Romania’s pro-European Union presidential candidate Nicușor Dan has the lead in the country’s election on Sunday after more than 80% of the votes were counted.

Hard-right candidate George Simion, who opposes providing military aid to Ukraine and is critical of the EU, looked on track to win the election after he swept the first round on May 4. However, Dan gained ground after trouncing Simion in a televised debate.

The election comes five months after the result of the original vote, which saw former far-right outsider Calin Georgescu surge in popularity, was annulled over allegations of Russian interference.

Georgescu was later banned from this month’s rerun after being charged with various crimes, including founding a fascist group.

Sunday’s election was widely seen as a choice between East and West and a litmus test for the rise of Trump-style nationalism in Europe.

Dan, who is currently the mayor of the capital Bucharest, is a strong supporter of Romania’s NATO membership and has pledged to continue providing aid to Ukraine, which he sees as key to Romania’s own security against the threat from Russia. He has also promised to crack down on corruption.

Simion appears to have the support of Romania’s diaspora, one of the largest of any country in the world. About 60% of the diaspora voted for Simion in the first round. Since then, he spent a lot of time outside Romania, traveling to Austria, Italy, Poland, Belgium, France and the United Kingdom, in an effort to win over voters abroad.

Make no mistake, the real battle in the Ukraine war right now isn’t in the skies over Kyiv or Dnipro where Russian drone strikes have intensified, dramatically, in recent days.

Nor is the slow, grinding progress being made by the Russian army on the brutal frontlines of eastern Ukraine how the conflict, now in its third year, will be decided.

No, the crucial fight being slugged out between the warring parties and their allies is for the ear of US President Donald Trump, who seems increasingly frustrated with efforts to broker peace.

And that’s why his phone call, expected to take place with Russian President Vladimir Putin later today, may be of such pivotal importance.

Moscow and Kyiv are both vying to demonstrate it is the other who is the real obstacle to peace, hoping to swing Trump’s changeable opinion, at least for a while, their way.

European officials say they will also be speaking to Trump ahead of his call with Putin, amid concerns that Trump’s view on the conflict may be shaped by whom he speaks to last.

Just last month, after speaking to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky at Pope Francis’ funeral, Trump made some of his most critical remarks towards Putin, condemning the Russian leader for launching a missile attack on Kyiv, adding he couldn’t say for sure whether the Russian leader was serious about ending the war.

As long as Monday’s call lasts, Putin – who has refused to accept a 30-day ceasefire demanded by President Trump and agreed to by Ukraine – will have that presidential ear all to himself. He could pour into it whatever business inducements, flattery or poison Putin calculates will work best.

Trump and Putin already seem to share an unshakeable conviction that it is them alone who have the personal authority and skills to settle the Ukraine war, while the Europeans and the Ukrainians themselves will ultimately do as they are told.

Underwhelming talks in the Turkish city of Istanbul last week – the first directly between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators for years – seem to have underlined President Trump’s own sense of centrality to a deal. It has encouraged him to reinsert himself, by calling Putin directly, into peace efforts from which he had only recently threatened to walk away.

The big Ukrainian fear is that the two leaders will cook up their own peace plan over the phone with President Trump – who says he’ll call his Ukrainian counterpart Zelensky afterwards – then potentially seek to impose Putin’s terms under a renewed threat of withdrawing vital US military and economic aid.

President Trump has leverage on Russia, too, if he chooses to use it. With mounting casualties and a strained economy, the Kremlin undoubtedly wants to avoid pushing an angry and rebuffed Trump towards restoring and possibly redoubling US support for the Ukrainian war effort.

As ever, the problem remains that neither Russia nor Ukraine is currently willing to accept each other’s minimum terms, to compromise enough to satisfy the other side.

That doesn’t mean talks – whether direct, face-to-face, or on the phone – are pointless. If nothing else, they can highlight how far apart the two sides really are.

But what may mean is that, even under US pressure, even after a direct phone call with President Trump, both Moscow and Kyiv may still choose to fight on.

The murder of a 22-year-old model and influencer in Colombia has sent shock waves through the country and drawn parallels to the killing of a Mexican influencer last week, highlighting the high rates of femicide in Latin America.

Maria Jose Estupinan, a university student in Colombia’s northeastern city of Cucuta, close to the Venezuela border, was killed on May 15, according to Magda Victoria Acosta, president of the National Gender Commission of the Colombian Judiciary.

Speaking at a news conference, Acosta said the suspect, disguised as a delivery man, shot Estupinan in her home when she opened the door.

“She was a young, enterprising woman with a whole life ahead of her, but those dreams are cut short like the dreams of many women in this country,” Acosta said.

Estupinan had been the victim of a domestic violence case and was about to receive compensation for it, Acosta added. She said the commission “very strongly” condemned the crime and would work to deliver justice.

