Global Pulse

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  • US warns of ‘hell’ in Iran amid strikes

    US warns of ‘hell’ in Iran amid strikes

    As a self-imposed 48-hour deadline for a negotiated peace with Iran ticks down, former U.S. President Donald Trump has issued a stark warning that “all hell will break loose” across the country if no agreement is reached, with the broader 10-day ultimatum for Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz also approaching.

    The escalating threat landed amid a sharp surge in cross-border strikes across the Middle East over the Easter weekend, which left critical energy infrastructure in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states and civilian sites across Iran — including universities, research facilities and areas near nuclear infrastructure — heavily damaged.

    On Friday, warplanes targeted and destroyed a research facility affiliated with Shahid Beheshti University, one of Iran’s most prestigious higher education institutions, located in northern Tehran. The strike on the university’s Laser and Plasma Research Institute marks the latest in a growing pattern of civilian site targeting by U.S. and Israeli forces in their ongoing military campaign against Iran, which launched on February 28.

    During an on-site press briefing Saturday, Iranian Minister of Science, Research and Technology Hossein Simaei Saraf confirmed that at least 30 Iranian universities have sustained damage from U.S. and Israeli strikes since the conflict began.

    In Sunday’s most high-profile development, Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that U.S. military forces had completed what he called “one of the most daring search and rescue operations in U.S. history,” recovering a “highly respected colonel” whose plane was downed over Iranian territory. The colonel was the second of two crew members aboard an F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet shot down Friday; the first service member was extracted earlier.

    Iranian military officials pushed back sharply on the U.S. rescue claim hours later. A spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters announced that Iranian forces intercepted and destroyed multiple U.S. aircraft attempting to infiltrate southern Isfahan province to extract the downed aircrew, fully foiling the operation. According to the spokesperson, the destroyed aircraft included two Black Hawk helicopters and two C-130 military transport planes, all of which were left burning after the strike.

    Al Jazeera reported Sunday that multiple civilian fatalities occurred during search operations for the downed F-15E crew in Iran’s southwestern Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province. Iran’s state-run Fars News Agency confirmed the casualties: five people killed and eight wounded in an attack on the Koh Siah area of Kohgiluyeh County, with an additional four fatalities recorded in the Vazg and Kakan districts of Boyer-Ahmad County.

    The previous day, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed one person was killed by projectile fragments after a U.S.-Israeli strike hit a site near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant, the fourth strike near the facility to date.

    The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also released a statement confirming it had conducted airstrikes on more than 120 targets across central and western Iran over the weekend, with planned targets including ballistic missile stockpiles, drone production facilities and Iranian air defense installations.

    Global and regional officials have raised urgent alarms over the growing humanitarian and nuclear risks of the escalating conflict. On April 4, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi took to X to warn that radioactive fallout from a strike on Bushehr would devastate capital cities across the GCC, not just Tehran. He also accused U.S. media of misrepresenting Iran’s negotiating position, reiterating that Iran’s core demand is a permanent end to what he called the “illegal war” imposed on the country.

    World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus joined the IAEA in sounding the alarm on Sunday over nuclear facility safety in Iran. “The latest incident involving the Bushehr nuclear power plant is a stark reminder: a strike could trigger a nuclear accident, with health impacts that would devastate generations,” he wrote on X. “With every passing day of this escalating conflict, the stakes and threats are raised higher and higher. We must de-escalate now. Peace is the best medicine.”

    Former IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei also issued a public appeal, urging GCC member states and the United Nations to intervene to stop Trump from turning the entire region into an inferno.

  • US motorists warm up to China’s electric vehicles

    US motorists warm up to China’s electric vehicles

    Despite steep tariffs and regulatory restrictions that currently bar Chinese-made electric vehicles from the mainstream US market, a new consumer survey reveals that a large and growing share of American drivers — particularly younger generations — are increasingly willing to consider purchasing these vehicles, drawn to their competitive pricing, innovative design and advanced digital features.

    A poll conducted between December 29, 2025 and January 2, 2026 by Cox Automotive, a leading industry research and forecasting firm for new and used vehicle markets, found that 69 percent of Generation Z car shoppers (defined as those aged 14 to 29) said they are more likely to consider Chinese EV brands than competing international or domestic options. This growing positive perception has been fueled in large part by viral positive reviews of Chinese EVs on major social platforms including YouTube and TikTok, which have introduced American consumers to the vehicles’ attractive value proposition.

    Shifting economic conditions have further amplified consumer interest: soaring fuel prices tied to regional tensions linked to the US-Israel-Iran conflict have boosted demand for electric alternatives, while the persistently high cost of domestic EVs has pushed shoppers to seek more affordable options. Data from Kelley Blue Book shows the average transaction price for a new electric vehicle in the US hit $57,245 by August 2025, pricing many middle-income buyers out of the market.

    Sarano LaGrande, a 72-year-old New York resident, shared his positive outlook with China Daily, noting that he has seen Chinese EVs featured across social media and is attracted to their aesthetic design and potential fuel savings. “Why shouldn’t Americans have access to these cars? They’re beautiful, reasonably priced, and offer something new for city driving. American-made cars often start at $30,000 and up — that’s far too expensive for many buyers,” LaGrande said.

    Bill Russo, founder and CEO of Shanghai-based automotive investment advisory firm Automobility Limited, broke down the key competitive advantages that set Chinese EVs apart from global competitors. “Chinese electric vehicles differentiate themselves primarily through rapid development cycles, unrivaled cost competitiveness, and seamless integration of cutting-edge digital technologies,” Russo explained. “Major brands each have unique strengths: BYD stands out for its vertical integration and massive production scale, Geely (including its premium brand Zeekr) for its global strategic positioning, Xiaomi for its integrated consumer digital ecosystem, and NIO for its premium user experience and after-sales services.”

    Russo added that while Chinese EVs are technically competitive enough to capture significant market share in the US, near-term large-scale market entry remains out of reach due to steep geopolitical and regulatory hurdles. The Biden administration previously imposed a punitive tariff of over 100 percent on Chinese-made EVs, a policy designed to effectively price the vehicles out of the market under the guise of protecting American manufacturing jobs. Additional federal restrictions also block Chinese vehicle technology from the US market.

    The Cox Automotive survey confirms that openness to Chinese EV brands splits sharply along demographic lines, with age being a key dividing factor. While younger, EV-curious shoppers demonstrate clear willingness to purchase Chinese brands, older consumers and buyers loyal to domestic automakers remain largely reluctant.

    China’s EV industry has expanded rapidly over the past decades, backed by significant sustained investment, with more than 100 domestic manufacturers competing for market share at home. As the world’s largest producer and exporter of motor vehicles, China has already successfully built a strong foothold for its EVs in European and Latin American markets, and most recently gained access to Canada, which cut tariffs to 6.1 percent for an initial annual quota of 49,000 Chinese-made EVs.

    In the US, where Tesla dominates the domestic EV market, established domestic auto trade groups have pushed for continued restrictions. In a March 12 letter, the groups called on the second Trump administration to maintain barriers blocking Chinese automakers from entering the US market. Still, President Donald Trump has signaled potential flexibility: during a January speech at the Detroit Economic Club, he hinted that he would be open to allowing Chinese automakers to enter the US market within the next two years, on the condition that they manufacture vehicles in US factories using American workers.

    Another New York resident, 68-year-old Tony Jackson who originally hails from Missouri, echoed the view that the US should open its market to Chinese EVs that meet consumer quality standards. “For me, the top priorities are build quality, strong structural safety features, and adequate charging infrastructure. If Chinese vehicles deliver on these points and come at a fair price, that’s a win for American consumers,” Jackson said.

    Among US auto dealerships, the Cox survey found that 15 percent of respondents already support allowing Chinese auto brands to enter the domestic market. Russo reiterated that policy constraints will almost certainly keep Chinese EVs from widespread availability at US dealerships in the near term. “That said, if regulatory and tariff barriers were reduced, Chinese EVs would almost certainly be well received by American consumers thanks to their clear value: a long list of premium features offered at highly competitive price points,” he noted.

  • Tourism enjoys robust growth

    Tourism enjoys robust growth

    This spring, China’s inbound tourism sector is seeing sharp, sustained growth, powered largely by the ongoing dividends of expanded visa-free policies that have opened the door for longer, deeper trips across the country for international travelers. Unlike the decades-long trend that saw most international visitors stick exclusively to China’s top-tier megacities and iconic landmarks, today’s foreign travelers are increasingly venturing into smaller second- and third-tier destinations, and prioritizing hands-on, culturally immersive experiences over routine sightseeing.

    Gone are the days when most international itineraries were limited to checking off bucket-list sites like the Great Wall or the Terracotta Army. Today’s visitors are stepping into local workshops to learn about China’s centuries-old intangible cultural heritage, try on traditional Hanfu clothing, hand-make dumplings from scratch, and even participate in the traditional process of porcelain firing. What began as a casual goal to “see China” has evolved into a widespread desire to “live like a local for a day,” turning deep cultural engagement into the fastest-growing new engine of the country’s inbound tourism market.

    One striking example of this new trend can be found at Zhangjiajie’s Tianmen Mountain, a stunning scenic spot in Hunan Province that blends breathtaking natural landscapes with one-of-a-kind adventure and cultural offerings. A recent viral short film posted by a foreign blogger on Instagram captured Asia’s first wingsuit pilot, Zhang Shupeng, leaping from Yuhu Peak and speeding through Tianmen Mountain Square at over 200 kilometers per hour. Within days, the clip racked up more than 100 million views and nearly 5 million likes, with comments from users across the globe expressing awe at the location and the stunt.

    Ding Yunjuan, deputy marketing manager for the Tianmen Mountain Scenic Area, explained that the site has long positioned itself as a hub for extreme sports fans, hosting world-class international events including the annual World Wingsuit League Championship, downhill stair bicycle races, and international parkour competitions that draw spectators and participants from around the world. Beyond adventure sports, the area has also invested heavily in high-quality cultural tourism offerings, most notably *Tianmen Fox Fairy*, the world’s first large-scale live musical performance staged in a high-mountain canyon. Adapted from the classic Xiangxi folk tale *The Legend of Woodcutter Liu Hai*, the production centers on traditional Oriental concepts of love and beauty.

    Between 2024 and 2025, international tourists made up 60 to 70 percent of *Tianmen Fox Fairy*’s total audience. In 2025 alone, the show drew 250,000 overseas visitors from more than 120 countries and regions, marking a 45 percent year-on-year increase. During the first run of shows in 2026, international visitors accounted for 70 percent of the audience. Overall, Tianmen Mountain welcomed 162,100 international tourists in the first quarter of 2026, a 26 percent jump compared to the same period last year, with the top four source markets being South Korea, Taiwan (China), Indonesia, and Malaysia. To better serve this growing international audience, the scenic area has rolled out a range of upgrades: it has mandated English language training for all customer-facing staff, distributed portable translation devices to front-line teams, and launched guided tour services in Mandarin, English, and Korean.

    In Lijiang, a historic scenic city in southwest China’s Yunnan Province, international visitors are similarly flocking to experience the region’s unique ethnic culture and well-preserved ancient town. During this year’s Sanduo Festival, a traditional Naxi ethnic celebration honoring the group’s guardian deity, two American travelers from New York and Los Angeles, Iren Helperin and Soheila Halimi, shared that they were drawn to Lijiang specifically for its blend of ancient culture and welcoming, safe travel environment.

    “As a tourist who doesn’t know the city or the culture, safety is always my top priority,” Helperin said. “Back in Europe, we have to tie our phones to our bodies with a string to prevent theft. Here, we never have to worry — I can carry my phone out freely and take photos whenever I want.” A German couple visiting Lijiang, Evgeni Knispel and Denise Nagel, echoed that praise, noting they discovered the city while researching China trips online. Nagel highlighted the area’s exceptional cleanliness and mild, pleasant weather, while Knispel added that while Lijiang is a popular tourist spot, it feels far less crowded than popular Southeast Asian destinations like Thailand, and he plans to recommend it to all his friends and family back home.

    Industry experts say the shift toward smaller destinations and immersive experiences is no accident. Lyu Ning, dean of the School of Tourism Sciences at Beijing International Studies University, explained that smaller tier cities across China often retain far more authentic natural landscapes and intact folk customs, which perfectly aligns with growing international demand for unique, genuine travel experiences that can’t be found in crowded megacities.

    At the same time, China’s expanded investment in transport and service infrastructure has made it far easier for international travelers to reach these off-the-beaten-path destinations. High-speed rail now connects most third- and fourth-tier cities, including popular scenic spots like Wuyishan in Fujian and Huangshan in Anhui. Regional air travel networks have also been expanded, while upgraded rural tourist roads and dedicated scenic area shuttle services have solved the longstanding “last mile” accessibility issue that once kept small destinations out of reach for most international visitors.

    Another key driver of the boom is the shift in how China’s tourism is promoted to international audiences. “Gone are the days when most international exposure came from official government promotion,” Lyu noted. “Today, most new outreach happens through authentic experience sharing on global social platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. Real-life posts from actual foreign visitors are far more relatable and influential than any traditional advertising campaign.”

    The evolution from casual sightseeing to immersive “day in the life” experiences also marks a deeper shift in how international visitors engage with Chinese culture, Lyu added. Young international travelers, especially those from Generation Z, no longer want to just check famous landmarks off a bucket list — they want to participate in ordinary daily life in China. “This change in demand is essentially a shift from just ‘knowing about China’ to actually ‘understanding China,’” Lyu explained. “Immersive experiences turn Chinese culture from abstract symbols into tangible, shareable moments, creating a natural word-of-mouth cycle that goes from personal experience to emotional connection to social sharing.”

    Today, experiential travel products have become the core competitive advantage of China’s inbound tourism market, driving a broader industry shift from a resource-dependent model to a creativity-driven model. These offerings don’t just expand the range of products available to visitors — they also increase the added value of tourism and encourage repeat visits, as travelers who form an emotional connection to a destination often return to pursue more specific experiences in the future.

  • Hamas backs Iran and says disarmament is not on the table while Israel continues genocide

    Hamas backs Iran and says disarmament is not on the table while Israel continues genocide

    In a pre-recorded video address released Sunday, Abu Obaida, the newly named military spokesman of Hamas’s Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, has laid out the group’s stance on escalating regional tensions, criticized international ceasefire brokers, and issued a broad call for armed resistance against Israeli actions across the Middle East.

    Abu Obaida took up the well-known nom de guerre in December, after Hamas confirmed the previous holder of the alias, Huthaifa Samir al-Kahlout, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City last August. The new spokesman’s full identity remains undisclosed.

    Opening his remarks, Abu Obaida expressed unwavering backing for recent Iranian strikes targeting Israeli territory, framing the exchange of hostilities between Tehran and Tel Aviv as a direct extension of the conflict that began with Hamas’s October 7 Al-Aqsa Flood operation out of Gaza. He described the ongoing US-backed Israeli campaign against Iran as a continuation of the same war that has devastated Gaza for months, arguing that attacks by what he called “Zionist-American aggression” against Iranian citizens mirror the genocidal actions Israeli forces have carried out in Gaza.

    “ The heinous crimes committed by the Zionist-American aggression against our brothers in the Islamic Republic remind the world of the genocidal crimes in Gaza,” he stated in the address, which aired across multiple Arab media outlets. Abu Obaida also claimed to mourn the passing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, naming him as a “great martyr” alongside other fallen Iranian figures. He added that the Qassam Brigades viewed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ strikes on Israel “with immense pride and admiration.”

    The spokesman also acknowledged a message of solidarity from Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters, which recently dedicated part of its military operations to slain senior Palestinian leaders, including Hamas co-founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and late Hamas chief in Gaza Yahya Sinwar.

    Turning to ongoing ceasefire talks for Gaza, Abu Obaida issued sharp criticism of international mediators working to broker a truce, accusing them of applying asymmetric pressure exclusively on Palestinian resistance groups while ignoring repeated Israeli violations of existing truce commitments. He argued that brokers have continued to demand new concessions from Hamas without holding Israel accountable for failing to uphold its end of preliminary agreements, rejecting all calls to disarm Hamas before Israel is made to answer for its breaches.

    “What the enemy is trying to pass today on the Palestinian resistance and the people of Gaza through the mediators is extremely dangerous,” he said. “What is required is to pressure the entity [Israel] to complete its commitments in the first stage, before talking about the terms of the second stage.”

    Abu Obaida listed ongoing Israeli actions he said violate implicit and explicit truce terms: continued targeting of civilian populations in Gaza, severe restrictions on humanitarian aid entering the enclave, closure of the Rafah border crossing that prevents wounded Palestinians from seeking emergency medical care, and the full closure of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque to Muslim worshippers during the holy month of Ramadan. All of these actions, he emphasized, have taken place while the international community directs all its pressure at Hamas.

    He went on to issue a direct call to arms, urging resistance factions across the Muslim world to make Israel “pay a heavy price” for its closure of Al-Aqsa Mosque, and calling on Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and within Israel’s pre-1967 borders to launch offensive attacks against Israeli targets. He warned that Israel’s provocative actions will not remain unpunished, noting that any attempt to disarm Hamas is equivalent to an effort to continue the genocide of the Palestinian people.

    “Let the enemy know that touching Al-Aqsa and the prisoners will not pass without consequence, no matter the cost to our people, and it will have repercussions upon the occupation state,” he warned. “Indeed, it will be an additional detonator for the entire region.”

    Closing his address, Abu Obaida turned to Syria, which he called “the beating heart of Al-Sham” and the birthplace of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam, the namesake of the Qassam Brigades. He praised the Syrian people for hosting Palestinian refugees for decades and for continuing to show public solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

    His remarks aligned with recent public demonstrations across Syria: following Friday prayers this week, hundreds of protesters gathered in central Damascus to wave Palestinian flags, chant slogans calling for the liberation of Al-Aqsa, condemn Israel’s policies toward Palestinian detainees, and protest the ongoing closure of the holy site. The Damascus rally was part of a broader wave of pro-Palestinian protests across the country, as public anger grows over Israel’s military campaigns and policies targeting Palestinians across the region.

    This report draws from independent on-the-ground and regional reporting by Middle East Eye, which specializes in original coverage of the Middle East and North Africa.

  • White House pushed satellite firm to withhold images of Iran war

    White House pushed satellite firm to withhold images of Iran war

    Leading commercial satellite imagery provider Planet Labs has announced it will implement an indefinite hold on all new satellite imagery covering Iran and neighboring regions where the escalating conflict involving the United States and Israel is unfolding, in direct compliance with a request from the Trump administration. The move restricts access to a critical source of visual intelligence that has been relied on by major news organizations, independent journalists, and human rights monitors to document conflict developments on the ground.

    In an email notification sent to journalists who regularly use Planet Labs’ imagery to cover tit-for-tat strikes between US, Israeli and Iranian forces Saturday, the firm confirmed it is shifting to a heavily restricted managed access framework going forward. Under the new policy, any imagery release will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, with approval only granted for what the company defines as urgent, mission-critical needs or explicit cases of public interest.

    The censorship order applies to all imagery and data collected from March 9 onward. This is not the first restriction the company has imposed on coverage of the region: previously, Planet Labs implemented a mandatory 14-day delay on imagery releases, framed as a measure to prevent the data from being “leveraged by adversarial actors.”

    The restriction has drawn immediate criticism from media and transparency advocates, who warn it will severely limit independent coverage of the conflict. Evan Hill, a veteran reporter with The Washington Post, noted that Planet Labs ranks among the most important US-based commercial satellite providers, with its imagery serving as a core information source for the vast majority of global media outlets covering the conflict. The new indefinite hold will cut off that vital flow of visual information for independent observers.

    The policy change comes at a sensitive moment for US military operations: recent US intelligence assessments have concluded that Iran’s military capabilities have exceeded initial American expectations, contradicting public claims from the Pentagon that joint US-Israeli bombing has severely degraded Iran’s missile stockpiles. Multiple intelligence assessments indicate Iran has retained a large share of its operational missiles and mobile launch platforms, undercutting official US narratives of military progress.

    Human rights and campaign groups have framed the imagery restriction as a deliberate effort to cover up civilian harm and military setbacks. Sarah Wilkinson, a United Kingdom-based human rights campaigner, argued that the censorship of war imagery is explicitly intended to hide the truth of what is happening on the ground from the global public. Mark Ames, a podcast host and independent commentator, sardonically framed the White House request as a telling indication that the Trump administration’s conflict in Iran is facing significant challenges.

    The policy change coincided with a series of escalatory threats from former President Donald Trump over the weekend. Trump warned that this coming Tuesday would be what he called “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one,” announcing expanded strikes on Iran’s civilian infrastructure unless Tehran agreed to meet US demands for a negotiated settlement by Monday.

    Already, recent joint strikes have caused significant civilian and infrastructure damage. A major Iranian bridge was destroyed in US strikes Saturday, while Israeli forces bombed a large petrochemical complex, sending toxic pollution into the adjacent populated city and killing at least 13 people across the two attacks. A projectile that landed near the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant also killed one person, sparking widespread alarm over the risk of a catastrophic nuclear incident. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that a large-scale attack on the facility could trigger a nuclear accident with generational devastating public health consequences.

    Kenneth Roth, former executive director of Human Rights Watch, pointed out that the restriction of satellite imagery directly serves the goal of hiding the full scale of US and Israeli bombing campaigns from independent scrutiny, saying “will make it much more difficult to monitor US-Israeli bombing there, which seems to be the point.”

    In a separate related development over the weekend, Al Jazeera reported that Israeli forces had destroyed all closed-circuit security cameras surrounding the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) headquarters in southern Lebanon. The incident comes amid rising tensions for UN peacekeepers in the region: three UNIFIL personnel were wounded in a blast Friday, and multiple peacekeepers have been killed since early March, with several of those deaths attributed to Israeli fire.

  • Hungary’s Orbán has long annoyed the European Union. Now some hope he faces defeat

    Hungary’s Orbán has long annoyed the European Union. Now some hope he faces defeat

    As Hungarians prepare to head to the polls for national elections on April 12, the outcome carries far-reaching consequences that extend well beyond Budapest’s borders, with much of the European Union holding its breath for a shift away from the nationalist agenda of long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Widely framed as a test of the bloc’s institutional resilience, the vote comes as Orbán — the EU’s longest-tenured national leader — has consistently trailed his challenger Péter Magyar in pre-election opinion polling, ending what has been a 16-year unbroken grip on power that has repeatedly strained the EU’s post-WWII governance framework.
    Magyar, Orbán’s main opposition candidate, has already told the Associated Press that a victory for his campaign would immediately prioritize repairing the fractured relationship between Hungary and the 27-nation bloc, a stark departure from the current administration’s approach that has gridlocked EU decision-making for years.
    The bloc currently faces a cascade of unprecedented threats: the growing momentum of right-wing populism across member states, ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, covert Russian sabotage operations, expanding Chinese economic influence, and a shifting U.S. administration that has upended decades of established transatlantic cooperation. Against this volatile backdrop, Orbán’s repeated use of national veto power has emerged as one of the most significant barriers to collective EU action.
    Political analysts and lawmakers argue that Orbán has leveraged his veto authority and deep institutional knowledge of the EU’s funding distribution system to entrench his domestic power, extract major concessions from the bloc, and wield outsize influence disproportionate to Hungary’s size. “He entered a club, read the rules, figured out how he can rig the rules, and then started to be a free rider and blackmail all of the other club members,” explained Dániel Hegedűs, deputy director of the Berlin-based Institute for European Politics. “The question is, how long will the club members tolerate it?”
    The current tension between Budapest and Brussels was not inevitable. When Hungary joined the EU in 2004 as part of the bloc’s largest single expansion in history, alongside nine other post-Cold War Central and Eastern European nations, widespread optimism surrounded its integration into the European project. “It didn’t start that way,” noted Jim Townsend, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security.
    But following a series of economic crises, Orbán rose to power by promising broad-based prosperity for all Hungarians, while building strategic alliances with conservative political forces across the bloc. Gábor Scheiring, a former Hungarian lawmaker now teaching at Georgetown University in Qatar, explained that for years Orbán maintained a contradictory position: he regularly vilified EU leadership in Brussels, often drawing unflattering comparisons to the former Soviet Union, while simultaneously collecting billions in EU development funding and resisting widespread international pressure to reverse democratic backsliding within Hungary’s borders.
    From 2014 to 2022, “Hungary was one of the biggest beneficiaries of EU funds,” Scheiring said. “Orbán could navigate the EU system really well: get all the money and get away with his political shenanigans.”
    By 2022, growing frustration over Orbán’s failure to uphold EU standards of judicial independence, press freedom, and anti-corruption safeguards prompted Brussels to freeze nearly €10 billion in allocated funding to Budapest. The rift deepened dramatically after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022: Orbán, who has long maintained close personal ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly used his veto to block EU-wide efforts to provide military and financial support to Kyiv and impose harsh economic sanctions on Moscow.
    The most high-profile standoff came in early 2024, when Orbán backed out of a December 2023 agreement to approve a €90 billion ($104 billion) support package for Ukraine, prompting a rare public rebuke from European Council President Antonio Costa, who told reporters: “Nobody can blackmail the European Union institutions.”
    Beyond the immediate standoff over Ukraine, Orbán’s persistent use of the veto has laid bare a fundamental structural flaw in the EU’s governing framework: the requirement of unanimous member state approval for all major policy decisions. Critics note that this rule has already blocked stronger collective action on other critical global issues, including the ongoing conflict in Gaza.
    German MEP Daniel Freund pointed to an internal European Parliament analysis showing that Orbán has issued more vetoes than any other national leader in the EU’s history. “It’s staggering. No one else even comes close,” Freund said. “This is the biggest design flaw in the EU that he has exposed.”
    The crisis sparked by Orbán’s governance has reignited calls for sweeping reform of the EU’s foundational treaties to build greater protections against authoritarian member states, regardless of whether Orbán wins or loses the April election. Multiple reform pathways have been proposed, but each carries significant limitations.
    The most widely discussed change would reduce the number of policy areas that require unanimous voting, allowing major measures to pass with a qualified majority of the 27 member states representing at least two-thirds of the bloc’s total population. Other proposals include tougher targeted sanctions from the European Commission against member states that violate core EU rules, and even invoking Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union — a rarely used legal mechanism that would revoke Hungary’s voting rights within bloc institutions. Invoking Article 7 requires unanimous approval from all other EU leaders, however, and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has already publicly stated he would veto such a move.
    Brussels also holds an existing bargaining chip in the form of €16 billion ($18.4 billion) in allocated defense capability funding, part of a bloc-wide program to boost national defense infrastructure. Every other member state that has submitted a funding request has received approval, but Hungary’s bid remains stalled in Brussels. If Orbán secures a new term, Hegedűs argues that the EU could use this funding to extract concessions, such as lifting his veto on the Ukrainian support package. But he also warns that the strategy carries risks: “What will the EU offer in two to three or four months when the next strategic decision will come and Orbán will block again?” Hegedűs asked.
    Beyond institutional reform, Orbán’s confrontational approach has prompted a full re-evaluation of the EU’s processes for accepting new member states and monitoring compliance from existing members. Ongoing accession negotiations with Moldova, Montenegro, and Ukraine are already being reshaped by the bloc’s turbulent experience with Hungary.
    In February, European Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos noted that the 2004-2007 expansion that brought Hungary and 11 other nations into the bloc “led to a new era of stability for our continent and an impressive level of economic convergence.” But without naming Hungary specifically, she acknowledged that the experience has revealed critical gaps in oversight. “A lesson learned from 2004 is that we need to have safeguards that ensure new members stick to the rules,” Kos said. “If countries go backwards on our fundamentals, such as democracy and rule of law, the safeguards must bite. No Trojan horses.”

  • After harsh winter, Ukrainians find joy in releasing bats rescued from war

    After harsh winter, Ukrainians find joy in releasing bats rescued from war

    Under the dimming twilight sky over a Kyiv-edge nature park, a crowd of children pressed in closely around a team of volunteers. One by one, the volunteers gently unfolded cloth pouches, and small winged figures slipped out, darting into the cooling evening air. With each bat that took flight, more than 1,000 onlookers broke into cheers and applause — among them local families, off-duty Ukrainian soldiers, and dedicated bat lovers, a handful of whom showed up in creative goth-style outfits celebrating the species.

    The mass release on Saturday was one of dozens of similar events held across Ukraine to mark the arrival of spring. Hundreds of bats set free that evening had been pulled from war-ravaged regions in eastern Ukraine, where ongoing conflict has shattered the natural and man-made habitats the tiny mammals depend on for survival. Organized by the Ukrainian Bat Rehabilitation Center, the event is part of the charity’s years-long work to protect the nation’s bat populations, all 28 native species of which are classified as protected endangered animals in Ukraine.

    “For our organization, this work is non-negotiable. These animals are on the national red list of endangered species, and preserving their populations is a critical responsibility,” explained Anastasiia Vovk, one of the center’s volunteers.

    For the attendees who gathered on Saturday, the event offered far more than a wildlife conservation update. After a brutal winter defined by subzero temperatures, repeated Russian drone and missile strikes, and widespread, crippling power outages that upended daily life across Kyiv, the release was a rare, welcome chance to gather as a community and enjoy a casual family outing.

    Children, many decked out in custom bat-themed T-shirts and hats, watched intently as volunteers used tweezers to feed the rescued bats mealworms ahead of their release, and some young attendees even got the chance to slip on protective gloves and hold the small mammals themselves before they flew off.

    Oleksii Beliaiev, a 54-year-old Kyiv resident who attended the event with his family, summed up the mood of the crowd. “Life goes on despite the war,” he said. “The war is the main thing right now for all of us, but there has to be space for other things that matter too.” Beliaiev, who runs a small local printing business, also splits his time volunteering for Ukrainian army support projects.

    The conflict has not only displaced millions of Ukrainians — it has also forced thousands of wild animals from their natural habitats, conservationists explain. Shelling that destroys buildings and natural landforms has wiped out critical bat roosts, and repeated shockwaves from explosions disorient and stress the small mammals, often with fatal consequences.

    Alona Shulenko, who led Saturday’s release event, explained that winter disturbance poses an especially deadly risk. “In winter, bats hibernate to conserve energy through the cold months. If they are woken early by explosions or habitat destruction, they burn through their stored energy far too quickly and almost always die,” Shulenko said. “They also reproduce very slowly, with only one or two offspring per year, so populations recover extremely slowly after losses.”

    As their natural hibernation sites continue to be destroyed by the war, more and more bats have moved into Ukrainian cities, taking shelter in wall cracks, building crevices and residential balconies. But ongoing construction, repair work and further destruction of damaged urban structures has led to whole colonies being killed, Shulenko added.

    All native bat species in Ukraine are insectivores that play a critical role in managing local pest populations, and the nation sits along a key migration route for bat populations moving between eastern and western Europe. Since its founding, the Ukrainian Bat Rehabilitation Center has rescued more than 30,000 bats across the country, including 4,000 just last winter alone.

    Even amid the chaos of full-scale war, the center’s team has continued their critical work. “We are all living in wartime, and everyone has their own struggle to get through each day,” Shulenko said. “But we are doing what we know best, what we are called to do. If we stop our work, thousands of bats will die, and that is a loss we cannot afford.”

  • Tailors and dressmakers retire their pincushions as US demand for skilled sewers grows

    Tailors and dressmakers retire their pincushions as US demand for skilled sewers grows

    NEW YORK — Inside Kil Bae’s compact Manhattan one-man shop 85 Custom Tailor, the 63-year-old artisan leans over his sewing machine, carefully hemming a custom dress, when a new request interrupts his work: a customer is ready to pay $280 to alter a $20 vintage Tommy Hilfiger reversible bomber jacket he picked up from a local thrift store. For Bae, this price disparity, once unheard of, has become an increasingly common source of revenue that keeps his small business running today.

    Bae, who began honing his tailoring craft at 17 in his native South Korea, examines the cotton jacket, pins its seams, and moves around his client with the focused precision of a sculptor shaping raw marble. He is just one of thousands of aging professional tailors, sewers and dressmakers across the United States: the entire trade is shrinking as veteran artisans retire, even as consumer demand for custom alteration work surges to multi-year highs.

    Fashion industry analysts trace this new wave of demand to shifting consumer attitudes and changing health trends. A generation of shoppers raised on low-cost disposable fast fashion are now turning to skilled tailors to refine mass-produced ready-to-wear pieces, add one-of-a-kind personal touches to off-the-rack garments, breathe new life into thrifted secondhand finds, and extend the lifespan of their existing wardrobes. Beyond that, Bae notes that the rising popularity of weight-loss medications including Wegovy and Zepbound has driven a sharp increase in requests for resized waistbands, tapered sleeves and other body-altering adjustments to existing clothing.

    Unlike many traditional skilled trades, tailoring has a unique advantage that will protect it from technological disruption, Bae argues: “I recommend this job to young people because this one cannot be AI’d. Artificial intelligence has automated pattern making, but it cannot replicate the handcrafted nuance a tailor brings to every job. Every body is different, every shape is unique. AI can’t copy that kind of personalization. If I close this shop today, I can walk out and find another tailor job tomorrow.”

    Even with that stability, however, the trade has failed to attract enough new entry-level workers to replace the generation of artisans set to retire in the coming decade. The trend mirrors labor gaps seen in other hands-on skilled trades from custom engraving to musical instrument repair, where decades of under-recruitment have left widespread workforce shortages.

    U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data underscores the scale of the decline. Almost two years ago, the agency counted fewer than 17,000 tailors, custom sewers and dressmakers working at formal business establishments across the country — a 30% drop from 10 years earlier. When including self-employed artisans and workers in private households, the median age for all tailors and sewers hit 54 in 2024 — 12 years higher than the median age for the entire U.S. employed workforce.

    Industry experts point to pay and working conditions as the key barriers drawing young people to the trade. The mean annual wage for tailors, dressmakers and custom sewers was $44,050 as of May 2024, according to BLS calculations, far below the $68,000 average annual income for all U.S. workers. The job also requires hours of hunched, detail-focused work that takes a significant physical toll over a career. Most modern fashion education programs also prioritize training for mass industrial production rather than hands-on custom craft work, says Scott Carnz, provost at LIM College, a New York-based institution that offers fashion business degrees: “Most of fashion training is really aimed at mass production, not spending time in a shop handmaking a garment. The work is also tedious.”

    Despite the overall decline in the total workforce, online job postings for tailors have stayed remarkably stable in recent years, says Cory Stahle, a labor economist with Indeed’s research division. Between February 2020 and February 2024, advertised tailor openings dropped by just 2%, compared to a nearly 30% drop in marketing and software development postings over the same period. “There is a kind of craftsmanship here that I think is an important piece that we can’t ignore,” Stahle, who specializes in U.S. labor market analysis, said.

    For more than a century, immigrant workers have been the backbone of America’s custom garment and tailoring trade. Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, says an analysis of recent U.S. census data finds roughly 40% of all tailors, dressmakers and sewers are foreign-born, with the largest shares hailing from Mexico, South Korea, Vietnam and China.

    To address the deepening labor shortage, industry and education leaders have begun partnering to cultivate a new generation of master tailors. Nordstrom, North America’s largest employer of tailoring and alteration specialists, has teamed up with New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) to launch a nine-week intensive training program focused on advanced sewing and alteration techniques.

    “Customarily, tailoring has never been part of the American skill set,” said Michael Harrell, an FIT instructor and Broadway costume builder who teaches the program. The course received more than 200 applications for its inaugural 15-student cohort, which began coursework in October 2023 and graduated with completion certificates in February 2024, according to Jacqueline Jenkins, executive director of FIT’s Center for Continuing and Professional Studies. The hands-on curriculum is designed specifically to prepare graduates for full-time roles at Nordstrom, which employs 1,500 alteration and tailoring specialists across its luxury department store locations to handle everything from basic jean hemming and rip repair to custom suit fitting and evening gown reworking. So far, 10 graduates from the first cohort have already been hired by Nordstrom or are in the final stages of the hiring process, said Marco Esquivel, Nordstrom’s director of alterations. “We owe it to the broader industry to ensure that this is an art form that exists for years and years to come, and continues to serve customers both within our walls as well as outside,” Esquivel said.

    Other major retail brands are also expanding their custom tailoring services to match growing consumer demand. Brooks Brothers, the iconic American luxury menswear brand that has offered custom garments since the 1800s, launched a test of bespoke women’s tailoring at five locations in 2023. This year, the brand rolled out the service to 40 additional stores, with pricing starting at $165 for custom shirts and $1,398 for custom suits.

    Back at Bae’s Manhattan shop, 33-year-old client Jonathan Reiss confirms he is certain he wants to move forward with the $280 alteration of his $20 thrifted jacket. Reiss says he plans to wear the jacket regularly, and has shifted away from the fast fashion habits of his younger years: “I think I fell victim to buying cheap stuff, and then you realize it just falls apart or shrinks or it just doesn’t last long.”

    Like many veteran tailors, Bae has struggled to find a successor to carry on his craft. He tried to persuade his son, now 34, to learn the trade, but his son left a career in tech to open his own bagel shop. “Young people. They just want to find a job in computers,” Bae said. “I think that’s too boring. I think this is very interesting. Every time, I am drawing in my head. I am like an artist.”

    Bae got his start training under his older sister and brother at their custom apparel shop outside Seoul, South Korea. After five years of apprenticeship, he moved to Seoul to work on custom orders and designer samples for major domestic brands. He later relocated to the New York City area, where he worked as a pattern maker for iconic design houses including Ralph Lauren and Donna Karan. He opened his first own shop in Connecticut in 2011, but was forced to close the location after a decade when the COVID-19 pandemic gutted local small business revenue. He reopened at his current Manhattan address a year later, and now works with three specialized sewing machines: a basic all-purpose model, a heavy-duty machine for thick materials like denim and leather, and an overlock machine to finish raw fabric edges.

    For now, Bae says he plans to keep working as long as his hands stay steady enough to handle the fine work of tailoring: “I’m always learning,” he said.

  • Saudi oasis town adjusts to life in the firing line

    Saudi oasis town adjusts to life in the firing line

    Nestled in central Saudi Arabia, the tranquil oasis town of Al-Kharj has long been a beloved escape. For generations, overstretched residents of nearby Riyadh have flocked here to unwind, drawn by its lush palm-lined avenues, world-famous sweet dates, and green agricultural landscapes that stand out dramatically against the kingdom’s endless expanses of arid desert. Today, however, this once-peaceful retreat finds itself at the heart of escalating regional conflict, its quiet daily routine disrupted by the constant threat of incoming projectiles.

    Al-Kharj’s proximity to the sprawling Prince Sultan Air Base, a critical military installation that once hosted U.S. command operations during the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, has put the town directly in the line of fire. Following the joint U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran that launched on February 28, Tehran has launched repeated waves of attacks targeting Gulf states it accuses of enabling American military operations. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has openly claimed that Saudi Arabia hosts advanced U.S. fighter jets including F-35s and F-16s at Prince Sultan, alongside refueling and storage infrastructure, making the base a priority target.

    Last month, multiple U.S. media outlets confirmed that at least a dozen American service members were wounded in an Iranian attack on the base. While Iranian officials have publicly claimed they destroyed a high-value advanced surveillance aircraft worth hundreds of millions of dollars, additional reports confirm several U.S. aerial refueling tankers also sustained damage in the strike.

    For Al-Kharj’s 350,000 residents, the conflict has already spilled into civilian life. The town recorded Saudi Arabia’s first civilian casualties from the current wave of tensions on March 8, when two migrant workers were killed after a projectile crashed into a residential neighborhood. Just last week, two local residents were injured when debris from an intercepted drone fell onto three private homes, and a separate incident damaged six additional properties, according to official Saudi statements.

    Despite the repeated strikes and growing risk, however, most Al-Kharj residents have maintained remarkable stoicism, adapting their daily routines rather than succumbing to panic. “We hear the loud booms of missile interceptions, but we rarely spot anything in the sky,” 66-year-old local Abdullah told AFP, requesting only his first name be published due to strict Saudi security sensitivity. Speaking after afternoon prayers at his neighborhood mosque, Abdullah noted: “This is all very new for Al-Kharj, but life goes on as normal — there’s no panic, no change to how we live.”

    Government worker Turki, who also only shared his first name, explained that while the town’s newfound place in global headlines has led friends and family across the country to check in constantly, daily public life continues uninterrupted. During a recent lunch rush at a local popular restaurant, AFP observed diners scrolling through war updates on their phones between bites of traditional rice and meat dishes, a small routine adaptation that underscores how residents have integrated the new risk into everyday life.

    Even younger residents, who openly acknowledge their fear, refuse to alter their daily schedules. Twenty-one-year-old student Batool, sipping coffee at a downtown cafe, admitted: “I would be lying if I said I’m not afraid when I hear the explosions, or when I heard about the foreign workers who died. But I’m not letting fear change how I live. As you can see, I’m still studying outside, my routine hasn’t shifted at all because of the war.”

    While AFP observed no heavy deployment of additional security forces around the town despite the regular strikes, residents confirm the threat is always lingering. Mobile phones regularly receive alert warnings of incoming attacks, and concerns about the next barrage never fully fade.

    The presence of U.S. forces at Prince Sultan Air Base carries long-standing geopolitical weight. American troops first withdrew from the base in the early 2000s, after decades of controversy: conservative factions of Saudi society have long viewed foreign military presence on the soil of Islam’s two holiest sites as a religious insult, a grievance infamously cited by Osama bin Laden as a core justification for the September 11 attacks. U.S. forces only returned to the base in 2019 under a new bilateral agreement between Washington and Riyadh, with initial reports indicating hundreds of personnel would be stationed there.

  • Sputtering Arsenal face test of character in Sporting clash

    Sputtering Arsenal face test of character in Sporting clash

    For Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, a season brimming with historic ambition has hit its first major bump in the road, and the club now faces a defining moment of truth as it travels to Portugal to take on Sporting CP in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals. Fresh off two devastating back-to-back defeats that have punctured the Gunners’ dream of an unprecedented domestic and European quadruple, Arteta has called on his shell-shocked squad to turn the pressure into an opportunity to prove their mental grit.

    The crisis of confidence sparked on Saturday, when second-tier Southampton dumped Arsenal out of the FA Cup quarter-finals with a stunning 2-1 upset. That result came just a fortnight after Arteta’s side fell to a 2-0 loss to Manchester City in the League Cup final, wiping out Arsenal’s two remaining domestic cup hopes and ending their chase of a historic four-trophy haul. The pair of defeats mark the first time this season that Arsenal have dropped consecutive matches, with only four other losses recorded across all competitions to this point. For long-suffering Arsenal fans, who have waited 22 years for a Premier League title and not lifted a major trophy since the 2020 FA Cup, the slump has triggered widespread soul-searching, with renewed doubts over whether this squad can finally end the club’s long silverware drought.

    Despite the sudden setback, Arteta remains steadfast in his belief that his side can navigate the mounting pressure. Arsenal still hold a comfortable nine-point lead over second-place Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, and enter the tie against Sporting as clear favorites to advance to the Champions League semi-finals. The Gunners also have prior form on their side, having routed Sporting 5-1 in the 2022-23 Champions League group stage, a result many in the camp are leaning on for confidence ahead of Tuesday’s clash.

    “This is the first challenging period we’ve faced all season, but this is why we play the game,” Arteta told reporters ahead of the match. “You don’t get to win the biggest trophies without facing moments like this. Compared to what other clubs go through, this is nothing. It’s time to stand up and perform the way we have all season.”

    Arteta has doubled down on his support for his players, rejecting any criticism of a squad that has delivered a historic nine months of consistent results. “I will defend these players more than anyone else,” he said. “They’ve put everything on the line for this club all season, and one defeat doesn’t change that. I take full responsibility for the result, and we have the most exciting phase of the season ahead of us.”

    One bright spot for Arsenal in recent weeks has been the resurgence of Swedish striker Viktor Gyokeres, who now looks set to be a key figure against his former club. After a slow start to his first season at the Emirates following his summer move from Sporting, Gyokeres has found his form in crucial moments: he scored Arsenal’s consolation equalizer against Southampton, bagged a brace in the win over Tottenham Hotspur in the north London derby, and even netted the late winner that booked Sweden’s place in the upcoming World Cup.

    The biggest cloud hanging over Arsenal heading into the tie is a growing injury crisis that threatens to derail their dual title push. Star winger Bukayo Saka and midfield enforcer Declan Rice both missed the Southampton defeat and England’s recent international friendlies, and both are racing against the clock to prove their fitness for Tuesday’s clash. Center-back Gabriel Magalhaes is also a major doubt after being forced off early against Southampton with a knee injury.

    Despite the fitness concerns, midfielder Christian Norgaard has kept an upbeat tone, echoing Arteta’s call for the squad to embrace the challenge instead of dwelling on the recent upset. “It’s okay to be frustrated, and we need to learn from what went wrong against Southampton,” Norgaard said. “But this isn’t the time to walk around with our heads down. We’ve got massive games coming up, every one of them is a chance to get back on track, and we have to look forward.”

    For a club that has come so far after years of near-misses, Tuesday’s clash in Lisbon is more than just a quarter-final tie. It is a test of whether this Arsenal side has the character to turn a rare setback into another step toward ending the club’s decades-long wait for major glory.