Global Pulse

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  • Watch: What does the munitions shortage mean for the US?

    Watch: What does the munitions shortage mean for the US?

    A growing gap between munitions consumption and stockpiles has emerged as a critical point of concern for U.S. national defense planners, following the sustained operational tempo of the Pentagon’s Operation Epic Fury. In a detailed on-the-ground analysis, BBC senior diplomatic correspondent Gary O’Donoghue has investigated how ongoing combat operations under this initiative are draining existing weapons stockpiles, and what cascading effects this depletion could have on the United States’ ability to respond to new global security threats.

    For months, Operation Epic Fury has demanded a steady, high-volume output of artillery rounds, precision-guided missiles, and small-arms ammunition to support frontline operations. This sustained rate of use has outpaced current U.S. defense manufacturing capacity, leading to a measurable drawdown of stockpiles that were previously maintained as a strategic reserve for potential conflict contingencies. O’Donoghue’s reporting explores the bottlenecks that have slowed domestic production: ranging from stretched supply chains for critical raw materials to longstanding underinvestment in munitions manufacturing infrastructure that was scaled back in the years following the end of large-scale counterinsurgency operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

    The core question driving this analysis centers on military readiness: if the U.S. were to face an unexpected large-scale conflict in another region while current operations continue, would the depleted munition reserves leave American forces at a critical disadvantage? Defense analysts interviewed in the reporting note that the current shortage is not an immediate crisis, but it highlights long-term structural vulnerabilities in how the U.S. plans and sustains its defense industrial base. The issue has also sparked growing debate in Congress over whether additional funding is needed to expand production capacity and rebuild strategic stockpiles to match evolving global security demands.

  • Pro-Israel billionaire Robert Kraft led campaign to drop Macklemore from Ed Sheeran tour

    Pro-Israel billionaire Robert Kraft led campaign to drop Macklemore from Ed Sheeran tour

    The ongoing debate over artistic freedom and the Israel-Gaza conflict has entered the mainstream music industry, after US rapper Macklemore confirmed via an Instagram statement that he was removed from Ed Sheeran’s North American tour, following aggressive pressure from American billionaire and New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.

    The controversy traces back to Macklemore’s guest appearances at Sheeran’s sold-out shows at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium last week, where the rapper made public remarks calling for freedom for Palestine and condemning Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and the apartheid system in the occupied West Bank. He told the crowd that the plight of Palestinians living under violence and occupation had not been forgotten, drawing cheers from large portions of the audience – but also sparked fierce backlash from pro-Israel right-wing groups, who targeted tour host Sheeran.

    According to Macklemore’s account of the situation, the pressure campaign was spearheaded by Kraft, a prominent Jewish-American and long-time outspoken advocate for Israel who used his influence over major US stadiums to force Sheeran’s hand. Kraft, who owns Gillette Stadium, one of the venues on Sheeran’s planned tour, threatened to block Sheeran and his production team from accessing the venue if Macklemore remained on the lineup. He also rallied other major stadium owners across the country to issue a collective ultimatum: either remove Macklemore from the tour, or the entire tour would be blocked from using their facilities.

    Macklemore also noted that Sheeran told him he chooses to remain neutral on the issue of Israel’s military actions in Gaza and its decades-long occupation of Palestinian territories, a stance consistent with Sheeran’s public image as an artist who avoids political engagement.

    Kraft’s long-standing pro-Israel advocacy is well-documented. In 2019, during a group tour of Israel for American football hall of famers that he led, Kraft met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and told an audience that after his own family, nothing matters more to him than the state of Israel and his Jewish identity. Just this year, Kraft withdrew all financial and public support from Columbia University after the institution allowed pro-Palestine student demonstrations protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza, saying the university was “no longer an institution I recognise”.

