World
Will Vox benefit from the rise of Europe's extreme right?
Spain’s far-right party lost more than 600,000 votes in the country’s latest general election – but now it has a chance to turn things around this summer.
This summer’s European Parliament elections are a test for the radical right across the continent – but in Spain, the outcome could determine the future of the country’s main far-right party, Vox.
Despite the rise of the far right throughout Europe, Vox haemorrhaged 600,000 votes in Spain’s last general election, and the country’s mainstream right-wingers are trying to keep up the pressure.
In Madrid, members of Spain’s longstanding conservative Popular Party (PP) are conducting a membership drive, calling on voters to join the “Ayuso Team.”
The phrase refers to Isabel Díaz Ayuso, one of the PP’s most popular leaders and President of the Community of Madrid. She won the presidency in the regional elections in 2019, in a campaign that made her the first conservative leader to curb Vox’s rise.
Ayuso has managed to snatch thousands of votes from the far-right party by adopting such narratives as the defence of economic freedom, like Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, and the defence of the unity of Spain in the face of regional separatism.
She has also waged a cultural battle against leftist parties, a strategy that caters to Vox’s conservative target voters.
“I am convinced that the Vox voter has the same concerns and tastes as I do,” said PP member Luis Monedero. “So if he wants his demands to be carried out, he should cast a strategic vote and really vote for the party that will take them and implement them in the European Parliament.”
“President Ayuso has been fighting the battle of ideas from the very beginning, which are not necessarily right-wing ideas,” explains PP member Ignacio Dancausa. “People have realised that the left has turned that exclusionary radical feminism into an industry, they have turned that absurd environmentalism into an industry as well.”
Andrés Santana, Professor of Political Science at the Autonomous University of Madrid, told Euronews that “Vox will need more than just attracting disenchanted voters. They will have to show that their vote is really more attractive to those voters who once left the PP.”
However, there is a gap between Ayuso’s muscular discourse and the more moderate positions of the PP’s national leader, Alberto Núñez Feijoo. The party faces a serious challenge as it tries to attract Vox voters without alienating centre-right voters.
And Vox has not had its last word. For one thing, the recent farmers’ protests sweeping across Europe could boost the party in this summer’s continent-wide elections.
It withstood the PP’s onslaught in recent Basque regional elections – and however successful the PP’s efforts to monopolise the mainstream vote, is expected that the party will at least improve on its showing in the 2019 European elections and finally consolidate itself as Spain’s third political force.
World
Paris Saint-Germain wins the Champions League after penalty shootout victory against Arsenal
Paris Saint-Germain won back-to-back Champions League titles after a 4–3 penalty shootout victory over Arsenal in Budapest. Following a 1–1 draw through extra time, Gabriel Magalhães missed the decisive spot kick to hand PSG the trophy.
World
Box Office: ‘Backrooms’ Scares Up $38 Million on Friday, Already Shattering Record for A24’s Best Opening Weekend
Kane Parsons’ “Backrooms” has already shattered the record for A24’s best opening weekend.
Adapted from Parsons’ viral YouTube series, “Backrooms” earned $38 million domestic on Friday from 3,442 theaters, and is projected to gross $85 million to $90 million through the weekend. That’s more than triple the previous record holder, Alex Garland’s thriller “Civil War,” which earned $25.5 million in 2024 to claim the title of A24’s best debut.
“Backrooms” follows a small-town furniture store owner who discovers a portal to an otherworldly dimension in his showroom. Cast members include Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve and Mark Duplass. James Wan, Shawn Levy and Osgood Perkins serve as producers. Chernin Entertainment was the co-studio and co-financier of “Backrooms.”
This weekend’s other newcomers include Nate Bargatze’s family comedy, “The Breadwinner,” and Focus Features’ war drama, “Pressure.” “The Breadwinner” fared the best of the two, grossing $2.75 million on Friday from 3,525 North American theaters for a fifth-place finish. By Sunday, it should make $7.5 million.
