Stargazers are in for a treat this week: The full moon returns for its May engagement, peaking on Thursday morning.

May’s full moon is known as the flower moon, a reference to its appearance in late spring, when many flowering plants begin to bloom again after their winter slumber. The glowing orb will reach maximum illumination on Thursday at 9:53 a.m. ET, according to NASA.

The best time to view the moon, though, is at night on Wednesday and Thursday, since it will be below the horizon during its peak in some regions, according to the Farmer’s Almanac. The flower moon will begin to rise after sunset on Wednesday, reaching its highest point after midnight, per EarthSky.

In some parts of the world, including the Washington, DC area, the full moon will come so close to the bright star Antares on Thursday night that the star will appear to vanish behind the moon, according to NASA.

The flower moon name is thought to have originated among the Algonquin people who live in Canada and parts of the northeastern United States, according to the Farmer’s Almanac. But ancient groups coined several creative names for May’s full moon that mark the arrival of warmer weather and the new life that grows during the spring.

Its old English name is “milk moon,” according to NASA, a reference to the archaic English word for the month we now call May. The eighth-century monk St. Bede the Venerable referred to May as the month of three milkings –– in the medieval era, people believed that cows could be milked at least three times daily in late spring.

Other names for May’s full moon include “frog moon,” from the Cree people of Canada’s North Plains — likely a nod to the spring peeper frog and its birdlike chirp, which is a harbinger of warm weather. The Dakota and Lakota people of the US Great Plains also called the celestial spectacle the “planting moon” to mark the agricultural practice of planting in the spring for a healthy harvest.

The flower moon played a minor role in a particularly dark period of US history. Martin Scorsese’s recent Oscar-nominated historical drama “Killers of the Flower Moon” explores a series of murders of Osage people in Oklahoma. The killings began in May 1921, the month of the flower moon.

Remaining moons of 2024

Of the 12 full moons this year, the September and October lunar events will be considered supermoons, according to EarthSky.

Definitions of a supermoon can vary, but the term generally denotes a full moon that is closer to Earth than normal and thus appears larger and brighter in the night sky. Some astronomers say the phenomenon occurs when the moon is within 90% of perigee — its closest approach to Earth in orbit.

Here are the remaining full moons of the year:

June 21: Strawberry moon

July 21: Buck moon

August 19: Sturgeon moon

September 17: Harvest moon

October 17: Hunter’s moon

November 15: Beaver moon

December 15: Cold moon

There are some towns that Ukraine can just never afford to lose, and Lyptsi is one of them.

But the grip the nation keeps is tenuous: The streets are aflame from an airstrike moments earlier when we race in, under the cover of darkness. Night affords them the only respite from drone assault; the hours before we arrive have seen the town hit eight times.

Yet the soldiers of the 13th Khartiia National Guard have to endure, as the stakes here are huge. Russia’s relentless onslaught has a key goal: If they take Lyptsi, then they can position artillery within range of Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, 20 minutes down the road.

Down in a bunker, Oleksandr, a commander, looks at one of his many drone feeds. “You saw yourself how everything is burning. It is like that every night.”

His men were among the first to tackle Russia’s new advance into Kharkiv region nearly two weeks ago. He says they are fighting trained professional soldiers.

“We can see it from their equipment and tactics,” he says. “They’re not sending just anyone into the assaults.”

His stare lengthens when asked about what fortifications were in place before the surprise Russian attack. “Nothing was prepared here. Nothing. Just nothing. All the positions are being built by the hands of infantry.”

Outside, the night is shaken by more blasts. “Three weeks ago the civilians were living a peaceful life here. Rebuilding, everything was all right,” he says. “And now most of the houses are ruined.”

As we leave, a loud drone buzzes overhead, close by. Our escort does not flinch or run. I ask if the drone is friendly. “How the f*** should I know?” he replies, tugging on a cigarette.

Another unit is forced to use a Soviet artillery gun made in the 1940s. Hidden in dense foliage, its metal is rusty in parts, limiting how often it can be fired. Artun, their commander, uses newer Polish shells, but now only fires 10 a day, when in the autumn it was 100.