    In the wake of his removal from the tour, Macklemore emphasized that artists like himself and Sheeran do not qualify as victims of this incident, as both hold positions of privilege that insulate them from far worse harm. “We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world. Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families,” he wrote. The true victims, he stressed, remain the Palestinian people, more than 20,000 of whom – the majority children – have been killed in Gaza alone, with violence continuing daily. “I want to make sure that as I tell this story, we don’t lose sight of that,” he added.

    These claims have been backed by international bodies: a United Nations commission of inquiry has joined dozens of major humanitarian organizations in concluding that Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza. The state of Israel currently faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice, and the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza.

    Kraft has not denied organizing the pressure campaign to silence Macklemore. In his public response, he stated that his actions were prompted by what he called Macklemore’s “deeply offensive and hurtful” comments made from the stage in New Jersey, which he claimed harmed the Jewish community. “I would welcome the opportunity to sit down with Macklemore and discuss the facts,” Kraft added, noting that his ultimate goal is “peace for all people, an end to suffering and an end to all hate.”

    News of Macklemore’s removal sparked immediate widespread backlash against Sheeran, while the rapper has drawn overwhelming public support from high-profile artists, journalists and activists across the world. Award-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald pointed out the contradiction in global narratives around the Israel issue on the social platform X, writing: “It seems difficult to insist that Israelis and Jews are the world’s most hated, marginalized and oppressed group – suffering a global epidemic of exploding anti-Semitism – while the surest way to get fired, punished and cancelled is uttering even mild criticisms of Israel.”

    British singer Paloma Faith also issued a public statement of support on Instagram, arguing that “It is not controversial to affirm that cancelling human rights advocates for saying Free Palestine doesn’t protect Jewish people. It protects Israel from accountability.” Oscar-winning actor Javier Bardem went a step further, backing Macklemore and calling for a public boycott of Sheeran’s tour, writing simply: “Boycott activated.” Prominent climate and Palestinian rights activist Greta Thunberg also voiced her solidarity, saying: “Total solidarity and a free Palestine. The ‘active’ silence of artists in the face of injustice and genocide will not be forgotten.”

  • Over 130 lawyers warn UK sanctions on Israeli settlements don’t go far enough

    Over 130 lawyers warn UK sanctions on Israeli settlements don’t go far enough

    More than 130 prominent British legal figures—including senior barristers, retired judges, and leading international law academics—have publicly challenged Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s administration, arguing that the new Israeli settlement sanctions unveiled last week by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband do not fulfill the United Kingdom’s binding duties under international law.

    In a detailed six-page open letter delivered to Downing Street on Tuesday, the legal signatories first acknowledged the government’s step to coordinate its action alongside Canada and France, a rare unified international response to Israel’s long-standing settlement expansion. But the letter makes clear that the limited targeted trade measures announced are nowhere near the comprehensive action required by the 2024 binding ruling from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ordered all states to actively end their complicity in Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory.

    Last week’s policy shift marked a historic turning point for British foreign policy: the UK officially formally recognized that Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory violates international law. In his address to parliament announcing the new rules, Miliband also went further than any prior British foreign secretary, confirming that he believes a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Palestinian communities is currently underway in the occupied West Bank.

    Off-the-record government briefings to Middle East Eye (MEE) confirmed that the new sanctions will cover Israeli settlements across all occupied Palestinian territories, including not just the West Bank, but also the illegally annexed Golan Heights and East Jerusalem. The UK is not acting alone: eleven additional nations—Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden—have already joined the UK in either implementing similar restrictions or actively considering their own sanctions on goods produced in Israeli settlements.

    The list of signatories backing the criticism of the UK’s limited measures includes some of the country’s most respected legal voices: high-profile human rights barrister Michael Mansfield, former Lord Justice of Appeal Alan Moses, SOAS University of London law professor Nimer Sultany, and University College London international law professor Ralph Wilde, among many others.

