Juan Manuel Santos on Colombia’s peace process, 10 years on
Ten years after Colombia’s landmark peace agreement, former president Juan Manuel Santos assesses its legacy. The Nobel Peace Prize laureate discusses renewed violence, political divisions and what Colombia’s experience can teach a world facing growing conflict. Published On 31 May 202631 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Iran war live: Lebanon slams Israel’s invasion; US-Tehran deal in limbo
blinking-dotLive updatesLive updates, Lebanese prime minister describes Israel’s attacks as collective punishment as US warns Iran of strikes if no deal is reached. Published On 31 May 202631 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Emotional scenes as more survivors pulled from flooded Laos cave
NewsFeed Divers in Laos have rescued four more villagers trapped in a flooded cave. The first survivor was pulled out on Friday. Two more men remain missing. They entered the cave to look for gold before flash floods blocked their escape 10 days ago. Published On 31 May 202631 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Rescues in eastern Syria after the Euphrates River bursts its banks
NewsFeed Rescue workers have pulled stranded farmers from flood waters in eastern Syria after the Euphrates burst its banks. Among the worst-affected areas was Deir Az Zor, where the flooding caused a bridge collapse and cut-off communities. Published On 31 May 202631 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Iran war live: Trump due to make ‘final determination’ on deal with Tehran
blinking-dotLive updatesLive updates, Israel pushes deeper into Lebanon just days after Israel’s prime minister ordered the occupation of Gaza to expand to 70 percent of the Palestinian territory. Published On 30 May 202630 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
First survivor rescued from flooded cave in Laos
NewsFeed Divers in Laos have rescued the first of five villagers trapped in a flooded cave for more than a week. The men entered the cave to look for gold before flash floods blocked their escape. Two other villagers are still missing. Published On 30 May 202630 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Louisiana lawmakers pass congressional map favouring Republicans
Louisiana lawmakers have passed a new map of congressional districts designed to help Republicans pick up a seat in the United States House of Representatives. But to do so, the map eliminates one of the state’s two majority-Black districts, both of which are represented by Democrats. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Approval in Louisiana’s legislature came on Friday. It follows an April decision from the US Supreme Court striking down Louisiana’s current map as an illegal racial gerrymander because it was drawn to include two majority-Black districts. That ruling, in the case Louisiana v Callais, weakened the landmark 1965 federal Voting Rights Act, meant to prevent discrimination against minorities at the ballot box. It also intensified a national redistricting battle fuelled by President Donald Trump’s efforts to protect the Republicans’ slim House majority in the midterm elections. Louisiana is one of several Southern states now redrawing their maps to help Republicans. Louisiana Republicans had considered drawing a map giving the party a shot at winning all six of the state’s US House seats. But that would have required adding more registered Democrats to Republican-held districts, which could have potentially backfired with Republican losses. Republicans currently hold four of Louisiana’s six congressional seats, and they are slated to pick up a fifth with the newly passed map. It was approved on Friday by the Louisiana state Senate in a 28-to-10 vote. ‘Vicious race to the bottom’ Republican Governor Jeff Landry is expected to sign the new map into law, even as threats of more litigation emerged Friday. Advertisement A half-hour Senate floor debate revolved around Democrats contending that the proposed map is racially gerrymandered to squeeze more Black voters, who tend to be registered Democrats, into a single district. Democratic state Senator Royce Duplessis pointed out that some fellow Southern states, such as South Carolina, had refused to redraw their maps in the middle of an election year. He warned that Louisiana is participating in a “vicious, vicious race to the bottom” by participating in the redistricting push. The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Senator Jay Morris, repeatedly insisted that party affiliation, not race, drove the new district boundaries. “I purposely put more Democrats into District 2 to make the remaining districts better performing for Republicans,” Morris said at one point. Morris said he instructed the map demographers to avoid including any data on race or including those statistics in information shared with lawmakers before the vote. Democratic state Senator Sam Jenkins told Morris, “I think it’s a racially gerrymandered district that’s going to get us into a lot of trouble here.” “Agree to disagree,” Morris told Jenkins. More litigation expected in Louisiana Louisiana is currently using a map ordered by a lower court in 2024 to comply with the Voting Rights Act. It includes a second district with a majority-Black population. That map, however, was challenged in court, and the Supreme Court responded on April 30 by striking it down as an illegal racial gerrymander. Landry has postponed the state’s closed US House primary slated for May 16 to allow for the new congressional map to be implemented. He later signed a law making the US primary open and shifted the date to November 3 to allow time for Republican lawmakers to draw and pass a new map. All candidates, regardless of party affiliation, will be on the ballot for voters in their district. The proposed map redraws a district currently represented by Democratic Representative Cleo Fields, clustering it around