Editorials, analysis, and commentary
Daveigh Chase, the actress behind Samara in The Ring and the voice of Lilo in Lilo & Stitch, has died at 35 following a battle with meningitis and sepsis. Her manager confirmed her death to the BBC.
South Africa coach Hugo Broos has told his critics to ‘shut up’ ahead of Bafana Bafana’s crucial second World Cup group stage match against Czechia. The 72-year-old Belgian dismissed social media noise and backed his players to deliver when it matters most.
Iran coach Amir Ghalenoei has branded his squad the World Cup’s ‘most oppressed’ team after they were forced to fly back to Tijuana hours after Monday’s 2-2 draw with New Zealand. Captain Mehdi Taremi called the rushed departure ‘a disaster,’ as political tensions continued to overshadow Iran’s tournament.
France swept Senegal aside 3-1 in New Jersey on Tuesday night, with a dominant second half sealing their World Cup group opener in style. It was a bruising start for the Lions of Teranga, but the group stage is far from over.
The wait is finally over. Knicks fans in San Antonio witnessed history as New York claimed its first NBA championship since 1973, defeating the Spurs 98-94 in a nail-biting Game 6.
The revised Victims’ Rights Directive comes to plenary debate today at 13:00 in Strasbourg, ahead of Thursday’s final vote. For the 75 million Europeans who become victims of crime each year, this is the most significant reform of EU victim-protection legislation in over a decade.
The World Bank’s April 2026 Commodity Markets Outlook forecasts Brent crude averaging $86 a barrel this year, up from $69 in 2025. For European industry, the question is whether the Continent’s energy-cost competitiveness can survive a sustained Hormuz disruption.
The Patrick Bruel #MeToo affair entered a new phase on Monday 18 May 2026 with the singer breaking his silence on Instagram, denying allegations from over 30 women whose complaints have now been regrouped at the Nanterre prosecutor’s office.
The EU-Mercosur agreement enters provisional application on 1 May, but its real significance is strategic, not commercial: it is the EU’s most explicit answer to the Trump administration’s protectionist turn, and a test of whether democracies can still write the rules of global trade.
As the Iran war drags into its third month, the European Union is being forced to confront a question it has spent two decades avoiding: what is Europe’s defence doctrine when the United States is preoccupied elsewhere? The June FAC and the autumn European Council must move beyond the rhetoric of strategic autonomy to deliver something operational.
