United News of Bangladesh

Spanish emergency services say four women and three girls died when a small boat carrying migrants capsized while arriving to port at one of Spain’s Canary Islands on Wednesday. Spain's maritime rescue service, which located the boat some 6 miles (9.6 kilmoters) from shore, said the boat tipped over as rescuers started removing minors as it arrived at a dock on the island of El Hierro. Israeli forces raid West Bank foreign exchange shops; one killed, dozens injured The movement of people on the boat caused it to tip and then turn over, dumping the occupants into the water, the service said. Emergency services for the Canary Islands said four women, a teenage girl and two younger girls perished in the accident. One of the girls was found by a rescue diver. Local media reports said the small boat appeared to be packed with over 100 people. Spanish rescuers and members of the Red Cross pulled people out of the water. The Spanish archipelago located off Africa’s western coast has for years been a main route for migrants who risk their lives in dinghies and rubber boats unfit for long journeys in the open sea. Thousands have been known to die on the way to European territory. ASEAN opens summit with Gulf nations and China amid US tariffs threat Nearly 47,000 people who made the crossing last year reached the archipelago, surpassing previous records for a second time. Most were citizens of Mali, Senegal and Morocco, with many boarding boats to Spain from the coast of Mauritania.

French President Emmanuel Macron has dismissed speculation around a viral video showing his wife, Brigitte Macron, seemingly pushing him away as they landed in Vietnam, saying the couple was simply joking. The footage, which quickly gained attention in France, captured the first lady placing both hands on Macron’s face — one over his mouth and nose, the other on his jaw — just as the airplane door opened in Hanoi on Sunday. Macron briefly turned his head, then smiled and waved after noticing the camera. French media, including Le Parisien, speculated over the exchange, with headlines questioning whether it was a "slap or squabble." Macron addressed the buzz on Monday, saying the moment was exaggerated and taken out of context. French President Macron to make state visit to UK in July “We were just joking,” he told reporters. “People are blowing this up as if it’s some global catastrophe.” The president, who met Brigitte when she was his high school drama teacher, said the couple was sharing a lighthearted moment before beginning their Southeast Asia tour. His office echoed the explanation, calling it a moment of "playful bonding" that conspiracy theorists had seized on. Brigitte, dressed in red, later descended the airplane stairs beside her husband, opting not to take his offered arm. Macron also used the incident to highlight how easily misinformation can spread in the digital era, urging the public to “calm down” over the harmless exchange.

“Everything will be all right.” Ukrainian soldier Serhii Hryhoriev said this so often during brief phone calls from the front that his wife and two daughters took it to heart. His younger daughter, Oksana, tattooed the phrase on her wrist as a talisman. Even after Hryhoriev was captured by the Russian army in 2022, his anxious family clung to the belief that he would ultimately be OK. After all, Russia is bound by international law to protect prisoners of war. When Hryhoriev finally came home, though, it was in a body bag. A Russian death certificate said the 59-year-old died of a stroke. But a Ukrainian autopsy and a former POW who was detained with him tell a different story about how he died – one of violence and medical neglect at the hands of his captors. Hryhoriev is one of more than 200 Ukrainian POWs who have died while imprisoned since Russia’s full-scale invasion three years ago. Abuse inside Russian prisons was likely a contributing factor in many of these deaths, according to officials from human rights groups, the U.N., the Ukrainian government and a Ukrainian medical examiner who has performed dozens of POW autopsies. The officials say the prison death toll adds to evidence that Russia is systematically brutalizing captured soldiers. They say forensic discrepancies like Hryhoriev's, and the repatriation of bodies that are mutilated and decomposed, point to an effort to cover up alleged torture, starvation and poor health care at dozens of prisons and detention centers across Russia and occupied Ukraine. Russian authorities did not respond to requests for comment. They have previously accused Ukraine of mistreating Russian