Semua Kabar

To bolster his hostile stance toward Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban organized a nonbinding referendum on Ukraine's EU bid. He sees the result as a mandate to continue his anti-Ukraine policies.

The trunk of the car is opened. Inside, a tied and bound young man struggles theatrically.

Standing by the car is a woman. This is Alexandra Szentkiralyi, former government spokeswoman and now the best-known social media propagandist forHungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Speaking to the camera, she says, "I don't think you'd like this kind of thing to happen to you. Because with the fastEU accession of Ukrainecome the organ dealers, the arms dealers, the drug dealers and the human traffickers."

The video, which was posted on Facebook and TikTok, is just 10 seconds long. People inHungaryhave been bombarded with content such as this for over two months now — not only online, but also on pro-government Hungarian television channels.

A steady stream of anti-Ukraine ads was also broadcast on the radio, and in public spaces, billboards featured grim and sinister-looking images ofUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

This was not simply another one of Orban's many hate campaigns; it was the first to target an entire country and declare it a "mafia state."

It was also the first Orban campaign to collectively dehumanize the citizens of a whole country and defame them as dangerous, merciless criminals. The campaign said Ukrainians were allegedly out to destroy Hungary by trading in people, human organs, drugs and arms, by flooding the market with genetically modified foods, and by taking jobs, income, pensions and health care from Hungarian citizens.

The objective of the consultation dubbed Voks 2025(Vote 2025) was that Hungarians would voice their opposition toUkrainejoining the EU.

Voting ended on Saturday. On Thursday, Orban himself announced the results just before theEU summit in Brussels, saying that 2.27 million Hungarians had taken part, which is about a third of the Hungarian electorate, and that 95% had voted against Ukraine joining the EU.

The prime minister said he had come to Brussels "with a strong mandate," adding that "with the voice of over 2 million Hungarians" he could say that he does not support Ukrainian EU accession.

As with all previous campaigns orchestrated by Orban — such as the oneagainst migrantsor the oneagainst George Soros, a US billionaire with Hungarian Jewish roots — it is not possible to verify whether this result is accurate. The Hungarian government did not permit independent monitoring of the voting process or an independent public vote count.

In a similar survey, recently organized by Hungary's largest opposition party, Tisza (Respect and Freedom), 58% declared their support for Ukraine joining the bloc.

Many responses in Hungary seem to indicate that a considerable proportion of the population saw the campaign as excessive, false, dishonest or a diversionary tactic.

Some videos — including the car trunk video featuring Szentkiralyi — have been used for hundreds of ironic or sarcastic memes on social media attacking the Orban system, its propaganda and the corruption scandals in which it is implicated.

Countless social media posts — including critical comments on Orban's Facebook andTikTokchannels — also show that many Hungarians find the prime minister'santi-Ukraine campaignmorally reprehensible and dishonest.

Just a few days ago, a group of 50 well-known academics, artists, writers, former politicians and high-ranking civil servants — including former Foreign Minister Geza Jeszenszky and former head of the National Bank Peter Akos Bod — published a "letter to the people of Ukraine" in which they condemned Orban's propaganda and declared their solidarity with Ukraine.

Despite such responses, it seems extremely unlikely that there will be a U-turn in the anti-Ukraine policy of Orban and his government.

It is also barely conceivable that Orban's power and propaganda apparatus will moderate its tone even a little, or stop peddling certain narratives — such as its claim that thewar crimes committed in Buchawere staged by the Ukrainian army.

The reason: Ukraine has already become a major issue in the campaign for the 2026 parliamentary election, set for next spring.

The ruling majority has alleged that the opposition Tisza party, which isway ahead of Orban's Fidesz party in the polls, is funded by Ukraine and Brussels. It has also claimed that Tisza's goal is to assume power in Hungary, sell out the country and plunge it into a war with Russia.

Government propaganda has regularly refered toPeter Magyar, the leader of Tisza, as "Ukraine Pete" and accused another well-known Tisza politician, former Hungarian Defense Forces Chief Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, of being a Ukrainian spy. It has not provided any evidence to back up this claim.

Pro-government media has even claimed that the Ukrainian salute "Slava Ukraini!" (Glory to Ukraine!) is being used as a Tisza party slogan.

With this policy, Orban has done irreparable damage to Hungarian–Ukrainian relations for as long as he remains in power.

President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian government had previously made either no comment on Orban's policy, or only issued carefully worded, diplomatic statements. But this changed recently.

In hisfirst interview with a Hungarian media outlet, the independent conservative portal Valasz Online, Zelenskyy in early June criticized Orban's use of Ukraine for his election campaign.

