Global Pulse

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  • US‑Iran deal should see oil and LNG begin to flow again – slowly

    US‑Iran deal should see oil and LNG begin to flow again – slowly

    Following the announcement of a ceasefire deal ending the US-Israel-Iran conflict, former US President Donald Trump took to his social media platform to issue a triumphant declaration: “Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!” But while the announcement has sparked cautious optimism among energy markets, critical questions remain about just how quickly global oil and gas shipments through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz can return to pre-conflict levels.

    The deal has already moved global oil benchmarks: Brent crude has fallen to $78.96 per barrel, dipping below the $80 threshold for the first time since early March 2026. This price drop signals broad market confidence that the ceasefire agreement will hold, despite Trump’s history of making unfulfilled claims of peace deals during his tenure. Still, the US Navy has confirmed its existing blockade of Iranian ports will remain in effect until the agreement is formally signed on June 19, leaving a period of uncertainty before any formal changes take effect.

    For all the market optimism, industry analysts and shipping firms warn that a full recovery of Hormuz shipping will take far longer than many observers expect. The strait is one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints: it handles 25% of global seaborne oil trade, 19% of all refined petroleum products, roughly 20% of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) trade, and a large share of global seaborne chemical shipments, particularly fertilizer. Even under the best-case scenario, analysts project it will take at least six months for crude oil flows through the strait to rebound to pre-conflict levels. For LNG exports, the timeline stretches much longer, following extensive damage Iran inflicted on Qatari energy infrastructure during the conflict.

    Details of the draft ceasefire remain deliberately opaque, with no full published text of the agreement released to the public. Iran’s state-run Mehr News Agency has only confirmed that the strait will reopen within 30 days under “Iranian arrangements,” leaving shipping firms without clear guidance on new operating protocols. The lingering ambiguity has left industry stakeholders deeply cautious, with little change in actual traffic through the strait observed in the days since the ceasefire announcement.

    That caution is well-founded: over the course of the conflict that began in February 2026, 38 commercial vessels transiting the region have been hit by attacks, 24 by Iranian forces, four by US forces, and the remainder by unclaimed actors. Clearing all naval mines laid by Iran in the strait alone is expected to take months. Compounding this uncertainty are conflicting public statements from the two main signatories: Tehran has announced it will charge shipping firms a transit fee for using the strait, while Trump has insisted the waterway will remain toll-free. This core disagreement has yet to be resolved, leaving further uncertainty for global shipping lines.

    Even after the strait is cleared for full transit, widespread damage to regional energy infrastructure will delay a full recovery of global energy supplies. International Energy Agency Executive Chairman Fatih Birol noted that more than 80 energy facilities across the Persian Gulf were targeted during the conflict, damaging oil fields, refineries, and export pipelines, meaning a rebound in supplies will be gradual rather than immediate.

    The United Arab Emirates, the world’s third-largest oil exporter shipping through Hormuz, has already confirmed it will not be able to restore full export flows until 2027, even with an immediate end to hostilities. For Iran, the deal brings a key benefit: a US waiver on longstanding oil sanctions that will allow Tehran to resume exports to a broader range of global customers. Still, Israeli strikes on Iran’s critical South Pars gas field and the adjacent Asaluyeh processing hub damaged key infrastructure. While Tehran has restarted production at three offshore platforms in the field, it has not released a timeline for full repairs.

    The longest delay will hit global LNG markets, after Iran targeted Qatar’s Ras Laffan gas complex, the world’s largest LNG processing facility. Before the conflict, the facility produced 77 million tonnes of LNG annually, accounting for nearly 19% of global production. QatarEnergy has confirmed that 12.8 million tonnes of annual production will remain offline for between three and five years as repairs proceed, meaning a full recovery of regional LNG exports could take up to half a decade.

