The trial of Evan Gershkovich, the first American journalist to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since the Cold War, began Wednesday morning in a closed hearing that has been condemned by his newspaper and the United States.

Gershkovich, 32, was arrested while reporting for the Wall Street Journal, which he joined in January 2022, just weeks before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While many newsrooms subsequently pulled their reporters out of Russia, Gershkovich remained, covering the war and how it was changing life in the country.

The trial is taking place in the city of Yekaterinburg, where he was detained more than a year ago and accused of spying for the CIA. Footage on Wednesday morning showed Gershkovich inside a glass court cage, his head shaved, ahead of the trial.

Gershkovich, the US government, and the WSJ have vehemently denied the charges against him. Within two weeks of his arrest in March 2023, the US State Department designated him as wrongfully detained and called for his immediate release.

The trial of Gershkovich, the American-born son of Soviet-era emigres to the US, has highlighted the extent to which Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has harmed relations between Moscow and Washington.

His hearing began at 11 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET) in Sverdlovsk Regional Court in Yekaterinburg. In their indictment, Russian prosecutors said that “under instructions from the CIA” and “using painstaking conspiratorial methods,” Gershkovich “was collecting secret information” about a Russian tank factory.

No reporters, friends, family members, or US embassy staff will be allowed into the courtroom during his trial, which is expected to last months. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

“We’re not holding our breath, it could take weeks or months. And we don’t have much trust in the Russian justice system,” said Sauer, who exchanged letters with Gershkovich before the American reporter was transferred to Yekaterinburg.

“Realistically, we believe that Russia will convict him because they arrested him in the end because he’s a bargaining chip for Moscow, for Putin to be exchanged.”

Ahead of the trial, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the US “certainly” does not expect Gershkovich to have “a free and fair trial given that these are charges that never should have been brought in the first place.”

Miller said embassy personnel were traveling to Yekaterinburg, more than 800 miles from Moscow, and would attempt to attend the trial.

Since his arrest, Gershkovich has been held in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo prison, spending almost every hour of the day in a small cell as his pre-trial detention period was extended several times. He has passed the time by writing letters to his friends and family, his parents, Ella Milman and Mikhail Gershkovich, said in a recent interview with the WSJ.

“He’s managing the best way he can, in a tiny space, one hour walking outside – six steps, six steps, six steps,” Milman said, drawing a small courtyard with her finger. “He’s been exercising, meditating, reading a lot, answering letters. His knowledge of the Russian language and the culture helped him adjust to the situation.”

In a letter to WSJ readers, his family said the past year has been “unimaginable.”

“It has felt like holding our breath. We have been living with a constant ache in our hearts thinking about Evan every moment of every day,” the family wrote.

Political ‘pawns’

After Russian prosecutors approved Gershkovich’s indictment earlier this month, WSJ Editor-in-Chief Emma Tucker said he was facing a “false and baseless” charge.

“Russia’s latest move toward a sham trial is, while expected, deeply disappointing and still no less outrageous. Evan has spent 441 days wrongfully detained in a Russian prison for simply doing his job. Evan is a journalist. The Russian regime’s smearing of Evan is repugnant, disgusting and based on calculated and transparent lies. Journalism is not a crime. Evan’s case is an assault on free press,” Tucker said in a statement.

In his State of the Union address in March – with Gershkovich’s parents in the audience – US President Joe Biden said his administration was working “around the clock to bring home Evan” and other “Americans being unjustly detained all around the world.”

The number of Americans being held in Russia has swelled in recent years. Paul Whelan, a former US Marine, was arrested in Moscow in December 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020 on espionage charges, which he has consistently and vehemently denied. The US State Department has also declared him wrongfully detained.

Brittney Griner – the basketball star who used to play in Russia during the WNBA offseason – was detained in Russia and sentenced to nine years in prison after authorities found cannabis oil in her luggage.

After spending nearly 300 days behind bars, Griner was freed in a prisoner swap for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, nicknamed the “Merchant of Death” by his accusers. A former Soviet military officer, Bout was serving a 25-year sentence in the US on charges of conspiring to kill Americans, acquire and export anti-aircraft missiles and provide material support to a terrorist organization – charges he and the Kremlin denied.

In an interview with American right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson, Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested the Kremlin could be willing to free Gershkovich in exchange for Vadim Krasikov, a former colonel from Russia’s domestic spy organization who was convicted of assassinating a former Chechen fighter in broad daylight in Berlin in 2019.

“Listen, I’ll tell you: sitting in one country, a country that is an ally of the United States, is a man who, for patriotic reasons, eliminated a bandit in one of the European capitals,” Putin said.

Asked by the WSJ whether she felt her son is being used as a political pawn, Gershkovich’s mother Ella Milman said “definitely.”

Her husband, Mikhail, said: “We know that he is innocent of what he’s being accused of. He’s a journalist.”

This story has been updated with additional developments.

Pollsters were surprised by the burst of populism in 2016, but many now think they shouldn’t have been. In the United States and United Kingdom, swaths of voters in deprived regions – places “left behind” by globalization – were given the chance to stick it to the system, and they took it. Why was anyone surprised?

Pollsters have now been surprised by another trend. In this month’s European Parliament elections, far-right parties performed predictably well – but especially, and unexpectedly, among young people. A few years ago, “Generation Climate” – thought to be unquestionably liberal and progressive – were voting mostly green. But now, their vote has helped far-right parties capture one in four seats in Brussels. What happened?

