Three bodies found dumped in a well with gunshot wounds to the head have been confirmed as missing tourists, including a US citizen, Mexican authorities said Sunday.

Relatives of American Jack Carter Rhoad and Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson identified their bodies without having to perform genetic tests, the Baja California Attorney General’s office said in a statement on Sunday.

Three Mexican citizens previously questioned in relation to their disappearance have been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, the attorney general’s office said. One of the suspects was identified as Jesús Gerardo “N,” alias “El Kekas.”

The three friends were on a surfing and camping trip near the town of Ensenada, about 60 miles south of the border city of Tijuana, when they went missing on April 29, and are believed to have been murdered, according to authorities.

Baja California Attorney General Maria Elena Andrade Ramirez met with parents of the victims on Sunday and “reaffirmed the institution’s total commitment to continue the investigation into these unfortunate events until those responsible are fully prosecuted by the law,” she said.

The surfers may have been attacked in an attempted vehicle robbery, officials said, citing preliminary investigations. Baja California has been plagued by cartel violence in recent years, though it rarely occurs in tourist areas like Ensenada.

‘Infectious spirit’

The confirmation of the surfers’ deaths is heartbreaking news for desperate relatives who had flown to Mexico hoping for better news – and for their friends back home.

The siblings went to Coachella music festival a week before they crossed into Mexico with their American friend, planning “to surf for a few days,” parents Martin and Debra Robinson said last week.

“Callum and Jake are beautiful human beings. We love them so much and this breaks our heart,” they said in a statement before departing Perth, Western Australia.

Callum, 33, was a member of Australia’s national lacrosse team and a Stevenson University alumnus. He was based in San Diego, California.

In an Instagram post, the Maryland college said, “Callum will be remembered for his infectious spirit and larger-than-life personality.”

“With his beautiful long hair and charming smile, he truly embodied the nickname ‘big koala’— warm, friendly, and always there to lend a helping hand,” the post said. “Though he may be gone, Callum’s legacy will live on in our hearts forever.”

She said she saw him on the morning he left for Mexico, but quickly felt something was wrong when she didn’t hear from him.

“I don’t know what’s going on but I think he’s mad at me, like something doesn’t seem right,” she said.

‘We need security’

While parts of Mexico are established tourist destinations, violent crime including kidnapping and human trafficking plague parts of the country, particularly in border areas. Mexico’s homicide rate is among the highest in the world, and more than 100,000 people remain missing in the country.

Drug cartels have terrorized the country with ever-increasing levels of violence and cruelty, fueled in part by huge demand for drugs from US consumers and armed with an arsenal of weaponry from north of the border.

In 2015, the bodies of Australian surfers Dean Lucas and Adam Coleman were found in a burned-out van in Sinaloa state. Authorities said they were killed by low-level drug dealers who had been robbing motorists.

The latest suspected murders sparked outrage in the surf community of Ensenda, where about 500 people marched on Sunday to call for justice and better security, Australian public broadcaster ABC reported.

“We are here in solidarity with our friends from Australia and the United States,” local surfer Héctor Estrada told the ABC.

“We are a big community of surfers all over the world and we need security, we need the beaches to be safe [for] camping around, surfing or just playing with your family, friends.”

Another resident, Ana Acosta, told the ABC: “I’m asking for justice and security from the government and for the state to provide to us surfers.”

In a statement Sunday, Mexico’s Foreign Ministry expressed its condolences over the suspected killings.

“The Foreign Ministry stands in solidarity with the families of the victims in this tragic event and deeply regrets the outcome of the events,” it said.

This story has been updated with additional information.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday warned the International Criminal Court against potentially issuing arrest warrants against Israeli leaders and commanders as a result of its investigation into the war in Gaza, saying that doing so would leave an “indelible stain” on the concept of international justice and law.

Netanyahu’s comments, in a televised speech for the opening ceremony of Holocaust Remembrance Day, appeared to be a reference to Israeli media reports that several government officials, including the prime minister, are concerned that such arrest warrants might be imminent.

While the ICC, based in The Hague, has declined to comment about any arrest warrants that could come out of its investigation into the war in Gaza, rumors have swirled in the Israeli press in recent weeks that the court could target Netanyahu and other key Israeli officials.