Drones are “a big problem,” Artun says. “I have shrapnel in me as a keepsake,” he adds, referring to the remnants of a Russian Lancet drone still in his hand and stomach, which the surgeons could not remove. “But there are certain actions that can save you from drones.”

One of them springs into life: an alert from a $30 frequency scanner on his webbing. It has picked up the approach of another Orlan drone, sending Artun into the bunker. He looks out into the sky above, and sees it pass overhead. He commands a diverse unit, epitomizing the manpower challenges Ukraine is facing in its third year of war. Some, like him, are wounded infantrymen, put on the guns further back from the front. Others are older, while one of his team is on his first day in artillery.

For nearly two years, Kharkiv thought the threat from its neighbour had passed. A lightning Russian retreat in late 2022 left Kharkiv region peaceful and the launchpad for Ukrainian attacks across the border into Russia proper. Attacks persisted in the distance however, keeping the city’s residents awake through violently loud nights, now amplified by the threat of Russian artillery edging closer. Flares, anti-aircraft fire, and blasts regularly punctuate the enforced blackout, as Russian drones, rockets and airstrikes hit targets in the dark.

On Wednesday, city officials reported an attack on a gas station, which left four people in hospital. On Sunday, two missiles struck a lakeside resort in Cherkaska Lozova, outside the city — a horrifying attack on a civilian target which also used a “double-tap” tactic, in which a second missile hit 10 minutes after the first, injuring first responders.

A few hours after Sunday’s blasts, rescue workers clambered over the ruins of a waterside terrace, retrieving two bodies from the seven who died in the attack. One was a woman, seven months pregnant. Another was only found later, their body fragments in the wreckage. As police combed the eviscerated terrace on the lake for evidence, another air alert sounded, causing half the workers to flee for cover, and some to carry on, almost oblivious.

The sun has a powerful magnetic field that creates sunspots on the star’s surface and unleashes solar storms such as the one that bathed much of the planet in beautiful auroras this month.

But exactly how that magnetic field is generated inside the sun is a puzzle that has vexed astronomers for centuries, going back to the time of Italian astronomer Galileo, who made the first observations of sunspots in the early 1600s, and noticed how they varied over time.

Researchers behind an interdisciplinary study have put forth a new theory in a report published Wednesday in the journal Nature. In contrast to previous research that assumed the sun’s magnetic field originates from deep within the celestial body, they suspect the the source is much closer to the surface.

The model developed by the team could help scientists better understand the 11-year solar cycle and improve the forecasting of space weather, which can disrupt GPS and communication satellites as well as dazzle night sky watchers with auroras.

“This work proposes a new hypothesis for how the sun’s magnetic field is generated that better matches solar observations, and, we hope, could be used to make better predictions of solar activity,” said Daniel Lecoanet, an assistant professor of engineering sciences and applied mathematics at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering and a member of the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics.

“We want to forecast if the next solar cycle will be particularly strong, or maybe weaker than normal. The previous models (assuming the solar magnetic field is generated deep within the Sun) have not been able to make accurate forecasts or (determine) if the next solar cycle will be strong or weak,” he added.

Sunspots help scientists track the sun’s activity. They are the origin point for the explosive flares and ejection events that release light, solar material and energy into space. The recent solar storm is evidence of the sun approaching “solar maximum” — the point in its 11-year cycle when there is the highest number of sunspots.

“Because we think the number of sunspots tracks with the strength of the magnetic field within the Sun, we think the 11-year sunspot cycle is reflecting a cycle in the strength of the Sun’s interior magnetic field,” Lecoanet said.

Modeling the sun’s magnetic field

It’s difficult to see the sun’s magnetic field lines, which loop through the solar atmosphere to form a complicated web of magnetic structures far more complex than Earth’s magnetic field. To better grasp how the sun’s magnetic field works, scientists turn to mathematical models.

In a scientific first, the model that Lecoanet and his colleagues developed accounted for a phenomenon called torsional oscillation — magnetically driven flows of gas and plasma within and around the sun that contribute to sunspot formation.