"He does not understand that this will have much more serious and dangerous consequences: the radicalization of Hungarian society and its anti-Ukrainian sentiment," said Zelenskyy, adding that by not helping Ukraine, Orban is doing Russian President Vladimir Putin a favor, which is a "serious, historic mistake."

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also issued its firstexplicitly critical statementon Tuesday. In it, the ministry referred to the "manipulative intention" behind the Vote 2025 initiative, adding that during the campaign, which lasted several months, "Hungarian officials have been inventing nonexistent threats allegedly coming from Ukraine in order to unjustifiably intimidate Hungarian citizens."

The goal of this "anti-Ukraine hysteria, "it said, was to divert attention away from the failures of the government’s socioeconomic policy. However, the Ukrainian ministry said it was "confident that the overwhelming majority of Hungarian citizens are capable of recognizing this primitive manipulation."

This article was originally written in German.

German federal prosecutors have charged a teenager with aiding in the preparation of a suspected terrorist attack targeting a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna last summer.

Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe on Friday said judges had indicted a teenager accused of having helped to plota foiled attackon aTaylor Swiftconcert in Vienna last year,

The US pop starcanceled three scheduled concerts in Viennaas part of her Eras tour in August 2024 after the arrest of two young men suspected of planning a terrorist attack.

The teenager in Germany, a Syrian national, is accused of translating a bomb-making manual from Arabic and connecting the Austrian man with a member of the so-called"Islamic State" (IS)abroad.

He also allegedly provided a template for an oath of allegiance to IS, which the Austrian suspect is believed to have used to declare his membership in the terrorist organization.

According to prosecutors, the teen is not in custody.

The Austrian suspect is accused of planning todrive a car loaded with explosivesinto the crowd of Swift fans waiting to enter the stadium ahead of the concert.

In August 2024, three of Taylor Swift's scheduled concerts in Vienna were canceled due to security concerns. The cancellations followed the arrest of two suspects, including a 19-year-old who, according to Austrian police, was planning attacks in the Vienna area.

The German Federal Prosecutor has filed charges before the state security senate of the Berlin Court of Appeal. The teenager is accused of supporting a foreign terrorist organization and preparing a serious act of violence endangering the state. He allegedly maintained contact with the Austrian suspect between mid-July and August 2024.

The Berlin court must now determine whether to proceed with a trial.

Meanwhile, Austrian authorities continue to investigate the main suspect, who remains in pretrial detention. According to Vienna's public prosecutor, no other accomplices are currently known to investigators in Austria.

Across Africa, cancer medications have been found to be substandard or falsified. It means that people are being given medicines that may not work, or that might even may cause harm.

An alarming number of people across Africa may be taking cancer drugs that don't contain the vital ingredients needed to contain or reduce their disease.

It's a concerning finding with roots in a complex problem — how to regulate a range of therapeutics across the continent.

An American and pan-African research group published the findings this week inThe Lancet Global Health. The researchers had collected dosage information, sometimes covertly,  from a dozen hospitals and 25 pharmacies across Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi and Cameroon.

They tested nearly 200 unique products across several brands. Around 17% — roughly one in six — were found to have incorrect active ingredient levels, including products used in major hospitals.

Receiving insufficient dosages of these ingredients could allow a patient's tumors to keep growing, and possibly even spread.

Similar numbers of substandard antibiotics, antimalarial and tuberculosis drugs have beenreported in the past, but this is the first time that such a study has found high levels of falsified or defective anticancer drugs in circulation.

"I was not surprised by these results," said Lutz Heide, a pharmacist at the University of Tübingen in Germany who has previously worked for the Somali Health Ministry and has spent the past decade researching substandard and falsified medicines.

Heide was not part of the investigative group, but said the report shed light on a problem not previously measured.

"I was delighted that, finally, someone published such a systemic report," Heide said. "That is a first, really significant systematic study of this area."

"There are many possible causes for bad-quality products," the investigation's senior researcher Marya Lieberman of the University of Notre Dame, US, told DW.

Those causes can include faults in the manufacturing process or product decay due to poor storage conditions. But some drugs are also counterfeit, and that increases the risk of discrepancies between what’s on the product label and the actual medicine within.

Spotting substandard and falsified products can be difficult though. Usually, a medical professional or patient is only able to perform a visual inspection — literally checking a label for discrepancies or pills and syringes for color differences — to spot falsified products.

But that's not a reliable method. In the study, barely a quarter of the substandard products were identified through visual inspection. Laboratory testing identified the rest.

