India loses its last left-wing government after five decades
Bengaluru, India – In the sultry August heat of 2007, India’s government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was sweating over the future of negotiations with the United States over a landmark nuclear deal. The proposed agreement aimed to ease access to nuclear fuel and technology in exchange for greater international scrutiny of India’s facilities. The problem? India’s communists – suspicious of the US – were opposed to the deal. And they were India’s kingmakers. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list With 62 seats in India’s lower house in parliament, their support was holding up the Singh government. And the so-called Left Front threatened to withdraw that support if the PM went ahead with the deal. Though Singh eventually gambled and convinced other parties to support him in parliament, and pushed through the deal in the face of communist opposition, that moment marked the high point of the political left’s clout in India. On Monday, nearly two decades later, that influence appeared to have reached its nadir. According to early results from a range of state elections, the left has been swept from power in Kerala, the southern state that was the first in the world to have a democratically elected communist government – and the last state in India where communists were in power. The United Democratic Front, led by the Congress party – the main national opposition – had won or was leading in 98 seats in the legislature of 140 seats by late afternoon. The Left Democratic Front – as the grouping of left-wing parties in Kerala is called — had won or was leading in 35 seats. Advertisement The state has long been a stronghold for left-wing politics and ideology. In the late 1950s, it gave the world its first democratically elected communist government, when the Communist Party of India (CPI) led Kerala from April 1957 to July 1959. That was before the government of Jawaharlal Nehru, the Congress leader and India’s first prime minister, sacked the communist authorities after they started land and educational reforms. Since 1977, at least one Indian state has always been ruled by the left. Not any more. “This year’s election results indicate that, for the first time, the left may not come to power in any state,” Rahul Verma told Al Jazeera. He is a political scientist and a fellow at the Centre for Policy Research (CPR), a think- tank based in New Delhi. Left losing across the country The Left Front, an alliance of left-wing political parties in West Bengal, was in power there from 1977 to 2011, when the Trinamool Congress, led by Mamata Banerjee, ended its long rule. In Tripura, the Left Front ruled from 1993 until 2018, when the BJP won. In Kerala, the LDF and the UDF have swapped power for decades: Before the latest election, the left was in power since 2016. Even in India’s parliamentary elections, the left has seen a steady decline — from 62 in the 2004 election, to just eight seats now. Rajarshi Dasgupta, an assistant professor at the Centre for Political Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, told Al Jazeera that the left’s hold was always limited, and only managed to develop pockets or regions where they became influential and electorally powerful, such as Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal. “Their presence in the Hindi-speaking belt [primarily in North India] was largely limited to industrial areas, which declined with the decline of trade union politics,” he said. “The larger reason for their limited outreach is, in my opinion, their incapacity to address questions of caste and gender, and the changing nature of capitalism, especially after liberalisation,” he added. Harish Vasudevan, an independent social activist and public interest litigation specialist lawyer, told Al Jazeera that the political trend in India is where right-wing ideology is favoured. “But more than that, the left has partially lost their leftist ideology and [has] compromised,” he said. Role of the left in Kerala The left first came to power in Kerala under the CPI in April 1957. EMS Namboodiripad, an iconic communist leader, became the state’s first chief minister. His government brought about important land and education reforms in the state. Advertisement But those reforms sparked major protests from the Congress – ruling nationally, but in opposition in the state and the church, which were worried about their influence being weakened. The Nehru government used a controversial constitutional provision to sack the Namboodiripad government. In 1960, when new elections were held, the CPI lost to a Congress-led-alliance. The CPI subsequently fractured into several parties that, since the 1970s, have worked together. The outgoing government of LDF Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has focussed on improving Kerala’s infrastructure and welfare schemes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, his government’s strategy to tackle the coronavirus was widely praised as a model for containing the pandemic, as other parts of the country struggled to stop its spread. “As far as the poor and vulnerable are concerned, Kerala has given them special attention during these difficult times. We have strived to ensure total social security. Accordingly, 55 lakh [5.5 million] people – elderly, differently abled and widows – in Kerala have been paid 8,500 rupees ($89) each,” Vijayan told Al Jazeera in a May 2020 interview. A year later, when elections were held in the state, he made history by returning to power, breaking a 40-year tradition of alternating power with the Congress-led UDF. Last November, after carrying out his four-year Extreme Poverty Alleviation Project (EPEP), Vijayan declared Kerala free from extreme poverty, becoming the first Indian state to achieve that. But experts say, despite the successes, the LDF’s credibility in Kerala has taken a beating in recent years. “In Kerala, the LDF had always played their rebel role against the power abuse. But in the last five years, the party started speaking in the language of power,” Vasudevan told Al Jazeera. He noted that in this year’s state elections, traditional left voters voted against the LDF “as
Does Trump hold ‘all the cards’ against Iran in the Strait of Hormuz?
