Romania’s central election authority on Sunday barred far-right pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu from running in May’s presidential election re-run.

The rejection of his candidacy, which was condemned by far-right party leaders as undemocratic, can be challenged at the constitutional court.

Dozens of supporters of the populist Georgescu gathered outside the election bureau shouting “Freedom” and briefly tried to force their way through the security cordon.

Georgescu submitted his candidacy for the May ballot re-run on Friday amid doubts that he would be allowed to run.

Romania’s highest court annulled the ballot two days before the second round of voting in December, citing allegations of Russian interference in Georgescu’s favor, which Moscow has denied.

Members of US President Donald Trump’s administration called Romania’s canceled election an example of European governments suppressing freedom of speech and political opponents.

Tech billionaire and Trump adviser Elon Musk called the election authority’s decision “crazy” on his social media platform X.

Georgescu is under criminal investigation on six counts, including membership in a fascist organization and communicating false information about campaign financing. He has denied all wrongdoing.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Armed men loyal to the Syrian government carried out field executions and spoke of purifying the country, according to eyewitnesses and video, providing a gruesome picture of a crackdown against remnants of the former Assad regime that spiraled into communal killings.

Syria has seen the worst outbreak of violence since the ousting of former President Bashar al-Assad late last year, after armed men descended on Alawite heartlands on Thursday in what Syrian authorities said was an attempt to put down an insurgency by rebels still loyal to the former government.

A UK-based independent monitoring group, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), said that at least 642 people have died in the violence, including scores of civilians who were killed after government forces committed “widespread field executions” of young men and adults.

‘They declared jihad on us’

“Armed men were moving from house to house attacking people as a form of entertainment… They declared jihad on us from all over Syria,” said one resident of the city of Latakia, who chose to remain anonymous through concern for the safety of their family still in the city.

“I fear for my life and the lives of my two children,” Bashir said.

Armed men started heading en masse to Latakia and Tartous on Thursday night after reports of attacks by Assad loyalists against Syria’s new government forces stationed in the Alawite cities.

“I was constantly in touch with my family; they told me there are gunfire sounds,” she said, adding that her family had said they also heard religious chants. Her family were civilians and not pro-Assad, she said.

The Assad family, members of the minority Alawite sect, ruled Syria for over half a century until Bashar was ousted in December by Sunni Islamist militants who sought to reshape the country’s political and sectarian order. The group, led by former al Qaeda militant Ahmad al-Sharaa, promised political equality and representation to the various sects of Syria’s diverse ethnic and religious populations.

Security remains a major challenge for the new administration. Syria’s Alawites – some 10% of the population – were prominent in the Assad regime, and while many Alawites have surrendered their weapons since December, many others have not.

The attacks started this week after reports emerged that Assad loyalists had ambushed and killed members of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham – the rebel group that spearheaded the rebellion that ousted the former Syrian leader.

A Syrian government source told state media that “individual violations” had been perpetrated after “large, unorganized crowds” traveled to the area.

‘A battle for purification’

Several videos appeared on social media showing convoys of armed men in vehicles heading to the cities of Latakia and Tartous in the run-up to the violence.

“It was the battle for liberation. Now it’s a battle for purification (of Syria),” a narrator accompanying the armed convoys says. It’s unclear when exactly the video was filmed.

“To the Alawites, we’re coming to slaughter you and your fathers,” a man in military fatigues said in what sounded like an Egyptian accent in one of the videos filmed at night.

“These are the Alawite pigs,” a voice is heard saying before shooting an apparently lifeless body on open ground in another video. It was unclear where or when the shooting took place.

Another video circulating on Syrian social media showed a man dressed in military fatigues pull up to a house on a motorcycle, and tell its resident to look at the camera before shooting him.

“I caught you, cheeky,” the attacker says laughing. “Are you still not dead? You’re still not dead,” he says before shooting him again.

In another, a man wearing military fatigues asks a captive to step outside a building, then tells him to bark like a dog before fatally shooting him.

The attacks raise major questions over the new Syrian administration which has made efforts to distance itself from its jihadist past.

“What happened from three months ago until today, equals what the Assads did to us in five decades. The Assads were criminals, and these (new rulers) are also criminals,” Bashir said.

Israel will cut the flow of electricity in the Gaza Strip immediately, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said in a statement Sunday.

“I just signed an order for the immediate halt of electricity to the Gaza Strip,” Cohen said.

“We will operate all of the tools that are at our disposal, to ensure the return of all the hostages,” he said, adding that Israel will ensure that Hamas is not in Gaza for “the day after.”

