War in the Middle East: latest developments

(The Center Square) – President Donald Trump said he will remove the 10% tariff on Scotch whisky imports and lift restrictions on the barrel trade between Scotland and Kentucky, a move the industry called a "significant boost" that ends months of economic pressure.

Trump made the announcement in a Truth Social post Thursday as King Charles III and Queen Camilla departed Washington after a four-day state visit tied to the United States' 250th anniversary of independence.

"In Honor of the King and Queen of the United Kingdom, who have just left the White House, soon headed back to their wonderful Country, I will be removing the Tariffs and Restrictions on Whiskey having to do with Scotland's ability to work with the Commonwealth of Kentucky on Whiskey and Bourbon," Trump wrote. "The King and Queen got me to do something that nobody else was able to do, without hardly even asking!"

Trump imposed a 10% baseline tariff on all imports in April 2025 as part of his "Liberation Day" trade agenda. After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down that tariff regime in February 2026, the administration immediately reimposed a 10% global import duty under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. That rate applied to imported goods, including Scotch whisky.

The White House did not immediately provide details on the timing or mechanism for implementing the removal. The Section 122 duty exempted certain categories of goods from the 10% rate, including critical minerals, pharmaceuticals, energy products, and passenger vehicles. Scotch whisky was not among the exempted categories.

Mark Kent, chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association, said the announcement delivers relief to an industry under financial pressure.

"This deal is a significant boost for the Scotch Whisky industry in our most valuable export market," Kent said. "Distillers can breathe a little easier during a period of significant pressure on the sector. For months, many have worked tirelessly to return zero-for-zero tariff trade for whisky and bourbon."

The United Kingdom is Kentucky's second-largest export destination, with nearly $5.4 billion in products shipped there in 2025, according to data from Gov. Andy Beshear's office. Kentucky set an all-time export record of $50.6 billion that year.

The announcement specifically addresses the barrel trade at the heart of the Scotland-Kentucky commercial relationship. By law, Kentucky Bourbon must be aged in new, charred oak barrels used only once. Scottish distillers are major buyers of those used barrels, making Scotland a critical market for Kentucky cooperages and distilleries.

Kentucky bourbon generates more than $9 billion in economic output annually and supports more than 23,100 jobs statewide, according to a February 2025 letter Beshear sent to Kentucky's congressional delegation warning of harm from retaliatory tariffs on bourbon. Annual industry payroll tops $1.63 billion.

Beshear, a Democrat, had publicly called on Trump to "roll back the tariffs" as recently as February 2026, citing the importance of trade partnerships to Kentucky's record export growth.

Kent said the removal of the tariff would reinvigorate a commercial partnership spanning generations.

"The special relationship that the Scotch Whisky and American Whiskey industries share will be reinvigorated by this announcement," Kent said. "While challenges in our sector remain, we can now redouble our efforts to boost the benefits our two great industries bring to communities across Scotland and the US."

The royal visit marked the first time a sitting British monarch has visited Washington since Queen Elizabeth II called on President George W. Bush in 2007. King Charles III addressed a joint session of Congress on Tuesday, the first monarch to do so since Queen Elizabeth II in 1991, citing $430 billion in annual U.S.-UK trade and defending the NATO alliance.

The Kentucky Distillers' Association and the White House were contacted for comment.

French bakeries sold crusty baguettes and flaky croissants with government backing Friday, defying labour unions arguing that May 1 should remain a day of compulsory rest.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu ordered several baguettes for lunch in front of the cameras in the village of Saint-Julien-Chapteuil in central France.

"Let's have several... at least four," he said, as he sought to promote a new bill to clearly exempt independent bread and flower shops from mandatory rest on Labour Day.

Under French law, "May 1 is a public holiday and a non-working day". Essential services -- such as hospitals and hotels -- can remain open but must pay their staff double.

But there has been confusion about whether bakeries can make their employees work.

Labour inspectors on the public holiday in 2024 reported five bakers to the authorities for operating.

Although the bakers were all acquitted last year, their plight sparked debate across France.

The government earlier this week encouraged bakers to work on May 1, saying they were "indispensable to the continuity of social life".

It also said florists could employ staff to sell fragrant lily of the valley, which is traditionally sold on Labour Day in France.

