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KYIV, May 2 (Reuters) – Russian troops are inching towards the city of Kostiantynivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, trying to establish a foothold close to a heavily defended area, Ukraine’s top army official said on Saturday. 

Kostiantynivka, along with other cities, forms a so-called fortress belt in the country’s east – an area well fortified by the Ukrainian military.

“We are repelling the Russian occupiers’ persistent attempts to gain a foothold in the outskirts of Kostiantynivka using infiltration tactics. Counter-sabotage measures are going on in the city,” Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine’s army chief, said on the Telegram app. 

A Ukrainian battlefield mapping project called DeepState ⁠shows Russian troops control an area around only one kilometre (0.6 mile) from the city’s southern outskirts. 

Small chunks of Kostiantynivka in the southeast are marked as a grey zone, meaning neither Ukraine nor Russia has full control over them.

Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday its forces had taken control of Novodmytrivka, just north of Kostiantynivka. Moscow’s top general Valery Gerasimov said in April that troops were advancing in the north and south of the city.

Syrskyi said that Russian offensive attempts had risen noticeably in April. Since Monday, Russian troops have carried out 83 assaults in this sector using small infantry groups, he added.

Russia demands that Ukraine pull back from areas in the Donetsk and neighbouring Luhansk regions that it failed to capture in its four-year full-scale war. U.S.-brokered peace talks stalled over the issue as Ukrainian officials say Kyiv will not cede land it still controls. 

For the past few years, Russian troops have not managed to capture any big city agglomerations in Ukraine, inching forward and taking control over small settlements, mostly in Ukraine’s east.

The small city of Pokrovsk, whose more than 60,000 pre-war population mostly fled, was the most significant gain in the past year. It took Moscow’s troops months to advance, and Kyiv says it still has some positions in the city.  

(Reporting by Yuliia DysaEditing by Keith Weir)

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Participants lie down and take part in the Han River Nap Competition in Seoul, South Korea, organized by the city government to promote the importance of sleep in the bustling city.

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This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

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Pakistan Orders Probe Into Cambridge Exam Leak Affecting 25,000 Students  

A federal inquiry has been launched in Pakistan into a reported leak of an A-level mathematics exam paper, prompting scrutiny of the Cambridge International Education system and concerns over exam security.  

The Inter Board Committee of Chairmen announced Thursday it will seek a report from Cambridge International Education following complaints from parents and students about transparency. Reports indicate the incident may have affected around 25,000 students nationwide.  

Cambridge Pakistan confirmed the Advanced Subsidiary Mathematics exam paper was “shared ahead of time in violation of our rules.” In a statement, the organization said, “We confirm that the Cambridge International AS Level Mathematics exam 12 (9709), conducted across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Pakistan, and South Asia, was shared ahead of time in violation of our regulations.”  

The statement added, “we immediately and thoroughly investigate such incidents, and we are now working to understand the extent of the leak and determine the future course of action in this regard.”   

It continued: “Our priority is to ensure that students do not suffer any loss due to this incident, and we continue to take all possible measures to protect the integrity of our examinations.”  

The controversy emerged after reports that the AS-Level Mathematics Paper 1 (Pure Mathematics 1, syllabus code 9709/12) for the May/June 2026 exam series was circulated on social media platforms, including WhatsApp, YouTube and Google Drive, several hours before the scheduled test on Wednesday, April 29, 2026.  

Students and parents expressed concern over the impact, citing financial and academic consequences. Arbab Iqbal, a Rawalpindi-based educationist, told The Media Line that about 25,000 students each paid $180 per subject, totaling roughly $4.5 million, raising questions about exam safeguards.  

Some students said the paper was sold online before it spread more widely. Amir Hamza, a Rawalpindi-based student, told The Media Line, “Hours of preparation and the hundreds of thousands of rupees spent on tuition fees over the course of a year were all wasted.”  

Investigations are ongoing, with authorities and Cambridge reviewing the scope of the breach. 

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Will the Bennett-Lapid Alliance Reshape the US-Israel Relationship? 

As elections near, the opposition alliance clarifies leadership in Israel while raising questions about how a new government would manage ties with Washington. 

Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Former Prime Minister Yair Lapid will run together in Israel’s next election, a move that reshapes the opposition camp and places Bennett at its center, at least for now.  

“I think that ship has sailed,” said Ofir Dayan, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies, speaking with The Media Line, when asked whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is still seen in Washington as irreplaceable. “When Bennett and Lapid replaced Netanyahu in 2021, I think it became clear that Netanyahu is not irreplaceable.”  

