For the first time in a long time, a joint Lebanese-Palestinian committee has convened to discuss how to disarm the groups that are held by Palestinian factions in Lebanon’s refugee camps.
Nawaf Salam, the prime minister of Lebanon, and the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, a government agency that serves as an intermediary between Palestinian refugees and officials, met on Friday.
Participants “agreed to launch a process for the disarmament of weapons according to a specific timetable,” according to the group.
Additionally, it stated that it intended to “enhance the economic and social rights of Palestinian refugees.”
A source within the Lebanese government’s 12 official refugee camps, which house numerous Palestinian factions, including Fatah, Hamas , Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and a number of other organizations, could start in mid-June.
The camps are under Palestinian control, but Lebanese authorities still maintain control over them, according to a decades-old agreement.
The Lebanese government is under increasing international pressure to stop the Iran-aligned Hezbollah, which fought a war with Israel last year.
The message is clear, he said. According to Zeina Khodr, a journalist from Beirut, “Lebanon is moving forward with monopolizing arms in the hands of the state,” there is a new era, a new balance of power, and a new leadership in the country.
She said that the next step in the process of dismantling Hezbollah’s military infrastructure in southern Lebanon “has already begun,” and that it will focus on destroying Palestinian groups in camps before addressing the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons in the rest of the nation.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visited Lebanon earlier this week and stated in a speech that the camps’ weapons “hurt Lebanon and the Palestinian cause.” Abbas is the leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
Palestinian factions won’t use Lebanon as a launchpad for attacks against Israel, according to Abbas’s and Joseph Aoun’s visit, and weapons will be consolidated under the Lebanese government’s control.
Numerous groups reportedly sounded opposed to disarmament, according to Al Jazeera’s Khodr.
There are many armed groups, including Hamas and [Palestinian] Islamic Jihad, who believe in an armed conflict with Israel, she said.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has struck a deal in principle with Boeing to allow it to avoid prosecution in a fraud case stemming from two fatal 737 MAX plane crashes that killed 346 people, a harsh blow to the families of the victims.
Boeing will pay more than $1.1bn, including the fine and compensation to families, and more than $455m to strengthen the company’s compliance, safety, and quality programmes, the DOJ said on Friday.
The aircraft maker also agreed to pay an additional $444.5m into a crash victims ‘ fund that would be divided evenly per crash victim on top of an additional $243.6m fine.
“Boeing must continue to improve the effectiveness of its anti-fraud compliance and ethics program and retain an independent compliance consultant”, the DOJ said on Friday. “We are confident that this resolution is the most just outcome with practical benefits”.
The agreement allows Boeing to avoid being branded a convicted felon and is a blow to families who lost relatives in the crashes and had pressed prosecutors to take the US planemaker to trial. A lawyer for family members and two US senators had urged the DOJ not to abandon its prosecution, but the government quickly rejected the requests.
The DOJ expects to file the written agreement with Boeing by the end of next week. Boeing will no longer face oversight by an independent monitor under the agreement.
Boeing did not immediately comment.
No more guilty plea
Boeing had reached a tentative non-prosecution agreement with the government on May 16, as first reported by the news agency Reuters.
The agreement would forestall a June 23 trial date the planemaker faces on a charge it misled US regulators about a crucial flight control system on the 737 MAX, its best-selling jet.
Boeing in July had agreed to plead guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge after the two fatal 737 MAX crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia spanning 2018 and 2019, pay a fine of up to $487.2m and face three years of independent oversight.
Boeing no longer will plead guilty, prosecutors told family members of crash victims during a meeting last week.
The company’s posture changed after a judge rejected a previous plea agreement in December, prosecutors told the family members.
Judge Reed O’Connor in Texas said in 2023 that “Boeing’s crime may properly be considered the deadliest corporate crime in US history”.
Boeing has faced enhanced scrutiny from the Federal Aviation Administration since January 2024, when a new MAX 9 missing four key bolts suffered a mid-air emergency losing a door plug. The FAA has capped production at 38 planes per month.
Boeing was found to have broken a 2021 agreement that barred the company from facing charges for the crashes by DOJ officials last year. This agreement was reached during the first Trump administration’s final days.
After a 95-run victory over Islamabad United, the Lahore Qalandars won the Pakistan Super League final for the third time in four years.
In response to Lahore’s dominating 202-8 on Friday, Islamabad was beaten for 107 in 15.1 overs thanks to captain Shaheen Shah Afridi, who took two wickets for three runs in his three overs.