predominantly white communities in the Baton Rouge area and southern Louisiana. It also adds part of Baton Rouge to a heavily Democratic, majority-Black district based in New Orleans, represented by Democratic Representative Troy Carter. More lawsuits are expected over the new map. Democrats say the proposed map could draw a legal challenge over racial gerrymandering, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Louisiana suggested Friday that it could sue, calling the map a “racial gerrymander hiding behind the thin veneer of partisanship”. Advertisement “This fight is just beginning,” the ACLU branch added. Meanwhile, the victorious plaintiffs in the US Supreme Court’s decision criticised the legislature’s map for leaving a majority-Black district in place. Nationwide battle over district lines In the weeks following the Supreme Court’s decision, other Republican-controlled Southern states have seized upon the weakened federal Voting Rights Act to redraw their own congressional districts. So far, Republicans are winning the nationwide redistricting contest, passing more partisan maps to gain House seats than Democrats. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they will win in the narrowly divided US House in November. Republicans think they could gain as many as 15 seats from their redistricting efforts so far, while Democrats think they could gain six seats from new districts in California and Utah. Meanwhile, a court decision in Wisconsin on Friday could give Democrats a new avenue to pick up seats in 2028. The liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court said it would hear an appeal of a case filed by a bipartisan coalition of business executives that seeks to redraw the state’s Republican-friendly congressional districts. Republicans hold six of the state’s eight House seats, but only two are considered competitive. A three-judge panel dismissed the case in April. Those who filed the lawsuit weren’t seeking a ruling in time for the 2026 election. Instead, they asked the state Supreme Court to send the case back to the lower court for a trial on their claims, which would likely not take place until 2027. Adblock test (Why?)
How Indian PM Modi’s efforts to isolate Pakistan ‘backfired’
Doha, Qatar – Thumping his fist on a lectern, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a direct challenge to the leaders of Pakistan. “India has been successful in isolating you, and we will intensify those efforts,” he said, addressing a large rally of supporters in the southern Indian state of Kerala, as dusk set in. “We will make sure that you are isolated around the world.” Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list It was September 2016, and Modi was responding to an attack by armed fighters in Indian-administered Kashmir days earlier, in which 18 Indian soldiers had been killed. “The leaders of Pakistan should listen: The sacrifice of our 18 soldiers will not go in vain,” the Indian leader said. Yet a decade later, Pakistan stands far from isolated: It is a close strategic ally of China, where the Pakistani prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, visited this week, and has reemerged as a trusted partner of the United States under President Donald Trump. Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir and Sharif have both visited Trump at the White House over the past year. Islamabad is the principal mediator between the US and Iran amid their ongoing war. Trump has also frequently praised the Pakistani leadership. In part, say analysts, that’s a reflection of Pakistan’s success in wooing Trump, and in capitalising on key geopolitical events to make itself an important diplomatic player for superpowers and regional players alike. But equally, say analysts, Pakistan’s growing diplomatic stature underscores missteps by Modi’s administration. Advertisement “Certainly, India’s strategy of undercutting and indeed isolating Pakistan, regionally and globally, has backfired in a big way,” Michael Kugelman, a senior fellow on South Asia at the Atlantic Council think tank, told Al Jazeera. Rubble of buildings in Muridke, Pakistan, hit by Indian missiles in May 2025 [Abid Hussain/Al Jazeera] The ceasefire and the Nobel nomination On May 10, 2025, Trump announced that he had secured a ceasefire between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. “After a long night of talks mediated by the United States, I am pleased to announce that India and Pakistan have agreed to a FULL AND IMMEDIATE CEASEFIRE,” he posted on his Truth Social platform. Shortly after, Sharif, the Pakistani PM, thanked Trump’s “leadership and proactive role” in securing the truce that ended four days of intense fighting involving ballistic missiles, fighter jets and drones. It was the worst fighting between India and Pakistan in decades: Dozens of people were killed on both sides of their heavily militarised border. The conflict erupted after the Indian military carried out attacks on “terror” sites deep inside Pakistani territory, in response to an attack by gunmen who killed 26 tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir. But unlike Sharif, Modi, who had cultivated a personal rapport with the US president – whom he had met just months earlier in the Oval Office – chose to remain silent, even as India’s foreign secretary confirmed the ceasefire. Days later, the US president offered to work with the two arch foes to find a solution to the Kashmir issue, which has defined India-Pakistan relations since 1947, the year the two South Asian nations achieved independence from British colonial rule. For India, Trump’s attempts to portray himself as a peacemaker between New Delhi and Islamabad were troubling: India has long insisted that its disputes with its neighbour were strictly bilateral, for the two countries to resolve among themselves – though US former President Bill Clinton had played a role in ending the 1999 Kargil War. In June, Modi