In his speech Sunday, Netanyahu emphasized that the ICC was “founded as a consequence of the Holocaust” and should not attempt to “undermine” Israel’s fundamental right to self-defense.

He argued that any arrests would restrict Israel’s ability to defend itself, calling it a “distortion of justice and history.”

“Even if Israel is forced to stand alone, we will stand alone, and we will continue to strike our enemies powerfully until victory. Even if we have to stand alone, we will continue to fight human evil,” Netanyahu added.

In a post on X in February, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said his office has “an ongoing and active investigation into the situation in the State of Palestine,” adding that his office was “actively investigating any crimes allegedly committed. Those who are in breach of the law will be held accountable.”

Israel is not a member of the ICC and rejects the court’s jurisdiction. That has not previously stopped the court from investigating its actions in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Fatou Bensouda, a former ICC prosecutor, spent five years conducting a “painstaking preliminary examination” in which she concluded she was “satisfied that war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.” But no arrests were made, and Bensouda left office in 2021.

Since the Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7 that left 1,200 people dead and some 250 taken hostage, both Hamas and Israel have been accused of war crimes. Since Israel launched its devastating military response to that attack, more than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he “cannot accept” Hamas’ demands to end the war in Gaza as the two sides traded blame amid fresh ceasefire talks that showed little sign of a breakthrough.

Discussions are thought to have centered around a new framework, proposed by Cairo, that calls for the militant group to release hostages kidnapped from Israel in exchange for a pause in hostilities in Gaza.

A Hamas delegation has now left Egypt after the latest round of gruelling months of talks, saying “in-depth and serious discussions took place.”

There had been some cause for optimism, with Egyptian media citing an Egyptian official as saying there had been “significant progress” in negotiations. But the latest comments from Israel and Hamas show how far apart the two remain.

On Sunday, Hamas’ political bureau leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement that the group was “still keen” to reach an agreement with mediators but that any proposal would have to guarantee Israeli withdrawal and cease fighting in the enclave permanently.

He reiterated that the delegation carried “positive and flexible positions” aimed at stopping “the aggression against our people, which is a fundamental and logical position that lays the foundation for a more stable future.”

However, referring to the Israeli government, Haniyeh said that “the world has become a hostage to an extremist government, which has a huge number of political problems and crimes committed in Gaza,” and accused its leadership of seeking to “sabotage the efforts made through the mediators and various parties.”

Netanyahu in turn accused Hamas of making unacceptable demands in the Cairo talks, adding that Israel had “demonstrated a willingness to go a long way” in the negotiations.

He said Hamas’s demand that Israel withdraw from Gaza was out of the question.

“Hamas remained entrenched in its extreme positions, chief among them the demand to withdraw all our forces from the strip, end the war, and leave Hamas intact,” he said. “The State of Israel cannot accept this.”

“We are not ready to accept a situation in which the Hamas battalions come out of their bunkers, take control of Gaza again, rebuild their military infrastructure, and return to threatening the citizens of Israel in the surrounding settlements, in the cities of the south, in all parts of the country.”

“Israel will not agree to Hamas’s demands, which mean surrender, and will continue the fighting until all its goals are achieved,” Netanyahu said.

“Several alternatives and scenarios were proposed to overcome the main point of contention related to ending the war,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to address the media.

The source also confirmed that the Hamas delegation is set to leave Cairo for Doha on Sunday evening “to conduct internal consultations on what was discussed during the round of negotiations in Cairo.”

Looming offensive in Rafah

Amid the tense ongoing negotiations is an expected ground offensive on the southern Gazan city of Rafah, where about 1.5 million Palestinians are estimated to be sheltering after fleeing fighting in the north.

The US has sought to increase the pressure on Hamas to accept the deal on the table, while also trying to prevent the Israeli military from moving towards Rafah. Most recently, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held another round of high-stakes talks in Israel on Wednesday.

However, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told troops on Sunday to expect “intense action in Rafah in the near future, and in other places all over the strip.”

Galant entered the enclave Sunday morning, according to the Defense Ministry, where he told soldiers that Israel was “committed to the elimination of Hamas and the release of the hostages.”

“We recognize alarming signs that Hamas actually does not intend to go to any outline agreement with us, the meaning of this – action in Rafah and the entire Gaza Strip in the near future,” Gallant said.

