Corax
Two dead and 559 arrested in France after Paris Saint-Germain's victory in the Champions League final, 192 people injured and 692 fires of which 264 involving vehicles, 5,400 police were deployed across Paris after the game
World
Donald Trump says US will remove all sanctions on Syria, comments that the new government will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace, wishes the country good luck and asks them to show something very special just like Saudi Arabia has done
South Africa criticizes the US for accepting white Afrikaners as refugees after reports that the first 54 are expected to arrive next week, calls the decision politically motivated and designed to undermine its constitutional democracy, Donald Trump has described the Afrikaners as victims of racial discrimination and Elon Musk has said Pretoria is leading a genocide against white farmers
Donald Trump says any person or country that buys oil or petrochemicals from Iran will be barred from doing any business with the US, has accused Iran of using oil revenue to finance militant groups throughout the Middle East and has implemented what he calls a "maximum pressure" campaign aiming to completely shut down the country's oil exports
Miscellaneous
Chess banned in Afghanistan, ruling Taliban fear game attracts illegal gambling and say compatibility of chess with Islamic law will be investigated
British mercenary Simon Mann dead at 72 from heart attack while exercising, rose through the SAS ranks before founding a company protecting businesses in conflict zones, was arrested in Zimbabwe 2004 along with 70 mercenaries and sentenced to 34 years in prison for planning a coup in Equatorial Guinea but was pardoned in 2009
Poland's digital affairs ministry says it will rename a recently launched government service as its acronym KURDE spells a commonly used euphemism for the swearword "kurwa", the petitioner writes that the phrase even officially appears in the PWN Dictionary of the Polish Language
Colossal squid filmed in the ocean for the first time since the species was discovered 100 years ago, the 30cm-long juvenile was caught on camera at 600m depth near the South Sandwich Islands in the south Atlantic Ocean by a team of scientists, experts believe the colossal squid can grow up to 7m in length and weigh up to 500kg which makes them the heaviest invertebrate on the planet
American fast-food chain Steak 'n Shake announces that they will RFK their fries by frying them in beef tallow, says the fries are so much better that no one will be going back after trying them, Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has been a vocal beef tallow advocate and has repeatedly argued against seed oils stating that they contribute to rising obesity rates
Media
Business Insider lays off 21% of its workforce as part of increased AI focus, CEO Barbara Peng comments that over 70% of the employees are using Enterprise ChatGPT regularly and that the goal is 100%
Donald Trump criticizes establishment media for ignoring the genocide and land theft taking place against white farmers in South Africa, says if it were the other way around it would be the only story they would talk about and adds that he doesn't care about race or color but only that what is happening is terrible
The White House comments CNN:s fact check on Donald Trump's quote that the Biden administration spent USD 8 million on making mice transgender, writes that "The Fake News losers at CNN immediately tried to fact check it, but President Trump was right (as usual)", lists the six projects that sum up to USD 8.29 million
Politics
Donald Trump continues to flirt with the idea of a third term and starts selling hats with text Trump 2028, has previously said that he is seriously considering running in the next presidential election and that many have asked him to do so
World Economic Forum launches investigation into Klaus Schwab after whistleblower accuses him of using the organization's resources for personal affairs, Schwab who the day before resigned as chairman denies the allegations and intends to file a lawsuit against the anonymous whistleblower and anybody who spreads the allegations
Canada's Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre says that voters shouldn't think that just because of Mark Carney's banker's haircut and blue socks that he is any different from Justin Trudeau, adds that Carney is not a businessman but a political grifter, Carney, who is leading in the polls, responds that Poilievre doesn't have any experience in crisis management
Polish team lead by billionaire Rafał Brzoska tasked by Prime Minister Donald Tusk submits its first 111 proposals on how to cut bureaucracy, the suggestions which were chosen among over 13,000 ideas and public voting are planned to start being implemented within 100 days
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni defends Vice President JD Vance's speech at the Munich Security Conference, says Europe has been sacrificed on the altar of wokeness, bureaucracy and mercantilism and adds that Vance discussed deeper issues such as identity and freedom of speech, adds that we would live in a stronger Europe if those who were outraged had showed the same pride when Europe lost its strategic autonomy, tying its economy to autocratic regimes, or when European borders and our way of life were threatened by mass illegal migration
Friedrich Merz declares victory in the German snap election where his CDU/CSU finished first with a projected 29%, right-wing Alternative for Germany in second place with 20% ahead of center-left SPD with 16% which is the party's worst performance since it adopted its current name in 1890, AfD's chancellor candidate Alice Weidel calls the result a historic success and adds that she is open to participating in a coalition government with CDU/CSU although Merz has ruled that out
