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Pro-Palestinian Protesters, Police Clash in Basel during Eurovision

Anti-riot police officers used pepper spray to restrain activists during a demonstration against Israel's participation in Eurovision. SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP
Anti-riot police officers used pepper spray to restrain activists during a demonstration against Israel's participation in Eurovision. SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP
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Pro-Palestinian Protesters, Police Clash in Basel during Eurovision

Anti-riot police officers used pepper spray to restrain activists during a demonstration against Israel's participation in Eurovision. SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP
Anti-riot police officers used pepper spray to restrain activists during a demonstration against Israel's participation in Eurovision. SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators clashed with riot police in Basel as the Swiss city hosted the Eurovision Song Contest Saturday, AFP journalists at the scene witnessed.
Protesters demonstrating against Israel's participation in the contest while it ramps up its war in Gaza clashed briefly with police in the center of the city shortly before Israel's Eurovision entrant Yuval Raphael took to the stage at the St. Jakobshalle venue across town.
Blows were exchanged and police used tear gas and rolled in a water cannon truck as they strived to block demonstrators from marching through the center of the northern Swiss city, thronging with Eurovision fans.

According to Swiss news agency Keystone-ATS, the confrontation began when police intervened to stop an altercation after two men rushed towards the protesters waving Israeli flags.
Israel's National Security Council issued a warning to Israelis in Basel about the demonstration, advising them to "avoid confrontations with demonstrators and to keep Israeli identifiers low-profile in public spaces".
Amid a sea of Palestinian flags, hundreds of demonstrators, many wearing Palestinian keffiyeh scarves, carried signs stating: "No Music for Murder", "Stop Genocide", and "Singing while Gaza Burns".
Some of the protesters burned giant Israeli and US flags, while others set off red and green smoke in the air.
One woman, her face smeared with red, cradled a seemingly bloody bundle representing the children dying in the war raging in the Gaza Strip as police in riot gear looked on.
At a time when Israel is dramatically ramping up the brutal war in Gaza, the protesters were demonstrating against the participation of the Israeli act, which is among the favorites in Saturday's final.
Raphael survived the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, hiding beneath dead bodies as Hamas gunmen attacked a music festival, killing hundreds.
During her performance of her song "New Day Will Rise" on Saturday, loud whistles could be heard in the arena, according to an AFP photographer in the hall.
There have been a number of smaller protests against Israel throughout Eurovision week in Basel, and demonstrators interrupted Raphael's act during a dress rehearsal for one of the semi-finals.
Israel launched an intensified offensive in Gaza on Saturday aimed at "the defeat of Hamas", the group that launched a deadly attack on Israel in October 2023.
The stepped-up campaign in the war that has already left tens of thousands dead came amid growing international concern over worsening humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where an Israeli aid blockade continues to restrict aid.

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World

Danish Refugee Council Warns 4 Million More Face Displacement as Aid Drops

Some of the Sudanese civilian refugees and human rights activists hold placards with the wordings, 'KeepEyesOnSudan' outside a bus branded during a commemorative gathering dubbed 'Under the Neema (Tree)' to mark the third anniversary since the war in Sudan started, organized by the Amnesty International at the Freedom Corner in Nairobi, Kenya, 15 April 2026. EPA/DANIEL IRUNGU
Some of the Sudanese civilian refugees and human rights activists hold placards with the wordings, 'KeepEyesOnSudan' outside a bus branded during a commemorative gathering dubbed 'Under the Neema (Tree)' to mark the third anniversary since the war in Sudan started, organized by the Amnesty International at the Freedom Corner in Nairobi, Kenya, 15 April 2026. EPA/DANIEL IRUNGU
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Danish Refugee Council Warns 4 Million More Face Displacement as Aid Drops

Some of the Sudanese civilian refugees and human rights activists hold placards with the wordings, 'KeepEyesOnSudan' outside a bus branded during a commemorative gathering dubbed 'Under the Neema (Tree)' to mark the third anniversary since the war in Sudan started, organized by the Amnesty International at the Freedom Corner in Nairobi, Kenya, 15 April 2026. EPA/DANIEL IRUNGU
Some of the Sudanese civilian refugees and human rights activists hold placards with the wordings, 'KeepEyesOnSudan' outside a bus branded during a commemorative gathering dubbed 'Under the Neema (Tree)' to mark the third anniversary since the war in Sudan started, organized by the Amnesty International at the Freedom Corner in Nairobi, Kenya, 15 April 2026. EPA/DANIEL IRUNGU

Over 4 million people are set to be newly displaced around the world by the end of next year as donors step back from providing life-saving aid, the Danish Refugee Council said on Thursday.