TriStar Pictures’ “The Breadwinner” follows Bargatze as a dad who is forced to take charge of his chaotic household when his wife leaves on a month long buiness trip. Other cast members include Mandy Moore, Stella Grace Fitzgerald, Birdie Borria, Charlotte Ann Tucker, Colin Jost and Zach Cherry.
“Pressure” landed at No. 6 on Friday with $2.46 million domestic from 1,829 screens. It’s expected to pull in $5.4 million by the end of the weekend. The WWII thriller stars Brendan Fraser as Dwight D. Eisenhower, who must decide whether or not to launch D-Day in the face of brutal conditions. Other cast members include Andrew Scott, Kerry Condon, Chris Messina, Damian Lewis and Tamsin Topolski.
Friday’s silver medal went to Curry Barker’s “Obsession,” which made $8.1 million on its third Friday in theaters. After a stellar $28 million over Memorial Day, the indie horror is expected to make another $28 million by Sunday. That’s a 19% uptick from the $22 million it earned over last weekend’s three-day frame.
“Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu” took third with just $6.5 million on its second Friday in North American cinemas, an 70% drop from its opening day. While initial projections saw the Lucasfilm western grossing $40 million by Sunday, that number now looks closer to $25 million, according to rival estimates. That figure would push the film’s domestic total to $136 million through two weekends.
Lionsgate’s “Michael” finished in fourth, adding $3.5 on Friday. It should collect $12.7 million by Sunday, which would bring its domestic earnings to $340 million in six weekends of release.
World
Hamas struggles to fill leadership ranks as Israel hunts Oct 7 terrorists
Gazans react to the killings of Hamas terror leaders
Interviews with Gazans expressing frustration with Hamas leadership after Israel’s killing of senior commanders, as many residents say civilians — not Hamas leaders — have paid the price of the war (Credit: Jusoor News)
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Just before celebrations for Eid al-Adha, a major Muslim holiday, began in Gaza, an Israeli airstrike hit a building in Gaza City, killing Mohammed Odeh, the newly appointed head of Hamas’ military wing, according to Israeli officials and later confirmed by Hamas.
Reports from regional media said members of Odeh’s family were also killed in the strike. Two hours later, Gaza’s markets were full.
Fox News Digital reviewed video filmed in Gaza showing crowded Eid streets, children shopping and families gathering, with little visible reaction to the killing of the Hamas commander Israel described as one of the architects of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel.
The contrast underscored what many Gazans and analysts describe as a growing disconnect between Hamas leaders and civilians exhausted by nearly three years of war, which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry — figures that do not distinguish between civilians and combatants — and displaced most of Gaza’s population.
ISRAEL ANNOUNCES IT KILLED ONE OF THE ARCHITECTS OF THE OCT. 7 ATTACKS
Palestinians shop at a crowded Eid al-Adha market in Gaza hours after Israel announced the killing of Mohammed Odeh, the newly appointed head of Hamas’ military wing, in an airstrike in Gaza. (Jusoor News)
Hadeel Oueis, editor-in-chief of Jusoor News, told Fox News Digital the assassinations are creating “a clear vacuum” inside Hamas and weakening coordination between leaders in Gaza and abroad.
“With the deaths of its leaders and the collapse of strong centralized command, Hamas is turning into a smaller militia competing with other armed groups operating in Gaza,” Oueis said. “Hamas is now fighting for survival.”
In a joint statement issued Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz said Odeh, who had replaced senior commander Izz al-Din al-Haddad only days earlier, was “one of the architects of the October 7 massacre.”
“Sooner or later, Israel will reach all of them,” Netanyahu and Katz said.
Palestinian Hamas terrorists stand guard in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Feb. 22, 2025, during the handover of hostages held since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack as part of a ceasefire and hostage-prisoner swap deal with Israel. (Hatem Khaled/Reuters)
Inside Gaza, several residents interviewed by Jusoor News said they no longer viewed the deaths of Hamas leaders as personal losses.
“Of course we didn’t feel anything when Haddad, Sinwar, or others were killed,” one Gazan activist and former political prisoner told Jusoor News in an on-camera interview, speaking with his face blurred for safety reasons.