    The letter lays out a clear roadmap for what comprehensive compliance with international law would look like for the UK. It calls on the government to expand the scope of sanctions beyond just trade in physical goods to include critical service sectors that enable settlement growth: insurance, accountancy services, and digital infrastructure that supports Israeli settlement expansion. The legal experts also demand that the government issue a public, binding confirmation that no UK public body, public sector pension scheme, or national sovereign fund maintains any investments linked to Israeli settlements. Most notably, the letter calls for the imposition of a full, complete arms embargo on Israel, a step that would mark a dramatic break from decades of close UK-Israeli military cooperation.

    Ralph Wilde, the UCL international law professor, emphasized that while the government’s recent formal recognition of the occupation’s illegality is a welcome shift after years of British diplomatic inaction, the limited response does not match the scale of the legal duty the ICJ imposed on all UN member states. “The government’s decision to finally acknowledge that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian Gaza Strip and West Bank is illegal is welcome,” Wilde said. “But the consequences of this illegality for the UK and other states—special legal duties to take comprehensive action to bring this and other illegal actions by Israel, including its genocide in Gaza, to an end—are far more wide-ranging than the important but limited actions against settlements and settlers announced.”

    Nimer Sultany, the SOAS law professor, framed the core issue at the heart of the UK’s half-measures, noting that Israel’s occupation is not an unintended side effect of regional conflict, but a core, intentional policy. “The elephant in the room is that the occupation is not a bug, it’s a feature,” Sultany said. “Israel’s political consensus uniformly opposes the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state. Thus, ending Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, as determined by the International Court of Justice, requires immediate, effective and comprehensive actions by the UK government, not a piecemeal approach that leaves the foundations of the occupation intact.”

    The letter anchors its call for a full arms embargo in the UK’s existing obligations under the Arms Trade Treaty, specifically Article 6(3), which strictly prohibits any arms transfers when a state knows the weapons will be used to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, or grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. “Having made that finding [that ethnic cleansing is occurring and the occupation is illegal], the UK Government cannot treat that knowledge as absent,” the letter argues. The legal experts also draw a sharp contrast between the UK’s robust, sweeping sanctions on Russia following its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the half-measures applied to Israel’s decades-long occupation. The Russian sanctions covered all major sectors of the Russian economy: major banks, energy firms, shipping networks, all arms exports, private investment activity, and cross-border financial services—all on the explicit grounds that these sectors enable and finance illegal occupation. That same logic, the letter points out, has not been extended to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, despite matching the same legal threshold.

    The letter also adds one more demand: the UK government must implement strict oversight to ensure that funds raised by UK-registered charities are not diverted to support illegal settlement activities. This call comes after a June statement from Labour MP Melanie Ward revealing that Israeli settlements have received at least £28 million in donations from 32 charities registered in England and Wales. In response to that disclosure, the UK Charity Commission launched a fact-finding inquiry into charities operating in Israeli-occupied settlement territories in August.

    This report was published by Middle East Eye, a media organization that produces independent, on-the-ground coverage and analysis of the Middle East, North Africa and surrounding regions.

  • US borrowing costs hit highest level since 2007

    US borrowing costs hit highest level since 2007

    U.S. government borrowing costs have surged to their highest peak since 2007, as a sharp spike in global crude prices amplifies widespread market anxiety over persistent inflation. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield, a key metric that determines interest rates for consumer and business loans across the economy, briefly climbed to 5.04% this week before pulling back to slightly lower levels.

    This upward momentum in government bond yields is not isolated to the United States; markets across the globe have seen yields climb for months. The root of the trend traces back to escalating geopolitical instability in the Middle East, which ignited after the outbreak of conflict between Israel and Iran-linked groups. The unrest has stoked fears that oil supply chains could be disrupted, pushing crude prices sharply higher and creating new upward pressure on inflation. In response to the rapid yield growth, the U.S. Treasury Department conducted bond buyback operations designed to cool the market and pull borrowing costs down. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has characterized the regulatory intervention as successful so far.

    Oil market volatility has been particularly pronounced: the global Brent crude benchmark, the worldwide standard for wholesale oil pricing, jumped from roughly $86 per barrel at the end of August to over $109 per barrel on Tuesday. The sharp increase comes as heightened regional tensions raise questions about Saudi Arabia’s capacity to maintain consistent export volumes, adding a fresh layer of uncertainty to energy markets.