Michael Koplow, chief policy officer at Israel Policy Forum and a senior research fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America, said the picture looks different depending on where one looks.  

“At the institutional level, under this administration, it’s very stable, and I don’t think that will change no matter who’s leading the Israeli government,” he told The Media Line. “But when you get past the level of the president and the administration, there are definitely warning signs in Congress … and that’s where it probably makes a difference who the prime minister is.”  

The framework, known as Beyachad, brings back the same two leaders who headed Israel’s short-lived unity government in 2021–2022. The arrangement now is more defined. Bennett is expected to lead the list. Lapid, who heads Yesh Atid, moves into a secondary role.  

At first glance, the move looks straightforward. In practice, it raises a different set of questions—both inside Israel and in Washington—about how such a partnership would function and how a different government would approach relations with President Donald Trump. It gives the opposition a clear front-runner, but Israel’s system is not built around a single candidate. Governments are formed through blocs that must assemble a majority after the election.  

Dr. Assaf Shapira of the Israel Democracy Institute told The Media Line that, from the narrow perspective of Bennett and Lapid, the alliance is a success. “If we are talking about the particular interests of Lapid and Bennett and their parties, then it is a success,” he said. “It will bring them only gains.”  

For Lapid, Shapira said, the deal protects Yesh Atid from a steep decline. “The party, according to the polls, was about to crash,” he said, adding that some polls had placed Lapid’s party near the electoral threshold. “Now, Lapid secures his place in the next Knesset. He secures the fact that he will be the deputy of a list that will certainly be a large list.”  

Shapira said Lapid could also return to the foreign policy role most naturally associated with him. “If Bennett forms a government, I think there is a good chance that we will see Lapid as foreign minister,” he said. “You cannot know, but that seems a little like his natural role in the next government, and that may also be relevant to the United States.”  

For Bennett, the gain is different. Before the merger, Bennett was not the undisputed leader of the opposition camp, Shapira said. He was still competing for that position, including with Gadi Eisenkot, the former army chief who has moved into politics with a strong security profile.  

The joint list, at least for now, seems to settle that question. “Now, with this union, Bennett is the leader of the bloc,” Shapira said. “There are still six months until the election, but at the moment it looks like Bennett is completely the leader of the bloc, and he positions himself as the main, almost the only, competitor to Netanyahu.”  

Shapira pushed back on the idea that the move reshapes the electorate itself. “I don’t see how this union can bring additional voters from Likud,” he said. “There is probably no one who was debating whether to vote Bennett or Likud and now says, after Bennett united with Lapid, I will definitely vote Bennett.”  

In his view, the impact is mostly internal. The alliance may consolidate support within the camp but not necessarily expand it. Some voters from Lapid’s side could drift toward Yair Golan and the Democrats. On Bennett’s right, some could move toward Avigdor Liberman or back toward Eisenkot.  

“From the point of view of the bloc, I don’t think it changes very much,” Shapira said. “It does not bring voters. It does not scare voters away. That is how it looks now, at least.”  

The larger effect, he said, may be psychological. If Israelis see the Bennett-Lapid list polling near Likud, or even ahead of it, that could create enthusiasm. “The very fact that people will suddenly see in the polls a list, the Beyachad list, that is like Likud, maybe even in some polls bigger than Likud, that is something that can create enthusiasm,” Shapira said. “And that enthusiasm is important. It has importance in itself.”  

Beyond Bennett and Lapid, much remains unresolved. “We don’t know what will happen, for example, with Gantz—whether he runs separately, whether he unites,” Shapira said, pointing to the open questions surrounding Benny Gantz, the former defense minister and IDF chief of staff who leads National Unity.  

He added that other configurations remain possible, including moves involving Yoaz Hendel, a former communications minister, or Avigdor Liberman, who continues to operate independently. “There is still uncertainty,” Shapira said. Eisenkot’s next move could also affect the map.  

Part of the difficulty is understanding what “center” means in the Israeli context. Yesh Atid defines itself as a centrist party, but Shapira said the term no longer functions in Israel the way it might in other political systems. “Lapid defines himself as a center party. That is nice. It is not a center party,” he said. “There is almost no center today in Israel.”  

Since 2022, Shapira said, Israeli politics has been divided less by classic left-right debates and more by the fault line around Netanyahu, the judiciary, liberal democracy, and the role of legal institutions. “You can call it the Bibi bloc and the anti-Bibi bloc,” he said. “You can call it a bloc that supports the Supreme Court and a bloc that opposes the Supreme Court. You can call it a bloc that supports liberal democracy and a bloc that supports ethnic democracy, or electoral democracy.”  