The activist was referring to Izz al-Din al-Haddad, the Hamas military commander Israel said it killed earlier in May, and Yahya Sinwar, the former Hamas leader and chief architect of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, who was killed by Israeli forces in southern Gaza in October 2024.
“Ordinary people are the ones who paid the price, not the leaders who made reckless decisions without thinking,” the activist said.
“As a result, Gaza today is almost completely destroyed,” the activist said. “There are families who have lost everything, while the remaining leaders abroad and inside continue to gamble with our lives constantly.”
GRASSROOTS PUSH FOR FREEDOM GROWS IN GAZA AS HAMAS TIGHTENS ITS DEADLY GRIP
Palestinians shop at a crowded Eid al-Adha market in Gaza hours after Israel announced the killing of Mohammed Odeh, the newly appointed head of Hamas’ military wing, in an airstrike in Gaza. (Credit: Jusoor News)
A Gaza-based journalist echoed the frustration.
“When we heard about the killing of Izz al-Din Haddad or others, we were not affected,” the journalist said. “What is even more painful is that the children of the leaders live outside Gaza, in Turkey and Qatar, driving luxury cars and living comfortable lives, while people here have almost gone back to the Stone Age.”
Another Gaza journalist and human rights advocate told Jusoor Hamas had harmed Palestinians as much as Israelis.
“I do not see the deaths of the leaders as losses for the Palestinians, because we ordinary people are the ones who paid the price,” the advocate said. “Honestly, Hamas did not only hurt the Israelis — they hurt us as well.”
At the same time, Israeli analysts caution that the repeated assassinations do not necessarily mean Hamas is close to collapse.
Michael Milshtein, an expert on the Palestinian arena, told Fox News Digital that Hamas unquestionably has suffered severe damage since Oct. 7, 2023, particularly with the deaths of veteran commanders who helped build the organization’s military structure and doctrine.
ISRAEL, HAMAS CEASEFIRE DEAL COULD ENABLE REARMING OF GAZA TERRORISTS
Palestinians shop at a crowded Eid al-Adha market in Gaza. (Jusoor News)
“Almost nobody remains from the core group that planned and led the October 7 attack,” he said.
But he noted that Odeh himself had been viewed largely as a second-tier figure before the war rather than an obvious successor to Hamas’ historic military leadership.
“The people replacing them are far less experienced, less capable and far less charismatic,” Milshtein said.
Still, he argued, Hamas continues to maintain functioning chains of command and ideological cohesion despite the losses.
“People know they are likely going to die, and they still compete for these leadership positions,” he said.
The debate over Hamas’ future comes as international efforts to shape a postwar political framework for Gaza accelerate.
TRUMP-BACKED BOARD OF PEACE, ISRAEL ‘WILL TAKE ACTION’ IF HAMAS REMAINS OUT OF COMPLIANCE: NETANYAHU ADVISOR
Hamas militants carried coffins believed to contain the bodies of four Israeli hostages during a handover to the Red Cross in Khan Yunis, Gaza, on Feb. 20, 2025. (Eyad Baba/AFP)
Nickolay Mladenov, who was appointed High Representative for Gaza under the Board of Peace initiative, published the core elements of a proposed 15-point “Roadmap to Complete the Implementation of President Trump’s Gaza Comprehensive Peace Plan.”
The proposal includes a phased Hamas disarmament process, internationally supervised security reforms and the establishment of “one authority, one law, one weapon” inside Gaza.
“Gaza cannot recover while armed groups simultaneously operate as governing authorities,” Mladenov wrote while outlining the proposal on social media.
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Displaced Palestinians, including families and children, wait in line to receive hot meals distributed by charities ahead of iftar in Khan Yunis, Gaza. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu)
For many Gazans exhausted by years of war, displacement and destruction, the deaths of Hamas leaders now appear to carry less emotional weight than the hope that the conflict itself could finally end.
“Gaza cannot remain hostage to the idea of permanent war while civilians alone pay the entire price,” one activist said.
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