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All new cars and trucks sold within the European Union and Northern Ireland after July 6, 2024, will be mandated to have safety technology activated to let drivers know they are speeding by beeping, vibrating or even slowing the vehicle down, to prevent car crashes.

The United Kingdom has chosen not to require intelligent speed assistance (ISA) to be used on its roads, though the safety feature will still be installed on vehicles and drivers will have the option to activate the technology each day.

ISA technology uses a camera on the front of the vehicle that can read speed limit signs. The information from the signs, along with GPS mapping data in the vehicle’s software, help the car with knowing which speed limit is in place where the vehicle is traveling.

Once the driver breaks the speed limit, ISA will either beep or vibrate the speed limit to let the driver know they are speeding.

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If the driver does not slow down, the technology will then take over and reduce the speed of the vehicle to the posted speed limit.

The Telegraph reported that Ford and other manufacturers have been offering ISA as an option since 2015, and since 2022, all new cars in Europe have required ISA to be installed.

The European Transport Safety Council estimates that ISA will reduce collisions by 30% and deaths by 20%.

EU COMMISSION PRESIDENT URGES UNITY AS FINLAND CLOSES RUSSIAN BORDERS OVER MIGRATION SURGE

According to the safety council’s website, the technology will also help drivers avoid speeding tickets.

Leeds University said in a study that the U.K. could see a 12% decline in injuries caused by vehicle crashes, with ISA in place.

The European Union moved to require vehicles to have ISA technology in 2018.

It estimated at the time that every year, 25,000 people died on the roads, adding it was up to the EU to take action to reduce the number of deaths.

More than 1,000 protesters gathered in Hamburg, Germany to take part in an Islamist demonstration over the weekend, German media reported.

According to German newspaper Die Welt, the demonstration took place in the Steindamm neighborhood of Hamburg on Saturday afternoon.

Muslim protesters carried a variety of signs in support of Islamic fundamentalism. One of the signs read "Kalifat ist die Lösung," which translates to, "Caliphate is the solution."

The protesters also yelled "Allahu Akbar," meaning "God is great," in Arabic. Hamburg police told Die Welt that there were roughly 1,100 participants.

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The protest was reportedly organized by a group called Muslim Interaktiv. According to the organization's social media, the protest was meant to stand against the "demoniz[ation of] all Islamic life in Germany."

"We will raise our voices together, inshallah," a translated post on X read. "Together against Islamophobic reporting, both in recent weeks and in recent months."

The Hamburg protests came as anti-Israel protests have intensified across the world, while the Israel-Hamas war inches towards its eighth month. In the U.S., protesters at Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Texas at Austin and other schools have set up tents on their universities' quads as a sign of solidarity with Palestinians.

ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS CONTINUE NATIONWIDE DISRUPTIONS WITH ESCALATIONS AT USC, HARVARD AND COLUMBIA

The war began on October 7, when Hamas terrorists attacked Israel on the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. Around 1,200 Israeli civilians were killed, igniting a fierce response from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Israel's military response has been criticized by anti-war groups for exacerbating a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which IDF supporters have blamed on Hamas. In December, police in Berlin banned a pro-Palestinian rally planned for New Year's Eve out of fear of potential chaos and crimes.

"The situation is emotional," Berlin police chief Barbara Slowik said at the time. "An influx of troublemakers is to be expected who could use the meeting to commit crimes. No meeting leader could keep such a development under control. That's why the police banned the demonstration."

Fox News Digital's Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.

A climate activist who allegedly smeared paint on a case surrounding 19th century French artist Edgar Degas’ "Little Dancer Aged Fourteen" sculpture at Washington, D.C.’s National Gallery of Art was charged.

Joanna Smith, 54, of Brooklyn, N.Y., got 60 days of prison time out of a possible maximum sentence of five years for defacing the historic statue, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., said in a release. 

Judge Amy Berman Jackson also ordered Smith to serve 24 months of supervised release and 150 hours of community service, with 10 hours that must involve cleaning graffiti.

Smith also paid restitution for the damage to the Degas sculpture and was barred from entering the nation's capitol and all museums and monuments for two years.

CLIMATE ACTIVISTS INDICTED FOR SMEARING PAINT ON DEGAS SCULPTURE CASE AT NATIONAL GALLERY

Smith, along with other co-conspirators, traveled to Washington D.C. on April 27, 2023, and allegedly targeted the sculpture, the attorney's office said.

The two allegedly smuggled the paint in plastic water bottles and had other conspirators film them smearing the paint of the base and the see-through case, while sometimes hitting the roughly 143-year-old priceless artwork with force, on their phones, according to the release. 

According to the government’s evidence, Smith, along with other co-conspirators, created video statements explaining their intent.

ACTIVISTS VANDALIZE SCOTLAND'S ‘BRAVEHEART’ MONUMENT IN CLIMATE PROTEST

They also alerted two reporters from the Washington Post who arrived and took photos of the vandalism. 

The April 27 incident caused $4,000 in damage and forced staff to remove "Little Dancer" from the galleries for 10 days for repairs, the release said. 

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The case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, specifically the FBI’s Art Crime Team, with assistance from the National Gallery of Art Police, and U.S. Park Police.

A 64-year-old British tourist has lost his arm and leg after being mauled by a bull shark on the southeastern Caribbean island of Tobago.

According to Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Farley Augustine, Peter Smith was in waist-deep water when the attack happened near the Starfish Resort in Courland Bay, a popular tourist destination in Tobago.

Augustine said the bull shark was approximately 8 to 10 feet long, and 2 feet wide.

"He’s lucky to be alive," fellow tourist Stephanie Wright told The Mirror. "I saw a dorsal fin come out of the water and thought, ‘’Oh my God, it’s a shark.’’

A BRITISH TOURIST IS IN A HOSPITAL AFTER A SHARK ATTACK; TOBAGO CLOSES SEVERAL BEACHES

Augustine said that the attack happened just 30 feet from the shore on Friday, April 26, at 9:15 a.m. 

Officials said that the tourist was hospitalized in an intensive care unit following the attack.