In some areas, the rotation of this solar feature speeds up or slows down, while in others it remains steady. Like the 11-year solar magnetic cycle, torsional oscillations also experience an 11-year cycle.

“Solar observations have given us a good idea for how material moves around inside of the Sun. For our supercomputing calculations, we solved equations to determine how the magnetic field changes within the Sun due to the observed motions,” Lecoanet said.

“No one had done this calculation before because no one knew how to efficiently perform the calculation,” he added.

The group’s calculations showed that magnetic fields can be generated about 20,000 miles (32,100 kilometers) below the sun’s surface — far closer to the surface than had previously been assumed. Other models had suggested it was much deeper — around 130,000 miles (209,200 kilometers).

“Our new hypothesis provides a natural explanation for the torsional oscillations that is missing from previous models,” Lecoanet said.

‘Astrophysical enigma’

An important breakthrough was developing new numerical algorithms for running the calculations, Lecoanet said. The paper’s lead author Geoff Vasil, a professor at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, came up with the idea about 20 years ago, Lecoanet said, but it took over 10 years to develop the algorithms and required a powerful NASA supercomputer to conduct the simulations.

“We have used around 15 million CPU-hours for this investigation,” he said. “That means that if I had tried to run the calculations on my laptop, it would have taken me about 450 years.”

In a commentary published alongside the study, Ellen Zweibel, a professor of astronomy and physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the initial results were intriguing and would help inform future models and research. She was not involved in the study.

Zweibel said the team had added “a provocative ingredient to the theoretical mix that could prove key to unravelling this astrophysical enigma.”

Greater spotted eagles are already a species under threat. Now, scientists have found that they have been facing yet another danger: the war in Ukraine.

Eagles have been exposed to conflict events while migrating through Ukraine, forcing them to deviate from their usual flight path, according to a study published Monday in the journal Current Biology.

Listed as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, greater spotted eagles have been largely eradicated from western and central Europe, according to the study.

However, Polesia, a large wetland region that borders Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia, remains a stronghold for the species.

On March 1, 2022, a week after Russia invaded Ukraine, the first of 21 tagged greater spotted eagles crossed into Ukraine on its usual migration, according to researchers from the UK and Estonia.

Using conflict data and GPS tracking, the researchers quantified the impact of the conflict on the migratory behaviour of 19 eagles who were passing though Ukraine northward to breeding grounds in southern Belarus between March and April 2022.

The study authors found that the eagles diverted significantly from their usual flight path when compared to pre-conflict migrations between 2019 and 2021, with the eagles flying further and less directly to breeding grounds.

While the researchers did not have direct observational evidence to determine the stimuli the birds could respond to, they thought noise and light from military activities could have affected their behavior.

The deviations were found to be greater at areas where the route of migration coincided with more military activity, but it differed for each bird due to varying exposures and responses to conflict, according to the researchers.

Due to greater deviations, the birds had to travel further and their migrations also took longer to complete.

Females, for example, spent an average of 246 hours travelling to breeding grounds, rather than the pre-conflict time of around 193 hours, according to the study.

The eagles travelled 85 kilometers (53 miles) further on average and, in an extreme case, one bird flew an extra 250 kilometers (155 miles) further compared to previous years, Russell said.

Males were found to travel more slowly, averaging a speed of around 7.66 meters (25 feet) per second, rather than the pre-conflict average of around 9.75 meters (32 feet) per second.

The researchers observed no difference in migration performance and deviation patterns outside of Ukraine, according to the study.

Potential breeding risk

The other significant finding was that the birds were making less stopovers than in previous years.

Stopover sites are essential places for the eagles to get food, water, rest and refuel, and shelter from poor weather during their long journeys, according to researchers.

While 18 tracked individuals – 90% of the tracked eagles – made stopovers in Ukraine while migrating between 2018 and 2021, only six made stopovers in 2022.

In the years before the conflict, 11 of the eagles used common stopover sites in Ukrainian Polesia, but these sites were not used at all in 2022.

