World roundup: May 7 2025

Stories from Israel-Palestine, Pakistan, Sudan, and elsewhere

TODAY IN HISTORY

May 7, 1487: The army of Ferdinand and Isabella, the Catholic rulers of what would eventually become Spain, lay siege to the city of Málaga in what at the time was the Emirate of Granada. The Catholic forces were able to blockade the city’s harbor and surround its landed portions with earthworks, initially intending to starve its garrison into submission. But after several weeks they began assaulting Málaga’s walls and were eventually able to take control of a tower. Between hunger and a sense that it was becoming impossible to maintain their defense, city officials surrendered on August 13 and the garrison capitulated on August 18. The loss of Málaga cost the reeling Nasirid rulers of Granada their main seaport as well as their second largest city. Because Málaga’s leaders had rebuffed several surrender offers from the Catholics during the course of the siege, Ferdinand had most of the city’s population either enslaved or executed.

May 7, 1942: World War II’s naval Battle of the Coral Sea reaches its climax, which is…mixed. The Japanese Navy won a tactical victory, sinking several heavy US vessels, including the fleet carrier USS Lexington, while losing comparatively less. But the losses Japan suffered severely curtailed its naval strength, preventing a planned invasion of Port Moresby in Papua and contributing to the Allied victory at the Battle of Midway in June. What’s most noteworthy about this engagement is that it was the first naval battle in history in which the actual ships involved never directly fired on one another. The entire battle was fought via carrier aircraft. Needless to say this had a profound impact on naval warfare moving forward.

INTERNATIONAL

I’m not sure this counts as breaking news or even news, really, but a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change concludes that the world’s richest 10 percent have been responsible for two-thirds of the global warming the Earth has experienced since 1990. I feel like this is something most people had sussed out on their own but having it out there in the form of a peer reviewed study is presumably significant. It also points a way forward in combatting climate change, which is by taxing wealth and/or high emission investments/assets, though that’s not going to happen anytime soon if ever.

MIDDLE EAST

SYRIA

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s “Don’t Call Me Jolani” world tour took him to Europe for the first time on Wednesday, when he met with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. Aside from boosting Sharaa’s international profile it’s unclear what the two actually accomplished. Macron said that he urged Sharaa to protect Syrian minorities and to pursue justice against the people responsible for attacks against the Alawite and Druze communities since Bashar al-Assad’s ouster in December. Sharaa pushed for greater sanctions relief, though European governments seem reluctant to move any further on that front amid the communal violence.