83-year-old Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell says he will not seek reelection, was first elected in 1986 and was the Senate's top Republican leader for 18 years, says representing the Kentuckian commonwealth seven times has been the honor of a lifetime but that he will not seek the honor an eighth time
Young voters drive the rise of Germany's right-wing AfD party which is expected to be the second largest party in Sunday's election, hundreds of young people line up in the eastern city of Suhl to listen to the party's extremist-designated Thuringia section leader Björn Höcke, 26-year-old Dante Reidel who says he idolizes Höcke and that his ideology represents Prussian virtues like diligence and discipline as well as cardinal virtues from antiquity
Opinion
Jayant Bhandari: India is about to return to its original state of corrupt, power-hungry sadism, the last remaining pieces of civilisation built by missionaries and the English will soon wither away, what's left is only a cargo-cult like adherence to Western values which still seems to fool many Westerners
EU's health ministers agree on recommending bans on smoking and vaping in many outdoor areas including cafe patios and beaches, all countries voted in favour apart from Germany and Greece which abstained, EU Health Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi comments that the agreement is a crucial step towards the goal of a tobacco-free generation in Europe
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy: Recent Supreme Court decisions make clear that numerous regulations are unconstitutional because they were not enacted by Congress, we will help Donald Trump identify such regulations so that he can immediately repeal them, this will also cause severe cuts to agencies and major cost savings
Jeff Bezos: Media fails to be seen as credible and is considered by most to be biased, it would be easy to blame others for our long and continuing decline in credibility but victim mentality does not help and I will not allow the Washington Post fade into irrelevance so changes are now needed for us to win this fight
Europe
Academics and representatives from France's Muslim community denounce a leaked government report that alleges that the organization is attempting to influence policymakers as part of the group's long-held goal of establishing a state governed by Sharia law, official version of the report to be released to the public by the end of the week
Belgian parliament scraps nuclear phaseout plan with 102 votes in favor, eight against and 31 abstentions, passed a law for gradual phaseout of nuclear energy in 2003 where all nuclear power plants were to be closed by 2025 at the latest and prohibiting construction of new reactors but delayed the phaseout by ten years in 2022 motivated by the war in Ukraine, currently has two nuclear power plants which produce 40% of the country's power generation
Germany bans the Kingdom of Germany faction of the Reichsbürger movement and arrests four including its king Peter Fitzek in raids in seven states, the group with 6,000 members is accused of creating a counter-state and is said to have been printing its own passports and driver's licenses
Kent Police deletes caution given to 71-year-old retired English policeman Julian Foulkes in 2023 where he was arrested in his home by six officers and handcuffed for a reply on X to an anonymous pro-Palestine activist that he was one step away from storming Heathrow looking for Jewish arrivals, Foulkes comments that a woke mind virus is infecting everything and that the police called his book collection "very Brexity"
North America
US Supreme Court declines case regarding a school's ban on a seventh-grader's T-shirt stating that "there are only two genders" as it was found disruptive and could harm gender-nonconforming students of which some had experienced serious mental health struggles, the decision leaves in place a lower court's ruling that the ban is reasonable
Joe Biden diagnosed with aggressive form of prostate cancer which has spread to his bones, the cancer is characterized by a Gleason score of 9 and appears to be hormone-sensitive, Biden and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians
Verizon ends DEI programs after FCC said they could factor into the review of its planned acquisition of Frontier Communications for USD 20 billion, the company's Chief Legal Officer Vandana Venkatesh comments that they recognize that some DEI policies and practices could be associated with discrimination
The Episcopal Church ends a nearly four-decades-old relationship with the federal government by refusing to resettle white Afrikaners from South Africa who have been classified as refugees by the Trump administration, presiding bishop Sean W Rowe comments that the church's steadfast commitment to racial justice and reconciliation and its historic ties with the Anglican Church of Southern Africa makes them unable to take this step and adds that they will wind down all federally funded services by the end of September but that they will continue to support immigrants and refugees in other ways
Several killed and multiple injured after car is driven into the Filipino Lapu Lapu street festival in Vancouver during Saturday evening after a set by rapper Apl.de.ap, witness describes the scene as a war zone, 30-year-old man arrested
