Israel capitalises as Gaza fatigue sets in
One might think that images of starving children, as political leaders withhold aid and openly call for ethnic cleansing, would be topping news agendas everywhere. In the case of Gaza, the failure of many in the international media to meet the moment has made them part of the story. Lead contributors:Chris Doyle – Director, Council for Arab-British UnderstandingDaniel Levy – President, US/Middle East ProjectMuhammad Shehada – Visiting fellow, ECFRSarah Leah Whitson – Director, DAWN On our radar: As India and Pakistan go toe-to-toe in their most intense fighting for decades, a flood of disinformation is fuelling the sense of panic on both sides. Meenakshi Ravi reports. Seeking justice on Ghana’s courtroom shows If you are dealing with something personal and painful – a broken marriage or a family dispute – you might turn to a friend. For something as serious as sexual assault, it might go to trial. But in Ghana, more and more people are turning somewhere else: live radio. The so-called “justice-style” shows promise swift, public resolutions. But they are also controversial, with critics accusing them of turning private pain into primetime theatre. Advertisement Featuring:George Sarpong – Executive secretary, National Media CommissionMenenaba – Ghanaian writerOheneni Adazoa – Host, Sompa Nkomo ShowZakaria Tanko Musah – Lecturer in media law and ethics, Journalism Institute Adblock test (Why?)
Barcelona vs Real Madrid: Ancelotti coy on future as Alonso link grows
Carlo Ancelotti says Xabi Alonso has “all the doors open” for a move to a big club, with speculation building that the former Real Madrid midfielder is set to replace the Italian coach at the helm of the Spanish powerhouse. Ancelotti gave his routine pre-game news conference on Saturday, a day after Alonso announced he was leaving Bayer Leverkusen. He praised the work of Alonso, who has been widely linked to an eventual move back to Madrid after leading the German club to the Bundesliga title last season. “I read that Xabi is leaving Bayer Leverkusen, where he did a fantastic job,” Ancelotti said before Sunday’s trip to Barcelona. “He has all the doors open because he has shown that he is one of the best coaches in the world.” Xabi Alonso confirmed in a news conference on Friday that he would leave Leverkusen at the end of the season [Marius Becker/Picture Alliance via Getty Images] Ancelotti again refused to speak about his future, especially before a decisive Clasico in LaLiga. Madrid trail Barcelona by four points and need to win to keep alive their chances of winning a trophy this campaign. Advertisement But he did speak movingly about what Madrid means — and will mean — for the most successful manager in European football. For Ancelotti, his relationship with the club he has spent six seasons at in two stints is an everlasting “honeymoon”. “The honeymoon with this club never ends, it continues forever,” he said. “I think that Real Madrid, like Milan before, are the teams that stay with me, given the time I have spent here. At the beginning, there is passion, and when that fades, other feelings emerge, a sense of tender care. My honeymoon with Real Madrid will last for as long as I live.” The 65-year-old coach is under contract through the next campaign but is widely expected to leave after an underwhelming season in which the team played worse despite adding Kylian Mbappe to its squad. Brazil have been courting Ancelotti for over a year, and it appears talks are still ongoing with the veteran manager. Real Madrid must play ‘complete’ game at Barcelona With only four games remaining of the LaLiga season, only a win will realistically keep Real’s hopes of retaining the title, and for Ancelotti, they will need to get everything right to have a chance on Sunday. “In this type of game, you have to do things well. Barcelona are used to keeping the opponent in their own area, but no team is perfect,” he said. “It’s a game where there’s a lot at stake, and to win, you have to manage everything well, defend well, attack well. We have to play a complete game.” With so much at stake against their great rivals, Ancelotti will have little trouble getting his players fired up. Advertisement “It’s not difficult to motivate the players because it’s the type of match for which the players already come out motivated and with a lot of confidence,” he said. “Playing with Barcelona is special. It will be the last ‘El Clasico’ of the season because Barca are not in the Club World Cup.” Who’s scoring in #ELCLÁSICO? 