89ece93-2bd1-5247-a9ea-d8a8d7fd7f0d |
Seven babies die of hypothermia in Gaza, health officials say | Kareem Khadder, Tareq El Hilou, Pauline Lockwood, Sana Noor Haq | Seven babies have died from hypothermia in Gaza since Sunday, according to health care officials in the strip, who warn there will be more such deaths unless more aid enters the enclave.
Dr. Saeed Salah, the medical director of the Patient’s Friends Benevolent Society Hospital (PFBS), northern Gaza, warned of a “disaster” in the rising number of babies suffering from hypothermia, as they try to survive winter conditions in the strip.
In the past two weeks, eight babies with hypothermia were admitted to the medical facility in Gaza City, said Dr. Salah. Of those, three were admitted to the intensive care unit and three others died “within hours” of arrival.
On Tuesday, a fourth baby who was just 69 days old died overnight, Dr. Salah added. Further south, two other babies with hypothermia symptoms died in Nasser Hospital, Khan Younis, health workers there told journalists.
Then on Wednesday, the death toll rose to seven after Seela Abdel Qader, who was less than two months old, died, according to Dr. Munir Al-Bursh, the director general of Gaza’s Ministry of Health.
“Cold waves are causing more victims every day, especially among newborns, due to the (Israeli) occupation’s destruction of their health facilities, as well as the destruction of medical equipment and devices for newborns,” Dr. Al-Bursh said in a statement published by the health ministry Wednesday.
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Dr. Salah said more caravans, tents and fuel were needed to “bring warmth to the people.” He added that such provisions would stop this kind of “catastrophe from repeating itself” and “prevent the death of neonatal babies from hypothermia and frostbite.”
A fragile ceasefire has offered a moment of reprieve for people in Gaza from Israel’s months-long military campaign that it launched in response to the October 7 Hamas terror attacks that killed more than 1,200 people in Israel and saw more than 250 taken hostage.
At least 48,348 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and another 111,761 people injured, the Ministry of Health there reported on Tuesday.
Survivors say they are struggling to rebuild communities and reconcile the destruction wrought – which gutted the medical system, and spawned a crisis of starvation, displacement and disease. Just 20 out of 35 hospitals are partially functional, according to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Hamas has repeatedly accused Israel of preventing the entry of humanitarian aid into the strip in violation of the ceasefire agreement – accusations that Israel has denied.
On February 14, COGAT said that 4,200 humanitarian aid trucks entered the Gaza Strip that week, carrying food, fuel, medical supplies, tents and shelter equipment, in compliance with the ceasefire and hostage deal. Since the start of the ceasefire on January 19, 16,800 trucks of aid had entered Gaza, COGAT added.
In Nasser Hospital, a Palestinian mother gently stroked her tiny, pale baby, who was swaddled in blankets. Two-month-old Yousaf Al-Najjar is one of many neonatal patients being treated for hypothermia there.
CNN footage from the hospital on Tuesday showed the mother trying to check the temperature of her baby boy, who she said has become like “a skeleton.” The family is displaced inside a tent nearby, with at least 15 other relatives.
“I put my lips on his face and feet, and they have become frozen,” she told CNN. “Children are being brought in dead from the cold weather.
“We don’t have covers or anything,” she added. “I see death in my son.”
Baby Yousaf was born prematurely, according to Dr. Fida’a Al-Nadi, a pediatrician at Nasser Hospital. His weight of two kilograms has made him more vulnerable to hypothermia, Dr Al-Nadi told CNN.
“Every day we are dealing with children (suffering) hypothermia, many of them die,” she said on Tuesday. “The problem is not the hospital; it’s the conditions where the children are living, either in tents or destroyed homes.”
Israel’s war in Gaza has pushed many Palestinians into tent camps. At least 1.9 million people have been displaced, according to the UN. Many have sought refuge in sprawling outdoor areas, living for months in makeshift tents made of cloth and nylon – with little access to warmth, electricity or heating. In cold weather conditions, newborns and children up to three months are among those most at risk of respiratory infections, lack of blood supply, and infections, Dr Al-Bursh said last week.
Fikr Shalltoot, the Gaza director for the UK-based NGO, Medical Aid for Palestinians, said the deaths of those six Palestinian babies “is the direct result of Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid.”
“Newborns should not be dying of hypothermia in Gaza. This is not a tragedy of nature but a man-made crisis,” Shalltoot said on Tuesday, in a statement shared with CNN. “If adequate aid, including shelter supplies, were allowed to reach civilians and hospitals, these deaths would be entirely preventable.” | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/middleeast/israel-gaza-six-palestinian-babies-die-hypothermia-intl-latam/index.html | 2025-02-25 | 79d12c80-b5dd-56f0-9019-3a92926a5d48 |
Coffins said to contain hostages’ bodies arrive in Israel and Palestinian prisoners freed as Gaza truce nears expiry | Jeremy Diamond, Hira Humayun, Laura Izso, Helen Regan | Four coffins said to contain the remains of Israeli hostages have been received by Israel, as Palestinian prisoners and detainees were released in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in an overnight exchange as part of the fragile ceasefire deal.
The exchange marks the start of the final swap in the 42-day truce between Israel and Hamas, which is set to expire this weekend unless an agreement is struck to extend it.
Hamas on Thursday signaled its readiness to begin talks on the second phase of the deal after the Palestinian militant group said it would hand over the bodies of Tsachi Idan, Itzhak Elgarat, Ohad Yahalomi and Shlomo Mantzur to Israel. All four were taken captive in the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum confirmed their deaths and said it shared in the “heavy grief” of their loved ones.
The latest transfer was held in private after the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said an agreement had been reached for the bodies to be returned “in an agreed-upon procedure and without Hamas ceremonies.”
Israel is expected to release a total of 642 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, according to Palestinian Prisoners Media Office. Among them are detainees, including women and children, who have been held without charge, prisoners who were serving life sentences and long sentences, as well as the longest-serving Palestinian political prisoner.
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The handover had been in doubt since Saturday, when Israel failed to release 620 Palestinian prisoners and detainees in protest at what it said were “humiliating ceremonies” conducted by Hamas during previous hostage releases.
In the early hours of Thursday, the Red Cross said it handed over the four coffins to the Israeli military at the Kerem Shalom crossing through Egyptian mediators, and the process of identifying the bodies was being carried out in Israeli territory.
Red Cross buses carrying hundreds of Palestinians detained by Israel arrived in Gaza early Thursday. Wearing light gray uniforms, the Palestinians could be seen disembarking the buses outside of the European Hospital in the southern city of Khan Younis to be reunited with their families. Crowds of journalists and residents watched as what sounded like celebratory gunfire could be heard in the background.
Ninety-seven released Palestinian prisoners also arrived in Egypt where they will be exiled in Cairo, Hamas leader Mahmoud Mardawi confirmed to CNN.
After crossing into southern Israel, the four coffins containing the bodies of Israeli hostages were transported to the National Center for Forensic Medicine in Tel Aviv for identification, police said early Thursday.
Images released by police showed a convoy of emergency vehicles traveling down a dark highway as a crowd of people waved Israeli flags.
The Israeli military has previously said that Mantzur, who at 85 was the oldest hostage taken on October 7, 2023, was killed during the Hamas-led attack and his body was held in Gaza.
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Mantzur was described by his Kibbutz Kissufim as “the heart of our community – everyone’s grandfather.” In a statement earlier this month, Mantzur’s family mourned his death and called him “a man with a heart of gold, golden hands, and a smile worth gold.”
Yahalomi, a dual French-Israeli citizen, was shot by militants as he tried to protect his wife and three children, who were taken by gunmen during the Hamas-led attack. His wife Bat-Sheva and their two daughters eventually escaped, while their son Eitan, was taken hostage and released in November 2023, as part of a temporary ceasefire.
“We are heartbroken and still struggling to believe,” his family said in a statement.
Elgarat, who was kidnapped at the age of 68, “came to Nir Oz following his brother and was a beloved figure in the community,” the kibbutz wrote in a statement, calling him “an integral part of the social landscape” of the community.
Idan’s family said in a statement Thursday that “the uncertainty and relentless turmoil have come to an end.” Through the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, the family had previously said it had “received several signs of life” since Idan was kidnapped and had expected him to be released as part of the first ceasefire and hostage deal. “Tsachi will be laid to rest next to the grave of his beloved daughter, Maayan, who was murdered on October 7, while trying to assist her father and protect the bomb shelter door,” the family said.
If the four bodies are formally identified as belonging to the hostages, Hamas and its allies now hold 59 captives according to Israeli figures. Of those, more than half are thought to be dead by the Israeli government. One, Hadar Goldin, has been held, dead, since before October 7, 2023.
The first phase of the deal has been marked by accusations of violations from both sides, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces growing pressure from far-right members of his cabinet to return to war. Hamas on Thursday warned that any attempts by Israel “to backtrack on the agreement” will “only lead to more suffering” for the remaining hostages and their families.
In Gaza, CNN footage from the European Hospital in Khan Younis showed three prisoners arrive in ambulances to the intensive care unit, where they were greeted by loved ones.
One prisoner, who was embraced by his son, was provided with oxygen, while another appeared very weak.
Others who disembarked from Red Cross buses also appeared weak and thin, with some having difficulty walking.
One freed man was welcomed by his wife and children, who cried as they hugged him tightly. “I was so afraid. Every day I prayed that they were doing well,” he said.
An elderly man could be seen hugging his brother tightly. “Take me home, I beg you. Take me home. I want to see my children,” he said.
In Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, scenes of jubilation greeted a group of Palestinian prisoners who were seen disembarking from a Red Cross vehicle in the early hours of Thursday.
The Palestinian Prisoners Media Office said earlier that 43 prisoners were expected to be released into the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Footage shows emotional reunions, including a daughter hugging and kissing her released father, and a man tightly holding his child.
“We have been out taken out of suffering as if we have been dug out from our own graves. No prisoner has had the experience of having their own release delayed twice,” released prisoner Yaha Shrida told Reuters.
Among the 642 Palestinian prisoners and detainees expected to be released, just under 500 are expected to be sent back to Gaza, including 445 who have been detained in the enclave since the war began in October 2023 and have been held without charge, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
The detainees include 44 children and two women.
Advocates for Palestinians prisoners and detainees have expressed repeated concerns about the delay in their release, and Israel’s treatment of those held in detention. The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society says 69 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli detention since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, of whom 38 were detained in Gaza.
The group released in Ramallah and East Jerusalem early Thursday are among 151 prisoners who were serving life sentences and long sentences, according to Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office. Ninety-seven of them will be sent into exile while the remaining 11 are from Gaza, where they will be sent back, and were detained prior to October 7, 2023.
Among the Palestinians due for release is Nael Barghouti, the longest-serving Palestinian political prisoner. Nael has been in and out of prison since he was first arrested in 1978 and accused of engaging in attacks against the Israeli military.
He was released in a 2011 Israel-Hamas deal, which saw 1,100 Palestinians exchanged for one Israeli soldier held by Hamas for five years, Gilad Shalit. Nael was re-arrested by Israeli forces in 2014 for “Hamas membership,” according to Israeli media, and has since been serving a life sentence.
Also among them is Bilal Abu Ghanem, who is serving concurrent life sentences for the murder of three Israelis on a Jerusalem bus in 2015.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
CNN’s Ibrahim Dahman, Dana Karni and Lucas Lilieholm, and journalist Abdallah Al Attar contributed reporting. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/middleeast/hamas-israeli-hostage-release-wednesday-intl-latam/index.html | 2025-02-26 | 817cc19f-f884-59f9-aecd-09970b49a098 |
Satellite images show how hundreds of North Korean troops were likely transported to a secluded Russian port | Lauren Kent | Hundreds of North Korean troops were likely transported by sea to Russia to fight in its war against Ukraine, satellite images have revealed, according to a new analysis from a US-based think tank shared exclusively with CNN.
At least two Russian naval ships are believed to have moved North Korean soldiers to a Russian military port in Dunai, in the far east, in October and November, according to researchers at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, in California.
The ship transfers were first identified by the South Korean National Intelligence Service (NIS), which said in a press release last year that some soldiers were transported via the North Korean port areas of Chongjin, Hamhung and Musudan. But the South Korean agency only offered a grainy radar image at the time.
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“I don’t think that the Russians or the North Koreans want these transfers caught on camera,” Sam Lair, a research associate at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, told CNN. “The secrecy element is quite remarkable.”
Now, researchers have verified that during the same time period of the troop transfers reported by South Korea intelligence, the Russian vessels identified by the spy agency docked at Dunai port in a remote, eastern part of Russia.
In North Korea, soldiers likely boarded these ships at night, making it difficult to capture evidence of the transfers, researchers said. But satellite images have revealed activities at Dunai, “where it appears the Russians have been less careful.”
For example, in one satellite image from Planet Labs, a crane can be seen extending to one of Russia’s naval landing ships, which researchers believe is the Nikolay Vilkov, at the port on October 17, and a covered cargo truck is on the dock next to it. By October 20, the crane is retracted, and it appears a transfer of soldiers is complete.
Researchers could identify the Russian “Ropucha-class” and “Alligator-class” ships in the satellite images because they match with photos captured by the Japanese Defense Ministry in March 2022, when the vessels passed through Japanese waters.
Each landing ship is believed to have capacity to hold several hundred soldiers, possibly as many as 400, according to the researchers.
Lair explained that Dunai is a secure military facility, making it much more conducive to under-the-radar transfers than the large, nearby port of Vladivostok, which is in an area where civilians live.
“This is an isolated place where they can do these exchanges, where people aren’t going to notice… (where) their own citizens, and folks in the intelligence community might not notice,” Lair said.
An estimated 12,000 North Korean soldiers have been sent to Russia, according to Ukrainian officials and Western intelligence reports in January, which say around 4,000 of those troops have been killed or injured. Kyiv says it has captured at least two North Korean soldiers. Neither Moscow nor Pyongyang have confirmed the existence of North Korean troops on the front lines.
CNN has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense for comment.
North Korean troops have been deployed to Kursk since late October to repel Ukraine’s incursion in the southern Russian border region.
“The Russians seem to have been very careful to limit the exposure of the North Korean soldiers, moving them directly to military training facilities. The motive behind all the secrecy surrounding the North Koreans is uncertain, but moving some of them through Dunai would aid in that effort,” Lair wrote in his analysis.
Dunai port has previously been used to transport cargo between Russia and the North Korea since Pyongyang started aiding the invasion of Ukraine in 2023, according to the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.
Satellite images taken in October show a cargo ship being loaded at Rajin port in North Korea, and the same ship docked two days later at Dunai in Russia.
An October 2023 report from the UK-based think tank The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI) said that “Russia has likely begun shipping North Korean munitions at scale” to the “inconspicuous naval facility” tucked away in Dunai.
“We spend a lot of time looking at North Korea in general, because of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, their conventional weapons program, their missile programs… So, we’ve been monitoring the North Korea-Russia connection since it started, in part because we think that that relationship might be going both ways,” Lair said.
Alyona Getmanchuk, director of the New Europe Center think tank in Kyiv, told a forum in South Korea this week that North Korea is gaining valuable combat experience with its involvement in Ukraine.
“It’s not only about supplies of missiles, it’s about testing their missiles in real battlefield conditions,” Getmanchuk said during the forum at the Goethe Institute in Seoul.
She said North Korea has used that experience to upgrade missiles to make them more accurate.
Pyongyang’s ground troops are also getting better, Getmanchuk said.
“They came totally unprepared… Now they are learning very quickly,” adapting to their tactics to be effective in “modern, hi-tech warfare,” she added.
Lair said the Pyongyang-Moscow relationship has deepened since the invasion began. “Sending your own soldiers to fight in someone else’s conflict really suggests the strength of the connection,” he said.
There are indications that Russia and North Korea are no longer using the sea route to transport troops, according to the think tank. Meanwhile, South Korean intelligence has reported that Russian military planes are frequently flying between Vladivostok and Pyongyang.
CNN’s Brad Lendon contributed to this report. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/asia/ukraine-war-north-korean-troops-russian-ships-hnk-intl/index.html | 2025-02-26 | 8598d3d4-7c81-578f-a953-beea44255507 |
Mexico prepares to appear before US Supreme Court in suit against gun manufacturers | Belen Zapata, Max Saltman | The legal team representing Mexico in a lawsuit against eight firearms manufacturers in the United States is preparing to argue part of their case before the US Supreme Court on March 4, according to Pablo Arrocha, legal consultant for the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“This case is going through a stage where questions of admissibility will still be reviewed, not of substance,” Arrocha clarified on Tuesday at the International Forum on Arms Trafficking and Diversion in Latin America organized by the Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE).
The Mexican government sued several US arms manufacturers in 2021, accusing them of providing weapons that ultimately reach drug cartels operating in the country and demanding compensation for economic and social damages resulting from armed violence.
Mexico, which has only one gun store, has claimed in the past that between 70% and 90% of all guns recovered from Mexican crime scenes come from the US. A 2024 report from the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found that 72% of international gun trafficking cases originating in the US featured Mexico as the target country.
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In October 2024, the US Supreme Court granted a request by Smith & Wesson and other companies to review a federal appeals court ruling that revived the case after a lower court judge dismissed it, citing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act. This is a law that generally bars civil liability for firearms manufacturers and distributors for the use of their products by criminal third parties.
In court filings, the manufacturers have challenged Mexico’s allegations that they were aiding and abetting the illegal sale of their weapons in violation of US federal law. They have pointed to the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling that shielded Twitter from a lawsuit alleging it aided and abetted terrorism by hosting tweets from the terrorist group ISIS.