“We are just before an action, we’re in high readiness, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) knows what to do, we are prepared for things and it will encompass the entire strip from north to south, all the area and within it Rafah.”

On Sunday, six Palestinians – including two women and three children – were killed in an airstrike on Rafah, according to a medical source at Abu Yousuf Al-Najaf Hospital.

The source said the airstrike struck a house belonging to the Al-Attar family in the Yabna camp in central Rafah.

Rocket barrage near Kerem Shalom

Meanwhile, Israel closed the Kerem Shalom border crossing to humanitarian trucks after it was hit by at least 10 rockets on Sunday morning, according to the IDF.

The crossing has been central to getting aid into Gaza.

It wasn’t immediately clear where exactly the rockets had landed in the area or if there were any injuries or fatalities. The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, said it had targeted the crossing with rockets.

Following the rocket barrage, Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) blamed Hamas aid not reaching the besieged strip.

In a post on X, COGAT said: “Hamas will do anything to prevent aid from reaching the people of Gaza. Over the last few days and in separate incidents: Hamas shot mortars at the corridor for humanitarian purposes, disrupted aid from traveling from southern to northern Gaza, and prevented residents from receiving humanitarian aid.”

A 17-year-old boy handed himself in to police after admitting that he attacked a German politician on Friday.

Police say that Matthias Ecke, the candidate for the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) in the upcoming European elections, was attacked when putting up campaign posters.

According to Saxony Police, the minor went to a police station in the early hours of Sunday morning and confessed to attacking the SPD politician in the east German city of Dresden.

A further three people are also suspected of carrying out the attack alongside the minor, police said, though their whereabouts are unknown.

A second campaigner – for the Greens Party – was also attacked by the group of four, police said earlier on X.

The SPD Saxony branch blamed the far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD) for the violence. AfD has been steadily gaining support across the country, especially in Eastern States like Saxony.

“Yesterday our top candidate for the European elections Matthias Ecke was attacked while he was installing posters and seriously injured. Violence and intimidation of democrats are the means of fascists. The seeds sown by the AfD and other right-wing extremists are sprouting,” SPD Saxony said on X Saturday.

Jörg Urban, party leader of the AfD in Saxony, referenced the attack in a post on X, writing that “attacks on politicians are always attacks on democracy.”

While Urban said that he condemns such attacks, he also suggested that “the SPD must ask itself to what extent its constant agitation against political dissidents contributes to such escalations.”

Olaf Scholz, the Chancellor of Germany, also posted to social media about the attack, writing on X: “Attacks such as the one on MEP Matthias Ecke and other candidates threaten our democracy. We must stand together against them.”

“I wish Matthias Ecke a speedy recovery,” Scholz said.

Boeing’s spaceflight program may reach a significant milestone Monday night with the launch of its Starliner spacecraft, carrying — at long last — two NASA astronauts to orbit.

The mission, dubbed the Crew Flight Test, could take off as soon as Monday at 10:34 p.m. ET from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Live coverage of the event will stream on NASA channels beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET Monday, according to the space agency.

The occasion is a decade in the making — the culmination of Boeing’s efforts to develop a spacecraft worthy of ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.

Development hang-ups, test flight problems and other costly setbacks have slowed Starliner’s path to the launchpad. Meanwhile, Boeing’s rival under NASA’s commercial crew program — SpaceX — has become the go-to transportation provider for the space agency’s astronauts.

Now, NASA and Boeing have finally deemed the Starliner spacecraft ready for its ultimate test: allowing astronauts to test-drive the vehicle in outer space.

Veteran NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore will be on board Monday’s mission, riding Starliner to the International Space Station for a weeklong stay.

Throughout their flight, Wilmore and Williams will conduct a series of tests, including briefly taking over the controls of the autonomous spacecraft and evaluating how the vehicle operates for astronauts.

A smooth flight could be a winning moment for Boeing’s spaceflight program and the company overall, which has been in the hotseat due to issues with its commercial airplane division.

Here’s what to know about Starliner’s journey before its historic crewed test flight.

The human component

Officials at Boeing have sought to make clear that Starliner operates separately from the sector at the company responsible for commercial aircraft. And the Starliner team’s primary interest is in ensuring a smooth test mission and crew safety, according to Mark Nappi, vice president and Starliner program manager at Boeing.

