Against the backdrop of ongoing shifts in global trade and cross-border commercial relations, a leading U.S. business leader has articulated a forward-looking vision for collaborative growth between the world’s two largest economic powers, arguing that China and the United States hold unique combined influence to shape the future of global consumer markets. Speaking in an exclusive interview with China Daily on the sidelines of the ongoing China International Consumer Products Expo in Hainan, Sean Stein, president of the US-China Business Council, emphasized that the two countries’ dual status as the world’s largest economies and largest consumer markets gives them unparalleled sway over global industry trends, research and development (R&D) trajectories, and cross-border supply chains. That combined market power, Stein noted, opens up vast untapped potential for collaboration across consumer sectors spanning from premium cosmetics to cutting-edge life sciences — a potential that is on full public display at this year’s Hainan expo. “The US and China together play an incredibly big role in determining trends and what products roll out globally. What’s really interesting is seeing US and Chinese companies collaborate and take things global,” Stein said. He pointed to the successful expansion of Chinese lifestyle brand Pop Mart in San Francisco as a tangible example of this collaborative future in action, noting that the brand’s global success grew directly out of strategic international partnerships with established industry players. “I was incredibly happy to see Chinese brands doing well globally. Their success comes from international partnerships with established brands,” he said. “As the world’s two largest consumer markets, we should have the world’s largest consumer brands working together.” Stein also pushed back firmly against persistent speculation that U.S. firms are accelerating a full exit from the Chinese market, stressing that ongoing investment flows and long-term strategic commitments tell a far different story. “American companies are continuing to invest. American companies aren’t going anywhere,” he said. He added that the core value proposition China offers to international businesses has shifted dramatically over the past three decades: where 25 years ago firms entered the market primarily to access low-wage labor, today they are drawn to China’s growing pool of highly skilled workers and its unmatched ability to scale new products and technologies quickly for global markets. “Twenty-five years ago, no one came to China to do R&D. Now, what I’m seeing is that the best companies are coming and doing some of their most important R&D in China,” he said. Several exhibitors at this year’s expo illustrate that evolution firsthand. Beauty giant Estee Lauder now designs fully customized products specifically for Chinese consumers, a process that extends far beyond simple packaging changes to core product formulation and in-market R&D. Tapestry Inc., the parent company of luxury brands Coach and Kate Spade, has established a dedicated full-fledged R&D center in Dongguan, Guangdong province, where teams design new products locally for distribution to global consumers. This fundamental shift in how global firms engage with China has led Stein to redefine the country’s role in the global economy. “It’s not the China market anymore — it’s the China platform,” he said. “That platform includes consumers, the business-to-business market, partnerships with Chinese firms, R&D, supply chain, and supply chain resilience. All of those are part of it, and that’s only becoming more important.” To unlock the full potential of this collaborative platform, Stein argued that policymakers on both sides need to approach national security concerns in a deliberate, measured way to support more resilient and healthy bilateral trade relations. “We should rationalize security concerns and make it the right size, not over-blow it,” he said. His comments align with recent official statements from Chinese trade authorities: He Yadong, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce, noted last week at a Beijing press conference that China remains committed to maintaining open communication with the U.S. through existing economic and trade consultation mechanisms to address issues of mutual concern. Despite ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical headwinds in bilateral relations, Stein said that progressive policy opening initiatives such as the Hainan expo have made China a more profitable and lower-risk destination for foreign direct investment, noting that new policy adjustments from Chinese regulators are continuously removing barriers to market entry. He offered a recent concrete example from Hainan: before new policy changes, a major U.S. firm that specializes in refurbishing pre-owned goods sourced from Southeast Asia and Japan was unable to operate this business model within China. Following the launch of Hainan’s island-wide special customs supervision regime in December 2025, the company has begun establishing a regional refurbishment and re-export base in the province. “That’s a big, encouraging change,” Stein said. The positive impact of Hainan’s policy opening is already visible across a range of foreign firms operating in the province. U.S. electric vehicle maker Tesla has reported a sharp surge in customer activity across its Hainan retail locations. A Tesla spokesperson told China Daily that Hainan’s unique ecological advantages and open policy environment make it “an ideal base for promoting green mobility worldwide”. Driven by new favorable customs policies and local government support incentives, Haikou-based Tesla stores have recorded a 20% month-on-month increase in in-store customer foot traffic, the spokesperson added. Joanne Crevoiserat, CEO of Tapestry Inc., echoed Stein’s optimistic outlook on the Chinese market, noting that Chinese consumers have set a high bar for global brands. “The Chinese consumer is very discerning. They expect high quality and innovation, and that’s why I love being part of this market,” she said. Delivering on those expectations by developing innovative, high-quality products locally for Chinese consumers doesn’t just benefit the company’s domestic performance, Crevoiserat explained — it also strengthens its competitive standing across global markets. Looking ahead, she added, Tapestry sees significant room for further expansion across China, extending beyond established core markets in first- and second-tier cities to fast-growing smaller urban centers across the country.
作者： admin
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Iran war wreaks havoc on global economy and could spark recession, says IMF
The simmering conflict that erupted after U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran in late February has upended years of gradual economic recovery, casting a sudden, dark shadow over global growth prospects, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned in its latest semiannual World Economic Outlook. The institution has cut nearly all of its 2026 growth projections, stressing that prolonged conflict in the energy-rich Middle East could push the global economy into a full recession, a scenario not seen since the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to the outbreak of hostilities, the global economy had been on a steady upward trajectory. The IMF notes that strengthening growth was fueled by a booming global tech sector, easing trade policy frictions between major economies, targeted fiscal stimulus in multiple large markets, and generally accommodative global financial conditions. That momentum has now been completely derailed by the conflict, according to IMF Chief Economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas.