Estupinan’s Facebook page showed photos of her travels and daily life, including trips to New York and California, and of her posing by the pool or at the gym.

The case has been covered widely by local media and spread on social media, with many comparing it to the May 13 shooting of 23-year-old beauty influencer Valeria Marquez in Mexico. Just days before Estupinan’s death, Marquez was killed during a live stream at a salon by a male intruder.

Officials in Mexico’s Jalisco state said they are investigating Marquez’s death as a suspected femicide – the killing of a woman or girl for gender-based reasons.

While not all homicides involving women are femicides, many are. In 2020, a quarter of female killings in Mexico were investigated as femicides, with cases reported in each one of the country’s 32 states, according to Amnesty International.

Acosta did not say whether Estupinan’s death was a suspected femicide – but her killing has highlighted the sheer scale of violence against women in Colombia.

Gender-based violence in the country is widespread, including by armed groups, according to non-profit organization Human Rights Watch. Survivors face many obstacles in seeking care or justice, and perpetrators are rarely held accountable, the group noted in its World Report 2024.

Colombia’s National Gender Commission has logged thousands of cases of gender and domestic violence, including high rates of sexual violence, neglect, abandonment and psychological violence, Acosta said.

Some 41 women were reported missing in Colombia between January and August last year – with 34 cases in Cucuta, where Estupinan lived, Acosta said. Many of the women were minors.

Northeast Colombia has been particularly volatile in recent months, with a sharp rise in fighting between militant factions. Escalating violence in the Catatumbo region displaced tens of thousands of people in January, many of whom flocked to Cucuta, where Colombia’s military deployed thousands of soldiers and special forces.

Israel launched an extensive ground operation in Gaza Sunday in addition to an intense air campaign that health officials in the territory say killed over 100 people overnight and shuttered the last functioning hospital in the enclave’s north.

The Israeli military’s ground operation in northern and southern Gaza comes as international mediators push for progress in ceasefire talks.

Hamas and Israel began indirect talks in the Qatari capital Doha Saturday, with senior Hamas official Taher Al-Nunu confirming that “negotiations without preconditions” had started, according to Hamas-run al Aqsa TV.

While there is some optimism around the talks, a breakthrough is looking uncertain. Israel on Sunday indicated its openness to ending the war in Gaza if Hamas surrenders, a proposition the militant group is unlikely to accept. Hamas has said it will release all of the Israeli hostages if there are guarantees Israel will end the war.

“If Hamas wants to talk about ending the war through Hamas’s surrender, we will be ready,” an Israeli source said.

Hours later another senior Hamas leader, Sami Abu Zuhri, denied and contradicted that proposal, posting a statement on Hamas-run Al-Aqsa TV Telegram: “There is no truth to the rumors regarding the movement’s agreement to release nine Israeli prisoners in exchange for a two-month ceasefire.”

He went on to say, “We are ready to release the prisoners all at once, provided the occupation commits to a cessation of hostilities under international guarantees, and we will not hand over the occupation’s prisoners as long as it insists on continuing its aggression against Gaza indefinitely.”

The Israeli military has claimed that their new military campaign – called “Gideon’s Chariots,” a reference to a biblical warrior, and announced late on Friday – has brought Hamas back to the negotiating table. And due to the “operational need,” Israel’s Prime Minister’s Office said Sunday that the country will allow a “basic amount of food” to enter the Gaza Strip, to prevent a hunger crisis in the enclave, which Israel says would jeopardize the operation.

The campaign was launched “to achieve all the goals of the war in Gaza, including the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas,” the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement.

“During the operation, we will increase and expand our operational control in the Gaza Strip, including segmenting the territory and moving the population for their protection in all the areas in which we operate,” Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson Effie Defrin said on Sunday.

But analysts and officials say it’s more likely that Hamas agreed to restart the talks following a visit from US President Donald Trump to the Middle East.

This past week, Netanyahu directed the Israeli negotiating team to head to Qatar for talks, but made clear that he is only committed to negotiating a proposal put forward by the US’ Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, which calls for the release of half the hostages in return for a temporary ceasefire. That proposal did not guarantee an end to the war.

Trump was in Doha Wednesday as part of a Middle East trip that skipped Israel. Trump said this month that he wanted an end to the “brutal war” in Gaza.

He also bypassed Israel twice this month in reaching bilateral deals with regional militant groups. Hamas released an Israeli-American hostage last week, and the Houthis agreed to stop firing at American ships in the Red Sea while pledging to continue fighting Israel.

Trump, however, denied that Israel had been sidelined. “This is good for Israel,” he said. But on Thursday, he said he wanted the US to “take” Gaza and turn it into a “freedom zone.”

“I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good, make it a freedom zone, let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone,” Trump said from Qatar.