He said the victim’s left hand had been severed from the elbow down, his left thigh was also severed, and he also received lacerations to his stomach.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO FACING 'NATIONAL EMERGENCY' AFTER MAJOR COASTAL OIL SPILL

Photos from the Chief Secretary's office showed graphic images of Smith's severe shark bites along his body.

The Chief Secretary said that he had spoken to the British High Commissioner and the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard and the agencies were closely monitoring the area.

"Currently, we are doing drone reconnaissance/surveillance, Coast Guard surveillance, and the Department of Fisheries is combing the area to ensure safety," Augustine said. 

Shark attacks are rare. Last year, there were 69 unprovoked attacks and 22 provoked bites worldwide, along with 14 fatalities, according to the Florida-based International Shark Attack File.

Russian President Vladimir Putin likely didn’t order the death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny when the 47-year-old collapsed and died in February at an Arctic penal colony, U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded, according to a report. 

While the U.S. has concluded that the Kremlin attempted to kill Navalny in 2020, when he was poisoned by a Soviet-era Novichok nerve agent, and Putin has culpability in his death earlier this year, agencies like the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the State Department have assessed that Putin likely wouldn’t have wanted him killed at that moment, according to the Wall Street Journal citing people familiar with the matter. 

One factor among many in the assessment was that Navalny’s death when he collapsed after a walk at the prison overshadowed Putin’s reelection, sources told the Journal. 

The U.S. increased sanctions on Russia after Navalny’s death. "Make no mistake. Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death," President Biden said earlier this year. 

A WINDOW INTO ALEXEI NAVALNY'S MIND BEFORE HIS DEATH

Former President Trump told Fox News in March that he thought Putin was "probably" to blame for Navalny's death after "Media Buzz" host Howard Kurtz asked him if he thought the 71-year-old leader bore "some responsibility." 

"I don’t know, but perhaps, I mean possibly, I could say probably, I don’t know," Trump said. "He’s a young man, so statistically he’d be alive for a long time … so something happened that was unusual,"

Navalny had been in prison since 2021, after he returned to Russia from Germany where he had been in a hospital recovering from his poisoning. 

ALEXEI NAVALNY'S DEATH REPRESENTS MAJOR BLOW TO POLITICAL DISSENT IN RUSSIA

After his death, the Federal Penitentiary Service of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District in Russia put out a statement that said: "On Feb. 16, 2024, in penal colony number 3, convict Navalny A.A. felt unwell after a walk, almost immediately losing consciousness. 

"The medical staff of the institution arrived immediately, and an ambulance team was called. All necessary resuscitation measures were carried out, which did not give positive results. Doctors of the ambulance stated the death of the convict. The causes of death are being established."

His cause of death has not been determined by the U.S. Russian media reports have claimed it was a blood clot. 

Navalny’s allies have called the U.S. assessment naive, and some European countries are skeptical that it wouldn’t have been directed by Putin. 

Navalny’s ally Leonid Volkov said in a statement that anyone claiming Putin didn’t order his death, "clearly do not understand anything about how modern day Russia runs. The idea of Putin being not informed and not approving killing Navalny is ridiculous."

Slawomir Dębski, of the Polish Institute of International Affairs, said the chances of Navalny’s death being unintentional were small. 

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"Navalny was a high-value prisoner, politically, and everybody knew that Putin was personally invested in his fate," he said, according to the Journal. "The chances for this kind of unintended death are low." 

Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation has also said that Putin ordered his death to prevent his release in a potential prisoner swap with the U.S. Putin said in March that the two agreed to the swap. 

Russian authorities arrested two soldiers who had been on a drunken killing spree in the Moscow-occupied part of Kherson, according to reports. 

"They killed residents and burned their houses if they were refused alcohol," Telegram channel VChK-OGPU reported. 

Alexander Kaygorodtsev, 36, and Alexander Osipov, 34, were detained on April 24 on suspicion of murder. The pair, members of the 144th Guards Motor Rifle Division, admitted to killing at least five people and told investigators they had hidden the bodies of additional victims, including the head of the village of Abrikosovka, where the killings occurred.

The victims included a 65-year-old and a woman the duo shot in the stomach before burning her house. They proceeded to "disfigure" some victims, including breaking open their skulls. They used grenades and fire to hide the evidence of their crimes by trying to destroy the bodies and the crime scenes.  

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Their victims included other Russian servicemen, making their motives even more puzzling for investigators. They shot one victim, Lyubov Tymchak, because she told them they could not find an empty house to commandeer.

Russian Telegram channel Astra reported that no charges had been officially opened against the two soldiers, but another report claimed that the pair would face an investigation from the 126th Military Investigation Department of the Russian Investigative Committee, according to East2West.

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Kaygorodtzev was previously convicted of murder and participation in drug trafficking, serving a five-year sentence with another six-month suspended sentence. If convicted of the new murders, he will face life in prison. 

Ukrainian outlet The New Voice of Ukraine argued that killings were part of "ongoing violence and turmoil" within the Russian-occupied regions of the country. Reports have covered a number of crimes committed against the Ukrainian residents of the Russian-occupied zones, including alleged attacks on the LGBTQ+ population in the city of Kherson. 

RUSSIAN JOURNALIST DETAINED FOR POSTS CRITICIZING THE MILITARY, LAWYER SAYS

A report from human rights NGO watchdog Projector — in partnership with OutRight International — detailed attacks on LGBTQ+ residents of the city between March and September 2023, during which time the group claims some Russian forces deliberately targeted queer residents.

Projector claimed that many survivors of these crimes have rarely contacted law enforcement over fears that they would not receive support. 

In February, the bruised and possibly executed corpse of a Ukrainian Orthodox priest was found in the streets of Kalanchak, also in the Kherson region. The priest, Father Stepan, was found with what the outlet described as a possible bullet wound to the head. 

Russian forces had detained him two days earlier, and the local bishop claimed that the troops had tortured the priest to death, according to Forum 18, a Norwegian news agency. 