There are already some 117 million people forcibly displaced worldwide as the number of conflicts has surged to around 130 - double ⁠the number reported ⁠earlier this century, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

"For families fleeing war with nothing but the clothes on their backs, there is little ⁠hope: the international safety net that once existed has gaping holes as humanitarian assistance shrinks," Reuters quoted Charlotte Slente, Secretary General of the DRC, as saying.

Sudan - where a war entered its fourth year this week and 13.5 million people are already displaced - will see the largest jump with an additional 670,000 people ⁠fleeing ⁠this year and next, the DRC said.

UN agencies are warning that they may have to cut off vital supplies of water and food to them in neighboring Chad because of a lack of funding.

The DRC's findings, supported by IBM, were based on key indicators on security, environment and other factors across 27 countries.

World

US Democrats File Impeachment Articles Against Pentagon Chief

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth welcomes Minister of Defense for Indonesia Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin to the Pentagon, Monday, April 13, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth welcomes Minister of Defense for Indonesia Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin to the Pentagon, Monday, April 13, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
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US Democrats File Impeachment Articles Against Pentagon Chief

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth welcomes Minister of Defense for Indonesia Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin to the Pentagon, Monday, April 13, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth welcomes Minister of Defense for Indonesia Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin to the Pentagon, Monday, April 13, 2026 in Washington. (AP Photo/Kevin Wolf)

US House Democrats introduced six articles of impeachment against Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth on Wednesday, accusing him of "high crimes and misdemeanors" including waging war on Iran without congressional approval.

The impeachment resolution is led by Yassamin Ansari, a Democratic Congresswoman from Arizona, and has slim chances of passing due to the Republican majority in the House.

Impeachment is the process by which the US House of Representatives brings charges against a government official for alleged wrongdoing, with removal from office only possible if the Senate convicts after a trial.

"I've introduced Articles of Impeachment against Pete Hegseth for violating his oath, endangering US servicemembers, and committing war crimes, including attacks on civilians and a girls' school in Minab, Iran," Ansari wrote on X.

"Only Congress can declare war; his actions demand immediate removal."

The War in the Middle East has sent oil prices soaring and dented Trump's approval ratings ahead of crucial midterm elections in November.

The first impeachment article alleged that Hegseth started the conflict with Iran "without a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization by the Congress," and "knowingly exposing members of the Armed Forces of the United States to substantial and foreseeable risk of injury or death."

Another article held Hegseth responsible for the strike on an Iranian primary school on February 28 -- the day the United States and Israel began bombing Iran -- which killed at least 170 people, including students and teachers, AFP said.

The New York Times has reported that the preliminary findings of a US military investigation indicate that a US Tomahawk cruise missile hit the school due to a targeting mistake.

Hegseth has "authorized, condoned, or failed to prevent the use of military force in a manner inconsistent with the law of armed conflict," such as the strike on the school, the document read.

The Democrats also criticized Hegseth for so-called "double tap" strikes -- hitting targets twice -- against alleged drug smuggling boats in the Carribean.

They said the double tap strikes were illegal and undermined rules of engagement designed to protect non-combatants.

Other allegations included "negligence and reckless handling" of sensitive military information, as well as obstructing congressional oversight, referring to Hegsteth's use of commercial messaging app Signal to discuss strikes on Yemen.

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told news outlet Axios "this is just another Democrat trying to make headlines as the Department of War decisively and overwhelmingly achieved the Presidents' objectives in Iran."

World

Bus Accident Kills 14 in Ecuador

Vehicles cross the Rumichaca International Bridge, the border crossing between Colombia and Ecuador, in Tulcan, Ecuador, 10 April 2026. EPA/Xavier Montalvo
Vehicles cross the Rumichaca International Bridge, the border crossing between Colombia and Ecuador, in Tulcan, Ecuador, 10 April 2026. EPA/Xavier Montalvo
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Bus Accident Kills 14 in Ecuador

Vehicles cross the Rumichaca International Bridge, the border crossing between Colombia and Ecuador, in Tulcan, Ecuador, 10 April 2026. EPA/Xavier Montalvo
Vehicles cross the Rumichaca International Bridge, the border crossing between Colombia and Ecuador, in Tulcan, Ecuador, 10 April 2026. EPA/Xavier Montalvo

A bus veered off the road and plunged into a ravine in southern Ecuador Wednesday, killing 14 people and injuring at least 29, emergency officials said.

The accident happened in the Molleturo area in the Andean province of Azuay, whose capital Cuenca is Ecuador's third most populous city, AFP reported.

"At this time, the number of people who have died on the Cuenca-Molleturo highway has risen to 14, and the number of injured to 29," Ecuador's emergency service ECU911 wrote on X late Wednesday.

"Personnel from the coordinated agencies are at the scene searching for more people who may have lost their lives," it added, without specifying the number of passengers on the bus.

Traffic accidents are among the leading causes of death in the South American country, where more than 2,000 people died in road accidents last year, compared to a record 2,373 deaths in 2023, according to official figures.