Local elections in the United Kingdom: Keir Starmer threatened with a sanction vote. The British voted on Thursday in this election which promises to be painful for the Labor of the unpopular British Prime Minister as well as for its conservative rivals, threatened by the anti-immigration Reform UK party and by the Greens on the left. In the evening, “the first results already painted a gloomy picture for†Starmer, Labor “having lost elected officials in its traditional strongholds in the north of Englandâ€observe The Guardian. According to the daily, the populist Reform UK party largely dominated the vote in the north-east, notably in Hartlepool, where Labor is expected to go into opposition. Since its return to power in July 2024 after 14 years in opposition, the Labor Party has struggled to deliver on its promises of growth, at a time when the conflict in the Middle East is accentuating the cost of living crisis.
Moscow claims that drones have been shot down in Russia since the start of its unilateral truce for the May 9 commemorations. Early Friday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced the interception of a total of 20 drones heading towards the Russian capital, in a series of publications on the Russian social network Max. On Thursday evening, Volodymyr Zelensky declared that Ukraine had “received messages from some states close to Russia, indicating that their representatives planned to travel to Moscow†à l’occasion des commémorations. “A strange desire […] in these times. We do not recommend it…he declared. For its part, the Russian Foreign Ministry again urged foreign diplomats on Thursday to leave kyiv, after warning on Wednesday that a “retaliatory strike†would be “inévitable†if kyiv were to disrupt the May 9 parade, reports The New York Times. “These threats and attacks fuel increased concern about possible violence that could occur during the weekend in the two capitals… concludes the daily.
In the Netherlands, a homemade bomb attack targets the premises of the Prime Minister’s party. The head of the Dutch government Rob Jetten denounced Thursday a “Whatever act of intimidation†after an explosion hit the premises of his centrist D66 party in The Hague. The police announced the arrest of a suspect following this attack in the city center which caused some material damage but no victims. According to Dutch Newsa homemade bomb was slipped into the mailbox of the D66 premises. People were inside but they were not injured, reports the Dutch site. “However, they were terrified… said a D66 spokesperson. The building housing the political party had already been targeted last year during anti-immigration riots in The Hague. Experts had linked the attack to hooligans acting under the banner of the far-right group Defend Netherlands, recalls Dutch News.
The IOC lifts its restrictions against Belarusian athletes. The queen body of world sport estimated Thursday that the fate of athletes “should not be conditioned on the actions of their governments, including their involvement in war or conflictâ€. The IOC, however, maintained its restrictions targeting Russian athletes. Formally, it will be up to the international federations to implement this turnaround, since they remain free to apply or not the IOC’s recommendations.. This new policy should, however, allow the return of a Belarusian delegation to the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. “Although Russia’s ally Belarus did not directly participate in the war, it allowed the Kremlin to use its territory as a staging ground for its operations against Ukraine.â€underlines the Kyiv Independent who deplores “the death of hundreds of Ukrainian athletes and coaches†since the start of the conflict.
Trump’s widespread tariffs deemed illegal again. It’s a “new hard blow†brought to the customs taxes of the American president, summarizes the Washington Post. According to the International Trade Tribunal (CIT), the government cannot rely on a law dating back to 1974 and aimed at rebalancing trade between the United States and its trading partners, to impose indiscriminate customs duties. According to the decision rendered Thursday, taken by two judges to one, the 10% surcharge is not in conformity with this text which only applies in the case where a marked imbalance in the current account balance is demonstrated. The three companies which had taken the matter to court should therefore no longer be subject to such additional costs. If the judgment, subject to appeal, remains for the moment limited to these three plaintiffs, it opens a legal precedent allowing other companies to also challenge the surcharges. At the end of February, the Supreme Court canceled a large part of the customs duties wanted by Trump, considering that the latter had made an unconstitutional reading of a legal text to justify them. The Republican immediately drew out this new 10% surcharge.
