Global Pulse

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  • Dozens attend Passover prayers at Western Wall as Al-Aqsa remains closed

    Dozens attend Passover prayers at Western Wall as Al-Aqsa remains closed

    Amid the ongoing US-Israeli war against Iran, a deeply controversial and discriminatory access policy for religious sites in occupied East Jerusalem has drawn widespread condemnation, as Palestinian and Christian worshippers remain locked out of holy sites ahead of and during major religious holidays, while Jewish worshippers are permitted to gather for seasonal rituals.

    Since February 28, Israeli occupation authorities have imposed a full ban on all Muslim Palestinian worshippers entering Al-Aqsa Mosque, one of the most sacred sites in Islam. This total closure marks an unprecedented step not seen since Israel began its occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, with no exceptions granted even for Ramadan—Islam’s holiest month—or the major Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the fasting period. The shutdown extends to Christian holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City as well: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of Christianity’s most revered locations, has been closed to worshippers, who were barred from gathering for traditional Easter celebrations on Sunday, with only 15 members of the clergy permitted inside to conduct the holiday observance.

    In sharp contrast, Israeli authorities allowed as many as 50 Jewish worshippers to enter the Western Wall, the structure that forms part of the outer boundary of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound (known to Muslims as the Buraq Wall), on Sunday. Those in attendance were able to take part in the traditional priestly blessing ceremony tied to the Jewish Passover holiday, held in a covered space adjacent to the Western Wall plaza.

    The unequal application of restrictions does not end at the Western Wall. Thousands of people gathered for a large Passover event in an indoor hall in the central Israeli city of Bnei Brak, an area that has been heavily targeted by Iranian missile strikes amid the ongoing war. Dozens more gathered for Passover festivities in Jerusalem’s Mamilla neighborhood, located just steps from the Old City. This pattern mirrors restrictions seen during the Purim holiday last month, when large gatherings of Israelis proceeded without interference, while wartime gathering limits were strictly enforced against Palestinian residents.

    Israeli officials have framed the full closure of Al-Aqsa as a necessary security measure to mitigate risks from Iranian missile attacks. But Palestinian leaders and critics reject this justification, arguing the closure is part of a deliberate, long-running effort to consolidate exclusive Israeli control over the contested holy site, eroding long-standing Palestinian and Muslim access rights.

    Ahmad Tibi, a Palestinian citizen of Israel who serves as a member of the Israeli Knesset (parliament), slammed the discriminatory policy on Sunday, calling for the immediate reopening of both Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Tibi pointed to a recent Israeli High Court decision that allowed gatherings of up to 600 people for anti-war protests, alongside unimpeded mass Jewish holiday celebrations, as proof that security concerns are a pretext. “There is no safety justification for the restrictions at Al-Aqsa; this is a blatant violation of freedom of worship,” Tibi said. He added that Israeli police “act forcefully against worshippers at Herod’s Gate and at the entrances to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This is selective enforcement driven by political motives.”

    After Sunday’s prayers at the Western Wall, the Israeli High Court issued a ruling that raised the maximum allowed gathering size from 50 to 100 people for both the Western Wall and the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound. Despite the new legal limit, however, no worshippers—Muslim or Jewish—have been permitted to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque building itself since the war began. Prior to the ruling, only 25 staff members from the Jerusalem Waqf, the Islamic endowment that manages the 14-hectare Al-Aqsa compound, were allowed on site per shift for maintenance work. Even that limited access has been contested: last week, Israeli forces reportedly turned away seven Waqf staff who were scheduled for their shifts.

    It remains unclear whether the new 100-person gathering limit will pave the way for the return of Palestinian Muslim worshippers to the mosque. Prior reporting from Middle East Eye indicates that Israeli officials have informed the Waqf that the mosque will remain closed at least through mid-April. The decision to raise the gathering cap came after intense pressure from Israeli religious and far-right political leaders, coming on the heels of the High Court’s approval of 600-person anti-war protests.

    Israeli police, under the oversight of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, have drafted a proposal that would allow up to 150 “Jewish and Muslim worshippers” to enter Al-Aqsa Mosque. Ben Gvir has framed the proposal as an effort to ensure fairness, arguing that since anti-government protests are permitted, “I am obliged to ensure justice and prevent discrimination” against worshippers seeking access to the site. “The High Court must allow access both to the Temple Mount and the Western Wall in small groups,” he stated, using the Israeli term for the hill where Al-Aqsa is located.