“The global outlook has abruptly darkened following the outbreak of war,” Gourinchas stated in the report. He highlighted the unique strategic importance of the Middle East to global energy security, warning that any prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz or widespread damage to regional oil and gas production infrastructure could spark an energy crisis of a scale never seen before in modern economic history.
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow shipping lane that narrows to just 33 kilometers at its thinnest point between Oman’s Musandam Peninsula and Iran, is widely recognized as the world’s most critical energy chokepoint. Roughly 20% of total global crude oil production and one-third of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies pass through the waterway daily, making any disruption to traffic there a major shock to global energy markets.
In its baseline projection for a short-lived conflict, the IMF now forecasts global gross domestic product (GDP) will grow by just 3.1% in 2026. That marks a 0.3 percentage point downgrade from the 3.4% growth prediction the institution released just three months ago, before the war began.
Growth downgrades have hit every corner of the global economy, with some regions facing far steeper cuts than others. Among G7 advanced economies, the United Kingdom saw the sharpest downward revision, with its 2026 growth forecast cut by half a percentage point to just 0.8%. The U.S. saw a more modest 0.1 percentage point cut, bringing its projected growth to 2.3% for the year. Emerging market economies are also bracing for significant headwinds: sub-Saharan Africa’s growth forecast was lowered by 0.3 percentage points to 4.3%, while the Middle East and North Africa region suffered the steepest overall downgrade of 2.8 percentage points, dropping to just 1.1% growth. That sharp cut reflects direct damage to regional infrastructure and risks of prolonged disruption to the Strait of Hormuz.
Inflation projections have also been revised sharply upward as energy prices soar in the wake of the conflict. The IMF now projects global inflation will hit 4.4% in 2026, up significantly from its earlier forecast of 3.7%. Since the conflict began, global crude oil prices have surged above $100 per barrel, while natural gas prices have jumped more than 80% compared to pre-war levels.
The IMF has mapped a range of possible outcomes depending on how the conflict unfolds, from a relatively mild best-case scenario to a catastrophic worst-case scenario. In the most severe outcome, a protracted, long-running war would drag global growth down to just 2% and push global inflation to 6%. The IMF notes that global growth has fallen below the 2% threshold only four times since 1980, with the most recent instances being the 2008 global financial crisis and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic – events widely classified as global recessions.
Even the most optimistic scenario, in which the war ends quickly and the Strait of Hormuz returns to full operational capacity immediately, would still deliver a major shock to the global economy. Under this best-case outcome, the IMF still projects global oil prices will rise by 21.4% in 2026, while overall global energy commodity prices – which were previously forecast to fall this year – will instead rise by 19%.
Gourinchas explained that this jump in commodity prices represents a classic negative supply shock that will ripple through every sector of the global economy. “Raising the cost of all energy-intensive goods and services – including fertilisers, chemicals, food, transportation, and heating – disrupting supply chains, feeding into headline inflation, and reducing purchasing power,” he said of the impact.
One notable outlier in the revised forecasts is Russia, which the IMF identifies as the biggest relative beneficiary of the conflict. The institution now projects Russia’s economy will grow by 1.1% in 2026, which is 0.3 percentage points higher than its previous forecast, and slightly up from the 1% growth Russia recorded in 2025. The IMF attributes this upgrade to higher global oil prices boosting Russia’s export revenues, alongside temporary U.S. sanctions relief for some Russian oil shipments that has allowed Moscow to expand its market share.
This report was originally covered by Middle East Eye, an independent publication specializing in unrivaled reporting and analysis on the Middle East, North Africa, and broader global affairs. For information on republishing this content and associated fees, interested parties can contact the organization via their official website.
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Almost half of Sudan’s lifesaving kitchens have closed in last six months
Three years into Sudan’s brutal civil conflict, a new study from global humanitarian organization Islamic Relief has revealed a devastating collapse of the country’s grassroots food safety net: nearly half of all community-run lifesaving kitchens, known locally as takaaya, have shuttered their doors in just six months, driven by plummeting international support and economic spillover from the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Takaaya, operated by local Sudanese mutual aid networks, have emerged as the last line of food assistance for millions of civilians trapped by ongoing fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since the conflict erupted in April 2023. To assess the state of these critical operations, Islamic Relief conducted a large-scale survey of 844 takaaya across six Sudanese states, confirming that 354 kitchens – 42% of the total sampled – have ceased operations due to crippling shortages of funding and essential supplies.
The collapse of the community kitchen network comes as Sudan grapples with what the UN calls the world’s largest hunger crisis. Data from the survey and humanitarian agencies confirms that 21 million Sudanese – 45% of the entire population – currently face acute food insecurity, a crisis amplified by mass population displacement, deliberate attacks on agricultural lands, and blockades of key trade routes. Over the past month alone, the US-Israeli war on Iran has upended global supply chains and sent costs soaring across Sudan: fuel prices have jumped by 187% in recent weeks, adding further unsustainable pressure on already strained aid operations.
The humanitarian catastrophe is compounded by a growing humanitarian tracking crisis: the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced this week that the number of people registered as missing in Sudan has surpassed 11,000, marking a 40% increase in just 12 months. To date, the conflict has displaced more than 11 million Sudanese, with many forced to flee multiple times as frontlines shift; 4 million of those displaced have sought refuge across international borders, and thousands more have been killed since fighting began.