“I have all the cards,” posted the White House on its X account on Sunday, alongside an image of President Donald Trump holding playing cards from the Uno game, in a message appearing to signal Washington’s confidence in its ongoing war on Iran. Uno is a card game in which the winner is the first to get rid of all their cards. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The post came after Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that the US military would begin guiding ships stranded around the Strait of Hormuz by the war on Monday, in a sign that the conflict could further escalate, despite the near-month-long fragile ceasefire. Tehran has been effectively blocking nearly all shipping from the Gulf for more than two months, after the US and Israel attacked Iran two months ago, disrupting global energy supplies. “We have told these countries that we will guide their ships safely out of these restricted waterways, so that they can freely and ably get on with their business,” Trump said, dubbing the campaign “Project Freedom”. “They are merely neutral and innocent bystanders!” The president added that US negotiators were engaged in “very positive discussions” with Tehran, which could lead to “something very positive” without further elaboration. Iran, however, reacted by insisting that the security of the waterway was in the hands of its armed forces, and warned that “any safe passage and navigation in any situation” should be “carried out in coordination with the armed forces”. On Monday, the Iranian Fars news agency reported that a US warship had been hit by two Iranian drones, the claim was denied by US Central Command. Advertisement So what leverage do the US and Iran hold over each other, and what happens next? In response to Trump’s “I have all the cards” social media post, Iran’s Consulate General in Hyderabad, India, posted its own image on X. “Yes, we have less cards,” Iran’s consulate in the Indian city of Hyderabad wrote on X, together with a photo of an Iranian military spokesperson holding four Uno cards compared to Trump’s five, pointing out that usually holding all the cards means you are losing, not winning, in the game of Uno. In response to Trump’s “Project Freedom” declaration, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned that ships deemed to be in breach of its rules in the Strait of Hormuz “will be stopped by force”, while insisting there has been no change in how it manages traffic through the strategic waterway. On Monday, it issued a new map of the Strait of Hormuz with boundaries extending further to the east than its previous one, and said any ship travelling between the two sides must coordinate with the IRGC first. “There has been no change in the management process of the Strait of Hormuz,” spokesperson Sardar Mohebbi said, adding that vessels that comply with the “transit protocols issued by the IRGC Navy” will be “safe and secure”. “Other maritime movements that are contrary to the declared principles of the IRGC Navy will face serious risks. Violating vessels will be stopped by force,” he said. What leverage does the US have over Iran? Sanctions The United States’ most enduring source of leverage over Iran remains its sanctions regime, which was launched in 1979 when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared Iran an Islamic Republic. Successive US administrations over the past 47 years have hit Tehran with a series of financial restrictions targeting Iran’s banking, oil exports and access to international markets – the US says the sanctions are a response to Iran’s nuclear programme. Sanctions have significantly constrained Iran’s economy, limiting government revenue and contributing to inflation and currency depreciation. Measures enforced through the US Treasury also deter other countries and companies from engaging with Iran, further strangling its economy. The economic pressure has been central to US strategy towards Iran, particularly during its attempts to force Tehran back to negotiations over its nuclear programme, under both Democratic and Republican administrations. Military power Beyond economics, the US maintains overwhelming military superiority, especially air power. Aircraft carriers, long-range bombers and precision strike capabilities give Washington the ability to target Iranian infrastructure with relatively low risk to its own forces. Advertisement US bases across the Gulf, as well as military partnerships with regional allies – most notably Israel – reinforce this advantage. American forces, together with the Israeli army, have killed more than 3,000 people, and struck thousands of sites across Iran in the current war, including Iran’s energy and nuclear sites. Naval blockade Since mid-April, the United States has enforced a widespread naval blockade of Iranian ports and ships. The operation began on April 13 after talks between Washington and Tehran collapsed, with US forces ordered to stop or divert vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports. US forces have since intercepted or turned back dozens of ships, and seized a container ship, the Touska. On Monday, the US announced that its crew had been repatriated to Iran from Pakistan, where they were taken after their ship was captured in the Gulf of Oman last month. According to Trump, the blockade is designed to choke Iran’s oil exports, its main revenue source. US officials say the measures have severely disrupted Iran’s trade, which relies heavily on sea routes. What leverage does Iran have? Strait of Hormuz The vital waterway is Iran’s most significant strategic asset, the narrow passage ships one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies in peacetime. Tehran has effectively closed the strait since the war began on February 28, sending global oil and gas prices soaring and energy markets into turmoil. Iran has repeatedly demonstrated its ability to target shipping, seize vessels, or conduct military exercises, demonstrating its ability to close or restrict the strait. The result is soaring energy prices globally, forcing many countries to implement severe austerity measures to soften the blow. Last week in the US, the average price of a gallon (3.8 litres) of gasoline
