World News

The Iraqi government has requested that the United Nations end a mission set up to promote governance and human rights reforms in the country by the end of 2025, the latest in a series of international bodies operating in the nation that Iraq has sought to wind down.

The letter sent Wednesday by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres declared that there is "no need for the continuation" of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

Sudani said Iraq's government has "been able to achieve a number of important steps" in areas that fall under the body's mandate. rendering it redundant.

IRAQ'S FORMER DEFENSE MINISTER ARRESTED IN SWEDISH AIRPORT FOR ALLEGED BENEFITS FRAUD

Typically, the mission is extended annually by the U.N. Security Council, with the current term expiring at the end of this month.

Sudani's letter did not oppose a one-year extension but said the mission should focus on wrapping up its tasks to ensure a permanent closure and transfer of its responsibilities by the end of 2025.

Established in 2003 in the wake of the U.S. invasion that toppled longtime dictator Saddam Hussein, UNAMI had been tasked with a number of missions, including facilitating dialogue among various groups, assisting with election logistics, monitoring human rights, and coordinating aid in conflict-affected areas.

A UNAMI spokesperson and a spokesperson for Sudani declined to comment on the Iraqi government request.

Sudani's government has made a series of moves to extricate Iraq from the presence of international bodies set up post-2003.

Earlier this year, Iraq initiated discussions to phase out the mission of a U.S.-led military coalition formed to fight the Islamic State group.

Baghdad has also decided not to renew the mandate for the U.N. Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by ISIS, and requested that the team exit by September 2024.

At least 90 people were injured in Argentina's capital when a passenger train struck an empty boxcar on the tracks and derailed Friday, authorities said, a rare collision that fueled questions about basic safety.

The train was on its way from Buenos Aires to the northern suburbs when it derailed around 10:30 a.m. on a bridge in the trendy neighborhood of Palermo, safety officials said. Authorities said it was not immediately clear why the empty boxcar had been on the rails but that they were investigating.

"There is not enough information about the mechanics of this accident," Buenos Aires Mayor Jorge Macri said from the crash site where he praised the swift evacuation of victims.

ARGENTINA LABOR UNIONS' 24-HOUR STRIKE AGAINST PRESIDENT MILEI PARALYZES DAILY LIFE

Dozens of injured were treated at the scene and 30 people taken to hospitals in moderate to serious condition, at least two by helicopter with chest trauma and broken bones. Alberto Crescenti, director of the city's emergency service, said rescuers with police dogs had helped 90 people trapped in the train's wreckage, lowering some from the highway overpass by rope.

Dazed passengers staggering out of the derailed boxcars told local media the train had stopped on the bridge for several minutes before starting up again and slamming violently into the other train, jolting passengers and veering off the rails in a jumble of sparks and smoke.

Officials at the Argentine rail authority, Trenes Argentinos, said service on the popular rail line had been suspended as was underway to secure the area. They asked residents to stay away from the crash site to make room for emergency responders.

The collision brought increased scrutiny to rail safety in Argentina, where a string of several train crashes from 2012-2014 left over 50 people dead and hundreds injured.

It emerged at the time that outdated infrastructure, delays and human error had left the railway system vulnerable to crashes, prompting the government to invest in new safety and braking systems.

Chinese President Xi Jinping left Hungary on Friday, concluding a tour of three European nations meant to reinforce China's growing influence on the continent.

Xi's plane took off from Budapest airport on Friday evening, after five days in Europe that began with a visit to France and then Serbia.

CHINA'S XI VISITS HUNGARY IN BID TO SOLIDIFY EUROPEAN ECONOMIC INFLUENCE

Earlier on Friday, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on the social platform X that Xi had concluded his three-day state visit to Hungary, the last stop on his Europe visit, hailing the development of the two nations' "strategic partnership."

During the visit, Hungary and China signed a number of new agreements on deepening their economic and cultural cooperation. During a news conference on Thursday, Orbán praised the "continuous, uninterrupted friendship" between the two countries since his tenure began in 2010, and promised that Hungary would continue to host further Chinese investments.

Xi began his visit with a meeting earlier in the week with French President Emmanuel Macron. Their talks focused on trade disputes — including lifting tariff threats on Cognac exports — and Ukraine-related diplomatic efforts.

He next went to European Union candidate Serbia, where the two nations signed an agreement to build a "shared future."

Malta’s deputy prime minister resigned Friday, and ended his European Commission bid, after he was charged with fraud in a hospital scandal roiling the Mediterranean island nation.

In his resignation letter, Chris Fearne denied wrongdoing but said he must put Malta before everything else.

5 MIGRANTS DEAD AFTER BOAT CAPSIZES OFF MALTA DURING RESCUE OPERATIONS

In the letter, he asked Prime Minister Robert Abela to withdraw his candidacy to be Malta’s candidate for the European Commission.

"I want to be clear, I am taking this step not because I have any doubts on my innocence, but because it is the right thing to do," Fearne wrote.

He resigned days after news emerged that he is facing charges of fraud and misappropriation of funds related to an investigation into the government's 2015 deal to turn over management of three hospitals to a private company. The concession was annulled by the courts last year in a judgment that cited fraud.

Fearne, who was a junior health minister at the time of the deal, is one of a number of past and present officials facing charges, including former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. Muscat also denies wrongdoing.

Flash floods from seasonal rains in Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan killed at least 50 people on Friday, a Taliban official said.