    In the near term, the ceasefire is still expected to deliver a modest boost to global energy supplies. Roughly 60 crude oil tankers have been trapped in the Persian Gulf since the conflict began in February, and these vessels will likely be able to depart for global markets once the strait reopens. Some of these supertankers carry as much as 2 million barrels of crude each, equivalent to two days of Australia’s total oil consumption. Still, maritime traffic data shows that hundreds of additional cargo vessels waiting outside the strait to enter the Persian Gulf for loading will face extended delays as transit capacity ramps up gradually.

    For Australia, which has faced global supply disruptions since the conflict began, the country has thus far weathered the crisis relatively well. Early in the conflict, the IEA warned the Iran conflict represented the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market. But Australia proactively boosted imports of record volumes of diesel, the fuel that accounts for more than half of the country’s daily oil consumption and is critical to trucking, mining, and agricultural sectors. As a result, Australia has remained at Level 2 of its National Fuel Security Plan, avoiding mandatory fuel rationing or restrictions for consumers.

    A permanent, fully implemented peace deal would be widely welcomed by energy users across Australia and the globe. But risks remain: if the ceasefire collapses and the strait closes once again, analysts warn oil prices could rebound sharply, reigniting consumer concerns about fuel shortages and price volatility.

  • Climate-driven heat in India’s textile factories stifles workers but coolers and ventilation help

    Climate-driven heat in India’s textile factories stifles workers but coolers and ventilation help

    SURAT, India — Tucked in the industrial outskirts of the western Indian city of Surat, dozens of textile workers navigate low-ceilinged factory floors crammed full of heat-generating industrial machinery, where the already record-breaking regional heat is amplified by steam, radiating metal, and acrid chemical fumes. On a recent sweltering spring afternoon, the air hung thick with humidity, the constant roar of stenters (large textile processing machines) filled every corner, boilers hissed continuously, and rolling plumes of steam billowed from drum washers, creating an oppressive work environment that tests even the most resilient laborers.

    Soni Pande, a 27-year-old migrant single mother who relocated from eastern India’s Bihar state to work in the factory, explained that existing cooling tools including mist-spraying coolers and standing fans are barely enough to take the edge off the worst heat. “The heat leaves us completely drained. We sweat through our shifts constantly, and many coworkers suffer dizziness and illness,” she said. “Even with the fans and coolers, it remains unbearably hot inside.” Pande’s experience is shared by more than 1.4 million workers across Surat, a global hub for synthetic polyester fabric production that supplies affordable textiles for garments sold worldwide.

    Like most regions across India, Surat has seen steadily rising average daily and overnight temperatures, paired with extended summer heat seasons, a shift driven largely by human-caused climate change. For textile factories that rely on high-temperature processes to dry, dye, print and finish fabric, this warming trend has turned routine work into a potentially dangerous health hazard. While many facilities have installed basic cooling equipment, these systems are rarely powerful enough to counteract the constant heat output of processing machinery, and most factory owners have little ability or incentive to invest in more robust infrastructure.

    The industry is already grappling with significant economic pressure: supply chain disruptions and energy price volatility stemming from the Iran war, paired with steep punitive tariffs imposed by the United States on Indian goods, have squeezed profit margins across the sector. Most factories have opted for low-cost cooling solutions that avoid the need for sealed production spaces, such as evaporation-based air coolers and exhaust fans, but these measures only deliver marginal temperature relief. During an on-site visit to two Surat-area factories, The Associated Press found that even facilities with cooling systems only deliver temporary relief during 10 to 15 minute rest breaks, with the majority of the production floor still dominated by the heat of running machinery.

    Kundan Kumar, another Bihari migrant who operates a dyeing machine at Palsana industrial area’s Vinit Fabrics, echoed Pande’s account of daily hardship. “Even with the coolers, working conditions remain extremely tough,” he said. “Dyeing is physically demanding work, but we have no other option. We need income to support our families back home, so we have to keep going regardless of the heat.”

    India, the world’s most populous nation, is ranked among the countries most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Every year, extreme weather events including catastrophic storms, widespread flooding, and prolonged heat waves kill thousands of people and cause billions of dollars in economic damage. A 2022 World Bank analysis estimates that 75% of India’s workforce — roughly 380 million people ranging from construction laborers to factory employees — are exposed to unsafe levels of occupational heat that can trigger life-threatening heat-related illness.

    While India has existing labor regulations and guidelines designed to protect workers from extreme heat, labor unions submitted a formal letter to the national government earlier this year calling for stricter legislation and stronger on-the-ground enforcement. A core gap in current protections is that over 550 million Indian workers — nearly 90% of the total national workforce — are classified as informal labor, a group that includes most Surat textile workers, and are not covered by existing labor safety laws.

    Pooja Yadav, a climate and labor researcher at the New Delhi-based think tank WRI India, who conducted on-site temperature testing at Surat factories, explains that the combination of high outdoor humidity and internal factory heat creates uniquely dangerous working conditions. “In textile processing units that use steam and hot water for production, indoor temperatures and humidity are often far more dangerous than outdoor conditions during a heat wave,” Yadav said. She added that during 12-hour shifts, workers are exposed to a toxic mix of hot air and chemical fumes that causes immediate health effects including dehydration, headaches, and fainting, as well as long-term chronic damage to lung and kidney function. Extreme heat also cuts worker productivity, creating a secondary economic hit for factory owners.

    Yadav notes that simple, low-cost interventions — including targeted insulation for heat-emitting machinery, expanded ventilation systems, and structured cooling distribution — can meaningfully improve working conditions. Vinit Fabrics, for example, invested roughly $5,300 in upgrading its cooling systems, added jute insulation to hot machinery, and sealed floor gutters that carry heated wastewater, steps that have delivered modest improvements. But Yadav stressed that the vast majority of Surat’s textile factories still rely solely on basic fans, and widespread adoption of effective cooling infrastructure remains rare. She added that national and state heat action plans rarely account for the unique risks faced by industrial workers, a gap that urgently needs to be addressed by policymakers.

    For the workers themselves, there is no alternative to showing up for shifts that pay roughly $7 for 10 to 12 hours of work. “We don’t have a choice,” Pande said. “I have three children to support. Whether it’s dangerously hot or not, we have to keep working.” Factory managers confirm that the extreme heat is worsening existing labor shortages: after production cuts in recent years, many workers returned to their home states and have refused to come back to Surat’s factories due to unsafe heat conditions. Subhash Sharma, production manager at Vinit Fabrics, said the facility normally employs 700 workers but is currently operating at just 60% capacity, due to a combination of economic pressure and labor shortages driven in part by rising heat. “Over the past few years, we have seen the number of available workers decline because of the increasing extreme heat,” Sharma said.

  • An ultra-rare Star Wars Lego collection went missing – it’s sparked viral conspiracies

    An ultra-rare Star Wars Lego collection went missing – it’s sparked viral conspiracies

    What was meant to be a comfortable retirement nest egg and a college fund for future generations has exploded into a nationwide dispute that captivated social media, spawned multiple lawsuits, and sparked wild conspiracy theories across the internet. The story centers on 83-year-old Ed Mansell, whose decades-long curated collection of rare Star Wars Lego sets—headlined by the ultra-rare vintage Cloud City set valued alone at up to $10,000—has vanished without a clear resolution.

    The tangled saga first began in 2023, when Mansell’s son Bryan approached Chrystal Law, the then-franchise owner of a Bricks & Minifigs used Lego store in Salem, Oregon, to sell the collection on consignment. Under the terms of that agreement, Ed Mansell retained full legal ownership of the entire collection until individual sets were sold to buyers. Law’s store quickly promoted the acquisition on social media, billing it as one of the largest and most valuable privately held Star Wars Lego collections in existence.

    Over the 12 months that followed, the store moved more than $52,000 worth of Mansell’s sets, according to Bricks & Minifigs’ corporate parent. But by late 2024, Law was ousted from the franchise over hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid debt, and the location was transferred to new ownership. When monthly commission checks stopped arriving for the Mansells, Bryan visited the store in person to investigate—only to be told the new owners had no record of the consignment agreement and no knowledge of the missing collection.