As the conflict enters its fourth year with no sign of de-escalation, international mediators are convening a high-level conference in Berlin on Wednesday – the third anniversary of the outbreak of war – hosted by Germany, the African Union, France, the European Union, the UK and the US. Notably, neither the SAF nor the RSF have been invited to the conference, and no official delegations from the two warring parties will attend. The two sides remain deadlocked, with the RSF and its allied factions controlling Darfur in western Sudan, and the SAF holding most of the rest of the country, each backed by competing regional and international patrons. The United Arab Emirates is the primary military and financial backer of the RSF, led by General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo (known as Hemedti), with exclusive reporting from Middle East Eye last week confirming additional support from Ethiopia, operating from a military base in the country’s Benishangul-Gumuz region. The SAF, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, draws its core support from Egypt and Turkey, and has increasingly gained backing from Saudi Arabia, which is engaged in a regional rivalry with the UAE.
Humanitarian organizations, aid groups and human rights advocates have issued urgent calls to the governments gathering in Berlin, demanding two key actions: ramp up immediate support for local Sudanese aid groups, and hold parties responsible for human rights abuses accountable. “It is imperative that attending states prioritize the needs of Sudanese civilians over geopolitical interests,” said a Human Rights Watch spokesperson, echoing calls from the British Red Cross and Sudanese Red Crescent for all warring parties to strictly adhere to international humanitarian law, amid ongoing attacks on civilian infrastructure, residential areas and humanitarian workers.
Unlike large international aid operations, takaaya are rooted in local communities: most operate out of mosques, community centers or private family homes, and work hand-in-hand with Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) – grassroots mutual aid networks that have led the country’s humanitarian response from the earliest days of the war, earning Nobel Peace Prize nominations in both 2024 and 2025.
For the millions of Sudanese who rely on these kitchens, they are far more than a source of food: they are the only thing keeping many alive. Osama Abdulkafi Mubarak, a chef at a surviving takaaya, told Islamic Relief his kitchen feeds 200 to 250 families every single day. “We usually cook beans ‘foul’ for breakfast, and lentils, pasta and rice for lunch…. It depends on whatever is available on the day. It is very important, it is their main meal,” he said. Mubarak explained that the funding streams that supported kitchens early in the war have entirely dried up. “The main donors who used to pay for takaaya at the beginning of the war have stopped,” he said. “People were more enthusiastic to support. They were willing to help more, but now money is much less, and even people working on the takaaya are suffering because they also have a lot of other responsibilities, and life is tough. I personally think the situation is worse now, especially after this American, Israeli, Iranian war. The economic situation is worse. Overall, it’s worse than before.”
Mohammed Sulaiman Hilal, a community kitchen beneficiary who relies on the service for daily food, called the takaaya irreplaceable for Sudanese civilians. “Without those community kitchens, life wouldn’t have been possible; people wouldn’t have been able to come back to their areas,” he said. “Most people don’t have jobs, life is stagnated, there is no source of income, most people are fully dependent on takaaya. Without takaaya’s presence there won’t be any humans left.”
Grassroots aid groups in Sudan have long struggled to secure consistent international funding. While they received limited U.S. funding toward the end of Joe Biden’s presidency, all U.S. support was cut when USAID programs were eliminated under the second Trump administration, leaving groups almost entirely dependent on donations from the Sudanese diaspora and local community giving – streams that have now collapsed amid the country’s deep economic crisis. Rampant inflation has doubled the cost of producing a single meal, pushing most kitchens over the edge. In Khartoum, one volunteer reported that the cost of one meal has more than doubled in six months, jumping from $5 to nearly $12. In Port Sudan, volunteer Alaa saw her kitchen go from feeding 4,000 people a day to total suspension when funding ran out. “When we had to close that kitchen, it felt like abandoning my own family,” she said.
Islamic Relief’s survey found stark regional variations in kitchen closures, reflecting the uneven impact of the conflict across the country. In North Darfur, where more than half of all children suffer from acute malnutrition, 57% of surveyed kitchens have closed. In Tawila, a destination for thousands of people who fled the RSF capture of el-Fasher, young volunteer-run kitchens are often forced to close for days between the rare incoming donations. Even in Port Sudan, one of the country’s relatively more stable cities under SAF control, six out of seven surveyed kitchens have closed. The only exception is North Kordofan, a site of recent active fighting, where almost all kitchens remain open, sustained by local volunteer efforts.
Iftikhar Shaheen, global CEO of Islamic Relief, called the collapse of Sudan’s community kitchen network a collective failure of the international community. “The suffering in Sudan is a collective moral failure of the international community. Three years of war have created the world’s biggest hunger crisis, and these locally run kitchens have saved countless lives,” Shaheen said. “Their closure now is a death sentence for many vulnerable families. Heroic volunteers are doing everything they can to keep the kitchens open, but they need more support immediately.”
The scale of underfunding extends to formal UN-led aid efforts: the 2026 UN humanitarian appeal for Sudan has received only 16% of its total requested funding, while last year’s appeal received less than 40% of the amount needed to meet civilian needs.
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Wadagni wins Benin’s presidency in landslide vote
Benin’s path to a new presidential term has been cleared with a resounding electoral victory, as the West African nation’s national electoral commission confirmed Tuesday that incumbent Finance Minister Romuald Wadagni has won the presidency by an overwhelming margin.
Provisional results released by the independent electoral body show Wadagni, 49, and his running mate Mariam Chabi Talata captured an extraordinary 94% of valid votes cast in the poll. Out of 4.64 million valid ballots counted, the ruling coalition ticket earned more than 4.25 million votes. Turnout reached 58.75% across the country’s nearly 7.9 million registered voters, a solid participation rate for the national election.
Wadagni entered the race as the clear frontrunner from the outset, backed by Benin’s governing coalition. Local political observers and media outlets had widely predicted his landslide win long before official results were tabulated. His only opponent, opposition candidate Paul Hounkpe, ultimately secured just 5.95% of the vote. In a show of democratic commitment, Hounkpe conceded defeat before the official commission announcement, offered what he called “republican congratulations” to his rival, and called on all Beninese citizens to prioritize national unity and uphold respect for the country’s democratic institutions.
The outcome of the election paves the way for continued policy stability in Benin, particularly for the market-oriented economic reforms advanced over recent years. Those policies have cemented Benin’s reputation as one of the fastest-growing economies in West Africa, and analysts widely expect Wadagni’s presidency to sustain and expand that economic momentum. The landslide mandate, political analysts note, also gives Wadagni a strong mandate to advance his policy agenda as he takes office.
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Nazi search engine shows if ancestors were in Hitler’s party
Eight decades after the collapse of Nazi Germany, a newly launched online search tool is opening unprecedented access to millions of historical Nazi Party membership records, allowing ordinary people to uncover long-buried truths about their family’s past connections to the Hitler regime.
Developed by leading German newspaper *Die Zeit* in partnership with German and U.S. archival institutions, the platform lets users search the full collection of the NSDAP-Mitgliederkartei — a comprehensive set of roughly 10.2 million Nazi Party membership cards compiled between 1925 and 1945. For many descendants of Nazi-era Germans and Austrians, the tool is turning long-held family myths and unconfirmed suspicions into concrete, often shocking facts.
One of the early users, Austrian former news editor Christian Rainer, told reporters he located his grandfather’s entry within seconds of launching his first search. His grandfather joined the Nazi Party just five days after the Anschluss, Hitler’s 1938 annexation of Austria into the Third Reich — a timeline that caught Rainer off guard, even though he had long suspected his grandfather held Nazi sympathies. Rainer, who never met his grandfather, who died shortly before he was born in 1961, expressed particular surprise that his grandfather, an academic who should have been aware of the Nazi regime’s violent ideology, moved so quickly to formalize his membership. Rainer added that the search also brought him relief: it cleared other members of his family, including his father, who was drafted into the Wehrmacht in 1941 and repeatedly wounded in combat, of any suspected Nazi Party affiliation.
The story of how these membership records survived to be digitized is itself remarkable. As Allied forces closed in on Munich in the final days of World War II, Nazi leadership ordered the entire card collection destroyed by pulping. The records were saved by Hanns Huber, director of a local paper mill, who disobeyed the order and turned the documents over to U.S. occupying forces after Germany’s surrender. The cards played a critical role in post-war de-Nazification efforts, helping Allied officials identify former Nazi members and bar them from positions of power in West Germany’s new democratic government.
For nearly 50 years, the records were held by U.S. authorities at the Berlin Document Center. In 1994, the full collection was transferred to Germany’s Federal Archives, with microfilm copies sent to the U.S. National Archives in Washington, D.C. Until this year, accessing the records required submitting a formal written request to German archival authorities — a time-consuming process that put research out of reach for most casual users, particularly private individuals investigating their own family histories. That barrier was removed earlier this year, when the U.S. National Archives made its full set of digitized microfilm records available online. *Die Zeit* acquired the dataset, optimized it for public search, and launched the free public platform in early April 2025.
Public response to the tool has been far greater than organizers expected, with *Die Zeit* spokesperson Judith Busch describing user interest as “overwhelming.” In the weeks following launch, the platform has been accessed millions of times and shared across social media thousands of times as word of the resource spread. Many users have shared deeply personal reactions to their findings: one 71-year-old user commented on *Die Zeit*’s website that discovering two close relatives in the membership records dismantled generations of family denials, calling the shifted perspective “a bitter shock.”
Historians and users alike emphasize that the tool marks a major shift in how modern societies engage with the legacy of the Nazi era. For decades, public and academic research focused heavily on high-ranking Nazi officials and prominent figures who held posts in post-war German institutions. The new search engine puts the power of historical investigation into the hands of ordinary people, allowing them to confront personal and family histories that have remained hidden for generations. As Rainer put it, “Eight decades on, after the end of the World War, you can still find out truth that you haven’t known before.”
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Three years of messages at once – a chronicle of Sudan’s war pours in as trapped reporter’s phone turns on
On April 15, 2026, Sudan’s devastating civil war marks the end of its third year and slides into a fourth year of unrelenting violence – a milestone that survivor and journalist-academic Mohamed Suleiman says is a damning indictment of global failure to end the crisis.
Suleiman’s journey to safety in the coastal city of Port Sudan, which he completed in January 2026 after a two-month trek through Chad, ended three years of entrapment in el-Fasher, the capital of Sudan’s western Darfur region. For 18 of those years, el-Fasher was held under a brutal tight siege by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group that has been locked in a power struggle with Sudan’s regular army since the war first erupted in Khartoum in April 2023. Cut off from all outside contact by a total communications blackout, Suleiman found himself unable to share the full horror of what he watched unfold on the city’s streets.