The floods also caused losses to homes and property in several districts, according to Edayatullah Hamdard, the provincial director of Natural Disaster Management in Baghlan. He said that the death toll was preliminary and that it "might rise as many people are missing."

KENYA PRESIDENT DECLARES PUBLIC HOLIDAY TO MOURN HUNDREDS OF FLOOD VICTIMS

The flash floods also hit the capital, Kabul, said Abdullah Janan Saiq, the Taliban’s spokesman for the State Ministry for Natural Disaster Management. He said that rescue teams bringing food and other aid have been dispatched to the affected areas.

Saiq said that the rescue operation is the main focus of authorities at the moment, and that he later might be able to provide more precise figures on casualties and damage.

In April, at least 70 people died from heavy rains and flash flooding in the country. About 2,000 homes, three mosques, and four schools were damaged last month. Thousands of people require humanitarian assistance. The flooding also damaged agriculture land and 2,500 animals died in the deluges, according to Saiq.

The U.S. has promised to vote against any resolution that would seek to grant the Palestinians full membership in the United Nations after a General Assembly resolution passed with significant support from member states. 

"Our vote does not reflect opposition to Palestinian statehood," U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood said after the vote. "We have been very clear that we support it and seek to advance it meaningfully: Instead, it is an acknowledgment that statehood will only come from a process that involves direct negotiations between the parties."

"This resolution does not resolve the concerns about the Palestinian membership application raised in April in the Security Council through the admissions committee process," Wood added. "Should the Security Council take up the Palestinian membership application as a result of this resolution, there will be a similar outcome." 

The vote, brought to the floor by the United Arab Emirates, received support from 143 members, with nine voting against and 25 abstaining.

BIDEN'S HOLD ON ISRAEL WEAPONS SHIPMENT STUNS RETIRED US GENERAL: ‘THIS IS A TURNING POINT’

The "no" votes included Argentina, Hungary, Israel and the United States, among others, while the abstentions included Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Monaco, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom, among others.

"A negotiated two-state solution remains the best path towards an enduring peace where Israelis and Palestinians can live side by side with equal measures of security, freedom, and dignity," the U.S. Mission to the U.N. wrote on social media platform X after the vote. "Unilateral measures like the UNGA resolution on Palestinian UN membership adopted today will not advance this goal."

ISRAEL BOMBS RAFAH, PREPARES FOR GROUND INVASION AFTER CEASEFIRE TALKS WITH HAMAS FALL APART

Wood in his address to the General Assembly stressed that the resolution "does not alter the status" of the Palestinians at the United Nations, labeling the motion "unproductive," but assured that as the resolution did not ultimately grant the Palestinians the rights that would provide "the same standing as a member state." 

As such, the U.S. has indicated it will therefore not cut funding to the United Nations or specialized agencies, which it would have had to do under Public Law 101-246. President Obama during his administration cut funding to UNICEF after the organization admitted the Palestinians as members. 

ISRAELI ENVOY SLAMS DISCLOSURE OF US HOLD ON ARMS FOR ISRAEL, CALLING MOVE ‘THE WRONG MESSAGE’

Prior to the vote, Israel’s Ambassador the U.N. Gilad Erdan accused members who would support the motion of "shredding the U.N. charter."

"Shame on you," Erdan said as he shredded a small paper with "Charter of the United Nations" written on it in a handheld paper shredder. 

Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro University Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and president of Human Rights Voices, told Fox News Digital that "Roughly 75% of U.N. member states evidently believe that there is one exception to the U.N. Charter's membership core requirement of being a "peace-loving state," namely, the would-be Palestinian terror state. 

She warned that "With today's resolution, the U.N. General Assembly could soon have a President from the so-called "State of Palestine" - without any negotiation or agreement to live in peace and security with a Jewish state. Hamas and its Palestinian Authority UN mouthpiece at the helm of the United Nations' lead body. A day in infamy." 

Several members in their post-vote statements stressed that they condemned the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, but argued that they deemed Israel’s actions in Gaza of having gone too far: Singapore argued that supporting the motion would hopefully push Israel and the Palestinians to resume discussions aimed at establishing a two-state solution. 

France’s mission stressed that it supported the admission of the Palestinians as members of the U.N., but that while it voted in favor of the resolution to indicate ultimate support for the motion, it did not support attempts to "circumvent" the membership admission process. 

At least nine students have been abducted by gunmen during a late-night raid on their school in northern Nigeria’s Kogi state, authorities said Friday, the third such abduction amid rampant kidnappings targeting schools in the conflict-hit region this year.

The assailants invaded the Confluence University of Science and Technology in Kogi state, which neighbors the nation’s capital, Abuja, and whisked away the students from their classrooms before security forces could arrive, according to Kogi Commissioner for Information Kingsley Femi Fanwo.

The state has "activated the security architecture to track the kidnappers and ensure the abducted students are rescued and the abductors apprehended," Fanwo added.

SUDANESE PARAMILITARY CARRIES OUT ETHNIC CLEANSING IN DARFUR, RIGHTS GROUP SAYS

The official said local hunters were helping security forces in "combing" the school area, which is surrounded by bushes in the remote Osara town.

Nigeria has struggled with several mass school kidnappings since the first such incident in 2014 when Islamic extremists abducted more than 200 schoolgirls from the northeastern Chibok village, sparking the global #BringBackOurGirls social media campaign.

At least 1,400 Nigerian students have since been abducted from their schools in similar circumstances, including at least 130 children abducted from their school in Kuriga town in the northern Kaduna state in March. Some are still held captive, including nearly 100 of the Chibok girls.