“In its zeal to attack the firearms industry, Mexico seeks to raze bedrock principles of American law that safeguard the whole economy,” the manufacturers wrote in a November 2024 brief.
A second lawsuit, filed by Mexico in October 2022 in an Arizona court against five stores that sell guns, is in the evidence-gathering stage, according to Arrocha. Mexico accuses them of negligence, public nuisance and unjust enrichment.
According to the ATF, the Arizona to Mexico gun trafficking pipeline is second only to the illicit firearms trade between Texas and Mexico.
The legal advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that both lawsuits are moving forward and that there are scenarios for any type of outcome.
“This is the beginning, and this is the tip of the spear of something that can allow for much broader litigation strategies in the future,” he said at the forum.
The case comes to the Supreme Court at a moment of diplomatic tension between Mexico and the US. Last week, the US officially designated six Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups, an act that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum characterized as potentially endangering Mexican sovereignty.
At the same press conference, Sheinbaum declared that she would seek reforms to prosecute “any national or foreigner involved in the illicit manufacture, distribution, disposal, transfer and internment of weapons into [Mexico’s] national territory.” | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/americas/mexico-supreme-court-gun-lawsuit-latam-intl/index.html | 2025-02-26 | 44033b82-22a6-56a7-9058-a7892729f7ad |
China sees opportunity in a world turned upside down by Trump | Simone McCarthy | Editor’s Note: Sign up for CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter which explores what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world.
President Donald Trump’s upending of US foreign policy has alarmed allies and nations in need. His administration has decimated foreign aid, threatened to take control of other countries’ sovereign territory, exited key international bodies and alienated Europe with an embrace of Russia.
But the head-spinning set of moves, that together signal a retreat from leadership of a liberal order to “America First,” is playing right into the messaging of the US’ biggest rival.
In this time of “transformation and turbulence,” China has a vision for a “safer world,” its top diplomat Wang Yi told G20 counterparts last week as he reiterated Beijing’s pitch for “a new path to security” without alliances, “zero-sum” competition and “bloc confrontation.”
That vision – coded language for reshaping a world order China sees as unfairly dominated by the West – has been a cornerstone of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s push to step up as an alternative global leader to the US.
And the drive has the potential to take on new relevance, observers say, as Beijing eyes the opportunities to advance its influence in the wake of Trump’s US foreign policy upset.
Trump’s shake-up was obvious even in the room of foreign ministers from the world’s largest economies where Wang, China’s most seasoned diplomat, spoke in South Africa last week.
The absence of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio meant no high-ranking US diplomat was there to present an American counterpoint to a gathering of countries that make up 80% of the global population and three-quarters of international trade.
On the surface, this shift has the potential to accelerate China’s ascent as a global power, potentially granting the world’s second-largest economy space to win more allies, boost its global leadership and shift global norms and rules – such as those on human rights or security – in its favor.
But countries from Europe to Asia are well aware of the wide gap between Beijing’s benign rhetoric and its behavior as it flouts a major international ruling to harass Philippine vessels in the South China Sea or intimidates Taiwan – the self-ruling democracy Bejing claims.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has signaled it wants to shift attention from other global conflicts to focus on its rivalry with China. And Beijing will face that and potential fresh US tariffs on its goods as it tries to revive a weak economy – limiting how much it can pour into expanding global influence.
But even still, there are signs that China may see potential for those headwinds to just be some turbulence in a rise made easier by Trump’s policies.
“Trump 2.0 era will undoubtedly weaken the US’ leadership in international affairs,” an analysis published this month on the website of Shanghai-based think tank Fudan Development Institute said.
“As other countries, particularly the European Union and China, actively respond, the power vacuum left by the US withdrawal may be filled by them … With the US no longer able to dominate global issues as it once did, a new global governance structure may emerge,” it said.
China has been closely watching Trump’s dismantling of the US foreign aid sector.
The US administration said it has terminated more 90% of the US Agency for International Development (USAID)’s foreign assistance awards, a move disclosed in a court filing Wednesday, weeks after Trump officials implemented a sweeping freeze on most foreign assistance, stalling programs supporting education, health and development.
As the changes rolled out in recent weeks, some English-language arms of Chinese state media released scathing critiques of such aid.
Foreign aid is “viewed by the US as a tool to maintain its hegemonic position and engage in geopolitical maneuvering,” nationalist tabloid the Global Times said in an article on USAID, an agency Beijing has long seen as a thorn in its side, accusing of sparking democratic “color revolutions” and indoctrinating US proxies across the world. USAID, which was founded during the Cold War, has long played a key role in advancing American soft power and democratic ideals.
There has been some indication China will take targeted steps to ramp up its support in regions it sees as strategically important in the wake of the US freeze – a move that would align with what experts have seen as a soft-power struggle between the two countries in recent decades.
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In Cambodia, for example, Beijing released $4.4 million for demining operations, as US-backed landmine removal programs were halted in eight provinces, the Associated Press reported, citing the Cambodian Mine Action Center.
Overall, however, experts say there’s little chance that Beijing would be able or willing to step up to fill the US aid void.
China is a huge player in global development, funneling more than a trillion dollars into overseas projects between 2000 and 2021. But unlike the US, data show the vast majority of Beijing’s development spending is not direct aid, but loans and other financing.
And economic belt-tightening has seen Beijing move away from big-ticket commitments, like building railroads and power plants under Xi’s signature Belt and Road overseas infrastructure drive, paring back to more modest projects in recent years.
“Trump is giving China some opportunity – but China might not be able to pick up this US gift,” said Shanghai-based foreign affairs analyst Shen Dingli. “Due to our gloomy economy and the (downsized) version of Belt and Road … we have less money to buy loyalty.”
Even still, China may look to capitalize on countries’ uncertainty about the US to expand its trade and security ties, as well as access to critical minerals, observers say. And countries may take uncertainty in US relations – from the aid freeze to Trump’s tariff threats – into calculations for dealing with the world’s two largest economies.
“Beijing can send the message to the rest of the world … that the US is fundamentally going to be unreliable,” said Manoj Kewalramani, who heads Indo-Pacific studies at the Takshashila Institution research center in the Indian city of Bengaluru. “Why would you want to pick a fight with Beijing now?”
In an interview with news outlet Breitbart published this week, Rubio suggested that as the US looks to push back on China’s global influence there would be “more big deals” like the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, but did not provide further specifics. Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this month said they would further develop the Biden-era trade and transit project.
Meanwhile, there are already signs of concern from some parts about Beijing’s potential gains from a Trump-era pullback of US assistance.
In an open letter to Trump posted on social platform X, Nepalese lawmaker Rajendra Bajgain last week warned that a “vacuum created by reduced American involvement will inevitably be filled by other powers that do not share the values of democracy and free enterprise.”
Two major US-funded infrastructure projects as well as other initiatives in Nepal have been put on hold following the US aid freeze, Reuters reported.
In a response to a request for comment from CNN, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the US “adjustments” were America’s internal affairs, and that Beijing has “consistently” provided assistance “to the best of its ability.”
China’s aid “aligns with the needs of recipient countries for socio-economic development and the improvement of people’s livelihoods,” it said.
But even as some of Trump’s moves so far have created potential openings for Beijing, there’s also the hanging question of how his administration may ultimately calibrate its aid and foreign policy – and its rivalry with China.
When asked this month if the foreign aid shake-up was giving China and Russia an opportunity to expand their influence, national security adviser Mike Waltz told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “all too often these missions and these programs, number one, are not in line with strategic US interests like pushing back on China.”
And speaking to European counterparts earlier this month, US defense chief Pete Hegseth warned that the US could no longer be “primarily focused on the security of Europe.” Instead, the US is “prioritizing deterring war with China in the Pacific,” he said.
There have also been signs of Trump’s brash diplomacy working against Beijing’s benefit.
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Panama, the first country in Latin America to sign onto China’s Belt and Road Initiative, announced it would pull out of the scheme after Trump repeatedly threatened to “take back” the Panama Canal, falsely claiming Panama had ceded its operations to China.
And in Europe, even as Trump officials lambasted European and NATO counterparts earlier this month and warmed to Russia, US allies there appeared galvanized, rather than dissuaded, to bolster NATO with more spending. That pivot will also mean Beijing is watching closely whether Washington is able to peel away its close ally Moscow, as the White House has signaled it may hope to do.
Even still, Beijing will likely see the time as right to put more focus on repairing strained relations with Europe – a potential opening that could widen if Trump slaps tariffs on European goods.
Trump has also so far not shaken US alliances in Asia, as Beijing may have hoped. And it’s not clear that “America First” will leave a security void in Asia or weaken the US alliance system there.
The US president held seemingly successful meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Indian counterpart Narendra Modi this month, and signaled support for the Pacific-focused AUKUS alliance of Canberra, London and Washington.
And uncertainty or future demands from Trump could also strengthen arsenals and partnerships in the region. On Monday, US allies the Philippines and Japan agreed to further deepen their defense collaborations.
Beijing, so far, has been seen as continuing to probe the limits of its own military muscle-flexing in the region, in recent days conducting what New Zealand said were unprecedented live-fire drills in the Tasman Sea.
On Wednesday, Taiwan accused China of setting up a zone for “live-fire training” without advance notice a day after the island’s coast guard detained a Chinese-crewed cargo ship suspected of cutting an undersea cable in the Taiwan Strait.
But Beijing will be carefully watching how Trump’s policies and his allies’ response to them weigh on its core ambitions to defend its territorial claims in the South China Sea – and take control of the self-ruling democracy of Taiwan.
“As long as the war in Europe would be put to an end, China’s freedom of action in our part of the world might be more seriously checked and balanced,” said Shen in Shanghai.
“China must be watching, calculating how it should adjust its new approach to this fast-moving situation,” he said. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/china/china-opportunity-trump-foreign-policy-intl-hnk/index.html | 2025-02-26 | 40a77a00-d311-5ea1-90f8-ddac5294339a |
Brother of freed Israeli hostage says Hamas captors ate full meals and laughed as he was starved | Jeremy Diamond, Christian Edwards | Held hostage in a tunnel under Gaza for nearly 500 days, Or Levy – starved of sunlight, unable to stand up straight, not knowing whether his wife was dead or alive – would often watch, hungry, as his Hamas captors ate the food he was denied.
“He was starved. All of them (hostages) were starved. They barely ate, they barely drank,” Michael Levy, Or’s brother, told CNN in an interview.
The captors ate “chicken, meat – they had everything,” while his brother and the others he was held alongside “were getting nothing,” Michael said. The Hamas fighters “even laughed when they saw them looking” at their meals, he added.
After emerging from the tunnels as part of a ceasefire deal earlier this month, Israelis were shocked by the skeletal state of Or Levy, Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi. Gaunt and haggard, the appearance of the recently released detainees, as well as their testimonies, have raised fears about the wellbeing of those remaining in Gaza, as the first phase of the ceasefire nears its end and the next remains uncertain.
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Or, 33 on the day of his capture, was dancing with his wife, Einav, at the Nova music festival on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led gunmen poured over the border into southern Israel. Einav was killed in the rampage – something Or had long suspected, but did not know for sure until his release 16 months later.
Over that time, Israel has laid waste to Gaza, in an offensive it said was aimed to free the remaining hostages and render Hamas incapable of governing the enclave or posing a military threat. Israel has been criticized by rights groups of stemming the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, leaving Palestinian children to die of starvation. United Nations experts also warned of famine in the strip, before the ceasefire deal helped get some aid to the 2.1 million people living there.
Asked whether his brother may have been denied food because of shortages in Gaza, Michael said this did not explain why the Hamas captors ate well.
“They were intentionally starved. It’s as simple as that. The terrorists next to them ate all the time,” he said, relating what his brother had told him about his time in the tunnels. Hamas laughed when the unfed hostages looked at their full meals.
Michael said the water his brother was given was rarely clean enough to drink, the tunnel was not tall enough for him to stand up in, and there was no natural light. “Those are the most horrific conditions that you can imagine,” he said.
In a statement to CNN, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the group “dealt with the prisoners in accordance with international law” and had “provided them with food at a time when there was a famine in the Strip.”
The spokesman said Or Levy’s was “a special case due to special security circumstances, and we must look at the rest of the cases that were in excellent health despite the circumstances.”
Also starved of news from the outside world, Or only learned of Einav’s death after he was released. “He did not know. He assumed, and asked, and we told him,” Levy’s mother, Geula, told Israeli media.
While the couple were at the Nova festival, Einav’s parents were caring for their son, Almog, who was two years old at the time. Michael said they wanted to reintroduce Almog to his father slowly – first a phone call, then a video one, before meeting face-to-face.
“We were worried that he might be scared, or he won’t recognize him or something like this – but it was like they were never apart,” Michael said.
Almog asked his dad what had taken him so long to come back. Or “just hugged him, he couldn’t really respond to it. I mean, how can you respond to it?”
Or Levy’s ordeal was entwined with that of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, an Israeli-American who became one of the most recognizable hostages held by Hamas. The two men hid with nearly 30 others in a bomb shelter on October 7, before Hamas gunmen began to lob grenades inside.
Goldberg-Polin, then 23, threw out the grenades one by one, before one detonated in his hand, blowing his arm off from the elbow down. Along with Levy and others, he was marched into a pickup truck and driven to Gaza.
Despite a high-profile campaign by his parents to free the hostages, Goldberg-Polin was murdered in August by his captors in Gaza, according to the Israreli military, which found his body shortly after he had been shot dead.
Michael Levy said his brother had a “meaningful” conversation with Rachel and Jon Goldberg-Polin, Hersh’s parents. “He wanted to tell them a few things that they probably didn’t know about their son,” he said, without going into detail.
The Goldberg-Polins launched a fresh appeal to US President Donald Trump’s administration to hasten efforts to free the remaining hostages, saying they were spurred to do so after seeing the condition of Or Levy and the two others released with him.
Each weekend of hostage releases has become a grim propaganda exercise, with the freed Israelis paraded on stage and some presented with certificates and Hamas-branded gift bags.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is responsible for receiving the hostages from Hamas and handing them over to the Israeli military, has said it is “increasingly concerned about the conditions surrounding release operations” and urged all parties to “ensure that future releases are dignified and private.”
The stage-managed releases have also been used to inflict further distress on some hostages themselves, as well as wider Israeli society. On Saturday, Hamas released a heavily edited propaganda video showing two unreleased hostages, Eviatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal, watching the release of fellow Israelis from a vehicle – before being taken back into hiding.
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David and Gilboa-Dalal, friends since they were infants, were also captured at the Nova festival.
In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, a brother of each of the hostages decried the “mental torture” Hamas was subjecting them to.
“They look sick, terrified, pale, almost yellow. They were begging for us to save them,” said Ilay David, Eviatar’s brother, after watching the Hamas video.
Gal Gilboa-Dalal, Guy’s brother, said for Hamas to show the hostages daylight for potentially the first time in 15 months, “to make them see what freedom might look like for them, and then close the door and drag them back to hell – it’s awful.”
A recently freed female hostage said she was overwhelmed by the number of people who had gathered in Gaza to watch her release.
“I knew there would be plenty of people, but I didn’t expect that amount,” Agam Berger, an Israeli soldier, told Israel’s Kan Radio in her first interview since she was released.
Whilst in captivity, Berger said she was fed two meals a day, mostly made of rice, and that she would occasionally be allowed to watch the news, including Al Jazeera, and listen to Kan Radio, Israel’s public broadcaster.
“We also had food and conditions that, for the most part, were okay – considering what it could have been,” she said. “In that moment, you think, what is there not to be grateful for? But when you really think about it, these weren’t human conditions.”
Over the rounds of hostage releases, male captives have generally appeared more emaciated than the women, suggesting the men were worse fed.
Berger said that, on the day of her release, Hamas fighters “literally dressed me themselves to make sure I didn’t take anything at all,” making her leave behind sketchbooks she had filled with drawings, letters for her family and a prayer book.
She added that she was made to wear a hijab on the way to the handover venue, and that the militants forced her “to record videos in the car, saying ‘thank you’ and all that nonsense.”
CNN’s Eugenia Yosef, Nadeen Ebrahim and Ibrahim Dahman contributed reporting. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/europe/or-levy-israel-hostage-hamas-gaza-starve-intl/index.html | 2025-02-26 | dadee34b-886a-59df-a77b-a438159ee5dd |
Dem Sen. Duckworth reacts to job cuts at Veterans Affairs | Camila Moreno-Lizarazo | Sen. Tammy Duckworth joins The Lead
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/world/video/the-lead-donald-trump-veterans-doge-zelensky-ukraine-minerals-jake-tapper | 2025-02-26 | f5a9b014-d63e-5221-995b-d9fc201f0600 |
Pope Francis’ ‘complex’ health crisis triggers wave of prayer and uncertainty across Rome | Unknown | Simona Pettinato is among those who have gathered near the Gemelli Hospital to show their support for Pope Francis. “Prayer moves mountains,” she declared outside the hospital, where Francis has been since February 14 and is being treated for pneumonia. “It helps everyone, and we must have great faith.”
People in Rome and the Vatican are relying on their faith as they cope with the daily anxiety waiting to hear about the pope’s health. Francis’ condition is frequently described by the Vatican as “complex” and the prognosis as “reserved,” meaning that it’s too soon to tell. And while there have been some signs of “slight improvement,” his condition - until Tuesday at least - is still being described as “critical.”
This is Francis’ fourth, and now longest, hospital stay since he became pope in 2013. Everyone in the church’s central administration remains on high alert waiting for news – day and night – of the ailing pontiff.