It was only when he stepped into a Port Sudan telecom office in January that he reconnected to the digital world, a moment that brought immediate, overwhelming tears. “Throughout the past three years, my phone was silent. After I inserted the SIM card, my tears flowed,” he told the BBC. Three years of unread messages flooded his device, each one a record of staggering loss: updates of colleagues killed in the violence, desperate pleas from friends begging for confirmation he was still alive. He recalled one caller who refused to believe he had survived until they spoke via video call, breaking down in tears when the connection confirmed Suleiman was alive.
For Suleiman, the silence of the blackout was nearly as deadly as the open violence of the war. “It was a suffocating feeling because I was watching systematic killings through drone strikes and bombs or deadly killing through the tight siege” imposed by the RSF, he said. When the RSF finally seized full control of el-Fasher in October 2025, he described the scene as nothing less than “the Day of Judgment on Earth.”
The fall of el-Fasher stands as one of the war’s most brutal chapters. The conflict, sparked by a falling-out between the army and its former ally the RSF, quickly spread from Khartoum across the country, with Darfur emerging as the epicenter of some of the worst violence. As the war enters its fourth year, Sudan has been effectively partitioned into separate territories held by the two warring parties. More than 12 million Sudanese have been displaced, creating the world’s worst active humanitarian crisis, with millions scattered across refugee camps inside the country and across neighboring borders.
Civilians trapped in el-Fasher during the siege endured unthinkable conditions: a UN-backed food monitor officially declared famine in the city as food and water supplies dwindled to nothing. When the RSF advanced to take full control of the city, the chaotic escape attempt that followed left dead children abandoned in streets, and starving women too weak to carry their own children forced to leave them by the roadside. “You cannot do anything. So you step over them, jump over them, cry, and continue walking,” Suleiman recounted.
Countless dead and injured were left abandoned along the road to the nearby safe haven of Tawila, a tragedy Suleiman says could have been mitigated if only trapped residents had been able to call for outside help. He argues the full scale of what unfolded in el-Fasher remains unknown to the global public and even to Sudan’s transitional government, because the communications blackout and danger faced by journalists prevented any accurate, widespread reporting from the city.
Both warring sides have been accused of systematic war crimes, including mass civilian casualties from airstrikes and drone attacks. The RSF has acknowledged that isolated individual violations took place during the takeover of el-Fasher but claims these are under investigation and argues that the scale of atrocities has been exaggerated by its political opponents.
Communications infrastructure in el-Fasher collapsed almost immediately after the war began, damaged by fighting and crippled by fuel shortages that cut power to the entire city. The blackout was solidified once the RSF laid full siege to the city in May 2024. A small number of residents managed to smuggle in Starlink satellite internet devices, but the hardware was prohibitively expensive, restricted by the army when it controlled the city, and immediately confiscated by the RSF if discovered. Journalists who managed to access satellite connections faced deadly accusations of espionage from both sides: the RSF claimed users worked for foreign security agencies, while the army accused journalists of acting as enemy target spotters to direct artillery fire. These risks silenced most attempts to get news out of the city.
Suleiman himself nearly died in the siege: in July 2025, an artillery shell landed less than two meters from him as he walked home. He escaped unharmed, but lay trapped on the ground for half an hour, unable to call for any help even if he had been injured. Drones patrolled the skies constantly, and even turning on a disconnected phone to check the time put users at risk, as the screen light could draw targeted fire. Residents were forced to hide for hours at a time under beds, in trenches, or in makeshift shelters during heavy shelling, sweltering in extreme heat, unable to speak or share their situation with the outside world. “You remain silent, unable to speak. And you cannot convey what you are seeing,” he said.
Amid the daily horror, Suleiman says residents clung to their faith, gathering to read the Quran in between rounds of shelling, moving from room to room to avoid incoming fire. When he finally arrived in Port Sudan, the military-backed government’s de facto headquarters for most of the war, he prostrated himself at the airport and cried, unable to believe he had reached safety.
Even in safety, however, Suleiman has faced new struggles. He lost all his official identification documents during his escape, and navigating Sudan’s bureaucracy to replace them has been a grueling, weeks-long process. He notes that special procedures for war survivors announced by officials have failed to materialize, pointing out that the requirements for witnesses and family verification leave many displaced survivors with no path to restore their identity documents. He is calling on the government to issue free replacement identification to all people fleeing conflict zones.
Now reconnected to the global world, Suleiman says the world has failed Sudan at every turn. He is scathing in his criticism of international bodies and global powers, arguing that ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the war have achieved nothing. US-led diplomatic initiatives have collapsed entirely, while both warring sides continue to receive military backing from competing regional powers that allow the fighting to continue. A September 2025 peace plan drafted by the Quad grouping – the U.S., Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt – has stalled completely, and current efforts by U.S. envoy Massad Boulos to negotiate even a limited humanitarian ceasefire have yet to deliver results.
The UN’s 2026 humanitarian appeal for Sudan, which totals $2.87 billion, has only received 16.2% of its required funding to date, leaving aid organizations unable to meet the overwhelming need for food, medical care and shelter across the country. Humanitarian access is also blocked by ongoing fighting and bureaucratic restrictions imposed by both the army and RSF.
Today, Sudan is a fragmented nation, its people scattered across borders and displaced within its own territory. For Suleiman, however, telling the story of what happened to el-Fasher and its people gives him a clear purpose. “There are events that happened that no-one is left to narrate, and the memory remains only with us… until we die, we will convey the truth to correct the situation for the next generation, so they live dignified and honoured in their homeland,” he said.