This comes as mediated talks over the ceasefire and hostage deal are underway, and as Hamas urges the “immediate” start of talks for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, which Israel opposes.

Israel wants to extend the first phase of the deal to continue the exchange of hostages –  but without any commitment to permanently ending the war. Last week, it announced a blockade of all aid into the enclave to pressure Hamas into accepting new terms for an extension of the current ceasefire agreement.

A Hamas delegation had arrived in Cairo on Friday to discuss the ceasefire deal and to push for a potential second phase of the agreement.

Israel had said it has “accepted an invitation” from US-backed mediators to send an Israeli delegation to Doha on Monday, “in an effort to advance the negotiations.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Thousands of supporters greeted Nepal’s former king in capital Kathmandu on Sunday and demanded his abolished monarchy be reinstated and Hinduism brought back as a state religion.

An estimated 10,000 supporters of Gyanendra Shah blocked the main entrance to Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan International Airport as he arrived from a tour of western Nepal.

“Vacate the royal palace for the king. Come back king, save the country. Long live our beloved king. We want monarchy,” the crowds chanted. Passengers were forced to walk to and from the airport.

Hundreds of riot police blocked the protesters from entering the airport and there was no violence.

Massive street protests in 2006 forced Gyanendra to give up his authoritarian rule, and two years later the parliament voted to abolish the monarchy as Gyanendra left the Royal Palace to live the life of a commoner.

But many Nepalis have grown frustrated with the republic, saying it has failed to bring about political stability and blaming it for a struggling economy and widespread corruption. Nepal has had 13 governments since the monarchy was abolished in 2008.

Rally participants said they were hoping for a change in the political system to stop the country from further deteriorating.

“We are here to give the king our full support and to rally behind him all the way to reinstating him in the royal throne,” said Thir Bahadur Bhandari, 72.

Among the thousands was 50-year-old carpenter Kulraj Shrestha, who had taken part in the 2006 protests against the king but has changed his mind and now supports the monarchy.

“The worst thing that is happening to the country is massive corruption and all politicians in power are not doing anything for the country,” Shrestha said. “I was in the protests that took away monarchy hoping it would help the country, but I was mistaken and the nation has further plunged so I have changed my mind.”

Gyanendra has not commented on the calls for the return of monarchy. Despite growing support for the former king, Gyanendra has slim chances of immediately returning to power.

He became the king in 2002, after his brother and family were massacred in the palace. He ruled as the constitutional head of state without executive or political powers until 2005, when he seized absolute power. He disbanded the government and parliament, jailed politicians and journalists and cut off communications, declaring a state of emergency and using the army to rule the country.

Prince Frederik of Luxembourg has died after a lifelong battle with a rare genetic disorder known as POLG mitochondrial disease.

He passed away on March 1 in Paris, his family announced on the website of the POLG Foundation, which Frederik started in 2022.

“It is with a very heavy heart that my wife and I would like to inform you of the passing of our son, The POLG Foundation Founder and Creative Director, Frederik,” his father Prince Robert of Luxembourg wrote.

The foundation describes POLG as a “genetic mitochondrial disorder that robs the body’s cells of energy, in turn causing progressive multiple organ dysfunction and failure.”

It said the disease has no treatment or cure.

“Frederik and the POLG Foundation … are committed to finding therapies and a cure to save other patients from suffering what Frederik and our family have endured,” his father wrote.

Prince Frederik died a day after Rare Disease Day. He was in his early 20s.

Mark Carney has been elected leader of Canada’s Liberal Party in a months-long, high stakes race to replace Justin Trudeau.

He will now be expected to lead the party into the next federal elections – which must be held before October, but could be called much earlier – where he is likely to face stiff competition from the Conservative party, which is currently leading in the polls.

While Carney will take over immediately as Liberal Party leader, Trudeau will remain as Canada’s prime minister for an as-yet undisclosed transitional period while his successor settles in.

One of the biggest issues in Carney’s immediate inbox will be the country’s souring relations with the United States.

US President Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed Canada for illegal immigration into the US, threatened to turn Canada into a 51st state, and impose steep tariffs on Canadian imports, which the White House says is necessary to stem the flow of fentanyl over its borders.

In his first remarks following the result of the vote, Carney referenced the tensions with the US, saying his government would “create new trading relationships with reliable trading partners.” He also vowed to keep retaliatory tariffs on the US “until the Americans show us respect.”

“New threats demand new ideas and a new plan,” he told the Liberal Party convention on Sunday.

Slamming the Trump administration’s tariff plans, Carney said of the US president, “He’s attacking Canadian families, workers, and businesses and we cannot let him succeed and we won’t.”

“In trade as in hockey, Canada will win,” he added.