In that division, Shapira said, Lapid is not really in the middle. “Lapid is on a specific side of this political map,” he said. “There is nothing to do about it.”  

The question for Washington is whether a Bennett-led government would change the substance of US-Israel relations or mainly the tone. Dayan said the relationship with President Trump is currently shaped by the unusually close bond between Netanyahu and the American president.  

“You can’t underestimate the value of personal connection,” Dayan said. “President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu are good friends. They have been working together for many years, so it has influence.”  

That does not mean Bennett could not work with President Trump, Dayan said. But it would not be the same. “Even if future Prime Minister Bennett will have great relations with President Trump, still he doesn’t have that advantage of working with President Trump and being friends with him for so many years,” she said. “So, obviously, that’s going to change.”  

Dayan said the current Israeli opposition is viewed in Washington with “some sort of an ambivalency.” The Trump administration is close to Netanyahu, especially his inner circle, leaving little room for the opposition to build direct channels. “There is no light between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Donald Trump,” she said. “So, the opposition is not really very much in touch with the American administration.”  

At the same time, she said, Washington knows Bennett and Lapid. President Trump has publicly praised Lapid, and the opposition is not unknown in Republican circles. “They are aware of them and have some sort of relations with them, even if not working directly together,” Dayan said.  

Koplow also pointed to the unusual nature of the relationship between President Trump and Netanyahu, describing it as distinct from past US-Israel dynamics. “I don’t think there’s ever been a president and a prime minister who were so tightly linked … and who went out of their way to also give each other such high levels of political support,” he said.  

That dynamic, he added, may be difficult to replicate under a different Israeli leader. “They seem to have this bond that I don’t think you’ll see with Trump and a different Israeli prime minister.”  

On security, Dayan argued, the relationship is more institutional and less dependent on any single leader. The war with Iran strengthened already close ties between the Israeli and American security establishments, she said. “In terms of security, the relationship is super close, super intimate,” she added . “And I think it will stay this way for the near future, again, unless something drastic changes in the administration.”  

But politics is different. Dayan said Bennett and Lapid would likely be less confrontational toward a future Democratic administration than Netanyahu, especially because Netanyahu’s image has become deeply polarizing in parts of the United States. “Netanyahu’s image became toxic in certain American circles,” she said. “Not necessarily just the policies of the Netanyahu government, but Netanyahu himself. He is portrayed as the prototype of an illiberal leader.”  

Koplow noted that while a change in leadership could affect perceptions, it would not necessarily transform policy outcomes. “On a policy level, any Israeli government is going to have to listen to the US government,” he said. “If Trump says that there has to be a ceasefire … it doesn’t matter who the Israeli prime minister is.”  

With President Trump, however, the issue would be more delicate. Dayan said Bennett’s policies are not necessarily far from Netanyahu’s on core issues. “Let’s face it, Bennett and Netanyahu agree on most policy issues,” she said. “The issue is going to be what is the approach with which the prime minister’s office is approaching the American presidency and the American administration.”  

Dayan also raised another possibility: Bennett might be better placed than Netanyahu to resist some American pressure. “Netanyahu has a soft spot with Trump,” she said. “Trump knows he can pressure Netanyahu, and there are many things that Bennett might be better positioned to refuse Trump than Netanyahu is, because Netanyahu feels like he owes Trump for things they did together in the past.”  

Asked whether President Trump could intervene politically in Israel’s election, Dayan said it is possible. “I think it is likely,” she said. “I don’t know that it will happen.” At a minimum, she said, “we will see Trump saying that he wants Netanyahu to remain in office.”  

For now, the Bennett-Lapid alliance has clarified the leadership of the opposition but not the outcome of the election. For now, the move mainly gives the opposition a clearer structure, with Bennett at the top. Whether that turns into a majority is still an open question.  

“It’s good for both Bennett and Lapid,” Shapira said. “In terms of the blocs, I don’t think it changes very much.”  

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BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Separatist rebels in Mali said Friday they captured a strategic military camp in the northern town of Tessalit after the withdrawal of the army and their Russian allies, as the militants launch their biggest round of attacks in over a decade.

The claim by the Azawad Liberation Front separatist group was the latest setback for Mali’s ruling junta, which lost control of the major city of Kidal earlier in the week as part of attacks that killed Malian Defense Minister Sadio Camara.

