Global Pulse

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  • Zelensky under pressure to end row with Poland over WW2 name of army unit

    Zelensky under pressure to end row with Poland over WW2 name of army unit

    A deep diplomatic rift has opened between Ukraine and one of its most critical European allies, Poland, after a presidential decree from Volodymyr Zelensky honoring a mid-20th century Ukrainian nationalist military group reignited long-simmering historical tensions that now threaten to upend bilateral cooperation.

    The conflict traces back to a late-May decree from Zelensky that renamed a Ukrainian Special Operations Forces unit after the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), a partisan group that operated across Eastern Europe between the 1940s and 1950s. For many Ukrainians, the UPA is enshrined as a symbol of national resistance, celebrated for fighting against three occupying forces: Nazi Germany, the Soviet Red Army, and interwar Polish governing authorities. Naming the elite military unit “Heroes of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army” was framed by Zelensky as an effort to honor the legacy of Ukrainian independence struggle, a tradition that remains resonant for frontline Ukrainian troops who today display the UPA’s red-and-black flag in combat against Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion.

    But the move triggered immediate and widespread outrage across Poland’s entire political spectrum. Warsaw accuses the UPA of perpetrating a targeted genocide of ethnic Polish civilians in the Volhynia region between 1943 and 1945, a massacre that historians estimate killed roughly 100,000 Poles. Polish President Karol Nawrocki condemned the decree as an unacceptable glorification of “bandits and killers,” a view echoed even by pro-Ukrainian politicians including Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Many Poles have framed the decision as a deep act of ingratitude, pointing to Poland’s unprecedented support for Ukraine since Russia’s invasion: Poland was the first neighbor to open its borders to more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees, and currently hosts nearly 1 million displaced Ukrainians, while also serving as a key hub for Western military aid to Kyiv.

    The anger has escalated to the highest levels of state honors, with Nawrocki confirming he is actively considering revoking the Order of the White Eagle – Poland’s highest state decoration, awarded to Zelensky by then-President Andrzej Duda in 2023. The Polish president told reporters he has already held consultations with the Order’s governing council, and will announce a final decision “in due course.” Under Polish regulations, the honor can be revoked if a recipient is found to have committed an act that renders them unworthy of the distinction, though commentators note any formal revocation would require backing from Prime Minister Tusk, who has sought to de-escalate the standoff.

    Hardline political factions in Poland have pushed for far more aggressive action against Kyiv. Opposition Law and Justice party MPs have called for a full sweeping reassessment of bilateral relations, while far-right Confederation leader Krzysztof Bosak has demanded Poland cut funding for the Starlink satellite internet services critical to Ukraine’s military operations, and block Ukraine’s EU accession process until Kyiv reverses the unit naming decree. Nawrocki himself went further, stating that Zelensky’s decision proves “Ukraine is not ready to join the European family.”

    Kyiv has so far declined to issue a formal official response to the criticism, though Ukraine’s foreign ministry has stressed it never intended to cause offense to Poland. In a last-ditch effort to ease tensions, Zelensky’s chief of staff Kyrylo Budanov traveled to Warsaw over the weekend to meet with Polish officials ahead of the Order of the White Eagle council meeting. However, the diplomatic outreach failed to produce a breakthrough: following Budanov’s visit, Nawrocki moved forward with convening the honorary council to discuss revoking Zelensky’s award, and Tusk later acknowledged openly that “diplomacy has yielded no results.”

    The growing rift has already produced visible ripple effects: Zelensky, who regularly departs for foreign trips from Poland’s Rzeszów Airport, chose this week to fly to the United Kingdom via Moldova instead. Tusk has clarified the airport remains open to the Ukrainian leader, saying “I am not going to tell him where and how to fly,” but the shift underscores the growing chill in relations.

    Analysts warn that a formal revocation of Zelensky’s honor could trigger a full diplomatic rupture between the two neighbors, with serious consequences for both nations and the broader Western coalition supporting Ukraine against Russia. The growing discontent in Poland already threatens to overshadow a major upcoming conference on Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction, scheduled for later this month in Gdansk, with Polish foreign ministry officials indicating Zelensky may choose to skip the event entirely. Observers also note rising tensions could benefit right-wing Polish parties that have grown increasingly critical of continued military and refugee support for Ukraine, a shift that aligns with the strategic goals of the Kremlin.

    Tusk has repeatedly pushed for de-escalation, urging both leaders to hold direct, honest negotiations to resolve the dispute before tensions spiral out of control. “Co-operation serves the interest of both our states and nations, while conflict serves Moscow’s interests,” he emphasized in a recent statement, framing continued bilateral unity as a critical national and continental security priority.

  • Banned referee Artan arrives home in Somalia

    Banned referee Artan arrives home in Somalia

    Somalia’s star football referee Omar Artan has returned to a jubilant, nationwide welcome in Mogadishu after being denied entry to the United States ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, reaffirming his promise to reach the global tournament’s pitch at the 2030 edition.