“The combination of these two things, having to fly forever and expend more energy, and the reduced ability to recover that energy, is something that we think will have had sublethal fitness costs, which might have carried over into the breeding period that year,” Russell added.

Reduced fitness and the delayed onset of breeding due to spending more time recovering from the journey could reduce breeding success, which is already relatively low in the population, as well as impact chick provisioning and the fledgling date of young birds, according to the study.

“I think it’s very important to understand the different stresses that the environment is facing as a result of conflict so that in a post-conflict setting, we can better support not just greater spotted eagles but the wider ecosystems as well to recover,” Russell said.

Pettorelli, who was not involved in the study, added that understanding what affects the eagles’ survival is “key” to ensuring they have a future.

“More broadly, human conflicts are on the rise globally, stressing the need for more research on the impacts of conflicts on biodiversity and, where possible, for the development of effective mitigation policies,” Pettorelli said.

Ukraine accused Russia of “ecocide” after suffering an environmental catastrophe in July due to the collapse of the Kakhovka dam in the south of the country that led to more than 100 people being killed, as well as the destruction of farmland and nature reserves.

Russell said the war in Ukraine is “really raising the profile of some of the environmental issues caused by conflict. And it’s not just in Ukraine. This is something that’ll be happening to different extents at other conflict zones as well.”

President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency threw down a gauntlet on climate this spring, pushing carmakers toward electric vehicles, cracking down on natural gas leaks and forcing power plants to get their planet-warming pollution under control.

The new rules could prevent billions of tons of climate pollution from entering the atmosphere from America’s dirtiest industries – pollution that is rapidly warming the planet, spurring record heatwaves and supercharging storms.

But only if they can survive the nation’s highest court.

“There’s no question there’s high skepticism that many of the justices harbor about EPA’s rules and regulations,” he added.”

Over the last three years, the EPA has tried to Supreme Court-proof its rules, hewing as close to the law as it can get. The agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases from power plants was curbed – but not taken away entirely – in a 2022 case. Speaking to environmental journalists at a conference in April, EPA administrator Michael Regan said his staff is “very attentive” to how the Supreme Court “is responding.”

“We’re trying to now design more robust rules in response to the environment that we’re in,” Regan added.

The EPA is already facing legal challenges on nearly every major rule it has enacted, largely from Republican states and the fossil fuel industry. Now it is facing likely challenges from the same cast of characters on the EV and power plant regulations, in which any Supreme Court action could have global repercussions: The US is the world’s second-largest polluter behind China, and the EPA is the main agency setting and enforcing rules of the road for its dirtiest industries.

The EPA is attempting to thread the smallest of needles: write lasting regulations in a way that will survive a Supreme Court that multiple legal experts described as “hostile.”

The agency is “trying to avoid anything remotely novel,” Lazarus said. “They do no one any favor if they pass a rule that flies in the face of what the court has said and then the rule after three or four years is invalidated.”

The court’s conservatives vs. EPA

Legal experts view the court’s 6-person conservative majority as divided into two camps on environmental issues: three justices who are seen as reliable votes against the EPA, and three who – while not necessarily swing votes – are more of a question mark.

Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch make up the reliable anti-EPA wing of the bench, experts say.

“Alito – you can hear it in the way he writes opinions, you can hear it in his questions,” Lazarus said. “In arguments he is skeptical, often mocking, of the environmental position.”

Thomas’s position, based on deep skepticism of federal authority and deep beliefs in states’ rights, is another staunch anti-EPA vote, if not with as much open derision as Alito.

Then there’s Gorsuch, the son of Reagan-appointed EPA administrator Anne Gorsuch, who oversaw a period of anti-environmental regulations during her tenure before being forced to resign. Now, Justice Gorsuch is angling to blow up the federal regulatory process as we know it. He is widely seen as a lead advocate for overturning a 1984 decision known as the Chevron deference – a legal test that gives federal agencies wide latitude to put forth regulations and compels courts to defer to agencies in many cases.