The Office of the Prime Minister of Israel on Friday flatly rejected the disinformation campaign waged by the terrorist movement Hamas that the Jewish State was involved in any misconduct regarding a mass grave found at a battle site located on a hospital compound in Gaza.

"Hamas libels know no limits. It's sad to see how many news organizations are still so quick to copy and paste Hamas's lies for clickbait. The IDF will continue to target Hamas while avoiding civilian casualties with precision likely to have never been seen in the history of warfare," Israeli government spokesman Avi Hyman told Fox News Digital.

Middle East expert Tom Gross told Fox News Digital that "Hamas has a long track record of fabricating the truth that puts even Al-Qaeda or Isis to shame. And yet, the supposedly responsible media — in particular, CNN on this occasion — repeat Hamas lies almost unquestioningly."

Gross added, "Even the BBC was not caught out on this occasion, but it seems CNN was all too eager to give credence to the latest Hamas blood libel against the Jewish state. When historians come to examine why there has been such a sharp increase in antisemitism in America this year, they may well examine the role of some media in encouraging it."

UN, HUMAN RIGHTS, MEDIA GROUPS RELY ON HAMAS DEATH TOLL IN 'SYSTEMATIC DECEPTION': EXPERT

The Hamas-run Civil Defense agency in Gaza said on Tuesday that Palestinian health workers uncovered nearly 340 bodies of people allegedly killed and buried by Israeli forces at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.

When asked about the Hamas officials who claimed that the presence of hundreds of bodies in mass graves at the hospital compound in Khan Younis, U.S. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said on Wednesday, "The allegations are troubling, they are disturbing, we take them very seriously, and we’re continuing to press the Government of Israel for more information. It’s our understanding the IDF has spoken to some of this publicly; they have stated that in search of Israeli hostages, they have uncovered graves in the area where Palestinians had previously been buried."

Israeli army spokesman Major Nadav Shoshani wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that "Misinformation is circulating regarding a mass grave that was discovered at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis. The grave in question was dug — by Gazans — a few months ago." 

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He continued: "This fact is corroborated by social media documentation uploaded by Gazans at the time of the burial, as seen in the video below. Any attempt to blame Israel for burying civilians in mass graves is categorically false and a mere example of a disinformation campaign aimed at delegitimizing Israel."

Prominent American statisticians have argued that Hamas has fabricated death toll counts in the Gaza Strip to garner support among Western countries to end Israel’s campaign to root out the jihadi terrorist network. Hamas fails to distinguish between its terrorist combatants and civilians in its wars against Israel, military and statistical experts have long argued.

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters about the mass grave, "We want answers," adding,"We want to see this thoroughly and transparently investigated." Hamas invaded Israel on October 7 and slaughtered 1,200 people, including over 30 Americans.

Hospitals are protected institutions during war under international law. However, the medical centers in the Gaza Strip have frequently been turned into de facto military installations by Hamas to wage war against Israel. Hospitals lose their protected rights when they are converted into military sites. Hamas uses medical compounds to hold hostages. 

Hamas currently has over 100 hostages, including Americans, in its captivity. The Hamas-held hostages are believed to be in Rafah, the main stronghold of Hamas battalions. 

ISRAEL’S NETANYAHU SAYS ‘ANTISEMITIC MOBS’ HAVE TAKEN OVER AMERICA’S ‘LEADING UNIVERSITIES’

Omri Ceren, the national security advisor for U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), wrote on X about some of the mainstream reporting about the mass grave: "This is just something Hamas made up and CNN is amplifying it. I haven't even seen a defense of it. It's just CNN amplifying a thing that Hamas made up and then moving on."

The Times of Israel reported, in response to the Hamas accusation that Israel is to blame for the mass grave, that the "evidence has suggested this is false, with the bodies having previously been buried at that same location by Palestinians amid the fighting between Israeli forces and terror operatives in the area."

The UN’s controversial  human rights chief, Volker Türk, said he was "horrified" by reports of mass graves at the Gaza hospitals — Shifa medical compound in Gaza City and Nasser Hospital.

In January, Israel’s mission in Geneva, Switzerland, took Türk’s office to task for failing to call for the release of hostages in Gaza on the 100th day since the start of the war.

"Not one word demanding the release of the hostages held in Gaza. A call for a ceasefire, without demanding the release of our hostages and the disarming of Hamas, is a call for terrorism to win," wrote Israeli diplomats on X.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is located in Geneva.

Fox News Digital press queries to the IDF and the State Department were not immediately answered.

Iran and its proxies have actively lauded the anti-Israel protests at American universities, claiming the movement represents organic grassroots "changes in the attitudes" of the public, according to experts. 

"These are the mainstream, most important news agencies or websites inside Iran that are covering this," Dr. Saeed Ghasseminejad, a senior advisor on Iran at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital. 

"They are covering it very religiously, and as you can guess, they definitely back that," he said, referring to the widespread protests on American college campuses. 

Several Ivy League universities, including Columbia University, Harvard University and Yale University, have faced growing anti-Israel protests that have intensified over the past week. Columbia adopted hybrid learning on its main campus over fears of safety due to the protests. 

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The unrest has spread to other universities, such as the University of Texas at Austin, where an anti-Israel demonstration devolved into arrests as the Austin Police Department and Texas Department of Public Safety tried to maintain order. These protests have received considerable attention in Iran, with officials and news outlets intensely covering them and using them as supposed evidence of growing anti-Israel sentiment in the U.S.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian expressed support for those speaking ill of Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He also said the law enforcement response to the ongoing protests, and subsequent mass arrests, has them "deeply worried and disgusted." 

In translated articles that Ghasseminejad posted in a thread on social media platform X, Iranian media has highlighted the Ivy League demonstrations, claiming that they have inspired "other students across the country to stage sit-ins in support of the residents of Gaza, chanting slogans." 

"According to images and reports from universities like 'Yale' and 'Harvard,' students have gathered on these campuses to condemn the genocide committed by the Israeli regime in Gaza and demand that academic associations sever ties with the Zionist regime," an article by Iranian newspaper Kayhan stated. 