While in the Gulf, Trump also acknowledged that people are starving in Gaza and said the US would have the situation in Gaza “taken care of.”

Entire families killed

Meanwhile, the UN and prominent aid organizations are raising the alarm over Israel’s new offensive in Gaza, saying it is civilians who are bearing the brunt of the assault.

Entire families were killed while sleeping together, according to the health ministry.

As the bombardment continues and the death toll rises, Gaza’s healthcare system is being pushed further to the brink.

Over the past week, the Israeli military has carried out strikes near several hospitals across the enclave, including the Indonesian Hospital in Beit Lahiya, the last remaining functioning medical facility in northern Gaza, rendering it out of service.

On Sunday, Al-Sultan told British charity Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) that the hospital is “completely besieged,” that nobody is able to reach it, and that its intensive care unit was also being hit.

“We are deeply helpless,” he said, adding that the situation is “beyond alarming.”

Northern Gaza’s Al-Awda hospital saw a “harrowing night” with bombing in the vicinity of the hospital, the facility’s director Dr. Mohammed Salha told MAP on Sunday.

Salha said the hospital’s medical systems – oxygen for ventilators, electricity and water supplies– were severely damaged. Quadcopters flying over the area hampered the movement of medical teams in and out of the hospital, and a shortage of medical supplies and fuel was making it difficult for the hospital to continue providing essential care.

On Sunday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said that “all public hospitals in the northern Gaza Strip are now out of service.”

Famine risk in Gaza

Prior to Israel announcing Sunday that it will allow a “basic amount of food” to enter the Gaza Strip, the UN warned the enclave’s entire population of over 2.1 million people is facing a risk of famine following 19 months of conflict and mass displacement, exacerbated by Israel’s 11-week blocking of aid.

A controversial American-backed organization, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), tasked with delivering aid to the enclave, welcomed the Israeli announcement about allowing food aid into Gaza as a “bridging mechanism” until the group is fully operational.

The non-profit was set up at the urging of the American government to help alleviate hunger in Gaza, while complying with Israeli demands that the aid not reach Hamas.

In a statement, the group’s executive director Jake Wood said, “Today’s announcement marks an important interim step. We expect GHF’s new aid mechanism—including the establishment of four initial Secure Distribution Sites—to be up and running before the end of the month.”

The new organization has come under criticism from top humanitarian officials, who warn that it is insufficient, could endanger civilians, and even encourage their forced displacement. The initial sites only being in southern and central Gaza could be seen as encouraging Israel’s publicly stated goal of forcing Gaza’s population out of the north, the UN warned.

But the foundation says it has asked Israel to help set up distribution points in the north. The UN also warned that the Israeli military’s involvement in securing the sites could discourage aid recipients.

Israel’s National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, called the Prime Minister’s Office’s aid decision a “serious mistake,” asserting that any aid entering Gaza would “certainly fuel Hamas.”

The number of people killed by Israel’s offensive in Gaza in the wake of the October 7, 2023 attacks now exceeds 53,000 – the majority of whom are women and children, the health ministry said Thursday.

Despite the resumption of talks in Qatar, Omar Qandil, whose brother, sister-in-law and 4-month-old niece were killed in an overnight airstrike in central Gaza, said he feels the world has turned a blind eye to their suffering.

“They were all asleep… all targeted in their bedroom,” he said.

“I don’t know what we (can) say anymore, we (have) spoke a lot. There is no one looking at us: not Arabs not Muslims, no one.”

The IDF on Sunday said its new offensive in Gaza is happening “in full coordination” with the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, and that the military is trying to prevent harm to the remaining hostages; but the forum has decried the operation saying it would endanger those still held captive in the enclave.

“The current policy is killing the living and erasing the dead. Every bombing, every delay, every indecision increases the danger. The living hostages face immediate mortal danger, and we risk losing the deceased forever,” said Hagai Levine, the head of the forum’s health team, who the group said co-authored a report about the dangers the latest Israeli operation poses to the hostages.

On a windswept plateau high above the Arabian Sea, Sena Keybani cradles a sapling that barely reaches her ankle. The young plant, protected by a makeshift fence of wood and wire, is a kind of dragon’s blood tree — a species found only on the Yemeni island of Socotra that is now struggling to survive intensifying threats from climate change.

“Seeing the trees die, it’s like losing one of your babies,” said Keybani, whose family runs a nursery dedicated to preserving the species.

Known for their mushroom-shaped canopies and the blood-red sap that courses through their wood, the trees once stood in great numbers. But increasingly severe cyclones, grazing by invasive goats, and persistent turmoil in Yemen — which is one of the world’s poorest countries and beset by a decade-long civil war — have pushed the species, and the unique ecosystem it supports, toward collapse.