Reporters and Vatican officials nervously refresh their inboxes awaiting the twice-daily health updates. The first - a quick, succinct update sent early in the morning - outlines how the pope’s night went. Sometimes it provides details on whether he had breakfast. Then, in the evening, a more detailed medical statement is released.
Journalists gather in anticipation of the morning and evening updates in the Holy See press office, just off St. Peter’s Square, or at the Gemelli Hospital, a 25-minute drive from the Vatican.
Doctors treating the pope – Dr. Luigi Carbone of the Vatican health and hygiene service and Sergio Alfieri, a surgeon who has previously operated on the pope – have provided a media briefing on Francis’ condition. Sometimes the updates spark alarm, other times they are more reassuring. But the overriding feeling is uncertainty.
Up at the hospital, the pope is on the 10th floor in a special suite of rooms, including a chapel. He continues to carry out some “work activities,” assisted by his two personal secretaries, and makes phone calls to the Catholic parish in Gaza.
On the hospital piazza below stands a large statue of John Paul II, the first papal Gemelli patient who made numerous visits. It’s here beneath the statue where people have created a makeshift shrine and leave flowers, candles and balloons for Francis, while others hold a banner which reads: “Today, more than ever, we need you Francesco.”
Alfonso La Femmina is another of those who have made their way to Gemelli. He tells CNN that he continues to pray and hold onto hope “that God may help.”
“When I see the news every morning and every evening that he has slept well, I feel pleased,” he says. “When I hear that he is getting better, even if his condition is stable and the progress is still uncertain, I pray, hoping that he can recover as soon as possible.”
Meanwhile, under the dark and cold February skies in St. Peter’s Square, cardinals, bishops, nuns and hundreds of faithful have been gathering since Monday evening to say the rosary for the pontiff. It has echoes of a similar prayer service said for Pope John Paul II when he was seriously ill in 2005.
Francis is a popular pope, with many who were already in Rome for vacations or on a pilgrimage as the Catholic Church celebrates its Holy Jubilee year, making their way to St. Peter’s Square amid the pope’s health crisis.
“We wanted to come here because I think it concerns all Christians,” says Richardo Martinez, a tourist from Spain visiting with his family on Wednesday, according to Reuters. “In Spain, everything concerning the health of the Holy Father is being followed very closely, and I think it is a good time to be here and pray for him and ask for him to get better.”
Father Carlos, a priest also from Spain, says: “We are awaiting the medical reports. We have to keep praying. May he recover soon.”
On Sunday, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, said in a homily from St Patrick’s Cathedral that the pope is “probably close to death.”
And in a memo sent to the priests of New York archdiocese, and seen by CNN, the cardinal’s vicar general said the pope is nearing “the end of his earthly journey” and made suggestions for how they should mark this. There is no evidence that the cardinal has additional or privileged information about Francis’ health.
Francis’ bridge-building pontificate means his influence reaches beyond the Catholic Church. Prayers being said for the pontiff have come from all sorts of places; from the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in Egypt – who has a close bond with Francis – to an inter-religious service at a Buddhist temple in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Yet, as Francis himself has observed, whenever a pope gets ill, the winds of a conclave start to blow. And right now, the Vatican has a pre-conclave feel.
It all comes amid increased fascination in a papal election following the popularity of the movie, “Conclave,” which is up for several Oscars on March 2. The sense of an impending papal election is only intensified by the evening prayer services in the square, which are being led by different cardinals each day. On Wednesday, it will be the turn of Giovanni Battista Re, the Dean of the College of Cardinals, whose job is to oversee the running of a conclave.
But don’t count Francis out just yet. While the pope is physically frail, he remains spiritually and psychologically resilient. And since his hospitalization, he has shown he wants to fight on.
Elisabetta Pique, a papal biographer and correspondent for La Argentina’s La Nacion, told CNN that her compatriot is a very spiritual man but also one who is “determined,” “stubborn” and driven by a deep sense of mission.
The Argentinian pope was trained as a Jesuit, a religious order which has a long history of embarking on missionary work in hostile or dangerous territories. He had been working at an intense pace right up until his hospitalization. Antonio Spadaro, a fellow Jesuit and adviser to the pope, said Francis’ mentality is “to keep working while he is alive and die in the trenches.”
From his hospital room, the pope signals he’s still in charge. On Monday, he met Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State, and Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, the papal chief of staff and announced a consistory (a meeting of the pope and cardinals) to decide sainthood causes at an unspecified date. Incidentally, it was at a consistory in February 2013 that Benedict XVI announced his intention to resign.
Francis also seems aware of the Vatican’s reputation for being opaque about papal health matters. He is behind the daily release of relatively detailed information about his medical condition and, before he received anyone from the Vatican in hospital, met Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. She, and not the Vatican, then offered the world the update that so many had wanted to hear: the pope was “alert” and cracking jokes. Even in a critical condition, Francis remains politically astute.
Yet the longer the pope is hospitalized, the more speculation grows about a possible papal resignation. Francis wrote a letter in 2013 making provisions should he become incapacitated, a similar move to one taken by many of his recent predecessors, and some wonder whether he will continue as pope if the long-term prognosis means he might be impeded from governing the Catholic Church.
Francis, a master of surprise, is unlikely to have told anyone his plans. And so the world continues to wait, with a term being used in Rome about these intense days succinctly summing up the feeling of so many: “montagne russe” – a rollercoaster.
CNN’s Ben Wedeman, Fiona Sibbett, Antonia Mortensen and Sharon Braithwaite contributed to this story. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/europe/pope-francis-health-prayers-rome-intl/index.html | 2025-02-26 | 7ddb73c8-c113-5e28-af93-a605e14a9dd4 |
Pro-Russia Romanian presidential candidate questioned by prosecutors, his team says | Christian Edwards | Calin Georgescu, a far-right presidential candidate in Romania, has been taken in for questioning by police as part of an investigation into his campaign, which last year prompted the country’s constitutional court to cancel an election.
Georgescu was pulled over for questioning by police on Wednesday as he was about to file his new candidacy for the new presidential election, set for May, his communications team announced.
“Where is democracy, where are the partners who must defend democracy?” his team asked in a post on Facebook, in an apparent appeal to Trump administration officials who have recently voiced support for Georgescu.
Georgescu, a former soil scientist who was virtually unknown before last year’s presidential election, unexpectedly won the first round of the vote in Romania, a NATO member that shares a border with Ukraine.
During his TikTok-fueled campaign, Georgescu was critical of NATO, skeptical about Western support for Ukraine and warm towards Vladimir Putin, calling the Russian president a “patriot.”
Before the second-round vote, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election, saying its decision was motivated by fears of foreign interference.
Declassified intelligence documents from Romania’s top security council revealed evidence of “aggressive hybrid Russian attacks” and suggested the wave of TikTok videos supporting Georgescu “could have been coordinated by a state actor.”
This story has been updated. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/europe/romania-georgescu-election-prosecutors-intl/index.html | 2025-02-26 | 1f1000a9-4a23-5398-be32-a21e3e71fab7 |
As the clock ticks down on the Gaza ceasefire, Israel prepares for more war | Mick Krever | Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, a weekly look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here.
One month ago, Israelis and Palestinians felt that rarest of things: optimism.
After months of stalled talks, there was finally a ceasefire in Gaza. There seemed to be a real path towards the end of the war.
But the situation has changed drastically since then.
The 42-day truce between Israel and Hamas is set to expire this weekend unless an agreement is struck to extend it. The two sides were meant to begin talks on a permanent end to the war in early February; three weeks later, they still haven’t started.
Since the deal was struck, there’s been a vibe shift in Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is buoyed by the return of US President Donald Trump and under pressure from far-right members of his own cabinet to return to war. The Gaza ceasefire looks increasingly like it may end up being a fleeting interlude.
“We are ready to return to intense combat at any moment,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told graduating military officers on Sunday. “The operational plans are ready.”
Netanyahu made his tenuous commitment to the ceasefire clear when he traveled to Washington DC to meet Trump earlier this month and opted not to send a negotiating team to Qatar or Egypt, which mediated the ceasefire.
He has replaced Israel’s security chiefs, who previously led ceasefire negotiations, with a close political ally – his minister of strategic affairs, Ron Dermer, who is said to be close to the Trump administration. Israeli media last week was briefed by a “senior official” castigating the security chief-led negotiating team for giving Hamas too much in previous talks.
Even during the initial ceasefire negotiations it was clear that Netanyahu was skeptical of its potential second phase.
The first phase was always temporary for him. It was a way to get some hostages home without permanently ending the war or having to talk about what Gaza will look like once it’s over. Nearly 17 months since October 7, he has yet to present his vision for Gaza’s future, except to say that neither Hamas nor the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority should govern.
The second phase was always going to be trickier. It would see Hamas and Israel agree to a permanent end to hostilities, the release of all living Israeli hostages held in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, including from the Gaza-Egypt border.
Netanyahu is under tremendous pressure to return to war. His finance minister, the far-right-winger Bezalel Smotrich, has threatened to withdraw from the governing coalition if Israel doesn’t restart the war after this weekend. Itamar Ben Gvir quit his post as national security minister over the ceasefire.
Netanyahu is trying to extend the current terms of the ceasefire without any of the tough commitments required by a potential second phase. An Israeli source familiar with the matter told CNN Tuesday that the government is trying to extend the first phase “by as much as possible” in the hope of releasing more hostages.
It is unclear whether Hamas, for whom the hostages are their most valuable asset, would continue releasing Israelis without an Israeli commitment to end the war.
Though Trump championed and took credit for the ceasefire, his messaging since taking office has hardly been that of a peacemaker. He’s proposed expelling Palestinians from Gaza, he’s considering some Israelis’ desire to annex the West Bank, and he’s expressed doubt about the fate of the ceasefire. “I can’t tell you whether or not the cease fire will hold,” he said earlier this month. “We are going to see whether or not it holds.”
Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy to the Middle East, is returning to the region this week to try to save the ceasefire. He hardly expressed optimism when he spoke with the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, at a Saudi investment conference in Miami last week. “Phase two is more difficult,” Witkoff said. “But I think ultimately if we work hard that there’s a real chance of success.”
Hours after Hamas released six Israeli hostages this weekend, Israel’s cabinet said it wasn’t going to uphold its end of the exchange – the release of 620 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
The Israeli government and many international observers have expressed horror at the Hamas’ propaganda ceremonies staged to hand hostages to the Red Cross. It appears two incidents last week – the initial failure to hand over Shiri Bibas’ body and the staging of dead Israelis’ coffins under the banner of a bloodsucking Netanyahu – were a step too far. Hamas would have to stop “the humiliating ceremonies,” the prime minister’s office said.
Hamas spokesperson Abdul Latif Al-Qanou called Israel’s decision not to release the prisoners a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire agreement.
Critics of the Israeli government point out that Israel, too, has staged propaganda campaigns. Palestinian detainees released by Israel – some of whom have committed serious crimes, but most of whom were held without charge – have been made to wear sweatshirts upon their release with a Star of David and the Arabic phrase: “We don’t forget or forgive.” Others have said that they were made to watch hours of Israeli propaganda videos ahead of their release.
The future of the ceasefire now seems to come down to a simple calculation. Will Hamas see enough value in a short-lived peace to continue releasing hostages without long-term commitments from Israel? And if not, will the American government pressure Israel into the concessions necessary for a second phase?
Two million Palestinians struggling to survive depend on the answer. So too do the 63 hostages who remain in Gaza – just under half of whom are thought to be alive.
“Please, I just want to go home,” Evyatar David, who was kidnapped from the Nova music festival, said Saturday in a Hamas propaganda video as he watched hostages handed to the Red Cross. Though he was likely speaking under duress, David’s family authorized the video’s release.
“The time has come to end it,” he said. “You started something, finish it. Please.”
Eugenia Yosef and Kevin Liptak contributed to this report. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/middleeast/israel-hamas-gaza-ceasefire-intl/index.html | 2025-02-25 | a140fd3b-2916-5aa4-8d73-e7b4d4c3d856 |
The US wants Ukraine’s ‘critical’ minerals. Here’s why | Katherine Jennings | President Donald Trump and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky are in talks for a deal that could allow access to Ukraine’s natural deposits of critical minerals used to create electronics, weapons and other technology.
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/world/video/ukraine-rare-earth-minerals-titanium-lithium-digvid-stewart | 2025-02-26 | f283ae09-4b3e-5495-97d2-6e0c9ddcf029 |
Following delay, Israel agrees to release Palestinian detainees in new exchange as fragile Gaza ceasefire appears intact | Eugenia Yosef, Kareem Khadder, Mick Krever | Days after Israel failed to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange for six hostages held in Gaza, the government has agreed to a new exchange, according to an Israeli source and Hamas, indicating the fragile ceasefire remains intact for now.
The Egyptian-brokered agreement between Hamas and Israel will see the exchange of the final four bodies of hostages due to be released in the first phase of the ceasefire deal for the 620 Palestinian prisoners and detainees that should have been freed last Saturday, according to the Israeli source. Among the detainees are 23 children and one woman.
Israel had delayed their release in protest of what it said is the cruel treatment of hostages during their release by Hamas and demanding guarantees that future hostage releases would take place without “humiliating ceremonies.”
Advocates for Palestinians prisoners and detainees, in turn, have expressed repeated concerns about the delay, and Israel’s treatment of those held in detention. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society says 69 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli detention since the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, of whom 38 were detained in Gaza.
Hamas released six Israeli hostages from Gaza on Saturday in two public ceremonies and one private transfer, in what was the final return of living hostages in the first phase of a ceasefire deal that began last month.
Hamas accused Israel of violating the truce with the delay, casting some uncertainty over the precarious ceasefire deal, and said talks on a second phase would not be possible until they are freed.
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Hamas confirmed that an agreement with Israel had been made through Egyptian mediators, but did not specify how many Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners and detainees would be released.
An Egyptian official confirmed the agreement between Israel and Hamas was reached, according to a statement by the Egyptian government’s media office.
The Israeli official confirmed to CNN that the release of the remains of four hostages held in Gaza could happen as early as Wednesday evening.
Hamas and its allies continue to hold 63 hostages in Gaza. At least 36 of those are believed to be dead, according to the Israeli government – one of whom, the soldier Hadar Goldin, has been held since 2014.
The 42-day truce between Israel and Hamas is set to expire this weekend unless an agreement is struck to extend it. The two sides were meant to begin talks on a permanent end to the war in early February, but those discussions have not begun yet.
The latest agreement between Israel and Hamas came as mourners in southern Israel lined the streets ahead of a funeral Wednesday for Shiri Bibas and her two young sons Kfir and Ariel, who were taken hostage in the October 7 Hamas-led attack and killed in Gaza.
Their bodies were returned to Israel last week under the ceasefire arrangement.
The Bibas family invited the public to gather along the funeral route to pay their respects to the two children and their mother ahead of a private ceremony near their home in Kibbutz Nir Oz in southern Israel.
At just nine months, Kfir was the youngest person kidnapped and held hostage in Gaza. Along with his brother, Ariel, who was four, they became prominent symbols of the plight of the hostages held in Gaza throughout the war.
Their father Yarden Bibas, who was also taken hostage, was released on February 1 after 484 days of captivity as part of the ceasefire agreement.
The return of Shiri, Kfir and Ariel’s bodies last week caused much pain and consternation in Israel after the remains of Kfir and Ariel were returned without their mother, as promised, but rather with the body of an unidentified Palestinian woman – a development which threatened to derail the fragile ceasefire agreement.
Shiri’s remains were later returned to Israel.
Crowds gathered along the funeral route held Israeli and yellow flags, symbolizing the campaign to bring the hostages home, as a procession for the two young boys and their mother passed.
“We are accompanied by the people of Israel in droves,” the Bibas family said in a statement shared by the Israeli hostage families forum. “We see and hear you” and “are moved and strengthened by you,” it said.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the number of hostages who are believed to be dead.
CNN’s Mostafa Salem and Helen Regan contributed to this report. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/middleeast/israel-hamas-new-exchange-ceasefire-intl-hnk/index.html | 2025-02-26 | d66206ba-c86d-5c23-af39-97f87d2af49d |
State of emergency declared after blackout plunges most of Chile into darkness | Gerardo Lemos, Ana Melgar, Mauricio Torres, Michael Rios | Chile’s president has declared a state of emergency after an electricity blackout plunged most of the country into darkness on Tuesday, including the capital Santiago.
The outage – in the middle of Chile’s summer, when temperatures in Santiago are around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) – has affected some 8 million homes, President Gabriel Boric said in an address to the nation on Tuesday evening.
The National Disaster Prevention and Response Service said 14 of the country’s 16 regions were impacted by the blackout, which began Tuesday afternoon.
Internet and mobile phone services were down across much of the nation and parts of Santiago’s transport network was suspended, stranding commuters, as officials scrambled to restore power.
By Wednesday, the government said that 90% of homes and businesses affected by the blackout had had their electricity restored, according to the Chilean National Electric Coordinator.
But Chilean Interior Minister, Carolina Tohá, acknowledged in a news conference that the service still had ongoing problems and that 220,000 customers remain without power. She also added that 100% of public transport services had been restored, and that the state of emergency would be lifted later.
Tohá also said an investigation had been opened to establish what caused the outage. “One thing is the original failure that the company had (…) and another thing is how that system responds once the incident occurs.”
Isabel Rosales reports on how a severe drought in Northern Chile is impacting residents.
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The National Electrical Coordinator, Chile’s grid operator, earlier said a high-voltage backbone transmission line, that carries power from the Atacama Desert of northern Chile to Santiago in the country’s central valley, had been disrupted, leading to the blackout. It did not say what caused the disruption.