    The 34-year-old, who was named the Confederation of African Football’s Men’s Referee of the Year for 2025, made history as the first Somali referee ever selected for a World Cup finals. He was one of just 52 on-pitch officials chosen for the 2026 co-hosted tournament, which splits matches across the U.S., Canada and Mexico. All match officials are required to be based in Florida for pre-tournament training, preparation and security protocols, making entry to the U.S. non-negotiable for Artan to take up his place.

    Despite holding a valid diplomatic passport and approved single-entry U.S. visa, Artan was detained for hours and subjected to an 11-hour immigration interview upon arrival at Miami International Airport on Monday. He was ultimately denied entry and repatriated, with U.S. authorities offering no public explanation for the decision. The move falls in line with a sweeping travel ban implemented by U.S. President Donald Trump in June 2025, which imposes a full entry ban on all visa holders from 12 countries, including Somalia.

    The incident comes on the heels of inflammatory comments Trump made about Somalia just two months before the tournament, ahead of an immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota’s large Somali-American community. Trump dismissed Somalia as “barely a country” claiming “they just run around killing each other. There’s no structure,” and added that Somali immigrants should “go back to where they came from,” warning the U.S. would “go the wrong way if we keep taking in garbage to our country.”

    Andrew Giuliani, head of the White House Task Force on the World Cup, defended U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s decision in an interview with BBC World Service, saying “While I can’t go into the derog [derogatory information] on that I can tell you it was the right decision by customs and border patrol and I support that decision.”

    Artan arrived back at Mogadishu’s Aden Adde International Airport on Wednesday, where hundreds of supporters, senior government officials, Somali Football Federation representatives, fellow referees and ordinary residents gathered to greet him. Crowds carried pro-Artan banners, wore custom hats printed with his image, and social media creators streamed the welcome live to their online audiences. Hundreds more were expected to join a public reception at Mogadishu Stadium later the same day, where Artan planned to attend a domestic league match between Heegan and Dekadaha.

    Speaking to reporters after his arrival, Artan expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support from his homeland. “Everything is pre-destined. Fifa supported me well and were in touch with me until I reached Mogadishu,” he said. “I promise you that I’ll be officiating you in the next World Cup. Somalia, everywhere, I’m letting you know.”

    In a message to young Somalis, Artan urged the next generation not to lose hope or be demoralized by his treatment. “Let’s all defend Somalia’s honour. We all belong to Somalia whether it’s bad or good. That flag is ours and so is the passport – let’s defend it,” he said. “Despite this happening to me, I’ll still stand for my nation. I want to continue my journey from here and urge the youth to do the same.”

    Artan, who has held FIFA referee credentials since 2018, has become a national icon in Somalia after his landmark selection to the 2026 World Cup squad. Supporters across the country have framed his rejection as an insult to Somali national dignity, even as the referee himself says he remains committed to pursuing his World Cup dream. The incident has also sparked broader questions about FIFA’s ability to manage logistics and protect its appointed officials ahead of the 2026 tournament, with critics asking how the governing body could allow a referee’s historic qualification to be derailed by U.S. immigration policy.

  • Ukraine launches long-range strikes on military and energy sites in Russia

    Ukraine launches long-range strikes on military and energy sites in Russia

    On Wednesday, Ukraine carried out a coordinated series of long-range attacks targeting key assets hundreds of kilometers inside Russian territory, a calculated escalation of Kyiv’s strategy to increase the military and economic cost of Moscow’s full-scale invasion for the Kremlin. The strikes hit deep behind Russian lines at energy facilities and defense manufacturing sites, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who outlined the scope of the operation in a public social media address.

    Zelenskyy confirmed that Ukrainian forces used domestically developed FP-5 Flamingo long-range missiles to strike a key military industrial facility in Cheboksary, the capital of Russia’s Chuvashiya region. The site sits more than 900 kilometers (over 560 miles) from the active front lines in eastern and southern Ukraine, marking one of the farthest inland Ukrainian strikes to date. Zelenskyy noted the facility produces critical components for Russian attack drones and missiles, weapons Moscow relies on heavily for its ongoing campaign against Ukraine. Oleg Nikolayev, the regional governor of Chuvashiya, later verified the missile strike but declined to release further details on damage or casualties. Independent Russian outlet Astra News reported the target was the VNIIR-Progress plant, which manufactures antenna systems for Russian military drones.

    Additional strikes hit a second key energy site in Russia’s Samara region, where local governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev confirmed drone attacks damaged multiple industrial facilities and left three people injured. Though Fedorishchev did not publicly name the affected sites, Astra published photographs showing a massive uncontrolled blaze burning at the region’s large oil refinery. Zelenskyy added that Ukraine’s domestic security agency, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), carried out separate attacks on two more oil infrastructure sites in Russia’s Vladimir region, located roughly 700 kilometers from the front.

