Global Pulse

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  • Lebanon PM says working to get Israeli troop withdrawal

    Lebanon PM says working to get Israeli troop withdrawal

    Amid escalating cross-border violence between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has publicly committed to diplomatic efforts to end the conflict and secure a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from all Lebanese territory, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reinforced that military operations in southern Lebanon will continue. The escalating bloodshed, which has already killed more than 2,050 people in Lebanon, has drawn global condemnation after a series of attacks on humanitarian workers and international peacekeepers.

    Sunday brought a fresh wave of deadly violence and provocative incidents that underscored the fragility of any path to de-escalation. The Lebanese Red Cross confirmed that one of its paramedics was killed in a targeted Israeli drone strike while the team was carrying out a humanitarian mission in southern Lebanon. The organization emphasized that all ambulances and crew were clearly marked with the internationally recognized protective Red Cross emblem, and that the team had coordinated with UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) ahead of the mission to secure safe passage. A second paramedic was wounded in the attack.

    This strike marks the second killing of a Lebanese Red Cross volunteer in recent weeks, drawing harsh condemnation from global humanitarian leadership. Jagan Chapagain, Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said he was “appalled and saddened” by the death. The Lebanese Red Cross called the attack a “clear and blatant violation of all provisions of international law,” a sentiment echoed by UNIFIL, which also reported new confrontations with Israeli forces over the weekend. The UN peacekeeping mission confirmed that an Israeli tank rammed UNIFIL vehicles on two separate occasions, leaving one vehicle heavily damaged.

    Israel has repeatedly rejected calls for a ceasefire in its campaign against Hezbollah, arguing that the fragile temporary truce currently in place for the broader Israel-Hamas war across the Middle East does not apply to its operations in Lebanon. Since Hezbollah opened its front against Israel following the killing of Iran’s supreme leader in a US-Israeli strike, Israel has responded with devastating large-scale airstrikes and a ground incursion into southern Lebanon, leaving widespread destruction in its wake.

    In a televised address Sunday, Salam outlined Lebanon’s diplomatic path forward, confirming that he will continue pushing for negotiations to end the war ahead of scheduled trilateral talks between Lebanese, Israeli, and US officials set to take place in Washington on Tuesday. “We will continue to work to stop this war, to ensure the Israeli withdrawal from all our lands,” Salam said, reaffirming Lebanon’s core negotiating position.

    Speaking during a visit to Israeli troops deployed in southern Lebanon, Netanyahu struck a far more bellicose tone. He claimed Israeli forces had already neutralized the threat of cross-border Hezbollah infiltrations, but added that “there is still more to do, and we are doing it. The war continues, including within the security zone in Lebanon.” Israeli officials have repeatedly stated their goal of establishing a permanent Israeli-controlled “security zone” in southern Lebanon to prevent future Hezbollah attacks on northern Israeli territory.

    Sunday’s airstrikes hit dozens of locations across southern Lebanon, with additional strikes hitting the adjacent West Bekaa region, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA). Lebanon’s Ministry of Health updated the overall death toll from the conflict to more than 2,050 people, including 165 children and over 80 health workers. One of the deadliest single strikes Sunday hit the southern town of Qana, killing five people—three of them women—and wounding 25 others. An AFP photographer on the scene documented extensive destruction, with excavators working to clear rubble and first responders pulling civilian bodies from collapsed buildings.

    Rescue workers and medical facilities across southern Lebanon have repeatedly been targeted in the campaign. In the town of Bazuriyeh, the emergency center run by the Risala Scout association, a group affiliated with the Hezbollah-aligned Amal movement, was completely destroyed in an Israeli strike. Hassan Berro, a rescue worker with the organization, told reporters that all medical equipment, beds, and infrastructure inside the facility were lost. Photographic evidence shows shattered windows, collapsed walls and ceilings, and debris scattered across ruined patient beds in the damaged building.

    The Israeli military on Sunday also repeated its common claim that Hezbollah abuses civilian infrastructure for military purposes, accusing the group of operating out of a hospital compound in the southern Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil. Hezbollah confirmed it had launched new cross-border and in-country attacks against Israeli targets Sunday, including targeting Israeli troops operating in Bint Jbeil, where the NNA reported intense close-quarters fighting.

    Global leaders and religious figures have added their voices to calls for an immediate end to the violence. Pope Leo XIV, who visited Lebanon late last year, released a statement Sunday reaffirming his solidarity with the Lebanese people, stating that the international community has a “moral obligation to protect the civilian population from the atrocious effects of war.”