Fixing the problem, Lieberman said, will require improving regulation and providing screening technologies and training where they're needed.

"If you can't test it, you can't regulate it," she said.

"The cancer medications are difficult to handle and analyze because they're very toxic, and so many labs don't want to do that. And that's a core problem for the sub-Saharan countries where we worked. Even though several of those countries have quite good labs, they don't have the facilities that are needed for safe handling of the chemo drugs established."

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Nearly a decade ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) found around 1 in 10 medicines used in low and middle-income countries were substandard or falsified. Independent research conducted since has backed those figures up, sometimes finding rates that are potentially twice as high.

"This could lead to treatment failure, adverse reactions, disease progression," health economist Sachiko Ozawa told DW.

Ozawa contributed to the investigation on anticancer drugs and has separately researched other cases of defective medicines.

"For the community, there's also economic losses in terms of wasted resources,” she said. “So countries may be spending a lot of money on medications that are not going to be effective."

While high-income countries can monitor supply chains and have stringent regulatory systems in place to identify and withdraw suspect products, the infrastructure to do that is far from common in other regions.

In those places, poor access to affordable medication often drives patients to less-regulated marketplaces. Inadequate governance and regulation, as well as a scarcity of surveillance and diagnostic equipment to test pharmaceuticals, are all contributing to the problem in Africa.

"In high-income countries, I think there's a much more secure supply chain where you know the manufacturers are vetted, it has to go through very stringent regulatory processes to get approval…it gets tested more frequently," Ozawa said.

TheWHOtold DW that following the report's findings, it was working with the four impacted countries to address the problem.

"We are concerned with the findings the article has highlighted. WHO is in contact with national authorities of 4 impacted countries and obtaining relevant data," it said in a statement. "We expect to assess full information to evaluate the situation, which often takes time and capacity. But we’re committed to address these issues working with the relevant countries and partners."

It also reiterated its ongoing call for countries to improve their regulatory frameworks to "prevent incidents of substandard and falsified medicines, including in settings of cancer programmes."

In 2017, the WHO's review of substandard and falsified medicines offered three solutions based around prevention, detection and response.

Stopping the manufacture and sale of those medicines is the primary preventative measure, but where defective products make it to market, surveillance and response programs can prevent poor quality medicines from reaching patients.

Regulatory reform sought by experts and authorities takes time though. More immediate solutions are being developed in the form of better screening technologies.

Lieberman is working on a "paper lab" — a type of test that can be used by trained professionals to chemically test the quality of a product before it's administered to a patient. Other laboratory technologies are also under development.

One comforting point is that while a significant proportion of the medication circulating in medical facilities in the four African countries was defective, the majority of the products tested met required standards.

" [With] two-thirds of the suppliers, all the products [were] good quality, so there are good quality suppliers," Heide said. "But a few of them really have a suspiciously high number of failing samples."

The Supreme Court has limited the authority of individual district court judges to issue nationwide injunctions, in a decision that could benefit President Donald Trump.

This is a roundup of the top headlines from theUnited Stateson June 27 and 28, 2025:

The president of the elite University of Virginia (UVA) stepped down on Friday after being called on to stop measures to make the school more diverse and fair, reportedly at the risk of losing federal funding if he failed to do so.

The resignation of Jim Ryan marks an escalation in the war being waged by the Trump administration against academic institutions it sees as hostile to its agenda, as  the UVA is a public university and not one of the Ivy League private institutions that have previously been attacked.

"I cannot make a unilateral decision to fight the federal government in order to save my own job," Ryan said in a statement  on Friday.

He wrote that risking federal funding cuts by staying on "would not only be quixotic but appear selfish and self-centered to the hundreds of employees who would lose their jobs, the researchers who would lose their funding, and the hundreds of students who could lose financial aid or have their visas withheld."

Since taking the helm in 2018, Ryan has been a strong advocate of so-called DEI — diversity, equality and inclusion — practices, which aim to redress historic demographic inequities. Among other things, he tried to increase the number of students at the university who were the first in their families to go on to higher education.

US PresidentDonald Trumpin Januarysigned a decree ordering DEI programs nationwide to be eliminated, with DEI critics saying that things like university admissions should be purely merit-based.

The Ivy LeagueHarvard University has become a particular target of government hostility, with Trump seeking toban it from having foreign students, slashing billions in grants and contracts and challenging its tax-free status.

The Republican-led US Senate rejected a Democratic-led bid on Friday to block President Donald Trump from using further military force against Iran, hours after the president said he would consider more bombing.

The Senate vote was 53 to 47 against a war powers resolution that would have required Congressional approval for more hostilities against Iran.