Often compared to the Galapagos Islands, Socotra floats in splendid isolation some 240 kilometers (150 miles) off the Horn of Africa. Its biological riches — including 825 plant species, of which more than a third exist nowhere else on Earth — have earned it UNESCO World Heritage status. Among them are bottle trees, whose swollen trunks jut from rock like sculptures, and frankincense, their gnarled limbs twisting skywards.

But it’s the dragon’s blood tree that has long captured imaginations, its otherworldly form seeming to belong more to the pages of Dr. Seuss than to any terrestrial forest. The island receives about 5,000 tourists annually, many drawn by the surreal sight of the dragon’s blood forests.

Visitors are required to hire local guides and stay in campsites run by Socotran families to ensure tourist dollars are distributed locally. If the trees were to disappear, the industry that sustains many islanders could vanish with them.

“With the income we receive from tourism, we live better than those on the mainland,” said Mubarak Kopi, Socotra’s head of tourism.

But the tree is more than a botanical curiosity: It’s a pillar of Socotra’s ecosystem. The umbrella-like canopies capture fog and rain, which they channel into the soil below, allowing neighboring plants to thrive in the arid climate.

“When you lose the trees, you lose everything — the soil, the water, the entire ecosystem,” said Kay Van Damme, a Belgian conservation biologist who has worked on Socotra since 1999.

Without intervention, scientists like Van Damme warn these trees could disappear within a few centuries — and with them many other species.

“We’ve succeeded, as humans, to destroy huge amounts of nature on most of the world’s islands,” he said. “Socotra is a place where we can actually really do something. But if we don’t, this one is on us.”

Increasingly intense cyclones uproot trees

Across the rugged expanse of Socotra’s Firmihin plateau, the largest remaining dragon’s blood forest unfolds against the backdrop of jagged mountains. Thousands of wide canopies balance atop slender trunks. Socotra starlings dart among the dense crowns while Egyptian vultures bank against the relentless gusts. Below, goats weave through the rocky undergrowth.

The frequency of severe cyclones has increased dramatically across the Arabian Sea in recent decades, according to a 2017 study in the journal Nature Climate Change, and Socotra’s dragon’s blood trees are paying the price.

In 2015, a devastating one-two punch of cyclones — unprecedented in their intensity — tore across the island. Centuries-old specimens, some over 500 years old, which had weathered countless previous storms, were uprooted by the thousands. The destruction continued in 2018 with yet another cyclone.

As greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, so too will the intensity of the storms, warned Hiroyuki Murakami, a climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the study’s lead author. “Climate models all over the world robustly project more favorable conditions for tropical cyclones.”

Invasive goats endanger young trees

But storms aren’t the only threat. Unlike pine or oak trees, which grow 60 to 90 centimeters (25 to 35 inches) per year, dragon’s blood trees creep along at just 2 to 3 centimeters (about 1 inch) annually. By the time they reach maturity, many have already succumbed to an insidious danger: goats.

An invasive species on Socotra, free-roaming goats devour saplings before they have a chance to grow. Outside of hard-to-reach cliffs, the only place young dragon’s blood trees can survive is within protected nurseries.

“The majority of forests that have been surveyed are what we call over-mature — there are no young trees, there are no seedlings,” said Alan Forrest, a biodiversity scientist at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh’s Centre for Middle Eastern Plants. “So you’ve got old trees coming down and dying, and there’s not a lot of regeneration going on.”

Keybani’s family’s nursery is one of several critical enclosures that keep out goats and allow saplings to grow undisturbed.

“Within those nurseries and enclosures, the reproduction and age structure of the vegetation is much better,” Forrest said. “And therefore, it will be more resilient to climate change.”

Conflict threatens conservation

But such conservation efforts are complicated by Yemen’s stalemated civil war. As the Saudi Arabia-backed, internationally recognized government battles Houthi rebels — a Shiite group backed by Iran — the conflict has spilled beyond the country’s borders. Houthi attacks on Israel and commercial shipping in the Red Sea have drawn retaliation from Israeli and Western forces, further destabilizing the region.

“The Yemeni government has 99 problems right now,” said Abdulrahman Al-Eryani, an advisor with Gulf State Analytics, a Washington-based risk consulting firm. “Policymakers are focused on stabilizing the country and ensuring essential services like electricity and water remain functional. Addressing climate issues would be a luxury.”

With little national support, conservation efforts are left largely up to Socotrans. But local resources are scarce, said Sami Mubarak, an ecotourism guide on the island.

Mubarak gestures toward the Keybani family nursery’s slanting fence posts, strung together with flimsy wire. The enclosures only last a few years before the wind and rain break them down. Funding for sturdier nurseries with cement fence posts would go a long way, he said.

“Right now, there are only a few small environmental projects — it’s not enough,” he said. “We need the local authority and national government of Yemen to make conservation a priority.”