Perhaps the “left behind” is not only a geographical phenomenon, but generational.

Gen-Z – those born between 1995 and 2012 – has been baptized in crises: first the financial, then the eurozone, then of the pandemic and now of war in Europe. More and more young people believe they will have harder lives than their parents. Why should a left-behind generation be less vulnerable to the lure of populism than left-behind places?

Roberto Foa, co-director of the Centre for the Future of Democracy at the University of Cambridge, a leading researcher of youth dissatisfaction with democracy, sees “two big divides” in Western societies: “The wealth divide between economically successful and left-behind regions, and the intergenerational divide in life opportunities.”

Youth support for far-right parties is being felt in several European countries. In Germany, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), won 16% of the under-25 vote in the EU elections – tripling its share in that demographic from the previous vote in 2019. Among French voters under 34, the National Rally (RN) was the most popular party, with 32% of the vote – a 10-point rise compared to 2019. In Poland, 30% of under-30 voters supported the far-right Confederation party, up from 18.5% in 2019. Far-right parties enjoyed a similar uptick in support in the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Austria, and continued to do well in Italy.

How alarmed – and surprised – should mainstream parties be?

Generation, not geography

Consider these policy proposals. Young people will pay no income tax. If they start a business, they will be exempt from corporation tax for five years. Students working part-time will have their wages topped up by the state, which will also build 100,000 units of student housing. They can also travel by train for free.

You’d be forgiven for thinking this must be the platform of the far left. But no: This was RN doyenne Marine Le Pen’s offer in the 2022 French presidential election, which she narrowly lost. Young people, unsurprisingly, loved it. Just under 50% of 25-to-34-year-olds who cast a vote opted for Le Pen, compared to just 41% of the general population and 29% of voters over 70. Whereas the “gray vote” took Donald Trump to the White House and Britain from the EU, it kept the French far right at bay.

That may soon change. After his Renaissance party was trounced by the far-right in the EU elections, President Emmanuel Macron called a snap parliamentary election, which could result in Jordan Bardella, the RN’s 28-year-old leader, becoming France’s prime minister next month.

For Arthur Prevot, manager of the RN’s youth wing in Paris, this is great news. Macron’s presidency has failed to deliver for young people, he says.

Jonathan Verbeken, a deputy RN candidate in Paris’ 15th district, said the main reason he joined the party was because, “we see people suffering daily, struggling to make ends meet. We see a deplorable situation in France, specifically with security and immigration. We want to react to that.”

To many older voters, the RN remains a terrifying prospect. Despite its years-long effort to “normalize,” previous generations remember its antisemitic, neofascist origins.

But young voters appear less concerned by these roots, says Simon Schnetzer, author of a recent survey of Germany’s youth.

The lack of historical baggage, coupled with the strange death of center-left parties in many parts of Europe, has allowed the far right to appear respectable and armed with economic solutions to young people’s problems.

Sarah-Lee Heinrichs, a 23-year-old politician for the German Green Party, said economic concerns have become far more prevalent among young people since the last European Parliament elections in 2019, when the Greens became the second largest party in Germany for the first time. In the wake of the pandemic, the full-scale war in Ukraine and the return of soaring inflation, environmentalism is no longer young people’s priority, she says.

And with economic insecurity is coming fiercer opposition to immigration, nearly a decade after the continent – and especially Germany – welcomed a record number of refugees fleeing war in Syria.

An alarming new trend began last month, after a short clip filmed on the German vacation island of Sylt was posted on X. In the video, well-dressed German youths belt out “Ausländer Raus!” (“foreigners out!”) and “Deutschland den Deutschen!” (“Germany for Germans!”) over a 1999 Eurodance beat. The chant has since swirled across the country, currently hosting the European soccer championships. Its appeal is not confined to Germans. As Italy played Spain last week, fans in the stadium could be heard giving their own rendition.

Swiping right

If that’s the “demand” side, what about the supply?

After her center-right bloc secured the most seats in the European Parliament, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen took to the stage in Brussels to give a victory speech. But her tone was more somber than victorious. She spoke of the importance of defending European values: integration, democracy and the rule of law.

How do these abstract values sound to young voters?

“Young people will double check, does that help me with any of my needs? Does it entertain me? Does it give me security? Is it fun? And if it’s none of that, it’s boring,” said Schnetzer. “If you have this TikTok logic, you’ll quickly swipe further.”

While Europe’s mainstream gives grave speeches, the far right is developing vast followings on social media platform TikTok. The RN’s clean-shaven Bardella posts videos of himself wine tasting and doing shots. Maximilian Krah, the AfD’s lead candidate going into the EU elections, offers his followers dating advice: “Don’t watch porn, don’t vote for the Greens.”

In one TikTok, Nigel Farage – often described as the “architect” of Brexit – approaches a fruit store, says “lovely melons,” raises his eyebrows and walks off. The clip has been viewed 2.5 million times.

Farage seems aware of this burgeoning market and keen to exploit it. In a recent interview, he praised misogynist online influencer Andrew Tate for being an “important voice” for “emasculated” young boys. Tate – who has racked up billions of views on TikTok – is facing charges in Romania of human trafficking and rape, which he denies.