    Market participants widely expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to respond to oil-fueled inflation by implementing another interest rate hike in the coming months. Economic logic holds that higher inflation and higher benchmark interest rates both push up the yields that bond investors require to compensate for the increased risk of holding government debt. Beyond inflation and interest rate expectations, rising yields also signal weakening investor confidence in government fiscal stability, as higher yields are demanded to offset perceived risk. A new, underreported factor is also contributing to the trend: growing competition for capital from cash-hungry artificial intelligence firms is drawing investment away from government bonds, pushing the yields that issuers must offer even higher.

    Carol Schleif, chief market strategist at BMO Wealth Management, noted that bond markets have been signaling for weeks that sustained higher interest rates will likely be necessary to bring inflation under control. While she acknowledged that the rise in borrowing costs has proceeded in an orderly fashion this year, rather than spiking in a chaotic sudden shift, she warned that interest rates and borrowing costs are likely to stay elevated if geopolitical tensions and high energy prices remain top of mind for investors.

  • Nigeria arrests alleged Mexican drug kingpin at international airport

    Nigeria arrests alleged Mexican drug kingpin at international airport

    Last month, Nigerian anti-narcotics authorities captured a reputed Mexican drug kingpin at Lagos’ international airport as he attempted to exit the country, a revelation that uncovered the third large-scale suspected methamphetamine lab linked to Mexican criminal networks in just four months, Nigeria’s National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) has confirmed.

    The detainee, 40-year-old Arturo Carrera Loaiza, was found in possession of digital photographs showing him wearing a lab coat alongside equipment that matches those used for manufacturing methamphetamine, according to NDLEA officials. Geolocation data embedded in these images guided investigators to a property in Ebonyi State, where they seized a cache of precursor chemicals and specialized drug-making gear.

    In an official statement from the agency, Loaiza has refuted all allegations tying him to illegal drug production. He claims he entered Nigeria to pursue a legitimate restaurant business opportunity, invited by a local contact.

    Investigators later recovered a CCTV memory card from the Ebonyi suspected lab site. Footage on the card shows an individual matching Loaiza’s description wearing a blue lab coat on the property. The footage also captured a Nigerian man directing workers as they moved chemicals and equipment away from the facility.

    NDLEA Chairman General Mohamed Buba Marwa told reporters that additional intelligence led operatives to a secluded residence in a nearby community, where more illicit materials were seized. The recovered items included industrial-grade chemicals, dehydrators, condensers, a large reaction pot, precision weighing scales, industrial mixers, storage drums, gas burners, and a sieve that tested positive for traces of methamphetamine. To date, authorities have not released an estimate of how much methamphetamine the facility was projected to produce. The NDLEA has published photographs of the seized materials following the raid.

    Marwa added that investigators have linked Loaiza to a second suspected methamphetamine production lab discovered in a forest in Oyo State, which was raided by authorities back in June. During that operation, four Nigerian suspects were taken into custody, and Loaiza is accused of recruiting another Mexican national to work at that site. The Oyo raid was preceded by another major bust just one month earlier, when NDLEA officers arrested three Mexicans and seven Nigerians at an industrial-scale meth lab hidden in a forest in a different region of the country.

    Marwa emphasized that these successive busts highlight a deliberate push by transnational criminal organizations to establish permanent drug production hubs in Nigeria’s remote forested and rural areas.

    “Nigeria will never become a safe haven for transnational drug cartels that seek to relocate their manufacturing operations from other regions into our forests and rural communities,” Marwa stated firmly.

    The NDLEA says its investigation into the entire criminal network remains active, with a particular focus on identifying local financiers and facilitators who enabled the cartels to operate within Nigeria.

