Following the murder of at least five Ukrainian citizens by Russia, US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
According to Serhiy Lysak, the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, a child was one of three people killed overnight on Friday in Russian drone attacks on Pavlohrad, a major industrial city in central Ukraine.
He claimed that a six-year-old boy and two teenagers, ages 15 and 17, were also hurt in the attack on a five-story structure. He continued, adding that five of the injured were still hospitalized.
An aerial bomb was dropped on a residential building in the Donetsk region’s Yarova settlement on Friday morning, killing two more victims, according to Donetsk regional prosecutors.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia launched 103 drones over the course of five days in five different Ukrainian regions, causing damage.
According to Lysak, 11 drones were blown up over the Dnipropetrovsk area.
Visit of Witkoff
Meanwhile, Zein Basravi, a reporter from Kyiv for Al Jazeera, noted that Ukrainians are unlikely to approve of Witkoff and Putin’s meeting.
They view Witkoff and Donald Trump as “parroting Russian propaganda,” he said, underscoring Ukraine’s dissatisfaction with US diplomatic efforts.
As there is no ceasefire, Ukraine and its allies in the EU and other countries agree, and they continue to bomb their cities overnight.
The Ukraine has emphasized that halting Russian aggression and maintaining territorial integrity are its top priorities in the negotiations.
Ukraine’s request to accept Russia’s annexation of Crimea was vehemently rejected by Kyiv.
Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, stated on Thursday that the US-proposed peace agreement with Ukraine is “moving in the right direction,” but that it still needs “fine tuning” in some areas.
Lavrov responded to Trump’s assertion that the deal was “very close” and should “finally be done” in a prelim interview that was scheduled to air on CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday.
Lavrov concured, saying, “The president of the United States believes, and I think rightly so, that we are moving in the right direction.”
He continued, “We are prepared to reach a deal, but there are still some specific issues that need to be clarified.” This particular process is a big part of our work.
Ukraine’s red lines are obvious, according to Hanna Shelest, director of security programs at the Foreign Policy Council’s “Ukrainian Prism.”
No one will let us decide which alliance our armed forces should join, despite the fact that it is about the country’s territorial integrity. Since no one has offered us security guarantees, she said, “that’s only logical.”
Shelest remarked that Ukraine’s plan is to form a significant international coalition.
It was obvious that Ukraine could rely on a single major partner even before Trump became president, adding that the largest coalition would be required.
In his first year as president of the United States, Donald Trump withdrawn the country from the most recent nuclear agreement with Iran. He is now advocating for a new agreement while he is in the White House, and the two countries are speaking once more.
What are the goals of the negotiations for both parties? What’s up with them right now? And how near a nuclear weapon is Iran? explains Sandra Gathmann’s book Start Here.
After meeting with senior officials on April 24, the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) met with senior officials to discuss appointing a second-in-command for its aging leader, Mahmoud Abbas.
During an Arab summit in early March, Abbas, the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) president, promised to establish the position. However, it is still unclear who will ultimately fill the position.
According to experts, the goal is to prevent a power conflict after Abbas leaves his post, which Israel might then use to annex the West Bank, ethnically cleanse Gaza, and prevent the PA from dissolving.
However, Dianna Buttu, a former legal advisor to the PLO, believes that replacing Abbas with a vice president position in the PA will not prevent power struggles; rather, it could only aggravate the situation.
She warned that “the more splintered the PA becomes, the more there will be a power vacuum,” which external actors, primarily Americans and Israelis, will fill.
Legitimacy crisis
After Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat passed away in November 2004, Abbas, 89, has ruled without a popular mandate since the government’s dissolution in 2007, has taken control of the PLO and PA.
The PA and PLO are ruled by his Fatah party. The long-defunct parliament has vanished, and Abbas has been criticized for appearing to support unsuccessful elections efforts.
The PLO is in charge of succession when there is no parliament, which Abbas has delayed by enacting. For instance, last year, it was decreed that Rawhi Fattouh, the Palestinian National Council’s head, would take office as interim president if the position suddenly became vacant until elections are held.