The court’s three remaining conservatives – Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett – certainly aren’t friends of EPA, but the level of their opposition isn’t as clear-cut.

Roberts wrote an opinion in 2022’s West Virginia v. EPA case preserving the agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, however more narrowly. And environmental attorneys are intrigued by Barrett, who has had some tough questions for EPA’s challengers during recent Supreme Court arguments.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh stands out the most among the group. Kavanaugh’s background is steeped in regulations and administrative law from a stint on the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, the court that hears challenges on federal regulations.

But environmental law experts don’t view Kavanaugh as hardline as Alito or Gorsuch, citing his notable departure from the conservative wing on the court’s decision in the 2023 case Sackett v. EPA, in which the court stripped the Clean Water Act of much of its power.

“He’s got some animus towards environmental regulation, but it doesn’t run as consistent and deep,” said Doniger. “He’s unpredictable, but he’s not completely ungettable.”

The coming legal challenges

The EPA is now facing headwinds from all directions. One legal challenge to the agency’s rules on car pollution has been tossed by the DC Circuit, while another is still pending. Red states most recently filed a separate challenge to the agency’s pollution rules for heavy-duty trucks.

“I think we’re operating in a world where there’s a majority of the court that is skeptical of the power of EPA to regulate greenhouse gases, even though the court has decided that question,” said Ann Carlson, an environmental law professor at the University of California Los Angeles and a former high-ranking Biden administration transportation official. “In two different instances, the court has viewed (the EPA’s) power as narrow, even though it exists. Then the question is, how narrow is narrow?”

While the EPA and other agencies face an existential threat from the Chevron decision this summer, conservatives are attacking from another angle – using an obscure legal premise known as major questions doctrine to further poke holes in the agency’s authority.

The major questions doctrine, revived during West Virginia v. EPA, says agencies can’t regulate on something that Congress hasn’t given them explicit authority to do.

Major questions is being used “more aggressively than it has in the past,” Carlson said, adding she thinks it is a larger threat to the EPA than Chevron.

Major questions, if used often and effectively to attack the EPA and other agencies, could render them useless because it argues they cannot operate without Congress passing laws explicitly giving them approval to do things. And given extreme political polarization, things often move at a glacial pace in Congress.

There is one glimmer of hope for the EPA; Congress recently passed a major climate bill, doling out hundreds of billions in tax credits to get American to buy cleaner cars, give enormous tax incentives to companies to capture power, oil companies to tighten methane leaks. That gives the agency the recent Congressional direction the Supreme Court has said it so badly needs, some experts said.

“Congress has freshly legislated,” said Doniger. “You can’t get much clearer than that.”

In addition to pouring billions of subsidies into clean energy projects and EVs, Democrats also used the Inflation Reduction Act to explicitly update language in the Clean Air Act – labeling planet-warming greenhouse gases as one of the forms of pollution covered by the law.

“The court is saying we want to see Congress clear indication of what it wants to do, and we also disfavor old laws,” Doniger said. “Here you have a 2022 law.”

Lazarus is more skeptical the court will be persuaded by the fact that Congress is “just giving money” and that the IRA amendment to the Clean Air Act has “limited reach.”

“We have increasing problems and new things require congressional intention, and Congress has basically stopped making laws,” Lazarus said. EPA “can’t afford to wait to Congress gets its act together.”

Spain, Norway and Ireland have announced plans to formally recognize a Palestinian state, in a move that is likely to bolster the global Palestinian cause but strain relations with Israel.

Palestinian statehood has been recognized by more than 130 out of 193 member states of the United Nations, according to the Palestine Liberation Organization.

“Today, Ireland, Norway and Spain are announcing that we recognize the state of Palestine. Each of us will now undertake whatever national steps are necessary to give effect to that decision,” Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris told a news conference in Dublin on Wednesday.

The recognition will come into force in all three countries on May 28, Irish foreign minister Micheál Martin said.

The landmark decision by three key European players sparked swift condemnation from Israel, with a senior lawmaker ordering the immediate recall of Israeli ambassadors to Ireland and Norway.

Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said the war in Gaza has “made it clear that achieving peace and stability must be predicted on resolving the Palestinian question.”

“In the midst of a war, with tens of thousands killed and injured, we must keep alive the only alternative that offers a political solution for Israelis and Palestinians alike: Two states, living side by side, in peace and security,” Støre said.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said: “We will recognize the state of Palestine for peace, coherence and justice.”

“This recognition is not against the people of Israel and certainly not against the Jews,” he said. “It’s not in favor of Hamas. It’s in favor of co-existence.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said his country “will not hold back against those who undermine its sovereignty and endanger its security.”

“Ireland and Norway intend to send a message to the Palestinians and the whole world today: Terrorism pays. After the terrorist organization Hamas carried out the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, after it committed the most horrific sex crimes the world has seen, these countries chose to give a reward to Hamas and Iran and recognize a Palestinian state,” added Katz, in a statement released by the ministry.

This is a breaking news story that will be updated.

Anger is growing in India after a teenager who allegedly killed two people while drunk driving was ordered to write an essay as punishment, with many demanding a harsher penalty and accusing the judiciary of leniency.

The 17-year-old boy was allegedly speeding in a Porsche in the city of Pune on Sunday when the vehicle hit a motorcycle, killing two people, according to Maharashtra state’s deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The minor was taken into custody and later presented to the Juvenile Justice Board, where he was released on bail and given 15 days of community service. He was also asked to write an essay about road safety, Fadnavis said.

“The outrage grew after this. According to police, the boy is 17 years and 8 months. This is a heinous crime,” he told reporters Tuesday, pointing to the 2015 changes to India’s juvenile laws, which allow children above 16 to be tried as adults if they allegedly commit a “heinous” crime.

“This was a surprising order passed (by the Juvenile Justice Board),” Fadnavis said.

Fadnavis added that Pune police are investigating the minor for alleged culpable homicide not amounting to murder. They have also asked the Juvenile Court to review its bail order, he said.

CCTV video, purportedly filmed moments before the crash, shows a white Porsche speeding down a busy main road. People can be seen rushing to the scene of the crash, which is not pictured in the video that was shared widely on social media and broadcast on local news channels.

The minor’s father has been arrested for allegedly allowing his son to drive despite being underage, according to Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar. The legal driving age in India is 18.

Three people who served the minor liquor have also been arrested, Kumar added.

“We have adopted the most stringent possible approach, and we shall do whatever is at our command to ensure that the two young lives that were lost get justice, and the accused gets duly punished,” he said.

The incident has dominated headlines in India and sparked widespread anger, with many taking to social media to condemn the boy’s bail conditions.

Suresh Koshta, whose 24-year-old daughter was killed in the crash, urged authorities to take tougher action against the alleged driver.

“It was wrong (to allow the minor to drive),” he told reporters outside his home, while fighting back tears. “One needs to know how to drive first.”

Rahul Gandhi, the leader of India’s main opposition, the Indian National Congress, questioned whether a bus or taxi driver would be given the same punishment.

“If a 16-17-year-old son of a wealthy household, driving a Porsche under the influence, is caught, he is asked to write an essay,” Gandhi said in a video posted to X. “Why aren’t essays assigned to truck drivers or bus drivers?”

This isn’t the first time a court’s verdict has been scrutinized in this manner.

In 2015, Bollywood superstar Salman Khan, who was facing a lengthy prison sentence for a fatal hit-and-run, got a reprieve when the Bombay High Court tossed out his conviction for lack of evidence, causing widespread outrage.

“On basis of evidences produced by the prosecution, the appellant cannot be convicted, no matter how differently the common man thinks,” the court said.

The hit-and-run incident took place outside a Mumbai bakery in September 2002, with prosecutors saying Khan ran over five sleeping men after losing control of his vehicle. He was returning from a bar after a night of drinking, they said.

The actor said he wasn’t the driver.

One of the victims was killed; the others injured.

