LONDON—The U.K. government on Monday announced an overhaul of its immigration policy to deter asylum seekers from arriving on British shores, the latest European nation to tighten rules in response to growing dissatisfaction from voters at levels of illegal immigration.
The Labour government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a suite of policies including changing laws to make it easier to expel migrants, quadrupling the length of time they have to wait to become permanent residents to 20 years and regularly reviewing whether their home countries have become safer and can take them back.
A special court in Bangladesh sentenced the country’s former prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to death on Monday for her role in the killing of at least 1,400 protesters who participated in nationwide demonstrations last year that ultimately led to her ouster.
The International Crimes Tribunal ruled that Hasina and several of her top officials were guilty of crimes against humanity, including inciting and abetting organized violence against peaceful student protesters in July and August 2024, and conspiring in the killing of civilians, among other charges.
Hamas’s popularity has edged up among Palestinians in Gaza since the cease-fire, ending a slide during the war and posing a challenge to President Trump’s plan to bring peace to the enclave by disarming the militant group.
A major reason is security. Last month, as a cease-fire took root and Israeli forces pulled back, Hamas fighters re-emerged on the streets as police and internal-security forces, patrolling and targeting criminals along with rivals and critics. While many Gazans have a dim view of the U.S.-designated terrorist group and don’t like seeing the group reassert itself, Palestinians have welcomed a reduction in crime and looting.
Israeli settlers extended a wave of attacks in the West Bank, drawing rare condemnation from authorities and concern from the U.S. over the escalating violence.
BERLIN—Germany will build a database of young people detailing their fitness, aptitude and outlook to help it pick whom to draft should the country be attacked.
The proposed move, a step toward reintroducing military conscription, comes as countries across Europe grapple with how to repopulate their armed forces under pressure from Washington and an expansionist Russia that European capitals accuse of waging a hybrid war on the continent.
Barely 24 hours had passed since thieves had broken into the Louvre Museum and stolen France’s crown jewels when the mayor of Langres, a walled medieval town in Eastern France, received a troubling phone call.
The director of the town’s museum was on the line to report that it too had been robbed. Thieves had penetrated the Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot overnight and gone straight for a display case housing its collection of historic gold and silver coins.
Pakistan blamed India-backed militants for a suicide bombing that killed 12 people in Islamabad on Tuesday, raising the prospect of renewed tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals, as India’s prime minister vowed to hunt down the perpetrators of a car explosion in New Delhi the day before.
A blast on Monday near a metro station by New Delhi’s historic Red Fort set several nearby cars on fire,
killed eight and injured at least 20 others, Indian police said. The car had three or four passengers, all of whom died in the explosion, said police, who haven’t determined the cause of the blast.
If you want to see what a “living constitution” looks like, go to Europe. On Tuesday, in Vainik v. Estonia, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that four longtime prisoners in Estonia were due restitution from the state for “weight gain, sleeping problems, depression, and anxiety” caused by not being allowed to smoke in prison.
The decision was grounded on Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The text of Article 8 doesn’t mention any right to enjoy a cigarette whenever one pleases. Rather, it protects a broad “right to private life,” which the court accused Estonia of violating in the Vainik case. “The Court,” the judges wrote, “was sensitive to the context of the already limited personal autonomy of prisoners, and that the freedom for them to decide for themselves—such as whether to smoke—was all the more precious.” An odd ruling, but perhaps Europe loves its cigarettes that much?
PARIS—France’s state auditor issued a searing assessment of the Louvre Museum’s finances on Thursday, alleging its management prioritized the acquisition of new artworks over the maintenance and security of its existing collection.
The auditor released its 153-page report after a team of thieves used low-tech methods to break into the museum last month and steal France’s crown jewels, drawing attention to the Louvre’s porous security.
A detachment of Israeli engineering troops was demolishing tunnels behind the withdrawal line in Gaza last month when Hamas militants sprang from a hidden shaft, fired an antitank missile toward their excavator and killed two soldiers.
A little over a week earlier, Israel and Hamas had agreed to a cease-fire. Israel responded to the deadly encounter with
a round of airstrikes on Gaza that killed dozens of people.
WASHINGTON—President Trump has recently expressed reservations to top aides about launching military action to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, fearing that strikes might not compel the autocrat to step down, according to U.S. officials familiar with the deliberations.
The debate underscores that the administration’s Venezuela strategy remains in flux, despite a
buildup of military forces in the region and public threats by Trump to launch attacks.
TEL AVIV—The body of the last dead American hostage in Gaza was returned by Hamas after more than two years, marking the close of
a painful chapter for U.S. families whose relatives were taken by the militant group.
Itay Chen, 19, an Israeli-American soldier who also holds German citizenship, was killed during the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack while fighting off militants with his tank crew in southern Israel. Chen was one of around 250 hostages taken during the attack, including around a dozen U.S. nationals, according to the Hostages Families Forum, an advocacy group.
When Russian soldier Sergey Khandozhko got married the day after enlisting in October 2023, his family and friends were confused. The 40-year-old had never mentioned the bride. Nor had he spoken of marriage.
More puzzling was the 20-minute wedding ceremony without photos or exchange of rings, and only one guest. Afterward, Khandozhko’s new wife even carried on living with her ex-husband and their children, according to testimony and a court ruling reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Dick Cheney, who served four Republican presidents and whose role as an architect of the post-9/11 war on terror made him one of the most powerful—and controversial—U.S. vice presidents in history, died on Monday. He was 84.
He died due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family said in a statement.
MEXICO CITY—Since taking office last year as mayor of Uruapan, Carlos Manzo often led police raids wearing his bulletproof vest and cowboy hat to fulfill his mandate to end endemic extortion in the avocado capital of the world.
The 40-year-old Manzo knew that the criminal gangs he confronted had more resources and superior weaponry. He was gunned down on Saturday as he officiated a candle-lighting ceremony for Day of the Dead, one of the main religious festivities in Mexico’s western Michoacán state.
President Trump wanted the attention of Nigerian President Bola Tinubu, and he’s got it. On Friday Mr. Trump designated Africa’s most populous nation a “country of particular concern” for religious persecution. And on Saturday he wrote that if Nigeria fails to protect its Christians, the U.S. may go in “‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities.”
Christians account for nearly half of Nigeria’s population, and they’ll welcome Mr. Trump’s attention. Open Doors International, which tracks religious persecution,
says more Christians are killed for their faith in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world.