Timmy the humpback whale escapes to the North Sea
The whale calf’s repeated stranding off the coast of Germany sparked widespread concern and extensive media coverage. Published On 2 May 20262 May 2026 A humpback whale calf that earned huge media attention and the nickname Timmy after being repeatedly stranded in shallow waters near Germany has been released into the North Sea by rescue team. The operation to save the sea mammal, launched as its health deteriorated, transported Timmy in a water-filled barge and released him off Denmark on Saturday. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Karin Walter-Mommert, one of the private financiers of the operation, said the whale appeared to be swimming freely and in the right direction upon his release, the APF news agency reports. He “should now swim up the Norwegian coast toward the Arctic”, she said. Timmy was first spotted near Germany’s Baltic Sea coast on March 3. He repeatedly got stuck in shallow waters, despite efforts to encourage him back to the deeper sea. Far from his natural habitat of the Atlantic Ocean, the whale became distressed, and the public became invested in his plight as his health deteriorated and experts worried that he would not survive. The stranded whale blows water on a sand bank in Kirchdorf. Germany, April 9, 2026 [Michael Probst]/AP Photo] Several efforts to rescue him, including using inflatable cushions and a pontoon, were unsuccessful, leading German officials to suggest he was doomed. A private initiative to save the animal was then approved by Germany’s Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania state, but that sparked debate as to whether it would be best to let him die in peace or push him to return home, an ordeal that could have proved too much for him. Advertisement Timmy developed a skin condition as a result of the Baltic Sea’s low salt content, and would barely move for days at a time, his breathing irregular. The International Whaling Commission said in April that with each stranding causing additional harm, “the chances of survival [had become] negligible”. However, the use of the special barge finally saw Timmy returned to his natural habitat. It is not clear why the whale swam into the Baltic Sea, far from the Atlantic Ocean. Some experts say the animal may have lost its way while swimming after a shoal of herring or during migration. A GPS transmitter was reportedly attached to the whale before his release, suggesting there could be more updates to come, with the case having been furiously followed by online media in particular. Adblock test (Why?)
Why are maritime laws failing to secure the seas?
Wars and territorial disputes are rewriting the rules of global shipping. Wars and territorial disputes are rewriting the rules of global shipping. From the Strait of Hormuz to the Panama Canal, and the Red Sea to the Black Sea, maritime traffic is under increasing threat. Is shipping becoming the new global battleground? And why are the decades-old laws governing the seas failing? Presenter: James Bays Guests: Rockford Weitz – director of the Fletcher Studies programme at Tufts University George Theocharidis – professor of maritime law and policy at the World Maritime University Stavros Karamperidis – associate professor in maritime economics at Plymouth University Published On 2 May 20262 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
The rise of political violence under Trump
Redi Tlhabi speaks to Professor Robert Pape on the rise of political violence in the US. After the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, has the US entered a new age of political violence? The third alleged attempted assassination of US President Donald Trump in recent years follows a series of politically motivated violent incidents last year, including the assassinations of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk and Democratic state legislator Melissa Hortman. What is causing the increase in political violence in America? And how much is the Trump administration driving the politically divisive atmosphere with violent rhetoric and lethal foreign policy? This week on UpFront, Redi Tlhabi speaks with Robert Pape, professor of political science at the University of Chicago and author of the upcoming book “Our Own Worst Enemies: America in the Age of Violent Populism”. Published On 2 May 20262 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
‘Intent over money’: Arvind Kejriwal credits policy shift for Punjab’s record 66 percent GST growth
Arvind Kejriwal, Aam Aadmi Party national convenor, highlighted a notable economic milestone for Punjab where GST collections of the state surged 66 percent.
India-bound LPG carrier MT Sarv Shakti crosses Strait of Hormuz amid US blockade, expected in Visakhapatnam on this date
An Indian vessel carrying several metric tonnes of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and 20-member crew onboard has safely crossed the Strait of Hormuz.
West Bengal Elections 2026: EC orders repolling in Falta constituency over ‘severe electoral offences’
The poll panel said that fresh voting will take place at all 285 polling stations of the constituency on May 21. The timings of the poll will be from 7 am to 6 pm, and counting of votes will take place on May 24.