Khaled Elgindy, a visiting scholar at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, said Abbas had put this off because he feared that if he introduced someone forward, they would be competing.
The Oslo Peace Accords, signed by Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin as prime ministers in 1993 and 1995, established the PA.
As Israel’s occupation grew more violent and oppressive, and Israeli settlement land grabs continued, the PA lost credibility with Palestinians.
Since Oslo, there have been more than 750 000 people living in Palestinian-owned settlements, which are prohibited by international law.
The PA’s authority was restricted to the West Bank areas that it had some control over as a result of a violent conflict with Hamas in Gaza in 2007.
After a alleged Israeli settlers attack on December 4, 2024, a Palestinian man inspects the damage at his home in Huwara, south of Nablus in the occupied West Bank.
In contrast to the PLO, the PA did succeed in becoming the de facto Palestinian representative on the global stage.
However, as people’s suffering increased and the PA continued to coordinate security with Israel as it was stated in the Oslo Accords, Abbas’ popularity decreased.
Palestinians are also suspected of being ineffectively protecting them from Israeli forces and settlers while using its authority to impose sanctions on opponents and civil activists.
Regardless of who he appoints, “Abbas’s handpicked successor probably won’t win people over,” Elgindy said.
Hussein al-Sheikh, Abbas’s close friend and PLO Executive Committee secretary-general, is often the name that comes to mind.
Al-Sheikh also serves as the head of the Palestinian Authority’s General Authority for Civil Affairs, which issues the permits that Israel has approved to let a few Palestinians circumvent the restrictions that Israel has put in place in the occupied West Bank.
The International Court of Justice, the world’s highest legal body, views Israel’s restrictions on Palestinians’ freedom of movement as apartheid.
Critics accuse Sheikh of acting as a liaison for the occupation because of his long-standing relationship with the Israeli authorities.
Omar Rahman, a Middle East Council for Global Affairs expert on Israel-Palestine, said, “Nobody likes him [among Palestinians].” Al-Sheikh’s relationship with Israel and his perceptions that he is a victim of massive corruption are tainted by his behavior.
External pressure
According to analysts, the pressure on Abbas to appoint a successor has increased over the years and is expected to increase as he has become more dependent on Arab states, according to Al Jazeera.
Rahman claims that Egypt is particularly interested in ensuring succession.
Egypt convened and hosted an Arab League summit in March to discuss its reconstruction plan for Gaza in response to President Donald Trump’s call to “Middle Eastern Riviera” and ethnic cleansing of the region.
Egypt’s mention of being one of the nations where Palestinians could be “moved to” was vehemently rejected and refuted by its reconstruction plan.
The PA-led creation of a Palestinian technocratic administration, which would allow the PA to carry out the reconstruction of the devastated enclave without causing any displacement, was a part of the proposal.
Hussein al-Sheikh, the PLO Executive Committee’s secretary general, meets with foreign ministers in Amman, Jordan, in November 2023.
However, Hamas and Israel object to it because they currently govern Gaza and Israel has criticized the PA as ineffective.
Abbas appears to have launched an offensive, blaming Hamas for not hand over captives and disarming them during the meetings and delivering angry broadsides against the organization for allowing the continuation of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
According to Tahani Mustafa, an expert on Palestinian internal politics with the International Crisis Group, many Arab states are eager to see a change of guard in the PA because of Abbas’ failure to reconcile his Fatah faction with Hamas.
Fatah and Hamas have signed a number of agreements since 2007 to rescind the Palestinian national movement’s divisions following fighting.
According to Mustafa, “I think there has been a lot of frustration] among Arab states] regarding Abbas’ role as a spoiler and obstacle in efforts to form a united Palestinian front, which has given Israel a pretext to continue doing what it has been doing in Gaza,”
Can the PA be revived by a vice president?
Buttu believes Abbas should hold elections for Fatah, the PLO, and the PA rather than creating a new political post.
The last time voting was held was shortly before the Hamas and Fatah conflict in 2006. In those legislative elections, Hassan won a sizable majority.