Local reports said the Malian army and members of Russia’s Africa Corp pulled out of Tessalit starting Thursday. The Azawad Liberation Front, or FLA, has been fighting in the region in collaboration with the al-Qaeda-backed Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM.

Achafghi Ag Bouhanda, a top FLA commander, announced the capture of the Tessalit camp in a video posted online. The camp is strategically located near an airport and the border with Algeria.

The Associated Press could not independently confirm the situation at the camp, which is located in an area with poor internet access. Malian authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The wider Sahel region south of the Sahara Desert including Mali and other conflict-battered nations has been a hotspot for violent extremism. Jihadis have in recent years ramped up pressure against Mali’s military junta as well as the juntas of the neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger.

The three countries, run by militaries which deposed elected governments in recent coups, have severed security ties with Western partners and turned instead to Russia for security support.

The latest assault in Mali began on Saturday after the jihadis and separatists partnered to target the main international airport in the capital, Bamako, as well as other towns and cities in near-simultaneous attacks as they rode on motorcycles and trucks.

At least 10 locations have been attacked by the militants since then, forcing Malian and Russian forces to withdraw from the key northern city of Kidal, which was once a stronghold of the separatists.

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West Bank Settler Violence Prompts IDF Warning, New EU Aid Program 

Israel’s top West Bank commander warned senior officials that attacks by extremist settlers could help ignite a new Palestinian uprising, as the European Union announced Thursday a new aid program for Palestinians harmed by settler violence in the West Bank. 

Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth, who heads the Israel Defense Forces’ Central Command, recently told a closed forum that violence by Jewish extremists was creating a security threat as well as a moral and political one, Haaretz reported. He reportedly said he had warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the cabinet that Palestinian attacks were currently at a relatively low level, but that conditions could deteriorate quickly. 

“The coffee brewing is a good coffee—the level of terrorism is at its lowest—but there’s a constant simmer, and we don’t know where it will spill over. And when it spills over, it spills quickly,” Bluth was quoted as saying. 

Bluth also reportedly linked settler attacks to later Palestinian violence, saying, “We know today of people [Palestinians] who were harmed in ‘price tag’ attacks and immediately afterward went out to carry out an attack.” 

His comments came as Alexandre Stutzmann, the European Union representative to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, announced an aid initiative for victims of settler attacks, according to the Palestinian Authority’s official WAFA news agency. Stutzmann described the surge in violence as a “wake-up call” and said the EU was also examining political measures. 

The announcement followed a visit by Stutzmann and foreign diplomats to al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, where Palestinians reported damage from recent settler attacks. 

Israeli and Palestinian rights groups have long documented assaults, arson, vandalism, and intimidation by extremist settlers in the West Bank. Palestinians and human rights groups accuse Israeli authorities of failing to stop such attacks or prosecute perpetrators. Israel says it investigates violence and rejects claims that its forces protect attackers. 

The West Bank has been under Israeli control since the 1967 war. Around 470,000 to 500,000 Israelis live in the territory, which Israel calls Judea and Samaria. Most of the international community considers Israeli towns and villages in the West Bank to be illegal settlements under international law, while Israel disputes that view. 

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UAE Bars Citizens From Traveling to Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq 

The United Arab Emirates on Thursday barred its citizens from traveling to Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq and urged Emiratis already in those countries to leave immediately, citing regional unrest and the need to protect nationals abroad. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the ban was part of precautionary measures taken as tensions continue across the Middle East. The ministry called on Emiratis in the three countries to return to the UAE as soon as possible and to follow official travel guidance. 

Authorities also instructed UAE citizens in Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq to contact the ministry through its emergency line, +971 800 44444, for assistance. The ministry said it was continuing to monitor conditions affecting Emiratis overseas. 

The decision comes during a period of heightened regional volatility involving Iran, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Iraq-based armed groups, and wider Gulf security concerns. The UAE has previously issued safety alerts connected to missile and drone threats, while airspace disruptions and security warnings have affected several countries in the region. 

Iran, Lebanon, and Iraq all sit at the center of overlapping regional crises. Iran remains a focal point of confrontation with Israel and the US; Lebanon has faced renewed instability linked to Hezbollah and Israeli military activity; and Iraq continues to host armed factions tied to broader regional rivalries. 

The UAE, which normalized relations with Israel under the Abraham Accords in 2020 while also maintaining diplomatic engagement with Iran, has often sought to balance de-escalation with security preparedness. The travel ban signals Abu Dhabi’s concern that regional conditions could deteriorate quickly and place Emirati citizens at risk. 