  • Israel’s Ben Gvir says he feels like the ‘owner’ of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound

    Israel’s Ben Gvir says he feels like the ‘owner’ of Al-Aqsa Mosque compound

    On a recent Sunday, far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir stoked international outrage after delivering inflammatory remarks during a provocative raid on Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound, one of the most sensitive and sacred sites in Islam. Standing within the walled Old City complex, Ben Gvir declared in an official video circulated by his office that he “feels like the owner” of the site, adding that he is actively pushing for expanded access for Jewish worshippers to the holy ground.

    Ben Gvir’s incursion came just days after Israeli authorities reversed an extraordinary 40-day closure that barred all Palestinian worshippers from entering the compound — a closure that blocked Palestinian access during major religious milestones including the holy month of Ramadan, the Eid al-Fitr holiday, and weekly Friday congregational prayers. Following the lifting of the ban, Israeli officials have not only resumed near-daily incursions by ultranationalist Jewish groups into Al-Aqsa, but have extended the length of these visits, a shift that has further alarmed Muslim and regional leaders.

    The Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound has long been governed by the decades-established international Status Quo agreement, a fragile arrangement that explicitly recognizes the site’s exclusive Islamic character, entrusts Muslim religious authorities with full control over worship, access, and site maintenance, and permits Jewish visitation only — not prayer — to preserve the delicate religious balance. For years, however, Israel has systematically violated this agreement, allowing unapproved incursions and private prayer by ultranationalist Israelis inside the compound without the consent of Muslim governing bodies.

    These repeated violations have fueled growing regional fears that Israel is working to fundamentally rewrite the long-standing rules governing the site, potentially reallocating physical space or additional worship time exclusively to Jewish visitors. While Israel’s own chief rabbinate has maintained a centuries-long ban on Jewish prayer at the site, which ultranationalist Jews revere as the location of the ancient Jewish First and Second Temples, ultranationalist factions have increasingly pushed for open Jewish worship, receiving explicit political backing from high-profile government figures including Ben Gvir himself. Ben Gvir’s spokesperson confirmed this week that the minister not only is seeking formal prayer permits for Jewish visitors, but had already conducted personal prayer during his visit to the compound.

    Regional and Palestinian leaders have swiftly condemned Ben Gvir’s actions and comments. Jordan, which holds official custodianship over the Al-Aqsa site under international agreements, condemned the visit as a blatant violation of the Status Quo, calling it “a desecration of its sanctity, a condemnable escalation and an unacceptable provocation.” The office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warned that such provocative moves threaten to further destabilize an already volatile region, raising risks of wider unrest along the Israel-Palestinian divide.

  • China satellites track giant iceberg’s end

    China satellites track giant iceberg’s end

    After four decades of drifting and gradual transformation through the Southern Ocean, what was once recognized as the world’s largest iceberg, A23a, has reached the end of its lifecycle, with its final collapse fully captured by China’s network of Fengyun meteorological satellites, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

    When A23a first calved off Antarctica’s Filchner Ice Shelf in 1986, it was a massive frozen structure spanning 4,170 square kilometers, measuring nearly 400 meters thick, and weighing an estimated one trillion tons. For decades, the giant iceberg remained grounded in the Weddell Sea, locked in place and largely unchanged until around 2020, when warming ocean temperatures melted enough surrounding ice to free it from the seafloor. It remained stationary for another two years, however, before significant movement began in late 2022.

    By early 2023, A23a still covered 4,035 square kilometers, earning it an official Guinness World Record as the largest iceberg on the planet at that time. From that point, the iceberg entered a period of steady northward acceleration: it exited the Weddell Sea in 2024 and entered the powerful Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which carried it steadily toward warmer waters. Between June and September 2025, the iceberg suffered multiple large-scale fracture events, shrinking its total area from 3,536 square kilometers at the start of the year to roughly 1,400 square kilometers. By January 2026, further breakup reduced the iceberg’s main remaining body to just 503 square kilometers.

    Propelled by the swift currents of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, A23a continued its rapid drift, experiencing three more major collapse events in its final weeks. Data from the Fengyun-3 meteorological satellite confirms the iceberg completed its final breakup between late March and early April 2026. By April 3, a final collapse event reduced the largest remaining fragment to just 11 kilometers long and 35.2 square kilometers in area — a size that no longer meets the official classification threshold for an iceberg, closing the book on A23a’s 40-year existence.