    Convinced the remaining sets were stolen, Ed Mansell filed a police report, and a year of finger-pointing ensued between Law, the Mansells, and Bricks & Minifigs corporate, with no party taking responsibility and no resolution in sight. The local dispute went global in March this year, when popular YouTuber Ben Schneider—known online as Reckless Ben, who boasts 1.4 million subscribers—was contacted by the Mansells for help.

    Schneider launched a high-profile public campaign against Bricks & Minifigs and the new franchise owners, pulling off attention-grabbing stunts that included launching a domain named “We Steal from Old People” branded with the company’s logo, erecting a provocative sign reading “we stole a family’s life savings” across from a new owner’s home, and traveling to Bricks & Minifigs’ corporate headquarters in Utah to stage protests. By late March, Schneider had been charged by American Fork City police with four offenses: stalking, targeted residential picketing, disorderly conduct, and criminal trespass linked to his protest tactics.

    The story blew up on May 21, when Schneider dropped a feature-length YouTube video titled “I tracked down the thief who stole $200,000 of LEGO”. As of mid-June, the video has racked up more than 5 million views, turning the small-claims dispute into a viral cultural moment and rallying widespread online public support for the Mansells. The viral attention also spawned rampant conspiracy theories, with some online commentators accusing American Fork City police of covering up the alleged theft on Bricks & Minifigs’ behalf.

    Police issued a public statement on May 29 pushing back on the claims, saying their involvement was limited only to upholding Utah state law and meeting legal obligations—but the denial did little to quiet rumors. Protesters even interrupted a May city council meeting in American Fork to call out alleged police misconduct. Since the video went viral, Bricks & Minifigs corporate says its locations across the country have been flooded with threatening calls and emails.

    The Oregon store at the center of the dispute was ultimately permanently closed by corporate, a move the company blames directly on the viral social media campaign. In an official statement, Bricks & Minifigs noted it did not hold the new owners responsible for the conflict, but said the location had to shut down because staff—including local teenage workers—faced severe direct safety threats, targeted in-person stalking, and explicit bomb threats stoked by the viral online content.

    In a lawsuit filed at the end of May, Bricks & Minifigs corporate laid out its side of the story: the company says it seized control of Law’s franchise after she accumulated hundreds of thousands in unpaid debt, and notes that Law violated internal corporate policy by accepting the Mansell collection on consignment in the first place. The company disputes the $200,000 valuation of the missing collection cited by Schneider, putting the actual worth at roughly $80,000. It also alleges Schneider, Law, the Mansells and other allies conspired to orchestrate a campaign of harassment and extortion against corporate leadership and the new Oregon franchisee. The framing the company uses: the dispute is fundamentally a private conflict between Law and Mansell, though corporate says it has repeatedly offered to negotiate a fair resolution to compensate Ed Mansell for his loss.

    “We are completely willing to sit down and figure out a fair, reality-based way to ensure this grandfather is made whole,” the company said in a May 28 statement.

    Law has pushed back with her own lawsuit against Bricks & Minifigs, arguing the company illegally seized her business and changed the store locks within hours of ousting her. She claims the entire Lego collection was part of the store inventory transferred to the new ownership, meaning she does not have the missing sets. Neither Law nor Bryan Mansell responded to BBC requests for comment on the ongoing dispute.

    For the Mansell family, the collection was never just a collection of toys: in a statement to the Salem Business Journal, Bryan Mansell explained his father began collecting unopened, mint-condition Lego sets decades ago as an intentional investment to fund his grandchildren’s college educations. “Lego was a toy we shared when I was a kid, and he wanted to share it with his grandchildren,” he wrote. “He chose Lego as an investment and began purchasing sets and figures to be kept new and in box, so that one day they could be sold to help pay for the grandkid’s college education.”