    The long-range assault also extended to Russia-occupied Crimea, where a Ukrainian drone struck a historic landmark in the port city of Sevastopol: a building housing a massive panoramic painting by 19th century artist Franz Rubo that depicts the 1850s defense of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Kremlin-appointed head of Sevastopol, claimed the artwork was completely destroyed in the strike.

    The cross-border strikes come amid a prolonged period of stagnation along the roughly 1,000-kilometer front line, where both Moscow and Kyiv have been hampered by widespread drone use that prevents large-scale territorial advances. In response, both nations have increasingly turned to long-range strikes to weaken the opposing side’s military capacity and public morale. For Russian President Vladimir Putin, the deep and increasingly audacious Ukrainian attacks pose a direct political challenge, undermining his repeated public claims that Russia is gaining the upper hand in the war, which entered its fifth year in 2025.

    The latest strikes follow just one week after Ukrainian attacks set fire to an oil terminal in St. Petersburg and struck a nearby Russian naval base, an incident that overshadowed Putin’s major annual economic forum held in his hometown. That disruption marked just one in a string of recent political setbacks for the Russian leader: just weeks before the St. Petersburg attack, Putin ordered significant cuts to Moscow’s annual Victory Day military parade over widespread security fears of potential Ukrainian drone strikes on the capital.

    Russia did not leave the Ukrainian strikes unanswered. Overnight, Russia launched a massive wave of drone and missile attacks across multiple Ukrainian regions. In the northeastern region of Kharkiv, regional administration head Oleh Syniehubov reported that a barrage of 26 drones struck early Wednesday, injuring four people. Overall, Syniehubov said Russian attacks across Kharkiv killed one person and wounded 15 others in the 24-hour period ending Wednesday morning. In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, 10 people were injured in overnight Russian aerial strikes, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov. In the Black Sea port city of Odesa, regional governor Oleh Kiper reported that Russian drone strikes damaged two residential apartment buildings, leaving a mother and her two children, aged 8 and 10, in need of medical care.

    Ukraine’s Air Force reported that its air defense systems successfully intercepted 181 out of the 207 Russian drones launched in the attack. Russia’s Defense Ministry for its part claimed that its own air defenses shot down 326 Ukrainian drones overnight during the cross-border strike operation.

  • When will an African side win the World Cup?

    When will an African side win the World Cup?

    For decades, football fans across Africa have shared one enduring dream: to see a nation from the world’s second-largest continent lift the sport’s most prestigious prize, the FIFA World Cup. That dream remains unfulfilled decades after it was first predicted, but after historic breakthroughs and systematic investment across the continent, many believe the moment is closer than ever before.

    Sunday Oliseh, a 51-year-old former player who helped Nigeria claim Africa’s first Olympic men’s football gold medal at Atlanta 1996, sums up the widespread continental longing. “If there’s something I want to see before God takes me to heaven or hell it would be great to see an African nation win [the World Cup], because this is a tournament that we all love passionately in Africa,” he says.

    Since the first World Cup kicked off in 1930, 49 national teams from 13 African countries have taken part in 22 editions of the tournament. For decades, their progress was limited by systemic barriers rooted in colonialism, restricted allocation of tournament slots, and missed narrow opportunities. Before 2022, Africa had only ever produced three World Cup quarter-finalists: Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions in 1990, Senegal in 2002, and Ghana’s Black Stars in 2010. It was not until the 2022 Qatar World Cup that the continent made history, when Morocco’s Atlas Lions fought past heavyweights Belgium, Spain, and Portugal to become Africa’s first ever World Cup semi-finalists.

    This landmark achievement came as no accident: it was built on more than a decade of targeted, long-term investment backed by King Mohammed VI of Morocco. The King Mohammed VI Football Academy opened in 2009, followed by a $65 million state-of-the-art training complex in 2019, creating a development pipeline that turned Morocco into Africa’s highest-ranked men’s national side.

    William Troost-Ekong, a former Nigeria captain, says Morocco’s success created a replicable roadmap for other African nations. “Morocco has created a blueprint of how it can be done, which is years and years of investing in grassroots football and academies,” he told BBC Sport Africa. “It starts with structure, with planning. Investment [is] very, very important. It has to be something that comes from federations being supported from a governmental level. Morocco have invested not just money but also time and effort, with a clear idea of how they can progress. The facilities they have, the consistency throughout their age groups, I think that’s the only blueprint you can follow.”

    Confederation of African Football (Caf) has also taken steps to strengthen the game across the continent, boosting prize money for the Africa Cup of Nations and top continental club competitions to increase federation and club revenue, while also investing in national schools championships. Caf president Patrice Motsepe reaffirmed the governing body’s commitment to developing the sport, predicting that “An African country will be champions of the world. That is what we are working towards, that’s what we are investing in and we are confident it will happen.”

    Veteran manager Claude Le Roy, who led Cameroon at the 1998 World Cup and coached five other African national sides, echoes the focus on youth development as the foundation for long-term success. “If you want to permanently have high-level national teams in Africa, you need to work with youth categories,” the 78-year-old said. “That’s the base of everything.”

    Structural changes to the World Cup itself have also opened new doors for African nations. For most of the tournament’s history, Africa was severely underrepresented: between 1930 and 1962, Egypt was the only African entrant in the first eight editions, and the continent boycotted the 1966 World Cup after FIFA refused to allocate it a direct qualifying spot. Through successive tournament expansions, the number of African slots grew from 1 in the 1970s to five from 1998 onward, and the 2026 expanded 48-team tournament hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States will mark a new milestone: nine African teams qualify automatically, with DR Congo claiming an additional spot via inter-confederation play-offs to bring the total contingent to 10, the largest in African history.

    South Africa captain Ronwen Williams, who will lead his nation in the tournament’s opening match in Mexico City, says the growth of African participation reflects broader progress across the continental game. “We’ve been on the rise – the leagues, Caf, the [African] Champions League, Afcon,” he told the BBC. “Everything has improved immensely. For so many countries to go out and compete at the highest level, it’s amazing.”

    Williams and Troost-Ekong both argue that greater participation will directly improve performance, particularly under the new format that allows two-thirds of participating teams to advance past the group stage. “Making it more accessible is going to be the key factor in the long term for teams to be more competitive,” Troost-Ekong said. “You need that exposure for improvement. The more experience they get, the more capable they will be with handling pressure. Experience is invaluable.”

    Another growing advantage for African nations is the ability to tap into talent from global African diasporas, reversing decades of talent drain that saw top players choose to represent European nations. Many diaspora players develop their skills in elite European club academies, and a growing number of African federations are now actively recruiting eligible players to represent their ancestral nations. Morocco was an early pioneer of this approach, convincing Canada-born goalkeeper Yassine Bounou and Spain-born stars Achraf Hakimi and Brahim Diaz to represent the Atlas Lions. More recently, 2026 debutants Cape Verde and DR Congo, returning to the finals for the first time since 1974, both relied heavily on diaspora talent: 18 of DR Congo’s 26-man squad were born in Europe, including defenders Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Axel Tuanzebe, who switched allegiance from England’s youth setup. Tuanzebe even scored the decisive qualification goal that sent DR Congo to the 2026 finals.

    Gabriel Zakuani, a former DR Congo captain now working as a technical consultant identifying and recruiting eligible diaspora players, says outreach and persuasion are key to unlocking this talent pool. “Recruitment is massive,” he told the More Than The Score podcast. “You have to get players to believe in your vision. Potentially they can’t play for England, Belgium or France, but they can still get to the World Cup. The biggest example is Axel Tuanzebe. He’s gone through the system with England and then he scores the goal to gets us to the World Cup. That is the fairytale ending, and probably the story I’ll use for the next player I try and get into the country.”

    Morocco’s 2022 semi-final run has also shifted the continental mindset, proving to a new generation of African players that a deep tournament run is achievable. “What Morocco did, that was the start for us as Africans to believe that we can [go far],” South Africa’s Ronwen Williams said. “It starts with that belief, and you need to go out and perform.”

    Senegal forward Iliman Ndiaye says that belief has already translated to a winning mindset across the continent. “I wouldn’t even bother packing my suitcase and travelling to the World Cup if it’s not to win it,” he told BBC World Service’s Newsday. “I don’t play these tournaments to just be a tourist. What Morocco did at the last World Cup should give all African teams inspiration.”

    Even with all this progress, African sides have faced heartbreaking near-misses in the past, and a title win will still require a measure of good fortune. Senegal were knocked out of the 2002 quarter-finals by a golden goal against Turkey, a rule that has since been scrapped. In 2010, Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan hit the crossbar with a last-minute extra-time penalty against Uruguay in the quarter-finals, and Ghana went on to lose the subsequent penalty shootout that would have sent them through to the semi-finals.

    For 2026, the expanded format adds an extra knockout round, meaning managing injuries and suspensions will be even more critical than before. Former Ghana midfielder Michael Essien says luck is the missing ingredient for a title run. “There’s been a lot of progress,” he told BBC Sport Africa. “The only thing that’s missing is luck. We just have to keep believing and hopefully one day it will happen.”

    Morocco (ranked 8th globally) and Senegal (ranked 14th) enter the 2026 tournament as Africa’s strongest contenders to break the title drought, though both face challenging group stage draws. Even if the continent falls short in 2026, Morocco will have home-field advantage in 2030, when it co-hosts the tournament alongside Spain and Portugal, with plans to host the final.

    Today, the gap between African sides and the European and South American powerhouses that have dominated World Cup history is undeniably narrower. For millions across the continent and the global African diaspora, the moment when an African nation lifts the World Cup – and creates pan-African sporting legends – is steadily edging closer.

  • Pope honors Barcelona sacred monuments on death centenary of Sagrada Familia designer Gaudí

    Pope honors Barcelona sacred monuments on death centenary of Sagrada Familia designer Gaudí

    BARCELONA, Spain – On a pivotal stop of his weeklong trip across Spain, Pope Leo XIV centered his Wednesday itinerary around honoring two of Catalonia’s most cherished religious and cultural landmarks, tying the visit to the 100th anniversary of the death of legendary Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí, the visionary behind the iconic Sagrada Familia Basilica.

    Before launching his scheduled public ceremonies, the Pope opened his day with a quiet, private visit to incarcerated people at a local Barcelona prison, carrying forward the tradition established by his predecessor Pope Francis, who prioritized meeting marginalized communities that cannot participate in large-scale public papal events during international trips.

    Leo’s visit to Spain has underscored a striking shift in the nation’s religious landscape: five decades after the end of the 20th-century dictatorship that left a legacy of religious upheaval across the country of 50 million, hundreds of thousands of faithful Catholics have turned out in droves to welcome the first American pope, demonstrating the enduring strength of religious belief in modern Spain.

    The first major public event of the day took place at Montserrat, a dramatic mountain sanctuary located just outside Barcelona that holds deep spiritual meaning for Catalan people. The site, home to an 11th-century Benedictine abbey and a 16th-century basilica, is one of the most revered pilgrimage sites in Spain, best known for its iconic Black Madonna statue that draws millions of worshippers annually. Pope Leo led a midday prayer at the abbey to honor the site’s centuries-long role as a center of Catalan piety.

    The undisputed highlight of the Pope’s Barcelona visit came Wednesday evening, when he celebrated an evening Mass at Sagrada Familia, the unfinished architectural masterpiece that has become a global symbol of both Catalonia and Christian faith. The service marked 100 years since Gaudí’s death at age 73, three days after he was struck by a tram in Barcelona in 1926.

    The story of Sagrada Familia is intertwined with papal history: construction first launched during the papacy of Leo XIII, the current Pope’s namesake, more than 140 years ago. Today, the basilica remains a work in progress, but it is one of the most visited tourist sites in the world, welcoming more than 5 million guests annually. Gaudí, who is currently under consideration for sainthood by the Catholic Church, devoted more than 40 years of his life to the project, describing it as a complete retelling of the Christian faith carved in stone.

    Every detail of the basilica is infused with religious symbolism. The Nativity and Passion of Jesus Christ are etched into the structure’s eastern and western facades, while a third southern facade, the Glory, will serve as the main entrance once construction is complete. Architecturally, the structure draws on Byzantine and Gothic traditions to create a masterpiece of geometry and form that celebrates Christian belief and God’s creation through stone and natural light.

    In total, 18 spires pierce Barcelona’s skyline, each carrying specific symbolic meaning: 12 represent Jesus Christ’s 12 apostles, four honor the four Evangelists who wrote the Gospels, one topped with a star rises above the apse to venerate the Virgin Mary, and the tallest of all is the newly completed Tower of Jesus Christ. Finished last year at a height of 172.5 meters (564 feet), the tower makes Sagrada Familia the tallest church in the world, a title Pope Leo formally cemented Wednesday when he consecrated the structure during his evening Mass.

    Inside, Gaudí’s design draws deep inspiration from the natural world he called his greatest teacher. Cross-shaped in layout, with the altar positioned at the far apse, the interior is defined by towering tree-like columns that soar toward the ceiling, with shifting colored light filtering through stained glass windows, mimicking the effect of sunlight dappling through forest leaves. Gaudí famously once said, “Everything comes from the great book of nature, always open that we must read.”

    Historian Mònica Santín, who leads educational tours of the basilica, notes that Gaudí’s work was guided by two core texts: the Gospels and the natural world. “The way he lets in the natural light is also an invitation to the Christian mystery,” Santín explained. “When you enter inside, it is all light. What is that the symbol of? We can’t see God, but we perceive his light all around us. I think that is how you can read this message, and it is fascinating.”

    This reporting on religious issues is supported by the Associated Press through a collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding provided by Lilly Endowment Inc. The Associated Press holds sole editorial responsibility for this content.

  • Indonesian court finds 4 military members guilty of acid attack on activist, sends them to prison

    Indonesian court finds 4 military members guilty of acid attack on activist, sends them to prison

    JAKARTA, Indonesia – In a ruling that has reignited long-running debates over military accountability and impunity for attacks on human rights defenders in Indonesia, a military tribunal handed down guilty convictions and prison sentences of up to three years Wednesday to four active-duty intelligence service members for a brutal acid assault on a prominent local rights campaigner.

    The four convicted personnel include three Indonesian Navy Marines – Sgt. Edi Sudarko, First Lt. Budhi Hariyanto Widhi Cahyono, and Capt. Nandala Dwi Prasetya – and one Indonesian Air Force officer, Lt. Sami Lakka. All four were assigned to the intelligence division of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) at the time of the March attack, which targeted Andrie Yunus, a human rights lawyer and senior organizer with the Commission for the Disappeared and Victims of Violence, widely known by its Indonesian acronym KontraS.

    The assault unfolded as Yunus rode his motorcycle through central Jakarta, shortly after he finished recording a podcast discussing the TNI’s growing political influence over the Indonesian civilian government. Attackers threw concentrated hydrochloric acid directly at Yunus’s face, leaving the 27-year-old with severe full-thickness burns and permanent vision impairment in his right eye.

    The three-judge panel of the Jakarta Military Court handed down varied sentences across the four defendants: Sudarko, identified as the organizer who recruited the other co-conspirators, received the maximum three-year prison term, while Cahyono was sentenced to two and a half years behind bars. Prasetya was ordered to serve two years, and Lakka received an 18-month sentence. Both Sudarko and Cahyono, who was found to have proposed the acid attack plot, have been dishonorably discharged from the TNI.

    In reading the court’s verdict, presiding judge Fredy Isnartanto condemned the actions of the convicted soldiers, noting that as serving service members, they had violated their core oaths of duty by targeting the activist. “The defendants, as TNI service members, betrayed their duties by deliberately throwing acid at Andrie Yunus,” Isnartanto stated. “Their actions damaged the image of the Indonesian military and demonstrated clear arrogance. The attack inflicted lasting trauma and suffering on the victim and caused permanent damage to his eye.”

    The verdict was met with immediate and widespread criticism from domestic and international human rights groups, which argue the ruling deliberately ignored evidence of potential coordination and involvement by higher-ranking military officials, and that the lenient sentences fail to deliver meaningful justice for the attack.

    Amnesty International Indonesia’s regional office warned that the prosecutors’ lenient sentencing requests and the court’s narrow focus on only four low- to mid-ranking soldiers reinforced widespread fears that the entire proceedings amounted to a show trial designed to deflect scrutiny rather than uncover the full truth. The organization has called for a new investigation led by civilian judicial authorities to identify and prosecute any individuals who ordered or funded the attack.

    Indonesia’s independent National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM), which launched its own parallel probe into the assault, concluded that the attack was a pre-planned, coordinated operation that likely involved far more individuals than the four defendants. The commission’s findings also documented multiple violations of Yunus’ fundamental rights, including his right to personal security, freedom from cruel and degrading treatment, and right to equal access to justice.

    Prosecutors in the military trial had claimed the four men acted entirely on their own initiative, with no superior orders. They argued the attack was motivated by personal anger over Yunus’ public criticism of the military, claiming the soldiers’ only goal was to “teach him a lesson” for his activism. Yunus, a leading voice for security sector reform and an end to military impunity in Indonesia, rose to prominence last year as a key organizer of widespread public protests opposing proposed amendments to Indonesia’s military law that would expand the armed forces’ already broad authority over civilian governance. Colleagues confirm Yunus has faced repeated threats and intimidation tied to this high-profile advocacy work.

    Per representatives from the Advocacy Team for Democracy (TAUD), the civil society group supporting Yunus through the legal process, the activist refused to testify at the trial, which opened in late April. Yunus cited two core reasons for his refusal: he is still undergoing ongoing medical recovery, including multiple skin graft surgeries to treat his burn injuries, and he has no confidence that the military court would deliver an impartial, fair ruling.

    Last week, a civilian court at the South Jakarta District Court partially granted a pretrial motion filed by Yunus, ordering Jakarta Police to resume their investigation into the attack to ensure full justice and protection for Yunus and other rights defenders. The civilian judges backed Komnas HAM’s longstanding call for expanded investigation to identify additional perpetrators, including any civilian co-conspirators. Both Komnas HAM and a broad coalition of Indonesian civil society groups estimate that more than a dozen individuals were involved in planning and carrying out the assault.

    The conviction has drawn new international attention to the persistent problem of unpunished attacks on human rights activists in Indonesia. The case echoes the decades-long unresolved assassination of Munir Said Thalib, the iconic founder of KontraS and leading critic of military corruption, who was poisoned with arsenic on a flight to Amsterdam in 2004. While a single low-ranking intelligence agent was convicted in that killing, evidence of higher-level involvement has never been fully investigated or prosecuted.

  • Stabbing suspect due in court after night of anti-immigrant protests in Northern Ireland

    Stabbing suspect due in court after night of anti-immigrant protests in Northern Ireland

    BELFAST, Northern Ireland — A single suspected stabbing has triggered days of chaotic, racially-charged unrest across Northern Ireland, after anti-immigration and far-right activists exploited a violent criminal attack to stoke community tension and mobilize violent street protests.

    Authorities confirmed Thursday that a 30-year-old Sudanese asylum seeker is scheduled to appear before a Belfast court to face charges of attempted murder. The suspect entered Northern Ireland from the neighboring Republic of Ireland in 2023, filed a successful asylum application, and was granted a five-year residency permit. The stabbing, which occurred Monday in north Belfast, left a 40-something male victim hospitalized with severe, life-altering injuries to his face, eyes and back. Graphic mobile phone footage of the attack spread rapidly across social media platforms in the hours after it occurred, giving anti-immigration groups immediate ammunition to frame the incident as a failure of the region’s immigration policy.

    Police have formally ruled out any connection to terrorism and confirmed they are not searching for any additional suspects in connection with the stabbing. Even so, calls for public action circulated online among far-right circles within 24 hours, drawing crowds to the streets Tuesday night.

    Masked rioters targeted residential properties believed to house immigrant families, setting multiple homes ablaze. Local garbage bins and a public Belfast bus were burned, and officers attempting to restore order were pelted with bricks and other projectiles. Firefighters were able to extract multiple trapped residents from the burning buildings before the blazes spread, though no fatalities linked to the unrest have been reported to date.

    The violence drew unified condemnation from all levels of government across the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland’s cross-community power-sharing administration. First Minister Michelle O’Neill, leader of Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, labeled the unrest “thuggery” in a public statement Wednesday. “Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice,” O’Neill said.

    Her counterpart, Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, echoed the criticism, noting that “taking frustration at the evil actions of a person out on those who had no part in it is utterly wrong.” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the original stabbing “sickening” and added that the government would not “tolerate abhorrent scenes of violence like this on our streets.”

    Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long called out external far-right agitators for exploiting the incident for political gain, noting many of the online organizers “yesterday would have struggled to find Belfast on a map.” Long told the BBC that the targeting of immigrant families amounted to overt racism. “If you’re driving people from their homes based on nothing but the color of your skin, you can’t dress that up any other way, it’s racism, and those bad faith actors need to take a step back,” she said.

    The unrest is the second high-profile incident in the United Kingdom in recent weeks where a violent criminal attack has been weaponized by anti-immigration figures, including high-profile American political actors. Last week, the conviction of a murderer in the December stabbing death of a university student in Southampton, England, was seized on by activists and U.S. Vice President JD Vance, who framed the killing as evidence of dangers tied to open immigration.

    The victim, 19-year-old Henry Nowak, was stabbed to death with a Sikh dagger by Vickrum Digwa, who falsely told responding officers that Nowak had assaulted him in a racist attack. Police initially misidentified Nowak as the aggressor before recognizing his fatal injury and attempting life-saving resuscitation. Digwa was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison with a minimum 21-year term before he is eligible for parole. A protest held over Nowak’s death later turned violent, with participants attacking police with chairs and rocks, and multiple attendees have been charged with violent disorder.

  • Firms charged with manslaughter over deadly Hong Kong fire

    Firms charged with manslaughter over deadly Hong Kong fire

    A devastating blaze that ripped through Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court residential complex last November remains the city’s deadliest fire in over seven decades, having claimed 168 lives. Months of investigative work have now culminated in formal charges against two companies and seven individuals connected to the fatal incident.

    Authorities confirmed Tuesday that the accused face a total of 25 criminal charges, ranging from manslaughter and conspiracy to defraud to attempting to pervert the course of public justice and tax evasion. The charged entities include a project consultancy firm and the main contractor that led the building’s renovation work, while the seven individuals encompass directors from both companies and a registered inspector employed by the consultancy. As of the latest update, law enforcement has not released the public identities of the companies and people facing charges.

    The investigation into the tragedy unfolded steadily in the months following the fire. Within days of the blaze breaking out, Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), the city’s anti-graft watchdog, took two directors from structural engineering consultancy Will Power Architects into custody. By March 2025, local police had arrested 38 people on suspicion of manslaughter and fraud-related offenses. The ICAC also conducted a separate arrest round-up, detaining 23 additional people including independent consultants, contractors, and sitting members of Wang Fuk Court’s owners’ corporation. Prior industry reporting has previously identified Prestige Construction and Engineering Company as the official registered contractor for the pre-fire renovation project.

    The tragedy has prompted widespread calls for tighter regulation of residential building renovation works across Hong Kong, with public safety advocates pushing for more rigorous inspection protocols and greater transparency in contractor licensing to prevent similar disasters in the future.

  • China car exports jump 73% in May as high fuel prices raise interest in EVs

    China car exports jump 73% in May as high fuel prices raise interest in EVs

    New data released by China’s leading automotive industry body confirms that the country’s passenger vehicle exports posted explosive year-on-year growth in May, jumping 73% to hit roughly 809,000 units. Analysts point to surging global demand for electric vehicles (EVs), triggered in part by elevated gasoline and diesel prices tied to geopolitical instability in Iran, as the core catalyst behind the unexpected strong performance.

    The China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) revealed Wednesday that combined exports of pure battery EVs and plug-in hybrid models more than doubled from May 2025, reaching approximately 435,000 units. This figure accounts for more than half of China’s total passenger car exports for the month, and represents a modest uptick from April’s total export volume of 796,000 passenger vehicles.

    The export boom comes as major domestic Chinese automakers, including industry leader BYD, have accelerated their global expansion strategies, targeting high-growth markets across Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the European Union. The push overseas comes at a time when domestic demand for new vehicles in China remains under persistent pressure, following cuts to national government incentives for consumers transitioning from gasoline-powered cars to EVs.

    CAAM data shows domestic passenger car sales fell 23.4% year-on-year in May to 1.44 million units, marking the seventh consecutive month of annual declines. Sales of traditional internal combustion engine vehicles, which run on gasoline and diesel, plummeted nearly 42% from a year earlier as EVs continue to capture growing market share across China.

    Industry analysts broadly expect China’s passenger car export growth to maintain strong momentum through 2026. UBS analysts project full-year 2026 passenger car exports will rise around 40% from 2025, with EV exports alone forecast to climb by as much as 80%. Paul Gong, head of UBS’s China automotive industry research, noted that persistently high global crude oil prices have directly translated to greater consumer interest in electric models across key export markets.

    “China’s car exports outperformed market expectations through the first five months of this year, while domestic sales have lagged behind consensus forecasts,” Gong explained.
    Claire Yuan, an auto analyst at S&P Global Ratings, echoed this optimistic outlook for exports, projecting full-year 2026 growth of between 30% and 50% year-on-year.

    Shifting global auto market trends back up this forecast. The International Energy Agency (IEA), in its annual global EV outlook released in May, reported that one out of every four new cars sold worldwide in 2025 was electric. Despite a slow start to the year for global auto sales, the IEA expects that share to grow substantially in 2026, with EV sales projected to hit 23 million units this year, accounting for nearly 30% of all new car sales globally.

    China, which already holds the title of the world’s largest EV producer, supplies the majority of all electric vehicles sold across global markets. BYD, the country’s top EV maker, notched more than 160,000 overseas sales in May alone, marking an 80% increase from the same month last year. The Shenzhen-based automaker, which overtook Tesla in 2025 to become the world’s top-selling EV manufacturer, has set an ambitious full-year overseas sales target of 1.5 million units for 2026 — a more than 40% jump from 2025’s total of 1.05 million units.

    For Chinese automakers, growing overseas sales also offer a critical path to improving profit margins. A fierce year-long price war for market share within China’s domestic auto market has significantly eroded profitability for most brands across the sector. While domestic demand remains soft for now, Yuan noted that a recovery may take hold in the second half of 2026, as consumers bring forward purchases following the launch of new vehicle lineups by major manufacturers.

  • NDIS insider charged over alleged $5m plot to defraud disability scheme

    NDIS insider charged over alleged $5m plot to defraud disability scheme

    A 48-year-old Adelaide-based employee of Australia’s National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) has been hit with multiple criminal charges over her alleged role in a $5 million fraud plot targeting the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), the federal government’s flagship support program for people living with disability. The scheme was first flagged to authorities in March this year, when internal systems detected the employee’s unauthorized access to protected personal records held by the agency. Law enforcement and investigative bodies have since laid out the full scope of the alleged misconduct.

    According to charging documents from the Australian Federal Police (AFP), the woman accessed more than 40 protected NDIS participant records without permission both during and outside of her scheduled working hours. Investigators allege she used that illicit access to file false claims against the NDIS plans of her own family members, who are registered NDIS participants. The claims were submitted for supports and services that were never actually delivered to the participants, the AFP says. To date, the accused is alleged to have received more than $53,000 in improper payments through a local NDIS service provider, as part of the broader $5 million coordinated fraud scheme.

    Beyond the fraudulent claims, investigators say the woman also violated conflict of interest rules: she failed to disclose to the NDIA that she had an ownership or operational connection to a local NDIS-registered business, and also did not declare that one of her relatives was employed at that same business. The undeclared connection created the opportunity for the alleged fraud, authorities say.

    On Thursday, a multi-agency enforcement team comprising AFP officers, NDIA internal investigators, South Australia Police, and Services Australia personnel carried out coordinated raids at three locations: the woman’s private residence in Blakeview, a second residential property in Mawson Lakes, and a business premises in the Adelaide suburb of Prospect. Multiple electronic devices were seized across all three sites, and investigators are currently conducting forensic analysis on the seized hardware to build out their case. Police have confirmed that additional charges are expected as the investigation progresses, with probing into potential co-conspirators ongoing.

    The case was investigated by the Australian Government’s Fraud Fusion Taskforce (FFT), a specialized multi-agency unit set up to target large-scale fraud against federal government payment programs. AFP Detective Inspector Aidan Milner emphasized that the collaborative structure of the taskforce was critical to uncovering and halting the alleged exploitation of a program designed to support some of Australia’s most vulnerable community members.

    A spokesperson for the NDIA reiterated that the agency takes all allegations of internal misconduct and fraud extremely seriously. “Anyone who abuses their position for personal gain will be caught and held to account,” the spokesperson said. “The safety of participants and security of their personal information are absolute priorities. This arrest shows we act decisively when our systems detect alleged fraudulent activity and we pursue every lead with our Fraud Fusion Taskforce partners.”

    Louise Glanville, NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner, added that the Australian community has zero tolerance for fraud against the NDIS, a program that relies on public trust to deliver critical support to hundreds of thousands of participants across the country.