🤍 pic.twitter.com/Tgx1X8cVuA — LALIGA English (@LaLigaEN) May 8, 2025 Barcelona focused despite Champions League woe Barcelona’s players have discussed last week’s Champions League elimination and are ready to put their disappointment behind them against rivals Real Madrid, manager Hansi Flick said in his news conference on Saturday. Barca suffered a 4-3 Champions League semifinal defeat by Inter Milan on Tuesday. A home win on Sunday would move Flick’s side one victory away from their 28th Spanish league title. “We’re doing well. After the defeat in Milan, everyone knows it’s not easy … but we’re doing things right. We’ve talked about what we want to do in these two weeks,” Flick told reporters. “There are four more games to go. El Clasico is important, we have to show how well we can play. We have to show confidence. The players are doing very well … We’ve been talking about what they are thinking, what they are feeling. “We had to talk about it as a group. Everyone knows that in a Clasico, you have to give 100 percent. You have to be active, intense, dominant. Real Madrid is a very good team, and we need the fans.” El Clasico – the low down Translated as “The Classic” in English, El Clasico is the name given to any football match between rival clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid. Advertisement The special matchup between these football sides was born out of a more-than-a-century-old political-historical dimension between an increasingly distinct Catalan national identity, with FC Barcelona representing Catalonia, pitched against the centralised power structures of Spain’s capital city, Madrid, and by extension, its most famous football club, Real Madrid. The first match between the two Spanish mega clubs was played on May 13, 1902. In total, 260 matches have been played. Real Madrid lead in head-to-head results with 105 wins to Barcelona’s 103, with 52 draws. Last five LaLiga matches Barcelona: W-W-W-W-D (most recent fixture first) May 3, 2025 – Real Valladolid 1-2 BarcelonaApril 22, 2025 – Barcelona 1-0 MallorcaApril 19, 2025 – Barcelona 4-3 Celta VigoApril 12, 2025 – Leganes 0-1 BarcelonaApril 5, 2025 – Barcelona 1-1 Real Betis Real Madrid: W-W-W-W-L (most recent fixture first) May 04, 2025 – Real Madrid 3-2 Celta VigoApril 23, 2025 – Getafe 0-1 Real MadridApril 20, 2025 – Real Madrid 1-0 Athletic ClubApril 13, 2025 – Alaves 0-1 Real MadridApril 5, 2025 – Real Madrid 1-2 Valencia Adblock test (Why?)
Israeli protesters in Tel Aviv demand an end to war on Gaza
Thousands gather demanding an end to the war and the release of Israeli captives in Gaza. Thousands of Israelis rallied in central Tel Aviv, calling on the government to end the war on Gaza and secure the immediate release of Israeli captives held in the besieged Palestinian enclave. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that in Tel Aviv, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, an Israeli campaign group, held its weekly rally Saturday in “Hostages Square”, while another demonstration by families of captives is taking place outside the Israeli military headquarters. A separate antigovernment protest is also occurring at Habima Square in Tel Aviv. The Times of Israel reported that Shai Mozes, whose parents were held captive and released in separate exchange deals, told the crowd at the protest in Habima Square that Israel’s “real enemy is not Hamas, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is destroying Israel as a Jewish and democratic state”. Netanyahu’s critics in Israel have accused the prime minister of extending the war for his own personal and political survival. Haaretz also reported that protests are expected in other cities, including Jerusalem, Haifa, and Beersheba, as well as at dozens of other sites and intersections across Israel. Advertisement After Netanyahu announced an expanded offensive in the Gaza Strip on Monday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum criticised the move in a statement, saying the plan is “sacrificing” those still held in the Palestinian territory. A demonstrator wearing a mask representing US President Donald Trump and carrying a doll with a mask depicting Netanyahu at an antigovernment protest in Tel Aviv [Jack Guez/AFP] Hamas releases video of two Israeli captives alive in Gaza Hamas’s armed wing released a video on Saturday showing two Israeli captives alive in the Gaza Strip, with one of the two men calling to end the 19-month-long war. Israeli media identified the pair in the undated video as Elkana Bohbot and Yosef Haim Ohana. The three-minute video released by Hamas’s Qassam Brigades shows one of the captives, identified by media as 36-year-old Bohbot, visibly weak and lying on the floor wrapped in a blanket. Ohana, 24, speaks in Hebrew in the video, urging the Israeli government to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of all remaining captives. Bohbot and Ohana were both abducted by Palestinian fighters from the site of a music festival during Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on October 7 2023. Adblock test (Why?)
