What the NFL Draft said about Mizzou (and the state of college football)

Organisers of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla on Thursday said Israel's army had "kidnapped" 211 activists including a Paris city councillor in a raid in international waters off Greece.

Helene Coron, a spokeswoman for the Global Sumud France, told an online news conference that the operation had taken place near the island of Crete, at an "unprecedented" distance from Israel.

Yasmine Scola, an activist on board the flotilla, said her colleagues had been "kidnapped" by Israel.

Israel's foreign ministry had earlier put the number of those detained at 175.

Coron said those intercepted included Paris Communist municipal councillor Raphaelle Primet and another 10 French nationals.

"We don’t have the information for the other nationalities, but the boats were mixed in terms of nationality, so there were crew members from all 48 delegations," she said.

The organisers of the latest flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists seeking to break Israel's blockade on Gaza had announced early Thursday that their boats were surrounded by Israeli military ships while off the coast of the Greek island of Crete.

"At the time of publishing this statement (06:30 Paris time, 04:30 GMT), at least 22 of the flotilla's 58 boats have been stormed by Israeli forces in complete violation of international law," the Global Sumud Flotilla said in a statement.

Israel's foreign ministry derisively called the initiative a "condom flotilla" after prophylactics were found in a previous convoy, adding that 20 of the ships were "now making their way peacefully to Israel."

Scola said her ship was carrying school supplies and food.

The remaining boats in the flotilla are currently near Crete, according to the organisation's live tracking on its website.

The flotilla organisers on Thursday could not immediately give more details on what the remaining ships planned to do.

The flotilla set sail in recent weeks from Marseille in France, Barcelona in Spain and Syracuse in Italy.

Overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, the flotilla said its boats had been "illegally surrounded" by Israeli vessels.

– 'Lasers and assault weapons' –

"Our boats were approached by military speedboats, self-identified as 'Israel', pointing lasers and semi-automatic assault weapons ordering participants to the front of the boats and to get on their hands and knees," the organisation had said.

"Boat communications are being jammed and a SOS was issued."

A Greek coastguard source told AFP it had responded to a distress signal from the flotilla, but once its patrol boat reached the area it was told that no assistance was required.

In the summer and autumn of 2025, a first voyage by the Global Sumud Flotilla across the Mediterranean towards Gaza drew worldwide attention.

The boats in that flotilla were intercepted by Israel off the coasts of Egypt and the Gaza Strip in early October.

The Israeli operation, described as illegal by the organisers and by Amnesty International, drew international condemnation.

Crew members, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, were arrested and then expelled by Israel.

Israel controls all entry points to Gaza, and has been accused by the United Nations and foreign NGOs of strangling the flow of goods into the territory, causing shortages since the start of the war in October 2023.

The Gaza Strip, governed by Hamas, has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007, and the war triggered by the Palestinian movement's attack on Israel has led to severe shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel.

A fragile ceasefire was reached last October after two years of devastating conflict.

Hamas's October 2023 attack killed 1,221 people, mostly civilians, according to official Israeli figures compiled by AFP.

Israeli military operations carried out in retaliation have killed more than 72,000 people in the Palestinian territory, also mostly civilians, according to the Gaza health ministry.

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The oil crisis triggered by the Middle East war has underscored the need for the world to accelerate the clean energy transition, the COP31 president-designate and the UN's climate chief said Thursday.

Crude prices have soared since the United States and Israel launched the war against Iran in late February and Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz in response. That has fuelled calls for the world to ditch its reliance on fossil fuels.

"The fossil fuel cost crisis now has its foot on the throat of the global economy," Stiell said at a meeting on the energy transition hosted by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris.

"From this tragedy, an immense irony is unfolding. Those who've fought to keep the world hooked on fossil fuels are inadvertently supercharging the global renewables boom," he said, without naming countries or companies.

The Paris meeting was being in held in the lead-up to the UN's COP31 climate summit in Antalya, Turkey, in November.

Diplomats and representatives from banks, oil firms and renewable energy companies attended the talks.

"The world is facing the biggest energy crisis in its history today," COP31 president-designate Murat Kurum said.