On Wednesday, the cabinet put forward a bill -- that has yet to go to a vote in parliament -- to allow both bakeries and florists to open on the first day of May, provided staff volunteer to work in writing and are paid double wages.

The government decided not to back a previous proposal for more businesses including butchers and fishmongers to open on the public holiday.

- 'Hands off May 1' -

The country's main unions argue that no employee is truly free to volunteer when they are seeking to keep a work contract.

They fear French workers will soon all be required to work on the holiday as exceptions gradually become the rule.

"Hands off May 1," read the poster of a hard-left activist at a May Day protest in Paris.

Leader of the main CGT union Sophie Binet criticised "employers who feel entitled to open all their businesses and make their staff work on May 1, even though it's not allowed".

"The government must ensure that the law and the rule of law are upheld," she said, leading the protest in the capital.

She added that the public holiday was not however her chief concern.

"It's not the stealing of May 1 that should be on parliament's agenda. It's a major plan to raise wages," she said.

Some came to protest in costume.

A man dressed as a late 18th-century revolutionary held a pike topped with a picture of the US president, billionaire Donald Trump.

A woman protester nearby was dressed as Marie-Antoinette, the queen executed by guillotine during the French revolution.

According to folklore, when she was told the poor were running out of bread, she responded: "Let them eat cake".

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A London court on Friday overturned Emmy award-winning comedy writer Graham Linehan's conviction for damaging the mobile phone of a transgender activist.

Linehan co-created the popular 1990s sitcom "Father Ted" but has more recently become well-known for his gender critical views.

A court in November cleared him of harassing the activist, Sophia Brooks, who had accused him of sending "abusive and vindictive messages" on social media.

But the court found him guilty of damaging her phone.

An appeal judge at London's Southwark Crown Court on Friday quashed that conviction for damage after a two-day hearing.

"Having considered all the evidence before us, we cannot be sure that the damage to the complainant's phone was caused by Mr Linehan," said judge Amanda Tipples.

"We therefore found Mr Linehan not guilty of the offence."

Speaking after the hearing, Linehan said the decision to throw out the conviction was "very welcome" but that the case "should never have got to court".

He said he believed there had been a "troubling pattern of police forces around the country to believe trans-rights activists, time and time again, even when there has been overwhelming evidence that complaints have been made against gender critical campaigners, in bad faith". 

The Irish writer, who also co-created the sitcoms "Black Books" and "The IT Crowd", became embroiled in a free speech row in Britain last year over his stance.

It followed his arrest at London's Heathrow Airport by armed police over accusations of inciting violence with his social media posts insulting transgender people.

The arrest sparked a backlash and claims of state overreach, including from US tech billionaire Elon Musk. Last October UK prosecutors said they would take "no further action" in that case.

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Throwing more than $5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf wasn't all bad news for Saudi Arabia.

Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf's establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view -- one of its key aims, experts say. 

They said the exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf. 

"Saudi Arabia is not going cold on sport," Simon Chadwick, professor of Afro-Eurasian sport at the Emlyon Business School in Shanghai, told AFP. 

"It is evaluating the work that has thus far been done, what remains to be delivered, and what has worked (or hasn't worked). The trajectory remains the same." 

The $900 billion Public Investment Fund (PIF) has spent big on sport to raise Saudi's profile, luring superstar footballers such as Cristiano Ronaldo. Saudi Arabia later secured hosting rights for the 2034 World Cup.

The desert monarchy and world's biggest crude exporter, deploying its oil wealth via the PIF, aims to diversify its economic portfolio by encouraging tourism, business and domestic spending, to shield it from an expected slump in demand for fossil fuels.

"Perhaps Saudi plans were rather too grandiose to begin with, but equally the grifters and opportunists of global sport have been seeking to take advantage of the country's sports spending," Chadwick said.

- Blank cheque -

PIF-funded LIV ("54" in Roman numerals), promised to reshape golf when it debuted in 2022 with 54 holes, shotgun starts, dance music on the course and stars such as Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson on reported nine-figure deals.

A dispute with the US PGA Tour was headed for the courts until the two rivals announced surprise merger talks which dragged on for years without resolution. In the meantime, LIV failed to land a major broadcast deal or build a significant fanbase. 

Saudi sport investments -- sometimes criticised as "sportswashing", or an attempt to divert attention from human rights -- have grown since LIV was announced in October 2021.