COLUMBIA STUDENT DESCRIBES CAMPUS FEAR, ANTI-ISRAEL SIGNS SUPPORTING TERRORISTS WHO ‘PUT BABIES IN AN OVEN’

"Harvard students carried a large banner stating: 'Stop the genocide in Gaza,’" the article continued. "Interestingly, while carrying the Palestinian flag around the campuses and wearing keffiyehs around their necks, students chanted against the crimes of the Zionist regime and the U.S. government's support for these crimes."

A broadcast from Iranian news network Al-Alam glorified the protests as evidence of "the emergence of broad changes in the attitudes of the American public and, particularly, the youth towards the policies of their government and its unconditional support for the Zionist regime." 

"These changes are gradually having an impact on the approaches of these universities – which for years have been a source of power for this regime through promoting its lobbying in America," the report claimed.

Ghasseminejad was born in Iran but left the country in 2008 after he was abducted and confined – with a suspended sentence – for his student activism. He noted that some Middle Eastern outlets cover the unrest several times a day, every day, and are "closely following it." 

HAMAS WOULD LAY DOWN ARMS IF AN INDEPENDENT PALESTINIAN STATE IS ESTABLISHED, MILITANT GROUP SAYS

Some leaders of Iranian proxies, such as Hezbollah’s Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, have stressed in recent speeches how important the anti-Israel demonstrations have been in the U.S., according to Steven Stalinsky, the executive director of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) in Washington.

In an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal, Stalinsky wrote that Nasrallah on March 13 had lauded the "very influential" protests and argued that "we should salute them" for their campaign of "uncommitted" protest votes against President Biden. 

Nasrallah called the protest votes "the most important means of pressure on the Biden administration" to affect a change in U.S. policy. 

"It is no coincidence that official statements by Hamas and major jihadist groups about the protests are nearly identical," Stalinsky wrote. "The statements seem like talking points for pressuring U.S. and Western decision makers. They appear to be working."

USC CLOSES CAMPUS ‘UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE’ FOLLOWING ANTI-ISRAEL PROTEST, 93 ARRESTED FOR TRESPASSING

Stalinsky particularly raised concerns over the way student groups have organized to create a deliberate campaign to appear to be grassroots but have taken cues from the likes of Khaled Barakat, a former Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine member, who hosted a "Resistance 101" course with the Columbia University Apartheid Divest student group. 

During a video call with the student group, Barakat discussed his "friends in Islamic Jihad" and invoked the "strategic vision" of Iran while his wife urged students to explicitly endorse the actions of armed groups, according to The Jerusalem Post. 

"He speaks to, frequently, Hezbollah, Al-Manar TV, which is … it’s illegal for it to air in the U.S., it used to be available on satellite, but it’s now blocked," Stalinsky told Fox News Digital. The Hezbollah leader did an interview on March 30 to talk about western support for Palestinians against Israel, and said "the vast majority of young Americans and Canadians … support armed resistance," Stalinsky added. 

Stalinsky also noted that Barakat discussed the way that curriculum has influenced student thought, with professors pushing specific views that highlight more sympathetic angles that push students toward activism. 

"I have a masters in Middle East studies, but … it’s not learning about the Middle East" that causes the problem, he argued. "It’s about who’s teaching about the Middle East." 

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He pointed to the prevalence of Students for Justice in Palestine, which preys on the notion that university students should engage in activism. But the agitators also show "a lot of ignorance," with some having admitted over the past six months that they sometimes don’t know what they’re protesting. 

"They are part of instigating [the protests]," Stalinsky said. "It wasn’t just like some students were watching the news on Columbia, and they decided to [do] this."

FIRST ON FOX - A close ally to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told Fox News Digital that criticism against her for abandoning policies on illegal migration and other issues is unfounded.  

Italian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Edmondo Cirielli told Fox News Digital, "Giorgia Meloni hasn't changed, Europe has changed." Cirielli is the co-founder and national coordinator of Meloni's party, the Fratelli D'Italia Party.

He said Italy is inspiring the European Union president to follow its strong conservative stances.

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He said that the Europe of Ursula von der Leyen is paying attention to Italy's policies and "is listening to Italy's reasons. Italy has always wanted nations to be stronger in Europe and is leading the rest of the European Union on this. Von der Leyen herself is accompanying Meloni in her action against illegal immigration. They have already intervened in Egypt and Tunisia. We will soon do it in Libya too."

He added "among other things, there are European elections in a few months and the conservative party led by Giorgia Meloni, the European Conservative Party led by Giorgia Meloni, will give a new direction to this Europe. And the European Parliament itself, the European People's Party itself, will have to take into account the problems that exist today and that Giorgia Meloni identified during her electoral campaign." 

Birth rates in Italy have dropped to a record low in 2023 with a 15th consecutive annual decline. In 2023, Italy recorded 379,000 births, a 3.6% decline from 2022. 

Cirielli said the problem does not only concern Italy, but concerns all of Western Europe. In its 2024 budget, Italy earmarked around 1 billion Euros (approximately $1.1 billion) for several measures aimed at addressing Italy's demographic crisis. 

"We are implementing a series of policies aimed at supporting births, birth rates and young couples, both on an economic and financial level, and this is obviously also a social phenomenon. It's about changing your mindset and understanding that life is an opportunity and a joy for everyone," the deputy foreign minister said.

The journey from North Africa to Italy has become one of the busiest migration routes with data showing migrant arrivals jumping 50% in 2023 from the previous year.

Cirielli accompanied Prime Minister Meloni last week on her fourth visit to Tunisia in a year when they signed new accords as part of Italy’s "Mattei Plan" for Africa. 

"We are faced with an epochal fact that does not only concern Italy," said Cirielli.

MORE THAN 63,000 MIGRANTS HAVE DIED OR GONE MISSING SINCE 2014, UN AGENCY REPORTS

The Mattei Plan seeks to tackle education and training, agriculture, health, water and energy development while aiming to make Italy an energy hub to transport natural gas supplies from Africa to the rest of Europe.