The vote came after Trump said he would not rule out further attacks on Iranian nuclear sites. Asked if he would order such strikes again, he said, "Sure, without question, absolutely."

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday filed a $787 million defamation lawsuit againstFox News. The suit was filed in Delaware, where Fox is incorporated.

Newsom said the right-wing outlet lied about a phone call he had with President Trump regarding his immigration crackdown.

Newsom's lawsuit charges that Fox exhibited a "willingness to protect President Trump from his own false statements by smearing his political opponent Governor Newsom in a dispute over when the two last spoke during a period of national strife."

At issue is a false or erroneous claim by Trump regarding a phone call that took place around the time he deployedNational Guard troops to Los Angelesagainst the governor's wishes. Newsom claims Fox intentionally broadcast incorrect information "to provoke outrage and cause Governor Newsom significant [political] harm."

"Enough of their lies," said Newsom in a video posted on X.

Newsom offered to drop the lawsuit if Fox would retract its claim that he lied about the call and if Fox and host Jessie Watters, who made the claim during a broadcast, both apologized on air.

"Governor Newsom's transparent publicity stunt," retorted Fox in a statement, "is frivolous and designed to chill free speech critical of him. We will defend this case vigorously and look forward to it being dismissed."

The governor, seen by many as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential contender, says Fox acted in malice and he is therefore seeking damages. To win the case, he must prove Fox acted with actual malice, meaning it knew its statements were false, or had reckless disregard for the truth.

Newsom's damages request is almost identical tothe $787.5 million Fox was ordered to pay Dominion Voting Systemsin 2023, after it lied about alleged vote-rigging in the 2020 US presidential election.

"If Fox News wants to lie to the American people on Donald Trump's behalf, it should face consequences — just like it did in the Dominion case," Newsom said in a statement.

"I believe the American people should be able to trust the information they receive from a major news outlet."

Stocks on Wall Street closed at record highs on Friday with the Dow Jones Industrial Index, S&P 500 and NASDAQ all buzzing on hopes of pending trade deals — though the run flattened afterPresident Trump angrily announced the cancellation of trade talkswith Canada over a 3% digital tech tax.

Wall Street's recent run has recovered frommassive losses suffered when Trump first launched his global trade shake-up— with the S&P, for instance losing 20% of its value. The surge has come as the White House announces progress, albeit partial, on US trade disputes around the globe.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's announcement of a deal with China over rare earths and magnets for chip production helped boost Friday's rally.

Bessent's suggestion that trade deals could be completed with as many as 18 countries by Labor Day (September 1) will no doubt boost morale, too.

US Commerce Department data released Friday showed consumer income and spending contracting slightly in May, though inflation remains steady at around 2%. Financial analysts also feel confident that the US Federal Reserve will implement its first rate cut of the year in September.

US President Donald Trump on Friday angrily announced the end oftrade talkswithCanadaafter Ottawa refused to back down on a 3% digital services tax on Canadian and foreign tech firms — like Amazon, Google, Meta, Uber and Airbnb — operating in the country.

The tax, which will take effect on Monday and will be applied retroactively, translates into a roughly $2 billion (€1.71 billion) bill due at the end of the month.

"Based on this egregious Tax," wrote Trump in a social media post, "we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately. We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period."

That last sentence dovetails with Trump's earlier Friday announcement that he would soon be writing to countries around the world to inform them what their tariff rate in the US will be.

The US leader called Canada's decision to stick with the tech tax "a direct and blatant attack on our country."

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The US Supreme Court on Friday delivered numerous wins not only for President Trump but also religious groups. One case the court ruled on before heading into summer recess delivered a win to religious parents seeking to protect their elementary school children from exposure to schoolbooks featuringLGBTthemes.

The plaintiffs — Muslim, Roman Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox parents — argued the selected storybooks, "promote one-sided transgender ideology, encourage gender transitioning and focus excessively on romantic infatuation — with no parental notification or opportunity to opt out."

The court's justices voted along ideological lines in a decision that saw six conservatives favoring the parents and three progressives supporting Montgomery County public school administrators, who say they were simply trying to expand curriculum in a way that reflects the diversity of families living in the district.

Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who was joined in her dissent by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, said that public schools educate children of all religions and backgrounds and help them live in a multicultural American society.

"That experience is critical to our Nation's civic vitality. Yet it will become a mere memory if children must be insulated from exposure to ideas and concepts that may conflict with their parents' religious beliefs. Today's ruling ushers in that new reality," Sotomayor wrote.

The ruling overturned a lower court decision that had found the school district had not violated parents' first amendment rights to the free exercise of religion.