    Public support for the family has translated into substantial tangible funding: a GoFundMe launched to cover the Mansells’ legal costs and help them recover the collection or its value has raised more than $465,000 to date. But the wave of public attention hit a sudden halt on June 10, when a Utah judge issued a temporary injunction barring Schneider from posting any new content about the dispute. In an email to the BBC the following day, Schneider said he had been legally barred from speaking publicly about the case.

    “I would love to speak, but unfortunately a bunch of lies have been said about me, and a court has ordered for me to stay silent,” he said.

  • ‘I buried my parents one day after the other’ – Ebola mourners learn how to grieve safely

    ‘I buried my parents one day after the other’ – Ebola mourners learn how to grieve safely

    In the bustling, unusually quiet Nyamurongo cemetery of Bunia, the capital of Ituri province in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, fresh mounds of dirt dot the grassy ground at a rate no resident has seen before. This city sits at the epicenter of an ongoing Ebola outbreak that has claimed nearly 200 lives in recent months, and every new grave tells a story of devastating loss and a desperate fight to stop the virus’s spread.

    For Joel Lonza Makumbu, the devastation of the outbreak is not an abstract public health statistic—it is a personal catastrophe that has gutted his entire family. Standing knee-deep in the soil of his mother’s fresh grave, just one day after burying his father, Makumbu describes this as his sixth trip to the cemetery in a short stretch of weeks. Ebola has already taken his parents, three sisters, and a brother-in-law, and three more of his relatives remain in treatment centers fighting the disease. “I want to say for all people [to hear] that Ebola is true,” he stresses, a urgent warning to those who still doubt the danger of the virus amid widespread local misinformation.

    The current outbreak is driven by the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, which kills roughly one in four people it infects. Transmitted exclusively through direct contact with infected bodily fluids—including blood, semen, breast milk, vomit, and urine—the virus demands strict public health protocols to halt transmission, and modified, safe burial practices are widely recognized as one of the most critical interventions to stop new infections.

    Traditional Ituri funeral customs are deeply rooted in community and cultural belief: for generations, families have washed and dressed the deceased in fine clothing—women often in wedding gowns, complete with makeup—before holding multi-day ceremonies full of singing and celebration, as community members believe death is a journey to the world of ancestors, not an end. Many of these long-held practices, however, put grieving family members at extreme risk of infection, so public health teams have had to negotiate sensitive changes to these rituals.

    Today, no large crowds of mourners gather at Nyamurongo, and the traditional pre-burial body washing carried out by family members is strongly discouraged. Burials that once took days of preparation now are completed in 10 minutes, with the Ebola deceased immediately sealed in leak-proof body bags before interment. But rather than forcing communities to abandon their traditions entirely, international aid groups have worked to adapt safety protocols to honor cultural needs, wherever possible without putting lives at risk.

    “We need to be very close to the communities and engage with them very closely and make sure that they understand what’s going on, they’re informed and they consent,” explains Maria Munoz-Bertrand, public health emergency coordinator for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC). To accommodate families, the IFRC now places sealed body bags inside solid coffins fitted with small transparent panels that allow mourners to glimpse their loved one’s body; some body bags even have clear film at the top to reveal the deceased’s face. “If the family asks for something special to be included in the procedure, as long as it respects the infection prevention and control measures, and it doesn’t put anyone at risk, we will try to accommodate the wishes of the family as much as possible, because we understand that it’s a very difficult time for families,” Munoz-Bertrand adds.

    On a recent trip with an IFRC burial team to collect a body from Bunia’s Ebola treatment centre, the delicate balance of grief, culture and safety is on full display. Outside a makeshift transit morgue tent, family members wait along the roadside to accompany their loved one to the cemetery, including one grieving mother who had just lost her child to the virus. Health workers in full personal protective equipment seal the body bag inside the coffin, disinfect their path, and retreat, before six IFRC volunteers, also fully protected, retrieve the coffin for transport.