Newark mayor denies trespassing at US immigration centre following arrest
Ras Baraka denies charge against him a day after he spent several hours in police custody. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has denied trespassing at a new United States federal immigration detention centre following his arrest and release. Baraka, who has been protesting the centre’s opening this week, denied his trespassing charge on Saturday, a day after he spent several hours in police custody. The mayor has gone head-to-head with the Trump administration over undocumented immigration, pushing back against the opening of the Delaney Hall Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 1,000-bed detention facility, arguing that it should not be allowed to open because of building permit issues. Officials accused Baraka of trespassing and ignoring warnings to leave the Delaney Hall facility in Newark, New Jersey. “I’m shocked by all the lies that were told here,” he said, adding he had been invited there for a news conference. “No one else [was] arrested, I was invited in, then they arrested me on the sidewalk.” Alina Habba, interim US Attorney for New Jersey, said on the social media platform X that Baraka trespassed at the detention facility, which is run by private prison operator Geo Group. Advertisement Habba said Baraka had “chosen to disregard the law”. Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary for public affairs with the US Department of Homeland Security, said in an interview with CNN on Saturday that the investigation was ongoing and that more video from the scene would soon be released. She also accused Baraka of playing “political games”. Baraka was taken into custody by the ICE agents in a scuffle at the facility. He had joined several lawmakers at the detention centre for a demonstration on Friday. Video of the incident showed that Baraka was arrested after returning to the public side of the gate to the facility. Local elected officials swiftly condemned the federal agents’ actions, with the state’s governor, Phil Murphy, writing on X that he was “outraged by the unjust arrest”. Adblock test (Why?)
Reporting from behind shifting front lines in Myanmar’s civil war
On a typical day, Mai Rupa travels through his native Shan State, in eastern Myanmar, documenting the impact of war. A video journalist with the online news outlet Shwe Phee Myay, he travels to remote towns and villages, collecting footage and conducting interviews on stories ranging from battle updates to the situation for local civilians living in a war zone. His job is fraught with risks. Roads are strewn with landmines and there are times when he has taken cover from aerial bombing and artillery shelling. “I have witnessed countless people being injured and civilians dying in front of me,” Mai Rupa said. “These heartbreaking experiences deeply affected me,” he told Al Jazeera, “at times, leading to serious emotional distress.” Mai Rupa is one of a small number of brave, independent journalists still reporting on the ground in Myanmar, where a 2021 military coup shattered the country’s fragile transition to democracy and obliterated media freedoms. Like his colleagues at Shwe Phee Myay – a name which refers to Shan State’s rich history of tea cultivation – Mai Rupa prefers to go by a pen name due to the risks of publicly identifying as a reporter with one of the last remaining independent media outlets still operating inside the country. Advertisement Most journalists fled Myanmar in the aftermath of the military’s takeover and the expanding civil war. Some continue their coverage by making cross-border trips from work bases in neighbouring Thailand and India. But staff at Shwe Phee Myay – a Burmese-language outlet, with roots in Shan State’s ethnic Ta’ang community – continue reporting from on the ground, covering a region of Myanmar where several ethnic armed groups have for decades fought against the military and at times clashed with each other. Ta’ang National Liberation army officers march during an event to mark the 52nd Ta’ang revolution day in Mar-Wong, Ta’ang self-governing area, northern Shan State, Myanmar, in 2015 [File: Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP] Fighting to keep the public informed After Myanmar’s military launched a coup in February 2021, Shwe Phee Myay’s journalists faced new risks. In March that year, two reporters with the outlet narrowly escaped arrest while covering pro-democracy protests. When soldiers and police raided their office in the Shan State capital of Lashio two months later, the entire team had already gone into hiding. That September, the military arrested the organisation’s video reporter, Lway M Phuong, for alleged incitement and dissemination of “false news”. She served nearly two years in prison. The rest of the 10-person Shwe Phee Myay team scattered following her arrest, which came amid the Myanmar military’s wider crackdown on the media. Spread out across northern Shan