A 75-year-old man will spend the rest of his life in prison after being sentenced Friday for the murder of a British police officer who was shot dead during an armed robbery in northern England nearly two decades ago.

Piran Ditta Khan was convicted in April, as he had fled the country to Pakistan soon after the murder of Sharon Beshenivsky. He was extradited to the U.K. last year.

Judge Nicholas Hilliard sentenced him in Leeds Crown Court to life imprisonment. He must serve a minimum term of 40 years in prison.

17-YEAR-OLD BOY CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER AFTER ASSAULT INVOLVING 'SHARP OBJECT' AT UK SCHOOL

"You will inevitably spend the remainder of your life in custody, but that is a consequence of sentencing a man of your age for a crime of this particular gravity," he said. "You have had your younger and healthier years at liberty because you chose to leave the country when you feared you were about to be arrested."

Though Khan stayed in the lookout car during the robbery at the family-run Universal Express travel agents in the city of Bradford in November 2005, prosecutors argued that he was the "mastermind" behind the robbery as he organized it and purchased the weapons. Police officers in Britain do not carry guns on routine patrols.

"Even though he did not fire the fatal shot, his actions stole from Sharon and those who knew her a lifetime together, and as he is sentenced today our thoughts remain with her family and loved ones," said specialist prosecutor David Holderness.

Beshenivsky was 38 years old and only nine months into the job when she responded to an alert about the robbery. She was shot dead at point-blank range by one of the three men who carried out the robbery. Her colleague, Teresa Milburn, survived after being shot in the chest.

Beshenivsky, who had three children and two stepchildren, was gunned down on her youngest daughter’s fourth birthday. In a victim personal statement read in court, Beshenivsky’s daughter Lydia said she was "too young and innocent" to understand what happened when her mother failed to return home from work to celebrate her birthday.

"There will always be a void in my life — a void that should have been filled with my mum’s presence but as a result of violent, callous actions by you, Piran Ditta Khan, and your associates that day, you robbed me of a future and precious time with my mum," she said. "Every birthday is a reminder of what happened that day."

Paul Beshenivsky, who had been married to his wife for four years when she died, said telling the children what had happened was "the hardest thing I have ever had to do."

Khan fled to Pakistan two months after the robbery. He was arrested by local authorities in Pakistan in January 2020 and extradited to the U.K. last year.

Khan denied the allegations.

The Scottish government on Friday confirmed a case of classical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), known as mad cow disease, at a farm in the southwest of the country, the first British case of the disease in over two years.

The government has imposed precautionary movement restrictions at impacted premises and on animals that have been in contact with the case in Ayrshire, it said in a statement.

Further investigations to identify the origin of the disease at the farm are ongoing, the Scottish government statement said, adding there was no risk to human health.

TEXAS CATS DIE ON DAIRY FARM AFTER DRINKING RAW MILK CONTAMINATED WITH BIRD FLU, CDC WARNS

"I want to reassure both farmers and the public that the risk associated with this isolated case is minimal. But, if any farmers are concerned, I would urge them to seek veterinary advice," Chief Veterinary Officer Sheila Voas said.

BSE was first detected in Britain in the late 1980s, spreading from there to other parts of Europe and ravaging cattle herds until the early 2000s. It has been linked to the brain-wasting Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.

An Australian judge on Friday extended a ban on X allowing videos of the stabbing of a Sydney bishop in his church last month after government lawyers condemned the social media company's free speech argument for keeping the graphic images circulating.

Australian Federal Court Justice Geoffrey Kennett extended his order that X Corp., the company rebranded by billionaire Elon Musk when he bought Twitter last year, block users from sharing videos of the April 15 attack.

The attack led to terrorism-related charges for the alleged attacker, a teenager, and triggered a riot outside the church.

AUSTRALIA COUNTERTERRORISM FORCE ARRESTS 7 TEENAGERS FOLLOWING SYDNEY BISHOP STABBING

The order has existed since April 22 and Kennett will decide on Monday whether it will continue in its current form.

X is alone among social media platforms in fighting a notice from Australia's eSafety Commission, which describes itself as the world’s first government agency dedicated to keeping people safer online, to take down the video of the attack during an Assyrian Orthodox service streamed online.

A bishop and a priest were injured but both survived.

Musk has accused Australia of censorship and has applied to the Federal Court to overturn the eSafety notice. The court will sit on Wednesday to consider setting a hearing date for X’s application.

X has geoblocked Australian users from the content, but eSafety argues the video can be still accessed from Australia through Virtual Private Networks.

VPNs are services that allow users to access sites in other countries that are blocked in their own nation. The regulator wants a worldwide ban on the video.

An eSafety lawyer, Tim Begbie, described X in court on Friday as a "market leader in proliferating and distributing violent content and violent and extremist material."

Begbie said Australia could not be expected to conform to X’s "pro-free speech stance."

"The fact is that that stance is in large measure illusory. Because X doesn’t stand for ‘global removal is bad’ in some pure sense," Begbie said.

X’s own policies repeatedly refer to circumstances in which the platform will elect to remove content globally, Begbie said.

"The real position is this: X says that ‘reasonable’ means what X wants it to mean," Begbie said.

"Global removal is reasonable when X does it because X wants to do it. But it becomes unreasonable when X is told to do it by the laws of Australia," Begbie added.

X lawyer Bret Walker said X had taken reasonable steps to block the content from Australia but said there had been glitches.