"We are intervening, first of all, with agreements with North African countries to prevent the departures from these coasts, but above all, we are trying to come to the places of origin of the migration. They are trying to help development and at the same time also provide legal channels of migration. Because the real problem is not migration itself and rather it is the criminal organizations that are behind the trafficking of migrants which is creating a new slave trade."

He added, "This globalization is becoming very powerful on a financial level, exploiting this trafficking and in this way destabilizing Africa, becoming criminal organizations that launder this money from international trafficking, funneling it into drugs, armaments and also to often support the causes of terrorist organizations."

Under Italy’s rotating stewardship, the G-7 foreign ministers met last week on the Italian resort island of Capri with calls for new sanctions against Iran over its attack against Israel.

"Italy, with the presidency of the G-7, has condemned Iran's action and knows well that Iran is carrying out a destabilizing action in the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East, but it is equally true that we do not need an escalation… Israel's bombing of a consular office, the diplomatic headquarters, was also a risky act. On the other hand, all of the G-7 noted that Iran's response was a response, this time a balanced, moderate response compared to the episode itself."

Cirielli added "It was understood that the Iranian government does not want an escalation and therefore everyone agrees, in the G-7, at the invitation following the lead of Biden and Giorgia Meloni and neighbors who are close and ready to support,Israel, especially Israel's right to defend itself and Israel's right to exist. But we must carry forward a de-escalation and prevent a regional war from erupting from this issue in Gaza."

In December, Italy withdrew from China’s Belt and Road Initiative which intended to rebuild the Silk Road to connect China with Asia and Europe by expanding China’s infrastructure spending on roads and shipping routes. 

Cirielli says the move to withdraw is not an interruption between the relationship of Italy and China but in the best interest of Italian trade.

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"It was a mistake by the Conte Government and the center-left governments that preceded us to make a political agreement because this seemed inconsistent with the alliance of the North Atlantic Treaty and also with the European Union…we terminated this agreement at the natural deadline and are establishing a new economic-social partnership, as like France and Germany have known. Therefore, there is not an interruption of relations, but a different modulation based on ancient, thousand-year-old relations almost only between the Italic peoples and the Chinese peoples, based absolutely on good dialogue, on profitable trade for both." 

The "Opposition had said that it is not wrong to have diplomatic relations or economic relations with China, it is wrong to have a political relationship that is underlying the agreement launched by China towards the world," he concluded. 

Sudanese paramilitary forces are encircling the only capital they haven’t captured in the western Darfur region, the United Nations said Friday, warning that an attack would have "devastating consequences" for the city's 800,000 inhabitants.

At the same time, the U.N. said, the rival Sudanese Armed Forces "appear to be positioning themselves."

SUDAN CONFLICT SPREADS TO KEY HUMANITARIAN SAFE HAVEN

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres again called on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and government forces to refrain from fighting in the North Darfur area around its capital, El Fasher, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The year-old war in Sudan between rival generals from the paramilitary and government forces who are vying for power has sparked "a crisis of epic proportions," U.N. political chief Rosemary DiCarlo said last Friday. It has been fueled by weapons from foreign supporters who continue to flout U.N. sanctions aimed at helping end the conflict, she said, stressing that "This is illegal, it is immoral, and it must stop."

The U.N. humanitarian office said Friday that escalating tensions and clashes around El Fasher over the last two weeks have already resulted in the displacement of 40,000 people, as well as a number of civilian casualties.

"The security situation has effectively cut off humanitarian access to El Fasher," the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs known as OCHA, said.

According to humanitarian officials, El Fasher is an important location to reach other parts of the vast Darfur region, including for aid shipments from neighboring Chad and via a northern route from Port Sudan on Sudan’s northeast coast.

"Currently, more than a dozen trucks with life-saving supplies for 122,000 people are stranded in Ad Dabbah in neighboring Northern State, as they cannot move onward to El Fasher due to insecurity and lack of guarantees for safe passage," OCHA said.

Dujarric said the secretary-general’s personal envoy for Sudan, Ramtane Lamamra, is engaging with the rival parties to de-escalate tensions, which are reported to have dramatically escalated.

OCHA also said it’s "imperative that the parties allow safe passage for civilians to leave El Fasher for safer areas."

Sudan plunged into chaos in mid-April 2023, when long-simmering tensions between its military, led by Gen. Abdel Fattah Burhan, and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary commanded by Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo broke out into street battles in the capital, Khartoum. Fighting has spread to other parts of the country, especially urban areas and the western Darfur region.

The U.N.’s DiCarlo painted a dire picture of the war’s impact — over 14,000 dead, tens of thousands wounded, looming famine with 25 million people in need of life-saving assistance, and over 8.6 million forced to flee their homes.

During the war, the Arab-dominated Rapid Support Forces have carried out brutal attacks in Darfur on ethnic African civilians, especially the ethnic Masalit, and have taken control of most of the vast region – with El Fasher its newest target.

Two decades ago, Darfur became synonymous with genocide and war crimes, particularly by the notorious Janjaweed Arab militias, against populations that identify as Central or East African.

That legacy appears to have returned, with the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor, Karim Khan, saying in late January there are grounds to believe both sides may be committing war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide in Darfur.

The Rapid Support Forces were formed from Janjaweed fighters by former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who ruled the country for three decades before being overthrown during a popular uprising in 2019. He is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of genocide and other crimes during the conflict in Darfur in the 2000s.

A young killer whale that was trapped for more than a month in a lagoon on Vancouver Island swam past a bottleneck at high tide early Friday, reaching an inlet that could take it to the open sea, officials said.

The Ehattesaht and Nuchatlaht First Nations said in a statement that a team monitoring the 2-year-old calf saw it swim past the area where its mother had died, pass under a bridge and head down the inlet "all on her own."

ORCA CALF STRANDED IN CANADIAN LAGOON TO BE AIRLIFTED AND REUNITED WITH FAMILY, RESCUERS SAY

The young orca still must leave the Little Espinosa Inlet to reach open ocean.

The calf had been stuck in the tidal lagoon near the British Columbia village of Zeballos about 450 kilometers (280 miles) northwest of Victoria since March 23, when its pregnant mother became trapped at low tide and died on a rocky beach.