Satellite imagery reveals how Sudan’s war scorched its ‘breadbasket’
For the past three years, reports of wartime atrocities and dire humanitarian crises have been making the headlines from Sudan. Now, satellite imagery shows the extent of the damage to the country’s agriculture and industrial sectors. An Al Jazeera digital investigation using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) reveals the devastating toll of the war on Sudan’s largest irrigated farming projects in the central states of Gezira, Sennar, and Khartoum. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The fertile plains of central Sudan – known as the country’s “breadbasket” – have been devastated, the images show, with the vibrant, geometric green grids that once defined the country’s agricultural heartland now faded into a barren, dusty brown. Sudan descended into a bloody civil war on April 15, 2023 following a power struggle between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a powerful paramilitary force, and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF). Fighting first erupted in the capital Khartoum, but soon spread to other regions. The RSF initially made swift gains, advancing across Sudan’s agricultural heartland, primarily in central and eastern Sudan, specifically the states of Gezira, Sennar, and Khartoum – in late 2023. The fighting devastated a vast swath of the region that is crucial for the food security of one of the poorest nations on earth. In the town of Abu Quta in northern Gezira state, RSF fighters equipped with heavy machine guns looted markets, the local police station, and the agricultural bank in December 2023. In response, desperate farmers resorted to flooding their own irrigation canals. They sacrificed their crops, turning fields into mud traps to halt the RSF’s heavily armed pickup trucks. (Al Jazeera) What began as a desperate defence on the ground has now been captured from space. Advertisement The data exposes a stark pattern: a catastrophic agricultural collapse during RSF control in 2024, followed by a fragile, limited recovery after the SAF regained territory in 2025. The collapse of Gezira For decades, the Gezira Scheme, an irrigation project launched in Gezira state, was the agricultural backbone of Sudan. Spanning some 924,000 hectares (2.28 million acres) between the Blue and White Nile Rivers, the project features more than 8,000 kilometres (4,970 miles) of canals and historically produced half of the country’s wheat. After the RSF captured Wad Madani, the capital of Gezira state, in December 2023, the agricultural system disintegrated. The collapse was not caused by climate anomalies. Independent assessments, including a study by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), confirm that wheat production in Gezira plummeted by 58 percent during the 2023-2024 season. This decline was the result of a systematic dismantling of agricultural infrastructure. The European Union Agency for Asylum documented RSF fighters diverting irrigation channels, flooding agricultural lands, and even using bags of harvested crops as makeshift bridges over canals. The FAO noted that the al-Haiwawa canal, a critical artery serving 2,360 farmers across 48 villages, was among the most severely damaged. The economic impact on the farming community was severe. Hussein Saad, a former farmer and member of the Gezira and Al-Managil Farmers Alliance, told Radio Dabanga that the cost of a 50kg bag of fertiliser skyrocketed from 20,000 Sudanese pounds ($33) to 120,000 ($200), while tractor rental prices tripled. Armed fighters looted the national seed bank and drained World Food Programme warehouses in Wad Madani that had held enough food to sustain 1.5 million people for a month. Furthermore, an RSF-imposed telecommunications blackout in early 2024 paralysed financial transfers. This forced the closure of 200 out of 300 local soup kitchens that were keeping displaced families alive. Similar devastation was recorded in the Rahad and Suki Schemes located in Sennar and Gedaref states, covering 126,000 hectares (311,350 acres) and 37,800 hectares (93,400 acres), respectively. Under RSF control throughout 2024, crop health in both areas drastically deteriorated. Reading the satellite data Measuring the destruction required distinguishing between actual agriculture and overgrown weeds. While the NDVI measures the density and health of green vegetation, it cannot inherently differentiate between crops and wild grass that often reclaims abandoned fields. Advertisement However, in engineered, irrigated schemes like Gezira and Rahad, agriculture relies on human coordination: operating pump stations, opening water gates on strict schedules, and applying fertiliser. When the system works, satellite imagery shows unmistakable, geometric rectangular grids. When the system collapses, as the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) noted, these