Thousands of mostly young protesters surrounded Taiwan’s legislature late into the night on Tuesday, protesting a push by opposition parties to subject the island’s new leader and his administration to tighter scrutiny from a parliament controlled by lawmakers who favor closer ties to China.

The protest marks a chaotic start to the presidency of Lai Ching-te, who was sworn in Monday after winning a historic third consecutive term for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which champions Taiwan’s sovereignty and is loathed by Beijing.

It also illustrates the challenges Lai’s fledgling administration faces without a parliamentary majority, which is now controlled by two opposition parties, the Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP).

Demonstrators are angered by what they see as the KMT and TPP’s attempt to fast track a bill through the legislature, which would grant the parliament sweeping powers to impose greater oversight over the executive branch of government.

Some protesters carried sunflowers, in a nod to the student-led protest movement in 2014 that saw hundreds of students occupying the legislature for weeks in protest against the KMT’s controversial trade deal with China. Those protests were instrumental two years later in the electoral defeat of the KMT, which has since been unable to recapture the presidency.

Under the proposed legislation, government officials could be fined or jailed under what critics say is a vaguely worded new criminal offense of “contempt of parliament,” if they were found making false statements to the legislature.

They could also be punished if they refused to answer questions or provide documents, or withheld information during hearings.

Meanwhile, the president would be required to deliver an annual address to the parliament on key policy issues.

Opponents say the proposals could force officials to disclose sensitive information to parliament – such as those relating to diplomacy and defense – or face criminal penalties. They believe this could potentially undermine the island’s security.

The DPP has also accused the opposition of trying to force through the bill without allocating sufficient time for policy deliberations.

Meanwhile, the KMT and TPP argue the new laws are needed to improve government accountability and combat corruption, pointing to similar legislative checks and balances on executive powers around the world. They also accused the DPP of spreading disinformation and trying to paralyze the legislature.

In a sign of the heated political divide, disagreements over the controversial reform bill erupted last Friday in a brawl on the parliamentary floor – a chaotic display that saw some lawmakers leaping over tables and pulling colleagues to the floor, with a few members taken to hospital.

On Tuesday, as the parliament resumed its meeting to discuss the bill, protesters gathered outside the Legislative Yuan – Taiwan’s unicameral parliament – from morning until midnight, braving downpours in the afternoon. Many joined after finishing school and work, with organizers claiming more than 30,000 participants.

Some held up signs calling the legislative process a “black box” and demanding the bill to be withdrawn. Others chanted: “No discussions, no democracy!”

Ricky Li, a 28-year-old office worker, said he was worried about the bill’s vague wording and lack of consultation.

“I’m concerned that it will open the door to power abuses by the legislators … What if legislators start using the newly acquired power to wage vendettas against their political opponents?” he said, noting that the bill has not been sufficiently discussed and lacks transparency.

“Given the current circumstances of cross-strait relations and that a new government just took office, the opposition’s assault on Taiwan’s democratic institutions and political foundation warrants our attention.”

Discussions on the bill are expected to resume in the legislature on Friday.

Lai, 64, a former doctor and vice president, was inaugurated Monday alongside new Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, who recently served as Taiwan’s top envoy to the United States.

Both leaders and their party are openly loathed by Beijing for championing Taiwan’s sovereignty. China’s ruling Communist Party says the self-ruling democracy is part of its territory, despite never having controlled it, and has vowed to take the island, by force if necessary.

A delegation of Kenyan “command staff” has arrived in Haiti, according to a law enforcement source in the country, ahead of the long-delayed arrival of a Kenyan-led multinational security support force in the Caribbean nation.

Members of the delegation are also expected to meet with US and United Nations officials in the country, sources said.

The UN Security Council last year authorized a multinational mission to support Haiti’s National Police in battling deadly gangs that have seized control of much of the capital Port-au-Prince.

But despite strong support from the US and other regional powers, the mission has been mired in uncertainty and legal challenges for months. It was further delayed following the resignation of former Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry in March, until the creation of a transitional governing council.

The council said Tuesday that it met with top Haitian police brass to discuss the multinational mission. “Haiti, through the Haitian National Police, will have overall control of all aspects of the field mission,” including the mission’s composition, aims, rules of engagement and health precautions, it emphasized in a statement on X.