But those who have puzzled over Tate’s appeal to young men should not be surprised that politicians making jokes about breasts enjoy similar success. The distinction between politicians and entertainment has long grown fuzzy – but for today’s young, they no longer even exist in separate spaces. Just one swipe separates the voice of a figure like Tate and the voice of a politician. We shouldn’t be surprised if here is where ideas are shaped.

Thrill of the new

It is not yet clear how deeply these far-right sympathies are held. In a trend especially pronounced among young people, voters are increasingly “not loyal to any particular party or platform,” says Foa. “They’re very volatile between one election and the next.” Just as young voters campaigned vociferously for green parties in 2019, their allegiances could switch again.

The appeal of the far right may also be dampened if its politicians begin to govern. Out of office, the far right is unable to break promises, while it can point endlessly to the mainstream’s inability to deliver. Once in government, it will prove just as disappointing. That, at least, appears to be Macron’s theory.

But the burst in support for far-right parties could spell a darker trend. In his studies of youth dissatisfaction with democracy, Foa noted a growing penchant for authoritarianism. Lacking a personal memory of life under authoritarian rule or the struggle to achieve democracy, young people are less enamored with the system than previous generations.

This success of far-right parties should be a warning to Europe’s mainstream. To Churchill’s famous quote, “Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others,” we should not be surprised if young people ask in reply: “Really?”

Five Americans have been arrested in Turks and Caicos over the past six months under gun control laws that make bringing firearms or ammunition into the territory without prior permission from police a crime.

Michael Lee Evans, of Texas; Sharitta Grier, of Florida; Bryan Hagerich, of Pennsylvania; Ryan Tyler Watson, of Oklahoma; and Tyler Wenrich, of Virginia, were all accused of bringing various amounts of ammunition to Turks and Caicos, a 40-island chain southeast of the Bahamas.

All have said the ammunition recovered from their luggage was not intentionally packed, according to American lawmakers who went to the British Overseas Territory in May as part of efforts to petition for their expedited release.

Though the infractions had carried a mandatory 12-year prison sentence and fine – with reductions only in “exceptional circumstances” – a mid-June revision clarified courts may impose a fine, a custodial sentence or both in exceptional circumstances, a member of the territory’s House of Assembly said June 14.

Four Americans arrested under the law have pleaded guilty, been sentenced and returned to the US, while the last is due in court next week. Here’s what we know so far about the laws in Turks and Caicos and the affected Americans:

No constitutional right to carry firearms in Turks and Caicos

Though the territory doesn’t manufacture firearms or ammunition, the number of firearms finding their way to the islands has increased – and that’s a worry, Turks and Caicos Premier Washington Misick said.

While it is legal to fly in the US with unloaded firearms and ammunition in checked baggage, according to the Transportation Security Administration, bringing firearms or ammunition into Turks and Caicos without prior permission from police is “strictly forbidden.”

The mandatory sentence was in place to protect those on the islands, Gov. Dileeni Daniel-Selvaratnam said. Judges could use their discretion to impose reduced sentences in “exceptional circumstances,” she said.

But no special treatment should be given to any group, the Turks and Caicos premier said: “The law must be applied even-handedly.”

Even so, the “amendment was introduced to address concerns about the rigidity of the previous sentencing framework, which mandated both imprisonment and financial penalties for all firearms offenses, regardless of the specific context or severity,” House of Assembly member Edwin Astwood said in a statement.

“This often resulted in disproportionately harsh sentences that did not always fit the nature of the crime or the circumstances of the offender.”

US citizens are not being targeted, Turks and Caicos officials have said. Of the 195 people sentenced for firearm-related offenses over the past six years, only seven were US citizens, Misick has said, and none got a 12-year sentence.

While Turks and Caicos collaborates with the US in battling narcotics, terrorism and money laundering, “our laws and processes are not congruent,” Misick said.

“We are a separate sovereignty. We respect the United States’ laws and we will never think to interfere in its operation.”

Bryan Hagerich

Hagerich was the first of the five to return to the United States after he received a suspended 52-week sentence in late May, which meant he didn’t face immediate incarceration, his representatives said. He was also given a $6,700 fine.

The father of two pleaded guilty to possession of 20 rounds of ammunition, according to the Turks and Caicos government.

Hagerich paid the fine and was allowed to leave the British Overseas Territory. He got home May 24, according to Johnathan Franks, a spokesperson for the Bring Our Families Home Campaign, a group that helps wrongfully detained Americans secure release.

“We have a lot of catching up to do,” Hagerich said. “A lot of memories to make together. Just so elated to see them. They’ve been so strong through all this.”

Before Hagerich’s sentencing, his wife had packed two suitcases – one if he was sentenced to prison and another if he were allowed to return home – they said in an exclusive interview with “Good Morning America.”

“It was dark; you have no concept of time,” Hagerich said about his week-long stay in jail in Turks and Caicos. “I was with three folks that were accused of murder. It was scary.”

Tyler Wenrich

Wenrich pleaded guilty to possession of ammunition while traveling to Turks and Caicos.

He was sentenced May 28 to three weeks time-served in jail and fined $9,000, said Kimo Tynes​​​​, a Government of the Turks and Caicos Islands spokesperson said that day in a statement.

He returned home to Virginia on May 30.

The Hon. Justice Davidson Baptiste cited exceptional circumstances in Wenrich’s case, saying, “Enforcing the mandatory minimum would have been arbitrary and disproportionate, and would not serve the public interest.”

