Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has deployed 500 troops to Milan and tightened nationwide anti-rioting laws in an effort to quell unrest that has gripped the city since the weekend, with rioters smashing storefronts, looting businesses, and surrounding Milan’s iconic Duomo cathedral. For Meloni and her right-wing Brothers of Italy party, which swept to power in 2022 on a tough-on-crime and anti-immigration platform, the unrest — echoing larger riots in France — offers another opportunity to double down on those messages ahead of next year’s elections. And she has good reason to do so: Meloni faces growing competition from parties even further to her right, particularly from Roberto Vannacci and his National Future party, which has been gaining momentum after accusing Meloni of going soft on crime and immigration.
Burkina Faso’s parliament has unanimously voted to reinstate the death penalty, just eight years after the country’s previous, democratically elected government abolished it. A military coup ousted that government in 2022, and the ruling junta now argues that restoring capital punishment will help combat the al-Qaeda-affiliated Islamist insurgencies that have plagued the country for much of the past decade, killing over 25,000 people and displacing over two million. But the decision goes against a broader trend, particularly in Africa, where countries including Zimbabwe, Ghana, and the Central African Republic have abolished the death penalty in recent years. The move has also provoked fresh criticism of Burkina Faso’s military government, which human rights groups have accused of carrying out extrajudicial killings and cracking down on press freedom.
President Trump and PM Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly discussed that possibility earlier this month, and US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is in Israel today to coordinate Iran policy. In Israel, which sees Iran as an existential threat, neutering Tehran’s nuclear program and potentially toppling the regime are widely supported — even by Netanyahu’s opponents. Ahead of an upcoming election that he could well lose, Netanyahu is eager to resume hostilities, but Trump has so far stopped him. That’s because in the US, by contrast, the so-far inconclusive war is deeply unpopular. Trump’s Republicans are set to take a beating in the midterms, partly because the conflict has stoked inflation, a key voter concern. But with Trump keen to “finish the job,” analysts expect he’ll roll the dice again after the election. As it happens, another US carrier group, along with 10,000 troops, is now steaming back toward the Middle East. Its projected arrival date? Mid-November.
2.8 is way above the UN target of 1.5 degrees that was set by the 2015 Paris Agreement.
Could China give Europe a shortcut in the AI race?
Europe has struggled to build models that compete with American and Chinese rivals. But Chinese models that companies can download, customize, and run themselves could offer another way forward—with more control over data and security.
This week, Microsoft launched the Velocity Prize, a global competition designed to give students ages 13–16 an opportunity to demonstrate their computational thinking, coding, and creative problem-solving skills in Minecraft. Supported by Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit, the competition encourages students to build digital skills and learn how to use technology responsibly while exploring future opportunities in cybersecurity. By helping equip the next generation with the skills to navigate and shape the digital world, the Velocity Prize is helping build a pipeline of future problem-solvers who can contribute to a safer and more resilient digital ecosystem. Read more here.
New polling from Pew Research Center across 37 countries shows that the share of the public who believe social media is a “bad thing” for democracy has increased significantly since 2022.