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AFL Players’ Association CEO James Gallagher on Lance Collard’s homophobic slur ban
A controversial nine-week suspension handed to St Kilda AFL forward Lance Collard for a repeated homophobic slur incident has drawn formal response from the AFL Players’ Association (AFLPA), with the governing body voicing disappointment and pushing for sweeping systemic change to how the sport handles discriminatory conduct.
Collard received the penalty this week following a hearing into his verbal abuse of a Victorian Football League (VFL) opponent, where he was recorded using an openly homophobic slur during a match against Frankston. The nine-week sentence includes a nine-week playing ban, with two weeks of the punishment deferred to the end of the current season. This marks Collard’s second breach of the league’s anti-discrimination rules: he previously served a six-week suspension in 2024 for an identical offence of using a homophobic slur.
In addition to this latest penalty, Collard is already serving a separate two-match ban for a high tackle offence committed during the same Frankston match. Throughout the tribunal process, Collard has consistently maintained his innocence, with his legal team arguing that a harsh suspension for the second offence could have irreversible, life-ruining impacts on his young playing career. To date, Collard has appeared in 15 senior AFL matches for St Kilda.
AFLPA chief executive James Gallagher released an official public statement Wednesday confirming the association’s position, noting that while the entire Australian Football industry shares a unified goal of eliminating homophobia from the sport, the current case underscores deep flaws in the existing approach to addressing discrimination.
Gallagher explained that the tribunal itself acknowledged that complex issues like homophobia and racism cannot be resolved through polarizing debate centered on whether offending language was used, and that the AFLPA is disappointed the panel did not accept Collard’s consistent claims of innocence. The association will continue to provide full support to Collard and St Kilda Football Club throughout the process, including exploring all possible avenues for an appeal against the suspension.
“A holistic solution that doesn’t focus solely on punitive measures can only be realised through meaningful engagement with LGBTIQA+ community leaders, education that reflects diverse backgrounds and experiences of players, alongside a disciplinary process that is fit for purpose, minimises and remedies the harms caused and shifts behaviour,” Gallagher said.
He added that through collective bargaining agreements, the AFLPA has already negotiated a formal shared commitment with the broader AFL to embed equality, inclusion and safety across the sport, and work continues to progress these pledges to make the game welcoming and safe for all participants. Gallagher also acknowledged the far-reaching impact of the entire disciplinary process on multiple affected groups, including the LGBTIQA+ community, First Nations communities, and Collard and his family.
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Trump hints Iran talks could resume this week as US port blockade continues
Nearly two months after Iran came under coordinated air strikes from the United States and Israel, the region remains at a dangerous geopolitical crossroads, with a new US naval blockade of Iranian ports threatening to upend a fragile two-week ceasefire and raise the stakes for upcoming diplomatic talks.
The current crisis traces back to collapsed weekend negotiations hosted in Islamabad, Pakistan, that failed to bridge deep divides between Washington and Tehran, primarily over the future of Iran’s nuclear program. In the wake of the failed talks, US President Donald Trump ordered the full enforcement of a maritime blockade targeting all commercial traffic entering or exiting Iranian coastal areas, a move designed to cut off two of Tehran’s most critical revenue streams: crude oil exports and shipping tolls collected for passage through the Strait of Hormuz. As of Tuesday, more than a dozen US warships and roughly 10,000 American military personnel are deployed to enforce the blockade.
US Central Command, which oversees American military operations across the Middle East and Central Asia, confirmed that in the first 24 hours of the blockade going into effect, six commercial merchant vessels complied with US orders to turn back toward Iranian ports. But independent verification by BBC Verify’s ship-tracking analysis tells a more complicated story: at least seven vessels, four linked directly to Iranian shipping interests and three foreign-flagged ships, successfully crossed the Strait of Hormuz despite the US operational order.
The military escalation has thrown the future of the existing two-week ceasefire, which is scheduled to expire next week, into serious question. Even so, there have been tentative signals from multiple stakeholders that negotiations between the US and Iran could restart as soon as this week. In an interview with the *New York Post*, President Trump suggested that a resumption of talks was likely within 48 hours, noting that US negotiators remain positioned in the region to reconvene. “You should stay there [Islamabad], really, because something could be happening over the next two days, and we’re more inclined to go there,” Trump told the outlet.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has also voiced cautious optimism, saying he considers it “highly probable” that talks will get back on track. Separate anonymous official sources from Gulf states, Pakistan and Iran confirmed to Reuters that both US and Iranian negotiating teams are expected to return to Islamabad later this week, though a firm starting date has not yet been finalized. Tehran has not yet issued an official public response to Trump’s latest remarks on restarting talks.
The core sticking point that derailed the previous round of talks remains Iran’s nuclear program. A senior US official told CBS News, a partner outlet of the BBC, that Washington has demanded a 20-year full suspension of all Iranian uranium enrichment activities. But Tehran has only offered a five-year halt to enrichment, according to sources cited by other US media outlets, leaving a significant gap between the two sides’ opening positions.
The economic fallout of the ongoing standoff has already rippled through global commodity markets. For weeks, the conflict has disrupted global energy supplies, after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz—one of the world’s most critical chokepoints for global oil and natural gas transportation—shortly after the February air strikes. On Tuesday, however, growing hopes that diplomatic talks would resume calmed volatile oil markets, pushing benchmark crude prices below the $100 per barrel threshold for the first time in recent weeks.