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US Says Aoun-Netanyahu Meeting Could Help Restore Lebanese Control in the South 

The United States urged Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Thursday to meet directly with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying a US-facilitated meeting could help secure an Israeli military withdrawal from southern Lebanon and restore Lebanese state control there. 

The appeal came from the US Embassy in Lebanon as Washington presses Beirut and Jerusalem to move from a fragile ceasefire with Hezbollah toward a more durable security arrangement. The embassy said, “A direct meeting between President Aoun and Prime Minister Netanyahu, facilitated by President Trump, would give Lebanon the chance to secure concrete guarantees on full sovereignty, territorial integrity, secure borders, humanitarian and reconstruction support, and the complete restoration of Lebanese state authority over every inch of its territory—guaranteed by the United States.” 

The statement also said that Lebanon stood “at a crossroads,” adding that direct engagement with Israel “can mark the beginning of a national revival.” 

Lebanon and Israel have no formal diplomatic relations and remain technically at war. A 1949 armistice agreement has long governed the border framework, while Hezbollah’s military presence in southern Lebanon has been a repeated source of conflict with Israel. Israel has said its operations in Lebanon are aimed at preventing Hezbollah from rebuilding positions near the border and threatening northern Israeli communities. 

The US push comes as Lebanon’s leadership remains divided over talks with Israel. Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam have shown interest in negotiations that could stabilize the border and restore state authority, while Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, has opposed normalization and pushed instead for a narrower nonaggression arrangement. 

President Donald Trump has said he wants to host Netanyahu and Aoun, and US officials have described Lebanon’s disarmament of Hezbollah as central to any lasting deal. For Lebanon, the central demands are an Israeli pullout, prisoner releases, reconstruction aid, and control over the south by the Lebanese state rather than Hezbollah. 

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LONDON (AP) — A 45-year-old man was charged Friday with attempted murder in the stabbings of two Jewish men in London, the latest in a string of attacks that have sparked fear and anger in Britain’s Jewish community.

Police said Essa Suleiman faces two counts of the charge related to the attack in Golders Green. He also faces a third count of attempted murder over an incident elsewhere in the city earlier the same day that left a man with minor injuries.

Police have labeled the Golders Green attack an act of terrorism.

Police say Suleiman was referred in 2020 to the government’s Prevent program, which tries to steer individuals away from extremism. The police force said his file was closed later the same year, and didn’t disclose the reason for the referral.

Suleiman, a Somalia-born British citizen who lives in London, is due to make his first court appearance later Friday.

The British government pledged to tackle antisemitism after the stabbings in an area in north London that is an epicenter of Britain’s Jewish community. The victims, aged 34 and 76, were seriously injured. One has since been discharged from a hospital and the other is in stable condition.

The stabbings followed a string of arson attacks on synagogues and other Jewish sites in London in recent weeks.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that his government would increase security for the Jewish community and “do everything in our power to stamp this hatred out.”

Britain’s official terror threat level was raised from substantial to severe after Wednesday’s stabbing attack. Severe is the second-highest rung on a five-point scale and means intelligence agencies consider an attack highly likely in the next six months.

The government said the change was not due solely to the Golders Green attack but also due to increased danger “from Islamist and extreme right-wing terrorist threat from individuals and small groups based in the U.K.”

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BAKU, May 1 (Reuters) – Azerbaijan on Friday summoned the European Union’s ambassador to protest against an EU resolution condemning Baku’s detention of Armenian prisoners of war and backing the rights of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh.

The resolution denounced what it called Azerbaijan’s “unjust detention” of Armenian prisoners of war, detainees and hostages and demanded their immediate release. It also reiterated EU support for the rights of Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians and called for accountability for the destruction of Armenian cultural and religious heritage.

Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry on Friday dismissed the resolution as “unfounded and biased,” saying Karabakh Armenians had left the region voluntarily. It added that those described by the EU as prisoners of war had committed serious crimes, including war crimes.

Ethnic Armenians in Karabakh, an internationally recognised part of Azerbaijan, broke away from Baku’s control as the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought two wars over the mountainous territory before Baku took it back in 2023 and its entire Armenian population of around 100,000 people fled to Armenia.

Karabakh officials captured at that time were placed on trial in Baku in January 2025, accused of a battery of charges including war crimes. International human rights groups have raised concerns about the fairness of the trial.

In February, Ruben Vardanyan, an Armenian-born billionaire banker who served as a senior official in Nagorno-Karabakh, was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

(Reporting by Nailia BagirovaWriting by Maxim RodionovEditing by Mark Trevelyan)

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