    A research team led by Zheng Zhaojun, chief expert at the National Satellite Meteorological Center’s International User Service Center, has leveraged high-resolution remote sensing data from Fengyun satellites to track A23a’s trajectory, morphological shifts, and gradual disintegration over its entire lifecycle. The Fengyun-3 satellite series, in particular, has proven uniquely suited for monitoring massive ice formations in polar and subpolar waters, thanks to its on-board Medium Resolution Spectral Imager (MERSI). With a spatial resolution of 250 meters, the instrument can capture both the full outline of giant icebergs and fine-grained details of their surface structure, allowing researchers to track growing structural instability long before major collapse events occur.

    These continuous observations have already revealed new insights into the physical processes that drove A23a’s rapid final breakup, the center noted. Beyond glaciological research, the satellite data has also uncovered notable ecological shifts in the waters surrounding A23a during its final disintegration. Starting in late 2025, satellite imagery captured a gradual “greening” of the ocean in the iceberg’s fragmented ice zone, with expanding green plumes shifting across the sea surface as meltwater flowed into the surrounding waters.

    This visible discoloration is tied directly to phytoplankton blooms, which are triggered when nutrient-rich meltwater from melting icebergs enters the open ocean. Zheng explained that the research team is continuing to analyze the data to build a clearer understanding of the broader ecological impacts of iceberg melt in polar regions. The continuous, high-quality observations of A23a’s entire lifecycle collected by Fengyun satellites will provide a valuable open-access dataset for future research into polar glacial change and polar ecosystem dynamics, Zheng added.

  • Trump says US Navy to immediately blockade all ships attempting to enter or leave Hormuz Strait

    Trump says US Navy to immediately blockade all ships attempting to enter or leave Hormuz Strait

    WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a sweeping new order directing the United States Navy to enact an immediate full blockade of all vessels attempting to transit in or out of the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz. The major policy shift was made public via a post on his Truth Social platform on Sunday, confirming that the restrictive maritime measure would go into effect without delay.

    The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman, is one of the world’s most vital chokepoints for global energy trade. Roughly 20% of the world’s daily oil supplies and a substantial share of global liquefied natural gas shipments pass through the strait, making any disruption to maritime traffic there capable of sending shockwaves through international energy markets and global supply chains. Trump’s announcement of a full blockade marks an unprecedented escalation of maritime tensions in the already volatile Middle East region, with broad implications for global energy security and international diplomatic relations.

  • Runners measure Xiong’an’s rapid growth at 2026 marathon

    Runners measure Xiong’an’s rapid growth at 2026 marathon

    On a sunny Sunday morning in April 2026, the starting gun for the 2026 Xiong’an Marathon fired precisely at 7:30 a.m., launching the event from the steps of the Xiong’an Urban Computing Center — one of the most iconic modern landmarks of this young urban development zone in northern China’s Hebei Province.

    More than 12,000 long-distance running enthusiasts from every corner of the country converged on Xiong’an, a national-level new area established by Chinese authorities in 2017, for a rare opportunity to experience the region’s staggering nine years of progress with their own steps. Unlike traditional marathon courses that wind through long-established cityscapes, this route was intentionally designed to connect Xiong’an’s most defining development milestones, linking the cutting-edge Urban Computing Center, the ecologically restored Baiyangdian wetland zone, and the newly completed headquarters of central state-owned enterprises relocated from the national capital Beijing.

    Along every stretch of the course, runners were greeted by tangible evidence of Xiong’an’s evolution: fully functional residential amenities that now serve a growing permanent population, state-of-the-art technology hubs driving the area’s innovation-focused economy, and expansive green spaces that underscore the new area’s commitment to sustainable, low-carbon urban development. For many returning participants, the contrasts between visits were striking. A male runner from Hebei’s provincial capital Shijiazhuang, who first ran the Xiong’an Marathon in 2023, shared that the changes he observed over just three years left him stunned. “This year, I’m literally using my feet to measure how much Xiong’an has transformed in that short time,” he said, noting that entirely new landmarks and infrastructure that did not exist three years ago now line the route.