The president said the state of emergency aimed to “guarantee the safety” of citizens as the outage may last into the night. Authorities also announced a curfew in effect from 10 p.m. Tuesday until 6 a.m. Wednesday.
Boric blamed the debacle on the electricity companies, saying “it is not tolerable” that millions of people have been affected.
“We are not going to let this pass and we are going to act firmly against companies that have not risen to the occasion. For this reason, all the necessary investigations will be carried out,” he said.
Tohá said hospitals, prisons and government buildings were switching to backup generators to keep essential services running and that the national gendarmerie force had been deployed on the streets, to maintain security and support the flow of traffic.
“Our first concern, and the reason for this announcement, is to ensure people’s safety,” she said. “Obviously, this was something no one planned for.”
Daily life across much of the country came to a standstill on Tuesday as the blackouts suspended transport and paralyzed businesses.
Metro services in Santiago, home to around 8 million people, were suspended until further notice and passengers were evacuated, Transport Minister Juan Carlos Muñoz said.
Videos shared on social media showed dozens of passengers disembarking from metro cars and being guided by workers in the dark to exit stations.
Santiago International Airport said in a post on X that flights are operating regularly thanks to emergency backup systems. Chile’s LATAM Airlines said some of its flights could be affected.
The outage knocked out internet connectivity across much of Chile, according to internet watchdog NetBlocks, which reported national connectivity at 25% of ordinary levels.
Officials also suspended a soccer match during the national Copa Chile tournament, saying it would be rescheduled shortly.
Health Minister Ximena Aguilera said its healthcare network is fully operational, running on generators that will provide hours of power.
In addition to Santiago, the blackout has also affected the regions of Arica and Parinacota, Tarapacá, Antofagasta, Atacama, Coquimbo, Araucanía, Valparaíso, O’Higgins, Maule, Biobío, Los Lagos, Los Ríos and Ñuble.
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Avery Schmitz contributed to this report. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/americas/chile-blackout-14-regions-intl-latam/index.html | 2025-02-25 | 91ee23ac-09cf-5fc7-88c5-f5646a57692f |
CNN analyzes Trump’s AI Gaza video | Adefela Olowoselu, Salma Abdelaziz | President Donald Trump posted what appears to be an AI-generated video on Truth Social showing the transformation of Gaza into a Gulf state-like resort. Trump has previously proposed expelling 2.1 million Palestinians from Gaza to turn it into a "Riviera" owned by the US.
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/world/video/trump-ai-gaza-video-breakdown-digvid | 2025-02-26 | ac378c1b-ab7c-50fb-a9c8-56b675d385e7 |
Israel delays release of hundreds of Palestinian detainees following recovery of six Israeli hostages from Gaza | Mick Krever, Ivana Kottasová, Brad Lendon, Irene Nasser | Israel has delayed an expected release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange for returned Israeli hostages “until further notice,” the Palestinian Prisoners Society said early Sunday.
Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office confirmed the postponement, demanding guarantees that future hostage releases will take place without “humiliating ceremonies.”
Hamas released six Israeli hostages from Gaza on Saturday in two public ceremonies and one private transfer, the final return of live hostages in this first phase of a ceasefire deal that began last month. The next release, of the remains of four more hostages, is expected Thursday.
In return for Saturday’s release, Israel was expected to free 620 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, including 23 children and one woman. But Israeli officials delayed that release, citing further security reviews.
Hamas’ media office had earlier accused Israel of violating the truce with the delay, casting some uncertainty over the precarious ceasefire deal.
The delay, announced in the early hours of Sunday local time, is a response to Hamas’s “repeated violations” of the deal, according to the Prime Minister’s Office, including using hostages in videos and public displays that “demean their dignity.”
Hamas had released a heavily edited propaganda video showing two unreleased Israeli captives watching Saturday’s hostage release ceremony from a vehicle. The hostages seen in the video – identified by the Hostages and Missing Families’ Forum as Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa Dalal – plead for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to secure their freedom. The men were likely speaking under duress.
The two men’s families authorized media use of “the sickening Hamas video,” according to the forum.
Hamas and its allies continue to hold 63 Israeli hostages in Gaza. At least 32 of those are believed to be dead, according to the Israeli government – one of whom, the soldier Hadar Goldin, has been held since 2014.
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The first two hostages to be released on Saturday – Tal Shoham, 40, and Avera Mengistu, 38 – were turned over to Red Cross officials in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Shoham was kidnapped from kibbutz Be’eri during the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, along with his two children, wife, and mother-in-law, all of whom were released the following month. Mengistu, an Israeli from Ashkelon, crossed into Gaza in 2014.
Later, thousands of people including Hamas fighters gathered at a separate location in Nuseirat, central Gaza, where three of the hostages – Eliya Cohen, 27, Omer Shem Tov, 22, and Omer Wenkert, 23 – were handed over in another heavily choreographed ceremony. A number of children appeared on the stage wearing shirts bearing photographs of Hamas leaders who had been killed.
The three men were kidnapped at the Nova music festival near the border with Gaza during the October 7 attack. They appeared thin but in better condition than some previously freed hostages, whose appearance sparked alarm in Israel. Shem Tov seemed to engage with some of the Hamas fighters on stage and blew a kiss toward the crowd.
A sixth hostage, 37-year-old Hisham al-Sayed, an Arab-Israeli from a Bedouin community in southern Israel who walked into Gaza in 2015, was turned over to the Red Cross in Gaza City, according to an Israeli security source and a Hamas source.
Al-Sayed and Mengistu both reportedly have serious mental health conditions. They were captured by Hamas about a decade ago.
The Israeli military said the hostages had crossed into Israel and would receive medical assessments before being reunited with their families.
Crowds gathered in Tel Aviv’s “Hostage Square” to witness the releases on screen, some waving to the sky as a helicopter carrying Mengistu passed overhead.
Just before being handed over to the Red Cross in Rafah early on Saturday morning, Shoham and Mengistu were paraded on stage, flanked by armed and masked militants. They were handed documents, and Shoham was forced to address the crowd.
In contrast, al-Sayed received a quieter handover, which one leading Bedouin figure in Israel said showed Hamas’ respect of “the Palestinians in the occupied territories.”
Many from this often marginalized community – one of several ethnic minority groups in Israel – identify distinctly as Bedouin Israelis, while others see themselves as Palestinian citizens of Israel.
Throughout the day, crowds of Palestinians waited under heavy rain in front of Gaza’s European Hospital in Khan Younis, anticipating the eventual arrival of their loved ones. As the hours passed, some trickled out of the hospital while others slept in the hospital corridors in hopes of waiting out the delay.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society, 620 prisoners were expected to be released from Israeli detention on Saturday – a slightly higher figure than previously reported and the largest number of Palestinian prisoners to be exchanged since the ceasefire deal began.
Just under 500 of those are expected to be sent back to Gaza, including 445 who were detained in the enclave since the war began in October 2023 and have been held without charge, as well as 23 children and one woman, according to the group.
In addition, 151 prisoners serving life sentences and long sentences were due to be released to the occupied West Bank, Jerusalem and some sent into exile.
According to prison authorities, a senior Israeli prisons official, Lt. Col. Kobi Yaakovi, ordered the Palestinian prisoners to wear clothes that included the inscription: “I have pursued mine enemies and overtaken them; neither did I turn back till they were consumed.”
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that Saturday’s hostage release was a “moving and joyful moment” but was accompanied by “deep pain over the fate of Shiri Bibas and her sons.”
The remains of Bibas – the Israeli mother whose young family became a symbol for the plight of hostages being held in Gaza – had been expected to be among those of four hostages returned by Hamas on Thursday, alongside her sons Kfir and Ariel, and another captive, Oded Lifshitz.
However, while forensic tests confirmed that the remains included those of the two boys and Lifshitz, the fourth body was not that of Shiri Bibas – and nor did it match that of any other Israeli hostage, prompting demands for the correct remains to be returned.
On Friday evening, Bibas’ remains arrived in Tel Aviv following condemnation in Israel.
“Last night, our Shiri was brought home. After the identification process at the Institute for Forensic Medicine, we received the news this morning that we had feared: our Shiri was murdered in captivity,” said a statement from her family provided by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum on Saturday.
Hamas, which says Shiri and the two boys were killed in an Israeli airstrike in 2023, said that her body may have earlier been mixed up with the body of another person killed in the airstrike, and vowed to investigate.
Israel and Hamas are holding indirect negotiations to extend the ceasefire. Those talks began more than two weeks late.
CNN’s Lauren Izso, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Tim Lister, Lucas Lilieholm, Brad Lendon, Ibrahim Dahman and Khader Al-Za’anoun of Wafa, the official Palestinian news agency, contributed reporting. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/22/middleeast/hamas-israel-hostage-release-intl-hnk/index.html | 2025-02-22 | d4e75a1b-8771-514c-be73-e48f0ac16947 |
Tens of thousands join mass funeral for slain Hezbollah leader Nasrallah | Unknown | The long-delayed funeral for Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah took place on Sunday, nearly five months after he was killed in a massive Israeli airstrike on the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Hezbollah has been left badly depleted by Israeli attacks and the mass event was intended as a show of strength for the militant and political group. Israel struck several locations in southern and eastern Lebanon during the mass funeral, according to local and state media. The Israeli military said it struck Hezbollah stockpiles of weapons.
A formation of Israeli fighter jets flew very low over the main site of the funeral after Nasrallah’s coffin was unveiled in what Israel’s military called “a clear message” to the group. The Israeli military on Sunday also released footage of what it says is Nasrallah’s assassination.
Tens of thousands of mourners flooded Beirut’s largest stadium, where the ceremony began, and packed the surrounding streets. A large procession trailed the late leader’s hearse to a shrine in southern Beirut, erected as his final resting place.
Mourners threw scarves at the hearse which pallbearers touched on Nasrallah’s turban, placed on top of the Hezbollah-draped coffin, and lobbed it back to mourners.
Speaking from a remote location, Hezbollah Secretary General Naim Qassem addressed mourners and vowed to continue down Nasrallah’s path “even if we are all killed.”
Sunday’s ceremony also commemorated Nasrallah’s successor, Hashem Safieddine, who led the militant group for just days before an Israeli strike killed him in early October.
Nasrallah was secretly buried in a private ceremony shortly after his death, according to Hezbollah officials. That he was only buried on Sunday underscores the militant group’s weakened state, after an Israeli military campaign in Lebanon last autumn nearly wiped out the group’s top military brass and killed thousands of its fighters, in addition to hundreds of civilians.
A ceasefire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel was signed last November, ending a months-long war, but drove the militant group deeper underground with Israel continuing to strike what it describes as Hezbollah targets.
Nasrallah’s death marks the end of an era for a militant group that grew from a rag-tag group of guerrilla fighters in 1982 to a regional force whose influence spanned at least four countries.
He was elected leader of the armed group in 1992 as a 32-year-old cleric. He went on to preside over a guerrilla campaign in southern Lebanon that ultimately drove Israeli forces out of the country in 2000, ending a 22-year occupation. In 2006, he led Hezbollah militants in an all-out war against Israel, which devastated large parts of Lebanon but foiled Israel’s stated goal of dismantling the group.
When wars raged in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, Nasrallah’s forces intervened on behalf of groups backed by Iran, shoring up Tehran’s support.
But Hezbollah’s fortunes changed after the Hamas-led surprise attack on Israel which killed around 1,200 people on October 7, 2023. The militant group launched daily rocket attacks on Israel’s northernmost territory, in support of Hamas, displacing some 60,000 Israelis. Around 100,000 Lebanese residents of the south were also displaced in Israeli attacks as part of a tit-for-tat that spanned nearly a year before it spiralled into an all-out war last September.
Nasrallah called it a “supportive front” that he said aimed to pressure Israel into ceasing its retaliatory offensive in Gaza, which has laid waste to large parts of the besieged territory and killed over 48,000 people.
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In mid-September, Israel detonated explosives implanted in thousands of pagers and walkie talkies carried by Hezbollah members and assassinated several of the group’s leaders, laying bare Israel’s thorough infiltration of the armed group.
Severely weakened, Hezbollah’s future as a militant group is being called into question. Israel has vowed to continue to strike the group’s positions until the group disarms and has maintained five strategic positions inside Lebanon’s southern-most territory, breaching the November ceasefire agreement.
The group, which enjoys broad support among Shia Muslims across the region, is a designated terror organization in the US and many other Western countries.
Domestically, the group has come under increasing pressure to lay down its arms. That culminated with the newly elected President Joseph Aoun’s inaugural speech in January when he called on weapons to be monopolized under the authority of the state.
Hezbollah has long resisted calls to give up their arms, which it argues have prevented Israel’s reoccupation of the country. Its detractors say their militancy makes a viable Lebanese state impossible.
This story has been updated with additional information. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/23/middleeast/nasrallah-funeral-hezbollah-lebanon-intl/index.html | 2025-02-23 | f40410a3-7825-5b34-8ab7-5274d3870e86 |
Burberry closes London Fashion Week with a ‘stealth wealth’-inspired show | Kati Chitrakorn | In case you missed the memo, “quiet luxury” is still having its moment. Despite expert predictions that people (having played it safe with their fashion purchases throughout a cost-of-living crisis) would soon return to embracing a more individual sense of style, the latest Burberry collection was rooted in sumptuous materials, neutral colors and discreet details — all the hallmarks of “stealth wealth” dressing.
Presented on Monday at London’s Tate Britain museum, a stone’s throw from Burberry’s headquarters on Horseferry Road, the British house’s Fall-Winter 2025 show opened with a model wearing a short jacket, riding trousers and scarf with wide fringed edges, all in the same shade of oatmeal. Looks in khaki, brown and maroon soon followed, as did more opulent pieces, including leather trench coats, brocade suits and shearling-lined jackets.
The clothes were modelled by a high-profile cast including runway regulars Naomi Campbell, Edie Campbell and Erin O’ Connor, but also surprise appearances from actors Richard E. Grant, Lesley Manville and Elizabeth McGovern, as well as Lila Moss, the daughter of supermodel Kate Moss. The star-studded front row included actors Nicholas Hoult, Orlando Bloom and Kim Cattrall, among others. (Though, it was a literal knight in shining armor — who also features in Burberry’s newest campaign — that stole that show, as he entertained famous guests by taking selfies with them.)
Probed by media on the speculation that he might be leaving to join Jil Sander (the Milan-based label that shares the same owner as Diesel), Daniel Lee, who is into his fifth fashion show as Burberry’s chief creative officer, vehemently professed his love for Burberry. “It’s really an honor to work for Burberry. It’s an incredible brand,” he told a small group of journalists backstage after the show. “Things are going well. They’re definitely improving. I think we’re all in a really positive place.”
A lot is riding on Lee and CEO Joshua Schulman, who joined in July, to improve the company’s fortunes. Despite being one of British fashion’s biggest luxury brands, Burberry has been beleaguered by plunging sales and profits, costing it a place on the UK’s FTSE 100 index (which brings together the 100 most valuable companies on the London Stock Exchange) last September.
Schulman, who is more than half a year into the role, seemed to be in good spirits as he posed for photographs and sat on the front row next to model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and stylist and former British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful. Some of that may have to do with Burberry’s promising start to the year: the company saw a boost in shares after reporting a smaller-than-expected drop in sales over the holiday period.
After a botched attempt by Burberry to move upmarket, Schulman outlined a new strategy for the struggling brand in November, which included a greater focus on its key emblems, such as outerwear and its signature check, and a wider pricing structure. Schulman also shared an annual revenue target of £3 billion (about $3.7 billion), but did not provide a specific timeline for achieving that goal. Burberry reported annual revenues of £2.97 billion ($3.75 billion) for the 2024 fiscal year.
Continued emphasis on Burberry’s heritage was clearly on the mind of Lee, who shared his fascination with the portrayal of British high society in period dramas. “I would say that probably ‘Saltburn’ (the dark comedy starring actor Barry Keoghan, a Burberry ambassador) was the first movie that kicked me off onto that trip,” Lee said. “I really enjoyed how people lived in this old, incredible mansion, dressed in an eccentric way for dinner and had crazy parties. It was this kind of bohemian spirit (and) energy that I wanted to portray in the show.”
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As for the collection’s earthy colors, Lee explained that he had “spent a lot of time over the holidays, walking in nature, in Yorkshire,” where he hails from. That felt fitting for Burberry, which “is an incredible coat brand,” Lee said. “People associate coats with protecting them from the outdoors and the weather. And Burberry is a brand that’s made for being on-the-go, being outside, and being able to (sustain) different types of weather and terrain.”
What’s apparent is a feeling of comfort from Lee. Much like the cozy wintry pieces he had on show, the designer also appeared more relaxed than usual — so much so that one might wonder if he has his eye on an exit, or whether he simply feels more at ease in the job. Time will tell, although one hopes for a different outcome to “Saltburn”: a lavish house, with characters stuck in old ways and an ill-fated end. The film is set in 2006, which coincidentally marks the center-point of Burberry’s heyday. Make of that what you will. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/style/burberry-daniel-lee-fall-winter-2025-show/index.html | 2025-02-25 | 00e66806-78ed-5c48-ac08-6d4e49f3c2cc |
China’s ‘Puppy Mountain’ goes viral | Unknown | When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination.
Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei province in late January. When reviewing the photos, he saw something he hadn’t noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge.
“It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
“The puppy’s posture is like it’s drinking water, or it’s looking at some fish. It also looks like it’s quietly protecting the Yangtze River,” he said.
Guo’s post on Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, received 120,000 likes within 10 days. On the media platform Weibo, the hashtag #xiaogoushan — Chinese for “Puppy Mountain” — drew millions of views.