"We now know clearly that the global economy must transform its energy paradigm," said Kurum, who is also Turkey's climate minister.

"And the most critical step is to accelerate the transition to clean energy," he added.

IEA chief Fatih Birol said oil prices, which topped $126 per barrel on Thursday, were "putting a lot of pressure in many countries".

"Our world is facing a major energy and economic challenge," said Birol, adding that his agency, which advises its member countries on energy policy, was monitoring the situation.

- 'Real momentum' -

The talks in Paris came as nearly 60 nations hailed progress at the end of a conference in Colombia aimed at speeding the shift away from planet-heating fossil fuels and break a stalemate on the issue at UN climate talks.

The Santa Marta conference was announced last year after nations failed to include an explicit reference to fossil fuels in the final deal reached at the UN COP30 climate summit in Brazil.

"Coalitions of the willing are already forging ahead," Stiell said, pointing to the gathering in Colombia.

"In key sectors right across the action agenda, COP31 in Turkey will provide a global stage to pick up the pace," he said. "We must seize this moment. We have no time to lose."

Stiell said that countries rich in renewables, such as Spain and Pakistan, had been shielded from the worst impacts of the fossil fuel cost crisis.

"Renewables offer safer, cheaper, cleaner energy that can't be held captive by narrow shipping straits, or global conflicts," Stiell said.

"That's why so many governments are pushing renewables plans into overdrive: to restore national security, economic stability, competitiveness, policy autonomy and basic sovereignty," he added.

China, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Germany, the UK, and others have been "clear that pushing forward with the renewables transition is a cornerstone of energy security", he added.

"This is real momentum," Stiell said. "We must harness it to accelerate a truly global shift."

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Europe's most powerful rocket Ariane 6 launched on Thursday carrying a second batch of 32 satellites into space for Amazon's internet constellation, which is bidding to rival Elon Musk's giant Starlink.

The rocket blasted off into overcast skies at 5.57 am local time (0857 GMT) from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on the northeastern coast of South America, an AFP correspondent said.

It was the second Ariane 6 launch carrying 32 satellites for Amazon Leo, the internet constellation of the giant US company founded by US billionaire Jeff Bezos.

The launch also marked the second Ariane 6 mission using four boosters, its most powerful configuration.

The satellites are scheduled to separate an hour and 54 minutes after launch. They will be released into low-Earth orbit in small batches of twos and threes. 

Amazon Leo plans to intially deploy 3,200 satellites into space that will form a network to provide internet back on Earth.

However after delays there are currently just 239 in orbit, including some launched by the rival SpaceX company of fellow billionaire Musk, according to data provided to AFP on Wednesday by Look Up, a French startup specialising in space surveillance.

In March, Musk's Starlink internet constellation crossed the symbolic threshold of 10,000 satellites -- and now has 10,162 in orbit, the startup added.

The French company Arianespace, which operates the rocket, will carry out a total of 18 launches for Amazon Leo, its main commercial customer. 

Amazon Leo has become crucial for keeping Europe's relatively new Ariane 6 rocket competitive, because many European commercial customers have opted to rely on SpaceX for launches.

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Eurozone economic growth dropped to near zero in the first three months of 2026 as surging energy costs triggered by the Middle East war pushed inflation sharply up in April, data showed on Thursday.

The figures will add to fears of stagflation -- high inflation coupled with low economic growth -- in the eurozone because of the Middle East conflict unleashed after the US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

The EU's official statistics agency said the 21-nation single currency area grew by a mere 0.1 percent in the first quarter, down from 0.2 percent in the final months of 2025 and slower than forecast by economists.

Eurozone inflation also jumped to three percent in April, from 2.6 percent in March because of a significant leap in energy prices, Eurostat said.

The inflation figure is sharply higher than the European Central Bank's two percent target for the eurozone.

The ECB is expected to hold interest rates steady again later on Thursday as policymakers weigh concerns about higher inflation against worries over weakening growth.

Economists warned against linking Thursday's growth data too much to the war.