State in the east of the country, the news team initially struggled to continue their work. They chose to avoid urban areas where they might encounter the military. Every day was a struggle to continue reporting. Advertisement “We couldn’t travel on main roads, only back roads,” recounted Hlar Nyiem, an assistant editor with Shwe Phee Myay. “Sometimes, we lost four or five work days in a week,” she said. Police arrest Myanmar Now journalist Kay Zon Nwe in Yangon in February 2021, as protesters took part in a demonstration against the military coup [Ye Aung Thu/AFP] Despite the dangers, Shwe Phee Myay’s reporters continued with their clandestine work to keep the public informed. When a magnitude 7.7 earthquake hit central Myanmar on March 28, killing more than 3,800 people, Shwe Phee Myay’s journalists were among the few able to document the aftermath from inside the country. The military blocked most international media outlets from accessing earthquake-affected areas, citing difficulties with travel and accommodation, and the few local reporters still working secretly in the country took great risks to get information to the outside world. “These journalists continue to reveal truths and make people’s voices heard that the military regime is desperate to silence,” said Thu Thu Aung, a public policy scholar at the University of Oxford who has conducted research on Myanmar’s post-coup media landscape. Journalists with Shwe Phee Myay conduct a video interview in Shan State, Myanmar, in September 2024 [Courtesy of Shwe Phee Myay] On top of the civil war and threats posed by Myanmar’s military regime, Myanmar’s journalists have encountered a new threat. Advertisement In January, the administration of US President Donald Trump and his billionaire confidante Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began dismantling the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID had allocated more than $268m towards supporting independent media and the free flow of information in more than 30 countries around the world – from Ukraine to Myanmar, according to journalism advocacy group Reporters Without Borders. In February, The Guardian reported on the freezing of USAID funds, creating an “existential crisis” for exiled Myanmar journalists operating from the town of Mae Sot, on the country’s border with Thailand. The situation worsened further in mid-March, when the White House declared plans for the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) to reduce operations to the bare minimum. USAGM oversees – among others – the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, which were both leading providers of news on Myanmar. Last week, RFA announced it was laying off 90 percent of its staff and ceasing to produce news in the Tibetan, Burmese, Uighur and Lao languages. VOA has faced a similar situation. Tin Tin Nyo, managing director of Burma News International, a network of 16 local, independent media organisations based inside and outside Myanmar, said the loss of the Burmese-language services provided by VOA and RFA created a “troubling information vacuum”. Myanmar’s independent media sector also relied heavily on international assistance, which had already been dwindling, Tin Tin Nyo said. Many local Myanmar news outlets were already “struggling to continue producing reliable information”, as a result of the USAID funding cuts brought in by Trump and executed by Musk’s DOGE, she said. Some had laid off staff, reduced their programming or suspended operations. Advertisement “The downsizing of independent media has decreased the capacity
Could India, Pakistan use nuclear weapons? Here’s what their doctrines say
Pakistan said it struck multiple Indian military bases in the early hours of Saturday, May 10, after claiming that India had launched missiles against three Pakistani bases, marking a sharp escalation in their already soaring tensions, as the neighbours edge closer to an all-out war. Long-simmering hostilities, mostly over the disputed region of Kashmir, erupted into renewed fighting after the deadly April 22 Pahalgam attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that saw 25 tourists and a local guide killed in an armed group attack. India blamed Pakistan for the attack; Islamabad denied any role. Since then, the nations have engaged in a series of tit-for-tat moves that began with diplomatic steps but have rapidly turned into aerial military confrontation. As both sides escalate shelling and missile attacks and seem on the road to a full-scale battle, an unprecedented reality stares not just at the 1.6 billion people of India and Pakistan but at the world: An all-out war between them would be the first ever between two nuclear-armed nations. Advertisement “It would be stupid for either side to launch a nuclear attack on the other … It is way short of probable that nuclear weapons are used, but that does not mean it’s impossible,” Dan Smith, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, told