PIF acquired English football club Newcastle United around the same time, the F1 Saudi Grand Prix began two months later and Ronaldo arrived to huge fanfare in January 2023. 

"That phase was primarily about visibility and positioning Saudi Arabia as a major global player," Amro Elserty, a France-based Middle East affairs sports analyst, told AFP. 

"What has changed is not that this objective disappeared, but that the marginal value of continuing to spend at the same level on a single project like LIV has declined."

The new phase includes cuts beyond LIV. The Saudi Pro League, once a blank cheque for veteran footballers, has pulled back from major signings, and the PIF sold a majority stake in Al Hilal, one of the top Saudi clubs, last month.

PIF "stated from the beginning that financial support for the Saudi league would not be sustainable", said Amir Abdelhalim, an Egyptian football analyst.

- Sports 'melodrama' -

Meanwhile the WTA Finals women's tennis tournament will complete a three-year run this year and the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters, one of the sport's richest events, was scrapped last month, two years into a scheduled 10-edition deal. 

The sports slowdown is consistent with cuts to other projects, such as tourism resorts and NEOM, a futuristic new city priced at $500 billion, as Saudi Arabia winds back its more extravagant ventures. 

Elserty said leaving LIV, the brainchild of PIF governor and golf fan Yasir Al-Rumayyan, carries "reputational impact... but it is unlikely to be seen internally as a significant setback. 

"Within the logic of PIF's strategy, this is better understood as a controlled exit from an experimental phase rather than a failure in the conventional sense."

According to Chadwick, "observers and critics are the people who have turned the supposed sports divestment into a melodrama". 

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Mizzou announced Friday that it has agreed to a three-year contract extension with athletic director Laird Veatch.

The announcement comes on the two-year anniversary of Veatch's first day as Mizzou AD. The extension was approved during the UM System Board of Curators' recent meeting at Missouri S&T in Rolla, "reinforcing the university's commitment to Veatch's leadership and long-term vision for Mizzou Athletics," according to a news release.

The new North End Zone project set to be completed ahead of the upcoming football season is one of the significant upgrades Mizzou has undertaken with Veatch at the helm. 

"The momentum of Mizzou Athletics is undeniable thanks to the incredible leadership of Athletic Director Veatch," UM System President and Mizzou Chancellor Mun Choi said in the release. "We are a powerhouse in the SEC and a source of pride for all Missourians. AD Veatch and his staff's commitment to excellence and winning championships will continue to drive our programs forward and deliver proven results for our student-athletes and dedicated Tiger fans."

"I'm incredibly grateful to President Choi and the Board of Curators for their trust and support," Veatch said in the release. "This extension reflects the collective work of our coaches, staff, student-athletes and supporters who have embraced our 'Will to Win' and who believe in what Mizzou Athletics will become. We've made meaningful progress, but the reality is we're just getting started. Our focus remains on providing our programs the resources to consistently compete for and win championships to unite and elevate Mizzou for years to come."

(The Center Square) – A nonprofit advocacy group has filed federal civil rights complaints against two healthcare systems, alleging their scholarship programs unlawfully exclude applicants based on race.

Do No Harm, a national anti-DEI policy advocacy group, announced last week it submitted complaints to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights against Beacon Health System and Valley Health System.

The group alleges both systems operate student scholarship programs limited to certain racial minorities, in violation of federal anti-discrimination laws.

Beacon Health, which has locations in Michigan, offers an “Underrepresented in Medicine Scholarship” that includes a training rotation and stipend for fourth-year medical students. Eligibility is restricted to “traditionally underrepresented racial/ethnic” groups, according to the scholarship's website.

Valley Health is based in West Virginia and offers a “Minority Healthcare Scholarship," which awards $5,000 to students pursuing healthcare careers. According to the complaint, applicants are required to be members of a “minority ethnic or racial groups.” The page for that scholarship is no longer active, as is a Facebook post that promoted it.

Do No Harm argues the programs violate both Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act by excluding applicants based on race. Both systems also receive federal funding, aid, or grants, according to Do No Harm.

In an exclusive statement to The Center Square, Do No Harm Chairman Stanley Goldfarb said the complaints seek federal intervention to ensure equal access to the scholarships.