Abortion pill fight heads to Supreme Court as manufacturer warns of ‘chaos’ after ruling
The legal battle over abortion pills escalated to the Supreme Court on Saturday, as the manufacturer of mifepristone filed an emergency request warning a lower court ruling is already causing “immediate confusion and upheaval” across the country. Danco Laboratories is asking the high court to quickly block a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision that blocked mail-order access and reinstated in-person requirements for the drug, arguing the ruling is disrupting access and creating nationwide uncertainty about legality. The ruling directly affects the distribution of mifepristone, Danco’s primary product. Mifepristone is one of two drugs commonly used in medication abortions. The application was directed to Justice Samuel Alito, who handles emergency matters from the 5th Circuit and can either act on his own or refer the request to the full court. The Supreme Court could act at any time. ABORTION PILL MIFEPRISTONE SPARKS NEW PRO-LIFE DEBATE AS SOME DOCTORS STRESS SAFETY CONCERNS In its filing, Danco warned the appeals court’s order is already creating “chaos” in real-world medical settings. “The panel’s ruling injects immediate confusion and upheaval into highly time-sensitive medical decisions,” the company wrote, adding it is forcing “providers, patients, and pharmacies all to guess at what is allowed and what is not.” The filing raises immediate questions, including what happens to existing abortion pill prescriptions, pharmacy dispensing and access to in-person visits. PRO-LIFE GROUP FINDS BIDEN-ERA FDA POLICY IS DRIVING 500 ABORTIONS PER DAY, SAYS TRUMP HAS POWER TO END IT “What happens when patients arrive for scheduled appointments this weekend… or walk into pharmacies… to obtain [the drug] that was prescribed… yesterday?” the filing states. Danco is asking the court to immediately pause the ruling through an administrative stay, then block it longer term while litigation continues. The company also suggested the justices could take up the case on an expedited schedule before the end of the term, a move that could reshape the court’s already packed 2026 docket. The emergency appeal comes just one day after the 5th Circuit issued its ruling, which blocked the mailing of mifepristone and effectively barred pharmacy distribution under the challenged FDA rules, requiring women to obtain the drug in-person from a medical provider. PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT CONFRONTS HIGH ABORTION RATES THREE YEARS AFTER DOBBS “Of course they filed an emergency petition. Big Pharma has gotten extremely rich after the unprecedented and radical deregulation of these dangerous abortion pills,” 40 Days for Life President Shawn Carney told Fox News Digital. “No abortion advocate or anyone from Big Pharma was pushing to send these drugs through the mail just a few years ago, and now they act as if they’re entitled to do so with zero regulation and zero oversight,” Carney added. “This is more evidence the FDA needs to reevaluate how these drugs were approved after years of ER visits from women who take them.” Abortion-rights advocates said the ruling has “upended” access to care nationwide, particularly for patients relying on telemedicine, while legal groups warned it is creating confusion for providers trying to comply with rapidly changing rules. New York Attorney General Letitia James said the decision is “yet another cruel attack on abortion access,” adding that “mifepristone is safe, effective, and essential.” The underlying case is still ongoing in lower courts, but the emergency filing now places the dispute squarely before the Supreme Court in what could become the next major legal showdown over abortion policy. The justices could choose to pause the ruling immediately, allowing the current system to remain in place while the case proceeds, or let the restrictions take effect nationwide. Danco Laboratories did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The United States of Conspiracy
Another assassination attempt on Donald Trump reveals mistrust in the media and conspiracy theories fill the gap. An assassination attempt at the White House correspondents’ dinner underscored the spectacle, chaos and violence that have defined Donald Trump’s second presidency. As journalists rushed to report what had happened, a parallel narrative of conspiracy was already taking shape online. Conspiracy theories get far more currency than they merit – and they are a by-product of an information landscape that has been muddied by Trump. Contributors:John Nichols – Executive editor, The NationNiall Stanage – White House columnist, The HillAmber Duke – Editor-in-chief, Daily CallerSuzanne Kianpour – Cohost, Global Power Shifts podcast On our radar Russia’s effort to tighten internet restrictions and throttle Telegram has caused a furious public backlash. The uproar has forced President Vladimir Putin to admit the measures went too far. Ryan Kohls reports. Israel’s information war on Lebanon Throughout two years of war, Israeli forces have used drones, AI-powered targeting and the infiltration of Lebanese communications devices and the networks they rely on – to control the population, spread terror and kill people. And it has escalated its information war, using all kinds of propaganda to deepen fear and divisions within Lebanese society. We speak to Justin Salhani about the tactics Israel is using in Lebanon. Featuring:Justin Salhani – Senior producer, Al Jazeera Digital Published On 2 May 20262 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Israel’s ‘two-tier’ policing and the crime epidemic in Palestinian towns