“We have humans flying on this vehicle. We always take that so seriously,” Nappi said during a news briefing last week. “I spent my career in this business, and it always has been the top of the list.”

The two Starliner astronauts have waited years for the spacecraft to be deemed ready to carry crew. After several astronauts rotated in and out of assignments on Starliner’s Crew Flight Test, Wilmore received his appointment in 2020. NASA moved Williams onto this flight in 2022 after initially assigning her in 2018 to a later Starliner mission.

“We’ve had a couple (of) launch dates, and we’ve been like, ‘OK, we’re ready to go,’” Williams said at a Wednesday news conference. “But now it’s like, heck — five days. It is actually, finally real, and I sort of have to pinch myself a little bit to understand, actually, we’re going.”

At a news briefing last month, Steve Stich, the program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said that NASA required Boeing and SpaceX to meet a certain threshold regarding the risk the mission would result in the death of astronauts — 1 in 270.

“Boeing exceeds that number with a 1 in 295 loss of crew number,” he said.

Starliner’s rocky path

Boeing received a NASA contract to build Starliner in 2014 at the same time the space agency selected SpaceX to build its Crew Dragon capsule.

NASA gave the companies deals worth up to $6.8 billion combined, hoping that Boeing and SpaceX would both have their capsules ready to fly as soon as 2017.

That expectation didn’t pan out.

SpaceX took longer than planned, flying the inaugural astronaut launch of its Crew Dragon capsule in the summer of 2020. It has since completed 13 missions to orbit for NASA astronauts and paying customers.

But Boeing — despite NASA officials initially believing the Starliner would be ready before SpaceX’s Crew Dragon — faced years of additional delays, setbacks and added expenses that have cost the company more than $1 billion, according to public financial records.

Notably, the first Starliner test mission, flown without crew in late 2019, was riddled with missteps. The vehicle misfired in orbit, a symptom of software problems that included a coding error that set an internal clock off by 11 hours.

A second uncrewed flight test in 2022 uncovered additional software issues and trouble with some of the vehicle’s thrusters.

Those hang-ups delayed the inaugural crewed flight into 2023. But then a new slate of problems arose — the spacecraft’s parachutes had some components that were weaker than expected, and tape in the vehicle was found to be flammable.

Boeing then had to remove more than a mile’s worth of that tape and complete additional tests of the parachutes.

Finally, after a decade of development, NASA and Boeing have cleared the vehicle to fly astronauts.

‘Everything’s not going to be absolutely perfect’

Williams and Wilmore have taken a measured approach when responding to questions about the Starliner spacecraft’s development woes.

“I understand it when you say ‘setback,’” Wilmore said during the recent news conference. “But honestly, with all the discovery — that’s what we would term it — that we’ve had, it’s been steps forward.

“It’s not been a setback, it’s been pressing forward,” he said. “And our families have lived that with us.”

Williams added that she is prepared to go into Monday’s mission with the expectation that small issues may arise.

“We always find stuff, and we are going to continually find stuff,” she said Wednesday. “Everything’s not going to be absolutely perfect as we fly the spacecraft. And that’s really what our goal is. We’ve got it to a point — all of us, big team — got it to a point that we feel very safe and comfortable with how this spacecraft flies, and we have backup procedures in case we need those.”

“We’re here,” Williams said, “because we’re ready.”

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the operations of Qatar-based news network Al Jazeera will be closed in the country.

Netanyahu said in a post on X: “The government headed by me unanimously decided: the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel.”

Ofir Gendelman, the prime minister’s spokesperson to the Arab world, said Sunday that the decision would be “implemented immediately.”

In a post on X, Gendelman said that the network’s “broadcast equipment will be confiscated, the channel’s correspondents will be prevented from working, the channel will be removed from cable and satellite television companies, and Al Jazeera’s websites will be blocked on the Internet.

He quoted Netanyahu as saying: “Al Jazeera reporters harmed Israel’s security and incited IDF soldiers. It is time to expel the mouthpiece of Hamas from our country.”

Al Jazeera did not immediately respond to the closure on Sunday but have previously accused Netanyahu of resorting to “inflammatory slanders” that jeopardized not only the outlet’s reputation but also the safety and rights of its employees worldwide.