POWs — allegations the U.N. has partially backed up, though it says Ukraine's violations are far less common and severe than what Russia is accused of. ‘Alive and well’ Hryhoriev joined the Ukrainian army in 2019 after he lost his job as an office worker at a high school. When the war began three years later, he was stationed with other soldiers in Mariupol, an industrial port city that was the site of a fierce battle — and far from his home in the central Poltava region. On April 10, 2022, Hryhoriev called his family to reassure them that “everything will be all right.” That was the last time they ever spoke to him. Two days later, a relative of a soldier in Hryhoriev’s unit called to say the men had been captured. After Mariupol fell to Russia, more than 2,000 soldiers defending the city became Russian prisoners. Soon his family got a call from the International Committee of the Red Cross, which confirmed he was alive and officially registered as a POW, guaranteeing his protection under the Geneva Conventions. “We were told: ‘that means everything is fine … Russia has to return him,’” Hryhoriev’s wife, Halyna, recalled. In August 2022, she received a letter from him, that addressed her by a nickname. “My dear Halochka,” he wrote. “I am alive and well. Everything will be all right.” Russia and Ukraine swap hundreds more prisoners hours after a massive attack on Kyiv Desperate for more information, his daughter Oksana, 31, scoured Russian social media accounts, where videos of Ukrainian POWs regularly appeared. Eventually, she saw him in one — looking gaunt and missing teeth. His gray hair was cropped very short, framing gentle features now partially covered by a beard. In the video, likely shot under duress, Hryhoriev said to the camera: “I’m alive and well.” “But if you looked at him, you could see that wasn’t true,” Oksana said. The truth was dismal, said Oleksii Honcharov, a 48-year-old Ukrainian POW who was detained with him. Honcharov lived in the same prison barracks as Hryhoriev starting in the fall of 2022. Over a period of months, he witnessed Hryhoriev absorb the same severe punishment as every other POW at the Kamensk-Shakhtinsky Correctional Colony in southwest Russia. “Everyone got hit -- no exceptions,” said Honcharov, who was repatriated to Ukraine in February as part of a prisoner swap. “Some more, some less, but we all took it.” Honcharov endured months of chest pain while in captivity. Even then, the beatings never stopped, he said, and sometimes they began after his pleas for medical care, which were ignored. “Toward the end, I could barely walk,” said Honcharov, who was diagnosed with tuberculosis once back in Ukraine – an increasingly common ailment among returning POWs. A 2024 U.N. report found that 95% of released Ukrainian POWs had endured “systematic” torture. Prisoners described beatings, electric shocks, suffocation, sexual violence, prolonged stress positions, mock executions, and sleep deprivation. “This conduct could not be more unlawful,” said Danielle Bell, the U.N.’s top human rights monitor in Ukraine. The report also said some Russian POWs were mistreated by Ukrainian forces during their initial capture -- including beatings, threats and electric shocks. But the abuse stopped once Russian POWs were moved to official Ukrainian detention centers, the report said. Hryhoriev was physically strong and often outlasted younger prisoners during forced exercises, Honcharov recalled. But over time, he began showing signs of physical decline: dizziness, fatigue and, eventually, an inability to walk without help. Yet despite his worsening condition, prison officials provided only minimal health care, Honcharov said. Piecing together how POWs died In a bright, sterile room with the sour-sweet smell of human decomposition, Inna Padei performs autopsies on Ukrainian soldiers repatriated by Russia, as well as civilians exhumed from mass graves. Hundreds of bodies zipped up in black plastic bags have been delivered in refrigerated trucks to the morgue where she works in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Those who died in battle are still wearing military fatigues and often have obvious external wounds. The bodies of former POWs are dressed in prison uniforms and are often mutilated and decomposed. It is the job of Padei and other forensic experts to piece together how soldiers like Hryhoriev died. These reports are often the only reliable information the soldiers’ families get — and they will be used by Ukraine, along with testimony from former POWs, to bring war crimes charges against Russia at the International Criminal Court. The