distinctive patterns vanish, replaced by chaotic, irregular patches of green and brown indicating abandoned lands. A fragile recovery The satellite data highlights a direct correlation between military control and food security. In November 2024, the SAF recaptured Singa in Sennar state, followed by Wad Madani in January 2025. By March 2025, the army controlled most of both states. Following the army’s control, NDVI data from December 2025 showed a notable improvement in crop health across the Gezira, Rahad, and Suki Schemes. While far from pre-war levels, the return of geometric green grids indicates that farmers cautiously resumed planting. This aligns with an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, which previously warned that 25.6 million people, which is half the country’s population, faced acute food insecurity, including 755,000 in catastrophic famine conditions. By late 2025, the IPC noted that 3.4 million people were no longer in crisis levels, attributing the improvement explicitly to the gradual stabilisation in Gezira, Sennar, and Khartoum following the RSF withdrawal. The Khartoum control group To definitively rule out climate anomalies, investigators used Khartoum state as a “control group”. Khartoum shares the same climate zone and rainfall patterns as Gezira, located just 150km (93 miles) to the north, but it experienced a different military trajectory. The SAF only declared full control of Khartoum in May 2025, just six months before the December satellite analysis. Imagery of four major agricultural projects around the capital – North Bahri, East Nile, Sundus, and Kutranj, all located within Khartoum state, which came under army control in May 2025 – showed no significant recovery in 2025. The fields lacked
Iran war live: Tehran warns Trump’s Hormuz mission will violate ceasefire
blinking-dotLive updatesLive updates, Iran protests as Trump announces ‘Project Freedom’ to escort stranded ships out of the Strait of Hormuz. Published On 4 May 20264 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Oil prices flat as Trump’s plan for Strait of Hormuz fails to calm markets
Brent crude is largely unmoved by Trump’s announcement of the operation, dubbed Project Freedom. Published On 4 May 20264 May 2026 Oil prices are largely unmoved following United States President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US will guide stranded vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude, the international benchmark, was essentially flat on Monday morning, as traders saw little hope of Trump’s plans resolving the biggest energy disruption in history. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list Brent futures for July stood at $108.25 as of 02:30 GMT, up by 0.08 percent. Trump said on Sunday that the US would “help free up” vessels stranded in the Gulf from Monday, but offered few details on how the operation, dubbed “Project Freedom”, would work. Trump did not specify whether the plan would involve escorts by the US Navy, a proposal previously shot down by administration officials, citing a lack of adequate preparations. Senior Iranian officials have signalled that Tehran will not cooperate with Trump’s plan, casting further uncertainty over the fragile ceasefire in place between the sides since April 7. Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the Iranian parliament’s National Security Commission, on Sunday warned that any “American interference” in the strait would be considered a breach of their truce. On Monday, the United Kingdom’s military said it had received reports of a tanker being struck by “unknown projectiles” off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, hours after a bulk carrier reported being attacked by multiple small craft off Iran. Neither of the crews involved in the incidents was harmed, according to UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). June Goh, a senior oil market analyst at Sparta in Singapore, said Trump’s plans appeared to be geared more towards rescuing stranded seafarers than restoring maritime traffic in the strait. Advertisement “Global observable oil inventories are starting to fall sharply, which should weigh on market sentiment more than political statements for a reopening of the strait,” Goh told Al Jazeera. “Normalising the flow through the Strait of Hormuz will take more than what Project Freedom is offering, whilst the yawning gap in oil supply will take months to resolve.” Iran’s threats against shipping in the Gulf have reduced maritime traffic in the strait to a fraction of peacetime levels, crippling a sizeable portion of the world’s oil and natural gas supplies. Goldman Sachs estimates that the effective closure of the waterway, which normally carries one-fifth of the world’s oil supplies, and attacks on energy infrastructure have reduced global daily production by 14.5 million barrels. Brent is up nearly 50 percent since the start of the war, with analysts warning that prices are likely to stay elevated long after any peace deal is reached between Washington and Tehran due to the backlog of unloaded energy supplies and the need to clear the waterway of Iranian mines. Only 20 vessels crossed the strait on Wednesday, the most recent day for which figures were available, according to ship tracking data monitored by maritime intelligence platform Windward. Before the US and Israel launched their war on Iran in late February, the strait saw an average of 129 transits each day, according to the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD) agency. Adblock test (Why?)