    Synthetic drugs like methamphetamine differ fundamentally from plant-derived narcotics such as cocaine and heroin. Unlike those drugs, which require specific geographic and climate conditions for cultivation and processing, methamphetamine can be manufactured anywhere the right precursor chemicals and technical expertise are available. This low barrier to entry allows organized crime groups to rapidly scale up production, making Nigeria and the broader West African region particularly attractive to Mexican syndicates. The extensive, sparsely populated forest landscapes across the region provide ideal secluded sites for hidden production facilities.

  • Palestinian citizens of Israel mobilise against settler outpost in Galilee

    Palestinian citizens of Israel mobilise against settler outpost in Galilee

    In the Galilee region of northern Israel, a wave of sustained daily demonstrations has erupted, led by Palestinian citizens of Israel, in response to a new settler outpost erected in the heart of Majd al-Krum, a town overwhelmingly populated by Palestinian Israelis. The outpost, established Friday by a group of settlers originating from Tekoa, a settlement located near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, has already become a flashpoint for long-simmering tensions over land rights and state-backed demographic policy.

    The new encampment was set up shortly after Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich unveiled an election campaign platform that explicitly aims to “Judaize” the Negev and Galilee regions by bringing an additional 1 million Jewish residents into these areas. Smotrich, a prominent far-right figure in the current Israeli government, has publicly stated his goal to expand the West Bank settlement “revolution” into areas within Israel’s pre-1967 borders, regions that are home to the majority of Israel’s Palestinian citizen population.

    Local authorities and community organizers have framed the outpost as a deliberate step to alter the demographic and geographic status quo on the ground. Izz al-Din Badran, an activist with Majd al-Krum’s popular committee, told reporters that residents first uncovered the settler encampment last Friday. Shortly after the discovery, the committee issued a call for continuous community mobilization to force the settlers to abandon the site.

    The outpost itself sits on state land that the Jewish National Fund had leased exclusively for small-scale livestock grazing. Despite the terms of the lease, hardline young settlers have occupied the area, pitching permanent tents and moving in household furniture to establish a long-term presence. Local residents say that multiple private Palestinian landowners hold claims to adjacent parcels in the area, and the new outpost raises immediate fears of eventual expansion into privately owned land, or permanent restrictions on local residents’ access to their property.

    Badran emphasized that the settlers occupying Majd al-Krum are the same extremist actors responsible for routine violence against Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. “They are the same people who are here, and they will not be allowed to take over land,” he said, confirming that hundreds of local residents have joined the ongoing mobilization. “The mobilisation will continue until they leave.” In line with this commitment, the local council and popular committee have scheduled daily protests running from 5 p.m. until nightfall, and demonstrations will continue until the outpost is fully removed.

    Sami Abu Shehada, leader of the Balad political party and a candidate in Israel’s upcoming national elections, warned that the establishment of the Majd al-Krum outpost is part of a long-standing, coordinated tactic of land seizure that has been used for years in the occupied West Bank’s Area C. In that region, he explained, Israeli settlers typically start by grazing livestock on small parcels of land, before gradually expanding their presence to take over entire areas of Palestinian-owned territory. This tactic, he stressed, has now crossed the Green Line, the 1949 Armistice border that has functioned as the de facto boundary between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories since 1967.

    Abu Shehada argued that the ultimate goal of this campaign is to fully erase the Green Line, eliminate any recognition of separate Palestinian land, and invalidate the Oslo Accords. Under the ideological framework driving this project, all of historic Palestine is claimed as exclusive Jewish territory, with no legal distinction between land captured in the 1967 war and territory that was part of Israel prior to that conflict.

    This push can be directly traced back to Smotrich’s 2017 “Decisive Plan,” a far-reaching blueprint that aims to eliminate all Palestinian national aspirations. The plan is rooted in the claim that the entire territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea belongs exclusively to the Jewish people, and presents Palestinians with three non-negotiable options: abandon all claims to national sovereignty and accept a second-class status under Jewish dominance, leave their historic homeland, or face violent repression if they resist displacement and dispossession.

