Tests

• Op 8 mei 2025 heeft India een succesvolle test uitgevoerd van de geavanceerde Agni-5 raket, uitgerust met MIRV-technologie, vanaf Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island voor de kust van Odisha, waarbij de lancering tot in Bangladesh zichtbaar was. • Onder de codenaam Missie Divyastra vuurde de enkele raket meerdere gevechtskoppen af die in staat zijn om gelijktijdig verschillende doelen te raken, waardoor India zich schaart bij de elite-naties met deze strategische capaciteit. • Minister van Defensie Rajnath Singh omschreef de test als een 'enorme sprong' in de defensieparaatheid tegen 'groeiende dreigingspercepties', waarbij de volledige vlucht werd gevolgd door grond- en schepsystemen.

Students and faculty have also protested against surveillance cameras on campus and handling of racist posts by a studentAtlanta’s Emory University is facing a lawsuit from three tenured professors over its handling of 2024 protests against Israel’s assault on Gaza, capping off a tumultuous end to the spring semester.In recent months faculty and students have also demanded the removal of Flock surveillance cameras on campus, and Black law school students and others protested the school’s response to a student’s social media posts and emails that were filled with the N-word. Continue reading...

• Southern Republicans are pressing forward with election-year House redistricting efforts, including an aggressive gerrymander in Tennessee demanded by Trump. • The moves come amid widespread protests and legal challenges, with PBS reporting on resistance in multiple states. • These changes could reshape congressional seats ahead of the 2026 midterms, potentially benefiting GOP majorities.

The Venice Biennale, Eurovision and Cannes are framed as artists representing their nations. But in a fractured world, national identity seems increasingly futile• Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereAre the arts being drowned out by politics? A few days before the biggest week of the year in Europe’s cultural calendar, that impression may be hard to avoid. The Venice Biennale opens its doors to the public on Saturday, but talk in the run-up to the world’s largest contemporary event has focused little on the works that will go on display inside the national pavilions, and a lot on which pavilions are going to open their doors, or shouldn’t.The building housing the Russian national representation was open for press previews on Tuesday, pumping out techno, for the first time since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It’s a decision the biennale president, Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, seems to have made against the wishes of the Italian government that appointed him, and could cost the festival €2m in EU funds for a breach of its ethical standards. Russia has not participated in the past two editions due to its war in Ukraine. Its pavilion’s doors will be closed to the public when the biennale opens fully on 9 May, which a Ukrainian official told the Guardian was a “meaningful step”, after the biennale’s jury resigned en masse in April, in objection to entries from countries whose leaders are subject to international arrest warrants. Continue reading...

Objection after museum removes word ‘Palestine’ from list of countries of ancient Levant and Egypt and from some explanatory panelsThe Palestinian ambassador to the UK has called for Foreign Office intervention after the British Museum removed references to Palestine from its exhibits.The UK recognised the state of Palestine in September 2025, but the same year the museum removed the name “Palestine” from a panel listing the present-day countries encompassed by the ancient Levant, and replaced it with Gaza and the West Bank. Continue reading...

Russian pavilion to stay closed as outcry over Israel’s inclusion also grows – but nesting seagull provides some light reliefThe 61st Venice Biennale vernissage began on Tuesday under grey clouds and rain showers, as political tension, parties and protest dominated proceedings at one of the art world’s biggest events.Lubaina Himid, the British entrant, who has spent a career creating work that picks at her country’s colonial past, took over the UK’s pavilion with her large-scale paintings and sound collage that recalls a “perfect British summer’s day”. Continue reading...

• Alabama's state Legislature adjourned a special session on Monday after demonstrators entered the State House in Montgomery to protest Republican plans to adopt a gerrymandered congressional map that dilutes Black voter power. • Following the Supreme Court's recent ruling striking down the last remaining major provision of the Voting Rights Act, Republican Attorney General Steve Marshall filed an emergency motion to lift an existing injunction barring map changes before 2030. • The protest reflects broader national tensions over voting rights and congressional redistricting following the Court's decision to gut key Voting Rights Act protections.

Hangings are latest wave of near-daily killings as authorities seek to instil fear in Iranian societyMiddle East crisis – live updatesIran has executed three men charged in connection with political protests this January, authorities said, the latest in a wave of hangings against the backdrop of the war against the US and Israel.Iranian authorities have carried out executions on a near-daily basis in recent weeks, in what activists have denounced as a bid to instil fear in society at a time of international and domestic tension. Continue reading...