He described eSafety’s demand for a global ban as astonishing and the notice as invalid.

"You don’t expect to see statutes saying the Australian Parliament will regulate what concerning Australia — that is events in Australia — can be viewed in Russia, Finland, Belgium or the United States," Walker said.

"Not unless we want to become isolationist to a degree that is unthinkable," Walker added.

Two environmental activists targeted the original Magna Carta in the United Kingdom during a protest seeking to raise awareness of climate change.

Rev. Sue Parfitt, 82, and Judy Bruce, 85, a retired biology teacher, were both arrested after they attacked a glass case containing the historical document at the British Library in London on Friday, London's Metropolitan Police said.

A video of the incident showed the pair of protesters from Just Stop Oil, an environmental group based in Britain, using a hammer and a chisel to hit the case, causing minor damage. The Magna Carta was unscathed.

"The Magna Carta is rightly revered, being of great importance to our history, to our freedoms and to our laws,'' the duo said in a statement after their protest. "But there will be no freedom, no lawfulness, no rights, if we allow climate breakdown to become the catastrophe that is now threatened."

NEW POLL REVEALS HOW MANY DEMS AGREE WITH DEMANDS OF ANTI-ISRAEL CAMPUS PROTESTERS

The duo and their group are seeking to end the world's reliance on fossil fuels.

"This famous document is about the rule of law and standing up against the abuse of power," Bruce can be heard saying during their demonstration. "Our government is breaking its own laws against climate change."

In the video, Parfitt added: "As a Christian, I am compelled to do all that I can to alleviate the appalling suffering that's coming down the line and is here already. Whatever it takes, whatever it costs. So we must just stop oil."

ACTIVISTS THROW SOUP AT MONA LISA IN LOUVRE CLIMATE PROTEST

The library's security team intervened and disrupted the demonstration, preventing further damage to the case.

The library said the Treasures Gallery would be closed until further notice.

The Magna Carta is a 13th century English treaty which established that nobody was above the law. It is considered one of the founding documents of Western democracy.

There are only four original texts of the document: Two of them are kept in the British Library, one is in Salisbury Cathedral and the other is held in Lincoln Castle.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Opposition leaders in India's troubled Kashmir valley have accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration of denying or cancelling permissions to hold campaign events, to help his party's "proxies".

Omar Abdullah, a leader of the largest regional political party, the National Conference, said Modi's government was trying to sabotage his campaign ahead of voting in the first of Kashmir's three seats on Monday.

Modi's  (BJP) is skipping elections in Kashmir for the first since 1996, which analysts and politicians in the region say belies his narrative of integrating Kashmir with the rest of the country and bringing peace and normality to the valley ravaged by a 35-year-old uprising against India's rule.

INDIA'S SUPREME COURT BACKS DECISION TO REMOVE SPECIAL STATUS FROM KASHMIR

In 2019, Modi revoked Jammu and Kashmir state's partial autonomy, removed its statehood and divided it into two federally-controlled territories: Muslim-majority Kashmir with Hindu-dominated Jammu, and a mountainous Buddhist territory of Ladakh.

While the BJP has not fielded any candidate in Kashmir's three seats, it has said that, as part of its grand strategy, it would instead support other smaller regional parties, without naming which.

In a letter to the federal poll watchdog, the Election Commission of India, on Thursday, Abdullah said the police, which are under the federal government's control, cancelled permissions for his rallies, asking him to reschedule without providing any reasons.

He said on social media platform X that it was done to help the BJP's "proxy candidates".

His rival Mehbooba Mufti, who heads the other regional political powerhouse the People's Democratic Party (PDP), also accused the police of not allowing her to hold campaign events.

"This attitude of the police, in which they curtail our movement to support the proxy parties of the BJP, is against the guidelines of the Election Commission of India," she said at a rally in Srinagar on Thursday.

V.K. Birdi, the police official responsible for Kashmir, did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

Both Abdullah and Mufti have said they were opposed to the BJP and would support an opposition Congress-led alliance of more than two dozen parties federally.

The state unit of the election watchdog has also asked PDP's Srinagar candidate, Waheed ur Rehman Para to refrain from calling this election a "referendum" against scrapping of semi-autonomy of the region in 2019 in his speeches.

While Srinagar will vote on May 13, the elections in the other two seats will be held on May 20 and 25.

Nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan control parts of Kashmir, but claim it in full, and have fought two of their three wars over the region.

FIRST ON FOX - U.S. troops in the West African country of Chad are ‘accounted for’ after multiple reports of gunfire and five alleged deaths, Fox News Digital has learned.  Various videos have been posted on social media which show rifles and even what appears to be truck-mounted heavy weapons being fired indiscriminately at civilians, after results of the country’s Presidential elections earlier this week were announced. 

A Department of Defense source in Africa told Fox News Digital "all U.S. personnel are accounted for" in the country, adding "I don’t think any of the violence is near where they are at."

Most of the weapons appear to have been fired in celebration, but leading local media source Chad One reported that five people had been killed, reportedly by the local army, in the capital, N’Djamena. In the election, the incumbent interim President Mahamat Deby is claimed to have won 61% of the votes polled.

Up until last month, the U.S. had approximately 100 military personnel operating in Chad. Most, Fox News Digital understands, were Special Forces troops, fighting the threat of Islamist terror in the Sahel region.

CHAD'S MILITARY LEADER WINS DISPUTED PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

But last month, Chad’s military junta, leaning toward Russia, told the troops to pack up and go, causing something of a stand-off. After high-level negotiations between Washington and N’Djamena, some – but not all - U.S. troops were pulled out ‘temporarily’ for the country’s elections, but hope to come back.

"We still have U.S. forces on the ground in Chad. Only one group was told by the Chadian government to leave and in their own words, "temporary," and once the election is over, they will be invited back," the DOD source told Fox News Digital.

There’s a bigger standoff in nearby Niger. This country’s military junta, again favoring Russia, effectively told 1,000 US military personnel and contractors to leave town in March – but so far they are staying put. 

The U.S. has been operating manned and unmanned flight operations against Jihadist forces in the region from two bases in the country. 

Publicly at least, the U.S. forces are leaving, the DOD source told Fox News Digital this week: "The U.S. troop status in Niger is a full pull out of all U.S. forces. Our negotiations right now are centered on the how and when." 

"The United States has initiated discussions on an orderly and responsible withdrawal of U.S. forces from Niger," a State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital, adding. "The Deputy Secretary, along with senior leaders at the Department of State, Department of Defense, U.S. Africa Command, the U.S. Embassy in Niger, and others, are engaged in ongoing frank discussions with the authorities in Niger.  We do not want to speculate and get ahead of the discussions."

To accusations circulating that U.S. personnel in Niger are not being resupplied or getting transport help when needed, the Department of Defense official stated that U.S. troops in Niger are getting assistance, but not so much through official military channels. "Flights have been limited, but personnel have been able to transfer via commercial airlines. To my knowledge, very few if any military flights have come in and out in the last few months," he told Fox News Digital.

Then there’s the Russians. Reportedly, Wagner mercenaries, the Kremlin’s private army, have been allowed by Niger to take over a hangar and conduct operations on the same Airbase 101, in the capital, Niamey, which houses U.S. forces. 

US TO PULL TROOPS FROM CHAD AND NIGER AS THE AFRICAN NATIONS QUESTION ITS COUNTERTERRORISM ROLE

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin downplayed the importance of, perhaps uniquely, having Russia and the U.S. share the same airbase. "Right now, I don't see a significant issue here in terms of our force protection," Austin told reporters in Hawaii last week.

The DOD source told Fox News Digital Thursday, "Russian forces are at a completely different section of the airport compound and do not have access, or are in close proximity, to the U.S. side. We can’t go into details about where each force is on the base, from a force protection point of view."

RUSSIA AND US JOCKEY FOR SUPPORT ACROSS AFRICA

"Russian military personnel and U.S. forces are in close proximity in Niger, as close as two miles or as far as 500 miles, depending on the specific area," Strategic Military Intelligence Analyst and Foreign Affairs Consultant for Fox News Digital Rebekah Koffler said, adding, "It is unlikely that Russian forces present a physical threat to U.S. forces. There are deconfliction procedures between the Pentagon and Russia’s General Staff. This process is intended to avoid direct conformation and escalation. But dust-ups can occur unintentionally, especially now that there’s tremendous hostility between Moscow and Washington."

But Koffler warned, "There’s a big counter-intelligence risk. The Russians are always collecting intelligence on the U.S. military, whether it’s weapons, tactics, command and control, procedures, training manuals, etc."

The Pentagon’s main man for Africa, U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Michael E. Langley, has said that it is vital to have U.S. troops on the ground in Africa, telling the House Armed Services Committee in March, "Terrorism, poverty, food insecurity, climate change and mass migration shatter African lives." Gen. Langley, U.S. Africa Command commander, continued, "These factors sow the seeds of violent extremism and Russian exploitation across entire regions of the continent."

A European naval force detained six suspected pirates on Friday after they opened fire on an oil tanker traveling through the Gulf of Aden, officials said, likely part of a growing number of piracy attacks emanating from Somalia.

The attack on the Marshall Islands-flagged Chrystal Arctic comes as Yemen's Houthi rebels have also been attacking ships traveling through the crucial waterway, the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting them. The assaults have slowed commercial traffic through the key maritime route onward to the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea.

The pirates shot at the tanker from a small ship "carrying weapons and ladders," according to the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which oversees Mideast shipping routes. The pirates opened fire first at the Chrystal Arctic, whose armed, onboard security team returned fire at them, the UKMTO said.

LEADER OF SOMALIA'S BREAKAWAY SOMALILAND SAYS DEAL WITH ETHIOPIA WILL ALLOW IT TO BUILD A NAVAL BASE

The pirates then abandoned their attempt to take the tanker, which continued on its way with all its crew safe, the UKMTO said.

Hours later, the European Union naval force in the region known as Operation Atalanta said a frigate operating in the region detained six suspected pirates. The frigate seized the pirates given "the unsafe condition of their skiff" and said that some had "injuries of varied severity."

It wasn't immediately clear if those injured suffered gunshot wounds from the exchange of fire with the Chrystal Arctic. The EU force declined to elaborate "due to the security of the operations."

Once-rampant piracy off the Somali coast diminished after a peak in 2011. That year, there were 237 reported attacks in waters off Somalia. Somali piracy in the region at the time cost the world's economy some $7 billion — with $160 million paid out in ransoms, according to the Oceans Beyond Piracy monitoring group.

Increased naval patrols, a strengthening central government in Mogadishu, Somalia's capital, and other efforts saw the piracy beaten back.