Wenrich was charged with possession of two 9 mm rounds, according to the Turks and Caicos government.

Michael Lee Evans

Evans pleaded guilty to possession of seven 9 mm rounds of ammunition and appeared before the court on April 24 via video conference.

He was allowed to return to the United States on bail due to a “severe” medical situation and to attend his June sentencing hearing virtually, said his attorney Oliver Smith, King’s Counsel.

Evans got a suspended 33-month sentence, and his attorney believes it is unlikely he will have to serve time in jail.

Ryan Tyler Watson

Watson was visiting Turks and Caicos with his wife in April to celebrate several friends’ 40th birthdays when he was charged with possession of four rounds of ammunition. He plead guilty in May.

Watson soon returned home and reunited with his family, US Sen. James Lankford, an Oklahoma Republican, said on X.

Sharitta Shinese Grier

Grier was arrested in mid-May and is awaiting trial after making bail, Tynes said​​​​.

“I didn’t know what was going to happen because I couldn’t believe it was in there,” she said. “They went through my bag and said they found rounds at the bottom of my carry-on.”

Grier was released on bail but can’t leave the island until her case concludes and must report to a local police station weekly, the station reported.

“I’m just broken,” Grier said.

Grier’s next court appearance is July 5, police said.

US lawmakers tried to free Americans

The Americans’ arrest has stoked tension between US officials and their counterparts just a few hundred miles away. A request by a US congressional delegation to the islands in May for charges against the five Americas to be dropped did not yield the desired result.

“Unfortunately, despite our willingness to work with Turks and Caicos officials to get our constituents home, we were not able to find a path forward today,” Republican US Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma said May 20 in a statement.

“It’s to the point now, (where) every third week an American is being detained wrongfully (in) Turks and Caicos,” Republican US Rep. Guy Reschenthaler told ABC News the same week.

In a House of Assembly address, the islands’ Misick said, “The (accusations) of congressman (Reschenthaler) against the government and people of the Turks and Caicos Islands are nothing more than diabolic falsehoods.”

“They were innocent mistakes,” he said. “Any other nation would handle this with a fine in sending that person back to the country of origin. Here, that’s not happening.”

On May 28, Mullin welcomed the news of Wenrich’s release, calling it “another step in the right direction,” according to a post on X.

“I again encourage TCI to address the unintended consequences of their law to prevent this from happening again.”

This story has been updated with additional information.

A high risk of famine persists in Gaza and the situation “remains catastrophic” as the war between Israel and Hamas continues, according to a report released Tuesday by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC).

Nearly half a million are projected to face catastrophic levels of hunger, the most severe level on the IPC scale where people “experience an extreme lack of food, starvation, and exhaustion of coping capacities,” according to the report.

96% of the population of Gaza – more than 2 million people – will face crisis, emergency, or catastrophic levels of food insecurity through at least the end of September, the report projects.

“A high risk of famine persists across the whole of the Gaza Strip as long as conflict continues and humanitarian access is restricted,” the report said. “Only the cessation of hostilities in conjunction with sustained humanitarian access to the entire Gaza Strip can reduce the risk of a famine occurring in the Gaza Strip.”

“The last few months have demonstrated that food and humanitarian access and malnutrition prevalence can change very quickly, the risk of epidemics is increasing and eight months of extreme pressure on the lives of the population make them much more vulnerable to collapse into famine,” said the report, compiled by the IPC’s Famine Review Committee.

“Given the unpredictability of the ongoing conflict and humanitarian access challenges, any significant change may lead to a very rapid deterioration into Famine,” the report said.

The findings of the report echo testimonies from those on the ground about the dire humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Nearly nine months of Israel’s bombardment and siege have depleted the health care system, battered water infrastructure and created dire conditions for the entire population of more than 2.2 million people.

Increased Israeli attacks in the southern city of Rafah have triggered mass displacement and an outbreak of infectious diseases in the sprawling tent camps where people cannot access basic sanitation. With no signs of an imminent ceasefire being agreed to stop the fighting, relief workers say the suffering of civilians on the ground will only get worse.

“The latest data shows that, to be able to purchase food, more than half of the households had to exchange their clothes for money and one third resorted to picking up trash to sell,” the report detailed in its “special snapshot.” “More than half also reported that, often, they do not have any food to eat in the house, and over 20 percent go entire days and nights without eating.”

The report acknowledged there were some improvements to the situation in the north of Gaza, where the IPC warned in March that famine was imminent. Tuesday’s report assessed that due to an increase in food deliveries in March and April, “the available evidence does not indicate that Famine is currently occurring” in the north. However, it notes the possibility remains throughout the entire Gaza Strip.

Although there was also some improvement in the south of Gaza in that time, the report said, the situation deteriorated with the launch of Israel’s military operations in Rafah. The Rafah crossing – a key transitway for humanitarian aid to Gaza – has been closed since early May, and only a handful of other land crossings remain open. Humanitarian aid workers continue to face tremendous risks to try to distribute the desperately needed aid to Gaza. The majority of the infrastructure to support humanitarian work in Gaza has been destroyed in Israel’s war against Hamas.

“The humanitarian space in the Gaza Strip continues to shrink and the ability to safely deliver assistance to populations is dwindling,” the report’s special snapshot said. “The recent trajectory is negative and highly unstable. Should this continue, the improvements seen in April could be rapidly reversed.”