Given what she describes as Abbas’s lack of political will to revive Palestinian institutions, she fears that the creation of a new vice president position won’t solve the legitimacy crisis or power vacuum once he leaves.
Abbas, she told Al Jazeera, “does the bare minimum to get the Arab states off his back.
She acknowledged that due to Israel’s devastating war and genocide in Gaza and its violence and movement restrictions in the West Bank, elections might prove to be challenging technically.
She added that Palestinians could still access voting options, perhaps through an online process or portal.
There is a lot of opposition to this appointment of a vice president, according to Fatah itself. They all agree that elections should be held instead, Buttu told Al Jazeera.
Shigeru Ishiba, the prime minister of Japan, has announced urgent economic measures to reduce any effects on domestic and business sectors caused by the new tariffs on Japanese goods.
According to a government document, the package includes subsidies to lower gasoline prices by 10 yen ($0.07) per litre (0.26 gallons) and partially cover electricity bills for three months starting in July as part of Ishiba’s announcement on Friday.
At a , tariff , task force meeting, Ishiba said, “I have instructed cabinet members to make the utmost efforts to assist firms and households that have been concerned about , tariff , impact.”
He claimed that US tariffs could have a significant impact on Japanese industries like those producing steel and cars.
A wider range of businesses will be eligible for low-interest loans from government-backed banks in order to make small and medium-sized businesses more vulnerable to economic swings.
In response to the impact of US tariffs on Japan’s enormous automotive industry, the government will also take into account other measures to boost domestic consumption.
Economic minister Ryosei Akazawa claimed that the package’s funding could be covered by a reserve fund, removing the need to create an additional budget.
US tariffs that are excessive
On April 2, US President Donald Trump imposed a 25% import tariff on cars and trucks. Additionally, he later reduced the tariff to 10% for 90 days, which he previously announced, and set a 24 percent tariff on all imported goods from Japan.
Next week, Akazawa, who is Japan’s top trade negotiator, will make a second round of trade talks in Washington.
According to a report released on Thursday by the Nikkei business daily, Japan may increase US soybean imports as part of negotiations.
Markets around the world, including those in Japan, have been affected by Trump’s imposition of tariffs due to uncertainty.
Imagine your great-grandfather’s 100-year-old bungalow, which has been devoted for decades to a single, noble cause: charitable work. Its doors have always been a place of compassion and service for those who are in need. This is more than just a building; it is also your family’s legacy, one that your grandfather, your father, and eventually, your own, will inherit.
Then, everything changes over night.
a new law a deletion clause A lone government official points casually at a distant hill while raising his hand to his brow. He says, “That one.” “I don’t think you gave your land, or the property there, to you, or to the purposes you’ve given it.” He declares the land to be government property while maintaining bureaucratic order. You are now a thief. The land ceases to be under your care right away. The state takes control and enters. And just like that, your family’s bungalow, which has been kept around for generations and is now in your care, is no longer in your care.
No proper procedure exists. They state that an investigation will be conducted. eventually . No deadline or date is provided. You can’t wait until you hear back from them. Outside . For now, you must obtain state approval before entering the structure that your ancestors had built and assigned you to protect.
Sounds spooky, right? Not to Indian Muslims, for whom the Waqf Amendment Act, a piece of legislation that reverses fundamental values like ownership, due process, and religious neutrality, is a lived reality.
Waqf is, by definition, a perpetual endowment to God, meant to provide services like healthcare and education for the community. It is not “owned” by anyone. It is a mutawalli (custodian), held in trust, and protected by the state, as one might expect.
However, that assumption is disproven by the Waqf Amendment Act of 2025.
The problematic clause that prevented land being declared “waqf” by the user, who believed that land held in trust for charitable purposes should be kept safe from arbitrarily based on historical usage, is no longer in effect. We now have executive-level unilateral control in place. A single government official can now choose whether a property is government-owned or waqf with the wave of a hand. And he will be free from the need for justification and unaided by evidence to assist him in this endeavor. Just one thought. One notification One expropriation that is entirely legal. the appeals procedure? delightfully circular You file an appeal to the same accusation-making system.
