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US Court Suspends Sanctions on UN Expert on Palestinians

United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese was slapped with US sanctions for her work. Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP/File
United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese was slapped with US sanctions for her work. Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP/File
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US Court Suspends Sanctions on UN Expert on Palestinians

United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese was slapped with US sanctions for her work. Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP/File
United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories Francesca Albanese was slapped with US sanctions for her work. Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP/File

A US judge on Wednesday imposed a temporary injunction on sanctions imposed last year by Washington on a United Nations expert on the occupied Palestinian territories.

UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese was sanctioned in July 2025 after she publicly criticized Washington's policy on Gaza.

In announcing the sanctions, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio slammed the UN expert's criticism of the United States and said she recommended to the International Criminal Court that arrest warrants be issued against Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, AFP reported.

The Italian-born expert, who assumed her mandate in 2022, has faced harsh criticism by Israel and some of its allies over her relentless criticism and long-standing accusations that Israel is committing "genocide" in Gaza.

In his court order Wednesday, US District Judge Richard Leon granted a preliminary injunction against the sanctions, according to a court filing seen by AFP.

"Protecting the freedom of speech is 'always' in the public interest," Leon wrote in an opinion accompanying the order.

Albanese, who said the US sanctions were "calculated to weaken my mission" when they were first imposed, and celebrated the ruling on social media.

"Thanks to my daughter and my husband for stepping up to defend me, and everyone who has helped so far," Albanese said in a statement on X. "Together we are One."

UN special rapporteurs like Albanese are independent experts who are appointed by the UN rights council but do not speak on behalf of the United Nations.

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World

Six Hantavirus Cruise Passengers Head to Australia

Six passengers who sailed on a hantavirus-affected cruise are set to fly to Australia in protective gear. JORGE GUERRERO / AFP/File
Six passengers who sailed on a hantavirus-affected cruise are set to fly to Australia in protective gear. JORGE GUERRERO / AFP/File
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Six Hantavirus Cruise Passengers Head to Australia

Six passengers who sailed on a hantavirus-affected cruise are set to fly to Australia in protective gear. JORGE GUERRERO / AFP/File
Six passengers who sailed on a hantavirus-affected cruise are set to fly to Australia in protective gear. JORGE GUERRERO / AFP/File

Six passengers who sailed on a hantavirus-affected cruise will fly to Australia from the Netherlands on Thursday while dressed in full protective gear, the Australian government said.

The six -- four Australians, a Briton who lives in Australia, and a New Zealander -- were in "good health", showed no symptoms, and recently tested negative for the virus, Health Minister Mark Butler told a news conference in Canberra.

The Australian government has secured a plane and crew, due to leave the Netherlands at 0730 GMT on Thursday, with all aboard required to wear personal protective equipment (PPE), said AFP.

The plane is expected to arrive on Friday at an air force base in the Western Australian capital, Perth, located next to a 500-bed quarantine facility where the six will be required to stay for at least three weeks, Butler said.

"This is one of the strongest quarantine arrangements in response to this hantavirus outbreak you will find anywhere in the world," Butler said.

"They will be subject to testing when they arrive in Australia, and they will be in full PPE during the duration of the flight, so there is no risk of transmission."

He did not provide further details about the passengers or say where the plane would refuel -- a question that had reportedly complicated flight arrangements.

The government has yet to determine how to handle the passengers' isolation after the initial three-week quarantine, given the virus' potential incubation period of 42 days, the minister said.

World

Russia Hits Kyiv with Drones and Ballistic Missiles, 1 Dead and 31 Wounded

Rescuers work at a residential building partially destroyed following Russian drone and missile strikes in Kyiv on May 14, 2026, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Roman PILIPEY / AFP)
Rescuers work at a residential building partially destroyed following Russian drone and missile strikes in Kyiv on May 14, 2026, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Roman PILIPEY / AFP)
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Russia Hits Kyiv with Drones and Ballistic Missiles, 1 Dead and 31 Wounded

Rescuers work at a residential building partially destroyed following Russian drone and missile strikes in Kyiv on May 14, 2026, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Roman PILIPEY / AFP)
Rescuers work at a residential building partially destroyed following Russian drone and missile strikes in Kyiv on May 14, 2026, amid the Russian invasion in Ukraine. (Photo by Roman PILIPEY / AFP)

Russia attacked Ukraine's capital with a mass drone and missile attack early Thursday morning that killed at least one and injured 31 people, local authorities said.

