Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir sparked widespread controversy after celebrating his 50th birthday with imagery linked to the execution of Palestinian prisoners.

Photos and videos circulated on social media showed Ben-Gvir receiving a large three-tiered birthday cake topped with a golden execution noose.

The imagery was widely interpreted as a reference to legislation supporting the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners, a policy long championed by Ben-Gvir and his far-right Otzma Yehudit party.

The law was passed by the Israeli Knesset earlier this year.

Palestine Chronicle Article

What might this indicate ??

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/46942755

May 3, 2026

On April 25, an alliance of Tuareg nationalist militias and Islamists launched a coordinated offensive across Mali. This offensive shook the ruling military junta, which responded in 2013 to mass demonstrations against the French-led war in Mali by imposing the withdrawal of French troops and allying itself with the Kremlin.

While the junta retained power and control of the country’s more populous southern cities, the Tuareg-Islamist offensive shook it badly. Mopti in the north fell under control of Islamist and Tuareg forces, backed by the Algerian military regime and above all by Paris. In the global context of the imperialist war against Iran and Russia, the conflict between the anti-imperialist aspirations of the Malian working masses and the bourgeois politics of the junta is emerging ever more clearly.

Trump puts ‘Project Freedom’ on hold, saying he hopes to finalise a deal with Iran

US president says he is pausing US effort to guide stranded vessels out of the strait of Hormuz but blockade remains Mark Saunokonoko and agencies Tue 5 May 2026 20.55 EDT Prefer the Guardian on Google

Donald Trump announced he is pausing ‘Project Freedom’, the US effort to guide stranded vessels out of the strait of Hormuz, so he can finalise a deal with Iran, but added that his blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place.

Trump’s abrupt change of plan was declared in a social media post, saying he was pausing the effort for “a short period” to give space for US efforts to finalise a settlement with Iran to end the war.

Despite Project Freedom only launching Monday, Trump said he’d made the move based “on the request of Pakistan and other Countries, the tremendous Military Success that we have had during the Campaign against the Country of Iran and, additionally, the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran”. Iran is yet to comment.

La Nación has been critical of Costa Rica president and Donald Trump ally Rodrigo Chaves

Authorities confirmed Wednesday that the Andes strain, which can be spread among people, was identified in passengers. A local leader meanwhile opposed allowing it to dock in Spain.

Three passengers were medically evacuated from the cruise ship at the the center of a deadly hantavirus outbreak Wednesday, while a local leader opposed allowing the stricken vessel to dock in Spain.

As a new case was identified in Switzerland, authorities confirmed the outbreak involved the Andes strain, which can be spread among people.

A man who had traveled on the Hondius was being treated for hantavirus in the Swiss city of Zurich, the Swiss government said in a statement Wednesday. There was no threat to the wider population, it added.

The Sudanese government has accused Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates of being behind recent drone attacks, including at Khartoum airport. Military spokesperson Brigadier General Asim Awad Abdelwahab told a news conference on Tuesday that Sudan’s government, which has recalled its ambassador from Ethiopia, had obtained evidence of four drone attacks since March 1 originating from neighbouring Ethiopia’s Bahir Dar airport. It claims the UAE provided the drones used in the attacks.

“What Ethiopia and the UAE have done is direct aggression against Sudan and won’t be met with silence,” Abdelwahab said. Foreign Minister Mohieddin Salem said that while Khartoum will not initiate attacks against other countries, “whoever attacks us will be met with a response”, and that Sudan was ready to “enter into an open confrontation” with Ethiopia “if it becomes necessary”. His comments came following a strike on Monday at the airport in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum. Previous attacks have been launched towards the Sudanese states of Kordofan, Blue Nile and White Nile.

“Project Freedom” was only in force for a day.

Indigenous people are gathering to honor loved ones who have gone missing or been killed. They're also calling for reforms to make their communities safer.

India News: NEW DELHI: West Bengal has turned saffron. Mamata Banerjee's 15-year rule has ended and BJP is all set to form its first government in the state. So, .

A teenager shot dead two staff members and injured two other people, including an 11-year-old girl, on Tuesday in the latest school shooting to rock Brazil. A 13-year-old boy was arrested over the attack at São José Institute, a junior high school in Rio Branco, capital of northwestern Acre state, the local government said. The injured girl was shot in the leg. The teenager, who is a student at the school, entered the building and fired several shots in a hallway leading to the principal’s office, Lieutenant Colonel Felipe Russo of the Acre military police department told reporters. He surrendered to police after the attack.

The twin island nation Antigua and Barbuda swore in a new Cabinet on Tuesday, days after incumbent Prime Minister Gaston Browne led the Antigua and Barbuda Labor Party to an unprecedented fourth consecutive electoral victory. For the first time, elected officials swore an oath of allegiance to the country, setting aside a more than 40-year tradition of pledging loyalty to the British sovereign in the former colony. In December 2025, Parliament approved a constitutional amendment formally removing loyalty to the British monarch, King Charles III, his heirs and successors from the oath of allegiance. The oath now pledges allegiance to the state of Antigua and Barbuda, its constitution and its laws. “Whereas your success at the polls has earned you the confidence and trust of the people; that confidence and trust collectively, is not a gift to be enjoyed, or trust to be betrayed. It is a burden to be carried, a duty to be performed, a trust to be honored every single day,” Browne said to those gathered.

This article gives an idea how the votebank and the geopolitics works in the subcontinent.

Nine million voters have been dropped from rolls in West Bengal, raising concerns over exclusion and fairness.

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo on Tuesday appointed a new attorney general and head of the prosecutor’s office, putting an end to a fierce, years-long struggle between the anti-corruption progressive and former top prosecutor Consuelo Porras, who has been sanctioned by 40 countries for obstructing anti-corruption efforts. He appointed lawyer Gabriel Estuardo García Luna to the position, marking a win for the Guatemalan president who has often clashed with prosecutors he accuses of rotting Guatemala’s justice system and making politically motivated arrests. Porras’ prosecutor’s office repeatedly tried and failed to block Arévalo from entering office, sparking international rebuke and a fierce struggle with the president. In Guatemala, the attorney general holds an independent office that is not supposed to be allied to any given president, meaning that presidents can be effectively stuck with rivals as chief law enforcement officers. The office has been plagued by corruption allegations for years.