Kenya is currently finalizing preparations for the mission, the country’s principal secretary of foreign affairs Korir Sing’Oei said Sunday, citing the successful creation of the council and other institutions in Haiti as key conditions.

“In view of that and in view of the decision of the courts in our republic essentially guiding how Kenya should be able to carry out this deployment, lots of reciprocal agreements were entered into between Kenya and Haiti, which facilitates Kenya’s ability to deploy. And we are in the process—our government is in the process of finalizing preparation to deploy.”

A UN-managed trust fund for the mission currently contains $21 million, provided by Canada ($8.7 million), France ($3.2 million), Spain ($3 million) and the United States ($6 million). Personnel for the mission have been offered by the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Chad and Jamaica, in addition to Kenya.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday defended US funding for the mission in a Senate Foreign Relations hearing, warning that Haiti is “on the precipice of becoming an all-out failed state” without international support.

“I understand some of the skepticism that exists about another mission in Haiti, but I think what we have going for us is this: first, a general revulsion of the people at the direction that the country has taken, including gangs that are dominating Port-au-Price and trying to undermine governance, a democratic trajectory that’s been disrupted by failing to have a government that actually has a clear mandate and all of that has also had the effect of interrupting development assistance, other forms of assistance that people so desperately need,” he said.

Haiti’s National Police have already “taken back control of the airport and other critical infrastructure,” he added. “In fact, today, commercial flights resumed in Haiti, and we anticipate that American carriers will begin flying again in the days ahead.”

US President Joe Biden will welcome Kenyan President William Ruto and first lady Rachel Ruto to the White House on Thursday, with Haiti high on the expected agenda.

A team of 16 international healthcare workers stranded in Gaza’s European Hospital has finally been evacuated two weeks after Israel seized the Rafah crossing between Egypt and the enclave, trapping them on site.

The group includes Adam Hamawy – an American citizen and former combat surgeon – known for saving the life of US Senator Tammy Duckworth in Iraq 20 years ago.

In a post on X, Duckworth said she was “beyond relieved that Dr. Hamawy – and his entire team – safely left Gaza today and that he will be able to see his family again soon.”

Hamawy previously turned down an evacuation offer, refusing to leave his non-US colleagues behind, who weren’t afforded the option to leave earlier.

“We hope that medical relief is allowed to replace us soon and a permanent ceasefire puts an end to this nightmare.”

The evacuation was a multi-lateral effort involving Jordan and the US. Australian, Egyptian, Irish and Omani nationals were among the evacuees. The team were told to follow a specific route to the Kerem Shalom crossing and were taken by the Jordanian military to the King Hussein Bridge.

On May 19, Hamawy wrote a letter to US President Joe Biden detailing the realities on the ground. “I have never in my career witnessed the level of atrocities and targeting of my medical colleagues as I have in Gaza.”

He urged Biden and the international community to allow free passage for medical personnel into Gaza, adding: “The children of Palestine are not safe. Civilians, population centers, are not safe. We, as humanitarian workers, are not safe. You have the power to end the invasion of Rafah and Gaza now.”

The group were working with the Palestine American Medical Association under the umbrella of the World Health Organization at the European Hospital in northern Rafah.

While the hospital wasn’t ordered to evacuate, Hamawy was “often awakened by a strike that [shook] the whole hospital.”

In his letter to Biden he added, “We are hearing bombs drop around us more frequently, amidst thousands of sheltering civilians. The streams of patients, mostly children, are rising faster than we can keep up with fewer medical staff.”

More than 35,000 people have been killed in Israel’s seven-month military offensive, most of them women and children, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

According to Hamawy, the European Hospital is “the last standing hospital that’s functionating like a functional medical center.”

Many hospitals have been forced to evacuate and, “the ones before them have all been raided and destroyed.”

No medical team replaced the healthcare professionals who evacuated Tuesday, leaving the hospital with even fewer workers to look after patients with increasingly fewer resources.