was visiting Canada when Trump asked him to also fly over to Washington. Modi turned down the offer. He instead told the US president over the phone that New Delhi wouldn’t accept third-party mediation, and that the ceasefire in May was solely the result of bilateral conversations with Pakistan. Yet that tit-for-tat spiral of claims around the May truce continued. Trump has since insisted on more than 30 occasions that he brokered the ceasefire between India and Pakistan. He has claimed that he averted a nuclear war that could have killed millions. The US president also asserted that Indian fighter jets were shot down on the first day of the conflict, echoing the Pakistani narrative of downing several Indian planes. Advertisement New Delhi also failed to convince the international community on Pakistan’s role in the attack that triggered the May 2025 fighting in the first place, analysts say. “The world did not step back and encourage India to carry out strikes… World capitals noted that India did not provide proof of any Pakistani complicity in the Pahalgam attack,” Kugelman of the Atlantic Council said, referring to the scenic town in Indian-administered Kashmir where tourists were shot. Pakistan, he said, appeared to have won “the global battle of narratives”. “The fact that Pakistan was able to hold its own in a conflict and shoot down several Indian jets … that’s something that got a lot of attention around the world, including in the White House,” he added. New Delhi’s silence on the downing of the jets for almost three weeks further gave impetus to that perception. The country’s top general eventually acknowledged that several fighter planes were shot down by Pakistan, though India has never confirmed the number. Analysts say Modi’s refusal to give credit to the US president for the truce strained US-India ties. Pakistan, on the other hand, promptly acknowledged Trump’s efforts in achieving the truce and even nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize – an award the US president has said he deserved. Trump, who had accused Pakistan of “deceit and lies” during his first term, has since repeatedly praised Pakistani leadership, including army chief Asim Munir who led the war efforts against India. And to India’s dismay, Trump invited Munir to the White House for lunch – the first time that a Pakistani military chief who was not also president had been hosted by a US president. Trump has described Munir as his “favourite Field Marshal” and an “exceptional human being” –
Blue Origin rocket explodes on launch pad during test
NewsFeed A rocket belonging to Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin exploded during a test at the Florida launch pad Thursday night. The explosion shook nearby homes and briefly painted the sky orange. Bezos said it was “too early to know the root cause” of the incident. No one was injured in the blast. The same rocket, New Glenn, failed a mission to deliver a satellite last month and prompted an investigation. Published On 29 May 202629 May 2026 Click here to share on social media share-nodes Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)
Israel football dispute to ‘heat up’ after protest in Ireland-Qatar match
Ireland’s football match against Qatar was stalled by pro-Palestinian protests as pressure builds on upcoming games against Israel. By Al Jazeera Staff and Reuters Published On 29 May 202629 May 2026 Republic of Ireland midfielder Jamie McGrath has warned that the controversy surrounding Nations League games against Israel could intensify after their friendly win over Qatar in Dublin was disrupted by pro-Palestinian protests. Ireland are set to host Israel at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on October 4, while a September 27 fixture designated as an Israel home match is expected to be staged at a neutral venue. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Qatar’s match against Ireland was part of their preparations for this summer’s World Cup, where they begin their campaign against Switzerland on June 13. Ireland failed to qualify for the event. Earlier this month, leading Irish footballers joined with celebrities in a campaign calling for a boycott of Israel’s matches, but Ireland’s governing body for football (FAI) has said it will go ahead with the fixtures and that a refusal to play could lead to disciplinary measures. Tennis balls featuring the Palestinian flag were thrown on to the pitch in Thursday’s friendly, causing the match to be halted twice, and McGrath expected more protests to follow. “I’m sure it’s going to heat up over the next few months. We (the players) don’t want to be put into a position,” he told the BBC’s Northern Ireland bureau after the match. “It’s obviously a unique scenario. The people [protesters], we have to listen to them, they have the right to do what they do, as long as it’s done in a peaceful way, that’s all that matters. “Hopefully, the powers above us can work something out or use it for the greater good, I’m not sure what the process will be as it heats up. Advertisement “At the end of the day, we’re footballers and we don’t want to be caught in this, but sometimes we might have to.” In November last year, 93 percent of FAI members voted for its leadership to press UEFA to suspend the Israel Football Association from European competitions. On Tuesday, the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign held a protest at the Dail (Irish parliament). Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrimsson has also regularly weighed in on the debate and, ahead of the Qatar match, said his players must “win this war” against Israel in the upcoming matches. McGrath was pressed further on the matter as to whether he believed a resolution would be found ahead of the matches. “To be honest, I’ve no idea,” he replied. “We obviously touched on it a few days, I’m sure as it heats up, it might be taken out of our hands, I’m not sure.” Adblock test (Why?)