Addressing the cameras following reports of spiralling youth violence, including the killing of the 21-year-old former Israeli soldier Yemanu Binyamin Zalka last week, Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir was clear. “This will be a total war,” he said, announcing a national operation to target a surge in youth violence. “We will restore security to the streets and calm to parents. Anyone who harms Israeli civilians will face the strong hand of the Israel Police and pay a heavy price.” Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The response was sharp, aligned itself with the victim, and promised a solution. That, critics say, is a sharp contrast to Ben-Gvir’s response – or lack of one – to the ongoing epidemic of violence in Israeli towns and villages populated by Palestinians, which has so far led to the deaths of almost 100 people and, according to Israel’s own finance ministry, costs the country up to $6.7bn a year. Allegations of two-tier policing, to the detriment of what Israelis refer to as the “Arab sector”, have dogged Israel’s police for decades. But the situation has gotten worse under the current administration of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which has been in power since the end of 2022, and Ben-Gvir, a far-right politician who is in charge of the police. The statistics since Ben-Gvir came into office back up the narrative that the crime wave in Palestinian communities has gotten significantly worse. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the murder rate in Israel’s Palestinian communities increased from 4.9 per 100,000 in 2020, to 11 per 100,000, on par with the murder rate in Sudan and Iraq. Advertisement In contrast, the murder rate in Israel’s Jewish society stood at approximately 0.6 per 100,000. That increase can not totally be attributed to the current government – Netanyahu himself was prime minister in 2020, when the murder rate was lower. But critics argue that the introduction into government of figures like Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who they say are openly disdainful of Palestinians, has contributed to the sharp uptick in violence. Analysts and experts who spoke to Al Jazeera had little doubt over the Netanyahu government’s culpability in the increased murder rate. “They really don’t mind that Palestinians are killing each other, as they’ve been left to do for years,” lawmaker Aida Touma-Suleiman, a Palestinian member of the Hadash party and a longstanding critic of the lack of policing in Palestinian communities in Israel, said. Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir celebrates after Israel’s parliament passed a law making the death penalty a default sentence for Palestinians convicted in military courts of deadly attacks [Oren Ben Hakoon/Reuters] “It would never occur to the police that they should provide a service to Arab neighbourhoods,” she said of the lack of physical police presence within Palestinian communities. “It’s about enforcement. It’s hostile.” While police stations are standard in Israel’s Jewish-majority areas, there are only about 10 in Palestinian-majority areas. Among the decisions that have most angered Palestinian advocacy groups in Israel was the government’s December approval of a $68.5m cut to an economic development programme for Palestinian communities in Israel, in order to fund more policing in the communities. Critics agreed that more funding was needed for the police, but bemoaned that the money was coming from a fund designed to address the root causes of criminality by addressing housing and economic development, areas where Palestinian communities are notoriously underfunded in comparison to Jewish ones. Hardwired poverty Palestinian citizens of Israel make up around 21 percent of the country’s population. Disadvantaged economically, they are the descendants of Palestinians who did not flee after the 1948 establishment of Israel – an event they know as the Nakba, when an estimated 750,000 Palestinians were ethnically cleansed and forced out. Often concentrated in separate towns and villages from Israeli Jews, Palestinians frequently describe a reality of chronic underinvestment, with the presence of the state either limited or non-existent. Advertisement Joblessness has long been woven into their daily lives, analysts say, but the unemployment rate has worsened since Israel choked off access to the occupied West Bank, where many worked, after the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel and the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in 2023. The most recent official date, based on 2024 figures, shows that 37.6 percent of Palestinian households in Israel live below the poverty line. Palestinian Israelis protest in January against the wave of crime and killings within Arab communities [Fie: Ammar Awad/Reuters] Local criminal networks in Israel’s Palestinian towns and villages have grown in scale and influence in recent years, in some cases taking on the form of mafia-style organisations, untroubled, critics say, by the current government. “There is a wide network of criminal gangs who exert control across Arab neighbourhoods,” said Daniel Bar-Tal, professor of social-political psychology at Tel Aviv University, adding that criminality and even murder were allowed to continue with the state’s own complicity. “In part, the government just likes it. They get to say, ‘Look, this is Arab culture, this is Arab society. This is what they do.’ They also rely on the collaboration of the gangs to gather information on what’s going on in these communities,” he said, referring to numerous accounts of how friends who had reported criminal activity in their neighbourhoods were dismissed. “And lastly, it is because the police force is controlled by Ben-Gvir, a racist who actively enjoys dehumanising Arab society.” Ben-Gvir has previously rejected accusations of racism and says he is only against those who harm Jews. Policed by the enemy From leveraging his position in government to urge on the genocide in Gaza, to defending officers under his charge filmed raping a Palestinian prisoner, Ben-Gvir’s actions have dismayed many of Israel’s self-styled liberals, just as they have shocked observers around the world. However, following an uptick in crime in Israel, criticism of Ben-Gvir’s performance in his role as national security minister has begun to enter the domestic mainstream. As
LIVE: Arsenal vs Fulham – Premier League
blinking-dotLive MatchLive Match, Follow our live build-up, with full team news coverage, ahead of our text commentary stream. Published On 2 May 20262 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)