The ripple effects of the tense relations with the US have spread through Canadian society, with fans at NHL and NBA games in Canada even booing the US national anthem.

Carney will now face off with Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, who has previously been compared to Trump but now seeks to distance himself from the US leader, reiterating at a press conference earlier this week that he is “not MAGA.”

At a rally on Sunday ahead of the Liberal vote, Poilievre delivered scathing remarks about Carney, a former governor of both the Bank of England and Bank of Canada, portraying him as a leader ill-equipped to deal with Trump.

“Working for Trudeau, Carney made Canada weaker and poorer; working for himself Carney made the United States richer and stronger,” Poilievre said.

In his remarks following the results of the vote, Carney shot back at his conservative opponent.

“Donald Trump thinks he can weaken us with his plan to divide and conquer. Pierre Poilievre’s plan will leave us divided and ready to be conquered,” Carney said.

In recent weeks, the lead enjoyed by the Conservatives has narrowed as Trudeau, Carney and other Liberal Party figures have taken strong positions on the trade dispute with the US.

Trudeau has led the party for over a decade. He took the Liberals to power in 2015, promising “sunny ways” for Canada and was elected two more times, most recently in 2021, when he remained in power but lost his governing majority.

Trudeau’s impending departure follows a series of political crises, rising economic discontent and the surprise resignation of his deputy prime minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland – who was also in the race to succeed him.

In some of his last remarks as Liberal Party leader, Trudeau warned Sunday that Canadians face an “existential challenge” from the US.

“This is a nation-defining moment,” he told the Liberal leadership convention in Ottawa, ahead of Carney being announced as his successor.

“And now, as Canadians face from our neighbor an existential challenge, an economic crisis, Canadians are showing exactly what we are made of,” Trudeau said.

Plans for tackling Trump

Carney started his career in finance and in 2019 he was appointed UN Special Envoy for Climate Action and Finance. Drawing on his background, Carney has made clean energy, climate policies and economic prosperity for Canada some of the central facets of his campaign

Raised in Edmonton, Alberta, when launching his campaign, Carney highlighted his role in helping the government address its debt during the 2008 financial crisis – and his role in navigating Britain’s economy through Brexit.

Carney has zeroed in on bringing economic prosperity to Canada with the help of its natural resources like critical minerals and making Canada a leader in clean energy, stressing that being low-carbon will help Canada be more competitive. He has proposed shifting the financial burden of the carbon tax from consumers to big corporations and has said that under his leadership, the tax Canadian consumers and small businesses pay on fuel would be replaced with incentives to reduce carbon emissions.

Carney has not shied away from questions on how to tackle the Trump administration.

Since the US tariffs were announced last month, Carney has been an outspoken proponent of dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs that would hit the US hard but have minimal impact on Canada.

“We are a proud, independent nation. We view ourselves as the greatest country on Earth. We have been insulted on multiple occasions by senior members of the administration. We are not going to reciprocate in those insults.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Warships from Iran, China and Russia kicked off their annual joint exercises in the Gulf of Oman on Monday, showing off their military ties as US President Donald Trump upends longstanding Western alliances.

The “Security Belt-2025” drills, taking place near the Iranian port of Chabahar, is the fifth joint naval exercise Iran, China and Russia have held since 2019, according to Chinese state media.

Analysts have long seen the drills as a demonstration of the growing partnership among the three authoritarian powers as they seek to counterbalance US influence and challenge the Western-led global order.

But this year, the optics are even more pronounced as Trump disrupts the transatlantic alliance – a cornerstone of Western security for decades – by embracing Russia at the expense of Ukraine, and pushes Asian allies to pay more for US protection.

Asked about the drills on Sunday, Trump said he is “not at all” concerned about the show of force by the three US adversaries.

“We’re stronger than all of them. We have more power than all of them,” he told Fox News aboard Air Force One.

Concerns have been mounting in Washington about the emerging strategic partnership among China, Russia, Iran and North Korea, which US lawmakers have described as an “axis of authoritarianism,” “axis of autocrats” and “axis of dictators.”

The fear is that a shared animosity toward the US is increasingly driving these countries to work together – amplifying the threat that any one of them alone poses to Washington or its allies, not just in one region but perhaps in multiple parts of the world at the same time.

At the same time, Trump has openly embraced Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a bid to end the war in Ukraine by talking directly to Moscow while leaving Kyiv and European allies on the sidelines.

Russia and North Korea’s military relationship has strengthened considerably over the last year, with the two signing a mutual defense agreement and Pyongyang sending its troops to fight for Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine.