However, concerns about new attacks have grown in recent months. In the first quarter of 2024, there have been five reported incidents off Somalia, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

"These incidents were attributed to Somali pirates who demonstrate mounting capabilities, targeting vessels at great distances, from the Somali coast," the bureau warned in April. It added that there had been "several reported hijacked dhows and fishing vessels, which are ideal mother ships to launch attacks at distances from the Somali coastline."

In March, the Indian navy detained dozens of pirates who seized a bulk carrier and took its 17 crew hostage. In April, pirates releases 23 crew members of the Bangladesh-flagged cargo carrier MV Abdullah after seizing the vessel. The terms of the release aren't immediately known.

These attacks come as the Houthi campaign targeting shipping since November as part of their pressure campaign to stop the Israel-Hamas war raging in the Gaza Strip.

Japan’s defense chief Friday called for the bolstering of its anti-drone capability after a drone footage posted on Chinese social media showed a Japanese aircraft carrier docked at a restricted navy port west of Tokyo. Defense Minister Minoru Kihara called it a serious security threat.

Kihara's acknowledgement of the vulnerability comes more than a month after a video filmed by a drone showed JS Izumo, one of two Japanese helicopter carriers, being retrofitted to carry stealth fighters to strengthen Japan's counter-strike capability in the face of China's assertive military actions in the Indo-Pacific.

The footage, also showing plants, buildings and other facility at the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's Yokosuka naval base was posted on a Chinese social media site in March, prompting investigation by ministry officials. The footage has also been posted on other platforms such as X.

JAPAN REPORTS CHINESE WARSHIP SIGHTINGS ALONG DISPUTED NAUTICAL BORDER

"After the video analysis we have reached a conclusion that the footage was most likely filmed by a flying drone," Kihara told reporters.

"We are taking the findings extremely seriously," the minister added. "If drones harm defense facilities, it could cause serious disruptions to the defense of our country."

Kihara declined to comment how the drone was able to fly over the flattop undetected, citing security reasons. But he stressed the need to respond to rapid technology advancement of drones and other unmanned vehicles. He also vowed to fortify defense around military bases.

He said Japan will accelerate effort to introduce more capable anti-drone equipment and strengthen counter measures such as forcible landing of drones by jamming.

The development comes at a time Japan is accelerating its military buildup to focus on its counter-strike capability with long-range missiles under the ongoing security strategy adopted in 2022. JS Izumo serves a key role in that strategy.

In 2015, a small drone laced with traces of radiation was found on the roof of the prime minister’s office, sparking concerns about drones and their possible use for terrorist attacks. There was no injuries or damage from the incident but its owner was convicted of obstruction of business.

Drone flights have since been restricted above key public and diplomatic areas as well as nuclear power facilities. While drones are used widely for industrial, search and rescue and security purposes, the number of violations by them have also rapidly increased.

A top Philippine security official demanded Friday the immediate expulsion of Chinese diplomats allegedly behind a reported leak of a phone conversation between one of the diplomats and a Filipino admiral about South China Sea disputes that have strained diplomatic ties.

National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano said he was backing a call by the Philippine defense chief for Manila's foreign office to take actions against Chinese embassy individuals in Manila "who claim to have recorded an alleged phone conversation between a Chinese diplomat and a military official" in violation of Philippine laws and international diplomatic protocols.

Two Manila newspapers cited a Chinese Embassy source as saying that in a recorded call with a Chinese diplomat in January, a Filipino admiral agreed to a new way of transporting supplies to a Philippine-occupied shoal in the disputed waters. It required Manila to notify Beijing for such offshore missions and promise not to bring construction materials.

US AND PHILIPPINE MILITARY FORCES SINK SHIP DURING LARGESCALE DRILLS IN DISPUTED SOUTH CHINA SEA

"Those individuals in the Chinese Embassy responsible for violating Philippine laws and the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and those responsible for these malign influence and interference operations must be removed from the country immediately," Ano said in a strongly worded statement.

"The Chinese Embassy’s repeated acts of engaging in and dissemination of disinformation, misinformation, and mal-information - now releasing spurious transcripts or recordings of purported conversations between officials of the host country - should not be allowed to pass unsanctioned or without serious penalty," Ano said.

It was not immediately clear from Ano’s statement if Philippine authorities had verified the news reports or if the phone conversation really took place. The Department of Foreign Affairs did not say if it was considering Ano’s call.

WWIII COULD START OVER PHILIPPINES DISPUTE IN SOUTH CHINA SEA, CHINA 'NOT RESPECTING' TREATIES, EXPERT SAYS

The Chinese government and its embassy in Manila have not confirmed the news reports nor denied them.

In Beijing, China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said the "Philippines’ attitude just proves that they lack confidence in the face of facts and evidence and have reached the point where they are frustrated and have no bottom line.

"China solemnly demands that the Philippines ensures that Chinese diplomats can perform their duties, stops infringement and provocation and does not deny the facts, act indiscreetly or hurt itself by its own actions," he said.

The escalating word war and diplomatic row have been sparked by hostilities between Chinese and Philippine coast guard ships and other vessels since last year at the Second Thomas Shoal and Scarborough Shoal.

The Chinese coast guard has used powerful water cannons, a military-grade laser and dangerous maneuvers that have caused minor collisions, injured several Filipino navy personnel and damaged their supply boats. The Philippine government has repeatedly summoned Chinese embassy diplomats in Manila to hand over protests.

President Joe Biden and his administration have repeatedly warned that the U.S. is obligated to defend the Philippines, its longtime treaty ally, if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China.

Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have had overlapping claims in the busy seaway, a key trade route where many fear a major escalation of the conflicts could draw U.S. forces on a collision course with China military.

Eden Golan is in Sweden for the Eurovision Song Contest, but she is not seeing much of the country.

The 20-year-old Israeli singer is surrounded by security as she travels between her hotel and the contest venue in the city of Malmö. According to Israel’s public broadcaster, she practiced singing while being booed to prepare for her performance in the pan-continental song competition.

Golan has become a focus for protests by anti-Israel demonstrators who want Israel kicked out of Eurovision over its war against Hamas, which has killed almost 35,000 people in Gaza.

EUROVISION EXPLAINED: A LOOK AT THE MUSIC FESTIVAL'S ORIGINS, TOP CONTENDERS, AND THIS YEAR'S CONTROVERSY

A crowd estimated by police at more than 10,000 marched through the southern Swedish city on Thursday to chants of "Free Palestine" and "Israel is a terror state." Banners accused Eurovision of being complicit in genocide and called for a boycott of the competition.

Another protest march is planned for Saturday, hours before Golan competes in the live Eurovision final against acts from 25 other countries.

Golan has largely stayed out of sight in Malmö, apart from rehearsals and performances at the Malmö Arena. While other performers have taken the stage for fans in a Eurovision park in the city, Golan has not.

She was one of 10 acts who made it through Thursday’s semifinal, which was decided by votes from Eurovision viewers around the world. Golan has been greeted with a smattering of boos, as well as applause, from spectators in the arena. Bookmakers say she is likely to finish in the top half of the final competition, decided by a mix of public votes and national music-industry juries.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Golan for performing despite "contending with an ugly wave of antisemitism."

"So be blessed, and know that when they boo you, we are cheering you on," he said.

Golan’s song is a powerful ballad titled "Hurricane" – but that was not its original name. The song was first called "October Rain," an apparent reference to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed about 1,200 Israelis and triggered the Gaza war. That fell foul of contest rules banning "political" content.

The retitled song contains less specific lyrics about going through a tough time, and asserts that "love will never die."

Born in Israel to parents from the former Soviet Union, Golan spent much of her childhood in Russia and performed on TV talent shows there before moving back to Israel. She cites Beyoncé, Ariana Grande, Whitney Houston and Justin Timberlake among her inspirations.

She has avoided direct political statements, but said it was "such an honor to represent my country, especially in these times."

Speaking after the semi-final, Golan said she was "overwhelmed with emotions."

"I’m just super excited to go on stage once more and share a bit of my love with everyone," she said.

Tens of thousands of disgruntled Polish farmers marched through downtown Warsaw on Friday to protest the European Union’s climate policies and oppose the pro-EU government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

The march under the slogan "Down with the Green Deal" was organized by Solidarity, a farmers' trade union that is strongly opposed to the EU’s farming policies, in particular a policy known as the Green Deal which aims to make agriculture more climate friendly. The farmers say it interferes with their work and imposes high costs on them.

"We are protesting because we don’t want to become slaves on our own land," said dairy farmer Grazyna Gasowska from eastern Poland.

EU PLAN TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE IS SHELVED FOLLOWING FARMER PROTESTS ACROSS EUROPE

"According to the Green Deal we are supposed to grow what they tell us to, when they tell us to," Gasowska said as she held a national white-and-red flag. "All those diversification requirements are very difficult for the farmers."

The noisy march stopped at the EU Warsaw office and then at parliament.

"Let Brussels eat worms, we prefer pork chops and potatoes," said one banner, referring to a general belief that the EU will advise eating insects and worms rather than cattle meat.

The demonstration came as Poland’s political parties campaign ahead of elections next month for the European Parliament. The protest was supported by Polish right-wing opposition party Law and Justice, which held power from 2015 until late last year and is looking to regain political momentum.

With an eye to the election, Tusk on Friday announced a reshuffle of his Cabinet to replace four ministers running for the European Parliament next month.

The changes are also seen as a chance to bring new energy into Tusk’s government, which took office in December and embarked on deep reforms in many areas, including justice, foreign policy and the media.

"Today comes the time of bringing order and this is one of the reasons for which we jointly decided to have these changes," Tusk said.

He said there will be more changes in the future that would be dictated by the "interest of the state."

Tusk’s pro-European Union government has embarked on a wide reversal of the policies of the Law and Justice party, which put Poland on a collision course with the 27-member EU during its administration. Tusk's team is taking steps to free the judiciary and the state media from the political control that Law and Justice tried to impose, and bring to account those responsible for mismanagement and loss of funds by state-owned companies.

Culture Minister Bartlomiej Sienkiewicz, who spearheaded a change in management at the state TV, radio and news agency, and the minister of the interior and administration, Marcin Kierwinski, were replaced. The ministers for state assets, Borys Budka, and for development and technology, Krzysztof Hetman, were also leaving.

The new interior minister is Tomasz Siemoniak, who served as the defense minister in Tusk's previous government in 2011 to 2015. He retains his job as coordinator of special services at a time of Russia's war on Poland's neighbor, Ukraine.

The culture minister is now Hanna Wroblewska, an art historian. Jakub Jaworowski, an economist and financier, was put in charge of state assets, where auditing is currently taking place and uncovering glaring cases of mismanagement under the previous government. Krzysztof Paszyk, an experienced politician and lawmaker, is the new minister of development and technology.