Global powers have already begun weighing in on the US blockade, with starkly differing views. The International Monetary Fund has already warned that the protracted conflict could push the entire global economy into a recession, but US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended the strategy in comments to the BBC, arguing that a “small bit of economic pain” is a reasonable tradeoff for long-term global security. China, a key diplomatic and economic partner of Iran, has taken a far harder line, calling the blockade “dangerous and irresponsible” on Tuesday and warning that it would only inflame regional tensions and irreparably damage the fragile ceasefire agreement.
In a separate, unrelated development in regional diplomacy, Israel and Lebanon announced Tuesday that they will launch the first direct official negotiations between the two nations since 1993, following a day of talks in Washington DC. The talks stem from ongoing cross-border tensions triggered by Israeli air strikes targeting the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. Both sides described the initial meeting at the US State Department as a positive step: Lebanon’s ambassador to the US called the discussions “productive”, while his Israeli counterpart said the talks open a path to a “new era of peace.” A senior unnamed US official emphasized to the BBC that the Israel-Lebanon negotiations are completely separate from the ongoing US-Iran talks in Pakistan, with no overlapping agenda or linkage.
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In Hormuz war of words, US illustrates threat with ‘drug boat’ hit
Rising geopolitical friction between the United States and Iran has reached a dangerous new flashpoint in the Strait of Hormuz, after former U.S. President Donald Trump announced a full naval blockade of the critical global waterway over the weekend, followed by stark threats to destroy any Iranian craft approaching the enforcement line. The escalation, which comes six weeks after the two nations launched an undeclared conflict in the region, has put major energy and trade supplies at risk and drawn pushback from global powers including China, while experts warn the standoff could freeze all maritime traffic through the strait entirely.
Trump first outlined the blockade order on his Truth Social platform Sunday, framing the move as a response to Iran’s earlier partial closure of the strait, which Tehran implemented after the outbreak of hostilities. The U.S. leader accused Iran of engaging in “world extortion” by claiming potential unreported mines in the waterway and demanding tolls from passing vessels. “I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas,” Trump wrote in his post, adding that U.S. forces would begin clearing mines laid by Iran and that any Iranian attack on U.S. personnel or civilian ships would be met with devastating force.
On Monday, Trump doubled down on the aggressive posture, threatening that any Iranian vessels that “come anywhere close” to the U.S. blockade would be “immediately ELIMINATED” using the same lethal tactics his administration has deployed against suspected drug trafficking boats in international waters. He characterized the tactic as “quick and brutal,” and noted that 34 vessels passed through the strait on Sunday, the highest daily volume since Iran’s initial closure.
Parallel to the U.S. escalation, Iran has issued its own firm warnings to Washington, vowing to respond with unforeseen military capabilities if conflict expands. A spokesperson for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) told the IRGC-affiliated Tasnim News Agency that if hostilities continue, Tehran will unveil new warfare capacities that enemy forces have no knowledge of, and that these methods will be largely difficult for the U.S. to counter. Iranian Lt. Col. Ebrahim Zolfaqari clarified Iran’s position, stressing that vessels affiliated with the U.S.-led blockade have no right to transit the strait now and in the future, while neutral civilian ships can still pass in compliance with Iranian armed forces regulations. Zolfaqari also warned that if the security of Iranian ports is jeopardized, no ports across the Persian Gulf or Sea of Oman will remain safe.
The escalating confrontation has already split global powers, with NATO members confirming on Monday they would not participate in Trump’s blockade. China, which maintains active trade and energy agreements with Tehran, has openly defied the U.S. order. Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun confirmed that Chinese commercial and military vessels continue transiting Hormuz waters in accordance with bilateral agreements with Iran, saying “We will respect and honor them and expect others not to meddle in our affairs. Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, and it is open for us.”
Maritime analysts warn the dual, competing blockades from the U.S. and Iran could create an unprecedented logjam in one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints. Salvatore Mercogliano, a maritime historian at Campbell University in North Carolina, told Al Jazeera that he expects U.S. naval forces to turn away exiting vessels while staying out of range of Iran’s coastal missiles and drones, resulting in two overlapping blockade operations. This scenario, Mercogliano noted, carries a serious risk of freezing all incoming and outgoing shipping through the strait entirely, a disruption that would send shockwaves through global energy and commodity markets.
To back up his threat against Iranian vessels, Trump highlighted his administration’s ongoing campaign of lethal airstrikes against suspected drug trafficking boats in international waters, a policy that has already killed more than 170 people and drawn widespread condemnation from human rights groups and international legal experts as extrajudicial killing. On the same day Trump issued his Hormuz threat, U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) carried out a new strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific, which the command claims was operated by groups linked to narco-trafficking. No publicly released evidence has been provided to support the accusation, and the strike killed at least two people. The attack came just days after separate April 11 strikes on two other Pacific boats that left at least five more dead.
Following the latest strike, SOUTHCOM published unclassified footage of the bombing on social media, labeling it a “lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations”—a move that critics say is part of a pattern of publicizing lethal operations without justifying their legality. Brian Finucane, senior adviser to the U.S. Program at the International Crisis Group, pointed out that the Trump administration has been eager to post graphic footage of these strikes online but has refused to defend the legal standing of the attacks in international waters.