Dog owners started to post pictures of their dogs to see which one had the closest resemblance. Many people traveled directly to the location in Yichang to see the mountain for themselves and some even brought their dogs to take photos.
Yang Yang, who lives about an hour and half from the location, drove there with her friends and her 2-year-old grey poodle named Yang Keyi.
“I was really happy to see the mountain,” she said. “I always travel with my dog if possible, so Puppy Mountain and my own little dog really match.”
The mountain is in Yichang’s Zigui County, where it can be seen from an observation deck. The Yangtze River, the longest river in China and the third-longest river in the world, flows through the mountainous area.
After Guo’s photo went viral, many people shared photos of the view they previously had taken from the same deck, many saying they hadn’t realized it looked like a dog. Some discussed how the dog’s appearance has changed over the years.
Yichang resident Shi Tong said he knew he had seen the mountain before, and posted a photo he took of the location in 2021.
“After I saw the Puppy Mountain photo online, I tried to look up where it is. And then I realized that I have been to this place before. I thought it looked like a dog at that time too!” | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/travel/china-puppy-mountain-yichang-intl-hnk/index.html | 2025-02-25 | 6980e266-cbce-5a33-992c-15f1ecf0e418 |
Death toll in Sudan military plane crash rises to 46 | Unknown | The death toll from a Sudanese military aircraft crash in the city of Omdurman increased to at least 46 people, including women and children, officials said Wednesday, one of the deadliest plane crashes in the northeastern African nation in the past two decades.
The Antonov aircraft crashed on Tuesday over a populated district in Omdurman, also injuring at least 10 people, according to the government-run Khartoum Media Office. An initial death toll of 19 was provided by the health ministry.
The military said in a statement that the plane crashed while taking off from the Wadi Sayidna air base north of Omdurman, the sister city of the capital, Khartoum.
The crash also damaged a number of houses in the Karrari district of Omdurman, the media office said.
The military earlier said that armed forces personnel and civilians were killed in the crash, but didn’t provide figures. It didn’t say what caused the crash.
The health ministry said some bodies were transferred to the Nau hospital in Omdurman.
Among the dead were senior military officers, including Maj. Gen. Bahr Ahmed Bahr and Lt. Col. Awad Ayoub, and the aircraft crew, according to a military official.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter, said the dead include women and children, among them five siblings.
Local media reported that the aircraft was on the way to the Red Sea city of Port Sudan, the seat of the military-backed government, when it crashed over the Al-Thawra neighborhood in the Karrari district. Residents reported loud explosions from the crash, which sent thick clouds of smoke and dust over Omdurman.
Aircraft crashes are common in Sudan, which has a poor aviation safety record. In 2020, at least 16 people were killed when a military plane, a Russian Antonov An-12, crashed in the western region of Darfur.
In 2003, a civilian Sudan Airways plane crashed into a hillside while trying to make an emergency landing, killing 116 people, including eight foreigners. Only a boy survived the crash.
Sudan is also battling a cholera outbreak that has killed 1,472 people across a dozen provinces in recent months, the Health Ministry said. The disease has sickened around 56,000 since it was detected in July last year.
The dead included over 70 people who died in two cities in the White Nile province earlier this month, the ministry said. More than 2,000 others were diagnosed with the disease in the cities of Kosti and Rabak, it said.
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The outbreak was detected last year during the rainy season between July and October. Heavy rainfall and floods especially hit the country’s eastern areas where millions of war displaced people sheltered.
The outbreak added further burdens on the country, which has suffered from nearly two years of devastating war.
Sudan has been in a state of civil war since 2023 when tensions between the military and a notorious paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, exploded into open warfare.
The fighting has wrecked urban areas and has been marked by atrocities, including mass rape and ethnically motivated killings, that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, especially in the western region of Darfur, according to the United Nations and international rights groups.
The war has intensified in recent months, with the military making steady advances against the RSF in Khartoum and elsewhere in the country.
The RSF, which controls most of Darfur, said that it downed a military aircraft on Monday in Nyala, the provincial capital of South Darfur province. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/africa/sudan-plane-crash-death-toll-intl-latam/index.html | 2025-02-26 | 8c0e23ac-9dff-56f5-9238-1a3f24e66d00 |
Delta flight from Los Angeles makes emergency landing due to smoke on board | Karina Tsui | A Delta Air Lines flight from Los Angeles International Airport bound for Sydney on Saturday was forced to return after smoke was detected on board.
The flight, DL43, which took off shortly after 9:00 p.m., returned to LAX around 30 minutes later, according to data from FlightAware.
The Airbus A350-900 aircraft landed safely and the plane proceeded to an arrival gate, Delta said in a statement to CNN. The 162 passengers on board are being reaccommodated on a different flight.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people,” the statement said. “That’s why the flight crew followed established procedures to return to Los Angeles (LAX) after smoke was detected in the galley. We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travels.”
The flight arrived at the gate “on its own power without further incident,” LAX spokesperson Justin Upshaw told CNN.
Upon landing, there was no smoke in the cockpit, but pilots requested medical attention for passengers who may have been affected by smoke, according to audio from LiveATC.net.
A rescue ambulance was requested for “a patient with possible smoke inhalation,” but ultimately no passengers were transported via ambulance to a hospital, according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Lyndsey Lantz.
CNN’s Travis Caldwell contributed to this report. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/23/travel/delta-flight-los-angeles-emergency-smoke-hnk/index.html | 2025-02-23 | f4e6bb30-7195-594b-9416-d4b35b0b892d |
Justin Tucker calls inappropriate sexual misconduct allegations against him ‘so shocking and heart-breaking’ | Ben Morse | Baltimore Ravens kicker Justin Tucker called the multiple sexual misconduct allegations leveled against him “so shocking and heart-breaking” in his first public statement in almost a month.
According to the Baltimore Banner, a total of 16 massage therapists have accused Tucker of inappropriate sexual behavior in alleged incidents between 2012 and 2016. Tucker has always vehemently denied the allegations.
In a statement sent to CNN from Tucker’s attorneys on Wednesday, Tucker once again denied the accusations and said that he “never intended to disrespect anyone.”
“I maintain I did not act inappropriately at any point before, during, or after a professional bodywork treatment session, nor have I ever been told I am unwelcome at any massage therapy provider,” Tucker said. “These claims are simply not true.
“Throughout the last four weeks, I have spent countless hours replaying every interaction I have had with bodywork professionals over the last thirteen years. I can assure whoever is reading this that I have never intended to disrespect anyone, cross any boundary, or make anyone feel uncomfortable in any way whatsoever.
“It devastates me to know that anyone I have worked with would not have felt respected and valued as a professional, but more importantly as a person, and to anyone who has felt otherwise, I am sorry. I want you to know I am committed to ensuring that everyone I interact with continues to feel that I respect them and care about them as a human being.
“Physical therapy and massage therapy are a large part of why I’ve been consistently healthy and available during the football season. In fact, both my wife and I continue to count so many of those professionals as our friends. I absolutely respect the massage therapy profession and more so the individuals who work as massage therapists.”
In a statement sent to CNN following Tucker’s comments Wednesday, Michael Belsky of SBWD Law Firm in Baltimore, the attorney for the accusers, said: “Facts corroborating the allegations, including incidents of timely reporting to the spa owners of the incidents by affected therapists, are documented and an integral part of our investigation.
“We do not represent the spa owners, only the therapists. Whether the owners acted appropriately and in protection of their respective employees when faced with complaints is a completely separate issue.”
Belsky’s statement alludes to several sworn declarations from spa owners where Tucker reportedly received treatments, including one which Tucker’s attorneys sent the Banner from the owner of one of two spas which the Baltimore outlet said had banned the NFL kicker due to his behavior, reportedly saying she never received complaints about him. In addition, the attorneys told the Banner that Tucker hasn’t been banned from any spas.
In the declaration sent to the Banner, the owner also reportedly said: “Based on my conversations with employees of the spa, my understanding is that Mr. Tucker had an excellent reputation among the massage therapists and other employees with whom he interacted.”
On Tuesday, Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta called the allegations against the Tucker “serious” and “concerning” in a news conference.
Speaking at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis on Tuesday, DeCosta’s comments were the first public statement anyone from the Ravens have made since the allegations were first reported on January 30.
“The amount of allegations are serious and concerning,” DeCosta told reporters. “I think we’re fortunate that the league is doing an investigation. We’ll wait as patiently as we can for as much information as we can. We’ll make our decisions based on that.”
In a statement posted on X last month, Tucker said: “I cannot allow false claims to go unchallenged. I cannot be any clearer. These allegations are false and incredibly hurtful to both me and, more importantly, my family.”
When the first allegations were reported in January, the NFL said it took “any allegation seriously” and that it was investigating them. When contacted by CNN after the Banner reported the seven new accusers last week, the NFL said: “The matter remains under review of the Personal Conduct Policy.”
According to three of the accusers who spoke to the Banner, the NFL has been in Baltimore recently interviewing them for further information.
DeCosta said that he has met with the league and also spoken to Tucker, but would “keep those comments to myself.”
“I think in this case we’re awaiting as much information as possible,” DeCosta said. “Again, we’re fortunate that the league has come down to Baltimore, met with the league. I believe the league is meeting with other people in Baltimore as well. We’ll wait for the details of that investigation, and we’ll make a decision based on that.”
Later on Tuesday, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh told reporters that he’d also spoken to Tucker about the allegations.
“The NFL is looking into it,” Harbaugh said. “They’re going to review it, try to gather all the facts, and I’m sure we’ll have an understanding of it at that time. Once there’s an understanding of it, then you have a chance to make some decisions.”
When asked about the accusations, Harbaugh added: “It’s not what you want to wake up and read. It’s not something you want to see … things that are hurtful and harmful to people, painful – there’s too many headlines like that.”
The Banner’s original report says the first six accusers did not file lawsuits or contact law enforcement and the latest report does not indicate whether the other 10 have done so.
No charges have been filed.
However, the Banner said that Belsky told the outlet that he and his law firm are “continuing to gather the facts and the chronology of events, in order to see where that leads us.”
Tucker – a 13-year veteran who is known as one of the league’s best place kickers – has previously said in his statement posted on X, in January that he had “never been accused of acting inappropriately in front of a massage therapist or during any massage therapy session… never received any complaints from a massage therapist … and have never been told that I was not welcome at any spa or other place of business.”
“In accusing me of misconduct, the article takes innocuous, or ambiguous, interactions and skews them so out of proportion they are no longer recognizable, and it presents vague insinuations as fact,” Tucker said in a statement posted on X last month. “This is desperate tabloid fodder.”
Tucker won Super Bowl XLVII with the Ravens in 2013 and owns the highest career field goal percentage (89.1%), making him the most accurate kicker in NFL history. | cnn_sports | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/sport/justin-tucker-eric-decosta-accusations-ravens-spt-intl/index.html | 2025-02-26 | 38f306bf-efa1-5e3d-991a-919b2ca4a3c2 |
Winning lottery ticket bought with stolen credit card | Camila Moreno-Lizarazo | Pierre Debuisson joins The Lead
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/world/video/the-lead-money-crime-lottery-france-stolen-ticket-jake-tapper | 2025-02-25 | 2e25e28f-cbcb-54fd-9624-c05a13da024a |
Ashtrays on planes, bad odors and ‘top-down problems’: Takeaways from the NFL Players Association’s annual report card | Ben Morse | It’s that time of year where fans learn some hard truths about life playing for their favorite NFL franchise.
Wednesday saw the annual release of the NFL Players Association’s (NFLPA) report cards, which sees players across the league rate teams across multiple categories and grade how they feel about turning out for them.
Here are the main takeaways.
The report cards released by the NFLPA have now become an annual tradition, with 2025 the third edition of the initiative.
Almost 1,700 players from throughout the NFLPA provide feedback on the league’s 32 teams across 11 categories and the union ranks teams depending on those gradings.
The categories are:
According to NFLPA chief strategy officer and former NFL offensive lineman JC Tretter, the union conducts the exercise “to not only help them make important career decisions, but also help raise standards across the league.”
Last year’s top-ranked team retained its spot atop the NFL hierarchy as the Miami Dolphins reigned supreme once again.
The team was rated first in seven out of the 11 categories, with Stephen Ross once again the highest-graded owner.
The Dolphins made strides to upgrade their gameday locker room at Hard Rock Stadium. The NFLPA writes: “The quality of the facilities is matched by the quality of the people in the building, making for an extremely positive player experience.”
One of the biggest risers this year was the Washington Commanders. Under new ownership – Josh Harris took over from Dan Snyder in 2023 – the Commanders had a renaissance on the field in 2024.
And that improvement included off the field growth too. Washington was last for the past two years straight but rose dramatically to 11th this time around. According to the survey, the most important change was the hiring of head coach Dan Quinn in the offseason who was the highest-ranked head coach across all teams. Players said the team is “positively changing the culture – and it shows both in the survey results and on the field.”
The team also heavily improved its food program, improved treatment of players’ families and the transport for the players. The main issue holding the team back is its facility, with players saying it is “old and in need of major renovation.”
While there were upwardly mobile teams throughout the report cards, it is a different story for some other teams, including the bottom-ranked team.
The Arizona Cardinals fell from 27th a year ago to 32nd after a scathing review. The team was rated in the bottom three for seven of the 11 categories, and last in two of them – locker room and training room.
According to the players surveyed, the team is in need of an “updated, modernized and expanded team facility,” with the majority of the building being described as “too small.”
Players also highlighted that the smaller things the organization could improve on, including better food options and pre-game sideline passes for family.
The only shining light was their head coach Jonathan Gannon, who was given an A with many players praising the second-year coach for “fostering a strong team culture.”
Elsewhere, the New York Jets fell dramatically in the rankings after a tumultuous season for the franchise.
There was angst on and off the field for the Jets in 2024, with poor results and ownership interference causing a negative atmosphere. While the food program at the Jets was highlighted as the category that needed the most improvement, the union also referenced the leadership issues, with some describing it as “top-down problems.” The Jets were the only franchise to receive an F for ownership in the survey.
The New England Patriots were ranked 31st with team travel a major area of concern – the team’s plane is described as “dated,” with only 39% of players feel they have comfortable amount of space on flights when traveling to games. The plane also lacks Wi-Fi and still has ashtrays in the seats.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were rated 27th with one of the major negatives perceived to be the cleanliness of the locker room. Forty-four percent of players reported ongoing plumbing issues and “persistent bad odors remain a problem.” | cnn_sports | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/sport/nflpa-report-card-dolphins-cardinals-spt-intl/index.html | 2025-02-26 | 789630f3-c6d2-5687-aa31-20e6821d0da3 |
Thieves bought a winning lottery ticket with a stolen credit card. Its owner has offered to split the jackpot | Jack Guy | A French man whose stolen credit card was used to buy a winning lottery ticket has offered to split the jackpot with the two thieves.
The criminals broke into Jean-David Estele’s car in the city of Toulouse on February 3 and used his credit card to buy a few items at a bar that same day, Estele’s lawyer Pierre Debuisson told CNN on Tuesday.
Among them was a lottery ticket that turned out to be a winner worth 500,000 euros ($525,000).
“It’s a miracle for both the thieves and my client,” said Debuisson, who said that Estele is offering to split the prize money with the thieves, who appear to be homeless and have since disappeared.
French police haven’t been able to identify the pair, despite finding fingerprints as part of their investigation, Debuisson said, adding that he’s appealing to the thieves to come forward.
“Without my client’s credit card it would not have been possible to buy the ticket, but without the thieves’ behavior, the ticket wouldn’t have been bought either,” said Debuisson.
“I really hope the thieves contact my office to strike a deal that benefits both them and my client, who, despite the crime, is extremely happy to have had his credit card stolen. It’s truly unbelievable,” he added.
Estele doesn’t want to press charges and the thieves “have nothing to fear from us,” said Debuisson.
“We don’t know much about the thieves beyond the fact that they are homeless. We have some video footage, but the quality is poor,” he said, adding that locating the pair is “proving difficult.”
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Estele and his wife hope to build a new house with their half of the money, Debuisson said.
“It must be the first time that a guy who gets his credit card stolen is extremely happy to be the victim of such a crime,” he added.
“I don’t think anything like this has ever happened before. I never imagined this case would gain so much attention worldwide,” added Debuisson.
“While it might not be the craziest case I’ve handled, it’s certainly the funniest.”
The story has been picked up by media outlets across the world — including China, Russia and India.
“I don’t think anything like this has ever happened before. I never imagined this case would gain so much attention worldwide,” said Debuisson.
France’s national lottery operator Française des Jeux (FDJ) said in a statement to CNN Tuesday that it was not in a position to confirm any details of the case as “no request for the payment has been made.”
Usually, winning tickets have to be claimed within 30 days of the end of the sales period.
Toulouse Police declined to comment when contacted by CNN. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/europe/france-jackpot-stolen-credit-card-scli-intl/index.html | 2025-02-25 | ee1a2de7-ac53-51dc-ac95-9b4369d872f5 |
US aid freeze puts HIV-positive orphans in Kenya at risk as medical supplies dwindle | Unknown | Two-year-old Evans was brought to the Nyumbani Children’s Home in Nairobi, Kenya a year ago, suffering from HIV and tuberculosis. With no family to care for him, Evans was referred to the orphanage by a health center after he stopped responding to medical treatment.
Nyumbani Children’s Home is the reason Evans is still alive. But political decisions made thousands of miles (kilometers) away might spell the end of his short life. Nyumbani provides him and around 100 other children with antiretroviral medication, which they have been receiving from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Kenyan government.