Illegal ‘free party’ at French military site draws up to 40,000 ravers
NewsFeed Tens of thousands of partygoers gathered for an illegal “free party” at a military firing range near Bourges, despite warnings about unexploded World War II ordnance. Authorities warned of serious risks, while organisers said the event was attended by 40,000 to protest against proposed laws targeting unregistered raves. Published On 4 May 20264 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
On World Press Freedom Day, Pope honours journalists killed in war zones
The pope urged the rememberance of journalists who lost their lives pursuing the truth, particularly in conflict areas. Published On 3 May 20263 May 2026 Pope Leo has marked World Press Freedom Day by condemning violations of media freedom around the world and paying tribute to journalists killed while reporting in conflict zones. At the end of his weekly Sunday prayer in a sunny Saint Peter’s Square at the Vatican, the pontiff said the day highlighted both the importance of independent journalism and the growing threats faced by reporters. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “Today we celebrate World Press Freedom Day … unfortunately, this right is often violated, sometimes in blatant ways, sometimes in more hidden forms,” he said. World Press Freedom Day, sponsored by the UN cultural agency UNESCO is intended to show support for media organisations that come under pressure or censorship. It is also an opportunity to commemorate journalists who have been killed at work. The Roman Catholic leader urged the faithful to remember journalists and reporters who have lost their lives pursuing the truth, particularly in conflict areas. “We remember the many journalists and reporters who have been victims of war and violence,” the pope said. A report last month by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs’ Costs of War project found that Israel’s war on Gaza was the deadliest conflict for media workers ever recorded, with Israeli forces having killed 232 Palestinian journalists since October 2023. More journalists have been killed in Gaza than in both world wars, the Vietnam War, the wars in Yugoslavia, and the United States war in Afghanistan combined, the report found. Advertisement In past speeches, the leader of the Catholic Church has described journalism as a pillar of society and democracy, and information as a public good that must be safeguarded and defended. The pontiff has often thanked reporters for sharing the truth, saying that doing their job could never be considered a crime, and frequently calling for the release of journalists who have been unfairly detained or prosecuted. Last week, the leading Paris-based press freedom NGO, Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), or Reporters Without Borders, found that freedom of the press around the world has fallen to its lowest level in a quarter of a century. For the first time since RSF started producing the index in 2002, it said more than half of the world’s countries fall into the “difficult” or “very serious” categories for press freedom – “a clear sign that journalism is increasingly criminalised worldwide”. Adblock test (Why?)
Who are the two Gaza flotilla activists abducted by Israel?