"Today the community of Zeballos and people everywhere are waking up to some incredible news and what can only be described as pride for strength this little orca has shown," Chief Simon John said in a release.

Officials said they hoped that once the whale reaches the open sea, it calls will be heard by its orca family.

John said officials and nation members were putting protective measures in place to ensure the whale has no contact with people or boats.

"Every opportunity needs to be afforded to have her back with her family with as little human interaction as possible," he said.

An attempt in mid-April to free the whale involved using a net to corral her into a large fabric sling in shallow waters. The whale managed to dodge a 50-person rescue team that was using boats, divers and sophisticated underwater detection equipment.

In another effort, a woman tried to coax the whale out of the lagoon by playing her violin during high tide.

A Belarusian hacker activist group claims to have infiltrated the network of the country’s main KGB security agency and accessed personnel files of over 8,600 employees of the organization, which still goes under its Soviet name.

The authorities have not commented on the claim, but the website of the Belarusian KGB was opening with an empty page on Friday that said it was "in the process of development".

Seeking to back up its claim, the Belarusian Cyber-Partisans group published a list of the website's administrators, its database and server logs on its page in the messaging app Telegram.

BELARUS SAYS IT THWARTED ATTEMPTED LITHUANIAN DRONE STRIKES; VILNIUS REBUFFS CLAIMS

Group coordinator Yuliana Shametavets told The Associated Press from New York that the attack on the KGB "was a response" to the agency's chief Ivan Tertel, who publicly accused the group this week of plotting attacks on the country's critical infrastructure, including a nuclear power plant.

"The KGB is carrying out the largest political repressions in the history of the country and must answer for it," said Shametavets. "We work to save the lives of Belarusians, and not to destroy them, like the repressive Belarusian special services do."

Shametavets said the group was able to access the KGB's network "several years ago" and has been trying to hack its website and database ever since. Once it succeeded, she said Cyber-Partisans was able to download personal files of more than 8,600 KGB employees. да нет

Based on that data, Cyber-Partisans launched a chat bot on Telegram that would allow Belarusians to identify KGB operatives by uploading their photos.

"We want to show that in the digital world it is impossible to hide information, and the truth about political repressions will surface, and those who carried them out will be punished," Shametavets said.

Last week, Cyber-Partisans claimed infiltrating computers at the country’s largest fertilizer plant to pressure the government to release political prisoners. The state-run Grodno Azot plant has made no comment on the claim but its website has been unavailable since April 17.

Grodno Azot, with about 7,500 employees, is a key producer in the country, which relies heavily on chemical industries.

Belarus, a close ally of Russia, was rocked by mass protests after an election in 2020 that gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko his sixth term in office — a vote that was denounced by the West and the opposition as fraudulent. Authorities responded by arresting more than 35,000 people and brutally beating thousands of them. Many top opposition figures were arrested and given long prison terms, while others fled abroad.

The country's oldest and most prominent rights group Viasna says nearly 1,400 people are political prisoners in Belarus, including its founder and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski.

Cyber-Partisans have carried out several large-scale attacks on Belarusian state media in the last four years, and in 2022 hacked Belarusian Railways three times, hijacking control over its traffic lights and control system and paralyzing transit of the Russian military equipment into Ukraine via Belarus.

"We're telling the Belarusian authorities that if they don't stop political repressions, it will get worse," Shametavets said. "We will continue the attacks in order to inflict that maximum harm of the Lukashenko regime."

Iranian-backed Houthis rebels have claimed responsibility for a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone crash off the coast of Yemen on Thursday, Fox News confirmed on Friday. 

Thursday's crash is the fourth remotely piloted drone brought down by Iranian-proxy groups since November, costing the U.S. government upwards of $120 million. 

It is also the third time Houthi rebels have brought down a U.S. MQ-9 drone.

SHIP COMES UNDER ATTACK OFF COAST OF YEMEN AS HOUTHI REBEL CAMPAIGN APPEARS TO GAIN NEW SPEED

Last fall, the Houthis released video of a reaper drone the rebels shot down on Nov. 8, one day after Hamas' unprovoked attack on Israel. 

The rebels also brought down a second MQ-9 earlier this year, and another Iranian-proxy group brought one down in Iraq in January. 

MQ-9 Reapers are primarily used to collect intelligence, but can also be armed with Hellfire missiles. They have a wingspan of 66 feet and cost about $30 million.

Unlike other Iranian-proxy groups, the Houthis continue to launch attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. They have launched 131 attacks to date, according to a U.S. defense official.

YEMEN'S HOUTHI REBELS CONTINUE TO LAUNCH ATTACKS DESPITE MONTH OF US-LED AIRSTRIKES

On Thursday, Houthis also attacked a ship traveling through the Gulf of Aden, officials said.

The attack came after the U.S. military said early Thursday that an allied warship shot down a Houthi missile targeting a vessel the day before near the same area. 

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The Houthis also claimed responsibility for Wednesday's assault, which comes after a period of relatively few rebel attacks on shipping in the region over Israel’s ongoing war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Students in Paris inspired by Gaza solidarity encampments at campuses in the United States blocked access to a campus building at a prestigious French university Friday, prompting administrators to move all classes online.

The pro-Palestinian protest kicked off a day of drama at the Paris Institute of Political Studies, known as Sciences Po, which counts President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Gabriel Attal among its many famous alumni.

ANTI-ISRAEL AGITATORS AT COLUMBIA ISSUE DEFIANT ULTIMATUM, END ‘NEGOTIATIONS’ WITH SCHOOL

Protesters first occupied a central campus building and blocked its entrance with trash cans, wooden platforms and a bicycle. They also gathered at the building’s windows, chanting pro-Palestinian slogans, and hung out Palestinian flags and placards.

Later Friday, pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators faced each other in a tense standoff in the street outside the school. Riot police stepped in to separate the opposing groups.

As night fell, a dwindling group of pro-Palestinian protesters refused to budge, ignoring police orders to evacuate the street and warnings of possible arrests. Eventually, demonstrators came out of the building, carrying a large Palestinian flag, to cheers from the protesters who had been supporting them outside. They then started to stream peacefully away from the area, watched by police.