    For 34-year-old mother of four, whose body the team retrieved that day, her father Simone Nyal watches the modified process from a distance, still reeling from how quickly the virus took his daughter. “She was ill for just one week before she succumbed. She has left us her four children – I don’t know how we will cope,” he says. At the cemetery, the woman’s mother and sister wait by the open grave, and the burial is completed in less than 10 minutes. Volunteers decontaminate their gear and depart, leaving gravediggers to fill the plot.

    Negotiating these changes requires a unique blend of cultural literacy and patience, says Julienne Anoko, an anthropologist working with the World Health Organization (WHO) who has responded to multiple Ebola outbreaks across Central and West Africa. Anoko and her team spend days listening to grieving families, acknowledging their pain, and drawing on local cultural knowledge to help communities accept the necessary changes to burial practices.

    The most challenging negotiations, Anoko says, surround the burial of pregnant women who die of Ebola. Local tradition holds that a pregnant woman must “travel light” to the afterlife, requiring the fetus to be removed before burial—a practice that would expose family members to massive amounts of infectious bodily fluids. To address this, Anoko frames the restriction through a cultural lens, explaining to communities that their own ancestors would have approved of the modified practice to protect the living. “We negotiate to make the family accept the unacceptable. Sometimes it may take three days, but we negotiate, and I use the knowledge of their culture,” she says.

    Over years of working through outbreaks, Anoko has built deep trust with local communities, bridging the gap between public health science and traditional cultural values to make safety protocols acceptable. Even with this progress, the work of containing the outbreak remains far from over. Misinformation still circulates, and for families like Makumbu’s, the pain of loss is far from over—with more loved ones still fighting for survival in treatment centres. As he finishes covering his mother’s grave, Makumbu leaves with a stark warning for the world: Ebola is real, and it continues to tear through communities in Ituri, leaving few families untouched.

  • Archaeology team unearths ‘prototype’ of world-famous Stonehenge monument just a few miles away

    Archaeology team unearths ‘prototype’ of world-famous Stonehenge monument just a few miles away

    Archaeologists have announced a groundbreaking discovery near England’s iconic Stonehenge: a 5,500-year-old wooden structure that researchers believe may have served as an early prototype for the famous prehistoric stone monument, predating it by roughly five centuries. The announcement was made Thursday, just days ahead of this year’s summer solstice, the annual event that draws tens of thousands of visitors to the Stonehenge site each year.

    The find was made by a team from British archaeological firm Wessex Archaeology, led by veteran archaeologist Phil Harding, a household name in the UK from his decades of work on the popular Channel 4 television series *Time Team*. The dig site is located in Bulford, just 3.1 miles from the main Stonehenge circle on Salisbury Plain, and was carried out between 2015 and 2017 as part of pre-construction archaeology for the UK Ministry of Defense’s troop relocation program. The Ministry is moving thousands of service personnel back to the UK from Germany after decades of large British military presence there, and the Bulford area already hosts a major military barracks within one of the country’s largest training grounds, located near the Stonehenge World Heritage Site.

    According to the team’s analysis, the ancient structure was made up of two massive wooden poles set 394 feet apart, positioned to align directly with the rising sun on the summer solstice and the setting sun on the winter solstice — matching the same solar alignment that defines the later Stonehenge stone circle. Along with the remains of the wooden structure, archaeologists uncovered a rich collection of prehistoric artifacts at the site, including Neolithic pottery, ancient animal bones, and a rare disc-shaped stone tool. Harding, 76, said the site was almost certainly a gathering place for large ceremonial religious events held by Neolithic communities 500 years before the iconic stone circle at Stonehenge was completed.

    For Harding, a career archaeologist approaching the end of his decades-long fieldwork career, the discovery is a once-in-a-lifetime find. “Opportunities like this probably only come once in a career, in a lifetime,” he said. “I’m probably towards the end of my career now, but thank God I’m still in archaeology long enough to be part of this discovery, because it’s certainly the highlight of my career.”