    Abu Shehada noted that Palestinian stakeholders have previously made the mistake of underestimating the seriousness of Smotrich’s plan, but the new outpost in Majd al-Krum makes the urgent threat clear. He emphasized that Smotrich does not act as an isolated extremist; he holds a senior position in Israel’s sitting government, and the settler movement is not a fringe group of independent actors. Instead, it operates as part of a state-backed network that enjoys police protection and influence at the highest levels of Israeli government.

    “The danger comes from the fact that this is a state project, and a large part of the institutions of this state have adopted it and supported it,” Abu Shehada said.

  • Watch: Sanders calls for US and China to work together in banning AI superintelligence

    Watch: Sanders calls for US and China to work together in banning AI superintelligence

    On a recent gathering in the heart of Washington D.C., independent U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders anchored a pro-humanity rally focused on one of the 21st century’s most pressing technological risks: unregulated advanced artificial intelligence. In remarks delivered to assembled attendees, the long-time progressive policy leader issued a clear call for coordinated global action, singling out the need for the world’s two largest technology and economic powers – the United States and China – to set aside geopolitical differences and jointly spearhead an international agreement to ban the development of AI superintelligence.

    Sanders framed the rally’s pro-human agenda around a core argument: that unchecked advancement of superintelligent systems – AI that would outperform human cognition across all domains, including strategic planning and scientific innovation – poses an existential threat not just to national economies, but to the very future of human self-determination. Unlike targeted workplace automation that has already disrupted labor markets, Sanders emphasized, superintelligence crosses a critical threshold that leaves open the possibility of outcomes that humanity cannot control or reverse.

    The call for bilateral collaboration between Washington and Beijing marks a departure from the increasingly strained diplomatic and technological rivalry between the two nations, which has seen both sides invest heavily in advancing AI capabilities for economic and military advantage. Sanders’ push for cooperation comes amid a growing, but fragmented, global conversation about AI governance, with many experts divided on the need for bans on advanced systems versus incremental regulatory frameworks. The senator’s rally served to elevate the most extreme risk scenarios into mainstream U.S. political discourse, putting pressure on policymakers to prioritize cross-border cooperation over unilateral competition in AI development.

  • South African president vows justice as more women’s bodies found near Johannesburg

    South African president vows justice as more women’s bodies found near Johannesburg

    A string of mysterious killings of women near Johannesburg, South Africa, has triggered nationwide alarm, pushing President Cyril Ramaphosa to promise a sweeping investigation to hold perpetrators accountable.

    The most high-profile victim is 38-year-old Elizabeth Moselakgomo, who vanished while out on her habitual daily jog last Wednesday. It was Moselakgomo’s young daughter who first alerted authorities when her mother failed to return home, sparking a wide public search that ended Saturday when her body was recovered. She was formally identified by family members on Monday.

    A new victim’s body was added to the investigation on Tuesday morning, bringing the total number of deaths linked to this case to seven. Most of the victims’ bodies have been found either fully or partially naked, scattered across Kempton Park, a commuter town northeast of South Africa’s largest city Johannesburg that sits adjacent to the country’s main OR Tambo International Airport. The first body was discovered in mid-July, the second in late August, with four more found this month alone — two of those within just the last 48 hours. The most recent addition was a previously uncounted body of a woman in her late 20s, found in a river adjacent to a local shopping mall after police reviewed open cases following the string of discoveries, Gauteng province acting police chief Major-General Fred Kekana confirmed at a media briefing.

    Thus far, only two of the seven victims have been formally identified. One arrest has been made in connection with the first body found, and that suspect remains in police custody. While investigators have not ruled out the potential that these killings are connected to a group of perpetrators, or even copycat attacks, law enforcement currently says there is no evidence linking the deaths to a single serial killer. “It could be that it’s a copycat crime that is happening right here but so far, no linkages as yet,” police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe explained.