The move comes a month after Netanyahu vowed to shut down the television channel in the country following the passage of a sweeping law allowing the government to ban foreign networks perceived as posing a threat to national security.

Netanyahu said on X in early April that he intended “to act immediately in accordance with the new law” to stop the outlet’s activity in the country. Netanyahu’s government has long complained about Al Jazeera’s operations, alleging anti-Israeli bias.

In response, Al Jazeera – which has been producing on the ground reporting of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza – slammed the decision and vowed to continue its “bold and professional coverage.”

The new law gave the prime minister and communications minister authority to order the temporary closure of foreign networks operating in Israel – powers that rights groups say could have far-reaching implications on international media coverage of the war in Gaza.

Rights groups condemned the move at the time, with Human Rights Watch calling it “an alarming escalation,” while the Committee to Protect Journalists said it was “deeply concerned” by the new legislation.

The move comes as negotiators met in Cairo on Saturday, in a bid to secure a ceasefire and hostage deal.

Negotiators have made progress on the technical aspects of a potential deal, but two Israeli sources say it could take a week to finalize the deal itself. Qatar has played a key role in ceasefire negotiations in the on-going war.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Australian police shot dead a teenage boy after he stabbed an injured a man in an attack that had the “hallmarks” of terror, authorities said.

The teenager, described as a 16-year-old Caucasian male, was armed with a knife when he carried out the attack in a suburb of Perth, Western Australia (WA) Premier Roger Cook said.

WA police commissioner Col Blanch said that the attack “has the hallmarks” of a terrorist act, adding that it “meets the criteria or at least the definition” of this type of crime.

Blanch said that on Saturday night, local police received a call from a male indicating that “he was going to commit acts of violence.”

Police received another call from a person minutes later stating that a man with a knife was running around, Blanch continued. Police immediately responded to that call, he said, and three officers were dispatched.

When the officers arrived at the scene, they were confronted by the teen, who was alone and holding a “large kitchen knife,” Blanch said.

The officers ordered him to put down the knife, but the suspect refused, instead rushing the police. Two tasers were deployed and when they failed to subdue him, the third officer “fired a single shot and fatally wounded the male,” Blanch continued.

Police discovered after the shooting that the teen had stabbed and injured a middle aged man prior to his confrontation with the police.

The victim is currently in hospital in a serious but stable condition with a wound in his back, Blanch said.

The teen was known to the police prior to the incident, Blanch said, as “he was part of a program about online radicalization for the last couple of years.”

“We are dealing with complex issues with this 16 year old male, both mental health issues but also online radicalization issues,” Blanch said.

The program focused on covering violent extremism for those that are exhibiting concerning behavior, Blanch said.

Blanch said police received multiple calls both before and after the incident from members of Western Australia’s Muslim community who had concerns about the individual.

“I do want to thank members of the Muslim community who did that because that enabled us to identify rapidly who this individual was and respond as [quickly] as we did,” Blanch said.

In a statement released Sunday regarding the incident, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “We are a peace-loving nation and there is no place for violent extremism in Australia.”

The incident comes after last month’s stabbing of a priest and bishop at a church in Sydney. Police have arrested a 16-year-old over the attack, which they described as a terrorist act.

When Xi Jinping arrived in Italy for a state visit in 2019, he was given a lavish welcome, with private tours of Roman landmarks and a dinner serenaded by opera singer Andrea Bocelli, topped with a crowning flourish – Italy’s decision to join Xi’s signature Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.

Five years later, on his first return to the continent since then, the Chinese leader will land in a very different climate. While the pomp and ceremony may remain as Xi begins his six-day European tour in France on Sunday, views on China across the continent have shifted dramatically.

In the past weeks alone, the European Union has launched trade probes into China’s wind turbines and procurement of medical equipment, and raided offices of Chinese security equipment maker Nuctech as part of an investigation into subsidies. Germany and the United Kingdom in recent days also arrested or charged at least six people for alleged espionage and related crimes linked to China.

And in March, Italy formally exited the Belt and Road, costing the program its only G7 member country, in a blow to China and its leader.

Behind these developments are mounting economic grievances that have the EU preparing for a potential major trade confrontation with China – as well as growing suspicions about Beijing’s global ambitions and influence driven by alarm over China’s deepening ties with Russia as it wages war against Ukraine.