Two activists from a Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla have been presented before an Israeli court days after they were abducted following their detention with 175 other campaigners by Israel in international waters near Greece. Spanish national Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian Thiago Avila have been on a hunger strike during their detention although they have continued to drink water. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The Global Sumud Flotilla comprising more than 50 vessels had set sail from France, Spain and Italy on April 12 with the aim of breaking an Israeli blockade of Gaza and bringing supplies to the devastated Palestinian territory. Gaza has been under an Israeli sea, land and air blockade since 2005, and since October 7, 2023, Israel has tightened its control over what goes in and out of the enclave – home to 2.3 million people. The activists were intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters off Greece on Thursday. All of them were released except Abu Keshek and Avila. So who are the two activists and why has Israel detained them? Here’s what we know: Who is Saif Abu Keshek? Abu Keshek is a Spanish-Swedish national of Palestinian origin who was abducted from the flotilla off Crete on Thursday. According to the website of the Global Sumud Flotilla, he is based in Barcelona and has been organising Palestinian solidarity movements across Europe for more than 20 years. He and his wife have three children, aged one, four and seven. Before joining this year’s flotilla, “Abukeshek was a lead organiser in the Global March to Gaza and currently chairs the Global Coalition Against the Occupation in Palestine and represents the Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya (IAC),” the website noted. “He also serves on the General Secretariat of the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad and sits on the board of the European Trade Union Network for Justice in Palestine”. Advertisement After Israel intercepted the flotilla on Thursday, Abu Keshek was abducted and transferred to Shikma Prison in Ashkelon. Shikma Prison (also known as Ashkelon Prison) in southern Israel has been frequently accused of harsh treatment and torture, particularly after Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza began in 2023. Abu Keshek was subjected to torture on Saturday on an Israeli military vessel, the Global Sumud Flotilla said in a statement that was based on accounts from released activists. The Israeli human rights organisation and legal centre Adalah visited the two men in Shikma Prison in Israel on Saturday and said: “The harrowing testimonies provided by both activists reveal physical violence and being held for prolonged periods in stress positions by Israeli military forces during the past two days they have spent at sea.” Abu Keshek “reported being kept hand-tied and blindfolded, and being forced to lie face-down on the floor from the moment of his seizure until this morning, resulting in bruising to his face and hands”, it said. “Avila reported being subjected to extreme brutality by the Israeli military during the seizure of the vessels,” it added, including being “dragged face-down across the floor and beaten so severely that he passed out twice”. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez delivered a message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a speech on Friday, saying Spain would always protect its citizens and defend international law. “We demand the release of the Spanish citizen who has been unlawfully detained by Netanyahu’s government,” he said. Israel’s action has also prompted protests and condemnation from rights groups and governments. Turkiye’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called it an “act of piracy”. Brazilian activist Thiago Avila and Spanish activist Saif Abu Keshek at a court in Ashkelon [Ilia Yefimovich/AFP] Who is Thiago Avila? Avila is a socio-environmentalist from Brazil. According to the Global Sumud Flotilla’s website, the 38-year-old has a one-and-a-half-year-old daughter with his wife and has dedicated himself to solidarity with Palestine for more than 20 years. “He is a Steering Committee member of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and was one of the coordinators onboard the Madleen mission that was intercepted and kidnapped by the Zionist entity in June 2025,” the website noted. Avila was put in solitary confinement in Israel’s Ayalon Prison on June 11, 2025, for several days after he was abducted during the Freedom Flotilla mission. According to the Brazilian embassy, after his recent detention in Israel in Shikma Prison, Avila reported being subjected to torture, beatings and mistreatment. Advertisement “During a monitored visit in which he was separated by glass and unable to communicate freely, embassy officials observed visible marks on his face. He reported significant pain, particularly in his shoulder,” the Global Sumud Flotilla said in a statement. What did the court say? On Sunday, the court in Ashkelon, Israel, approved a two-day extension to the detention of the activists who were brought to Israel for questioning. “The court extended their detention by two days,” said Miriam Azem, the international advocacy coordinator at Adalah, which represents the men, told the AFP news agency. Israeli authorities had earlier asked the court to extend their detention by four days. “The Global Sumud Flotilla reiterates that the forced transfer of civilians from international and European waters into custody, combined with credible allegations of torture and the absence of due process, constitutes a serious violation of international law and must be met with accountability,” the flotilla said in a statement. The organisation has also called on governments, human rights organisations, legal institutions, media outlets and civil society worldwide to demand their release. Adblock test (Why?)