The report also “encourages all stakeholders who use the IPC for high-level decision-making to understand that whether a Famine classification is confirmed or not does not in any manner change the fact that extreme human suffering is without a doubt currently ongoing in the Gaza Strip.”

It “does not change the immediate humanitarian imperative to address this civilian suffering by enabling complete, safe, unhindered, and sustained humanitarian access into and throughout the Gaza Strip, including through ceasing hostilities,” the report continued.

The United States, Israel’s closest ally, has repeatedly called on the Netanyahu government to do more to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. US President Joe Biden warned in early April that Israel had to take immediate concrete steps or risk changes in US policy. Thus far, there have been no such changes in policy.

“The IPC report … obviously it confirmed what we all know and what we’ve been dealing with for some time is that the humanitarian situation on the ground is extremely dire. That’s why we have been so incredibly focused on alleviating that situation,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday.

“We can’t wait for a ceasefire, obviously, even as we try to get one and we need to do more to improve the humanitarian situation on the ground,” he said. “That’s what we’re trying to do … through working to resolve these issues between the government of Israel, the Israeli security forces and the UN humanitarian agencies.”

Meanwhile, humanitarian workers are warning that the situation in Gaza is untenable.

“In the north, when we raised the famine alarm, we were able to get some more trucks in. And so for the moment, it is better. Not great — I don’t want to give false illusions here that this is all hunky dory, because it’s not,” said World Food Programme Director Cindy McCain. “There’s still great need in the north, and it’s complex. It’s complex for this reason. It’s not just food they need. They need water, they need sanitation, they need health care. All of those things contribute to famine.”

Kate Phillips-Barrasso, of Mercy Corps, added, “The population cannot endure these hardships any longer. The toll of military action has been far too high, and we fear without dramatic changes to the provision of humanitarian aid, the death toll will climb as people succumb to months of deprivation.

“Compounding the suffering is oppressive summer heat, no access to clean water, and increasing exposure to garbage and sewage. This lethal equation will undoubtedly lead to acute suffering and mortality,” she said.

On Friday, the commissioner-general for the UN’s agency for Palestinia refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, urged the “uninterrupted, regular, coordinated and meaningful flow of humanitarian assistance.”

This story has been updated.

Israel’s Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the government to draft ultra-Orthodox Jews into the military, delivering a blow to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that has the potential to unravel his ruling coalition.

The court also ordered the government to withdraw funding from any religious schools, or yeshivas, whose students do not comply with draft notices.

“At this time there is no legal framework that makes it possible to distinguish between yeshiva students and those destined for military service,” the court said. “Accordingly, the state does not have the authority to order a blanket avoidance of their conscription.”

For all intents and purposes, Ultra-Orthodox (or Haredi) Jews have been exempt from national mandatory military service since Israel’s founding. Ultra-Orthodox Jews view religious study as fundamental to the preservation of Judaism, as important to Israel’s defense as the military.

Haredi parties have been staunchly opposed to efforts to get young ultra-Orthodox men to serve in the military. Netanyahu’s fragile government coalition relies on two Haredi parties – United Torah Judaism and Shas – to govern. He has for weeks been trying to advance legislation through Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, that would enshrine in law a draft exemption for Haredi men.

Netanyahu’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, has publicly criticized Netanyahu’s attempt to exempt Haredi Jews.

This is not the first time the Supreme Court has struck down the Haredi exemption. In 1998, the court told the government that allowing Haredim to get out of conscription violated equal protection principles. In the decades since, successive governments and Knessets have tried to solve the issue, only to be told again and again by the court that their efforts were illegal.

In a February poll conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute, 64% of Israeli respondents and 70% of Jewish Israeli respondents said that the Haredi exemption “should be changed.” The pollsters spoke with Israeli adults – 600 in Hebrew and 150 in Arabic.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

A Japanese woman and her child were among three people stabbed by a man on Monday in front of a school bus at a bus stop in eastern China, according to Japanese authorities.

The mother and child did not suffer life-threatening injuries and were taken to hospital to receive care, the official said.

The Japanese consulate in nearby Shanghai said “a man, possibly Chinese” attacked the mother and her child with a knife.

In a statement Tuesday, police in Suzhou said they arrested an unemployed 52-year-old suspect at the scene, identified by his surname Zhou.

A Chinese national who tried to stop the knife attack was critically injured and was still fighting for their life, police said. One of the injured Japanese nationals had been discharged from hospital, police added.

“The investigation of the case is ongoing, and the criminal behavior will be severely punished in accordance with the law and regulations,” the statement said.

China’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday expressed regret over the stabbing and vowed to take effective measures to protect foreigners’ safety in the country.

“Such isolated incidents may happen in any country in the world,” spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular news briefing.

Attacks against foreigners are rare in China, but Monday’s stabbing is the second such incident this month in the powerful security state, after four instructors from a US college were stabbed by a Chinese man at a park in the northeastern city of Jilin.

A Chinese tourist who tried to intervene in that June 10 attack was also stabbed, but no one suffered life-threatening injuries, according to police. The 55-year-old suspect in the Jilin attack was arrested but police have not revealed his motive.

In Suzhou, the attack took place Monday afternoon as the mother waited to pick up her child at a bus stop near a Japanese school, according to the Japanese official.