Virginia Giuffre dead at 41 in suicide, accused Prince Andrew of sexual assault and was high-profile in the accusations against Jeffrey Epstein, was in a car crash in March where she went into renal failure and posted on social media that she had four days to live but was discharged from the hospital eight days later
Latin America
Brazil raises the legal age for transgender people to receive hormone therapy from 16 to 18 years, also raises the minimum age for sexual reassignment surgery that involves a potentially sterilising effect from 18 to 21 years and bans the prescription of puberty blockers for children or adolescents with gender dysphoria
Chile's President Gabriel Boric visits Antarctica along with his defense minister to reaffirm his country's claim to sovereignty in the area, is the first Latin American leader to visit the south pole, the US state department says seven countries maintain territorial claims in the area but that US and most other countries instead recognize the Antarctic Treaty
Asia
Former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte re-elected as mayor of Davao far ahead of his competitors, is currently imprisoned in The Hague for alleged crimes against humanity as thousands of people were killed in his war on drugs
India and Pakistan agree to a full and immediate ceasefire, Donald Trump writes on Truth Social that the decision followed a long night of talks mediated by the United States
IMF approves USD 2.4 billion support for Pakistan of which 1 billion for an economic reform program and 1.4 billion to address vulnerabilities related to climate change and natural disasters
India launches military operation against Pakistan in response to the terrorist attack in Pahalgam, says they have hit terrorist infrastructure in a focused and non-escalatory manner where no Pakistani military facilities have been targeted, Pakistan says the heinous provocation will not go unanswered
20,000 security personnel from three states have surrounded over 1,000 Naxals in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur in the largest-ever operation against the Maoist rebels, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has set a deadline to eliminate Naxalism before April 2026 and nearly 150 Naxalites have been gunned down this year
At least 26 killed and several injured after terrorist attack against tourists in Indian Pahalgam during Tuesday afternoon, offshoot of the Pakistan-based Salafist terror group Laskhar-e-Taiba claims responsibility for the attack where picknicking and pony-riding tourists in an area nicknamed Mini-Switzerland were shot and Hindu men were forced to recite an Islamic call to prayer before they were killed
Africa
54 Benin soldiers killed in attack by al-Qaeda-linked Jnim near the borders with Burkina Faso and Niger during last week, several jihadist groups operating in the Sahel region where the governments struggle to contain the insurgency which is also spreading to Benin and Togo to the south
The Congo River Alliance including the M23 rebels pull out of peace talks, say EU sanctions earlier in the day against Rwandan officials and M23 undermine talks, were to meet the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Angola for direct negotiations
Economy
Microsoft cuts 3% of its workforce affecting about 6,000 people across all levels, teams and geographies, the cuts are made to reduce layers of management and are not related to performance according to a company spokesperson
Apple airlifted 600 tons of iPhones from India to US in three days during the final week of March to avoid the Trump administration's announced tariffs, the company is analyzing how different tariff structures across manufacturing locations affect the supply chain
Arla Foods and DMK Group announce intention to merge under the Arla name to create the strongest dairy cooperative in Europe with more than 12,000 farmers and a combined pro forma revenue of EUR 19 billion, Arla Foods CEO Peder Tuborgh comments that the joint market presence ensures stable food production in Europe, the merger is subject to approval from the Board of Representatives in the cooperatives as well as regulatory approval
Volvo Cars CEO Jim Rowan leaves the company effective immediately, 74-year-old Håkan Samuelsson who served as CEO of the company between 2012 and 2022 will serve a two-year term while the group prepares to appoint a long-term successor, the move follows a statement from the company that 2025 will be a tumultuous and competitive year during which it might struggle to match its 2024 sales performance and profitability
Technology
Science
Swedish-Chinese group of scientists breeds new rice variety that reduces methane emissions by 70%, says the rice yields 8.96 tons/hectare to be compared to the world average 4.71, Swedish microbiologist Anna Schürrer who contributed to the study says rice fields cause 13% of the humanly caused methane emissions and adds that rice growers while awaiting regulatory approvals can reduce methane emissions by 60% by using intestinal parasitic worms drug oxantel on the soil
Rising scurvy incidence in France since 2015 with a 34.5% increase in hospital admissions since March 2020, largest increase among children aged 4 to 10 from low-income families, the study that was published in Lancet connects the increase to the rising food prices driven by Covid-19 as some of the children had not eaten for several days
Ground squirrels observed hunting and eating vole in California, could be driven by an explosion in vole numbers with roughly seven times more voles than the 10-year average reported, squirrels are in general flexible regarding food and eat insects as well as hatchling birds but have never been seen hunting adult mammals before