The drills also come amid heightened tension between US and Iran.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has restored what he calls his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran that includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero in an attempt to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon – a move denounced by Tehran as “bullying” tactics.

The Gulf of Oman is a crucial gateway connecting the Indian Ocean and the Strait of Hormuz, through which more than one-quarter of the world’s seaborne traded oil passes.

The US maintains its own significant presence in the region via the Fifth Fleet which is based out of nearby Bahrain.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the joint naval exercises will involve 15 combat ships, support vessels and gunboats, as well as helicopters, according to state news agency TASS.

“The Russian side is represented by the Rezky and Russian Hero Aldar Tsydenzhapov corvettes, and the Pechenega tanker of the Pacific Fleet,” the ministry is quoted as saying.

China, meanwhile, deployed the Type 052D guided-missile destroyer Baotou and supply ship Gaoyouhu from a nearby naval escort task force to take part in the exercise, the Chinese Defense Ministry said in a statement.

The drills, with an aim to “enhance military trust and strengthen practical cooperation,” will include simulated strikes on maritime targets, visit-board-search-seizure operations and search and rescue drills, the ministry added.

Iran has sent a stealth missile corvette and a patrol ship, according to Iranian state media.

Police in southern India said Saturday that they arrested two men in connection with allegations of gang rape of an Israeli and a local woman.

The Israeli and her homestay operator were stargazing along with three male travelers, an American and two Indians, in Koppal town in southern Karnataka state on Thursday night, police official Ram L. Arasiddi said.

According to an initial investigation, three men on a motorbike approached them while asking for money. Following arguments, the three men pushed the male travelers into a nearby water canal and sexually assaulted the women, Arasiddi said. One of the Indian tourists drowned and his body was recovered on Saturday. The American and another Indian swam to safety.

Koppal is about 350 kilometers (217 miles) from Bengaluru, India’s startup and technology powerhouse.

Arasiddi said police set up a special investigation team that arrested two out of the three suspects on Saturday. They were being investigated on suspicion of attempted murder, gang rape and robbery, he said.

The Associated Press generally doesn’t identify victims of sexual assault.

Sexual assaults on women have become familiar in India, where police recorded 31,516 rape cases in 2022, a 20% increase from 2021, according to the National Crime Records Bureau. The real figure is believed to be far higher due to the stigma surrounding sexual violence and victims’ lack of faith in police.

Rape and sexual violence have been under the spotlight since the brutal 2012 gang rape and killing of a 23-year-old student on a New Delhi bus. The attack galvanized massive protests and inspired lawmakers to order the creation of fast-track courts dedicated to rape cases and stiffen penalties.

The rape law was amended in 2013, criminalizing stalking and voyeurism and lowering the age at which a person can be tried as an adult from 18 to 16. The government in 2018 approved the death penalty for people convicted of raping children under age 12.

Despite stringent laws, it’s rare for more than a few weeks to pass without another brutal sexual assault being reported.

High-profile cases involving foreign visitors have drawn international attention to the issue. Last year, in a video that was later deleted, a Spanish tourist said his wife was raped in northern India while an Indian-American woman said she was raped at a hotel in New Delhi. In 2022, a British tourist was raped in front of her partner in Goa.

The P-3 propellor plane banks sharply, silhouetted against dozens of shimmering lights in the sea against an Argentine sunset. As the camera pans across the scene, it becomes clear: the glaring lights come from dozens of fishing vessels dotting the ocean below.

The footage, shared by the Argentine military in late February, shows the overwhelming scale of a flotilla near a marine boundary which separates the country’s more restrictive exclusive economic zone from less-regulated international waters.

This area, about 200 nautical miles off the coast of southern Argentina, is notorious for illegal and unregulated fishing — often carried out by Chinese vessels, according to the Argentine Navy.

Most of these ships hunt for squid, which are abundant along the Argentine coast and a vital food source in the marine ecosystem.

The Argentine military is now ramping up efforts to combat these fishing operations in a region experts warn is on the brink of environmental collapse.

The military’s footage shows an advanced P-3C “Orion” surveillance plane — designed for anti-submarine and maritime surveillance — approaching the fishing fleet. The aircraft took part in the Argentine military operation in January alongside a smaller C-12 surveillance plane and two corvette warships, according to the Argentine navy.

This surveillance mission was conducted to address ongoing concerns that the fishing vessels may cross into the country’s more restricted EEZ, according to a spokesperson for Defense Minister Luis Petri.

The mission identified a total of 380 fishing vessels just outside Argentina’s EEZ, many of which sailed from Asia to richer waters, the military says.