Two buses were at the bus stop at the time of the attack, a woman who was at the scene waiting to pick up her son told Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

She said she heard shouting near one of the buses then saw a man, who appeared to be in his 50s or 60s, grab a boy and swing toward him while holding knife, NHK reported.

The school bus is from the Suzhou Japanese School, located less than a mile from the bus stop in an area where many Japanese nationals live, NHK said. The region hosts many manufacturing plants for Japanese companies.

The bus attendant and parents at the scene subdued the attacker using an umbrella and a bag, according to NHK.

Knife attacks are not uncommon in China, where guns are tightly controlled. The country has faced a spate of stabbing rampages in public places in recent years, including schools and hospitals.

“Recently, stabbings have been reported in public places (parks, schools, subways, etc.) throughout China,” the Japanese consulate in Shanghai said in a statement, urging Japanese nationals in the country to be aware of their surroundings in a warning echoed by Japan’s Embassy in Beijing.

The attack was initially censored on Chinese social media, with search results for “Japanese school” on X-like platform Weibo heavily filtered to allow only posts from official accounts on Tuesday morning.

By Tuesday afternoon, the censorship appeared to have relaxed after China’s Foreign Ministry commented on the incident.

China’s strictly censored social media platforms have seen a rise in ultra-nationalism and anti-Japanese sentiment in recent years. Rooted in Japan’s brutal invasion of China during World War II, Chinese public sentiment against Japan has waxed and waned – often tied to China’s domestic politics and the state of bilateral ties.

But as Chinese nationalism turns more aggressive and intolerant under the leadership of Xi Jinping, Japanese schools in China have faced growing criticism and suspicion. In recent months, some online posts and videos have called for Japanese schools to be shut down in China, while others accused the schools of being breeding ground for spies.

Opened in 2005, the Suzhou Japanese School offers six-year elementary school and three-year junior high school curriculums, according to its website. Its rules state that students must be picked up by a parent or guardian from the school bus.

The school was closed Tuesday following the attack, and security has been stepped up at other Japanese schools across China, NHK reported.

China’s Chang’e-6 lunar module returned to Earth Tuesday, successfully completing its historic mission to collect the first ever samples from the far side of the moon in a major step forward for the country’s ambitious space program.

The reentry module “successfully landed” in a designated zone in China’s northern Inner Mongolia region just after 2 p.m. local time, according to state broadcaster CCTV. A livestream carried by CCTV showed the module touching down via parachute to a round of applause in the mission control room.

“The Chang’e-6 lunar exploration mission has been a complete success,” said Zhang Kejian, head of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), from the control room.

A search team located the module minutes after its landing, according to CCTV. The livestream showed a worker carrying out checks on the module, which lay on grassland beside a Chinese flag.

The successful mission is a key milestone in China’s “eternal dream” – as articulated by Chinese leader Xi Jinping – to establish the country as a dominant space power and comes as a number of countries, including the United States, also ramp up their own lunar exploration programs.

In a congratulatory message Tuesday, Xi hailed the mission as “another landmark achievement in building a strong country in space, and science and technology.”

Beijing plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2030 and build a research base at the lunar south pole – a region believed to contain water ice, where the US also hopes to establish a base.

The Chang’e-6 probe is expected to have returned to Earth with up to 2 kilograms of moon dust and rocks from the lunar far side, which will be analyzed by researchers in China before being opened for access by international scientists, according to the CNSA.

Results from the analysis of the samples could help scientists peer back into the evolution of the moon, the Earth and the solar system – while also aiding China’s aim to utilize resources on the moon to further its exploration there, experts say.

The samples were collected using a drill and robotic arm from a location within the sprawling South Pole-Aitken basin, an impact crater formed some 4 billion years ago on the moon’s far side, which is never visible to Earth.

An ascender then lifted them off the lunar surface and transferred them in lunar orbit to a re-entry vehicle, which then traveled back to Earth after separating from its lunar orbiter.

The progress of Chang’e-6 – China’s most technically complex mission to date – has been followed with intense interest within the country since its launch on May 3.

Earlier this month, images of the lunar lander displaying the Chinese flag and appearing to have drilled the character “zhong” – shorthand for China – on the lunar surface went viral on Chinese social media.

‘Treasure’ from the far side

The far side of the moon has been a point of fascination for scientists since they first peered at it in grainy, black and white images captured by the Soviet Union’s Luna 3 spacecraft in 1959 – and realized how different it was from the side facing Earth.

Absent were the lunar maria, or large, dark plains of cooled lava that pockmark much of the moon’s near side. Instead, the far side appeared to show a record of impact — covered in craters of different sizes and ages.

Decades later, and some five years since the Chang’e-4 mission made China the first and only country to complete a soft landing on the far side, scientists both from China and around the world have high hopes for the information that can be gleaned from the samples.

“It’s a gold mine …  a treasure chest,” said James Head, a professor of planetary geosciences at Brown University, who together with European scientists, collaborated with Chinese scientists analyzing samples from the Chang’e-5 mission that returned near-side samples. “International scientists are totally excited about the mission,” he said.

Head pointed to the destruction of many clues of evolutionary history due to the shifting of the Earth’s plate tectonics and erosion that has obscured the planet’s first several billion years, including the period when life emerged.

“The moon is really the cornerstone for understanding that because its surface does not have plate tectonics – it’s actually a frozen record of what it was like in our early solar system,” he said, adding that understanding the moon’s makeup can not only aid our understanding of the past but future exploration of the solar system.