Without Alex Hales, the star opener, who had to miss the crucial eliminator to attend a friend’s wedding in Spain, Islamabad struggled to get started in the chase.
When Afridi uprooted Mohammad Shahzad’s middle stump for a duck in his third ball, Afridi took a wicket.
Salman Mirza, a pace bowler from Lahore (3-16), took all of his wickets during the powerplay, giving Islamabad the final blow to lose 33-4. Sahibzada Farhan, the league’s top run-getter, was bowled by Mirza for 3.
During the Lahore Qalanders match [Rahat Dar/EPA], Lahore Qalanders players celebrated the wicket of Islamabad United player Muhammad Shahzad, center, bowled by their teammate Shaheen Shah Afridi.
Salman Ali Agha, the Twenty20 captain of Pakistan, top-scored with 33 runs in 26 balls, while Shadab Khan, the captain of Islamabad, recorded 26 runs in 14 balls. Nobody else ever doubled in numbers.
Rishad Hossain, a leg-spinner from Bangladesh, took 3-34, and Afridi took the final two wickets to win.
Mohammad Naeem’s faith in Lahore’s rookie opener Mohammad Naeem paid off in the crucial match with a 50-run run of 49 balls and two sixes before the match.
Kusal Perera, a left-hander from Sri Lanka, added 61 off 35, while Bhanuka Rajapaksa, a countryman, added a respectable 22. Two late sixes by Asif Ali allowed Lahore to surpass 200.
One student leader claims that Donald Trump’s decision to forbid Harvard from enrolling foreign students has caused irreparable harm. The administration’s most recent move was to place the order next to the Ivy League school. It has now been temporarily halted by a federal judge.
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, has signed a number of new executive orders that aim to ease regulations while also increasing nuclear energy production.
Trump’s executive orders on Friday, which were signed at an Oval Office ceremony, directed the country’s independent Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ease regulations and obtain faster new reactor and power plant licenses.
The body must decide on new nuclear reactors within the first 18 months of a single order. That would significantly reduce the length of a process that could take longer than ten years. Trump referred to the nuclear industry as “hot” when speaking from the Oval Office.
It’s a fantastic sector, says one industry expert. Along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and CEOs of nuclear companies, he said, “you have to do it right.”
According to Burgum, the president’s actions “turn the clock back on over 50 years of overregulation” in the nuclear industry.
Trump’s orders also mandated that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s staffing levels be assessed, and they also mandated that the US Departments of Energy and Defense collaborate to construct nuclear facilities on federal land.
A government official stated to reporters prior to the signing that building more nuclear reactors is intended to address the growing energy demand created by artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which was established by Congress as an independent body in 1974, had limited authority that Trump and the executive branch could have.
Trump’s orders also called for more domestically produced and enriched uranium, the main fuel used in nuclear power.
National energy emergency
Since taking office for a second term in January, Trump has focused heavily on deregulating the energy sector, with a focus on fossil fuels.
Trump declared a “national energy emergency” on January 20 when he made his White House appearance.
In addition, he demanded that the heads of federal agencies identify any emergency powers they might have to “facilitate the identification, leasing, siting, production, transportation, refining, and generation of domestic energy resources” on federal and non-federal land.
He added that rising energy costs pose an “active threat” to US citizens and national security.
Nuclear energy has long been a contentious topic in the US, splitting those who seek alternatives to fossil fuels.
On the one hand, the industry provides a method for producing energy with low emissions. However, nuclear energy production results in waste that can remain radioactive for a long time and necessitates special storage to protect the public.
Rare but potentially cataclysmic accidents are also a possibility in nuclear power.
The potential dangers are often summed up by events like the Three Mile Island accident. A mechanical failure on Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979 resulted in the release of radioactive gases into the air, which sparked a backlash against nuclear power.
Who: Barcelona vs Arsenal What: UEFA Women’s Champions League final When: Saturday, May 24 (18:00 kickoff, 16:00 GMT) Where: Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon, Portugal
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Barcelona are aiming to complete a three-peat of Women’s Champions League titles and win its fourth European crown in five years when it faces Arsenal in Lisbon on Saturday.
Al Jazeera Sport looks at a final that pits two of the biggest names in women’s football for the game’s biggest club prize.
What is the secret to Barcelona’s success?
Barcelona are out to reaffirm their status as the dominant force in European women’s football after they finally beat Lyon and successfully defended their title in last year’s final.
Their possession-hungry and high-scoring attack is led from the midfield by Ballon d’Or winners Aitana Bonmati and Alexia Putellas and several other members of Spain’s World Cup-winning team that beat England in the 2023 final.