The GDP figure "mainly reflects a sharp decline in Ireland and some seasonal factors for the eurozone, rather than the impact of the war", Nicola Nobile of Oxford Economics said.

"The 1Q growth figure is not particularly informative, as it was barely affected by the energy and supply shock caused by the war in the Middle East," Peter Vanden Houte of ING Bank said.

Nobile warned that the war's "negative effects will be more visible" in the second quarter of the year.

- German growth beats forecasts -

More worrying for policymakers is the rapidly increasing inflation, analysts said. 

Energy price rises rocketed to 10.9 percent in April, up from 5.1 percent in March.

That comes after the cost of energy had been falling until March this year with data showing they fell by 3.1 percent in February.

On a slightly more positive note, core inflation -- which strips out volatile energy and food prices and is closely watched by analysts -- slowed to 2.2 percent in April, slightly down from 2.3 percent last month.

The EU's biggest economy, Germany, did better than expected with growth of 0.3 percent in the first quarter of 2026. Analysts surveyed by financial data firm FactSet had forecast growth of 0.2 percent.

But France's economy stagnated in the first three months of the year.

Prices also rose in the two biggest economies of the EU.

Inflation in Germany accelerated to 2.9 percent in April, slightly up from 2.8 percent in March. Meanwhile, in France, inflation surged to 2.5 percent in April from two percent last month.

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Press freedom has fallen to its lowest level in a quarter of a century, Reporters Without Borders warned on Thursday.

The media rights watchdog cited as examples US President Donald Trump's "systematic" attacks on journalists and Saudi Arabia, which executed a journalist in 2025.

"For the first time in the (RSF) Index's 25-year history, more than half the world's countries now fall into the 'difficult' or 'very serious' categories for press freedom," a statement said.

"The average score for all countries and territories worldwide has never been so low," it said.

At the same time, the share of the world's population living in a country where the press freedom situation is considered "good" has plunged from 20 percent to less than one percent.

Only seven countries in Northern Europe, led by Norway, fall into this category. 

The United States, which had already fallen from a "fairly good" to a "problematic" situation in 2024, the year of Donald Trump's re-election, has dropped a further seven places to 64, it said.

Beyond Trump's attacks on the press —- "a systematic policy" -- the situation in the United States has also been marked by the detention and subsequent expulsion of Salvadoran journalist Mario Guevara, who denounced the arrest of migrants, and by drastic cuts to funding for US international broadcasting, the report said.

- 'Meaningful sanctions' needed -

"Vladimir Putin's Russia (172nd) has become a specialist in using laws designed to combat terrorism, separatism and extremism to restrict press freedom," RSF warned.

"As of April 2026, the country held 48 journalists behind bars". 

The steepest decline in 2026 was in junta-led Niger (120th, down 37 places).

That "underscored the wider decline in press freedom in the Sahel region seen in recent years as attacks by armed groups and ruling juntas have suppressed the right to balanced information from diverse sources," RSF said.

Norway held the top spot in the rankings for the 10th year running, said RSF, while Eritrea came last for the third straight year.

The biggest improvement in press freedom had been in Syria following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad in late 2024.

While it climbed 36 places in the rankings to 141 in the rankings, RSF warned that the press freedom situation there remained "very serious".

"Current protection mechanisms are not strong enough," said RSF's editorial director Anne Bocande. "International law is being undermined and impunity is rife.

"We need firm guarantees and meaningful sanctions," she added.

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Steel giant ArcelorMittal said Thursday that while first-quarter sales had risen, adverse exchange rates hit net profits, but added that it was well placed to benefit from European restrictions on imports.

Sales rose 4.4 percent to $15.4 billion. 

Net profits slid 28.6 percent to $575 million, mostly due an $80 million hit from changes in exchange rates. 

The figures were largely better than analyst expectations compiled by financial data provider FactSet.

Net profit more than tripled from the final quarter of last year, which the company put down to EU measures on steel.

"The fundamentals of the business have improved over the past three months, driven in particular by the favourable structural reset in the European policy environment," chief executive Aditya Mittal said in a statement.