US President Donald Trump’s recent executive order to freeze USAID’s funding means Nyumbani’s access to life-saving antiretroviral drugs, which stop the HIV virus from replicating in the body, may end soon.
Trump’s order seeks to review almost all US foreign aid for 90 days and his administration has moved to shut down USAID. The effects are beginning to set it in, with thousands of people losing their jobs globally and humanitarian programs around the world disrupted.
For children at Nyumbani Children’s Home, it’s a life and death situation. As he plays with other preschoolers, Evans is oblivious to his uncertain future, despite the worry on his caregivers’ faces.
The tiny graves at one end of the orphanage compound are a bleak reminder of what a future without USAID looks like for the children. It’s a scenario Sister Tresa Palakudy — who has been looking after children here for 28 years — is well familiar with having worked at the orphanage before USAID started helping.
“When we started caring for them, they didn’t look like they had life in them,” she said. “One after another, they died. It was so painful, and I don’t want to see that happen again.”
When Nyumbani, which means “Home” in Swahili, was started in 1992 by Christian missionaries, antiretroviral medication had not been introduced. Back then, it operated as a rescue center for orphaned and abandoned children living with HIV, offering largely palliative care.
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The 2003 inception of the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, provided new hope for children living with HIV around the continent, including the orphans at Nyumbani. PEPFAR’s humanitarian aid to combat HIV in Kenya was funded largely by USAID.
“USAID started bringing ARVs free of charge,” said Palakudy. “We put all our children on ARVs and their lives changed. They became healthy and were able to go to school and live like other children.”
Over the last two decades, the US government, through PEPFAR, has spent more than $8 billion on HIV/AIDS treatment for close to 1.3 million people in Kenya.
USAID and PEPFAR have been critical to operating Nyumbani, having donated more than $16 million to the home between 1999 and 2023. This has enabled the home to reach up to 50,000 children through the rescue center, as well as its two outreach programs Lea Toto and Nyumbani Village. The aid included direct funds to the home, which was used to run the two outreach programs.
Direct funding from USAID was discontinued in 2023, about the same time the orphanage came under scrutiny over allegations of sexual abuse of children by volunteers and staff members.
According to a Washington Post report, six former residents claimed that administrators at the home covered up allegations of sexual abuse. The home disputed the claims of a cover up, insisting that all allegations were handled according to protocols including reporting to local authorities and providing counseling to affected residents.
Executive Director Judith Wamboye said investigations by the Kenyan police were inconclusive. The discontinuation of the funds was not related to the investigations and was in line with a change in USAID policy to channel aid through the government rather than directly to organizations.
The policy change affected all organizations receiving funding. Rather than giving money directly to non-governmental organizations, funding would be channeled through government programs that catered to similar needs. As a result, Nyumbani scaled down its outreach programs and referred beneficiaries to government institutions.
With the discontinuation of direct funding from USAID, the two outreach programs under Nyumbani were scaled down and children in the program were referred to other centers. However, Nyumbani has still been reliant on USAID to supply the lifesaving PEPFAR HIV treatment drugs for free.
“The future is uncertain,” said Wamboye. “The Kenyan government announced that they only have ARV stocks to last six months.”
According to data from amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, about 1.3 million people are on HIV/AIDS treatment in Kenya, and 1,602 orphans and vulnerable children in Kenya are dependent on PEPFAR. amfAR warns that President Trump’s freeze on foreign aid could sever their access to critical medical care.
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One such child is Mercy, who has been under the care of Nyumbani for the last 12 years. The ARVs saved her life. “I had a very weak immune system,” she said. “This led me to contracting many serious illnesses like tuberculosis and skin diseases.”
Mercy was placed on HIV treatment, giving her a lifeline, but recent news on the freeze order has her scared for her life.
“I am very afraid that previous illnesses that I experienced when I was young will reoccur. And now that I have finished high school and am ready to join college, I am scared it will ruin everything,” she said.
On average, the children’s home requires $1,139 per child annually for HIV treatment. In addition to antiretrovirals, the home needs reagents to enable regular testing of the viral load in the children, as well as medicines to treat opportunistic illnesses, which are common among HIV patients.
Wamboye said that should PEPFAR be discontinued permanently, the cost of ARVs could go up and become unaffordable, which will mean children living with HIV will die.
“This is a life-saving situation and we cannot sit and wait and bargain on human life. So for us, it’s about human life, the lives that we need to save. Something needs to be done urgently,” she said. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/21/africa/us-aid-freeze-hiv-orphans-kenya-intl/index.html | 2025-02-21 | 9a5586c7-981f-52df-b26e-52d88b09ab56 |
Three men on trial over $6 million gold toilet stolen in ‘audacious raid’ | Unknown | It was not your typical smash-and-grab burglary and the booty was precious: a toilet worth more than its weight in gold.
The one-of-a-kind 18-carat gold toilet was swiped in under five minutes from Blenheim Palace, the sprawling English country mansion where British wartime leader Winston Churchill was born, in the predawn hours of September 14, 2019, a prosecutor told jurors Monday.
Attorney Julian Christopher said in his opening statement in Oxford Crown Court that it was an “audacious raid.” One of three men on trial in the case of the purloined potty was involved in stealing it and the other two helped to sell the spoils.
The toilet has never been recovered but is believed to have been cut up and sold.
The satirical work, titled “America” by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, poked fun at excessive wealth. It weighed just over 215 pounds (98 kilograms) and was insured for £4.8 million ($6 million). The value of the gold at the time was £2.8 million ($3.5 million).
The piece had previously been on display at The Guggenheim Museum in New York. The museum had offered the work to US President Donald Trump during his first term in office after he had asked to borrow a Van Gogh painting.
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One of the defendants, Michael Jones, cased the palace twice in the weeks leading up to the theft — once before the toilet went on display at Blenheim Palace and up close and personal once it was installed and fully functional as an exhibit, Christopher said. Visitors to the exhibition could book a three-minute appointment to use the toilet.
Both times, Jones took photos of the window that was later smashed to break into the palace. The second time he also took photos from inside the bathroom, including a photo of the lock on the toilet door.
“There can be no doubt that he was carrying out reconnaissance for the burglary that was to take place that night,” Christopher said. “That would be enough to make him guilty of count one of burglary.”
But Jones was also probably among the group of five men who crashed through the wooden gates of the palace before dawn the next morning in two stolen vehicles, Christopher said. They tore across a field in an Isuzu truck and VW Golf and pulled up to the front steps, where they smashed the window Jones had photographed.
They made quick work of breaking down the toilet door and removed the golden throne from the plumbing, leaving water gushing from the pipes that caused considerable damage to the 18th-century building, a UNESCO World Heritage site filled with valuable art and furniture that draws thousands of visitors each year.
Jones was in cahoots with James Sheen, a builder he worked for who was part of both the burglary and the effort to sell the gold, Christopher said. Sheen, 40, previously pleaded guilty to burglary, conspiracy and transferring criminal property.
Sheen then allegedly worked to broker a deal with Fred Doe and Bora Guccuk to cash in on the haul. In a series of text messages, he referred to the loot as a “car,” but Christopher said he was actually talking about the gold.
“I’ll link up with ya, I got something right up your path,” Sheen told Doe in one message.
“I can sell that car for you in two seconds … so come and see me tomorrow,” Doe said in a reply.
Doe, 36, and Guccuk, 41, are charged with one count of conspiracy to transfer criminal property.
All the defendants have pleaded not guilty. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/style/gold-toilet-trial-blenheim-palace/index.html | 2025-02-25 | 43495a43-e3d7-5b4f-ac30-494b443621c3 |
Philippine police rescue a Chinese student whose finger was cut off by kidnappers | Unknown | MANILA (AP) — Philippine police safely recovered a Chinese student who was kidnapped by a Chinese-led gang, which killed his driver and cut off the student’s finger in a bid to force his parents to pay a huge ransom, officials said Wednesday.
Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said the parents rejected the ransom demand but the kidnappers, who included former Filipino police officers and soldiers, abandoned the 14-year-old student Tuesday night in the middle of a busy street in metropolitan Manila when police closed in on their vehicle.
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The Feb. 20 kidnapping of the student after attending classes at a British school in Manila set off alarms due to its brazenness and brutality.
Remulla told reporters that the student’s family and the Chinese leader of the kidnappers allegedly were former operators of lucrative online gambling outfits, which flourished under former President Rodrigo Duterte but were ordered shut last year by his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The online gambling outfits, which operated in the Philippines, Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries, have catered to large numbers of clients in China, where gambling is prohibited.
“We know that this crime involved a Chinese against a Chinese,” Remulla said, adding that the student’s family and the kidnappers communicated in Chinese via the WeChat app.
After the closure of illegal gambling outfits in the Philippines, some turned to other crimes, including kidnapping, Remulla said. Officials said online cryptocurrency sites, love and investment scams remained a threat.
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In a bid to pressure the student’s family to pay a ransom of $20 million, which was later reduced to $1 million, the kidnappers cut off the tip of the small finger in the victim’s right hand and sent a video of the gruesome act to his parents, Remulla said.
The student’s driver was killed and later found in an abandoned vehicle, where crucial evidence, including cellphone numbers, were found. The suspects apparently tried to leave the vehicle in a haste, Remulla said. The kidnappers have been identified and were being hunted, Remulla and police officials said. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/asia/philippines-kidnap-chinese-student-intl-latam/index.html | 2025-02-26 | 406a37ac-dc2a-5d10-89dd-41f30037cd00 |
US and Ukraine agree to terms on natural resources and reconstruction deal, Ukrainian official says | Victoria Butenko, Nick Paton Walsh, Gul Tuysuz | President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to travel to Washington, DC in the coming days, after the United States and Ukraine agreed to terms on a deal over natural resources and reconstruction, according to a Ukrainian official.
Negotiations have been ongoing for days over a deal that could grant the US access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as part of wider negotiations to end Russia’s invasion, as well as US involvement in a reconstruction fund for Ukraine.
The Ukrainian official said the terms were agreed after “everything unacceptable was taken out of the text and it is now more clearly spelt out how this agreement will contribute to Ukraine’s security and peace.”
Details of the agreement are not yet known, but a major sticking point had been a demand from the Trump administration to a $500 billion share of Ukraine’s rare earths and other minerals in exchange for the aid the US had already provided Kyiv, which was previously rejected by Zelensky.
The US has not confirmed whether the terms of a deal have been agreed.
“I hear that (Zelensky is) coming on Friday. Certainly it’s OK with me if he’d like to, and he would like to sign it together with me. And I understand that’s a big deal, very big deal,” US President Donald Trump said from the Oval Office on Tuesday.
Asked what Ukraine would receive in the mineral deal, Trump said: “$350 billion and lots of equipment, military equipment, and the right to fight on.”
“We’ve pretty much negotiated our deal on rare earth and various other things,” Trump told reporters, adding that “we’ll be looking to” future security for Ukraine “later on.”
“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” Trump said. “I spoke with Russia about it. They didn’t seem to have a problem with it. So I think they understand … once we do this, they’re not going back in.”
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Ukraine has been pushing for security guarantees, with Kyiv not only keen to see the return of lost territory but protection against a possible future Russian invasion.
European leaders have also stressed the necessity for security guarantees for Ukraine as a condition for any future peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv. Following his meeting with Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday proposed boosting Ukraine’s military capabilities, and – if requested – to deploy British and French troops to keep the peace.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who will visit the White House on Thursday, has said a US “backstop” is needed for any Ukraine peace deal, which could potentially include security guarantees, American intelligence cooperation, air support and heavy lift transport.
News of an agreement came after the same source told CNN the Americans had resisted security guarantees being included in the draft.
The precise wording regarding Ukraine’s security in the latest draft was unclear.
CNN reported Monday, citing a Ukrainian source familiar with the negotiations, that some of the thornier details about the resources deal would be negotiated in subsequent talks, and that the US and Ukrainian presidents might discuss the security guarantees in person.
A source told CNN at the weekend that Zelensky could not accept an earlier version of the deal because it contained no American “obligations” while Ukraine was “expected to provide everything.”
Since then, there have been signs the two leaders were edging closer to an agreement.
During a visit to the White House on Monday, Macron commended Trump for his “decision to work with President Zelensky, and to conclude this agreement that’s so important for the US and Ukraine on rare earths, critical minerals.”
Meanwhile, Russia has continued to bombard Ukraine with airstrikes, firing at least 177 drones at the country overnight into Wednesday, according to Ukraine’s air force. Of these, 110 were shot down and 66 did not reach their targets, the air force said.
At least seven people were killed in the overnight attacks, including two in Kyiv region, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday.
CNN’s Svitlana Vlasova and Daria Tarasova-Markina contributed reporting. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/europe/us-ukraine-resources-reconstruction-deal-intl-latam/index.html | 2025-02-25 | c0393b11-29cc-5a98-b258-24f476887b82 |
Fareed Zakaria says Zelensky got what he wanted in deal with US | Austin Mabeus | CNN's Fareed Zakaria reacts to the US and Ukraine agreeing to terms on a deal over natural resources and reconstruction.
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/world/video/ukraine-us-deal-fareed-zakaria-ac360-digvid | 2025-02-25 | 8f7dcb03-3ec8-5914-a13e-3ca35c02fed6 |
‘Trump Gaza is finally here!’: US president promotes Gaza plan in AI video | Mick Krever, Mostafa Salem | US President Donald Trump posted a video on his Truth Social account late on Tuesday, which appears to have been created with generative AI, promoting the transformation of Gaza into a Gulf state-like resort featuring a golden statue of himself, a hummus-eating Elon Musk, and shirtless American and Israeli leaders lounging on a beach.
“No more tunnels, no more fear,” a voice sings over a dance beat. “Trump Gaza is finally here!”
The American president has proposed expelling 2.1 million Palestinians from Gaza and transforming the enclave into a “Riviera” that would be owned by the United States.
The West Bank-based Palestinian Authority has called that proposal a “serious violation of international law.” The PA foreign minister, Varsen Aghabekian Shaheen, said earlier this month: “We have tried displacement before, and it will not happen again,” referring to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced during the Arab-Israeli war that led to the creation of Israel in 1948.
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The video opens on barefoot Palestinian children walking through Gazan rubble. “What’s next?” a title card asks. They walk towards a skyline of skyscrapers lining Gaza’s coast.
“Donald’s coming to set you free,” a voice sings. “Trump Gaza shining bright. Golden future, a brand-new light. Feast and dance. The deed is done.”
The video, incongruously, features bearded and bikini-clad belly dancers, a child holding a golden balloon in the shape of Trump’s head, and Elon Musk dancing on a beach under a shower of US dollars.
As the Truth Social video ends, the camera pushes in on Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sipping drinks on a beach.
CNN has asked the White House for clarification.
In a statement, Gaza’s Hamas-run Government Media Office denounced the video as “disgraceful.”
“This video and its degrading content reflect the deeply rooted racist colonial mindset that seeks to distort reality and justify the occupation’s crimes,” said director-general Ismail Al-Thawabtah. “By portraying Gaza as if it were a land without a people, this desperate attempt aims to legitimize the ongoing ethnic cleansing carried out by the Israeli occupation with clear American support.”
It is unclear whether Trump intends to carry through on his expulsion plan. After receiving forceful pushback from Egyptian and Jordanian leaders, Trump told Fox News on Friday: “The way to do it is my plan. I think that’s the plan that really works. But I’m not forcing it. I’m just going to sit back and recommend it.”
Reacting to the video on Wednesday, Wassel Abu Yousuf, a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s executive committee, told CNN that the video was “a clowning gimmick and nothing more than that.”
“There will not be resorts or Middle East riviera or anything else,” he said. “What Trump wants to do should be done somewhere else, but not on the backs of the Palestinian people. This is the land of our ancestors and parents, and a lot of blood has been shed to defend it.”
A CNN poll conducted by telephone and online in mid-February found that the proposal for Gaza with no right of return for Palestinians was the least popular Trump action or proposal asked about. Only 13% of Americans in the poll called it a “good thing,” while 58% described it as a “bad thing.”
Arab leaders met in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Friday for the first time to formulate a response to Trump’s plan for Gaza. The leaders are set to meet in Cairo on March 4 to discuss the plan and will likely present it to Trump at a later date.
A senior United Arab Emirates official said Wednesday that there needs to be a “bold” plan to reconstruct the territory, but said any plan cannot take place without a clear path to a Palestinian state.
The UAE has conducted preliminary discussions about the possibility of playing a role in postwar efforts to rebuild Gaza, but has said that its conditions, including a reformed Palestinian Authority and an Israeli commitment to Palestinian statehood, have not yet been met.
Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected the prospects of an independent Palestinian state and has endorsed Trump’s Gaza ownership plan.
“The conclusion is we need a bold plan of reconstruction but that plan of reconstruction must ensure that we don’t go back to a situation of conflict and to do that we have to have a clear path where the Palestinians actually have a state,” the UAE’s diplomatic adviser to the president Anwar Gargash told CNN’s Becky Anderson at an investment conference in Abu Dhabi.
Egypt, one of the countries Trump suggested should take in Gazans, has led the Arab effort to formulate an alternative plan for the enclave, which its prime minister has claimed would take three years to complete and cost $20 billion.
Asked by CNN whether Egypt, as a major recipient of US aid, feels coerced by Trump to accept his plan, Hassan El Khatib, the Egyptian minister of investment, said: “The right for the Palestinians to live on their own land is a principle… No we’re not going to take pressure on this.”