Among protester demands was that Sciences Po sever ties with Israeli schools. In an email to students, Sciences Po administrator Jean Bassères pledged to hold a townhall meeting in the coming week and to suspend some disciplinary proceedings against students. In return, students "committed to no longer disrupting courses, examinations and all other activities of the institution," the email said.

The Gaza war is sharply divisive in France, which has the largest populations of Muslims and Jews in western Europe. France initially sought to ban pro-Palestinian demonstrations after Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel that sparked the war. Antisemitism has surged.

On Wednesday evening, more than 100 pro-Palestinian protesters had also occupied a Sciences Po amphitheater. Most agreed to leave after discussions with management but a small group of students remained. They were removed by police later that night, according to French media reports.

The university administration closed all university buildings and moved classes online Friday. It said in a statement it "strongly condemns these student actions which prevent the proper functioning of the institution and penalize Sciences Po students, teachers and employees."

Louise, a protester, said the students' actions were inspired by similar demonstrations at New York's Columbia University and other U.S. campuses.

"But our solidarity remains first and foremost with the Palestinian people," she said. She spoke on condition that only her first name be used over concerns of repercussions.

Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war have been digging in at Columbia University, one of a number of demonstrations roiling campuses from California to Connecticut.

Hundreds of students and even some professors have been arrested across the U.S., sometimes amid struggles with police.
 

An aspiring challenger to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán renewed his calls for change Friday as he led a protest of several thousand people demanding a more robust child protection system and the resignation of Orbán's government.

The demonstrators gathered outside Hungary's Interior Ministry in Budapest and called for its head, Sándor Pintér, to step down over what they see as his failure to prevent the sexual abuse of children in state-run institutions, a crime which has led to political upheaval in Hungary in recent months.

HUNGARY PM ORBÁN BLASTS 'WESTERN WORLD,' CALLS FOR TRUMP VICTORY

Peter Magyar, a 43-year-old lawyer who has emerged as a new voice of opposition to Hungary's right-wing government, took aim at Orbán's portrayal of himself as a defender of families and traditional values, and called for genuine reforms to address child welfare.

"We have a government that claims to be family friendly. It is a government that pretends to be Christian. A government that lies about being child-friendly. A government that lies about being pro-peace," Magyar told the crowd. "The opposite is true. They lie in the morning, they lie at night, they lie everywhere they can."

The demonstration was the latest in a series of large anti-government protests that Magyar has mobilized in recent weeks, and comes as the political newcomer is campaigning for European Union elections this June with his new party, Respect and Freedom (TISZA). He has called for Orbán and his government to step down, and vowed to represent a third option for Hungarians disillusioned by both Orbán's 14 years of governance and Hungary's fragmented and ineffectual opposition parties.

A one-time insider within Orbán's Fidesz party and the ex-husband of former justice minister and Orbán ally Judit Varga, Magyar shot to prominence when he publicly accused the government of corruption and cronyism following a child sexual abuse scandal that led to the resignations in February of the president and justice minister.

The scandal erupted after it was revealed that the former president, Katalin Novák, had issued a presidential pardon to a man convicted of trying to cover up child sexual abuse in a rural youth home. The case went to the heart of Orbán's image as a Christian conservative who protects families and children from what he calls "LGBTQ propaganda."

Magyar on Friday said that Hungary's child protection policies, which have been criticized for conflating homosexuality with pedophilia and abridging the rights of sexual minorities, have allowed abuses to go on unpunished, and demanded that Orbán apologize to the survivors of abuse in the orphanage.

Hungary's government has dismissed Magyar as an opportunist seeking a new career after he lost several positions in state companies following his divorce with the former justice minister. But his message has had wide appeal, and opinion polls showed that his new party is likely to gain seats in the European Parliament in June elections.

László Horváth Etele, one of the demonstrators on Friday, said he sees Magyar as capable not only of mounting a real challenge to Orbán, but of disrupting the opposition parties that have been unable to unseat him in 14 years.

"To be able to defeat the currently reigning government, this opposition needs to be changed. The current Hungarian opposition was only able to deliver a two-thirds majority for Fidesz," he said. "I think that whoever loses so many times in a row should leave the field and give his place to new challengers who may have a chance."

A shark attacked a British tourist on Friday in the southeastern Caribbean, prompting the government of Trinidad & Tobago to close seven beaches and a marine park. The man was hospitalized in an intensive care unit following the attack, officials said.

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO FACING 'NATIONAL EMERGENCY' AFTER MAJOR COASTAL OIL SPILL

The closure included beaches along the northwestern coast of the island of Tobago. The attack occurred at Turtle Beach along Great Courland Bay.

The government said in a statement that shark sightings were reported in the Grafton area and the Buccoo Reef Marine Park. Officials said the closures will allow the Coast Guard and Department of Fisheries to investigate the incident and "neutralize the shark threat, if possible."

Shark attacks are rare. Last year, there were 69 unprovoked attacks and 22 provoked bites worldwide, along with 14 fatalities, according to the Florida-based International Shark Attack File.

Mariia Mentseva is a face of the war in Ukraine.

At just 34 years old and a member of Ukraine’s parliament, her formal tasks include looking into ways Ukraine can integrate into the rest of Europe’s institutions.

But, what really has gotten her attention are her posts about her hometown, Kharkiv. It has a population of 1.3 million people, just 20 miles from the northeast border with Russia.    

From the beginning, Putin has wanted to take it over. In 2022, Ukrainians pushed them back. 

However, in recent months, Russian attacks have grown furious, knocking out residential areas, power infrastructure, even the city’s huge TV tower.

KEY NATO ALLY SHOCKS WITH ITS 'SINGLE LARGEST' PLEDGE TO UKRAINE: 'THEY NEED OUR SUPPORT'

Moscow, in fact, made clear it has wanted to turn Kharkiv into a demilitariized zone so it would not threaten Russia.