Since September, the Argentine Navy has acquired multiple planes designed for maritime surveillance, which Petri said will help “control and monitor” the country’s coastline “in light of the enormous challenge we face with the possible intrusion of fishing vessels into our Exclusive Economic Zone.”

Petri described the existential threat earlier this year, arguing that “the (natural) resources of all Argentines are at stake.”

A ‘floating city’ off Argentina’s coast

The cluster of ships, stretching approximately 150 miles from north to south, raised concerns over illicit fishing. At night, many of these fishing vessels turn on bright lights to lure squid to the surface, where they are harvested using a large net. The lights are so strong that they can be seen from space.

Argentina’s Navy has noted a pattern of foreign fishing vessels turning off their tracking systems to avoid detection when illegally fishing inside the exclusive economic zone — an area where Argentina maintains sovereign rights to its natural resources, according to international law.

Historical ship tracking data corroborates the pattern and reveals these abundant waters off Argentina’s coast as a hotspot for lapsed vessel beacons.

Seven of the identified vessels — all sailing under China’s flag — were operating under US sanctions, according to a Treasury Department database.

These ships are linked to Fujian Provincial Pingtan County Ocean Fishing Group Co., Ltd., a Chinese fishing company which was sanctioned by the US in 2022 for its involvement in “serious human rights abuses” and illegal fishing, including operations in the protected waters of the Galapagos Islands and the transport of more than 6,600 shark carcasses, according to a US Treasury Department press release.

The company also received a $19 million subsidy from China’s government as an incentive to develop its deep-water fishing capabilities, according to the statement.

The US Treasury Department press release detailed reports of forced labor, physical abuse, and extreme isolation among crew members. In one case, a Pingtan crew member who tried to leave a vessel after learning of unpaid wages was allegedly denied permission and deprived of food for three days, according to the statement.

It added that China has “actively participated in the formulation of international rules related to fishery subsidies” and has made “contributions to the conservation and sustainable use of fishery resources and the maintenance of a fair and reasonable international maritime order.”

Pingtan Fishing Group stated that it “has endeavored to ensure that its fishing methods are in compliance with international standards and the laws and regulations of the operating waters” in a letter responding to the Treasury Department’s 2022 sanctions.

Satellite imagery obtained from Planet Labs and captured in the area surveilled by the Argentine military offers a glimpse into this fleet.

In one case, a former crewmember on one squid fishing vessel, Ning Tai 52, accused its parent company Zhoushan Ningtai Ocean Fisheries of employing forced labor practices, according to a 2021 Greenpeace report.

In response to the allegation in Greenpeace’s report, Zhoushan Fisheries said they were “perplexed to be receiving this kind of complaint… we assure you that no such thing as forced labor has occurred.”

Illicit fishing has plagued costal Argentina for decades, experts say, with the Argentine Navy saying that Chinese vessels are frequent violators of the exclusive economic zone.

According to the United Nations, illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing can undermine efforts “to manage fisheries sustainably (and) conserve marine biodiversity.” In some cases, it can lead to the “collapse” of local fisheries, according to the UN.

A wider issue

The problems faced in Argentina are part of a wider pattern of unregulated fishing conducted by Chinese fishing fleets across the globe. Having depleted its own domestic fishing resources, similar Chinese flotillas have been spotted off the coast of Western Africa, in parts of the disputed South China Sea and around South America.

Driving the expansion of China’s global fishing footprint is the ever-growing demand. As China grows richer, its appetite for seafood has also soared. Once a luxury reserved for coastal elites, shrimp, squid, and saltwater fish have become everyday dishes in inland Chinese cities. The country is now the world’s largest seafood consumer and, by one estimate, is expected to drive 40% of the world’s seafood consumption growth by 2030.

Approaching the fleet of fishing vessels at night is akin to watching a sunrise, Schvartzman recounted. Others have described the flotilla as a “floating city” which fills the entire field of view, he recalled, having spent over a decade monitoring overfishing off the coast of Argentina.

“(Only) when you get closer, you find that each light is… a vessel with hundreds of very powerful lights used to fish squid,” Schvartzman says.

By comparison, the Argentine fleet that was authorized to fish inside the EEZ consists of between 70 and 75 ships, according to Darío Sócrate, the executive director of the Argentine Chamber of Squid Jig Owners.

This imbalance harms Argentine fishermen, Sócrate says. He estimates that local fishermen only catch half of what they could have because of the foreign fishing activities.

“You don’t have any place in the world where in a short strip of ocean, you have more than 550 vessels fishing without any regulation,” Schvartzman said. “And the environmental impact is because (of) this.”

“For the species, for the ecosystem, it doesn’t matter if the vessel is one mile farther or closer… the impact is the same.”