body of a former POW recently examined by Padei had an almond-sized fracture on the right side of its skull. That suggested the soldier was struck by a blunt object – a blow potentially strong enough to have killed him instantly, or shortly after, she said. “These injuries may not always be the direct cause of death,” Padei said, “but they clearly indicate the use of force and torture against the servicemen.” Earlier this year, Amnesty International documented widespread torture of Ukrainian POWs in Russia. Its report was especially critical of Russia's secrecy regarding the whereabouts and condition of POWs, saying it refused to grant rights groups or health workers access to its prisons, leaving families in the dark for months or years about their loved ones. Russia launches biggest drone attack on Ukraine since start of war Of the more than 5,000 POWs Russia has repatriated to Ukraine, at least 206 died in captivity, including more than 50 when an explosion ripped through a Russian-controlled prison barracks, according to the Ukrainian government. An additional 245 Ukrainian POWs were killed by Russian soldiers on the battlefield, according to Ukrainian prosecutors. The toll of dead POWs is expected to rise as more bodies are returned and identified, but forensic experts face significant challenges in determining causes of death. In some cases, internal organs are missing. Other times, it appears as if bruises or injuries have been hidden or removed. Ukrainian officials believe the mutilation of bodies is an effort by Russia to conceal the true causes of death. Extreme decomposition is another obstacle, officials say. “They hold the bodies until they reach a state where nothing can be determined,” said Petro Yatsenko, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian government agency in charge of POW affairs. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the prompt exchange of POWs must be part of any ceasefire agreement, along with the return of thousands of Ukrainian civilians, including children forcibly deported to Russia. A major prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine took place over the weekend. The Associated Press interviewed relatives of 21 Ukrainian POWs who died in captivity. Autopsies performed in Ukraine found that five of these POWs died of heart failure, including soldiers who were 22, 39 and 43. Four others died from tuberculosis or pneumonia, and three others perished, respectively, from an infection, asphyxia and a blunt force head wound. Padei said cases like these — and others she has seen — are red flags, suggesting that physical abuse and untreated injuries and illness likely contributed to many soldiers' deaths. “Under normal or humane conditions, these would not have been fatal,” Padei said. In one autopsy report, coroners said an individual had been electrocuted and beaten just days before dying of heart failure and extreme emaciation. Other autopsies noted that bodies showed signs of gangrene or untreated infections. “Everything the returned prisoners describe … we see the same on the bodies,” Padei said. ‘Angel in the sky’ Months into Hryhoriev’s detention at the Kamensk-Shakhtinsky prison – and after his daughter saw him in the Russian army’s social media video -- his health deteriorated significantly, according to Honcharov. But instead of being sent to a hospital, Hryhoriev was moved to a tiny cell that was isolated from other prisoners. Another Ukrainian captive, a paramedic, was assigned to stay with him. “It was damp, cold, with no lighting at all,” recalled Honcharov. He died in that cell about a month later, Honcharov said. It was May 20, 2023, according to his Russian death certificate. Trump says he will call Putin, then Zelenskyy, on Monday to push for Ukraine ceasefire The Hryhoriev family didn't learn he had died until more than six months later, when a former POW reached out. Then, in March 2024, police in central Ukraine called: A body had arrived with a Russian death certificate bearing Hryhoriev’s name. A DNA test confirmed it was him. An autopsy performed in Ukraine disputed Russia’s claim that Hryhoriev died of a stroke. It said he bled to death after blunt trauma to his abdomen that also damaged his spleen. Hryhoriev’s body was handed over to the family last June, and soon after he was buried in his hometown of Pyriatyn. To honor him, Hryhoriev’s wife and older daughter, Yana, followed Oksana's lead and tattooed their wrists with the optimistic expression he had drilled into them. “Now we have an angel in the sky watching over us,” Halyna said. “We believe everything will be all right.”