Critics said Moscow has tried to turn Kharkiv into Aleppo, the Syrian rebel stronghold Russia flattened in its support of Assad in Damascus.

Mentseva regularly has posted shots of damage, rescue and relief efforts in Kharkiv, branding Russian efforts "genocidal actions." 

She generally has exuded hope, especially for the recent package of U.S. military aid for Ukraine which would benefit her home area. 

The package, Mentseva said, "will serve the purpose for sure."

Basically, for the time being at least, it will keep the city alive. 

Guatemalan prosecutors raided the offices of the charity Save the Children on Thursday, citing a complaint alleging the violation of migrant children’s rights.

Prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche said in a video to the media that the complaint filed by an unidentified foreigner had raised serious concerns because it involved allegations of abuse of children.

PROSECUTORS IN GUATEMALA ASK COURT TO LIFT PRESIDENT-ELECT'S IMMUNITY; OAS CITES 'COUP ATTEMPT'

The raid came a week after the secretary general of Guatemala's Public Ministry, Ángel Pineda, wrote a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asking for support in addressing allegations that Save the Children and other aid groups "could be participating in child trafficking operations."

Curruchiche said the raid was intended to search for any documents that might support the accusations. The prosecutor’s office did not say whether Paxton responded to the request.

Curruchiche and Pineda have been accused of trying to undermine the country’s democracy by participating in a failed effort to prevent anti-corruption President Bernardo Arévalo from taking power as well as hindering the anti-corruption fight in the Central American nation. Those efforts have led to more than 40 countries sanctioning them, including the United States and the European Union.

The raid comes amid historic levels of migration to the United States, in which Guatemala has been both a country that people migrate from and a transit route that they use on their way north.

Save the Children, which is dedicated to caring for children in crisis zones, has been working in Guatemala since 1976. It did not comment on Thursday's raid, but it issued a statement last week indicating it was aware of the allegations saying it has no evidence the allegations are true.

"We take the allegations of children's safety and misconduct very seriously and have independent investigative mechanisms in place to investigate thoroughly," the charity's statement said. "We have no evidence to validate such allegations and we continue to work hard to provide humanitarian assistance to migrant children and their families under strict safety and protection standards."

A Mexican film won the top prize Friday at the Moscow International Film Festival, which took place as major Western studios boycott the Russian market and as Russia's war in Ukraine grinds into its third year.

"Shame," a film by director Miguel Salgado and co-produced by Mexico and Qatar, was the most highly awarded film at the festival which began in 1935 and which has been held annually since 1999. This year’s edition included more than 240 films from 56 countries.

RUSSIAN COURT FINES TV PRESENTER WHO THREW 'ALMOST NAKED' PARTY OVER HER CALLS FOR PEACE

In his victory speech, Salgado hailed the festival as one of the most important in the world, adding that he was pleased to see his film, a thriller, being shown so widely and that it was a "great gift" to see so many people moved by it.

Festival program director Ivan Kudryavtsev told state news agency ITAR-Tass that more than half the entries this year came from countries whose governments are considered unfriendly to Russia.

After Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022, major studios in the United States and many European countries halted distribution of their films to Russia. The cutoff was a significant blow to Russian movie theaters. Before the conflict started, the country's cinemas received about 70% of their revenue from Hollywood films, according to news reports.

The festival program included several smaller films from the United States, including "Hundreds of Beavers," billed as a supernatural tale of a 19th Century fur trapper’s battle with the animals, and "Enter the Clones of Bruce" about the exploitation films that followed the death of martial arts legend Bruce Lee.

Movies from other countries opposing the war in Ukraine include Romania, France, Italy and Germany.

The head of the jury for the festival’s main award, the Golden St. George, was Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, from NATO member Iceland, whose "Children of Nature" is the only Icelandic film ever nominated for an Academy Award.

Burkina Faso suspended the BBC and Voice of America radio stations for their coverage of a report by Human Rights Watch on a mass killing of civilians carried out by the country's armed forces.

Burkina Faso's communication spokesperson, Tonssira Myrian Corine Sanou, said late Thursday that both radio stations would be suspended for two weeks, and warned other media networks to avoid reporting on the story.

According to the report published by Human Rights Watch on Thursday, the army killed 223 civilians, including 56 children, in villages accused of cooperating with militants. The report was widely covered by the international media, including the Associated Press.

BURKINA FASO'S MILITARY MASSACRED MORE THAN 200 CIVILIANS, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH SAYS

Burkina Faso, a once-peaceful nation, has been ravaged by violence that has pitted jihadis linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group against state-backed forces. Both sides have targeted civilians caught in the middle, displacing more than 2 million people, of which over half are children. Most attacks go unpunished and unreported in a nation run by a repressive leadership that silences perceived dissidents.

Earlier in April, the AP verified accounts of a Nov. 5 army attack on another village that killed at least 70 people. The details were similar — the army blamed the villagers for cooperating with militants and massacred them, even babies.

"VOA stands by its reporting about Burkina Faso and intends to continue to fully and fairly cover activities in the country," the network said in a news article reporting on its suspension.

The BBC didn't respond to a request for comment.

On Friday, the United Nations called on Burkina Faso to reverse the suspension of the two international broadcasters.

"Restrictions on media freedom and civic space must stop immediately. Freedom of expression including the right of access to information is crucial in any society, and even more so in the context of the transition in Burkina Faso," it said in a statement.

In the same statement, the U.N. said it had received additional reports that large numbers of civilians, including children, had been killed in several villages in the Yatenga and Soum provinces of northern Burkina Faso. The AP couldn't immediately verify those reports.

More than 20,000 people have been killed in Burkina Faso since jihadi violence linked to al-Qaida and IS first hit the West African nation nine years ago, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, a U.S.-based nonprofit group.

Burkina Faso experienced two coups in 2022. Since seizing power in September 2022, the junta led by Capt. Ibrahim Traoré has promised to beat back militants. But violence has only worsened, analysts say. Around half of Burkina Faso’s territory remains outside of government control.

Frustrated with a lack of progress over years of Western military assistance, the junta has severed military ties with former colonial ruler France and turned to Russia instead for security support.