    Beyond the competitive running itself, organizers upgraded the race’s beloved community-focused “Xiong’an Stars” initiative for the 2026 event. Originally launched with a small team of 30 young cheerleaders, the program was expanded this year to 100 children who share the same age as Xiong’an New Area itself. These young supporters lined the course to cheer on exhausted runners, and later took up the honored role of placing finisher medals around the necks of athletes who crossed the finish line, adding a heartfelt, intergenerational touch to the event.

    To further enrich the participant and spectator experience, organizers worked with nearly 50 local businesses to set up public booths along the course perimeter, offering regional specialty foods, traditional and modern cultural products, and interactive activities that brought extra energy to the race day. Local residents turned out in droves, lining the sidewalks outside the course barriers to cheer on every runner, creating a warm, lively atmosphere that surprised many first-time visitors to the new area.

    From the sweeping transformation of once undeveloped land into a modern, sustainable smart city to the childlike enthusiasm of the young volunteers and the warm welcome from local residents, the 2026 Xiong’an Marathon did more than host a competitive race: it offered a living snapshot of Xiong’an’s vibrant, dynamic growth, and highlighted the new area’s ongoing journey toward its ambitious vision for a brighter, more innovative urban future.

  • Tucker Carlson slams UK’s Palestine Action ban, calls Keir Starmer ‘enslaved’

    Tucker Carlson slams UK’s Palestine Action ban, calls Keir Starmer ‘enslaved’

    In a tense Sunday morning BBC interview that has sparked widespread debate, prominent former Fox News host Tucker Carlson launched a scathing rebuke of the British government’s decision to ban pro-Palestinian direct action group Palestine Action, pushing back against host Victoria Derbyshire’s challenges to his claims.

    When Derbyshire asked Carlson – a longstanding vocal critic of the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran – whether Prime Minister Keir Starmer had made the correct call on the ban, Carlson offered a blunt, controversial response: “I don’t think Keir Starmer makes any calls about anything. Keir Starmer’s not in control of Britain. No, Keir Starmer is every bit as enslaved as Donald Trump is.”

    Carlson went on to argue that current British law effectively criminalizes open criticism of the Israeli government, claiming: “It is a crime for which you can be arrested in Britain right now, criticising Israel. If you say you’re for Palestine Action, you can be arrested. A lot of people have been arrested. So in other words, it is not legal in Britain to criticise another country.”

    Derbyshire immediately pushed back, refuting the claim as untrue. When Carlson pressed that hundreds of people had indeed been arrested for critical speech about Israel, Derbyshire clarified that arrests stemmed from Palestine Action’s proscribed status, not criticism itself. Undeterred, Carlson fired back: “Why is it banned? It’s banned because the Israeli government wanted it banned.”

    The context of the ban dates back to last July, when Starmer’s incoming Labour government officially proscribed Palestine Action as a terrorist-linked organization. Under the order, membership in the group or public expression of support for it carries a maximum criminal penalty of 14 years in prison. While the UK High Court ruled the ban unlawful in February, the government secured permission to appeal the ruling, with the appeal hearing scheduled for April 28 and 29.

    In the weeks since the ban first took effect, more than 1,600 people have been arrested for holding public signs reading “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action,” according to on-the-ground reports. The movement against the ban reached a peak Saturday, when mass demonstrations converged on central London’s Trafalgar Square, where at least 523 people were arrested in a single day in coordinated civil disobedience. Protesters set up camping chairs on the steps of the square, all displaying identical hand-painted signs declaring their support for the banned group. Middle East Eye, which first reported on the demonstration, documented that many of the arrested protesters were elderly and disabled – including frail grey-haired attendees and participants using crutches, who were physically dragged away by police officers. Some demonstrators dressed as early 20th century British Suffragettes to draw a parallel between their fight for political voice and the historic suffrage movement.

    During the interview, Carlson softened his tone to note that despite frequent criticism of British policy, he retains affection for the country, where he has family ties. He went on to argue that British citizens have been unfairly compromised by U.S. foreign policy influence: “I don’t think that Britons understand just how badly they’ve been shafted by the United States. And I am ashamed of that and I hope that we do everything we can to rectify it. I hope that our next president strikes a far more conciliatory and cooperative tone and tries to help Britain, because it has a lot of problems that will be very obvious by the next time there’s a presidential election in my country.”

    The controversy over the Palestine Action ban also intersects with broader Middle East military tensions. When the U.S.-led campaign against Iran began, Starmer initially hesitated to grant the U.S. access to British military bases for strike operations. Ultimately, however, the UK relented: the bases have been used for strikes on Iranian missile sites, and for the past nearly three weeks, they have supported U.S. operations aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping chokepoint.

  • Former deputy director of Xizang people’s congress under investigation

    Former deputy director of Xizang people’s congress under investigation

    China’s top anti-corruption watchdog announced on Sunday that Ding Yexian, a 65-year-old former deputy director of the Standing Committee of the Xizang Autonomous Region People’s Congress, is facing investigation over suspected severe violations of discipline and national law. Currently, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission are conducting a combined disciplinary review and official investigation into Ding’s conduct, according to the official announcement.

    Public career records show that Ding built his decades-long professional career entirely in Xizang, starting his first work assignment in the region back in 1978. Over his years in public service, he held a series of senior leadership positions: he served as vice chairman of the Xizang Autonomous Regional Government from September 2010 to June 2013, after which he was promoted to the post of executive vice chairman of the region. In January 2021, Ding took up his final public position as deputy director of the Xizang Autonomous Region People’s Congress Standing Committee, the region’s top legislative body.

    This investigation is part of China’s sustained national campaign to root out corruption across all levels of public office, holding current and former senior officials accountable for any violations of disciplinary and legal regulations.

  • Trump’s Strait of Hormuz blockade threat raises risks and leaves predicaments unchanged

    Trump’s Strait of Hormuz blockade threat raises risks and leaves predicaments unchanged

    ### After Collapsed Islamabad Negotiations, Washington Unveils Aggressive New Strategy Amid Rising Political and Global Risks

    It has been one month since the United States entered open conflict with Iran, and a fragile two-week ceasefire agreed last week to facilitate face-to-face negotiations is now teetering on the edge of collapse. After a 20-hour diplomatic session in Islamabad led by U.S. Vice President JD Vance failed to produce a breakthrough deal to end the conflict, President Donald Trump outlined his administration’s next move in a series of Sunday morning posts on Truth Social.

    Trump announced that the U.S. would implement a full naval blockade of Iranian waters, stating that any vessel that pays what Washington defines as an “illegal toll” to Tehran would be blocked from safe passage through international waters. At the same time, the president confirmed that U.S. naval forces would continue demining operations in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints, to guarantee unimpeded access for shipping aligned with U.S. allies. He added that U.S. military assets are fully prepared and “locked and loaded” to resume offensive strikes against Iran if an “appropriate moment” arises.

    Trump claimed that the talks made incremental progress, but that Tehran ultimately refused to meet Washington’s core demand to abandon its nuclear program. However, a senior U.S. official close to Vance’s negotiation team pushed back on this framing, revealing that the two sides face far broader, deeper disagreements beyond the nuclear issue. These unresolved disputes include Iran’s sovereignty claims and control over access to the Strait of Hormuz, as well as Iran’s long-standing support for regional armed groups including Yemen’s Houthi rebels and Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

    Unlike Trump’s incendiary threat from last week to “end Iranian civilization,” the president’s latest announcements avoid apocalyptic rhetoric. Even so, the new blockade strategy opens the door to a cascade of unanswerable risks and unprecedented challenges for the United States. Key open questions remain: Will ongoing demining missions put U.S. naval vessels at heightened risk of targeted Iranian retaliation? How will Washington verify whether commercial ships have paid tolls to Tehran? Will the U.S. use military force against civilian ships flying foreign flags that defy the blockade? How will major oil-dependent economies that continue to import Iranian crude, most notably China, respond to the new restriction? And could the blockade, designed to cut off Iran’s primary export revenue, send global oil prices soaring to new record highs? As of yet, the Trump administration has not offered clear responses to any of these critical questions.

    The new policy has already sparked division within U.S. political circles. Senate Intelligence Committee ranking Democrat Mark Warner of Virginia questioned the strategic logic of the move, telling CNN Sunday, “I don’t understand how blockading the strait is going to somehow push the Iranians into opening it.” By contrast, former House Intelligence Committee chair Republican Mike Turner of Ohio defended the blockade as a necessary coercive measure to force a resolution to the standoff over the Strait. Speaking on CBS’ *Face the Nation*, Turner noted that by rejecting Tehran’s right to control access to the waterway, Trump is rallying U.S. allies to engage on the issue, adding that “this needs to be addressed.”

    The current impasse comes as Trump faces the same unresolvable dilemma that pushed him to agree to a ceasefire and talks last week. Before the Islamabad negotiations, the president had two unappealing options: continue escalating offensive strikes on Iran, which would cause irreversible damage to Iranian civilian infrastructure, deepen an already worsening humanitarian crisis, and send further shockwaves through the already fragile global economy; or step back from a conflict that has never been popular with the U.S. public, and has even started to alienate core Trump supporters who backed him on his promise to avoid draining foreign wars and new entanglements in the Middle East.

    Recent polling underscores the political risk for Trump and his party ahead of November’s midterm elections. A new CBS survey finds that 59% of U.S. voters believe the war is going poorly for the United States. Large majorities of voters from both parties agree that achieving core U.S. war goals – keeping the Strait of Hormuz open, securing greater political freedom for the Iranian people, and permanently eliminating Iran’s nuclear program – is critical, but most voters say none of these objectives have been met nearly a month into the conflict.

    Almost a week after the ceasefire took effect, and despite the administration’s claims of early military success, Trump’s core predicament remains unchanged. Speaking to Fox News Sunday morning, the president struck an optimistic tone, claiming Iran will eventually concede to all U.S. demands. He acknowledged that global oil prices could stay steady or rise in the coming months, but insisted the U.S. economy would withstand the pressure. This prediction is at best a high-stakes gamble, political analysts note: with midterm elections just months away, Trump’s Republican Party could face devastating electoral losses if the president’s assessment proves wrong.

    In a striking juxtaposition to the high-stakes diplomacy unfolding in Pakistan, Trump spent Saturday night in Miami attending a UFC mixed martial arts cage fighting event, where top fighters competed in a violent, blood-spattered ring. Members of the press pool covering the event described the moment as surreal: the U.S. president watched the bouts, mingled with celebrities, and held urgent strategy discussions with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior advisors in full view of thousands of spectators.

    Unlike the structured, rule-bound sport of mixed martial arts – which always ends with a clear winner and a defined time limit – the war with Iran offers no such clarity. As the conflict enters its second month and the ceasefire nears collapse, it has devolved into a brutal test of wills: can Iran withstand continuing strikes from the U.S. and its ally Israel, or will Trump buckle under growing economic and political pressure from the costs of the war? When this high-stakes standoff ends, all parties involved may leave diminished.

  • Intl forum discusses role of peony flowers in cultural exchange and mutual understanding

    Intl forum discusses role of peony flowers in cultural exchange and mutual understanding

    In the heart of China’s famed “Peony Capital” of Heze, Shandong province, global stakeholders from academia, government, and cultural institutions gathered on Saturday for the 2026 Heze Peony International Communication Forum, a landmark event designed to frame the iconic peony flower as a powerful cross-cultural bridge fostering global mutual understanding. Bringing together officials, scholars and industry specialists from nations including Russia and Italy, the forum builds on centuries of peony cultivation heritage in Heze to open new avenues for people-to-people connection across borders.

    This gathering marks a core component of the 2026 World Peony Conference, a 30-day global event that launched the previous day under the unifying theme “Blooming Across the World, Cultivating Shared Beauty”. The conference and accompanying forum shine a global spotlight on Heze’s unparalleled legacy as one of the world’s preeminent centers of peony cultivation: the region boasts more than 1,500 years of continuous peony growing history, with 1,308 officially registered varieties spanning nine distinct color groups and 10 unique flower forms. Beyond its cultural significance, Heze’s peony industry has grown into a major economic driver, with the total output value spanning from primary cultivation to high-value processed peony goods surpassing 13 billion yuan in 2025.

    The forum opened with a symbolic act of cross-cultural friendship, as Tatiana Bakurova, principal of Oryol State First High School in Russia, presented an original oil painting of peonies titled *Flower of Friendship* — a work created collectively by her school’s teachers and students. In return, the Publicity Department of Heze gifted the Russian delegation a traditional handcrafted peony paper-cut artwork, a tangible example of China’s intangible cultural heritage tied to the iconic bloom. This gift exchange set the collaborative tone for the day’s discussions.

    In his opening address, Zhang Lun, secretary of the Heze Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, emphasized the universal appeal of floral aesthetics. “Flowers are an aesthetic language that transcends national borders,” Zhang noted. He called for coordinated collective action to advance two complementary goals: expanding global access to Heze’s peony varieties and cultural products, while welcoming international floral expertise and cultural exchange to Heze. This dual approach, Zhang argued, would inject fresh momentum into global efforts to build a harmonious shared global community rooted in mutual respect and understanding.