Non-Muslims are now required to be on Waqf Boards, according to the amended law, which is a stunning display of secular theater. No other religious trusts face this kind of demand. Imams are not required to be appointed by temple trusts. No agnostics are required for church committees. However, Muslim waqfs must open their management to those who have no connection to their theology, tradition, or scholarship under this perplexing, amended law. When does inclusivity become diluted? One might ask. In this version, equality appears to be merely a selective intrusion.
The audit follows then. The central government now has the authority to appoint its own auditors to oversee property audits. They refer to transparency as. to check Waqf Board corruption. However, if you squint, you’ll see that without the necessary checks and balances, it appears to be oversight. After all, the kennel is rarely impartial when it reports to the watchdog.
This is not a frontal assault. Soft erasure is used.
Bulldozers are absent. No headlines here. Just shifting definitions, footnotes, and notices. And it is all entirely “legal.”
The bungalow still stands, therefore. Its walls remain intact. Its gates continue to swing. However, the state’s choice now determines the meaning behind them, since the sacred concept of waqf was once a gift to God.
We’re actually witnessing a much more sophisticated heist than a heist in the dark. a change in ownership model that is carried out by the state’s own internal machinery rather than by shadowy intermediaries. Legislation is the only thing lacking in this country. No colloquialties, just policy. A system created to protect charitable trusts is now perfectly positioned to take it, one signature, one “determination,” one hilltop glance at a time, with the quiet certainty of officialdom.
Not reform, this. Slow, quiet, and absolute is how this is asset appropriation is done. written in paper, not with guns. Because ultimately, this is a real estate issue rather than a Hindu-Muslim one.
Real Madrid and Barcelona will square off in the Copa del Rey (King’s Cup) final for the third time this year.
After defeating Real 5-2 in the Spanish Super Cup final in January and 4-0 in a LaLiga game in October, Barcelona will be looking to record a hat-trick of victories on Saturday against fierce foes this 2024-2025 season.
Barcelona, the Copa’s most successful club, hasn’t reached the final since 2021 when they defeated Athletic Bilbao, the most successful club in the competition. In 2023, Madrid won their 20th title against Osasuna, which they will play in their second final in three years.
The 260th competitive match between Barcelona and Real Madrid will take place on Saturday in a blockbuster showdown that will be the first time the two teams have met in a Copa final in 11 years.
Before the clash between Spain’s two football titans, find out everything you need to know:
The 2025 Copa Final will be held when?
Saturday night at 10 p.m. (20:00 GMT) will host the Copa del Rey final.
Follow Al Jazeera Sport’s live text and photo commentary stream.
Where is the location of the Copa final?
The 2025 Copa del Rey final will take place at the Estadio de La Cartuja in Seville.
One of the 11 stadiums used in the multi-country Euro 2020 tournament, the fifth-largest stadium in Spain, has a capacity of 57,600 people.
The 2024 Copa del Rey final between Athletic Bilbao and Osasuna was also held at Estadio de La Cartuja.
The 2025 Copa del Rey final will be held at the Estadio de La Cartuja in Seville.[File: Jon Nazca/Reuters] A general view of the Estadio de La Cartuja
Who will win the Copa 2025, and by what team?
Barcelona are the favorite to win the Copa del Rey in light of their recent form and dominance at the top of the table.
Borussia Dortmund defeated 3-1 in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals, but Hansi Flick’s side have lost just once this year across all competitions.
Barcelona has been rated as the shorter-odds favorite to win the Copa by numerous bookmakers using the Oddschecker platform, paying out an average of $2.10 for the victory over Real Madrid at $3.10.
The Catalan giant’s goal of winning the Copa del Rey, UEFA Champions League, and LaLiga treble is still unmet despite winning the Cup final.
The champion of the competition is Barcelona, Spain’s last hope in the Champions League.
With only five games left in the season, Barcelona holds a four-point lead over Real Madrid in LaLiga, Spain’s top league competition.
Only one match has Barcelona lost in 2025, under the leadership of several famous players like Lamine Yamal.
How did Barcelona and Real Madrid reach the 2025 final?