They will take office after formal appointment by President Andrzej Duda on Monday.

India's Supreme Court on Friday granted interim bail to a top opposition leader who was arrested nearly seven weeks ago in a bribery case that opposition parties called a political move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government against his rivals during a national election.

Arvind Kejriwal, the leader of the Aam Aadmi Party, or Common Man’s Party, is the chief elected official in the city of New Delhi and one of the country’s most influential politicians of the past decade.

The court ordered Kejriwal's release on interim bail, enabling him to campaign in the country's national election until the voting ends on June 1, Kejriwal's attorney said.

SUPPORTERS OF INDIA'S OPPOSITION LEADER FLOCK TO CAPITAL IN PROTEST OF HIS ARREST

Opposition leaders hailed the court verdict. "It will be very helpful in the context of the current elections," said Mamta Banerjee, the top elected official of West Bengal state.

However, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, a leader of the ruling party, said the court’s decision did not mean that Kejriwal has been exonerated in the bribery case. He will have to go back to jail on June 2 as pre-trial court proceedings are still taking place.

Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said in their order on Friday that the national election was an important event. They rejected the prosecuting agency's plea that their decision would put Kejriwal in a beneficial position compared with ordinary citizens.

They did, however, imposed some conditions on Kejriwal for granting interim bail. He will not be allowed to visit his office and some decisions he makes as chief minister of New Delhi must be approved by the capital’s governor. Also, he cannot interact with any witnesses in the case, they said.

INDIA'S POLICE DETAIN DOZENS OF PROTESTERS DEMANDING RELEASE OF OPPOSITION LEADER

Kejriwal was arrested by the federal Enforcement Directorate, India’s main financial investigation agency, on March 21. The agency, controlled by Modi’s government, accused Kejriwal’s party and ministers of accepting 1 billion rupees ($12 million) in bribes from liquor contractors nearly two years ago. The arrest triggered days of protests by party activists supported by other opposition parties.

Kejriwal, who has remained New Delhi's chief minister, has denied the accusations. His party is part of a broad alliance of opposition parties called INDIA, which is the main challenger to Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party in India's six-week-long general election, which began last month.

Kejriwal's case was the first time that a chief minister in India was arrested while in office. His arrest, which occurred before the start of the election, dominated headlines for weeks.

His lawyer, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, said he was a serving chief minister and not a "habitual offender" and deserved to be released to campaign. Kejriwal’s deputy, Manish Sisodia, was also arrested in the case earlier, weakening his party’s campaign in national elections.

The Enforcement Directorate opposed his bail, saying that releasing Kejriwal to campaign would indicate that there were different judicial standards for politicians and other citizens.

"The right to campaign for an election is neither a fundamental right nor a constitutional right and not even a legal right," it said, adding that Kejriwal is not a candidate in these elections.

Kejriwal's party is the main challenger to Modi’s governing BJP in the Indian capital New Delhi and Punjab state where voting will take place on May 25 and June 1 respectively.

The national elections that started on April 19 are due to conclude on June 1. Votes will be counted on June 4.

While the federal agency accused Kejriwal of being a key conspirator in the liquor bribery case, the opposition parties said the government was misusing federal investigation agencies to harass and weaken its political opponents. They pointed to a series of raids, arrests and corruption investigations of key opposition figures.

Kejriwal called his arrest a "political conspiracy" to prevent him from campaigning, and accused the Enforcement Directorate of "manipulating investigative agencies for political motives."

Modi’s party denies using law enforcement agencies to target the opposition and says the agencies act independently.

Kejriwal, a former civil servant, launched the Aam Aadmi Party in 2012. He promised to rid the Indian political system and governance of corruption and inefficiency.

The party’s symbol — a broom — and its promise to sweep the administration of graft struck a chord with Delhi residents, fed up with runaway inflation and slow economic growth.

Croatian conservative leader Andrej Plenkovic was formally appointed prime minister-designate on Friday for a third consecutive term after he forged an alliance with an extreme right party following an inconclusive election.

Plenkovic's ruling Croatian Democratic Union won the most votes at last month's parliamentary vote in the European Union nation, but not enough to stay in power on their own. The party this week agreed to form a coalition with far-right Homeland Movement for a parliamentary majority.

Lawmakers are set to approve Plenkovic's new government next week. It will have a slim majority of 78 lawmakers in the 151-member assembly, which could herald political uncertainty.

CROATIA VOTES IN A BITTER SHOWDOWN OF A PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION BETWEEN PRESIDENT AND PRIME MINISTER

"We will continue in our third mandate to work for progress," Plenkovic said on X, formerly Twitter, after he was appointed by President Zoran Milanovic.

Plenkovic's new Cabinet is likely to push Croatia further to the right ahead of next month's European election, which takes place as the continent faces a war in Ukraine, climate emergencies, migration and other problems.

The Homeland Movement, or DP, is a relatively new political party in Croatia, made up largely of radical nationalists and social conservatives who had left the center-right HDZ. The party is led by the hard-line mayor of the eastern town of Vukovar, which was destroyed during Croatia’s 1991 war for independence after it split from the former Yugoslavia.

For the first time in years, Croatia’s government will not include a party representing minority Serbs because DP opposed their inclusion. That has fueled concerns about ethnic tensions stemming from the conflict in the 1990s.

HDZ has largely held office since Croatia gained independence. The Balkan nation became an EU member in 2013, and joined Europe’s passport-free travel area and the eurozone last year.