“The Civil Rights Act and the Affordable Care Act are clear: racial discrimination is illegal, and federal funds—to which taxpayers of all races contribute—should not be used to support it,” Goldfarb said. “We are asking HHS-OCR to step in and remedy these scholarships so that all qualified medical students can have a fair shot at competing for these programs.”

Goldfarb added the scholarships rely on “illegal racial stereotyping” by assuming “disadvantage” based on race.

“We are asking HHS-OCR to step in and remedy these scholarships so that all qualified medical students can have a fair shot at competing for these programs,” Goldfarb said. “When merit is prioritized at every level of healthcare, patients benefit.”

The Office for Civil Rights will now determine whether to open a formal investigation into the complaints.

Neither Beacon Health nor Valley Health immediately responded to requests for comment.

French bakeries sold crusty baguettes and flaky croissants with government backing Friday, defying labour unions arguing that May 1 should remain a sacred day of compulsory rest.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu ordered several baguettes in front of the cameras in the village of Saint-Julien-Chapteuil in central France.

"Let's have several... at least four," he said, as he sought to promote a new bill to clearly exempt independent bread and flower shops from mandatory rest on Labour Day.

Under French law, "May 1 is a public holiday and a non-working day". Essential services -- such as hospitals and hotels -- can remain open must pay their staff double.

But there has been confusion about whether bakeries can open.

Labour inspectors on the public holiday in 2024 reported five bakers to the authorities for operating, causing them to be hauled before a court.

The bakers were all acquitted last year, but their plight sparked debate across France.

The government earlier this week encouraged bakers to work on May 1, saying they were "indispensable to the continuity of social life".

It also said florists should open to sell fragrant lily of the valley, which is traditionally sold on Labour Day in France.

On Wednesday, the cabinet put forward a bill -- that has yet to go to a vote in parliament -- to allow both bakeries and florists to open on the first day of May, so long as employees volunteer to work in writing and are paid double wages.

But the country's main unions argue that no employee is truly free to volunteer when they are seeking to keep a work contract.

They also fear French workers will soon all be required to work on the holiday.

"Social history shows us that each time a principle is undermined, exemptions gradually increase until they become the rule," they warned in a joint statement last month.

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(The Center Square) - U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter's decision to run for U.S. Senate has attracted 14 candidates for his 1st Congressional District post. 

Carter, a Republican, has served in Congress since 2015. 

Six Republicans qualified: Pat Farrell, Jim Kingston, Brian Allen Montgomery, Krista Penn, Kandiss Taylor and Eugene Chin Yu. 

Taylor, an educator who ran for governor in 2022, said the Trump administration has not gone far enough to dismantle the Department of Education.

“We have a lot of federal regulations in education, and they’re really unconstitutional,” Taylor said in an interview with The Center Square. “It’s supposed to be a state right.”

Taylor slammed expanding Medicare and Medicaid. She called for greater competition among insurance companies to lower prices.

“When you have monopolies on systems, then of course you can jack your price up and screw the people and that's what we see happening,” Taylor said.

Penn told The Center Square she wants to advocate for veterans' issues. She said the Department of Veterans Affairs has not done enough to standardize its processes and provide the highest quality of care for veterans.

“If things were standardized, then they would be able to walk right in and know exactly what the processes are and not have to learn things all over again,” Penn said. “We need fewer career politicians and we need more leaders who understand the true meaning of service."

Kingston, son of former U.S. Congressman Jack Kingston, is endorsed by President Donald Trump. Kingston, Farrell, Montgomery and Yu did not respond to a request for an interview. 

Eight Democrats qualified: Defonsio Daniels, Joyce Marie Griggs, Amanda Hollowell, Michael McCord, Joey Palimeno, Sharon Stokes Williamson, Patrick Wilver and Randall Jay Zurcher.

Hollowell said Carter has not been responsive to the community’s needs for several years.

“He was selective about who he was responding to via email,” Hollowell said in an email with The Center Square. “Then, he became a super MAGA Trumper, so we really knew that he wasn’t listening to you.”

Hollowell called for expanded testing and rubric opportunities, increased caps on student loan borrowing and pay raises for teachers.

“If we are not providing people with that foundation and that skill set, we're going to be stagnant,” Hollowell said. “I do believe we fully need to reinstate the Department of Education.”

Daniels, Griggs, McCord, Palimeno, Williamson, Wilver and Zurcher did not respond to a request for an interview. 