A court in Vienna on Monday acquitted former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz of making false statements during a parliamentary inquiry into alleged corruption in his administration, overturning a previous ruling that had handed him a suspended prison sentence. According to the Austria Press Agency, judges at Vienna’s upper state court dismissed Kurz’s conviction after a brief appeal hearing.  Austria's new government takes office after a record 5-month wait The case focused on Kurz’s testimony before a parliamentary inquiry that examined the coalition government he led from 2017 until 2019. During that period, his conservative Austrian People’s Party governed in partnership with the far-right Freedom Party. The coalition ultimately collapsed in 2019. Prosecutors had accused the 38-year-old of providing false testimony in June 2020 about his involvement in establishing the state holding company OeBAG and the appointment of his former confidant Thomas Schmid as its head. OeBAG is responsible for managing the government's stakes in various companies. In February 2024, Kurz was convicted of making false statements regarding the appointment of OeBAG’s supervisory board members, although he was cleared of providing misleading information about Schmid’s appointment. He was sentenced to eight months in prison, suspended. That conviction followed a four-month trial and marked the first time in over three decades that a former Austrian chancellor had faced trial. Austrian FM Schallenberg appointed as interim govt leader Reacting to Monday’s acquittal, Kurz told reporters outside the courtroom, “What came out is what I have always said — namely, that I did not tell untruths to the parliamentary inquiry.” He added, “I now have a long time in (legal) proceedings behind me, and to be honest I'd like to set out my position in detail, but I ask for your understanding that I'm going home to family and my two children first.” However, the court upheld the conviction of Kurz’s former chief of staff, Bernhard Bonelli, who was found guilty of making a false statement to the same inquiry concerning his and Kurz’s roles in selecting OeBAG supervisory board members. Bonelli received a six-month suspended sentence in 2024. Kurz expressed deep regret over the decision on Bonelli. Once viewed as a rising star among Europe’s conservatives, Kurz resigned in 2021 following a separate corruption investigation and has since withdrawn from politics. His Austrian People’s Party remains in power under Chancellor Christian Stocker, although the party placed second in the September elections. Kurz, who rose to prominence on an anti-immigration platform, became the People’s Party leader and then chancellor at just 31 years old in 2017. He ended his first government in 2019 after a video scandal involving then–Vice Chancellor and Freedom Party leader Heinz-Christian Strache, who appeared to offer political favors to a supposed Russian investor. Kurz returned as chancellor in early 2020 in a new coalition with the Greens but stepped down in October 2021. His resignation followed pressure from the Greens after prosecutors named him a target in a second probe involving suspected bribery and breach of trust — allegations that Kurz has consistently denied. Speculation has occasionally surfaced about the potential for a political comeback by Kurz.

Russia and Ukraine exchanged hundreds more prisoners Saturday as part of a major swap that amounted to a rare moment of cooperation in otherwise failed efforts to reach a ceasefire. The exchange came hours after Kyiv came under a large-scale Russian drone and missile attack that left at least 15 people injured. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russia’s defense ministry said each side brought home 307 more soldiers on Saturday, a day after each released a total of 390 combatants and civilians. Further releases expected over the weekend are set to make the swap the largest in more than three years of war. “We expect more to come tomorrow,” Zelenskyy said on his official Telegram channel. Russia's defense ministry also said it expected the exchange to be continued, though it did not give details. Hours earlier, explosions and anti-aircraft fire were heard throughout Kyiv as many sought shelter in subway stations as Russian drones and missiles targeted the Ukrainian capital overnight. In talks held in Istanbul earlier this month — the first time the two sides met face to face for peace talks since Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion — Kyiv and Moscow agreed to swap 1,000 prisoners of war and civilian detainees each. ‘A difficult night’ Officials said Russia attacked Ukraine with 14 ballistic missiles and 250 Shahed drones overnight while Ukrainian forces shot down six missiles and neutralized 245 drones — 128 drones were shot down and 117 were thwarted using electronic warfare. The Kyiv City Military Administration said it was one of the biggest combined missile and drone attacks on the capital. “A difficult night for all of us,” the administration said in a statement. Posting on X, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called it “clear evidence that increased sanctions pressure on Moscow is necessary to accelerate the peace process." Posting on X, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy spoke of “another night of terror for Ukrainian civilians.” “These are not the actions of a country seeking peace,” Lammy said of the Russian strike. Katarina Mathernová, the European Union's ambassador to Kyiv, described the attack as “horrific." “If anyone still doubts Russia wants war to continue — read the news,” Katarina Mathernová wrote on the social network. Air raid alert in Kyiv The debris of intercepted missiles and drones fell in at least six Kyiv city districts. According to the acting head of the city's military administration, Tymur Tkachenko, six people required medical care after the attack and two fires were sparked in Kyiv's Solomianskyi district. The Obolon district, where a residential building was heavily damaged in the attack, was the hardest hit with at least five wounded in the area, the administration said. Kyiv hit by massive Russian missile and drone attack Yurii Bondarchuk, a local resident, said the air raid siren “started as usual, then the drones started to fly around as they constantly do.” Moments later, he heard a boom and saw shattered glass fly through the air. “The balcony is totally wiped out, as well as the windows and the doors,” he said as he stood in the dark, smoking a cigarette to calm his nerves while firefighters worked to extinguish the flames. The air raid alert in Kyiv lasted more than seven hours, warning of incoming missiles and drones. Kyiv's mayor, Vitalii Klitschko, warned residents ahead of the attack that more than 20 Russian strike drones were heading toward the city. As the attack continued, he said drone debris fell on a shopping mall and a residential building in Obolon. Emergency services were headed to the site, Klitschko said. Separately, 13 civilians were killed on Friday and overnight into Saturday in Russian attacks in Ukraine's south, east and north, regional authorities said. Three people died after a Russian ballistic missile targeted port infrastructure in Odesa on the Black Sea, local Gov. Oleh Kiper reported. Russia later said the strike Friday targeted a cargo ship carrying military equipment. Russia’s defense ministry on Saturday claimed its forces overnight struck various military targets across Ukraine, including missile and drone-producing plants, a reconnaissance center and a launching site for anti-aircraft missiles. A complex deal The prisoner swap on Friday was the first phase of a complicated deal involving the exchange of 1,000 prisoners from each side. It took place at the border with Belarus, in northern Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly. The released Russians were taken to Belarus for medical treatment, the Russian Defense Ministry said. POWs arrived at the medical facility in the Chernihiv region for a second day on Saturday. But for many their arrival was bittersweet. Those who were not reunited with their loved ones took solace in the released POWs providing some information about when their relatives were last seen. Anna Marchenko, the daughter of a missing Ukrainian serviceman, was elated when a released POW said they had seen her father. “This is such a big news. It’s like a fresh breath of air,” she said. “I didn’t see him, but at least it’s some news. At least it’s news that gives us the opportunity to continue to breathe and live in peace." However, the exchange — the latest of dozens of swaps since the war began and the biggest involving Ukrainian civilians so far — did not herald a halt in the fighting. What to know about the battle for Russia's Kursk region Battles continued along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed, and neither country has relented in its deep strikes. After the May 16 Istanbul meeting, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan called the prisoner swap a “confidence-building measure” and said the parties had agreed in principle to meet again. But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that there has been no agreement yet on the venue for the next round of talks as diplomatic maneuvering continued. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would give Ukraine a draft document outlining its conditions for a “sustainable, long-term, comprehensive” peace agreement, once the ongoing prisoner exchange had finished. Far apart on key conditions European leaders have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of dragging his feet in peace efforts while he tries to press his larger army’s battlefield initiative and capture more Ukrainian land. The Istanbul meeting revealed that both sides remained far apart on key conditions for ending the fighting. One such condition for Ukraine, backed by its Western allies, is a temporary ceasefire as a first step toward a peaceful settlement. Putin visits Russia’s Kursk for first time since Moscow claims to oust Ukrainian forces Russia’s Defense Ministry said that overnight and early on Saturday its forces shot down over 100 Ukrainian drones over six provinces in western and southern Russia. The drone strikes injured three people in the Tula region south of Moscow, local Gov. Dmitriy Milyaev said, and sparked a fire at an industrial site there. Andriy Kovalenko, of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said Saturday the drones hit a plant in Tula that makes chemicals used in explosives and rocket fuel.