Al Jazeera. So, how did we get here? What are the nuclear arsenals of India and Pakistan like? And when – according to them – might they use nuclear weapons? How tensions have spiralled since April 22 India has long accused The Resistance Front (TRF) – the armed group that initially claimed credit for the Pahalgam attack, before then distancing itself from the killings – of being a proxy for the Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based armed group that has repeatedly targeted India, including in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that left more than 160 people dead. New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the Pahalgam attack. Pakistan denied any role. India withdrew from a bilateral pact on water sharing, and both sides scaled back diplomatic missions and expelled each other’s citizens. Pakistan also threatened to walk out of other bilateral pacts, including the 1972 Simla Agreement that bound the neighbours to a ceasefire line in disputed Kashmir, known as the Line of Control (LoC). But on May 7, India launched a wave of missile attacks against sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. It claimed it hit “terrorist infrastructure”, but Pakistan says at least 31 civilians, including two children, were killed. On May 8, India launched drones into Pakistani airspace, reaching the country’s major cities. India claimed it was retaliating, and that Pakistan had fired missiles and drones at it. Then, for two nights in a row, cities in India and Indian-administered Kashmir reported explosions that New Delhi claimed were the result of attempted Pakistani attacks that were thwarted. Advertisement Pakistan denied sending missiles and drones into India on May 8 and May 9 – but that changed in the early hours of May 10, when Pakistan first claimed that India targeted three of its bases with missiles. Soon after, Pakistan claimed it struck at least seven Indian bases. India has not yet responded either to Pakistan’s claims that Indian bases were hit or to Islamabad’s allegation that New Delhi launched missiles at its military installations. How many nuclear warheads do India and Pakistan have? India first conducted nuclear tests in May 1974 before subsequent tests in May 1998, after which it declared itself a nuclear weapons state. Within days, Pakistan launched a series of six nuclear tests and officially became a nuclear-armed state, too. Each side has since raced to build arms and nuclear stockpiles bigger than the other, a project that has cost them billions of dollars. India is currently estimated to have more than 180 nuclear warheads. It has developed longer-range missiles and mobile land-based missiles capable of delivering them, and is working with Russia to build ship and submarine missiles, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Pakistan’s arsenal, meanwhile, consists of more than 170 warheads. The country enjoys technological support from its regional ally, China, and its stockpile includes primarily mobile short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, with enough range to hit just inside India. A motorcyclist rides past shattered windows of a restaurant outside the Rawalpindi cricket stadium after an alleged drone was shot down in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on May 8, 2025 [Aamir Qureshi/ AFP] What’s India’s nuclear policy? India’s interest in nuclear power was initially sparked and expanded under its first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who was eager to use it to boost energy generation. However, in recent decades, the country has solidified its nuclear power status to deter its neighbours, China and Pakistan, over territorial disputes. Advertisement New Delhi’s first and only nuclear doctrine was published in 2003 and has not been formally revised. The architect of that doctrine, the late strategic analyst K Subrahmanyam, was the father of India’s current foreign minister, S Jaishankar. Only the prime minister, as head of the political council of the Nuclear Command Authority, can authorise a nuclear strike. India’s nuclear doctrine is built around four principles: No First Use (NFU): This principle means that India will not be the first to launch nuclear attacks on its enemies. It will only retaliate with nuclear weapons if it is first hit in a nuclear attack. India’s doctrine says it can launch retaliation against attacks committed on Indian soil or if nuclear weapons are used against its forces on foreign territory. India also commits to not using nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states. Credible Minimum Deterrence: India’s nuclear posture is centred around deterrence – that is, its nuclear arsenal is meant primarily to discourage other countries from launching a nuclear attack on the country. India maintains that its nuclear arsenal is insurance against such attacks. It’s one of the reasons why New Delhi is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), as it maintains that all countries uniformly disarm before it does the same. Massive Retaliation:
Newark Mayor Ras Baraka arrested during ICE detention centre protest
US attorney says Baraka ‘committed trespass’ during protest of facility, which he argues opened without proper permits. Rights groups and Democratic officials have decried the arrest of the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, during a protest at an immigration detention centre. Mayor Ras Baraka had joined several lawmakers at the detention centre, called Delaney Hall, for a demonstration on Friday. For weeks, he has been among those protesting the recently opened 1,000-bed centre, which critics see as a key link in President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts. Those in attendance said Baraka sought to enter the facility along with members of the United States Congress on Friday, but he was denied entry. A video reviewed by The Associated Press showed a federal official in a jacket with the logo for the Homeland Security Investigations unit telling Baraka he could not tour the facility because “you are not a congress member”. Baraka then left the secure area, rejoining protesters on the public side of the centre’s gate. Video showed him speaking through the gate to a man in a suit. The man said, “They’re talking about coming back to arrest you.” Advertisement “I’m not on their property. They can’t come out on the street and arrest me,” Baraka replied. Moments later, several Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, some wearing face coverings, surrounded the mayor and others on the public side of the gate. Baraka was dragged back through the security gate in handcuffs, while protesters yelled, “Shame!” In a subsequent post on the social media platform X, Alina Habba, Trump’s former personal lawyer and acting US attorney for New Jersey, said Baraka had “committed trespass and ignored multiple warnings” to leave. “He has willingly chosen to disregard the law. That will not stand in this state,” Habba wrote. “He has been taken into custody. NO ONE IS ABOVE THE LAW.” US Representative LaMonica McIver was also at the centre on Friday, along with Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman and Robert Menendez Jr, to conduct what they called an “oversight inspection”. In a post on X, McIver said Baraka “did nothing wrong” and had already left the facility at the time of his arrest. “This is unacceptable,” McIver said in the video. For its part, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security accused the lawmakers of “storming” the facility in a “bizarre political stunt”. Baraka has said the detention centre — located in Newark, not far from New York City — opened despite not having the proper local permits and approvals. He has launched a lawsuit to halt its operations. The GEO group, which runs the centre in coordination with ICE, has denied his claims. It entered into an agreement with the federal government in February to run the Delaney Hall facility, under a 15-year contract valued at $1bn. Advertisement ‘Unjust arrest’ Local elected officials swiftly condemned the federal agents’ actions, with the state’s governor, Phil Murphy, writing on X that he was “outraged by the unjust arrest” of Baraka. Murphy called the mayor an “exemplary public servant who has always stood up for our most vulnerable mayors” and appealed for his release. The governor noted that New Jersey had previously passed a law banning private immigration detention centres in the state, a Democratic stronghold, although it was partially struck down by a federal court in 2023. An appeal is ongoing. Baraka, who is running in next month’s Democratic primary for governor, has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration’s immigration policies. He struck a defiant tone against the Trump administration in January, after ICE raided businesses in the city he leads. “Newark will not stand by idly while people are being unlawfully terrorised,” he said at the time. Adblock test (Why?)
Church must bring light to world’s ‘dark nights’: Pope Leo at first mass
The new head of the Catholic Church will be formally installed as pope at a mass on May 18, the Vatican says. Pope Leo XIV has promised to make the Catholic Church a balm for the world’s “dark nights”, as he celebrated his first mass as pontiff less than 24 hours after being elected. Sixty-nine-year-old Leo, the former Cardinal Robert Prevost and the first American pope, delivered the Mass on Friday, flanked by cardinals in the Vatican City’s Sistine Chapel. The new head of the Catholic Church was elected by fellow cardinals on Thursday, following Pope Francis’s death, and has become the first US pontiff in the church’s 2,000-year history. Leo, who now leads the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, acknowledged that the Christian faith is sometimes “considered absurd” and the preserve of “the weak and unintelligent”. “A lack of faith is often tragically