CNN’s Kareem Khadder contributed to this report.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the timing of Trump’s post. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/world/trump-promotes-gaza-plan-ai-video-intl/index.html | 2025-02-26 | 64ff5442-c7fd-5653-9d14-8dd36356e831 |
Zelensky calls US-Ukraine minerals deal a ‘framework’ as it emerges agreement has no security guarantees | Daria Tarasova-Markina, Svitlana Vlasova, Gul Tuysuz, Nick Paton Walsh, Christian Edwards | Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says a proposed deal with the United States on natural resources is a “framework,” and he will want to discuss the countries’ relationship further in person with President Donald Trump, as a draft of the text obtained by CNN shows it does not provide Kyiv explicit security guarantees.
With Trump bent on bringing Russia’s war to a swift end and recouping some of Washington’s financial aid to Kyiv, Zelensky is hoping that the natural resources deal can secure the US president’s future support, as well as security guarantees for Ukraine.
But the draft of the text seen by CNN, current as of Wednesday morning, said only that the United States “supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace,” without making explicit commitments.
At a press conference in Kyiv, Zelensky conceded that the deal does not have “concrete steps on security guarantees” because these need to be decided jointly with the US and Europe.
The Ukrainian president said that the deal could be a “big success,” but emphasized that it only provides a “framework” that can be “part of future security guarantees,” which he hopes to discuss during his anticipated meeting with Trump. CNN reported Tuesday that the US and Ukraine agreed terms on the deal and Zelensky is expected to travel to Washington, DC, in the coming days, according to a Ukrainian official.
The full text of the deal, obtained by CNN, outlined the two countries’ plan to establish a jointly managed “Reconstruction Investment Fund.”
Under the deal, which has spaces for the signatures of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine will contribute to the fund 50% of all revenues earned from the future monetization of state-owned natural resources assets, including hydrocarbons, oil, and natural gas, as well as rare earth minerals.
“For the avoidance of doubt, such future sources of revenues do not include the current sources of revenues which are already part of the general budget revenues of Ukraine,” the draft text reads.
The fund will aim to “attract investments to increase the development, processing, and monetization of all public and private Ukrainian assets,” including its oil and gas and rare earth sectors, the draft text said.
The fund will be managed by representatives of the United States and Ukraine, and “more detailed terms pertaining to the Fund’s governance and operation will be set forth in a subsequent agreement” to be negotiated after the initial deal is signed, according to the draft.
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Many Ukrainians have been unsettled by reports that Kyiv is set to grant Washington access to Ukraine’s natural resources, while the Trump administration has been vague about what it will offer in return.
Oleksandra Zdorenko, a pensioner, told CNN Ukrainians were “outraged” when the US first proposed the deal, demanding a $500 billion share of Ukraine’s rare earths and other minerals, which Zelensky rejected, saying this would amount to “selling” his country.
“We didn’t understand how they could even offer us such a deal. Now it seems to me that some of the conditions have changed,” Zdorenko said. “I fully trust our government and our president. So much has already been done for Ukraine that they will not do anything to harm it now.”
At a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that Zelensky would not sign “or even consider any enslaving or colonial treaties that would not take into account the interests” of Ukraine, saying that the draft agreement lays the foundation for Ukraine’s “future recovery.”
Zelensky also said in the press conference that Ukraine will not repay money given to it by the US as part of the natural resources deal.
“I will not accept [even] 10 cents of debt repayment in this deal. Otherwise, it will be a precedent,” he said Wednesday.
Trump had said over the weekend that he is “trying to get the money back” that the Biden administration had given to Ukraine to help it repel Russia’s invasion. Trump falsely claimed that the US has given Ukraine $350 billion since February 2022. The actual figure is around $120 billion, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.
Trump also falsely claimed that Europe’s support for Ukraine was “in the form of a loan.”
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“They get their money back. We gave it in the form of nothing. So I want them to give us something for all of the money that we’ve put up,” Trump said, saying the US had been made to feel “stupid.”
When Trump repeated this claim during talks with Emmanuel Macron on Monday, the French president grabbed Trump’s arm to correct him.
“No, in fact, to be frank, we paid. We paid 60% of the total effort. It was like the US: loans, guarantees, grants,” Macron said.
Speaking Wednesday, Zelensky said Ukraine remained “grateful” for US support, but that he will be “very direct” and ask Trump “if the United States will stop support [for Ukraine] or not.”
If the US does not provide more aid, Zelensky said Ukraine could “buy weapons directly” from the US, suggesting that frozen Russian assets – amounting to some $300 billion – could be used to fund the purchases. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/europe/ukraine-us-zelensky-trump-rare-earth-security-intl/index.html | 2025-02-26 | 42b1b6d7-785b-5bd4-a9ce-7140c94a000e |
‘World’s best’ coffee shop for 2025 named | John Liu | It’s official: Sydney has the world’s best coffee shop.
At least that’s what a new list ranking top cafés globally found, with the Australian city beating out perennial rival Melbourne for the top spot.
Sydney-based Toby’s Estate Coffee Roasters was crowned the best coffee shop in the world, followed by Onyx Coffee Lab of Arkansas, Gota Coffee Experts of Vienna, Austria, Proud Mary Coffee of Melbourne and Tim Wendelboe of Oslo, Norway.
The top 10 coffee shops also hailed from Singapore, France, Malaysia and Colombia.
Cafés worldwide were judged on a variety of factors, ranging from quality of coffee and food, sustainability practices and customer service, according to the ranking’s website. Both public opinions and experts’ evaluation were taken into account to reach the final selection, according to the “World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops.”
Jody Leslie, general manager for Toby’s Estate, told CNN Travel that her whole team was “completely stoked” when they learned about the result.
“We’ve been in the coffee game a long time and we know what we do is amazing and we try very hard to be consistent and so to be recognized like this is just amazing,” she said.
Its flagship shop, located in Sydney’s southwest Chippendale neighborhood, earned the recognition, but it has branches across Australia and Asia, including Singapore, Indonesia and the Middle East.
Leslie said sales have surged since the announcement, attracting more visitors eager to try her team’s coffee. To thank customers for their support, Toby’s Estate will host a free coffee day on February 27.
The Toby’s Estate flagship shop features a brew bar where coffee is made in front of customers and a roastery on-site, roasting fresh beans daily.
The coffee chain began in 1997, when lawyer Toby Smith started the business from his mother’s garage in Woolloomooloo, a harborside eastern suburb of Sydney.
Arkansas-based Onyx Coffee Lab ranked second. The company has three branches in Bentonville, Fayetteville, and Springdale, but it wasn’t clear which made the list. Vienna’s Gota Coffee, ranked third, also took to social media to express gratitude for the recognition.
“We are honored to share this award with not only the top 100 shops around the world mentioned but all the cafes throughout the industry who get up each morning to offer the best hospitality and service to their guests,” Onyx Coffee Lab posted on its Instagram.
“This journey has been fueled by passion, precision, and the incredible support of our coffee-loving community,” Gota Coffee posted on its Instagram. “Here’s to pushing the boundaries of coffee culture, one brew at a time!”
Australia’s second largest city ranks among the world’s best for coffee, but there’s something else Melburnians queue up for each morning.
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Australia’s cafe scene is famed for its cool vibes and the competitive spirit of baristas chasing the perfect brew.
Australian cafés have popped up in major cities worldwide, offering up avocado toast and flat whites — both of which originated in the country (though many New Zealanders dispute the flat white’s origin).
Within Australia, a long-standing rivalry exists between Sydney and Melbourne – not least over which city brews the better cup of joe.
Melbourne has traditionally been regarded as the country’s coffee capital — with a coffee history that dates back to the post-World War II era, when Italian immigrants brought their espresso machines and café traditions to the city.
In recent years, Sydney’s coffee scene has punched above its weight, bruising the pride of Melbourne fans. The Harbor City overtook Melbourne last year in a list of the top 10 best cities worldwide for coffee, published by American magazine Food & Wine. Sydney took home the number three spot, while Melbourne landed at number 10.
The magazine named Melbourne’s Proud Mary a “standout” café, which also ranked fourth on the world’s 100 best coffee shop list.
That wasn’t the only blow to Melbourne’s coffee reputation. In 2023, Australian travel site Wotif.com awarded the title of “best flat white” to The Cupping Room in the national capital of Canberra, despite calling Melbourne the “unofficial coffee capital of the world.”
If there’s one thing the lists can agree on, it’s that Australia wins.
“I think our win is a win for the country. Australian coffee is, I think, the best in the world and so it doesn’t come down to Sydney and Melbourne,” said Leslie of Toby’s Estate. “We want to be strong as a country, and that helps everyone.” | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/travel/worlds-best-coffee-shop-sydney-australia-intl-hnk/index.html | 2025-02-25 | 8491bd92-1c78-5b49-a560-ad386a75ee89 |
Taiwan detains Chinese-crewed ship suspected of cutting undersea cable | Wayne Chang | Taiwan’s coast guard detained a cargo ship and its Chinese crew on Tuesday and said it was investigating whether the vessel had deliberately cut an undersea internet cable, in the latest possible damage to the island’s communication lines.
The Togo-flagged vessel suspected of damaging the cable – which connected Taiwan to its outlying Penghu Islands – was crewed by eight Chinese nationals, Taiwan’s coast guard said in a statement.
The Hong Tai had been lingering near the cable in waters off the southwestern coast of Taiwan since Saturday evening and did not respond to multiple broadcasts from Taiwan’s coast guard, the statement added.
Shortly after the ship dropped anchor in the early hours of Tuesday, Taiwan’s telecom company Chunghwa Telecom detected that the cable had been disconnected.
The coast guard said it intercepted and boarded the vessel, before escorting it back to a port in the city of Tainan for investigation.
Taiwanese authorities said they could not rule out the possibility of a Chinese “gray zone operation,” a coercive or subversive act that falls below the threshold of war.
“Whether it was an intentional act of sabotage or purely an accident needs to be further probed,” the coast guard said in the statement, adding that the matter is now under investigation by prosecutors “in accordance with national security-level guidance.”
Beijing accused Taipei of “manipulating” the incident for political purposes.
Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday that damage to undersea cables was a “common maritime accident” that occurred more than 100 times a year worldwide.
“While the basic facts and the liability for the accident have not yet been clarified, the Democratic Progressive Party authorities have deliberately exaggerated the situation in an attempt at political manipulation, which will not enjoy popular support,” Zhu added, referring to Taiwan’s ruling party.
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In recent years, multiple undersea telecoms cables around Taiwan have suffered suspicious damage.
In January, Taiwanese authorities said a Chinese-linked cargo vessel could have cut an international undersea cable off the island’s northern coast.
In 2023, Taiwan officials blamed Chinese ships for two incidents in which cables connecting Taiwan’s main island to its outlying islands of Matsu were damaged, causing an internet blackout. They stopped short of saying the acts were deliberate.
The incidents have raised concerns among Taiwan authorities of “gray zone” activities that could hamper the island’s internet connectivity and communications with the outside world.
Those concerns come as Taiwan has faced increasing intimidation from Beijing, which claims the self-ruled democracy as its own territory and has vowed to take control of it, by force if necessary.
They also follow a string of incidents in recent years of damage to undersea infrastructure worldwide, including communications cables. Two high-profile incidents in the Baltic Sea involved Chinese ships and remain under investigation.
According to NATO chief Mark Rutte, more than 95% of internet traffic globally is carried via undersea cables, with some 1.3 million kilometers of such cabling securing an estimated $10 trillion dollars of international trade daily. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/asia/taiwan-detains-ship-undersea-cable-intl-hnk/index.html | 2025-02-25 | efa87313-8b1c-5ed3-ac76-9159da722418 |
The week in 31 photos | Laura Oliverio | It was a terrifying scene Monday when a passenger plane crashed, turned upside down and caught fire while attempting to land at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
But all 80 people on the plane survived. Twenty-one of them were taken to hospitals with injuries, officials said, and by Thursday morning all had been released, according to Delta Air Lines.
The crash happened on a gusty day following heavy snowfall. On Tuesday afternoon, a senior investigator with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said it was “far too early to say what the cause of this accident might be.”
The harrowing incident briefly halted traffic at Canada’s busiest airport, and it was the fourth major aviation accident in North America in the past month. It happened three weeks after an American Airlines plane collided midair with a US Army helicopter in Washington, DC, killing all 67 people aboard.
Here are some of the stories that made headlines over the past week, as well as some photos that caught our eye. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/20/world/gallery/photos-this-week-february-13-february-20/index.html | 2025-02-20 | 2f9dec4c-6c6f-5db2-b5cf-379b9b087eb0 |
What we do and don’t know about Trump’s ‘very big deal’ on Ukraine’s mineral resources | Ivana Kottasová | The United States and Ukraine are trying to hammer out a natural resources agreement that would give Washington access to Kyiv’s untapped mineral riches in exchange for investment and what Ukraine hopes would be concrete security guarantees.
While US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that a deal has been made and that he was “happy” about it, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has been more cautious, saying the agreement could be a “big success” - but that it depended on Trump.
A draft of the deal seen by CNN was scant on details and did not include any firm security guarantees for Kyiv.
Here is what we know – and don’t know – about the agreement.
The draft agreement seeks the establishment of a “reconstruction investment fund” that would be jointly managed by the US and Ukrainian governments.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Wednesday that Kyiv would be funneling half of the revenues from future state-owned natural resources projects into the fund, with money being reinvested in more developments.
Shmyhal stressed the deal would exclude existing “deposits, facilities, licenses and royalties” tied to Ukraine’s natural resources.
“We are only talking about future licenses, developments and infrastructure,” he said.
The draft agreement goes beyond just minerals and rare earths. It spans Ukraine’s other natural resources, including oil and gas, as well as any infrastructure connected to the sectors, such as ports or LNG terminals.
Trump said at the weekend that he’s “trying to get the money back,” referring to the aid provided to Ukraine under the previous administration.
The US initially demanded a $500 billion share of Ukraine’s rare earths and other minerals in exchange for the aid it has already provided to Kyiv. But Zelensky rejected that idea, saying that agreeing to it would amount to “selling” his country. Trump subsequently called Zelensky “a dictator.”
Zelensky also said that the US was demanding that any future aid would have to be repaid with double the amount: two dollars for every dollar provided. “We’ll need to return $50 billion, but we’ll need to return it with one-to-two ratio. So, we’ll need to return it with 100% loan interest,” he said, adding that he wouldn’t sign a deal that means the next 10 generations of Ukrainians will be indebted.
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Asked on Tuesday what Ukraine would receive in the mineral deal, Trump said: “$350 billion and lots of equipment, military equipment, and the right to fight on,” repeating a false claim he has made in the past. According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a German think tank that closely tracks wartime aid to Ukraine, Washington had committed a total of about $124 billion in aid to Ukraine.
The draft seen by CNN remains vague on whether any money from the fund would be paid to the US. It says that revenues will be reinvested “at last annually to promote the safety, security and prosperity of Ukraine,” but adds that it “will also provide for future distributions.”
The draft does not include any concrete figures or details on the size of the stake the US would hold in the fund.
Trump on Wednesday projected confidence that the natural resources deal would come to fruition, saying, “we’ve been able to make a deal where we’re going to get our money back and we’re going to get a lot of money in the future, and I think that’s appropriate.”
“We’re doing very well with Russia-Ukraine. President Zelensky is going to be coming on Friday. It’s now confirmed, and we’re going to be signing an agreement.” Kyiv confirmed Zelensky would meet Trump on Friday.
However, Zelensky said his country will not be repaying money given to it by Washington in the past as part of the deal. “I will not accept (even) 10 cents of debt repayment in this deal. Otherwise, it will be a precedent,” Zelensky said Wednesday at a news conference in Kyiv.
On security guarantees, Trump has said “we’ll be looking to” future security for Ukraine “later on.”
Ukraine’s mineral riches have long been eyed by its allies – and Kyiv has made them part of its appeal for support. Zelensky has made it clear he wants security guarantees to be part of the deal.
Some deposits are already in areas that are under Russian occupation and Zelensky has argued that one reason why the West should support Ukraine in its fight against Moscow is to prevent more of these strategically important resources from falling into the Kremlin’s hands.
“The deposits of critical resources in Ukraine, along with Ukraine’s globally important energy and food production potential, are among the key predatory objectives of the Russian Federation in this war. And this is our opportunity for growth,” Zelensky said in October when presenting his “Victory plan.”
Nataliya Katser-Buchkovska, the co-founder of the Ukrainian Sustainable Investment Fund, said that a deal cannot work without security guarantees.
“(For) the US to get access to these deposits, Ukraine must regain control over those territories, demine and rebuild the infrastructure,” she said.
While the draft deal seen by CNN does not specify any security guarantees, it does say that the US “supports Ukraine’s efforts to obtain security guarantees needed to establish lasting peace.”
Materials such as graphite, lithium, uranium and the 17 chemical elements known as rare earths are critical for economic growth and national security.
They are essential to the production of electronics, clean energy technology, including wind turbines, energy networks and electric vehicles, as well as some weapons systems.
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The US largely depends on imports for the minerals it needs, many of which come from China, which has long dominated the market.
China is responsible for nearly 90% of global processing of rare earth minerals, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). On top of that, China is also the world’s largest producer of graphite and titanium, and a major processor of lithium.
Experts have long warned that relying on China for strategic materials is risky, but the latest trade tensions between Washington and Beijing make it even more important for the US to look for alternative suppliers.
The US isn’t the only one eyeing Ukraine’s resources. The European Union signed a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine in 2021 outlining future investment opportunities in mineral mining.
A similar document was prepared under the Biden administration last year. It said the US would promote investment opportunities in Ukraine’s mining projects to American companies in exchange for Kyiv creating economic incentives and implementing good business and environmental practices.