"Today," wrote conservative Justice Samuel Alito on Friday, "we hold that the parents have shown that they are entitled to a preliminary injunction. A government burdens the religious exercise of parents when it requires them to submit their children to instruction that poses 'a very real threat of undermining' the religious beliefs and practices that the parents wish to instill."

President Donald Trump welcomed the US SupremeCourt'sruling that curbs the power of federal judges and said his administration can now seek to proceed with numerous policies such as his executive order aiming to restrict birthright citizenship that he said "have been wrongly enjoined on a nationwide basis."

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US President Donald Trump said he would "absolutely" order a strike on Iran if intelligence indicated that Tehran was still capable of enriching uranium to nuclear weapons-grade.#

Speaking at a press conference at the White House, Trump also said Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei "got beat to hell" in thewar involving Israel and the US, and that the timing of ending it was "great." He expressed anger after the Iranian leader claimed his country had scored a victory over the United States.

Regarding future inspections of Iran's nuclear sites, the US president said he supports inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or another respected source being able to inspect nuclear sites in Iran following the bombings by Israel and the US.

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Tehran may reject any request by the IAEA, the UN's nuclear watchdog, to visit the country's nuclear sites, calling the insistence by IAEA head Rafael Grossi to visit nuclear sites in Iran "meaningless, even malign in intent."

This comes after the Iranian parliament voted to suspend any cooperation with the IAEA over its failure to condemn the strikes carried out on various nuclear sites in Iran by Israel and the US.

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The Supreme Court's decision on injunctions left the status of President Donald Trump's restrictions on birthright citizenship unclear.

On his first day back in office, Trump signed an executive order instructing federal agencies not to recognize the citizenship of children born in the United States unless at least one parent is an American citizen or a lawful permanent resident, also known as a "green card" holder.

The Supreme Court justices granted a request by the Trump administration to narrow the scope of three nationwide injunctions issued by federal judges in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington state that halted enforcement of his directive while litigation challenging the policy proceeds.

It did not let Trump's executive order go into effect immediately and also did not address its legality.

US President Donald Trump labeled the Supreme Court's decision to restrict judges' abilities to grant nationwide injunctions as a "giant win."

Attorney General Pam Bondi said the decision would "stop the endless barrage of nationwide injunctions against President Trump.

At a press conference after the ruling, Trump took aim at judges who had previously blocked his policies through nationwide injunctions.

"It was a grave threat to democracy, frankly, and instead of merely ruling on the immediate cases before them, these judges have attempted to dictate the law for the entire nation," Trump told reporters at the White House, describing these judges as "radical left."

In a separate decision, the US Supreme Court has upheld a Texas law requiring pornographic websites to verify users' ages.

The ruling, handed down Friday, rejects arguments that the law infringes on free speech rights.

The law requires websites whose content is more than a third "sexual material harmful to minors" to have all users submit personally identifying information verifying they are at least age 18 to gain access.

Supporters say the measure is a crucial step in protecting children from harmful online content. Critics, however, warn it could set a troubling precedent for internet regulation.

The US Supreme Court has reined in the power of lower courts to block federal policies.

In a 6-3 ruling stemming from President Donald Trump's bid to end birthright citizenship, the court said nationwide injunctions issued by district court judges "likely exceed the equitable authority that Congress has granted to federal courts."

After a number of courts suspended Trump's order, his administration appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that lower judges do not have the right to block presidential actions

The ruling has far-reaching ramifications for the ability of the judiciary to rein in Trump or future US presidents.

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Welcome to our coverage of a major US Supreme Court ruling that could have far-reaching consequences for how much power judges have to challenge presidential actions — now and in the future.

In this blog, we will look at the reaction to the ruling of the US Supreme Court that has just made it harder for lower courts to block federal policies, including presidential executive orders.

We will also look at how it will impact Trump's bid to limit birthright citizenship.

The first heat waves of the summer are hitting Europe, triggering wildfires and health warnings. Weather forecasters say such phenomena are becoming more common each year.

Extreme heat is being felt across Europe, with more in store over the coming days. Though the Wimbledon tennis tournament says it is bracing for its hottest-ever start with temperatures expected to be around 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit), southern countries like Spain, Italy, and Greece look set to see temperatures that are far higher still.

In all, high temperatures are expected to affect the entire Mediterranean, from the Iberian Peninsula to the Balkans.

In Andalusia, in southern Spain, temperatures are set to climb to 43 C in aheatwave forecastto last until late next week. Spain's AEMET state weather service has also forecast high temperatures in the country's northeastern Zaragoza area.