    After the initial excavation wrapped up in 2017, researchers spent years conducting detailed analysis, radiocarbon testing, and site mapping to confirm the structure’s age, alignment, and purpose before announcing their findings to the public. The timing of the announcement, just days before this year’s summer solstice on Sunday, puts a new perspective on the annual celebration that brings druids, pagans, and tourists from across the globe to Stonehenge to mark the longest day of the Northern Hemisphere.

    Stonehenge, one of the United Kingdom’s most recognizable cultural symbols and top tourist attractions, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site constructed in stages beginning around 5,000 years ago, with its famous circular stone arrangement erected around 2500 BCE. For decades, scholars have debated the original purpose of the monument. The most widely accepted theory holds that it was a sacred temple intentionally aligned to track the sun’s movement through the annual solar cycle. Other competing theories put forward over the years range from claims it was a coronation site for early Danish kings, a prehistoric healing cult center, a druid ritual site, or even an early astronomical computer capable of predicting solar eclipses and other celestial events.

    This new discovery sheds fresh light on the long history of solar ritual practice in the region, showing that Neolithic communities were marking the solstices at the same landscape long before Stonehenge took its current form. As thousands of visitors prepare to gather at Stonehenge to watch the summer solstice sunrise this Sunday, Harding noted that the tradition stretches back far further than many realize. “What few will realize is that 5,000 years ago on a nearby hillside overlooking modern day Bulford, people were doing the exact same thing — revering and celebrating the sunrise on Midsummer’s Day,” he said.

  • China, US keeping drug control on a steady track

    China, US keeping drug control on a steady track

    China and the United States have continued to make consistent, steady progress in cross-border anti-narcotics cooperation, expanding practical collaboration across multiple high-priority areas, a senior Chinese narcotics control official announced Wednesday. The announcement came as China rolls out new strengthened measures for domestic drug governance and chemical regulation, adding 16 extra non-medical narcotic and psychotropic substances to its official controlled substances roster.

    Wei Xiaojun, executive deputy director of the Office of China National Narcotics Control Commission and director of the Ministry of Public Security’s narcotics control bureau, outlined that bilateral cooperation between the two countries has deepened across a wide range of critical domains: substance scheduling regulation, precursor chemical control, intelligence sharing, transnational joint investigations, illegal online drug content cleanup, repatriation of drug-related fugitives, anti-money laundering initiatives, and advances in drug testing technology.

    Wei confirmed that China has maintained regular, structured communication with relevant U.S. government agencies, including the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, to share updates on ongoing operations and align collective strategic priorities. Chinese law enforcement bodies have also partnered on joint casework and fugitive repatriation with multiple U.S. law enforcement agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he added.

    A recent example of this cooperative work was highlighted: In February 2026, Tianjin police apprehended a drug suspect surnamed Gong using intelligence provided by U.S. law enforcement. Prior to the Chinese arrest, U.S. authorities in Georgia had already taken into custody a U.S. citizen linked to the same transnational drug ring.

    Addressing the principles of global anti-drug collaboration, Wei emphasized that cross-border narcotics control is a shared global responsibility that must be rooted in mutual respect and mutual trust between nations. “As long as China and the United States work in tandem, we can effectively tackle shared drug-related challenges, an outcome that will bring tangible benefits to both of our peoples and the entire global community,” he stated. He added that China remains fully committed to preserving the positive, hard-won momentum of Sino-U.S. anti-drug cooperation, which requires continuous, coordinated joint efforts from both sides to sustain.

    Wei also noted that China has proactively addressed the growing global threat of unregulated nonscheduled chemicals being diverted into illegal drug manufacturing networks, particularly the diversion routes that feed illicit production in North America.

    Coinciding with Wednesday’s announcement, China’s national drug regulatory body confirmed that starting July 1, 2026, the 16 newly added substances will be formally integrated into the country’s official catalogue of controlled nonmedical narcotic and psychotropic substances. Once the update takes effect, China will have regulatory control over 412 types of non-medicinal narcotic and psychotropic substances, along with full category-based controls for all fentanyl-related substances, synthetic cannabinoids, and nitazene-related compounds.