    Before the outbreak of the war with Iran, ultra-nationalist Israeli settlers carried out twice-daily incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound under heavy Israeli police protection, in open violation of the decades-long international status quo agreement that designates Al-Aqsa as an exclusively Islamic holy site governed by Muslim authorities. These daily incursions were paused when the war began, but it remains unclear whether the new police proposal would allow them to resume.

    If the proposal goes into effect, the 150-person cap would actually exceed the pre-war limit of around 100 settlers per incursion. The plan has already been celebrated by Arnon Segal, one of the most prominent Israeli activists who organizes the regular settler raids on Al-Aqsa. Writing on his X account, Segal noted that “Allowing ‘small groups of only 150 people’ onto the Temple Mount is more than the maximum group size Jews have ever been allowed to enter, even on the busiest and most crowded days.” He called the proposal “a dream,” crediting Ben Gvir for advancing the plan and framing it as an unprecedented, historic shift in access to the site.

  • WHO worker among seven killed by Israel in Gaza bombing

    WHO worker among seven killed by Israel in Gaza bombing

    Israel’s continued military operations in the Gaza Strip have left at least seven Palestinians dead over a 24-hour period ending Monday, among them a staff member working for the World Health Organization (WHO), in a new wave of violence that underscores ongoing violations of a October ceasefire agreement. The string of attacks, which stretched across multiple locations from northern to southern Gaza, adds to a mounting death toll that has already surpassed 72,300 Palestinians since the start of Israeli military operations in October 2023, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health.

  • China records over 845m passenger trips during Qingming Festival holiday

    China records over 845m passenger trips during Qingming Festival holiday

    BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) — China’s domestic travel sector continued its upward momentum during the 2026 Qingming Festival three-day holiday, with total passenger trips nationwide surpassing 845 million, a 6% increase compared to the same holiday period last year, China’s Ministry of Transport announced Monday.

    The official data puts the average daily passenger trip volume at 281.79 million across all transport modes. Breaking down the figures by sector, road travel remained the dominant choice for holiday travelers, accounting for 778.45 million trips, a 5.8% annual rise. Rail travel saw stronger growth of 8.2% year-on-year, hitting 57.68 million total trips. Waterway transport recorded a nearly 10% annual jump, handling approximately 3.7 million passenger journeys, while civil aviation was the only outlier, reporting a slight 1.3% dip to 5.5 million trips.

    Industry analysts attribute this robust travel boom to a unique overlapping scheduling factor: the three-day Qingming Festival coincided with spring break for primary and secondary school students in most Chinese regions, creating ideal conditions for multi-day family and parent-child leisure trips.

    On the first day of the holiday Saturday, national expressway vehicle traffic volume crossed the 62.67 million mark, with more than 14 million of those vehicles being new energy cars. This surge in self-drive travel has translated into double-digit spending growth across tourism-related sectors including scenic area tickets, accommodation and car rentals.

    Beyond leisure travel, the two core travel motives for the Qingming Festival — a traditional Chinese occasion for ancestor veneration — also contributed to widespread economic activity across the country. Many travelers returned to their hometowns to conduct tomb-sweeping rituals, while growing popularity of rural spring getaways drove consumer activity in less developed rural regions, helping extend holiday consumption outward from major urban centers to small towns and villages across China.

    To support the high travel flow and ensure a safe, seamless experience for all travelers, national transportation authorities retained the longstanding policy of exempting expressway tolls for passenger vehicles with seven seats or fewer throughout the holiday. Regulators also rolled out targeted adjustment measures to reduce congestion on high-traffic highway sections, and expanded EV charging capacity and services at expressway service areas to meet the growing demand from new energy vehicle owners.

    Local transportation departments across the country supplemented national measures by adding extra transport capacity on key routes, and extended operating hours for public transport services surrounding major travel hubs, including popular scenic destinations and public cemeteries.

  • Seven Eritrean players fail to return home after international match

    Seven Eritrean players fail to return home after international match

    Eritrean football has just etched its name into the history books, securing a spot in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifying group stages for the first time in 19 years. But the landmark 4-1 aggregate victory over Eswatini last week has been overshadowed by a stunning development: seven members of the national squad have vanished after the win, failing to return home with their remaining teammates, a senior source close to the team has confirmed to the BBC.

    Of the 24 players called up for the decisive qualifying tie, only 10 were based inside Eritrea when the squad was assembled. According to local sources who spoke to BBC Tigrinya from Asmara, Eritrea’s capital, just three of those domestic-based players – including team captain Ablelom Teklezghi – have completed their journey back to the country. While the exact whereabouts of the seven missing players remain unconfirmed, multiple regional reports indicate some have been spotted in South Africa, where the team stopped over before the scheduled return flight. High-profile absentees include starting goalkeeper Kubrom Solomon and veteran winger Medhanie Redie, two key contributors to the historic qualification win.

    Eritrea’s state-run media, which typically gives extensive, celebratory coverage to national team sporting successes, has remained uncharacteristically silent on the team’s return after the qualifying victory. Sources close to the Eritrean Sports and Culture Commission confirm that official fanfare and a public reception for the returning squad were fully planned, but all events were abruptly scrapped once news of the players’ disappearance broke.

    The commission’s social media spokesperson, who had posted regular updates throughout the team’s qualifying campaign, only shared photos of a reception held for returning squad members at the Eritrean embassy in Cairo, Egypt, where the team stopped en route to Asmara. All players visible in those posted images are the ones who ultimately continued their journey to the capital.

    This wave of player absconding is not an isolated incident for Eritrean international football. For more than two decades, repeated waves of Eritrean players have refused to return home after competing in fixtures abroad, with cases ranging from small groups of players to almost entire squads disappearing on international trips.

    The pattern stretches back to 2009, when the entire senior Eritrean national team – except for the head coach and one team official – failed to return from a competition held in Kenya. In 2013, 15 players and the national team doctor were granted asylum in Uganda after going missing following an international tournament. Two years later, 10 senior squad members refused to fly home after playing a World Cup qualifying tie in Botswana. Most recently, in 2019, seven players from Eritrea’s under-20 national side disappeared after the team competed in an East African regional championship in Uganda.

    This recurring trend is rooted in broader political and migration dynamics. Human rights organizations have repeatedly labeled the Eritrean government in Asmara as highly repressive, a characterization that Eritrean authorities have consistently rejected. Despite having a small national population, hundreds of thousands of Eritreans have fled the country to seek asylum abroad in recent decades, a trend that has extended to athletes competing internationally.

    For Eritrean football fans, the moment was supposed to mark a turning point. The upset victory over Eswatini had raised widespread hopes that the nation’s football program was on the cusp of a renaissance after 19 years of failing to reach AFCON qualifying group stages. Instead, the news of the missing players has matched a now-familiar, disappointing pattern that has long plagued Eritrean football on the international stage.

  • Veteran Jin Donghui salutes fallen volunteers in Shenyang

    Veteran Jin Donghui salutes fallen volunteers in Shenyang

    As the annual Qingming Festival, China’s traditional occasion for honoring deceased loved ones and fallen heroes, approaches, a 92-year-old veteran of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army (CPVA) has moved the nation with a solemn visit to a martyr’s cemetery in Shenyang, Liaoning province.

    Dressed in his well-preserved original military uniform, every medal pinned to Jin Donghui’s chest tells a silent story of decades-old sacrifice and service. The aged veteran walked slowly through the rows of tombstones at the CPVA Martyrs’ Cemetery, his unsteady steps still carrying the rigid, upright discipline of a lifelong soldier.

    Seventy-plus years ago, when the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea broke out in 1950, Jin was just a young man when he crossed the Yalu River into Korea to serve alongside his comrades as an military translator. For two years and nine months, he survived brutal frontline combat that claimed the lives of many of the brothers-in-arms he fought alongside. Now, decades later, he has returned to the memorial that holds the legacy of those who never came home.

    Standing among the silent tombstones, Jin reaffirmed the enduring legacy of the CPVA’s sacrifice: “The heroic spirit of the volunteer army is immortal. Heroes have never truly left, and their spirit is passed down from generation to generation.” His visit serves as a poignant reminder of the cost of peace and the responsibility of current generations to carry forward the courage and patriotism of those who gave their lives for their country.

  • Iranian Kurds deny receiving US weapons to arm Iran’s protesters

    Iranian Kurds deny receiving US weapons to arm Iran’s protesters

    A controversial claim from former U.S. President Donald Trump that Washington supplied weapons to Iranian anti-government protesters via Iranian Kurdish groups has been uniformly rejected by senior leaders of every major Iranian Kurdish opposition faction, in statements collected by independent outlet Middle East Eye.

    During an interview with Fox News Sunday, Trump asserted, “We sent guns to the protesters, a lot of them. And I think the Kurds took the guns.” This comment represented the latest shift in the former president’s inconsistent public positioning on Kurdish involvement amid the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war on Iran that launched on February 28.

    Just weeks earlier, in early March, Trump told Reuters he openly backed Kurdish forces launching an offensive against the Iranian government, a remark that came alongside widespread unconfirmed media reports claiming the Central Intelligence Agency was secretly arming Iranian Kurdish factions. Within days, however, Trump walked back that support, telling reporters he had explicitly blocked any Kurdish military involvement, saying “They’re willing to go in, but I’ve told them I don’t want them to go in.”

    Top figures from every major Iranian Kurdish armed opposition group have now directly refuted Trump’s latest weapons claim. Siamand Moeini, a senior leader of the armed Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), told Middle East Eye, “We as PJAK, as I know, have not received anything. As for others, I cannot answer.”

    Hana Yazdanpanah, foreign relations coordinator for the Kurdistan Freedom Party (PAK), emphasized that her group’s only armaments date back to its multi-year campaign against the Islamic State. “We still have our old Kalashnikov that we fought ISIS with for five years and the weapons they abandoned after its defeat,” she said, adding, “We have received no single weapon from the US at this time.”

    Mustafa Mawloudi, deputy secretary-general of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (PDKI)—a group based in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region—also denied both receiving weapons and smuggling armaments to activists in Iranian Kurdistan, which Kurdish groups refer to as Rojhalat. “A proof of this is that we cannot send arms through Iraq to our people,” Mawloudi explained, noting that cross-border arms transfers would create immediate legal complications with Iraqi authorities. He also stressed that armed action would fundamentally change the nature of popular protest, saying, “protesters cannot demonstrate with weapons: That would be a war, not a protest.”

    Kako Alyar, a member of the Politburo of the Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan, said the group had no advance knowledge of Trump’s comments and confirmed no weapons had been received. “We weren’t in touch during the protests regarding giving weapons to the Kurds, and the Komala party has not received any weapons,” Alyar said.

    Babasheikh Hosseini, secretary-general of the Iraq-based Khabat Organisation of Iranian Kurdistan Struggle, added that his group has never held official meetings with U.S. representatives. “There have been some talks with mediators with one or two friends, but we have not sat down for a meeting,” he said. Hosseini also noted that most of the group’s existing armaments were destroyed in Iranian regime airstrikes on its bases, saying, “Our money, weapons and equipment have been burned and destroyed.”

    Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, which collectively command roughly 6,000 armed fighters, have stayed out of the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. The inconsistent, shifting statements from the U.S. administration have left Kurdish faction leaders confused and surprised, according to on-the-ground reporting.

    The weapons claim references nationwide anti-government protests that swept Iran in late December, which lasted roughly two weeks before being violently crushed by Iranian state forces amid a nationwide internet shutdown. Rights group Amnesty International estimates Iranian authorities killed thousands of protesters during mass crackdowns on January 8 and 9, while the Iranian government says hundreds of its security personnel were killed in clashes during the unrest. Shukriya Bradost, an Iranian Kurdish security analyst based in the region, told Middle East Eye that no weapons were delivered to Kurdish groups or Iranian activists during those protests.

    Bradost questioned the logic of Trump’s claim, noting that untrained civilian protesters would have no practical use for covert weapons supplies. “Who would receive these weapons and what was the plan for the protesters? To start a civil war or to fight back? The protesters who don’t know how to use weapons or do not have any training,” she said. As of the current stage of the U.S.-Israeli war, no new large-scale anti-government protests have been reported inside Iran, and no armed attacks by civilian activists on Iranian security forces have been documented.

    Long-running cross-border Iranian attacks targeting Iranian Kurdish opposition bases in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region have intensified since the war launched on February 28. PDKI data confirms more than 650 missile and drone strikes have been launched on targets in the Kurdistan Region since February 28, leaving 14 people dead and 93 wounded. Five of those killed were members of Iranian Kurdish opposition groups, including fighters from PAK, Komala, and Khabat. Most recently, a Kurdish security source confirmed three separate drone strikes targeted PDKI bases in Koya, Erbil Province, just this past Sunday. On March 13, a drone strike on Khabat Organization positions in the Bashiqa Mountains northeast of Mosul killed two party members.

    Senior Iraqi Kurdish commander Sirwan Barzani previously rejected Western media claims that Iraqi Kurdish authorities were facilitating Iranian Kurdish fighters crossing the border into Iran to carry out attacks, echoing the current denials of weapons supplies.

  • Global guests gather for crabapple poetry party in Beijing

    Global guests gather for crabapple poetry party in Beijing

    Against the soft backdrop of blooming crabapple blossoms at Beijing’s Former Residence of Soong Ching Ling — a historic site that has welcomed visiting international figures for decades — more than 200 guests from nearly 40 nations came together on April 4, 2026 to mark the arrival of spring and celebrate the shared art of poetry. Organized by the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation with backing from the municipal government of Xicheng District, the 2026 Crabapple Gala and Poetry Party centered on cross-cultural literary exchange, blending recitations and performances that bridge Eastern and Western artistic traditions.

    Among the standout participants was Michael Crook, chair of the International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives, who stepped to the stage to deliver a recitation of *Crabapple Nook*, a classic work by Song Dynasty poet Yang Wanli. Crook, who grew up in China and comes from a pioneering family — his mother was one of the earliest educators to develop modern English language teaching curricula across the country — explained his choice of poem, noting that Yang’s vivid lines perfectly capture the delicate grace of crabapple blossoms following recent rainfall that swept through Beijing. To highlight the shared poetic imagery that connects global literary traditions, he also performed a recitation of A. E. Housman’s beloved British poem *The Loveliest of Trees*, pointing out that Housman’s iconic metaphor of snow-dusted cherry blossoms mirrors thematic and imagery patterns found throughout centuries of Chinese poetry.

    Against the backdrop of 2026 being designated the Year of China-Africa People-to-People Exchanges, event organizers extended special invitations to African diplomats and cultural representatives to take part in the gathering. Attendees were treated to a diverse lineup of performances that wove together Chinese and African cultural influences, including traditional Chinese opera, West African drumming, and collaborative dance pieces. In a multilingual highlight of the event, Chinese actor Du Ninglin joined international performing artists to recite original and classic poetry in five different languages, underscoring the event’s mission of breaking down linguistic barriers through shared appreciation of the arts.

    Alhaji Sarjoh Bah, permanent representative of the African Union to China, summed up the spirit of the gathering, noting that “There is no better way of starting the spring in China.” For his part, when asked about his personal connection to crabapple trees beyond poetry, Crook laughed and shared a lighthearted personal note: “I really like my self-made crabapple sauce.”

    Held in the historic gardens where Soong Ching Ling once hosted global guests amid flowering crabapple canopies, the event went beyond a simple celebration of spring, serving as a living example of how cultural and literary exchange can foster connection between people from every corner of the world.

  • Tehran rejects Trump’s ultimatum as 45-day truce plan emerges

    Tehran rejects Trump’s ultimatum as 45-day truce plan emerges

    Escalating tensions between the United States, Israel and Iran have reached a new boiling point, after Tehran formally dismissed a harsh, expletive-laden ultimatum issued by former U.S. President Donald Trump that threatened widespread destruction of Iranian critical infrastructure. The rejection comes as international mediators circulate a tentative 45-day truce plan aimed at de-escalating the conflict that has roiled the Middle East since late February.

    Trump’s ultimatum set a Tuesday deadline for Iran to immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic global chokepoint for nearly 20% of the world’s daily oil trade. In a provocative social media post, Trump warned that failure to comply would result in devastating targeted strikes on Iranian power plants and bridges, claiming a continued closure of the strait would leave Iran “back to the Stone Age” and its population “living in Hell”. The threat followed a coordinated wave of U.S. and Israeli airstrikes across Iran that had already killed more than 34 people earlier in the conflict, to which Iran responded by launching missile strikes against Israeli and Gulf Arab targets.

    Tehran has refused to back down from its restriction on shipping through the strait, which remained fully open until the U.S.-Israeli military campaign began on February 28. In an official response to Trump’s threats, Iranian Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf labeled the targeting of Iranian civilian infrastructure “reckless”, writing on the social platform X that “You won’t gain anything through war crimes.”

    The ongoing conflict has already sent shockwaves through global energy markets. By early Monday spot trading, Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil prices, climbed to $109 per barrel — a 50% jump from pre-conflict levels. On Sunday, OPEC+ announced a modest output increase of 206,000 barrels per day set to launch in May, a small adjustment that has done little to cool rising energy prices.

    As diplomatic efforts move forward, violent clashes continued across the region over the past 48 hours. On Monday morning, Tehran endured another night of intensive airstrikes that targeted eastern, southern and western districts of the capital. Local state media confirmed at least 34 fatalities from the strikes, including six children. The most significant damage was recorded at Sharif University of Technology, one of Iran’s most prestigious higher education institutions, where multiple campus buildings suffered unprecedented destruction.

    Iran continued its cross-border retaliatory strikes on Monday as well. A missile hit a residential building in the Israeli city of Haifa, leaving at least two people dead and four more wounded. Across the Gulf Cooperation Council states, attacks hit power, desalination and oil facilities in Kuwait, while an oil installation was targeted in Bahrain. In the United Arab Emirates, air defense systems intercepted incoming missile and drone attacks early Monday. A stray drone strike damaged a telecommunications building owned by provider du in Fujairah, with no casualties reported, while falling debris from an intercepted attack left one person injured in an Abu Dhabi industrial zone.

    The latest round of violence followed a high-stakes U.S. special operations mission on Friday that rescued the missing pilot of an F-15 fighter jet shot down over Iranian territory. The operation, which involved dozens of U.S. aircraft, closed a politically sensitive chapter of the conflict, but U.S. forces were forced to destroy two C-130 cargo planes and at least two MH-6 Little Bird helicopters after the aircraft became stuck in rough terrain during extraction. Iranian state media claimed it had shot down the abandoned aircraft, broadcasting footage of charred wreckage to support the claim.

    Amid the ongoing bloodshed, diplomatic efforts have advanced to end the hostilities. A source familiar with the negotiations told Reuters that both Iran and the U.S. have received a draft truce plan that would immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz once a ceasefire takes effect. Under the draft tentatively called the “Islamabad Accord”, an immediate ceasefire would be followed by 15 to 20 days of negotiations to finalize a broader long-term settlement, with final in-person talks scheduled to take place in Pakistan. Earlier, Axios reported that U.S., Iranian and regional mediators are discussing a potential 45-day temporary truce that could lay the groundwork for a permanent end to the conflict.

    However, a senior Iranian official has already rejected a core condition of the proposal, stating that Iran will not agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for only a temporary truce. The official added that Tehran does not believe the U.S. is currently ready to negotiate a permanent ceasefire agreement.

    Regional stakeholders have laid out their own requirements for any lasting peace deal. Anwar Gargash, diplomatic advisor to the UAE president, stated on Sunday that any final settlement must guarantee unimpeded, free passage for all commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. He added that any deal that fails to address restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program, ballistic missile development and drone production would only set the stage for “a more dangerous, more volatile Middle East” in the long term.

  • US Supreme Court paves way for dismissal of Steve Bannon conviction

    US Supreme Court paves way for dismissal of Steve Bannon conviction

    In a significant legal development with deep ties to American partisan politics, the U.S. Supreme Court has opened the door to vacating a 2022 criminal contempt of Congress conviction against Steve Bannon, a long-time close ally of former President Donald Trump. The high court’s unsigned ruling issued Monday overturns a prior appellate court decision that upheld the original guilty verdict, and remanded the case back to a lower Washington D.C. federal court for final action, where legal analysts broadly expect the conviction to be dismissed outright.

    Bannon’s conviction stemmed from his outright refusal to comply with a congressional subpoena issued by investigators probing the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. The subpoena sought documents and testimony related to Bannon’s role in events leading up to the violent insurrection, where supporters of Trump stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

    A polarizing figure in modern conservative politics, Bannon has been a core figure in Trump’s political orbit for more than a decade. Widely regarded as a key strategist behind Trump’s unexpected 2016 presidential election victory, he served a turbulent tenure as a White House senior advisor during Trump’s first year in office. After leaving the administration, he remained one of Trump’s most vocal and high-profile supporters on the American right, even going so far as to promote the idea of Trump seeking a third presidential term— a proposal that directly contradicts U.S. constitutional term limits set for the office of president.

    Following Bannon’s 2022 conviction, he was sentenced to four months in prison, a sentence he has already fully served at a low-security federal correctional facility in Connecticut. That means any eventual dismissal of the conviction will largely carry symbolic weight rather than altering Bannon’s current circumstances, as he has already completed his court-ordered incarceration.

    The case took an unusual turn after the Supreme Court initially declined to intervene in Bannon’s jail sentence when it was first appealed. Prosecution of the contempt case was brought during Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration. Last year, after lower courts rejected his challenges to the conviction, Bannon once again petitioned the Supreme Court to review his case.

    In a striking move that underscores the current political alignment of the federal government following Trump’s 2024 re-election, the U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer confirmed in his filing that the current administration agrees with Bannon’s position. The government holds that dismissing the entire criminal case is “in the interests of justice”, Sauer wrote, and the Department of Justice has already filed a formal motion to dismiss the indictment in the lower court. The lower court will now proceed to take up the motion in line with the Supreme Court’s remand order.

  • Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s ‘wise elder’ dies aged 77

    Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s ‘wise elder’ dies aged 77

    The global music community is mourning the loss of Albert Mazibuko, a core member of the iconic South African choral ensemble Ladysmith Black Mambazo, who passed away at the age of 77. The group confirmed via an official Facebook post that Mazibuko died on Sunday following a brief, unexpected illness, closing out a more than 50-year career with the legendary vocal group.

    Born and raised in uMnambithi — the eastern South African town formerly known as Ladysmith — Mazibuko’s path to music began under unusual circumstances. He left formal schooling at a young age to take up full-time work on a local farm, long before his cousin and the group’s founder, Joseph Shabalala, invited him to join Ladysmith Black Mambazo in 1969. From that point on, he became an integral part of the ensemble’s artistic identity and global rise.

    Ladysmith Black Mambazo carved its unique niche by blending indigenous Zulu musical and dance traditions with isicathamiya, a distinctly South African a cappella style defined by soft harmonies and gentle, shuffling dance movements. Just one year after Mazibuko joined, a breakout 1970 radio performance landed the group their first major recording contract. By 1973, they released *Amabutho*, the first album in African music history to reach gold sales status.

    The ensemble’s global breakthrough came in 1986, when American singer-songwriter Paul Simon tapped Ladysmith Black Mambazo to feature on his critically acclaimed, multi-platinum album *Graceland*. The collaboration catapulted the group to international fame, though it also sparked controversy: Simon faced widespread criticism for violating the global cultural boycott of apartheid-era South Africa. Throughout the brutal decades of state-enforced racial segregation, Mazibuko and his bandmates used their platform to spread messages of hope and unity, pushing back against the oppression of the apartheid regime.

    In a 2015 interview with the BBC’s *Soul Music*, Mazibuko opened up about the daily fear and hardship of life under apartheid. Recalling his time working at a local cotton factory, he described constant police harassment centered on the pass laws — the apartheid system’s tool for restricting Black South Africans’ movement. “If you don’t carry it, you’re arrested. In my life I was so afraid of being arrested… even now I’m afraid,” he shared.

    Over his decades-long tenure, the group earned five Grammy Awards and cemented its status as one of South Africa’s most celebrated cultural exports. In tributes shared publicly this week, current and former band members remembered Mazibuko as a generous, warm-hearted mentor to the group’s younger generation. “He loved traveling the world, spreading the mission and music of Ladysmith Black Mambazo,” the group’s official statement read. “He never tired of talking about the group’s history and its desire to spread ‘peace, love and harmony’ everywhere people had ears to listen.”

    At the time of Mazibuko’s death, the current Ladysmith Black Mambazo lineup — a mix of veteran and emerging young musicians — was in the middle of a cross-country U.S. tour that launched in February. Their final scheduled U.S. performance of this run is set to take place this coming Friday.