The European Union has called for mutual respect in trade relations after US President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 50% tariff on all EU goods entering the United States. Speaking after a call with US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic said, “The EU's fully engaged, committed to securing a deal that works for both.” "EU-US trade is unmatched & must be guided by mutual respect, not threats. We stand ready to defend our interests." Earlier on Friday, Trump expressed impatience with the pace of ongoing EU-US trade negotiations, saying his plan to raise tariffs on June 1 was set. Writing on social media, Trump said, "Our discussions with [the EU] are going nowhere," adding that there would be no tariffs for products built or manufactured in the US. "I'm not looking for a deal - we've set the deal," he told reporters later, before immediately adding that a big investment in the US by a European company might make him open to a delay. Judge halts Trump administration’s attempt to ban foreign student at Harvard The EU is one of the Washington's largest trading partners, sending more than $600bn (€528bn; £443bn) in goods last year and buying $370bn worth, US government figures show. Reacting to Trump's threats, European governments warned that higher tariffs would be damaging to both sides. "We do not need to go down this road," said Ireland's Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin. "Negotiations are the best and only sustainable way forward." France's Trade Minister Laurent Saint-Martin, said: "We are maintaining the same line: de-escalation, but we are ready to respond." German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche said the bloc "must do everything" to reach a solution with the US. While Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof told reporters that he backed the EU's strategy in trade talks and "we have seen before that tariffs can go up and down in talks with the US." With inputs from BBC

Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, faced a large-scale Russian attack early Saturday, with both drones and missiles. Explosions and bursts of machine gun fire echoed across the city, prompting many residents to seek shelter in subway stations. The overnight attack coincided with a major prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine—the first phase of a deal reached in Istanbul last week—marking a rare instance of cooperation during the ongoing three-year conflict. According to Tymur Tkachenko, acting head of Kyiv's military administration, debris from intercepted drones and missiles fell across at least four districts of the city. Six people required medical treatment, and fires were reported in the Solomianskyi district. Greece deploys record firefighters and drones for wildfire season Local resident Yurii Bondarchuk recounted the experience, noting that the air raid siren began as usual, followed by the sound of drones overhead. A sudden explosion shattered glass in his apartment. “The balcony is totally wiped out, as well as the windows and the doors,” he said, standing outside in the darkness while firefighters worked nearby. To steady his nerves, he smoked a cigarette. The air raid alert lasted over seven hours through the night, with repeated warnings of incoming threats. Prior to the strike, Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko warned that more than 20 Russian strike drones were en route. As the attack unfolded, he reported that drone debris struck a shopping mall and a residential building in Kyiv’s Obolon district, with emergency crews dispatched to the scene. The missile and drone attack came just hours after Ukraine and Russia began executing a prisoner exchange deal involving 1,000 captives from each side. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that 390 Ukrainians were returned in the initial phase, with more expected over the weekend—making it the largest exchange of the war to date. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it received an equal number of Russian nationals. A Ukrainian official, speaking anonymously, said the handover took place at the Belarus border in northern Ukraine. The Russian prisoners were transported to Belarus for medical care. At the medical facility, relatives of the released men gathered, holding signs and shouting names or brigade numbers in hopes of finding loved ones. “Vanya!” cried Nataliia Mosych, calling out for her husband. Despite the large-scale exchange, fighting has not abated along the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line, where tens of thousands of soldiers have already died. Both sides continue their deep-strike operations. Following the May 16 meeting in Istanbul, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan described the prisoner swap as a “confidence-building measure” and said the parties had agreed in principle to meet again. However, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov stated on Friday that no venue has been finalized for further negotiations. UK net migration expected to halve in 2024: ONS Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow plans to present Ukraine with a draft document detailing its terms for a “sustainable, long-term, comprehensive” peace agreement once the ongoing exchange concludes. Yet, significant gaps remain in the positions of both sides. One of Ukraine’s key demands—backed by Western allies—is the implementation of a temporary ceasefire as a starting point for peace talks. European leaders have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of stalling negotiations while seeking to gain more territory through military advances. In the days leading up to the latest attack, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported it had shot down 788 Ukrainian drones between May 20 and May 23. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s air force said that Russia had launched 175 Shahed and decoy drones, along with a ballistic missile, since late Thursday.  