accompanied by the loss of meaning in life, the neglect of mercy, appalling violations of human dignity, the crisis of the family and so many other wounds that afflict our society,” he said at the mass, adorned in simple white and gold clothes. He also warned that Jesus cannot be “reduced to a kind of charismatic leader or superman”. Advertisement “This is true not only among non-believers, but also among many baptised Christians, who thus end up living, at this level, in a state of practical atheism,” he said. The new pontiff said he would seek to serve as the “faithful administrator” for the Church as a whole. Leo will be formally installed as pope at a mass on May 18 and will preside over his first general audience on May 21, the Vatican said, with world and religious leaders invited to his formal launch of the papacy. Pope Francis’s inauguration in 2013 attracted a crowd of about 200,000 people. The new pope will also leave senior Vatican officials in their roles for the time being, giving him time to decide before making appointments, the Vatican said. The pope was elected at the end of a two-day conclave that wrapped up on Thursday evening when white smoke billowed from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. Francis, who died last month at the age of 88, leaves Leo to inherit a number of major challenges, ranging from a budget shortfall to divisions about whether the Church should be more welcoming towards the LGBTQ community and divorcees, and should let women play a greater role in its affairs. Leo was born in Chicago but spent two decades as a missionary in Peru. Before his election, US cardinals were largely written off as papal contenders because of a widespread assumption that the global Church could not be run by a superpower pope. However, since Leo also holds Peruvian citizenship, it is understood that he has knowledge of both the West and the Global South. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Canadian unemployment rate hits six-month high amid US-imposed tariffs
Statistics Canada showed an unemployment rate of 6.9 percent, with most cuts in the manufacturing sector. Canada’s unemployment jumped to its highest level since November as United States President Donald Trump’s imposed tariffs affect the export-dependent economy. Statistics Canada showed a 0.2 percent increase for the month of April, bringing the country’s unemployment rate to 6.9 percent, according to its report released on Friday. The 6.9 figure matched November unemployment, which was an eight-year high outside of the pandemic era. The agency pointed to the effect tariffs imposed by the US had on the country’s manufacturing sector, which lost 31,000 jobs on a monthly basis. The wholesale, retail and trade sector saw 27,000 jobs cut. Employment in the public sector increased by 23,000 or up 0.5 percent in April, following three months of little change, especially due to increased temporary hiring for the federal election that took place on April 28. The average hourly wage growth of permanent employees, a metric closely watched by the Canadian central bank to gauge inflationary trends, was at 3.5 percent in April, unchanged since March. Advertisement Overall, the employment number was largely flat with minimal gains of net 7,400 jobs in April, it said – slightly higher than analyst expectations at 6.8 percent. This was in contrast to a loss of 32,600 jobs the prior month. The employment rate, or the proportion of the working-age population that is employed, was at 60.8 percent in April, following a decline of 0.2 percentage points in March. This was a six-month low, the statistics agency said. The employment rate had been depressed for most of 2023 and 2024 as population growth outpaced employment gains. However, since February, population growth has not been very high but employment gains have slowed. “People who were unemployed continued to face more difficulties finding work in April than a year earlier,” StatsCan said, adding that among those who were unemployed in March, 61 percent remained unemployed in April – almost four percentage points higher than the same period last year. Major hit coming Trump’s tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium in March and automobiles in April, along with import duties on a broad range of products with various reductions and exemptions, have affected businesses and households. The Bank of Canada has warned that growth would take a major hit in the coming months as exports fall, prices increase, hiring drops and layoffs accelerate. It has said it will act decisively if the economy needs urgent support. “Overall, we are seeing a job market that was weak heading into the trade war, now looking like it could soon buckle. Today’s report supports the case for a Bank of Canada cut in June,” Ali Jaffery, senior economist at CIBC Capital Markets, told the Reuters news agency. Advertisement Adblock test (Why?)
Who are the armed groups India accuses Pakistan of backing?