Spain says medical emergency staff expect to see a surge inheatstroke casesamong children, the elderly and those with chronic illness.

Temperatures over 40 C are also expected in neighboring Portugal, where fire warnings have been given for northern inland areas as well as along the Algarve coast.

In Greece, which is also experiencing itsfirst heat wave of the seasonwith temperatures surpassing 40 C, awildfire has triggered evacuations south of the capital, Athens, where coast guard ships and fire-dousing helicopters areactively fighting the blaze. Patrol boats have been deployed to the area for a potential sea evacuation.

Here, too, high temperatures and strong winds have worsened the situation.

Athens and its surrounding areas remain on high fire alert due to the prevailing conditions.

The Meteo France weather agency declared this week that the country is experiencing its 50th national heat wave since 1947, with several regions under high-temperature alert.

The weather agency saidhigher surface temperatures in the Mediterraneanhad become an "aggravating factor," meaning that daytime temperatures could reach upwards of 39 C and little respite should be expected at night.

In Italy, 21 cities, including the capital, Rome, have been put under extreme temperature alert. Another city on the list is Venice, wherebillionaire American businessman Jeff Bezos is making a TV presenter his second wifeamong crowds of celebrity guests as well as protesters in the tourist destination.

Across the Adriatic, Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian authorities also issued health warnings as temperatures rose and as wildfires raged in Albania.

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All across the EU,residents are being advisedto remain indoors during the hottest part of the day if possible — generally from about 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. — though meteorologists say little cooling should be expected at night over the next week.

Though early summer heat waves were known in the past, meteorologists say they are becoming far more frequent as a result of what they say is human-induced climate change.

Statistics from scientists at AEMET in Spain, for instance, documented only two June heat waves between 1975 and 2000. Nine were recorded between 2000 and 2024.

The two countries sealed a deal which could bring peace to the war-battered region of eastern DR Congo. US Secretary of State Rubio called the agreement "an important moment."

TheDemocratic Republic of CongoandRwandahave signed a peace agreement brokered by the United States, aimed at ending decades of conflict and promote development in eastern Congo.

The deal has provisions on territorial integrity, prohibition of hostilities and the disengagement, disarmament and conditional integration of non-state armed groups.

It also paves the way for the US government and American companies to gain access to critical minerals in the region.

US President Donald Trump said he had brokered a deal for "one of the worst wars anyone has ever seen," while Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the agreement as "an important moment after 30 years of war."

Congo’s Foreign Minister, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, and Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe signed the agreement, both expressing optimism while acknowledging that significant work remains to end the violence.

"Some wounds will heal, but they will never fully disappear," said Wagner. Her Rwandan counterpart emphasized that shared growth and cooperation would "unlock tangible dividends" for both countries.

More than 100 armed groups are believed to be active in eastern Congo, with the Rwanda-backedM23 rebel groupbeing the most prominent.

The group made major advances early this year and seized eastern Congo's two largest cities and lucrative mining areas

However, M23 rebels have indicated that the agreement will not be binding on them.

The conflict has displaced more than seven million people.

The United Nations has described it as "one of the most protracted, complex, serious humanitarian crises on Earth."

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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos married his fiancée Lauren Sanchez in a controversial three-day celebration. Estimated to cost up to $56 million, the guest list included Hollywood stars, athletes and even royalty.

Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos married Lauren Sanchez in a lavish ceremony on Friday in Venice's San Giorgio Maggiore island.

Sanchez first stepped out from the luxury Aman hotel the couple were staying at, wearing a skirt suit, and Bezos followed some two hours later.

Sanchez's wedding dress was still kept under wraps at the time she hopped onto a motorboat from her hotel, but she later revealed the dress on her newly branded Instagram page with the name: Lauren Sanchez Bezos.

The former journalist reportedly has 27 outfits prepared for festivities over three days, with Dolce & Gabbana having been the fashion house behind her wedding gown.

Bezos wore a black tuxedo and a bow tie over a white shirt, as the official photo Sanchez shared on her Instagram photo showed.

The interest around the power couple's wedding sent the media into a tizzy, with dozens of photographers having parked themselves in boats outside Aman, and other hotels where guests stayed.

Papparazzi took photos of numerous VIP guests includingKim Kardashian,Oprah Winfrey, Orlando Bloom, Jordan'sQueen Rania, US football player Tom Brady, singer Usher and Ivanka Trump — the daughter of US PresidentDonald Trump.

But the lavish wedding was not without its objectors.

Venice is one of the most iconic cities in the world, but it is also among the most vulnerable to rising sea levels caused by climate change.

Its popularity has also led toovertourism, with local residents complaining ofa lack of affordable housing and poor access to essential services.

At least 95 private planes requested permission to land at Venice's Marco Polo airport for the wedding, theCorriere della SeraItalian daily reported, while several megayachts have also moored off the city.

Environmentalists, housing advocates, anti-cruise ship campaigners and university groupshave come together to protest the weddingunder the banner "No space for Bezos."

The slogan is a play on words that references his space exploration company, Blue Origin, as well asthe bride's recent space flight.

Greenpeaceunfurled a banner in St Mark's Squaredenouncing the billionaire tech mogul for not paying enough in taxes.

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Other activists displayed mannequins mocking Bezos around the city, including one that bobbed in the city's canals, clinging to an Amazon parcel to stay afloat.

Bezos and Sanchez are donating €3 million ($3.5 million) to the city, according to Veneto's regional president Luca Zaia, and are employing historic Venetian artisans.

The celebrations are set to wrap up on Saturday with a party likely at the Arsenale, a vast shipyard complex dating back to when the city was a naval powerhouse and which nowadays serves as a venue for theVenice Biennale.

The party bags will reportedly feature glassware from Laguna B as well as traditional Venetian cookies made by the city's oldest pastry maker Rosa Salva.

The governor of Veneto told reporters that the most recent price tag for the three-day event was between €40 and €48 million (up to $56 million).

That's more than 1,000 times the cost of the average US couple's wedding, which came in at $36,000 in 2025, according to wedding planning site Zola.

"It is killing people," UN chief Antonio Guterres told reporters about the controversial Israel and US-backed aid system in Gaza. The new effort bypasses the UN, which says hundreds seeking aid have been killed.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the new system of aid distribution in Gaza was "inherently unsafe" and "killing people."

Thousands of Palestinians line up nearly every day to get food under thenew system operated by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).

GHF, backed by Israel and the United States, launched operations in mid-May. But it has faced criticism with the UN saying that it was a way for Israeli forces to use food as a weapon.

More than 400 Palestinians have been killed so far while seeking aid from GHF sites, according to the UN.

GHFbypasses the UNand other NGOs, since Israeli forces have pushed for the alternative system that they say stops Hamas from seizing aid.

Hamas, classified as a terrorist organization by the US, Germany and other countries, denies the accusation. The UN has also denied that the group has diverted large amounts of aid.

Israel has vowed to control Gaza and fight until Hamas is destroyed, and until the group returns the remaining 50 hostages, not all of whom are thought to still be alive, it seized during the October 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war.

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Guterres told reporters that the UN-led humanitarian efforts in Gaza are being "strangled" and aid workers themselves are starving. He also said Israel is required to facilitate aid deliveries into and through the Palestinian territory.

"People are being killed simply trying to feed themselves and their families. The search for food must never be a death sentence,” Guterres told reporters. "It is time to find the political courage for a ceasefire in Gaza."

In response to questions about previous incidents, the Israeli military often said troops had fired warning shots over the heads of people to get them to move. It has also said it is reviewing various cases but has yet to publish its findings.

Israel's left-leaningHaaretznewspaper on Friday reported that Israel's Military Advocate General ordered an investigation into possible war crimes over allegations that Israeli forces deliberately fired at Palestinian civilians near aid distribution sites.

A GHF spokesperson said there have been no deaths at or near any of the GHF aid distribution sites, Reuters news agency reported.

"It is unfortunate the U.N. continues to push false information regarding our operations," the GHF spokesperson said. "Bottom line, our aid is getting securely delivered. Instead of bickering and throwing insults from the sidelines, we would welcome the UN and other humanitarian groups to join us and feed the people in Gaza."

Also on Friday, US President Donald Trump was asked whether a ceasefire in Gaza would follow, to which Trump said: "It's close."

"We think within the next week we're going to get a ceasefire," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

"We're working on Gaza and trying to get it taken care of," Trump added.

Qatar, which has been a lead mediator in ceasefire and hostage talks between Israel and Hamas, said talks were ongoing.

The charges against the Norwegian royal come after months of investigation involving a "double digit" number of alleged victims.

The eldest son ofNorway's crown princess was charged with multiple counts of rape, sexual assault and bodily harm, on Friday, after ten months of investigation.

Marius Borg Hoiby is the 28-year-old son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit and stepson of the heir to the throne — Crown Prince Haakon. He was arrested several times in 2024 amid allegations of rape and preliminary charges of bodily harm.

Hoiby has faced scrutiny since and has been at the center of an investigation involving a "double-digit" number of victims.