“China is seen increasingly as a multi-faceted threat in many European capitals. But there are divisions within Europe over how fast and far to go in addressing concerns about China, both in the economic and security spheres,” said Noah Barkin, a Berlin-based visiting senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Now, Xi’s trip – with stops in France, Serbia and Hungary – is an opportunity to woo his critics, but also showcase that even as views are hardening in some parts of Europe, others still welcome China with open arms.

Beijing is keen to dampen Europe’s push to address alleged trade distortions, which would come at a bad time for its flagging economy. It also wants to ensure Europe doesn’t draw any closer to the US, especially amid uncertainty over the outcome of the upcoming US election.

Major breakthroughs with China’s toughest critics will be hard to come by unless Xi is ready to make surprise concessions. And the trip could instead serve to underscore divisions – not only between Europe and China – but those within Europe that could play to China’s favor, analysts say.

Trade frictions

Xi’s visit is set to start with one of his toughest critics.

The Chinese leader is slated to meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen alongside French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.

Von der Leyen has spearheaded the EU’s rallying cry to “derisk” its supply chains from China over concerns about securing its key technologies, and is driving a high-stakes anti-subsidy investigation backed by France into the influx of Chinese electric vehicle (EV) imports to Europe.

China earlier this year opened an investigation into the price of EU-imported brandy in a move that could hit France’s cognac sector and is widely seen as retaliation for the probe.

In his meetings, Xi will likely press Beijing’s message that “derisking” from China is perilous for Europe – while pushing back on European concerns about China’s alleged overcapacity and subsidies and instead highlighting the role Chinese EVs can play in European and global efforts to reduce the use of fossil fuels.

Xi used similar rhetoric in a meeting in Beijing with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last month, in which critics accused the German leader of being too soft on China.

But such talk, without any tangible trade or reciprocal market-access commitments, is unlikely to move the needle for Von der Leyen, who wants to find ways to address perceived trade distortions before EU parliamentary elections in June, observers say.

Xi may instead see more opportunity to win goodwill during his one-on-one time with Macron, which is expected to include not only meetings in Paris but what Elysee sources described as more “personal” time in the Pyrenees mountains of southern France.

“France has built this reputation of being a fairly independent actor in the EU and willing to create some space with the US,” said Chong Ja Ian, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore.

“Xi may want to work on Macron to see if he can get more European distance from North America,” as well as tightening his rapport with this important EU player, Chong said.

Push for peace

The war in Ukraine – a crucial sore point in Europe-China relations – is also expected to be on the agenda in meetings early this week, where Xi may seek to bolster China’s attempts to position itself as peacemaker.

“President Xi will explain to President Macron about China’s relations with Russia … (that) China can be a broker to bridge the gaps between Europe and Russia,” said Wang Yiwei, a professor of international relations at Beijing’s Renmin University, pointing to an upcoming peace summit in Switzerland as a potential venue for a diplomatic push.

But Beijing has appeared to do little to move the Kremlin toward European visions for peace in Ukraine, despite repeated efforts to push Xi to use his rapport with President Vladimir Putin. Putin has said he plans to visit China this month, according to Russian state media.

Xi’s visit comes as the US and its European allies grow increasingly vocal about concerns China’s exports of dual-use goods to Russia are powering its war machine. Beijing defends that trade as a regular part of its bilateral relations.

Macron and Von der Leyen would likely warn Xi their relationship “risks deteriorating further” if China continues to provide those goods, according to Barkin in Berlin.

However, “there is little evidence that these messages are leading to noticeable changes in Beijing’s behavior,” he said, adding that “at some point soon” Europe could decide to move more aggressively in sanctioning Chinese firms selling such goods.

A warmer welcome

Xi’s stops in Serbia and Hungary are likely to be much less contentious – something the Chinese government likely factored in when mapping out the visit, observers say.

“In Belgrade and Budapest, Xi will not have to listen to the criticism he hears in other European capitals,” said Barkin. “Their leaders welcome Chinese investment, and they don’t have a problem with China’s deepening ties to Russia.”