    President Ramaphosa has made addressing the killings a top priority for law enforcement, saying he has directed national agencies to expedite their work. “These incidents are causing fear and uncertainty in our communities, and especially among women,” Ramaphosa said in a statement. “Our law enforcement agencies are working urgently to establish the facts, keep communities safe and bring the perpetrator or perpetrators to justice,” he added, vowing that “no stone will be left unturned” to identify and prosecute those responsible.

    Local authorities have issued a public safety advisory urging all women in the Kempton Park area to avoid solitary outdoor activity, particularly in isolated or underpopulated areas. The South African Commission for Gender Equality has called on local residents to collaborate with investigators to crack the case, noting that the killings highlight a long-running national crisis that puts ordinary women at deadly risk just for moving through daily life. “Women should be able to run, walk to work, use public transport, return home, visit friends and participate in community life without having to calculate whether an ordinary activity could place their lives at risk,” the commission said.

    The killings have reignited national outrage over South Africa’s enduring gender-based violence crisis. UN Women data ranks South Africa among the most dangerous countries in the world for women, with a femicide rate five times the global average. Critics across the country have slammed government and law enforcement for failing to implement consistent protections that keep women safe from violence.

  • ‘We are a great sporting nation’ – Kenya president

    ‘We are a great sporting nation’ – Kenya president

    In a surprising turn of events for global track and field, Kenya’s capital Nairobi has defeated London to win the right to host the 2029 World Athletics Championship. The announcement marks a historic milestone for African athletics, bringing one of the sport’s most prestigious global competitions to the region for a landmark edition.

    Following the confirmation of the bidding result, Kenyan President William Ruto publicly celebrated the successful bid, emphasizing that Kenya has long proven its status as a great sporting nation with a deep-rooted passion for athletics. The outcome not only recognizes Kenya’s growing influence in the global sports community but also paves the way for the country to showcase its organizational capabilities and cultural heritage to audiences around the world.

    London, which had previously hosted successful editions of the World Athletics Championship, was widely seen as a leading contender in the bidding process, making Nairobi’s victory all the more notable for the global athletics community. As preparations now begin, stakeholders across the sport are looking ahead to what will be a momentous 2029 championship in East Africa.

  • Judge rejects bid to put Trump’s name on Kennedy Center building

    Judge rejects bid to put Trump’s name on Kennedy Center building

    A long-running legal and political battle over the branding of one of the United States’ most iconic cultural institutions has taken another turn, after a federal judge blocked the Kennedy Center’s board of trustees from moving forward with plans to engrave President Donald Trump’s name on the facade of the center’s main performing arts building.

    The ruling handed down this week marks the second time in four months that the same judge has intervened to block the Trump-aligned board’s efforts to add the president’s name to the building. Back in May, the judge issued a prior order that required the removal of Trump’s name that had already been added temporarily, and also halted the board’s plan to close the venue temporarily to carry out the president’s proposed renovation project.

    The latest conflict stems from an August vote by the current Kennedy Center board, which is stacked with Trump appointees, cabinet members and close political allies. The board approved a resolution to add a prominent inscription reading “Renovated and Restored by President Donald J. Trump” to the building’s exterior. This move was the latest step in a plan Trump first unveiled more than a year ago, when he announced a series of rebranding initiatives for prominent federal sites across Washington D.C. that would add his name to a number of public buildings and landmarks.

    The roots of the board’s current composition stretch back to February 2025, when Trump, shortly after beginning his current term, removed several sitting Kennedy Center trustees and appointed himself to an open trustee position. Shortly after that appointment, the reshaped board voted to elect Trump as its chairman, putting him in full control of the institution’s leadership and policy direction.

    In this week’s ruling, the judge reaffirmed that any permanent change to the Kennedy Center’s facade, including the addition of a sitting president’s name, requires explicit congressional approval under existing federal law. The ruling makes clear that the board does not have the independent authority to unilaterally alter the exterior of the federally owned cultural landmark, bringing the board’s plans to a halt at least for the duration of ongoing legal proceedings.