Trump has repeatedly referred to the deal as one on “rare earths” but it’s likely he was speaking more widely about critical minerals.
Ukraine doesn’t have globally significant reserves of rare earth minerals, but it does have some of the world’s largest deposits of graphite, lithium, titanium, beryllium and uranium, all of which are classed by the US as critical minerals.
But while Ukraine does have large reserves of these minerals, little has been done to develop the sector. Given the huge strain Russia’s unprovoked aggression has put on the Ukrainian economy, it is unlikely that Kyiv would be able to extract these resources without foreign investment.
“Most projects remain in the exploration phase, with no large-scale processing facilities in place,” said Katser-Buchkovska, who served as a member of the Ukrainian Parliament from 2014 to 2019 and was the head of a parliamentary committee on energy security and transition.
“Extracting rare minerals will be extremely expensive and will require years (and) billions of upfront investments, infrastructure development, and workforce training before production can even begin,” she said, adding that Ukraine’s resource extraction sector remains underdeveloped because of outdated infrastructure, war-related damage and lack of investment.
Trump’s return to the White House has resulted in a major shift in policy towards Russia.
US and Russian officials meet in Saudi Arabia earlier this month to discuss the end of the war in Ukraine – without inviting Kyiv or any of its European allies to take part.
Trump said on Monday that he was in “serious discussions” with Russia about ending the war and was “trying to do some economic development deals” with Moscow, noting its “massive rare earth” deposits.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Moscow was ready to work with American companies to mine rare earth mineral deposits in both Russia, and parts of Russian-occupied Ukraine.
“Russia is one of the leading countries when it comes to rare metal reserves. By the way, as for new territories, we are also ready to attract foreign partners – there are certain reserves there too,” Putin said in an interview with Russian state media, referring to Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.
CNN’s Victoria Butenko, Nick Paton Walsh and Gul Tuysuz, Christian Edwards, Svitlana Vlasova, Dariya Tarasova-Markina, Lauren Kent, Betsy Klein, Michael Williams contributed to this report. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/europe/ukraine-us-mineral-resources-deal-explained-intl-latam/index.html | 2025-02-26 | 2fffc4b3-62f0-5f9e-9f0f-e165623fa337 |
Tipsy tourist fined $520 after diving into Rome’s Trevi Fountain | Unknown | For travel tips, recipes and more insight on Italian culture, sign up for CNN’s Unlocking Italy newsletter. This eight-part guide will have you packing your bags in no time.
Tourists-behaving-badly season seems to have started early in Rome this year, with three visitors from New Zealand getting in trouble long before the summer sunshine could be blamed for giddy behavior.
The trio were stopped Sunday night as they started to wade into the famous Trevi Fountain in central Rome, a frequent magnet for trouble when peak season crowds start to gather in the city.
As they were being escorted away from the area, one of the tourists, a 30-year-old man, wrestled free from the police and jumped into the fountain as the authorities gave chase, a spokesperson for Rome’s Capital Police told CNN.
“Alcohol was definitely involved,” the spokesperson added.
He was fined 500 euros (around $524) and banned from visiting the Baroque landmark for life.
The Trevi Fountain, constructed in 1762 as the mouth of an aqueduct, underwent a $330,000 cleaning in 2024, during which it was drained so workers could repair marble chipped from the millions of coins thrown into the water each year.
Taking a dip in the fountain has been an aspiration for many tourists, inspired by Federico Fellini’s 1960 film “La Dolce Vita,” during which Anita Ekberg waded into the waters in an evening gown, purring to her paramour, played by Marcello Mastroianni, to join her.
About a dozen tourists are fined for dipping everything from their toes to water bottles into the fountain each year, according to Roman police.
A greater number of would-be thieves are stopped for trying to steal some of the 1.5 million euros worth of coins that are thrown into the water each year. The money, which goes to charity, is collected daily.
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In 2024, the city introduced a system to limit the number of visitors in front of the fountain to 400 at a time. The access area is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily and the city is considering introducing a small fee to enter.
The New Zealander bypassed the controlled area and entered the fountain by scrambling over the marble sculptures that line the basin.
Like what you’ve just read? Here is more of our recent travel news, from railway ambitions in Europe, China and the Middle East, to the delicious foods that Sweden does better than anywhere else.
Adding Britain to your European rail vacation could get a little easier in the future.
London St. Pancras, the United Kingdom’s only international train station, is working with the Channel Tunnel on opening up more services to France and planning new routes to Germany and Switzerland.
The aim is to shorten journey times, improve timetable coordination and introduce a larger rail fleet. St. Pancras also plans to expand peak-time capacity for international passengers from 1,800 per hour to 5,000.
In other rail news from around the world, China is hoping its new fleet of “silver trains” will encourage the up-in-years portion of its aging population to travel more and spend more. The trains will be fitted out with senior-friendly features such as handrails, oxygen bottles and emergency call buttons.
From silver to gold: The Middle East’s first super-luxury train, Saudi Arabia’s Dream of the Desert, will launch in fall 2026. Its gleaming golden interiors are designed to complement the sandy expanses outside.
Nordic cuisine is having a moment, but there’s a lot more to Swedish food than meatballs and cinnamon buns. From sandwich cake to Västerbotten cheese pie, here are the dishes to try if you’re visiting the Scandinavian nation.
In South America, there’s a food revolution going on in Bolivia, where elite restaurants are getting international notice and ancient Inca and Aymara traditions are finding their way into modern fusion dishes.
In the 15th century, Beijing’s Forbidden City was one of the most powerful places on the planet but governed by extreme secrecy. Even now, details are still emerging about what they feasted on in the royal household, from tiger testicles to bird’s nest soup.
Visitors to New York’s Center for Jewish History can tour a full-scale recreation of the secret annex where diarist Anne Frank hid from the Nazis in wartime Amsterdam. Originally set to end on April 30, the exhibit has proved so popular that it’s been extended until October 31. CNN visited the Manhattan exhibit.
A 1,000-year-old French masterpiece is about to disappear from view for two years. Visitors will get their last chance to see the Bayeux Tapestry, an illustrated embroidery telling the story of the 11th-century Norman conquest of England, on August 31, before the Bayeux museum undergoes a major renovation.
Istanbul’s Maiden Tower, which sits on a tiny island between Europe and Asia, has reopened to the public after it too had a huge facelift. Here’s what it was like when CNN had a look around at the end of last year.
Mongolian couple Buyanaa and Yuk are traditional nomads and digital nomads. Their posts documenting their lives on the steppe have gotten millions of video views online.
If the pair’s cozy headgear has you envious, then it might be time to invest in a new winter hat. Our partners at CNN Underscored, a product reviews and recommendations guide owned by CNN, have a roundup of the best noggin-warmers for 2025.
A winter wonderland decorated with cotton wool and bedsheets disappointed visitors.
It’s snow joke.
An American spent thousands of dollars on a passport to enter North Korea.
Here’s what he discovered there.
Adventurer Tom Turcich spent seven years walking around the world.
But his biggest challenge was being back home.
Moo Deng and Pesto became internet celebrities.
What happens when cute baby animals grow up? | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/travel/new-zealand-tourist-fined-trevi-fountain-dive/index.html | 2025-02-26 | 57d589e0-1efd-509e-b1bf-35cc555ea747 |
Taiwan says China set up ‘live-fire training’ zone off its coast without warning | Wayne Chang, Nectar Gan | China’s military has set up a zone for “live-fire training” about 46 miles (74 kilometers) off the southwestern coast of Taiwan without advance notice, the island’s defense ministry said on Wednesday, condemning the move as provocative and a threat to international navigation.
It comes a day after Taiwan’s coast guard detained a Chinese-crewed cargo ship suspected of cutting an undersea cable in the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said it detected 32 Chinese military aircraft in the Taiwan Strait starting shortly before 9 a.m. on Wednesday (8 p.m. Tuesday ET). It added that 22 of those aircraft flew near the north and southwest of the island and carried out a “joint combat readiness patrol” with Chinese warships, according to the statement.
“During this period, (China) blatantly violated international norms by unilaterally designating a drill zone approximately 40 nautical miles off the coast of Kaohsiung and Pingtung without prior warning, claiming it would conduct ‘live-fire training,’” the ministry said, adding that it “strongly condemns” these actions.
Kaohsiung, a strategic commercial hub for Taiwan, is home to the island’s largest and busiest port.
There was no immediate comment from Beijing on the Taiwan statement. China’s Foreign Ministry did not comment on it when asked at a regular news conference Wednesday, saying it’s “not a diplomatic issue.” CNN has reached out to China’s defense ministry for comment.
China’s ruling Communist Party claims Taiwan as its territory, despite never having controlled it, and has vowed to take the self-governing democracy by force if necessary. Under Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Beijing has significantly ramped up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan.
Taiwan’s defense ministry said China declared the drill zone within international shipping lanes via temporary radio broadcasts, posing “a severe threat to the safety of international aviation and maritime navigation.”
“This is a blatant provocation against regional security and stability,” the ministry added.
The ministry said that the Chinese military’s recent activities, including live-fire drills near Australia, showed that “China has become the primary and greatest threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the broader Indo-Pacific region.”
In an unprecedented show of firepower, the Chinese Navy conducted two live-fire exercises in waters between Australia and New Zealand last week, forcing dozens of flights to be diverted and raising alarm in both countries. Officials there said while the drills did not violate international law, Beijing could have given more notice.
Australian officials said they learned about the drills via an alert from a commercial pilot, who noticed a message broadcast by the Chinese on an emergency radio channel. China insisted it issued safety notices in advance and slammed Australia for “hyping up” the situation.
China’s latest military activity near Taiwan came as Beijing accused Taipei of “political manipulation” over the disconnected undersea cable, in the latest damage to the island’s communication lines.
“While the basic facts and the liability for the accident have not yet been clarified, the Democratic Progressive Party authorities have deliberately exaggerated the situation in an attempt at political manipulation, which will not enjoy popular support,” Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday.
The Togo-flagged vessel suspected of damaging the cable – which connected Taiwan to its outlying Penghu Islands – was crewed by eight Chinese nationals, Taiwan’s coast guard said.
It had been lingering near the cable since Saturday night and dropped anchor shortly before the cable’s disconnection was detected on Tuesday, the coast guard said.
Taiwanese authorities said they could not rule out the possibility of a Chinese “gray zone operation” - a coercive or subversive act that falls below the threshold of war.
In recent years, multiple undersea telecoms cables around Taiwan have suffered suspicious damage, raising concerns among Taiwan authorities that the island’s internet connectivity and communications with the outside world could be hampered during a potential blockade or invasion by China’s military. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/asia/taiwan-china-live-fire-drill-zone-intl-hnk/index.html | 2025-02-26 | 61a945a3-2e43-5224-9833-a921f2d031a2 |
Brother of Hamas hostage describes psychological ‘torture’ of waiting for his release | Austin Mabeus | CNN's Anderson Cooper speaks with the brothers of Hamas hostages Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa-Dalal about efforts to secure their release.
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/world/video/hamas-hostage-brothers-israel-ac360-digvid | 2025-02-25 | 2ff814da-3444-5675-88a2-ae12b2995f92 |
‘Imagine your worst nightmare’: Brother of former Israeli hostage tells CNN about the conditions in Gaza | Zachary Wasser | Michael Levy, the brother of Or Levy — an Israeli hostage recently released from Gaza — speaks to CNN's Jeremy Diamond about his brother's experience being held hostage by Hamas for 491 days. In a statement to CNN, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the group “dealt with the prisoners in accordance with international law” and had “provided them with food at a time when there was a famine in the Strip.”
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/26/world/video/israeli-hostage-gaza-jeremy-diamond-digvid | 2025-02-26 | 96a34ee2-0ff0-558f-b02d-123bbf21ee8b |
Sony World Photography Awards 2025: The year’s best images unveiled | Oscar Holland | A female skater in India, a park ranger transporting Congolese crocodiles and a taxidermist preparing a deceased wolf for display are among the subjects of the past year’s best images, according to judges of the Sony World Photography Awards.
On Tuesday, the World Photography Organisation unveiled the shortlisted entries and finalists in its annual competition’s 10 professional categories.
In each of the categories — which span landscape, still life, sport and the environment, among others — judges selected three finalists and up to seven shortlisted photographers. In April, organizers will hand the prestigious Photographer of the Year title, as well as a $25,000 cash prize and a range of Sony equipment, to one of the 30 finalists.
In a press statement, jury chair Monica Allende said this year’s shortlist and finalists showed “great originality and clarity of vision.”
“From narratives of community-building, to explorations of collective memory, to empowering stories of people challenging conventions, these works offer a diversity of perspectives on our moment in history,” she added.
Now in its 18th year, the Sony World Photography Awards also include student and youth contests, as well as “open” categories for non-professionals. Organizers say they received almost 420,000 entries across this year’s various competitions.
Scroll down to see images from the Sony World Photography Awards professional competition. A selection of photos will be on show at Somerset House in London from April 17 to May 5, 2025. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/style/sony-world-photography-awards-professional-2025/index.html | 2025-02-25 | 562c1088-a5e8-5ff6-b8ac-d9c932befd6c |
Chinese-crewed cargo ship suspected of cutting undersea cable detained in Taiwan | Aria Chen | Taiwan’s coast guard detained a cargo ship and its Chinese crew on Tuesday. The vessel is suspected of damaging the cable connecting Taiwan to its outlying Penghu Islands, Taiwan’s coast guard said in a statement. CNN's Will Ripley reports.
© 2025 Cable News Network. A Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All Rights Reserved. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network. | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/world/video/taiwan-detain-chinese-crewed-ship-undersea-cable-digvid | 2025-02-25 | 63be8c41-2928-53a1-9324-5a55794b622b |
Britain ramps up defense spending and cuts foreign aid, ahead of PM Starmer’s crucial meeting with Trump | Rob Picheta | Britain will accelerate an increase to its defense spending, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced Tuesday, on the eve of a crucial visit to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington that is set to be dominated by the future of the war in Ukraine.
Starmer said he will raise military spending from 2.3% of Britain’s GDP to 2.5% by 2027, and then again to 2.6% the following year, as a rift opens up between Trump and Europe over the future of the conflict.
But he will fund the rise by cutting Britain’s already depleted foreign aid budget, which will now fall to just 0.3% of the country’s GDP.
“This government will begin the biggest sustained increase in defense spending since the end of the Cold War,” Starmer told parliament as he laid out the plans. The rise had felt increasingly inevitable in recent weeks, but the speed of the uplift and the timing of the announcement – just before Starmer flies to Washington – was a surprise.
“We must reject any false choice between our allies. Between one side of the Atlantic or the other. That is against our history, country and party,” Starmer told members of parliament. He called Britain’s relationship with America his country’s “most important bilateral alliance,” and said: “This week when I meet President Trump, I will be clear: I want this relationship to go from strength to strength.”
Starmer also set an ambition to hike defense spending to 3% in the next parliament, which will begin in 2029 at the latest after the next general election, and will last for up to five years. That final target would depend on the fiscal conditions at the time, Starmer said.
Trump has urged NATO countries to raise their defense spending to 5% and made clear that the US will not work to maintain Europe’s security in the future. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth quickly praised the move, calling it a “strong step from an enduring partner.”
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At a news conference held by Starmer later on Tuesday, Starmer told reporters that the increase in defense spending was “three years in the making,” referencing Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. But he admitted the decision was “accelerated” by events of recent weeks, during which Trump has started negotiations over the war in Ukraine with Russia – but without Kyiv – and has made clear he will not work to maintain Europe’s security. “President Trump thinks we should do more, and I agree with him. It chimes with my thinking on this,” Starmer said.
“This is very much my decision, based on my assessment of the circumstances that we face as a country, and it is taken first and foremost to ensure that the United Kingdom and its citizens are safe and secure,” Starmer added.
Britain’s previous Conservative government set a goal to reach the 2.5% target on defense spending by 2030. After winning a general election last year, Starmer maintained the goal, but refused to set a timeline on when it would be achieved.
“Courage is what our own era now demands of us,” Starmer told MPs as he announced the new timeframe. But while the increase was welcomed in Washington and within Britain’s defense community, it will not be enough to fully modernize a military that has suffered a drop in troop numbers, equipment and overall combat readiness during the 21st century.
The increase in defense spending will be funded in part through a cut to international development spending, which will now fall from 0.5% of Britain’s GDP to 0.3% in the coming years, Starmer said. “That is not an announcement I am happy to make,” he said, adding the defense increase “can only be funded through hard choices.”
Britain’s foreign aid budget stood at 0.7% just a few years ago, but has now been used by leaders of both major parties to help fund other expenditures.
There were pockets of disquiet within Starmer’s own party about the decision. “It is the wrong approach on so many levels,” one Labour MP, speaking anonymously in order to freely discuss their views, told CNN. The MP said Starmer was “following the US” on reducing overseas aid – it comes as the USAID agency is gutted in Washington – and said Britain’s development funding “is a vital strand of our overseas work to build long term security.”
And the move was met with dismay by some of the charities and organizations who have relied on government funding. WaterAid, a charity focused on providing clean water and water systems to those in need, called the move a “cruel betrayal of people living in poverty globally.”
And David Miliband, the President of the International Rescue Committee, said in a statement that “the global consequences of this decision will be far reaching and devastating for people who need more help not less.”
CNN’s Catherine Nicholls contributed to this article | cnn_world | https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/25/uk/uk-defense-spending-increase-trump-intl/index.html | 2025-02-25 | c6a01232-d1a9-5db9-8207-0f04e180012c |
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