Xi’s visit to Belgrade will coincide with the week of the 25th anniversary of NATO’s bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade that killed three. The attack, part of a wider bombing campaign by NATO in the Balkans during the spring of 1999, drove Beijing’s deep enmity for the alliance, even as the US said it was an accident.

Any commemoration of the event by Xi could underscore the deep divisions between the China and NATO, which Beijing sees as an embodiment of American overreach and a source of Europe’s security challenges – a view that has driven it closer to Russia.

Xi may also look to highlight Chinese investments in both Belgrade and Budapest in a message to the rest of Europe.

Non-EU member Serbia, which Beijing earlier this week described as an “iron-clad” friend, has seen growing trade and investment ties with China under President Aleksandar Vučić.

In January, the Balkan nation announced a deal that could see more than $2 billion of Chinese investment in wind and solar power plants and a hydrogen production facility, Reuters reported at the time.

In Hungary, Xi will look to deepen his relationship with increasingly authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban – a useful ally for China in the European Union, where he has blocked or criticized EU efforts to hold China to account on human rights issues.

The central European country has also emerged as an increasingly important production hub in Europe for Chinese automotive suppliers including EV makers – a situation that analysts say could help Chinese firms maneuver around existing and potential EU tariffs.

That means Xi is likely to exit his trip on a very different note from the one he begins with.

“There, at least, the optics will be that there’s a lot of acceptance of Xi,” said Chong.

Taiwan’s leaders are working on an ambitious new satellite system to keep the island online in case of disaster, as it deals with the constant threat of hostilities with China.

Once the system is up and running, it could work in a similar way to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite system in providing internet access – albeit at a much smaller scale, said Wu, who has led Taiwan’s space programs since 2021.

Starlink, operated by Musk’s SpaceX, uses a network of thousands of satellites to deliver the internet to users all over the world, including areas where conventional connections are unavailable.

It has been used by Ukraine’s military on battlefronts as it defends against Russia’s invasion. In Gaza, devastated by Israel’s war against Hamas, it has allowed staff at a field hospital to conduct real-time video medical consultations.

But Taiwan does not have access to Starlink because SpaceX insisted on having majority ownership over a proposed joint venture, a demand incompatible with local Taiwanese laws. This was part of the reason Taiwan developed its own technology.

“The communication satellite is very important for our communication resilience during urgent periods,” Wu said, calling it his agency’s most sensitive project. “That’s very important for us, so we take it very, very seriously.”

A vulnerable network

Taiwan’s unique geopolitical landscape and location, about 100 miles off the coast of China, adds urgency to an ambitious project. China’s ruling Communist Party claims the island as part of its territory, and has repeatedly vowed to take it by force, if necessary.

Currently, Taiwan’s connectivity is served by 15 submarine internet cables that link it with the rest of the world. But these cables are susceptible to damage. Last year, a group of outlying Taiwanese islands were cut off from the internet for weeks after two submarine cables connecting them to Taiwan’s main island were damaged by passing ships.

High-speed internet is crucial to the normal function of any society but, in Taiwan’s case, a deliberate attempt to sabotage the system could have other repercussions. In a report published by the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a Taiwanese government-affiliated research body, experts warned that if Beijing were to cut internet cables around Taiwan, it could disrupt regular communications and cause widespread panic.

Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at Australian National University, estimated that Taiwan would need at least 50 satellites to provide “fairly decent” emergency coverage with its own satellite constellation – and the more the better.

“In order to really have the reliability bandwidth, so that everyone can service it, you’re going to need quite a lot more [satellites], you’re probably talking about in the hundreds,” he said.

“If a country is dedicated to it, it could definitely complete it,” he added. “Because the hard part is really just getting the funding to launch them all.”

Su Tzu-yun, a director of Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said while it would be “unrealistic” to think Taiwan would be able to provide all-round internet coverage with just a few indigenous satellites, the space project is valuable in the long run.

“Taiwan’s development in this area is very meaningful, because it allows us to enter the space industry and provides greater flexibility for our military to access communication systems in our weapons development in the future,” he said.

And before Taiwan achieves that capability, the island can still provide backup connectivity in the foreseeable future by partnering with OneWeb, a satellite communications system headquartered in London, and other maritime satellite systems, he added.