Early voting continues through May 15. A runoff, if needed, will be held on June 16. 

A centuries-old Buddha statue stolen from a Nepali temple was reinstalled in its original location on Friday, one of several artefacts returned from foreign museums and collectors in recent years.

The statue, dating to the 13th century, was carried in a palanquin back to its pagoda-style temple in the capital Kathmandu to the sound of traditional music.

"I feel so happy, we all do. Our god is coming back," temple-goer Sunkesari Shakya, 67, told AFP, recalling the day the statue was stolen, wreaking "havoc" in the community.

In a ceremony attended by a visiting US envoy, the statue returned from New York in 2022 was placed back on its original stone plinth.

The event coincided with the festival of Buddha Jayanti, marking the birth of the founder of Buddhism.

A replica that locals had been worshipping instead was moved to another area of the temple.

The statue was taken from the temple in the 1980s and later emerged at Tibet House US, a New York cultural centre, where it was gifted by an unknown monk, according to Nepal's Department of Archeology.

Sergio Gor, Washington's special envoy to South and Central Asia, told AFP that "one of the things we are focusing on is to be able to bring back some of these incredible artefacts that decades past got into the wrong hands."

"We are trying to right a wrong from the past," said Gor, who was on a three-day visit to Nepal.

Many in the Himalayan nation of 30 million people are deeply religious, and the country's Hindu and Buddhist temples as well as heritage sites are an integral part of everyday life.

But many sites are bereft of centuries-old sculptures, paintings, ornamental windows and even doors, which were often stolen after the country opened up to the outside world in the 1950s.

Many pieces were taken with the help of corrupt officials to feed art markets in the United States, Europe and elsewhere, although their export remains illegal.

About 200 artefacts have been returned back to Nepal, according to the archeology department, including wood and stone carvings, paintings, scriptures and idols of gods and goddesses.

At least 41 artefacts have been placed back in their original location.

"This is very important. Our statues are not just objects of art but part of a living heritage," conservation expert Rabindra Puri told AFP.

Puri said there was growing momentum to return stolen artefacts. Over 400 are officially listed as missing, but experts estimate the actual number is in thousands.

Authorities are specifically seeking to return more artefacts from the United States, France, Germany and Britain.

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A key US Federal Reserve official warned Friday that a series of interest rate hikes could be needed if price shocks from the Middle East war are larger than expected, fuelling inflation.

"Federal funds rate increases, potentially a series of them, could be warranted, even at the risk of further weakness to the labor market," Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said, explaining his dissent to the central bank's overall decision this week.

Kashkari was among four officials who voted against the Fed's statement Wednesday after a two-day policy meeting. There are 12 voting members on the bank rate-setting committee.

Like him, two other regional Fed presidents, Beth Hammack and Lorie Logan, supported the decision to hold rates steady but not the bank's signal that a rate cut was their next likeliest move.

Hammack, too, pointed to the risk of steeper inflation in defending her decision.

Fed governor Stephen Miran, however, continued pushing for lower interest rates.

This was the most number of dissents since October 1992, highlighting the challenges that Fed Chair Jerome Powell's expected successor, Kevin Warsh, will face if he is confirmed by lawmakers.

The rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee "should offer a policy outlook that signals that the next rate change could be either a cut or a hike, depending on how the economy evolves," Kashkari said on Friday.

He flagged risks from an extended closure of the Strait of Hormuz due to conflict in the Middle East, and the potential for more damage to energy and commodity infrastructure in the region.

Tehran has virtually blocked the waterway, a key route for energy and fertilizer shipments, after US-Israeli strikes since February 28.

This has caused a surge in oil prices, feeding into worries that inflation could be more persistent.

In a separate statement, Hammack of the Cleveland Fed said: "I dissented from the post-meeting statement because I did not believe it was appropriate to include an easing bias around the future path for monetary policy."

"Inflation pressures continue to be broad based, and rising oil prices present an additional source of inflationary pressure," she said.

President Donald Trump has made no secret of his wish for more interest rate cuts, slamming Powell repeatedly for not slashing them more aggressively.

As Trump steps up pressure on the independent institution, Powell announced Wednesday that he would stay on as Fed governor even after his term as chairman expires on May 15.

Powell can remain on the Fed's board of governors until 2028, and his decision sparked a wave of fresh criticism from the Trump administration.

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