The attack struck civilian infrastructure and residential buildings across multiple cities, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko said, with Kyiv enduring the heaviest losses.

Damage was recorded across six districts of the capital, according to head of Kyiv's Military Administration Tymur Tkachenko. He warned Russia was attacking the city with ballistic missiles and drones. Residential buildings and civilian infrastructure was damaged.

The cities of Kremenchuk, Bila Tserkva, Kharkiv, Sumy and Odesa also were targeted in the attack, which involved both ballistic and cruise missiles, she said.

Russia's overnight air strikes targeted civilian infrastructure ⁠including ports in ⁠the southern ⁠Odesa region and railways, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said.

In the Darnytsia district of Kyiv, a multistory residential building partially collapsed, burying people under the rubble. At least 27 people were rescued from the rubble, according to Ukraine's Emergency Service.

Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 18 apartments were destroyed. He added that there were problems with water supply on the left bank of Kyiv as a result of the attack.

At the scene, emergency workers searched for survivors as smoke from the attack continued to smolder beneath the pile of rubble.

Rescuers evacuate an injured woman from an apartment building damaged during Russian missile and drone strikes, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, May 14, 2026. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

Emergency operations also were ongoing in the Obolonskyi and Holosiivskyi districts of Kyiv, the service said.

In the Dnieper district, a drone hit the roof of a five-story residential building, Tkachenko said. Another building in the Dniprovskyi district was also damaged.

People shelter in a metro station during a Russian attack, in Kyiv, Ukraine May 14, 2026. REUTERS/Thomas Peter

The attack came hours after a rare daytime attack on Kyiv that killed at least six people, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The assault, which involved 800 drones, struck about 20 regions of Ukraine and was among the longest such attacks during the war.

Zelenskyy said the attack that lasted hours Wednesday aimed to cause as much “pain and grief” as possible.

World

Xi and Trump Meet in High-profile Summit in Beijing

Children hold Chinese and US flags, as US President Donald Trump participates in a welcome ceremony with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, May 14, 2026. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Pool
Children hold Chinese and US flags, as US President Donald Trump participates in a welcome ceremony with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, May 14, 2026. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Pool
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Xi and Trump Meet in High-profile Summit in Beijing

Children hold Chinese and US flags, as US President Donald Trump participates in a welcome ceremony with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, May 14, 2026. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Pool
Children hold Chinese and US flags, as US President Donald Trump participates in a welcome ceremony with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, May 14, 2026. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Pool

Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump on Thursday wrapped up a meeting in Beijing after about two hours of discussions focusing on trade, Taiwan and other differences in the US-China relationship.

In a closed-door meeting, Xi told Trump that if Taiwan is handled well, US-China relations “will enjoy overall stability,” according to a readout of their bilateral talks published by the official Xinhua news agency.

If not, however, the two countries risk “clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy,” Xi was reported to have said.

The US and China should be “partners rather than rivals,” Xi told Trump ahead of their bilateral talks.

“I always believed that the common interests between China and the US outweigh their differences,” Xi said. “Cooperation benefits both sides, while confrontation harms both.”

US President Donald Trump inspects an honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, China, May 14, 2026. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Pool

The leaders offered warm words about each other and hope for the future of US-China relations as they opened their bilateral talks.

But Xi sounded more cautionary about what lies ahead for the world’s biggest economic powers.

“Cooperation benefits both sides, while confrontation harms both,” Xi said. “The two countries should be partners rather than rivals, achieve success together and pursue common prosperity, and chart a correct path for major-country relations in the new era.”

In remarks welcoming Trump, Xi name-checked an ancient Greek historian to express his hopes that the US and China can avoid conflict, saying that history, the world and its people were asking “whether the two countries can transcend the “Thucydides Trap” and forge a new model for relations between major powers.

“He was using a term that’s popular in foreign policy studies, referring to the idea that when a rising power threatens to displace an established power, the result is often war.

It comes from Thucydides’ account of the destructive Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, in which he remarked that “It was the rise of Athens, and the fear that rise engendered in Sparta, that made war inevitable.”

The Chinese leader in his opening remarks at the summit underscored the importance of the moment for the two world powers and said the question before China and the United States is “whether the two countries can work together to meet challenges and bring greater stability to the world.”

“Can we, in the interest of the well-being of our two peoples and the future of humanity, build a brighter future together for our bilateral relations?” Xi said.

Trump only made glancing allusion to past difficulties in his yearslong relationship with Xi.

Those include two trade wars, tensions over US support for Taiwan — and Trump's impatience with Beijing over the flow precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl.