Global Pulse

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  • Iran wants team members who served in the Revolutionary Guard to get visas for the World Cup

    Iran wants team members who served in the Revolutionary Guard to get visas for the World Cup

    DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — In a firm announcement made Saturday, the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran has confirmed that the country’s national men’s soccer team will “definitely” take part in the 2026 FIFA World Cup co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, while calling on the three host nations to address Tehran’s key concerns over cross-border travel and fair treatment of the delegation.

    Per reporting from Iranian state media, federation president Mehdi Taj outlined a core demand: all members of the Iranian squad and technical staff, particularly those who completed mandatory military service with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), must be granted entry visas without obstruction or delay.

    Iran’s participation comes against a backdrop of extreme geopolitical tension. The Islamic Republic currently holds a fragile ceasefire with the U.S. following a February 28 series of attacks on Iran by the U.S. and Israel that escalated into open conflict. Additionally, Iranian citizens have long faced broad travel restrictions imposed by the Trump administration that remain in place.

    In the official statement carried by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency, delivered Friday, Taj confirmed that Tehran had submitted formal conditions for its participation, including binding guarantees for visa access, on-ground security, and respectful treatment of all Iranian players and officials. He emphasized that Iran would compete “without retreating from our beliefs, culture and convictions.”

    Taj’s comments follow a high-profile incident last month, when Canadian border authorities denied him entry ahead of a scheduled FIFA Congress, citing his reported past links to the IRGC. Both the U.S. and Canada have formally designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization, a labeling that Iran rejects fiercely.

    This is not the first time visa concerns for IRGC conscripted personnel have emerged. The issue could directly impact one of Iran’s star players: team captain and star striker Mehdi Taremi, who completed his mandatory military service with the Guard. In Iran, mandatory conscription assigns recruits to the IRGC, national army, or police force largely at random, meaning many young Iranians have no choice in their service assignment.

    Taj has repeatedly pushed FIFA to deliver formal assurances that Iranian national symbols — including the country’s flag and national anthem — will be treated with full respect across all World Cup venues and events.

    Iran has been drawn into Group G for the 2026 tournament, where it will face off against Belgium, New Zealand and Egypt. The team will kick off its World Cup campaign against New Zealand in Inglewood, California, a city adjacent to Los Angeles in the U.S.

    This cycle marks Iran’s fourth consecutive World Cup qualification, and its seventh appearance at the tournament overall. To date, the Iranian national team has never advanced past the group stage of the World Cup. Currently ranked 21st in the official FIFA global rankings, Iran lost only a single qualifying match throughout the Asian qualification process, making it one of the most in-form teams heading into the 2026 competition.

  • Mexican parents criticise ending school year a month early for World Cup

    Mexican parents criticise ending school year a month early for World Cup

    As the 2026 FIFA World Cup co-hosted by Mexico, the United States and Canada approaches, a controversial government plan to cut the academic year one month short has sparked fierce backlash from parents, business groups and regional authorities across Mexico, forcing President Claudia Sheinbaum to soften the original announcement and rebrand it as a non-final proposal.

    The initiative, first unveiled publicly by Mexican Education Secretary Mario Delgado last Thursday, would have wrapped up the current school year on June 5 – a full 3 weeks ahead of the traditional end date. Delgado justified the move by pointing to two key expected challenges during the tournament, which runs from June 11 to July 19 across the three North American nations: crippling traffic congestion from an expected surge in domestic and international travel, and an forecasted extreme heatwave across much of Mexico. He added that the decision had been reached “unanimously” together with state-level education authorities, and that the next academic year would still launch as scheduled on August 31, with a two-week pre-term learning reinforcement period designed to prevent students from falling behind on coursework.

    The policy change triggered immediate anger from Mexican families, who were suddenly forced to scramble to find last-minute childcare for an extra month of summer break. Many parents also raised concerns about disrupted end-of-year academic assessments and the heavy financial burden of unplanned summer activities for children. Speaking to local newspaper El Universal, one parent questioned the rushed handling of student evaluations, noting that students would now be graded based on incomplete coursework, while another criticized the policy for prioritizing tourist convenience over working families’ livelihoods, asking “They want the city empty for tourists, but what are we supposed to do for income?”

    The National Union of Parents issued a formal condemnation of what it called a “unilateral decision”, labeling the use of the World Cup as a justification for cutting classes “inexcusable”. The union pointed out that World Cup matches will only be held in three Mexican cities, questioning why the policy would disrupt the education of nearly 23 million students nationwide under what it called an “absurd pretext”.

    Business groups also joined the criticism. Coparmex, Mexico’s leading employers’ association, warned that the sudden unplanned schedule change would create widespread uncertainty for both working parents and businesses, and called on individual state governments to implement their own localized solutions to address heatwave and travel disruptions, while minimizing damage to household finances and national economic activity.

    Even Delgado’s claim of unanimous state support quickly fell apart. Three state governments publicly spoke out against the plan – including two that are actually hosting World Cup matches – with one state confirming it would retain the original academic calendar regardless of the federal proposal.

    Facing this broad wave of opposition, President Sheinbaum used her daily Friday press briefing to walk back the original announcement, reframing the plan as a draft proposal still open to review and revision. “Since many Mexicans love soccer and are looking forward to the World Cup, this proposal was put forward to bring forward the holiday break,” Sheinbaum told reporters. “But we also have to take into account the school days of our boys and girls. So it is just a proposal; the final schedule has not been set yet, and we will wait before making a definitive decision.” She also noted that the idea originated from teachers’ unions and state education authorities, rather than being initiated by the federal government.

    The controversy over the school calendar is not the only challenge Mexico has faced ahead of the 2026 tournament. Earlier this year, a government crackdown on violent drug cartels that resulted in the death of the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) sparked a wave of retaliatory violence across the country, raising international concerns about visitor safety. One of Mexico’s host cities is Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco state and the epicenter of the recent unrest. Sheinbaum has repeatedly stressed that there is “no risk” to visiting football fans, while FIFA President Gianni Infantino has said he feels “very reassured” by Mexico’s security preparations. To address safety concerns, the Mexican government plans to deploy thousands of additional security personnel to host city streets throughout the duration of the tournament.

  • Sinner opens Italian Open account, Sabalenka suffers shock early exit

    Sinner opens Italian Open account, Sabalenka suffers shock early exit

    The 2024 Italian Open in Rome delivered its first slate of dramatic upsets and statement wins on Saturday, as men’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner lived up to massive home crowd expectations to launch his bid for a historic title, while two of the women’s top seeds suffered stunning early exits.

    Sinner, the 24-year-old Italian carrying the hopes of a nation that has not seen an Italian men’s champion at the Foro Italico since Adriano Panatta lifted the trophy 50 years ago, got his campaign off to a flawless start with a 6-3, 6-4 straight-sets victory over Austria’s Sebastian Ofner. The world No. 1 extended his incredible winning streak to 24 consecutive matches, wrapping up the contest in just 100 minutes in breezy Rome conditions, barely tested against his outmatched opponent. Even two brief stoppages in the second set to treat ill spectators did not disrupt his rhythm, with Sinner even finding reason to smile through the interruptions.

    The victory pushes Sinner into the third round, where he will face either Australia’s Alexei Popyrin or Czech teen Jakub Mensik. Buoyed by Sinner’s win, other Italian men also delivered strong results on home soil Saturday: 2023 Davis Cup winner Flavio Cobolli defeated France’s Terence Atmane 7-6(7/1), 6-3, while world No. 64 Mattia Bellucci upset 24th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 to book his spot in the fourth round. With last year’s champion Carlos Alcaraz sidelined from the tournament, Sinner enters the event as the heavy favorite to go one step further than his 2023 run, where he fell to Alcaraz in the final, and notch a record-extending fifth straight Masters 1000 title.

    Several other men’s story lines unfolded Saturday: former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev received a walkover into the third round after his scheduled opponent Tomas Machac withdrew from the tournament due to an unspecified illness, pushing back Medvedev’s opening match. Fourth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime suffered a shock second-round exit, falling to world No. 44 Mariano Navone of Argentina in straight sets 7-6(7/4), 7-6(7/5).

    The biggest story of the day, however, came on the women’s side, where world No. 1 and pre-tournament favorite Aryna Sabalenka was ousted in a stunning third-round upset by Romania’s Sorana Cirstea, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5. The result marks Sabalenka’s earliest tournament exit since the 2023 Qatar Open, and ends her bid for a first Italian Open title in Rome. Sabalenka started the match with a blistering first set, but dropped her level dramatically as the match went on, visibly frustrated by her performance and hampered by physical discomfort that forced her to call a medical timeout for lower back and left hip issues. The injury concern casts uncertainty over her fitness ahead of the French Open, scheduled to start later this month in Paris.

    For Cirstea, the upset marks the first win over a reigning world No. 1 in her 18-year professional career. She will advance to face Linda Noskova in the fourth round.

    Sabalenka’s early exit was followed by another upset of a home favorite: defending women’s champion Jasmine Paolini saw her title defense end in the third round at the hands of Belgium’s Elise Mertens, who claimed a 4-6, 7-6(7/5), 6-3 come-from-behind win. Paolini, who came into the match holding three match points on Mertens’ serve in the second set, failed to convert any of her chances, dropped the tiebreak, and could not recover her momentum in the decider. The result will push Paolini out of the women’s top 10 world rankings, extending her current slump that has seen her fail to reach the fourth round in four consecutive tournaments.

    Not all top seeds fell Saturday: reigning French Open champion Coco Gauff battled past Argentina’s qualifier Solana Sierra in a three-set thriller, 5-7, 6-0, 6-4, to advance to the next round and keep her Italian Open title bid alive.

  • Suicide bomber, gunmen kill 3 police officers in attack on security post in northwest Pakistan

    Suicide bomber, gunmen kill 3 police officers in attack on security post in northwest Pakistan

    On a late Saturday evening in northwest Pakistan, a coordinated militant assault combining a suicide car bombing and armed gunfire left at least three police officers dead, local law enforcement confirmed. The violence unfolded in Bannu district, located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province along Pakistan’s volatile border with Afghanistan.

    According to senior local police official Zahid Khan, the attackers first detonated a vehicle packed with high explosives close to a security outpost. The powerful blast triggered multiple secondary explosions, reducing the security post and several adjacent civilian homes to rubble. Immediately after the detonation, several gunmen opened fire on security personnel, sparking a prolonged, intense firefight that was still ongoing as initial reports were compiled.

    Khan noted that an unconfirmed number of additional officers have been injured, with some believed trapped beneath the collapsed debris of the buildings. Rescue and security teams have since secured the perimeter of the attack site, working to clear rubble and neutralize remaining threats, though full casualty counts have not yet been finalized.

    As of Sunday morning, no militant organization had issued a public statement claiming credit for the attack. Security analysts however quickly pointed to long-running militant networks operating in the region as the prime suspects. Suspicion is widely expected to fall on Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), commonly known as the Pakistani Taliban, and its affiliated militant factions. The TTP, which is operationally separate from but closely aligned with the Afghan Taliban that retook control of Afghanistan in 2021, has carried out dozens of similar attacks on Pakistani security targets in recent years.

    Pakistan has faced a marked upward spike in militant violence across its northwestern border regions since 2021, marking one of the most serious security challenges for the country’s government in the last decade.

  • Man City beat Brentford to close gap on leaders Arsenal

    Man City beat Brentford to close gap on leaders Arsenal

    The 2023-2024 Premier League title race remains unresolved after a tense Saturday clash at the Etihad Stadium, where Manchester City secured a critical 3-0 victory over Brentford to cut the gap to league leaders Arsenal to just two points. For long stretches of the match, it looked like Pep Guardiola’s side would drop crucial points in their bid for a fourth consecutive league crown, as Brentford’s organized defense held firm for almost an hour and City’s attackers looked sluggish and out of sync.

    The match opened with a series of close calls that foreshadowed the drama to come. City winger Jeremy Doku forced an early save from Brentford goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, but it was City’s own keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma who nearly handed Brentford a shock opener. The Italian miskicked a clearance from Michael Kayode’s long throw, and the ball was only scrambled off the goal line at the last second. That near-disaster summed up City’s labored first half: star striker Erling Haaland sent a header high and wide from just six yards out after a pinpoint Doku cross, and later saw a close-range blast blocked by Kelleher, with Nathan Ake firing the rebound into the stands to the frustration of the home crowd. Midfielder Bernardo Silva also avoided a red card, picking up only a booking after lashing out at Brentford’s Nathan Collins.

    Brentford continued to push after halftime, with Donnarumma forced to make a solid save from Igor Thiago’s low drive to keep the score level. Recognizing his side needed a spark, Guardiola made a double substitution, bringing on Omar Marmoush and Phil Foden to inject energy into the attack. The tactical change paid off almost immediately, unlocking Brentford’s stubborn defense just 15 minutes later.

    In the 60th minute, Doku – who had scored two sensational curling goals against Everton earlier in the week – repeated his magic to break the deadlock. After his first attempt was blocked by a Brentford defender, the Belgian winger collected the rebound on the left edge of the penalty area and whipped a stunning strike into the top corner, marking his fourth goal in three matches. The goal lifted City, and Foden nearly doubled the lead minutes later, but Kelleher made another sharp close-range save to keep the match within reach for Brentford.

    Brentford still had chances to equalize: forward Kevin Schade had a late penalty appeal turned down after a challenge from Matheus Nunes, leaving the Bees empty-handed. In the 75th minute, Haaland settled any lingering nerves for City, scoring his 26th league goal of the season with a clever close-range backheel after his first attempt was blocked. Then, in stoppage time, Marmoush put the final polish on the result with a composed finish inside the box, boosting City’s goal difference to just one goal behind Arsenal’s.

    The result keeps Guardiola’s side firmly in the title hunt, putting immediate pressure on Arsenal, who face third-bottom West Ham United on Sunday. Following a 3-3 draw at Everton last Monday that had put the title firmly in Arsenal’s hands, City have done everything they can to force the leaders to drop points. If Mikel Arteta’s Gunners win their three remaining matches against West Ham, Burnley and Crystal Palace, they will claim their first top-flight title in 22 years, regardless of City’s results. City, however, hold a game in hand over Arsenal heading into this weekend’s action, and will return to league action against Crystal Palace at the Etihad on Wednesday before turning their focus to the FA Cup final against Chelsea on May 16.

  • Rwanda-backed rebels accuse the US of falling short as a peace mediator in Congo’s conflict

    Rwanda-backed rebels accuse the US of falling short as a peace mediator in Congo’s conflict

    In a scathing rebuke of Washington’s role as a peace broker in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a coalition of Congolese rebels led by the Congo River Alliance has accused the Trump administration of failing to uphold impartial mediation amid ongoing bloodshed in the country’s mineral-rich eastern region. The open criticism, delivered via a formal letter addressed to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and obtained by the Associated Press on Saturday, comes months after a high-profile U.S.-brokered peace agreement between the DRC and neighboring Rwanda, a deal the Trump administration has repeatedly touted as a landmark diplomatic success.

    The 2024 accord, hailed by then-U.S. President Donald Trump after negotiations with Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, was designed not only to end decades of cyclic conflict in eastern Congo but also to lay the groundwork for a trilateral economic partnership that would open the region’s untapped rare earth mineral reserves to American government access and private sector investment. Despite Trump’s repeated claims of a diplomatic win, active hostilities have continued unabated across eastern Congo, with armed factions and government forces trading blame for repeated violations of the ceasefire terms.

    The rebel coalition, which includes the Rwanda-backed M23 movement — the most powerful armed group operating in eastern Congo — argues that Washington has consistently turned a blind eye to alleged peace commitment violations by the Tshisekedi administration in Kinshasa, while disproportionately targeting opponents of the Congolese government and Rwandan entities with punitive sanctions. Last week, the U.S. imposed new sanctions on former Congolese President Joseph Kabila, accusing him of funding and supporting rebel activities; earlier this year, Washington also blacklisted Rwanda’s military and four senior Rwandan officials over their documented support for M23. The letter charges that no comparable punitive measures or even public warnings have been issued against Tshisekedi’s government for its own breaches of the peace deal.

    “Your administration has neither imposed any sanctions nor issued even a simple warning to the leaders in Kinshasa, whose intransigent and arrogant attitude calls into question the impartiality and neutrality of the American Facilitator/Mediator,” the letter reads. It adds that the lack of consistent corrective action undermines confidence in U.S. mediation, noting that “the absence of clearly identifiable corrective measures fuels questions regarding the facilitation’s ability to preserve, over time, the requirements of impartiality and neutrality that are essential to its credibility.”

    Long-standing instability has plagued eastern Congo for generations, driven in large part by competition over control of the region’s vast deposits of critical minerals that underpin global technology and clean energy supply chains. More than 100 armed factions operate in the area, with M23 emerging as the most militarily capable. U.N. estimates show the group has grown from just a few hundred fighters in 2021 to roughly 6,500 today, a rapid expansion that the DRC government, U.S., and United Nations experts attribute to ongoing military support from Rwanda — a claim Rwanda has repeatedly denied. M23 launched a major offensive across eastern Congo in early 2024, seizing the regional capital Goma and other key population centers before the U.S.-brokered deal was reached.

    Independent regional conflict experts agree that while U.S. mediation reduced cross-border tensions between the DRC and Rwanda, it has failed to curb the escalating ground conflict. “While U.S. mediation has helped cool regional tension it has not stopped the escalating fighting on the ground,” Kristof Titeca, a University of Antwerp professor specializing in Central African governance and conflict, told the AP. The rebel letter’s public criticism adds new pressure on the Trump administration’s diplomatic efforts in the Great Lakes region, at a time when Washington is pushing to advance American economic interests in the region’s critical mineral sector. The Associated Press contributed reporting from Bonn, Germany, for this story.

  • Greece conducts controlled blast of mystery naval drone explosives

    Greece conducts controlled blast of mystery naval drone explosives

    A dramatic maritime security incident has unfolded off Greece’s western coast after local fishermen stumbled on an operational explosive-carrying naval drone hidden in a coastal cave near Lefkada in the Ionian Sea, prompting a major bomb disposal operation and reigniting fierce debate over the country’s preparedness for modern, asymmetric maritime threats. The unmanned surface vessel, which was found still running its engine on Thursday, was quickly secured by Greek coastguard vessels, towed to the nearby port of Vasiliki, and handled by specialist bomb disposal teams who safely removed its detonators and power battery before moving the 100 kilograms of estimated explosives to be disposed of via controlled detonation off the coast of Astakos. Multiple independent Greek media outlets have confirmed that the drone matches the design of Ukraine’s domestically produced Magura naval drone, a type of attack uncrewed vessel Kyiv has deployed extensively against Russian military and commercial maritime targets since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. Reporters also confirm handwritten notes in the Ukrainian language were recovered from the vessel’s onboard storage, though Kyiv has so far declined to issue any official comment on the incident. Greek armed forces specialist technical teams are currently conducting a full forensic inspection of the recovered drone components to trace its origin and intended mission. Two leading working theories have emerged from official and media sources, outlined by Greek newspaper Ta Nea: the drone either fell overboard during transit by sea, or it lost contact with its operators while en route to target Russian commercial shipping in the Mediterranean, a mission that would expand Kyiv’s naval drone campaign far beyond its traditional operating area of the Black Sea. Public broadcaster ERT added that faulty sensors and GPS interference from recent bad weather in the region likely caused the drone to drift off course before it was found by local fishermen. The discovery has triggered intense political backlash in Athens, with opposition figures and minor parties slamming the ruling government for gaps in Greece’s maritime surveillance and defense capabilities. Opposition defense spokesman Michalis Katrinis warned that the incident exposed Greece’s unprotected maritime borders, while the country’s Communist Party issued a series of pointed questions demanding clarity on whether the Greek government was aware the drone was operating in its territorial waters, and if similar uncrewed vessels from allied nations are regularly active in Greek sovereign waters. The pro-Russian nationalist party Hellenic Solution went further, labeling the incursion a deliberate military provocation against Greece. Speaking on Saturday to defuse rising political tension, Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias sought to downplay the security risks of the incident, stating that authorities had fully contained the threat and that the government is already moving to modernize Greece’s naval fleet. Dendias confirmed that Athens is pursuing policies to domestically produce advanced drones and deploy cutting-edge anti-drone defense systems to protect Greek territorial waters. The incident has already put Greece’s national intelligence agency, armed forces, and multiple relevant government ministries on heightened security alert. This discovery comes amid already tense context for Greek-Ukrainian defense cooperation: in November last year, the two nations signed a landmark agreement to jointly produce naval drones, granting Greece access to Ukrainian drone technology for its own domestic defense needs. However, just one week prior to this incident, leading Greek newspaper Kathimerini reported that Kyiv has recently demanded a veto over any Greek use of the jointly produced drones, out of concern that Athens could deploy them against Turkey – a NATO member with long-running maritime territorial disputes with Greece and close ties to Moscow. Beyond cooperation, the incident also fits a broader pattern of expanding naval drone activity in the Mediterranean: back in March, Russia accused Ukraine of attacking a Russian LNG tanker carrying sanctioned cargo with uncrewed sea drones in the Mediterranean between Malta and Libya, marking one of the first confirmed attacks of its kind outside the Black Sea. As the investigation continues, Greek authorities are still working to answer core questions about how the drone entered its territorial waters and what its ultimate target was, with the incident serving as a stark wake-up call for Southern European nations to adapt their maritime security frameworks to the growing threat of uncrewed attack vessels.

  • Iran keeps US waiting for response on peace plan

    Iran keeps US waiting for response on peace plan

    Renewed naval hostilities in the Persian Gulf have thrown US-Iranian peace diplomacy into uncertainty, with Tehran leaving Washington waiting for a formal response to a US-backed truce proposal as both sides trade accusations of ceasefire violations. The unfolding crisis, which entered its 10th week following the opening US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has put fragile diplomatic efforts at risk and raised new concerns over global energy security and regional stability.

    On Friday, US President Donald Trump publicly stated he expected Tehran to deliver its answer to the latest negotiating proposal, shared via Pakistani mediators, by the end of the day. As of Saturday, no official public response had been announced, with Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson confirming only that the plan remained “under review”. In a call with his Turkish counterpart, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi cast serious doubt on Washington’s commitment to diplomacy, pointing to repeated US violations of the existing fragile ceasefire.

    “The recent escalation of tensions by American forces in the Persian Gulf and their numerous actions in violating the ceasefire have added to suspicions about the motivation and seriousness of the American side in the path of diplomacy,” Araghchi said, according to an account of the conversation published by Iran’s ISNA news agency. Trump nonetheless told French broadcaster LCI reporter Margot Haddad in a brief interview Saturday that he still anticipated receiving Iran’s response “very soon”.

    The latest escalation came Friday, when a US fighter jet attacked and disabled two Iranian-flagged tankers that Washington accused of violating its blockade of Iranian ports. A senior Iranian military official told local media that the Iranian navy had retaliated with defensive strikes against US assets. The incident followed a separate flare-up just one day earlier in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical chokepoint for global oil shipments.

    Iran has long sought greater control over the strategic waterway as a tool to exert economic leverage against the US and its Western and regional allies, a goal Washington has repeatedly described as unacceptable. The US proposal delivered via Pakistan would extend the current fragile truce across the Gulf to create space for negotiations on a permanent end to the conflict, which began 10 weeks ago with joint US-Israeli military strikes on Iranian targets.

    Beyond the direct military clashes, the conflict has already created new environmental and economic risks. Satellite imagery collected by global monitoring firm Orbital EOS shows an oil slick spreading across more than 20 square miles off the west coast of Iran’s Kharg Island, the linchpin of the country’s oil export industry and a core asset for its war-battered economy. By Saturday, the UK-based Conflict and Environment Observatory reported the slick had shrunk significantly, adding that the leak likely stemmed from damaged or neglected oil infrastructure affected by ongoing conflict. Iran shut down most traffic through the Strait of Hormuz immediately after the war began on February 28, sending shockwaves through global energy markets and pushing oil prices sharply upward. The US responded with a full blockade of Iranian ports, and earlier this week Trump announced he was ending a short-lived US naval mission aimed at reopening the strait to commercial shipping.

    On Saturday, Britain announced it would deploy HMS Dragon, a Royal Navy destroyer, to the region as part of a joint British-French coalition planning to support commercial shipping and mine clearance once a durable ceasefire is reached. UK defence officials said the deployment is part of “prudent planning” intended to boost confidence among commercial vessel operators navigating the strategic waterway.

    Diplomatic efforts to de-escalate received support from Qatar, whose Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani met with US Vice President JD Vance in Washington DC Friday to discuss Pakistan’s brokered peace initiative. Qatar has nonetheless been drawn into the conflict: Iran has launched multiple attacks on Qatari territory in recent weeks, citing the country’s hosting of a major US military air base.

    Tensions are also running high on the conflict’s secondary front in Lebanon, where a parallel ceasefire between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah is also teetering amid daily cross-border exchanges of fire. Eight people were killed in Israeli air strikes across southern Lebanon Saturday, according to Lebanese authorities, while state media reported additional raids on a highway south of Beirut, an area outside Hezbollah’s traditional southern strongholds. An AFP correspondent on the scene documented two destroyed vehicles and emergency response teams working roughly 12 miles outside the Lebanese capital.

    Hezbollah retaliated Saturday by launching an armed drone attack targeting Israeli soldiers in northern Israel. The Israeli military confirmed multiple explosive drones crossed into its territory, reporting one army reservist suffered severe wounds and two other service members sustained moderate injuries in the attack. The fresh escalation comes just days before Lebanon and Israel — which have been officially at war since 1948 — are set to hold direct peace negotiations in Washington next week, a process Hezbollah has publicly and vehemently opposed.

  • Indonesian police arrest 321 foreigners in an operation to crack down on banned online gambling

    Indonesian police arrest 321 foreigners in an operation to crack down on banned online gambling

    JAKARTA, Indonesia – In one of the most sweeping anti-illegal betting operations in the nation’s recent history, Indonesian national police announced Saturday that more than 300 foreign nationals have been taken into custody following a raid on a transnational online gambling hub based in central Jakarta.

    The 321 detainees, the vast majority of whom are Vietnamese citizens, were apprehended in a commercial building located near Jakarta’s Chinatown district, according to law enforcement officials. Investigators confirmed that the site functioned as the operational center for at least 75 separate online gambling platforms, all designed to target bettors based outside of Indonesia. Evidence collected from the raid, including digital server records and marketing materials, confirms the cross-border scope of the network.

    Wira Satya Triputra, director of general crimes for the Indonesian National Police, outlined the breakdown of detainees at a Saturday press briefing: 228 are from Vietnam, 57 are from China, and the remaining detainees hold citizenship from Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia. Triputra added that law enforcement is still actively tracing the network’s core leadership and shadowy financial backers who have overseen the operation.

    “We apprehended all suspects while they were actively engaged in gambling-related work,” Triputra told reporters. He explained that the criminal enterprise was structured like a formal corporate operation, with hired workers assigned specialized roles ranging from customer support and telemarketing to processing illegal financial transactions. Law enforcement investigations estimate the illegal operation had been running for roughly two months before the raid.

    Authorities note that transnational gambling syndicates regularly shift their base of operations across Southeast Asia to avoid detection, and often rely on low-cost foreign labor to run customer-facing digital services. Triputra confirmed that nearly all of the detained suspects entered Indonesia on short-term tourist visas, and had overstayed their immigration permits while working at the gambling hub. “In addition to charges of illegal gambling and money laundering, we have also uncovered widespread immigration violations across the group,” he said.

    Along with the arrests, police seized a large cache of evidence and contraband: cash held in multiple global currencies, hundreds of work computers and mobile phones, personal passports, and specialized networking equipment used to run the offshore betting platforms.

    As of Saturday evening, 275 of the detained people have been formally designated as criminal suspects, while the remaining 46 are still undergoing questioning to determine their level of involvement. If convicted on all charges, suspects face up to nine years in prison under Indonesian criminal and immigration law, plus a maximum fine of 2 billion Indonesian rupiah, equal to roughly $116,000 U.S. dollars.

    The Jakarta raid is part of a growing pattern of transnational cybercrime crackdowns across Indonesia. In the weeks leading up to this operation, similar large-scale busts have been carried out in Surabaya, Bali, and Batam, highlighting a growing shift of illegal gambling and scam networks into the country following crackdowns elsewhere in Southeast Asia.

    Untung Widyatmoko, secretary of Indonesia’s Interpol bureau, explained that after neighboring Cambodia and Myanmar implemented strict new enforcement measures against offshore gambling and scam operations, criminal groups have begun relocating their infrastructure to other Southeast Asian nations, including Indonesia. “We anticipated this shift after enforcement actions in Cambodia, and we have been preparing to respond,” Widyatmoko said.

    Recent weeks have already seen a string of high-profile busts of transnational cybercrime rings across Indonesia: On Wednesday, immigration and security officials arrested 210 foreign nationals from Vietnam, China, and Myanmar in a Batam Island apartment complex on suspicion of running illegal cross-border investment fraud. On Friday, authorities in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, announced the arrest of 44 Japanese and Chinese citizens accused of running a transnational phone and online scam where they impersonated police officers to defraud victims overseas. That case stems from the arrest of 13 Japanese men in Bogor, West Java, back in March.

    Just last month, 16 suspects from a Chinese, Malaysian, and Taiwanese scam network were arrested in Sukabumi Regency, West Java, while 26 alleged online scammers from the Philippines and Kenya were deported from Indonesia after being taken into custody in Bali.

    Online gambling is strictly illegal across Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, and authorities have ramped up enforcement efforts in recent years amid growing concerns about links between unregulated online betting, organized transnational crime, and cross-border cyber fraud. Indonesian police say the ongoing investigation into the Jakarta gambling network is expected to lead to additional arrests as they untangle the network’s connections to larger international criminal groups.

  • Steve Rosenberg: This year’s Victory Day parade in Moscow felt very different

    Steve Rosenberg: This year’s Victory Day parade in Moscow felt very different

    For veteran foreign correspondent Steve Rosenberg, who has covered dozens of Victory Day parades on Moscow’s iconic Red Square, the 2026 iteration stood out as fundamentally unlike any he had witnessed before. In years past, Rosenberg recalled scrambling from media drop-off points near St. Basil’s Cathedral to claim a usable spot in the overcrowded press pen, a race that was completely unnecessary this year. Attendance for international press was sharply curtailed: most foreign news outlets were denied press credentials entirely, leaving only a tiny handful of foreign journalists on site.

    When Rosenberg took his place on the press stand, a Russian television crew approached him to film a segment framing his presence as proof that international access remained open. Rosenberg’s dry response cut through the narrative: he could not spot a single other foreign reporter on the entire square.

    Beyond the depleted press corps, the event saw far fewer dignitaries in the guest stands, with only a small handful of foreign leaders traveling to Moscow for the annual commemoration. But the most striking departure from tradition only became clear once the parade officially got underway: none of the massive rolling military armor that the Kremlin typically displays to project Russian power to a global audience – no tanks, no rocket launchers, no intercontinental ballistic missiles – rolled across Red Square this year.

    Russian authorities explained the dramatic downsizing by citing urgent security concerns, revealing that intelligence pointed to a high risk of Ukrainian drone strikes targeting the Red Square event. For President Vladimir Putin, the choice to scale back the parade – a carefully choreographed centerpiece of Russian national pride that has long been used to showcase military strength – was undoubtedly a difficult one, but the threat of an attack left no other viable option.

    In a last-minute turn of diplomacy, former U.S. President Donald Trump brokered a temporary ceasefire between Moscow and Kyiv that eliminated the immediate threat of an attack during the event. In the end, the parade concluded without any security incidents. Still, Kyiv’s public framing of the ceasefire move drew sharp pushback from the Kremlin: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued an official decree “permitting” Russia to hold its parade on Ukrainian territory that Moscow currently occupies, a deliberate act of political trolling that Kremlin spokespeople rejected out of hand, noting that Russia required no permission from any third party to hold its national commemorations.

    While live military hardware was absent from the streets of Red Square, the Kremlin found a work-around: pre-recorded footage of tanks, multiple rocket launchers, fighter jets, submarines and other advanced weapons systems was broadcast on massive digital screens erected across the square. It was a clear signal that the leadership remained determined to highlight its military capabilities, even without a live display.

    In his keynote address to the gathered crowd, Putin struck a familiar defiant tone, declaring “We always were and always will be victorious!” The 2026 parade marks 81 years since the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, a historical event Russia calls the Great Victory – a milestone that holds deep legitimate national meaning, marking the Soviet Union’s defeat of an invading aggressor.

    Yet the context of 2026 casts a very different shadow over the commemoration. More than four years have passed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and as the parade unfolded, there was no visible path to a Russian victory in the ongoing conflict, turning this year’s muted celebration into a quiet reflection of the current strains of Moscow’s ongoing military campaign.