United Nations experts and multiple human rights organizations have formally condemned the boat bombing campaign as extrajudicial killing and murder, arguing that officials who ordered and carried out the strikes should face prosecution for homicide. Investigative journalist Nick Turse of The Intercept reported hours before Monday’s strike that the Trump administration is actively pressuring the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to shut down a potential inquiry into the illegal strikes across the Caribbean and Pacific. Last month, the commission held a public hearing where legal experts testified to the unlawful nature of the strikes. Angelo Guisado, senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, told the commission that “The administration’s desire to play imperial superpower in the region cannot be a reason to completely displace the foundations of international law.”
As of Monday, the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz shows no signs of de-escalation, with both sides holding firm to their competing blockade claims and raising the risk of an accidental clash that could spiral into full-scale open conflict across the Middle East.
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Australia’s economy in “weakened state”, Bridget McKenzie says, as IMF delivers recession warning
As escalating tensions in the Middle East fuel mounting global recession fears, a senior Australian conservative senator has issued a stark warning that the nation enters this period of economic volatility in a significantly weakened position. The warning comes on the heels of a bleak updated economic outlook from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which cautions that the ongoing energy crisis sparked by Middle East hostilities could push the entire global economy into a sustained downturn.
In its latest quarterly assessment, the IMF projects that Australia’s inflation rate will remain stubbornly above the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) target range of 2 to 3 percent for at least two more years. Forecasts put national inflation at 4 percent in 2026, with a gradual cooling to only 3.2 percent by 2027—still above the RBA’s policy goal. The Fund also predicts that Australia’s inflation-adjusted real gross domestic product (GDP) growth will decelerate sharply to just 2 percent in 2026, before sliding further to 1.6 percent in 2027.
The international financial body emphasized that the ongoing Middle East conflict has created unprecedented new stress tests for interconnected global economies. Beyond the devastating humanitarian toll and destruction of critical regional infrastructure, the conflict has severely disrupted key global shipping lanes and air transit routes, the IMF noted, with spillover effects that will push commodity and consumer prices upward across every major region.
Appearing on Seven Network’s morning current affairs program *Sunrise* alongside federal Housing Minister Clare O’Neil, Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie framed the current economic landscape as deeply worrying. “We have entered this new global crisis already stuck in a high inflation, low growth scenario, which has left us in a far weaker position to absorb new shocks,” McKenzie argued. She echoed the IMF’s implicit call for fiscal discipline, stating that the Fund’s outlook confirms what opposition figures have argued for months: the current federal government must rein in its runaway spending to shore up the nation’s resilience.
“The defining test for Treasurer Jim Chalmers in the upcoming May federal budget will be whether he makes the tough, necessary fiscal decisions that the Australian economy needs—decisions he has failed to make in three years in office—to protect our country from the worst impacts of this global crisis,” McKenzie added.
Minister O’Neil pushed back on the criticism, acknowledging the profound uncertainty facing Australian households but outlining the federal government’s approach to balancing urgent relief for struggling families with responsible fiscal management. O’Neil pointed to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s recent diplomatic outreach across Asia as proof the government is already taking proactive steps to secure critical fuel supplies and insulate Australia from global energy market disruptions.
“You’ve seen the Prime Minister travel across Asia, hold discussions with world leaders to guarantee our supply security and ensure Australia is prioritized for energy exports when markets are strained,” O’Neil said. She added that supporting Australian households is the government’s top priority heading into the budget, noting that many families were already facing severe cost-of-living pressures long before the latest outbreak of Middle East conflict pushed fuel prices higher.
The IMF’s sobering report arrives just one day before Treasurer Chalmers departs for Washington D.C., where he is set to join G20 finance ministers and central bank governors for emergency talks focused on addressing spreading global economic uncertainty. When asked Wednesday whether the IMF’s projections align with internal forecasts from the Australian Treasury, Chalmers acknowledged the gravity of the moment.
“This is an extraordinarily dangerous period for the global economy,” Chalmers told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “The IMF is forecasting prolonged slow growth and persistent high inflation, and our own internal forecasts match that outlook. We will reflect these global developments in our official budget projections when we hand down the budget in May.”
Chalmers emphasized that the IMF’s warning is a clear alarm bell for the most severe downside scenarios of the ongoing conflict. “What this tells us, over and over, is that an end to this war cannot come soon enough. We need a durable, lasting ceasefire, and we need the Strait of Hormuz—one of the world’s most critical energy shipping lanes—to be fully reopened,” he said. “Even once the conflict ends, we have to accept that many of its economic consequences will be felt around the world, including here in Australia, for months to come. Australians did not create this war, but they are already paying a heavy price for it.”
In its report, the IMF urged advanced economies around the world to implement fiscal restraint, noting that many governments have run overly loose budgetary policies in recent years, worsening inflationary pressures. Critics, including dozens of prominent Australian economists, have argued that the Albanese government’s expansive spending agenda is itself a key driver of domestic inflation.
Chalmers pushed back against that criticism Wednesday, noting that the IMF acknowledges different countries face different economic contexts. “We have already made substantial progress on budget repair over the past three and a half years,” he said. “We acknowledged even before the Middle East conflict broke out that more work needs to be done, and Australians will see the results of that work in the upcoming budget.”
He acknowledged that the outbreak of hostilities in the Middle East has shifted budget priorities, but confirmed the May 12 budget will center on two core pillars: building economic resilience to external shocks and delivering targeted structural economic reform. Chalmers also left the door open to a potential extension of temporary fuel excise cuts if energy prices continue to climb in the coming months, stopping short of ruling out the policy change.