What is Barcelona’s Champions League record?
Barcelona will be playing in its sixth Champions League final in seven seasons and a record-equalling fifth in a row at Lisbon’s 50,000-capacity Estadio Jose Alvalade.
The Catalan club has the chance to become the only team other than Lyon to lift the European Cup in three consecutive years.
Bonmati, the Ballon d’Or winner in 2023 and 2024, said the experience gained from previous finals is invaluable.
“I’ve learned a lot of things. It is the path that has fallen to us. The first final in Budapest was an inexperienced team that was going to see what happened. Now, we are the team to beat,” she said.
“Knowing how to be, knowing how to suffer, is very important. And never giving up. We have had finals where we have come back. We have had games of all colours.”
Claudia Pina, left, and Aitana Bonmati of Barcelona during a training session before the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final 2025 against Arsenal [Maja Hitij/Getty Images]
What is Arsenal’s take on facing Barcelona?
Standing in Barcelona’s way is an Arsenal team that has excelled as a spoiler this campaign and hopes it can pull off another upset and win its second European title.
“They’re a fantastic team and they’ve obviously got the recent history to prove it,” Arsenal defender Leah Williamson said about Barcelona in the build-up to the final.
“We respect them a lot, but it’s a final, so everybody turns up and everybody gives their best.”
How do Barcelona and Arsenal match up?
First-year Barcelona coach Pere Romeu has a side that can hit from all angles with multiple scoring options.
They lead all the major team statistics in attack: most goals scored with 44, to Arsenal’s 25, the highest possession, best pass accuracy and most shot attempts.
Barcelona forward Claudia Pina leads the competition in scoring with 10 goals, ahead of Arsenal pair Mariona Caldentey, who joined from the Spanish club last year, and Alessia Russo with seven each. Bonmati and teammate Patri Guijarro lead the competition with five assists each.
Have Barcelona improved on last season?
Barcelona added to its winning squad in the offseason by signing Poland striker Ewa Pajor, who went on to lead the Spanish league with 23 goals.
Pajor, 28, is seeking her first European title after losing four finals with former club Wolfsburg, including the 2023 final to Barcelona after leading 2-0.
“The final is played in the details, and we can prepare the details before the game,” Pajor said. “What I have also learned, because I’ve played in four finals, you have to be there in the first minute until the end.”
How has Barcelona’s season progressed?
Barcelona has rolled to a sixth consecutive Liga F title and has reached another Copa de la Reina final, but at the same time, it has proven beatable.
Barcelona’s home unbeaten run in Liga F came to an end after a record 64 games this season, and it lost to Real Madrid for the first time in 19 Clasicos since its top rival founded a women’s team.
They also started the Champions League with a rare group stage loss to Manchester City.
“We lost a couple more games than we are used to, and we lost some games that hurt more than others,” Barcelona forward Caroline Graham said, adding about the City defeat: “A lot of people thought that our run to be good in the Champions League was a bit over. That was a motivation to show that we still are good and that we can still compete against the best.”
Players and staff of Arsenal pose for a photo before the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final 2025 against Barcelona [Florencia Tan Jun/UEFA via Getty Images]
How do Arsenal shape up?
Arsenal remain the only English team to win the biggest title in women’s club football after it won UEFA’s Women’s Cup in 2007 when it beat Umea, two years before the tournament was reformatted and renamed the Women’s Champions League.
Arsenal may be the underdog, but it is likely comfortable with that role given its recent run of comebacks.
Renee Slegers’s side rallied against Madrid in the quarterfinals, and then shocked eight-time winner Lyon in the semifinals when they rebounded from a 2-1 loss in London by winning 4-1 in France.
This is the English club’s only chance to win some silverware this campaign after finishing second to Chelsea in England’s Women’s Super League and failing to reach the finals of the FA Cup or League Cup.
“We’ve had to come back from a lot of difficult situations, from setbacks, but the persistence of the team and the [fact that we] keep on believing, that’s been key for us,” Slegers said. “We’ve done some magical things.”
Do Arsenal and Barcelona have history?
Arsenal were Barcelona’s first opponents in Europe’s top club competition in the 2012-13 season, when the English side crushed the Catalans 7-0 over two legs.
Barcelona were nowhere near as good as they are now, however. They overwhelmed Chelsea, who went unbeaten across the 22-game Women’s Super League season en route to winning the title, 8-2 on aggregate in the Champions League semifinals.