He pointed to EU measures which impose a carbon tax on imports in an attempt to encourage green production, as well as a new EU tariff rate quota "expected to significantly reduce imports into Europe from July 1".

Mittal said: "ArcelorMittal is well positioned to capture this upside through existing capacity and by re-starting idled capacity."

The group announced in February it was going forward with the construction of its largest electric steel furnance in Europe.

"We remain confident in ArcelorMittal's prospects for the balance of the year, with the expected favourable impacts of new policy including a materially improved pricing and volume environment, more than offsetting any anticipated impacts from the Iran conflict," said Mittal.

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Nigerian airlines continued flying Thursday despite threatening a shutdown over sky-high jet fuel prices roiling the industry in Africa's top crude producer and most populous nation.

It is the second time a strike has been averted in as many weeks, with government talks with airlines having already resulted in a promise to grant carriers debt relief.

Global crude oil prices have been hiked since the United States and Israel's attacks on Iran prompted Tehran to shut the Strait of Hormuz - soaring above $126 per barrel on Thursday, the highest level since 2022.

Already, some carriers in Europe have reduced flights over increased costs and warnings of low supply.

Nigeria has not been spared from high prices, even as the country's massive Dangote refinery has increased production of jet fuel, according to Kpler data reviewed by AFP.

Despite threats by the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) that flights would halt Thursday, domestic carriers Air Peace, Max Air and Rano Air were all operating, according to flight tracking data consulted by AFP.

The AON did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Air travel has become especially important in Nigeria as the country grapples with armed groups and kidnappings, which have pushed those who can afford it to stay off the road for long-distance travel.

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Germany's struggling economy expanded slightly faster than expected at the start of the year, data showed Thursday, but the positive momentum could be derailed by the Iran war energy shock.

Output in Europe's biggest economy rose 0.3 percent from January to March compared to the previous quarter, according to provisional data from statistics agency Destatis. 

Analysts surveyed by financial data firm FactSet had forecast growth of 0.2 percent. The data covered just the first month of the US-Israeli war against Iran, which began at the end of February.

The expansion was driven by growth in exports as well as higher consumer and government spending, Destatis said. 

Sebastian Wanke, an economist at German public lender KfW, said it was a "surprisingly strong start to the year", particularly given the global geopolitical turmoil. 

"But the war in Iran is now casting a shadow over the outlook," he added.

Growth for the fourth quarter of 2025 was however revised down to 0.2 percent, from 0.3 percent previously.

The export-driven German economy has struggled in recent years due to a manufacturing slump, high energy costs, and fierce competition, in particular from China.

It eked out meagre growth in 2025 following two straight years of recession.

Hopes had been high for a strong rebound this year driven by a public spending blitz and reforms pushed by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, but the Iran war has dimmed those expectations.

The government last week halved its growth forecast for 2026, and now expects gross domestic product to expand just 0.5 percent in 2026.

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The UK government on Thursday announced an extra £25 million ($33 million) for security outside synagogues and schools, a day after two Jews were stabbed in the latest attack on the community.

Two men were knifed in the street in broad daylight in Golders Green in north London on Wednesday.

There have been arson attacks on synagogues and other Jewish sites in the area and a deadly attack in which two people died at a synagogue in Manchester last year.

"People have a sense of deep insecurity... and that is why the government is bringing forward investment, an additional £25 million to invest in the security of our Jewish community," interior minister Shabana Mahmood told Sky News.

"That will pay for more protective security for our Jewish synagogues, schools, places of worship, community centres," she added.

A 45-year-old man, a British national who was born in Somalia and came to the UK as a child, remains in custody following the stabbings.

The victims -- aged 76 and 34 -- were in a stable condition in hospital.

Rabbi Ben Kurzer, of the Golders Green Synagogue, called on the government to do more to protect Britain's Jews.

"There is definitely not a significant police presence on a regular basis in these areas. We have little bits here and there, but most of the security that we're seeing is private," he told BBC Radio.

- 'Cumulative impact' -

A little-known group believed to be linked to Iran, and which has claimed responsibility for the London arson attacks, said one of its "lone wolves" was behind the stabbings, the SITE Intelligence Group reported.

Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya (HAYI) -- meaning The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand -- made the uncorroborated claim in a video posted online, according to SITE.

Mahmood said the government would legislate to deal with "a gap in the law when it comes to organisations that may be linked to hostile states" and their proxies.

The government would be "fast tracking that legislation in the coming weeks", she said.

Kurzer also urged ministers to take action on pro-Palestine marches which he said were fuelling the attacks.

"I think they are hate marchers... We all believe in free speech, but there's obviously a limit to free speech when it's leading to events such as we had yesterday," he said.

Last year the government of Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced it would give police greater powers to restrict protests.

They were aimed at allowing police to take into account the "cumulative impact" of frequent protests.

Monitoring groups have reported a surge in antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents in Britain, particularly since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

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Iran warned the United States on Thursday that its naval blockade was doomed to fail, after President Donald Trump signalled it could be enforced for months to come, in a confrontation wreaking havoc on global energy markets. 

Oil prices soared to a four-year high, with Brent crude for June delivery up 7.1 percent to more than $126 dollars a barrel, and Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian responded with a warning that the action would only further destabilise the region.

The United States imposed a blockade on Iran's ports, while the Islamic republic has maintained its stranglehold over the strategic Strait of Hormuz since the start of the Middle East war in February.

"Any attempt to impose a maritime blockade or restrictions is contrary to international law... and is doomed to fail," Pezeshkian said, in a statement that warned the blockade that began on April 13 would be "a disruption to lasting stability in the Persian Gulf".

Trump is expected to receive a briefing on Thursday on new plans for potential military action in Iran from Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, two sources with knowledge of US planning told news platform Axios.

This week Trump has reportedly told oil executives and national security officials to prepare for a long US blockade designed to force Tehran to surrender its nuclear programme, and, speaking to Axios, said: "They are choking like a stuffed pig. And it is going to be worse for them."

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Wednesday in a social media post that it had reached a "significant milestone after successfully redirecting the 42nd commercial vessel attempting to violate the blockade".

It said there are "41 tankers with 69 million barrels of oil that the Iranian regime can't sell", estimating the value at more than $6 billion.

Trump faces domestic political pressure to end the war, which is unpopular even with much of his base, has increased costs for American consumers and has unnerved US allies. 

Iran's economy is also suffering and the rial has fallen to historic lows against the dollar.  

Iran has sought to extract a price for being attacked by exerting control over the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which about one-fifth of global oil typically transits.

- 'The issue is always nuclear' -

Top US officials, including Vice President JD Vance, twice turned back last week from trips to Pakistan to negotiate with Iran.

US officials contend they do not know who is speaking for Iran, whether it is the hardline and increasingly empowered Revolutionary Guards or diplomats, after Israeli strikes killed a series of top leaders.

Tehran residents speaking to AFP journalists in Paris reported a sense of despair.

"Every time in recent years that negotiations have taken place, the economic situation of the people has only gotten worse. Sanctions have either started or intensified," a 52-year-old architect told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

"The issue is always nuclear. There's no talk about people, the economy or freedom. People have the right to not even want to hear the word 'negotiation'," he said.

- 'Collapse' -

Iran proposed easing its chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz if Washington lifts its blockade and broader negotiations take place. 

But the Trump administration has insisted that Iran's nuclear programme be on the table.

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who has emerged as a key figure since the start of the war, said Wednesday the US naval blockade of the country aimed to create division and "make us collapse from within".

Violence has continued on the war's Lebanese front, despite a recently extended ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the Iran-backed armed group that drew Lebanon into the war by firing rockets at Israel. Israel responded with strikes and a ground invasion.

For the first time since the ceasefire began, the Lebanese army said on Tuesday that an Israeli strike had targeted its troops, wounding two soldiers in the south. Another strike on Wednesday killed a Lebanese soldier, it said.

"Israel must finally realise that the only path to security is through negotiations, but it must first fully implement the ceasefire in order to move on to negotiations," Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said.

A UN-backed report said Wednesday more than 1.2 million people in Lebanon were expected to face acute hunger due to the latest war.

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