While the stated focus of the Chang’e-6 mission is these broader scientific questions, experts say analysis of the composition and physical properties of the samples could also help advance efforts to learn how to use resources on the moon for future lunar and space exploration.

“The (Chang’e-6) mission is focused on answering specific scientific questions, but the lunar soils collected from the mission can support future resource utilization,” said Yuqi Qian, a planetary geologist at the University of Hong Kong.

Lunar soil could be used for 3-D printing to produce bricks for construction of research bases on the moon, while some scientists were already working on finding more economical and practical technologies to extract gases like Helium-3, oxygen and hydrogen from the soil, which could support further lunar exploration, he said.

Once they receive the samples, Chinese scientists are expected to share data and carry out joint research with international partners, before Beijing later opens the samples for access by international teams, according to statements from CNSA officials.

International teams had to wait roughly three years to apply for access to samples from the Chang’e-5 mission, but some of the earliest published research on those samples was from teams of Chinese and international scientists.

‘Race’ to the moon

Chang’e-6 – the sixth of eight scheduled missions in the Chang’e series – is widely seen as an important step forward for China’s aim to put astronauts on the moon in the coming years.

“Each step in the sample return mission process is exactly what you need to do to land humans on the moon and return,” Head said. “It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that while, on one hand, this is a scientific mission, the command and control aspects (are) exactly what you need for lunar human exploration as well as things like Mars sample return.”

China’s ambitions to send astronauts to the moon come as the US targets launching a crewed “Artemis” mission as early as 2026 – in what would be America’s first such attempt in more than 50 years.

NASA chief Bill Nelson has appeared to point to China’s pace as a driver in US progress, telling lawmakers in April that the two countries were “in effect … in a race.”

“My concern is that they (get to the south pole) first and then say, ‘this is our area, you stay out,’ because the south pole of the moon is an important part … We think that there is water there and if there’s water, then there’s rocket fuel,” Nelson said.

China has sought to dispel concerns about its ambitions, reiterating its position that space exploration should “benefit all mankind” and actively recruiting country partners for its planned international lunar research station.

China and the US are not alone in eyeing the national prestige, potential scientific benefits, access to resources and further deep space exploration that successful moon missions could bring.

Last year, India landed its first spacecraft on the moon, while Russia’s first lunar mission in decades ended in failure when its Luna 25 probe crashed into the moon’s surface.

In January, Japan became the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the moon, though its Moon Sniper lander faced power issues due to an incorrect landing angle. The following month, IM-1, a NASA-funded mission designed by Texas-based private firm Intuitive Machines, touched down close to the lunar south pole.

China is scheduled to launch its Chang’e-7 mission to the lunar south pole region in 2026, while Chang’e-8 will be launched in 2028 to carry out tests aimed at utilization of lunar resources in preparation for the lunar research station, Chinese space authorities said earlier this year.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was released from a British prison and was making his way back to his home country Australia on Monday after his 12-year battle against extradition to the United States ended in a plea deal.

The controversial figure has spent the past five years in a high-security UK prison and nearly seven years before that holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, trying to avoid arrest that could have led to life imprisonment.

On Monday, Assange, 52, agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge related to his alleged role in one of the largest US government breaches of classified materials after his whistleblowing website published nearly half a million secret military documents relating to the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The plea deal caps a long-running legal saga, allowing Assange to avoid prison in the US and return to Australia as a free man – but not until he has made a court appearance in a remote US territory in the Pacific.

Here’s what we know:

Where is Assange?

Assange boarded a flight from London’s Stansted airport on Monday after being released on bail from prison, according to a statement from WikiLeaks on Tuesday.

“Julian Assange is free,” WikiLeaks said. “He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1,901 days there.”

Traveling with him onboard the flight is Australia’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom Stephen Smith, the country’s prime minister said.

Under the terms of the agreement, US Justice Department prosecutors will seek a 62-month sentence – which is equal to the amount of time Assange served in the United Kingdom while he fought extradition.

The plea deal would credit that time served, allowing Assange to immediately return to Australia. The deal must still be approved by a federal judge.

Because Assange was resistant to setting foot in the continental US to enter his guilty plea, a judge will conduct the hearing and sentencing together on Wednesday in Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands, according to a letter filed by prosecutors.

The Pacific island chain is a US territory some 6,000 kilometers (3,700 miles) west of Hawaii and a US federal district court is based in the capital Saipan. The islands are also closer to Australia, where Assange is a citizen and is expected to return to after the court hearing, prosecutors said.

What did Assange do?

Assange was wanted by US authorities on espionage charges connected to Wikileaks’ publication of hundreds of thousands of sensitive military and government documents supplied by former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in 2010 and 2011.

The US accused Assange of endangering the lives of confidential sources by releasing the unfiltered cables and had for years been seeking his extradition.

He faced 18 charges for his alleged role in the breach and faced a maximum of up to 175 years in prison. British authorities had sought reassurances from the US that he would not receive the death penalty.

From Townsville, eastern Queensland, Assange started WikiLeaks in 2006 as an online repository that would publish anonymously submitted material, including the US military’s operating manual for its detention camp in Guantanamo Bay and internal documents from the Church of Scientology.

In 2010, WikiLeaks was catapulted to global attention when it released video that claimed to show a deadly 2007 US helicopter attack in Iraq.