Germany’s economy, the largest in Europe, recorded a 0.4% growth in the first quarter of the year, driven by stronger-than-expected performance in exports and manufacturing, according to official data released on Friday. This marks a doubling of the initial estimate. The Federal Statistical Office had previously stated at the end of last month that the economy grew by 0.2% in the January to March period compared to the previous quarter. Ruth Brandt, the head of the office, attributed the upward revision to “the surprisingly good economic development seen in March.”  UK inflation hits highest level in over a year as domestic bills spike The last time Germany experienced higher growth was in the third quarter of 2022, when GDP rose by 0.6%. The country has faced persistent challenges in achieving strong economic growth, with the economy contracting in each of the past two years. In the final quarter of last year, GDP declined by 0.2%. In its initial projection since the new government led by Chancellor Friedrich Merz assumed office earlier this month, the government’s panel of independent economic advisers forecast on Wednesday that GDP will stagnate in the current year and rise by 1% in 2026. The panel cited challenges from tariffs and trade threats imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump but also highlighted the potential benefits from a significant infrastructure investment initiative introduced by Merz’s coalition. Carsten Brzeski, global head of macro at ING bank, noted that the improved performance in the first quarter is likely “a positive one-off” in the short term, driven by companies rushing to act before Trump's tariffs take effect.  German police arrest a suspect, injured 5 people outside bar attack “Due to the announced tariffs and in anticipation of ‘Liberation Day,’ German industrial production and exports surged in March,” Brzeski wrote in a research note.  

Greece is deploying a record number of firefighters and nearly doubling its drone fleet this summer to address growing wildfire risks driven by climate change, officials said Thursday. Civil Protection Minister Ioannis Kefalogiannis said 18,000 permanent and seasonal personnel, supported by thousands of volunteers, would be mobilized as wildfire damage has increased steadily over the past two decades.  Gaza's main hospital overwhelmed with children in pain from malnutrition “It is clear that the conditions this year will be particularly difficult,” Kefalogiannis told reporters after attending a firefighting exercise south of Athens. Rising average temperatures and low rainfall have significantly worsened conditions in recent years. Greek Fire Chief Lt. Gen. Theodoros Vagias said that additional elite firefighting units would be deployed to high-risk areas during the May–October fire season. “The climate crisis is here to stay, and we must be more effective in surveillance, preparedness, and how we mobilize our resources,” Vagias said. Wildfire damage surged to more than 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) in 2021 and 1,745 square kilometers (675 square miles) in 2023 — roughly three times the 2011–2020 average — according to data from the European Union’s Forest Fire Information System. Firefighters held an exercise Thursday to test Greece’s evolving wildfire response, which increasingly relies on advanced technologies such as drone surveillance and mobile command centers.  Israeli strikes kill 51 in Gaza as limited aid begins to arrive Fire planes skimmed treetops, releasing plumes of water in coordinated low-altitude drops, as commanders on the ground huddled over tablets streaming real-time drone footage. The coast guard and armed forces took part in a drill simulating the evacuation of a children’s summer camp threatened by fires on multiple fronts. Officials said the number of firefighting personnel has increased by roughly 20% over the past two years, while the fleet of fire-surveillance drones has grown to 82, up from 45. Around 300 firefighters from the Czech Republic, France, Romania, Moldova, and Bulgaria are being sent to Greece under a European Union prepositioning program, officials said.

Net migration to the UK is projected to decline by nearly 50% in 2024, largely due to a significant drop in arrivals from non-EU nations and an increase in departures of international students, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Thursday. Provisional ONS data shows that net migration for the year ending December 2024 is estimated at 431,000, a sharp fall from 860,000 in 2023. The decrease is mainly attributed to fewer arrivals on work and student visas from non-EU+ countries—which include all nations outside the EU, European Economic Area, and Switzerland—and a rise in emigration, particularly among former international students. The total number of long-term arrivals is expected to fall to 948,000, down from 1.33 million in 2023—a drop of nearly one-third, and the first time this figure has dipped below one million since March 2022. Meanwhile, long-term emigration rose by about 11% to 517,000, the highest level since mid-2017. Among non-EU+ nationals, work-related immigration experienced the largest decline, with the number of primary applicants for work visas decreasing by 108,000—nearly 49% lower than the previous year. There was also a steep drop in the number of student dependents (down 105,000 or 86%) and work dependents (down 81,000 or 35%). The number of main applicants for student visas fell by around 17%. The ONS report also noted that Indian nationals were the most common non-EU+ group to leave the UK in 2024. Emigration among the top five non-EU+ nationalities was primarily driven by education-related reasons, especially among Indian and Chinese students who left the country after completing their studies. The data comes shortly after the UK’s Labour government introduced its Immigration White Paper, which outlines stricter rules to curb legal migration. The proposals include tougher residency requirements, higher visa income thresholds, and the closure of some work visa routes.