"I cannot go into further detail about the number of victims in the case beyond confirming that it is a double-digit number," Oslo Police Attorney Andreas Kruszewski said at a news conference.

He added that the charges include one case of rape involving intercourse, two cases of rape without intercourse, four cases of sexual assault and two cases of bodily harm.

The attorney said the evidence had been gathered from sources including text-messages, police searches and witness testimonies.

In an email to The Associated Press, Defense attorney Petar Sekulic said Hoiby was "taking the accusations very seriously, but doesn't acknowledge any wrongdoing in most of the cases — especially the cases regarding sexual abuse and violence."

The Crown princess' eldest son is her child from a different relationship before she was married to Crown Prince Haakon.

Hoiby grew up with the privelege of the other royals but does not hold a formal title or have a public role.

After the initial allegations of bodily harm last year, Hoiby admitted to acts of violence directed towards his partner under the influence of alcohol and cocaine. In a statement to the public, he spoke of psychological problems and long-term drug abuse.

The economy minister attended a meeting of EU states using nuclear energy, even though Germany shut down its last reactor in 2023. The environment minister was quick to insist Germany will stick to its nuclear phaseout.

It was only a relatively petty dispute over the organization of an EU event in Brussels. And yet, revealed how differentlyEconomy Minister Katherina Reiche— of the conservativeChristian Democratic Union (CDU)— and Environment Minister Carsten Schneider — of the center-leftSocial Democratic Party (SPD)— think about renewable energy, climate protection andnuclear power.

In mid-June, Reiche was looking for a way to spend the evening in Brussels after a long meeting with her EU counterparts. There were two options: a meeting with representatives from countries that want to continue to expand renewable energies, and a meeting with pro-nuclear states.

Twelve of the 27 EU states operate nuclear power plants, with France having the highest proportion — 55 reactors. Reiche ultimately attended the meeting of these countries, even though the government of former ChancellorAngela Merkelmoved to phase out nuclear energy after the 2011 nuclear disaster inFukushima, Japan. Germany's last power plant went off the grid in spring 2023.

The fact that Reiche nevertheless chose to attend the meeting with the nuclear countries angered her SPD colleague. Schneider is officially responsible for nuclear safety in Germany as the environment minister, including issues relating to the interim and final storage of nuclear waste.

"We have decided to phase out nuclear power. This has also been accepted by society," Schneider said.

Officially, Germany is focusing on transitioning torenewable energies, and a large proportion of its energy is now generated from wind or solar power. "There are no further commitments [to the nuclear industry], nor will there be any," said Schneider.

The disagreement between the Economy Ministry and the Environment Ministry on nuclear energy issues was already apparent. At the end of May, Reiche said in Brussels that she was "open to all technologies" when it came to energy production.

The specific trigger was a joint paper by the governments in Paris and Berlin, which stated that the energy policy in both countries would be implemented "based on climate neutrality, competitiveness and sovereignty." In other words, according to the wishes of German ChancellorFriedrich Merzand French PresidentEmmanuel Macron, all forms of energy are to be promoted in the EU as long as they are low-emission.

In France, this applies above all to the many nuclear power plants. In fact, nuclear power plants emit little or no greenhouse gases during operation and are therefore considered climate-friendly by their proponents.

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The dangers of the technology lie in controlling the nuclear chain reaction and the nuclear waste it produces, which remains radioactive for many thousands of years. According to the EU treaties, each member state has the right to choose its own energy mix.

There is also likely to be more disagreement between Reiche and Schneider on the issue of new gas-fired power plants.

Shortly after taking office, the CDU minister announced plans to build 20 new gas-fired power plants. The previous government had also announced new construction to compensate for the often-fluctuating supplies from solar and wind power — but not in such large numbers.

This is also a cause for concern for Schneider, who is responsible for meeting Germany's climate targets. In mid-May, the German government's expert council on climate issues warned that the goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2045 must be backed up by a truly concrete plan from the government.

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The economy and environment ministries have often clashed on issues of climate protection and energy policy. At the moment, the government's climate goals are being helped by the rather weak economy and the resulting lower production, especially in industry, according to the council.

A member of the panel, Marc Oliver Bettzüge, director of the Institute of Energy Economics at the University of Cologne, told the newsmagazineDer Spiegel: "At this point in time, it is not clear how the federal government intends to achieve the goal of climate neutrality by 2045."

Building new gas-fired power plants is likely to make this plan even more difficult. Although gas-fired power plants emit less greenhouse gases than coal-fired ones, 20 new plants would jeopardize the climate targets.

This article was originally written in German.

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