Tensions are higher between India and Pakistan than they have been in decades as the two countries trade blame for drone attacks on each other’s territory over the past few days. At the heart of the dispute is what India claims is Pakistan’s support for armed separatist groups operating in Kashmir, a region disputed between the two countries. An armed group called The Resistance Front (TRF) claimed responsibility for the Pahalgam attack in Indian-administered Kashmir last month in which 26 people were killed. India alleges that TRF is an offshoot of another Pakistan-based armed group, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and has blamed Pakistan for supporting such groups. Pakistan has denied this. It condemned the attack in April and called for an independent investigation. Here is more about who the armed groups are and the major attacks they’ve claimed or been blamed for. The TRF emerged in 2019 following the Indian government’s suspension of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, stripping Indian-administered Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status. Advertisement However, the group was not widely known before the Pahalgam attack, which it took responsibility for in April via the Telegram messaging app, on which it said it was opposed to the granting of residency permits to “outsiders”. Since the repeal of Article 370, non-Kashmiris have been granted residency permits to settle in Indian-administered Kashmir. This has stoked fears that the Indian government is trying to change the demographics of Kashmir, whose population is nearly all Muslim. Unlike other armed rebel groups in Kashmir, the TRF does not have an Islamic name. However, the Indian government maintains that it is an offshoot of, or a front for, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based armed group whose name means “Army of the Pure”. In 2020, TRF started claiming responsibility for minor attacks, including some targeted killings. TRF recruits included rebels from different splinter rebel groups. Indian security agents say they have arrested multiple TRF members since then. According to Indian government records, most armed fighters killed in gunfights in Kashmir were affiliated with the TRF in 2022. The LeT, which calls for the “liberation” of Indian-administered Kashmir, was founded around 1990 by Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, who is also known as Hafiz Saeed. In 2008, armed gunmen opened fire on civilians at several sites in Mumbai, India, killing 166 people. Ajmal Kasab, the only attacker captured alive, said the attackers were members of LeT. Saeed denied any involvement in that attack, however. Kasab was executed by India in 2012. Advertisement India also blamed Pakistani intelligence agencies for the attack. While Pakistan conceded that the attack may have been partly planned on Pakistani soil, it maintained that its government and intelligence agencies were not involved. According to the United Nations, LeT was also involved in a 2001 attack on India’s parliament and a 2006 attack on Mumbai commuter trains that killed 189 people. On May 7, India launched missile attacks on several cities in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir. One of these cities was Muridke in the Punjab province. India claims that Muridke was the location of the headquarters of the Jamat-ud-Dawa, a charity organisation that New Delhi insists is a front for the LeT. Last week, the Indian army claimed it had struck LeT’s Markaz Taiba camp in Muridke. The army also claimed Kasab had been trained at this camp. Pakistan says LeT has been banned, however. Following an attack on Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pulwama in 2019, Pakistan also reimposed a lapsed ban on Jamat-ud-Dawa. Saeed was arrested in 2019 and is in the custody of the Pakistani government, serving a 31-year prison sentence after being convicted in two “terror financing” cases. Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), or “The Army of Muhammad”, was formed around 2000 by Masood Azhar, who had been released from Indian prison in 1999. Azhar, who had been arrested on “terrorism” charges, was released in exchange for 155 hostages being held by hijackers of an Indian Airlines plane. Azhar previously fought under the banner of a group called Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, which calls for Kashmir to be united with Pakistan, and has been linked to al-Qaeda. Advertisement According to the UN Security Council, JeM has also had links with al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. Pakistan banned JeM in 2002 after the group, alongside LeT, was blamed for an attack on the Indian parliament in 2001. The British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who was convicted of killing US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002, was also a member of JeM. Pearl was the Wall Street Journal’s South Asia bureau chief. However, a 2011 report released by the Pearl Project at Georgetown University following its own investigation claimed that Pearl had not been murdered by Sheikh. The report instead alleged that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attacks, was responsible. In 2021, a panel of three judges at Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered Sheikh’s release. Despite the ban, Indian authorities claim the group continues to operate in Bahawalpur, in Pakistan’s Punjab province. On May 7, the Indian army claimed its strikes had also targeted the headquarters of JeM there. In 2019, JeM claimed a suicide bomb attack that killed 40 Indian paramilitary soldiers in Pulwama in Indian-administered Kashmir. Azhar has been arrested by Pakistani authorities twice, but was released and has never been charged. He has since disappeared from the public eye and his current whereabouts are not known. Hizbul-ul-Mujahideen Hizbul-ul-Mujahideen (HuM), or “Party of Holy Fighters” was formed in 1989 by Kashmiri separatist leader Muhammad Ahsan Dar. The group emerged out of the 1988 protests in Kashmir against the Indian government. The group, also called Hizb, has become the largest Indigenous rebel group based in Indian-administered Kashmir. Advertisement Rather than calling for independence, HuM calls for the whole of Kashmir to be allowed to accede to Pakistan. The group has a huge network of fighters in Shopian, Kulgam and Pulwama districts in the south of Indian-administered Kashmir. In 2016, the killing of popular HuM commander Burhan Wani triggered widespread protests in Indian-administered Kashmir, resulting in a crackdown by