Real Madrid defeated Real Sociedad 5-4 on aggregate in the semifinals to reach the Copa final, while Barcelona defeated Atletico Madrid in the semis with the same score to secure their spot in the title match.
Who is the Copa champion in a row?
Athletic Bilbao are the current Copa champions, but Osasuna knocked them out in the round of 16. Since Barcelona won it four years straight from 2015 to 2018, Bolivia’s exit made it impossible for the club to repeat.
What transpired when Real last faced Barca in the Copa title game?
In a Copa final last year, Real Madrid and Barcelona defeated Real 2-1 thanks to goals from Gareth Bale and Angel di Maria.
On April 16, 2014, Real’s Gareth Bale, left, celebrates with Xabi Alonso after scoring his team’s second goal in the Copa del Rey final against Barcelona in Valencia.
How many Copa final encounters have Real and Barcelona had?
In the span of the competition’s history, Real Madrid and Barcelona have faced off 38 times.
In their final four games, Los Blancos are 2-0 up against Barca thanks to their slight advantage.
2014: Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona
2011: Real Madrid 1-0 Barcelona
1990: Barcelona 2-0 Real Madrid
1983: Barcelona 2-1 Real Madrid
1974: Real Madrid 4-0 Barcelona
1968: Barcelona 1-0 Real Madrid
1936: Real Madrid 2-1 Barcelona
Who has won the most Copa del Rey titles overall?
Barcelona: 31
Athletic Bilbao: 24
Real Madrid: 20
Madrid, Atletico: 10
Valencia: eight
Lewandowski’s participation in the Copa final is uncertain.
Robert Lewandowski, the star striker for Barcelona, was diagnosed with a hamstring injury on Sunday, and he will miss the Copa del Rey final and Champions League semifinal, according to Spanish media reports.
The 36-year-old Polish forward came off during his team’s 4-3 LaLiga win over Celta Vigo on Saturday, making it Barcelona’s top goal scorer with 40 goals in all competitions.
Robert Lewandowski has a semitendinosus injury in his left thigh, according to a statement from Barcelona, who released the statement without specifying how long he would be sidelined.
Lewandowski could be out for three weeks, according to Spanish media.
Robert Lewandowski, a player for Barcelona, leaves the field on April 19, 2025, at the Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys in Barcelona with an injury.
Real Madrid team news
Carlo Ancelotti, the coach of Real Madrid, stated Kylian Mbappe is expected to start playing against Barcelona on a return from injury.
The French international missed the previous two LaLiga games due to an ankle issue that caused him to miss last week’s Champions League defeat against Arsenal.
Ferland Mendy and the forward should both be fit for the Clasico.
However, knee injuries keep Eder Militao and Dani Carvajal out of action.
news from the Barcelona team
Due to a hamstring issue, Lewandowski is the big-name absentee for Barcelona.
Due to injuries, only Alejandro Balde, Marc Casado, Marc Bernal, and Marc-Andre ter Stegen are all available for Barcelona.
lineups that might exist
Thibaut Courtois, Lucas Vazquez, Antonio Rudiger, Raul Asencio, Raul Asencio, Fran Garcia, Federico Valverde, Aurelien Tchouameni, Rodrygo, Jude Bellingham, Vinicius Jr, Kylian Mbappe, and Lucas Vazquez start for Real Madrid.
Wojciech Szczesny, Jules Kounde, Ronald Araujo, Pau Curbasi, Gerard Martin, Frenkie de Jong, Pedri, Fermin Lopez, Lamine Yamal, Raphinha, and Ferran Torres start for Barcelona.
Is the Copa del Rey the oldest Spanish competition?
Yes . The Copa del Rey is the oldest national football competition in Spain, organized by the Royal Spanish Football Federation in 1903.
The Copa del Rey champions advance to the UEFA Europa League for the following season. The winner of the Europa League is given the opportunity to advance to the next highest-placed team without qualification if the winner has already qualified for Europe through their LaLiga ladder position.
[Photo: Fran Santiago/Getty Images] The Copa del Rey trophy