Zelenskyy has no cards to play against Russia or the West
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s artistic skills have earned him the reputation of a public relations genius acknowledged by both friends and foes. United States President Donald Trump, who has openly attacked him in public, famously called the Ukrainian leader “the greatest salesman on Earth”. A much more sympathetic voice, New York Times columnist David French, has recently portrayed Zelenskyy as “the new leader of free world”. But Zelenskyy’s PR genius can do very little when it comes to changing the dynamics of the battlefield in the Russia-Ukraine war. In recent weeks, his administration and allies have tried hard to create the impression that the war might be approaching a turning point. But realities on the ground tell a different story. For example, there were official claims that in February, Ukraine made more territorial gains than Russia did. Some pro-Ukrainian war monitoring platforms have supported these claims while others have not. It is important to note these calculations can be tricky given that along the frontline there is an extensive grey zone in which control is unclear. The advances themselves are measured in 150-200 square kilometres per month. In other words, methodology can be manipulated in order to produce the desired conclusion: that Ukraine is gaining ground. In reality, there is nothing at all that suggests a significant change in the battlefield dynamics that have been in place for at least two years now. More importantly, Russian troops are currently besieging a number of industrial cities in the north of the Donetsk region. Their advances all along the northern border, in particular, are extending the active front line by hundreds of kilometres, which is making Ukraine’s personnel shortages even more acute. Advertisement Four years into the war, the Ukrainian army has had to resort to brutal campaigns to enforce mandatory conscription, pulling young men off the streets of towns and villages. Meanwhile, Russia is still able to lure volunteers by offering lavish compensation. Ukrainian officials have also claimed that Russia is losing more troops than it is able to recruit based on dubious casualty data. Zelenskyy, in particular, has stated the Russians suffered the highest number of monthly casualties in March this year – 35,000. But his statement contradicted his own Ministry of Defence, which claimed that the highest Russian monthly losses crossed 48,000 in January 2025, with an average monthly rate of roughly 35,000 throughout 2025. Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, former military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, also contradicted this narrative that Russia is having major difficulty with deploying personnel. He acknowledged in a recent interview that the collapse of the Russian mobilisation effort was not forthcoming. It should be noted that Ukraine is waging a successful drone campaign to damage Russian oil facilities. But it is doubtful that it could change anything beyond providing dramatic footage of oil tanks on fire for TV networks to broadcast. In April, Russian oil revenues surged to $9bn, thanks to the US-Israel war on Iran. The windfall Russia got in a month is equivalent to 10 percent of the loan Ukraine is to receive from the European Union over the next two years to help fund its war effort. It cannot be denied that Russia has sustained major economic losses due to the war, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged as much. But the Russian economy displays much the same downturn as other European economies, also affected by wars in Ukraine and Iran. Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita adjusted for purchasing power parity (an indicator reflecting living standards) currently exceeds that of less affluent EU countries, such as Romania and Greece, according to the IMF charts. The same indicator for Ukraine is on par with Mongolia and Egypt, while the country’s critical infrastructure lies in ruins and millions of Ukrainians have fled the country, most of them for good. With Ukraine’s prospects bleaker than ever, pro-Ukrainian audiences jump on every news from Russia, which they hope may signify “cracks in the regime”. Last month, an Instagram video by Russian influencer Victoria Bonya made Western headlines for its daring criticism of government policies. There may be frustration in Russia, but the regime is far from approaching a downfall. Advertisement This narrative, however, serves to distract Ukrainian and EU citizens from the painful truth that the war is heading towards a deadlock at best and Ukraine’s collapse at worst. Zelenskyy may have received a lifeline with the $90bn euro loan, but his and his allies’ lack of vision and winning strategy is staggering. The reality has already begun to kick in. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently suggested that Ukraine would have to concede some of its territory to Russia to end the war but get a faster track to EU membership in exchange. The EU’s defence chief, Andrius Kubilius, has gone further by claiming that NATO membership for Ukraine was out of the question and EU membership was going to be a “complicated process”. Instead, he proposed a military union of Ukraine and other European countries – an idea that Moscow will reject, interpreting it as NATO through the back door. What these contradictory statements manifest is that the main bargain over the contours of peace is currently going not so much between Zelenskyy and Putin, but between Zelenskyy and his Western, primarily European, allies. As Budanov recently claimed, the positions of Kyiv and Moscow can be moved closer to what is realistically attainable in peace talks. But Zelenskyy needs to show at least some kind of gain for Ukraine when a very unpalatable version of a peace treaty is finally signed. Ideally, that gain would be EU membership or real security guarantees, but as Merz and Kubilius’s statements suggest, the chances of attaining either are slim. The frustration among Ukrainians is already palpable. The head of the Ukrainian parliament’s fiscal committee, Danylo Hetmantsev, said European officials should stop seeing Ukrainians as “a tool for solving someone’s geopolitical tasks” or as a “human shield”. They have no right to define Ukraine’s destiny, he
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?)