Soon after, WikiLeaks released thousands of classified US military documents relating to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a trove of diplomatic cables.

Fight against extradition

Assange had long argued the case against him was politically motivated, that he would not face a fair trial, and his handover would violate the European Convention on Human Rights.

Free speech advocates condemned the extradition attempt, saying it would have a chilling effect on press freedom.

In August 2010, Assange was accused of sexual assault in Sweden and faced an international arrest warrant. He denied the allegations as “a smear campaign” and refused to go to Stockholm for questioning.

He turned himself in to British authorities but while out on bail in 2012 as he appealed extradition to Sweden, Assange fled to the Ecuadorian Embassy requesting political asylum.

During his time in the embassy, WikiLeaks kept up its data dumps, including in 2016 when it released thousands of emails apparently hacked from the Democratic National Committee and emails stolen from the private email account of Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta, on the eve of the US election.

But over time, his relationship with his host soured and Ecuador’s president came under pressure from the US to expel him from the diplomatic bolt-hole.

In 2019, Assange was pulled from the embassy by London’s Metroplitan Police on an extradition warrant from the US Justice Department, and spent the next five years living mostly isolated, in a 3- by 2-meter cell at Belmarsh prison.

The prison has capacity for more than 900 inmates and is known for once housing infamous terror suspects such as the radical Egyptian cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri within its high-security unit.

Support for Assange’s release

There has recently been increased pressure for Assange’s case to be dismissed.

In May, London’s High Court ruled that Assange had the right to appeal in his final challenge against extradition to the US, and US President Joe Biden had alluded to a possible deal pushed by Australian government officials to return him to Australia.

The UN special rapporteur on torture and Amnesty International were among those who called on the United Kingdom to halt the possible extradition, citing concerns over the risk of abuse and other ill-treatment if Assange was sent to the US.

Upon his release Monday, Assange’s wife, Stella Assange, posted on social media, “Julian is free!”

“Words cannot express our immense gratitude to YOU- yes YOU, who have all mobilised for years and years to make this come true,” she wrote.

Speaking in parliament, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said, “regardless of the views that people have about Mr. Assange’s activities, the case has dragged on for too long. There is nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration and we want him brought home to Australia.”

Among those celebrating Assange’s release were the presidents of Colombia and Mexico. “Assange’s eternal imprisonment and torture was an attack on press freedom on a global scale,” said Colombian President Gustavo Petro.

Kenya is in the grip of nationwide protests against proposed tax hikes, culminating in a planned “total shutdown” of the country on Tuesday.

The demonstrations, sparked by the Finance Bill 2024, have seen citizens rally under the banner of “7 Days of Rage,” as the nation faces more days of upheaval.

President William Ruto has said he wants to have dialogue with the protesters and that he is “proud” of them. However, security forces have been accused of abducting prominent Kenyans, particularly those who have large social media followings.

Amnesty International Kenya says it is investigating the whereabouts of up to 12 people who were “abducted in the middle of night” ahead of Tuesday’s planned protests.

The protests come as Kenya’s standing gains global prominence as US President Joe Biden designated the country as a “major non-NATO ally” on Monday, marking the first time a sub-Saharan African nation has received this status.

In May, Biden announced his decision to elevate Kenya to this designation while hosting President Ruto at the White House for a grand state visit, celebrating 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations.

Concerns are mounting in Kenya as reports emerge of protesters going missing amid nationwide demonstrations against proposed tax increases in the Finance Bill 2024.

The protests, which have spread across the country, are part of a movement dubbed the “7 Days of Rage,” calling for a “total shutdown” of Kenya on Tuesday. They say they plan to “occupy” parliament in Kenya’s capital Nairobi.

The protest movement has gained significant traction through social media, where organizers have called on all Kenyans to participate in the nationwide strike.

“Gen Z are granting all hardworking Kenyans a day off,” read a widely circulated poster.

The country’s interior minister has warned that demonstrations must end by sunset or 6.30 p.m local time, whichever is earlier.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindami has addressed the media in Nairobi, urging protesters to remain peaceful and warning against the destruction of property.

“Protesters must not obstruct, block, vandalize, or otherwise destroy any private or public property,” Kindami said at a media conference in Nairobi.

Kindami added that the police would guide demonstrators and restrict access to areas protected under the law for critical infrastructure.

Kindami did not respond to concerns about a few prominent social media users who have been reported missing in recent days.

Recent footage showing a young man being forcibly taken into an SUV has heightened fears and drawn widespread condemnation.

The Law Society of Kenya’s President, Faith Odhiambo, described the incident as an abduction and accused intelligence officers of misconduct.

“Evidently, this was not an arrest as the police did not identify themselves or engage in any conversation prior to the arrest to inform him of his rights,” wrote the president of Law Society of Kenya Faith Odhiambo in a statement. “These criminals pretending to exercise police authority must be stopped.”

The epicenter of the protests is expected to be in Nairobi.

Opposition MP Babu Owino, in a video posted on X, invited protesters to the National Assembly.

“I will personally open the gate for you so you can come in and have tea,” he said. Despite this, the government has warned against attempts to enter any government buildings during the demonstrations.

Human rights groups and associations of content creators have expressed fears of potential internet and media blackouts, which could further escalate tensions.

In a joint statement, 27 organizations warned that such measures would endanger lives and infringe on citizens’ rights to organize, demonstrate, and participate in policymaking.