Bolstering resilience

Ensuring that Taiwan’s communication systems stay functional in extraordinary times has been a growing priority for the island’s top leaders in recent years. Besides tasking the space agency with the satellite project, the Taiwanese government established a digital affairs ministry in 2022 to boost communication resilience. That ministry has been partnering with overseas satellite service providers and installing new terminal equipment in remote locations of Taiwan to provide connectivity.

By the end of 2024, 700 hot spots will be established across the island to allow for satellite communications during emergency situations, authorities announced in March. The initiative proved useful during a magnitude 7.4 earthquake that hit eastern Taiwan in early April.

While traditional communication systems were disrupted near the epicenter, authorities successfully used OneWeb to provide emergency internet access for rescuers and stranded personnel.

In the future, Taiwan’s satellite system could replace third-party deals, but Wu, the space agency director, declined to provide more specific details about the project’s timeline. According to people familiar with the matter, the new administration is set to release an updated blueprint and timeline of its space programs, including its communication satellite project, after Taiwan’s President-elect Lai Ching-te takes office on May 20.

Big ambitions in space

Taiwan’s space ambitions extend beyond developing indigenous communication satellites.

Wu said a key objective has been to create a new industry in Taiwan that can capture growing opportunities in space projects internationally. Last year, President Tsai Ing-wen announced a NT$25.1 billion ($790 million) investment in the island’s space programs in the coming decade, with the goal of assisting companies in various industries – including chip design and precision machinery – to enter the space industry.

Despite its relatively small size, Wu believes Taiwan is a desirable location to develop space projects because of its undisputed role as a leader in advanced semiconductor chips – which are needed to power everything from computers to artificial intelligence.

One Taiwanese firm in particular, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), produces an estimated 90% of the world’s super-advanced semiconductors and supplies to global tech giants such as Apple and Nvidia.

Besides semiconductors, Wu believes Taiwan’s advances in information technology and precision machinery also provide advantages to the development of its space industry.

“Satellites are very complicated systems,” he said. “In a satellite, you have 20,000 to 30,000 components. Once you send it into space, there is no way you can call it back and repair it, so it’s very tough, and it’s very expensive.”

To accelerate its development, Taiwan’s space agency has also been working to develop a rocket system that can launch satellites into space. Taiwan has relied on overseas providers to send its satellites into space, such as the Triton, an indigenous weather satellite launched last year from French Guiana in South America.

“We are working on a launch vehicle, and we intend to launch rockets into our low-Earth orbit starting in 2030,” Wu said, referring to satellite orbits with an altitude lower than 1,000km above Earth. Once Taiwan possesses that technology, it will be able to conduct test flights more frequently.

“We do have a solid foundation, and right now, I think we are ready to take on the adventure more aggressively,” he added.

The Indonesian government will permanently relocate almost 10,000 residents after a series of explosive eruptions of the Ruang volcano has raised concerns about the dangers of residing on the island in future, a minister said on Friday.

About 9,800 people live on Ruang island, in the province of North Sulawesi, but in recent weeks all residents have been forced to evacuate after the mountain has continued to spew incandescent lava and columns of ash kilometers into the sky.

Authorities this week raised the alert status of the volcano to the highest level, closed the provincial airport in Manado, and also warned of the a possible tsunami if parts of the mountain collapse into the surrounding waters.

Hundreds of “simple but permanent” homes would be built in the Bolaang Mongondow area to facilitate the relocations, said Coordinating Human Development Minister Muhadjir Effendy, after a cabinet meeting to discuss the volcano on Friday.

“As instructed by President Joko Widodo, we will build houses that meet disaster-standards,” he said, adding that the site was located about 200 km (125 miles) from Ruang island.

Mount Ruang began to dramatically erupt last month, with experts saying the eruptions were triggered by increased seismic activity, including deep sea earthquakes.

The mountain erupted again on Tuesday, causing damage to some homes and forcing residents to evacuate from the Tagulandang island, where they had initially sought refuge, to the provincial capital of Manado.

Roads and buildings on Tagulandang were blanketed in a thick layer of volcanic ash, and the roofs of some homes had collapsed, according a Reuters witness.

The volcano had not erupted on Friday but Manado’s Sam Ratulangi Airport remained closed until the evening due to the spread of volcanic ash.

Indonesia straddles the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire,” an area of high seismic activity where multiple tectonic plates meet.