  • War in the Middle East: latest developments

    War in the Middle East: latest developments

    The long-simmering conflict across the Middle East entered a sharp new phase of escalation on Sunday, as multiple interconnected fronts saw rapidly shifting developments that threaten to drag more global powers into open confrontation. The most consequential shift came early Sunday, when former U.S. President Donald Trump announced he had ordered the U.S. Navy to implement a full naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical chokepoints for global oil supplies. The order came just after talks mediated by Pakistan between U.S. and Iranian delegations collapsed, ending a brief fragile ceasefire between the two powers that had held for less than two weeks.

    In response to the blockade announcement, Iran’s top leadership has issued a firm rejection of U.S. pressure, saying the country will never bow to foreign coercion. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker who led the Iranian negotiating delegation to the Pakistan talks, delivered the defiant message in comments carried by multiple Iranian state news outlets. “If they fight, we will fight, and if they come forward with logic, we will deal with logic,” Ghalibaf said. “We will not bow to any threats, let them test our will once again so that we can teach them a bigger lesson.” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards reinforced that stance, confirming that Iranian security forces maintain full operational control over the Strait, and warned that any hostile misstep by foreign powers would trap aggressors in a “deadly vortex” with devastating consequences.

    Along the Israel-Hezbollah front in southern Lebanon, Israeli military operations continued unabated Sunday, with a series of sustained airstrikes hitting targets across the region. Lebanese authorities reported that at least five people were killed in the latest strikes, pushing the total death toll from the conflict on Lebanese territory to more than 2,055. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said his government remains focused on ending the fighting and securing key concessions to stabilize the country. “We will continue to work to stop this war, to ensure the Israeli withdrawal from all our lands, the return of all the prisoners, to rebuild our destroyed villages and towns, and the safe return of the displaced,” Salam said.

    Visiting Israeli troops deployed in southern Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that the immediate cross-border threat his country faced has been neutralized. He confirmed that Israeli operations will continue, however, including in the newly established security zone inside Lebanese territory. “Israeli forces have eliminated the threat of an invasion by Hezbollah militants,” Netanyahu said in a video statement released by his office, adding that “the war continues, including within the security zone in Lebanon.” Israel has repeatedly maintained that the broader regional ceasefire agreement does not apply to its operations targeting Hezbollah, which is backed financially and militarily by Iran.

    A new point of international tension emerged Sunday when the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) issued a statement condemning Israeli military actions against its peacekeeping mission. The statement confirmed that an Israeli tank twice rammed UNIFIL vehicles in southern Lebanon, where active combat between Israeli forces and Hezbollah has been ongoing for weeks. Additionally, Israeli soldiers blocked a key road in the town of Bayada that provides the only access to multiple UNIFIL positions, hampering the peacekeeping force’s ability to operate.

    Beyond the Strait of Hormuz and Lebanese fronts, the escalation has spilled over into other regional states. Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry announced it had summoned Iraq’s top ambassador to deliver a formal complaint over drone attacks launched from Iraqi territory, marking the second such complaint in days after the U.S. issued a similar protest. In Kuwait, authorities announced the arrest of 24 people, including five former lawmakers, as part of an investigation into alleged financing of terrorist entities. Kuwait and other Gulf Cooperation Council states have cracked down on individuals and organizations suspected of ties to Iran since Tehran launched attacks on Gulf targets.

    On Iran’s home front, the country’s judiciary-affiliated Legal Medicine Organization released the highest official death toll from the ongoing war with the U.S. and Israel to date, with head Abbas Masjedi confirming that 3,375 Iranians have been killed. Agence France-Presse, which reported the figure, noted that it cannot independently verify casualty numbers or access strike sites in Iran due to official government reporting restrictions.

    International actors have already begun moving to push for de-escalation. Pakistan, which mediated the collapsed weekend talks between the U.S. and Iran, has issued a public plea to uphold the two-week ceasefire that Washington and Tehran initially agreed to. Russian President Vladimir Putin also extended an offer of diplomatic mediation to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, with the Kremlin confirming Sunday that Putin stands ready to facilitate new peace efforts. In a separate move that expands the conflict’s global reach, Trump issued a new threat to China during an interview with Fox News, saying the U.S. will impose 50 percent tariffs on all Chinese goods imported into the country if Beijing provides military assistance to Iran.