    To proactively mitigate emerging regulatory risks ahead of the policy update, China issued two official public compliance warnings in November 2025 and May 2026, urging all industry actors to abide by existing national drug control laws. Chinese customs and postal inspection authorities have also already strengthened export oversight, upgraded risk analysis frameworks, and expanded inspection protocols for high-risk chemical shipments.

    Nationwide, Chinese authorities have carried out large-scale crackdowns targeting illegal trafficking of precursor chemicals and new psychoactive substances, while also pushing for stronger industry self-regulation across chemical manufacturing and distribution sectors. Wei noted that strict upstream chemical regulation remains a core, foundational pillar of China’s national anti-drug strategy. In 2025 alone, Chinese law enforcement seized 550.6 metric tons of illicit drug-related precursor chemicals. The country has also published a landmark white paper focused specifically on fentanyl control and has continuously expanded its national regulatory system to close emerging gaps.

    While Wei confirmed that China’s overall domestic drug situation remains stable, he warned that evolving trafficking patterns have created new regulatory challenges: modern drug networks are increasingly organized, available substances are more diversified, and the average age of drug users continues to fall. Unregulated gray-area compounds and exploitation of regulatory loopholes, alongside the constant emergence of new addictive synthetic substances, have added significant complexity to national control efforts.

    The 2025 China Drug Situation Report, which was also released Wednesday, provided a full overview of last year’s anti-drug work. The data showed that Chinese authorities solved 27,000 drug-related criminal cases and arrested 34,000 suspects in 2025, representing year-on-year drops of 27.6 percent and 33 percent respectively. Total drug seizures reached 33.5 tons, a 25.4 percent increase from 2024, while authorities processed 134,000 drug users for treatment and supervision, a 30.3 percent year-on-year decrease.

    The report also highlighted a key emerging trend: a sharp rise in abuse of unregulated nonscheduled addictive substances. In 2025, authorities seized nearly 1.27 million liters of nitrous oxide, an 84 percent year-on-year increase, and 9.3 tons of other unregulated addictive substances, which marked a more than 17-fold increase compared to 2024 figures.

  • Canada should ‘indefinitely exclude’ people with mental illness from assisted dying, report says

    Canada should ‘indefinitely exclude’ people with mental illness from assisted dying, report says

    A decade after Canada first legalized medical assistance in dying (MAID), one of the most divisive policy debates in the country has reached a pivotal turning point, with a joint parliamentary committee calling for the permanent exclusion of people whose only underlying medical condition is mental illness from accessing MAID eligibility.

  • The Ring and Lilo & Stitch actress Daveigh Chase dies aged 35

    The Ring and Lilo & Stitch actress Daveigh Chase dies aged 35

    Beloved character actress Daveigh Chase, whose decades-long career spanned iconic horror roles and beloved Disney animation, has passed away at the age of 35. Her long-time manager and close friend John Ryan Jr. confirmed to BBC News that the actress died at a Los Angeles hospital from sepsis stemming from a recent battle with meningitis. Ryan also shared that Chase had been admitted to the medical facility for treatment of malnourishment in the lead-up to her death.

    Born in Las Vegas, Chase began her entertainment career at the young age of 4, cutting her teeth in local voiceover and theater productions before moving to Hollywood to pursue full-time acting. She landed her first on-screen role at 7, a small guest spot on the hit 1990s sitcom *Sabrina the Teenage Witch* led by Melissa Joan Hart, marking the start of a decades-long career that would see her become a staple of American film and television.

    Chase earned her first major career breakthrough in 2001 with a supporting role in the cult classic psychological drama *Donnie Darko*, playing Samantha Darko, the younger sister of Jake Gyllenhaal’s troubled protagonist. She would reprise this role eight years later in the standalone follow-up *S Darko*.

    In 2002, two career-defining roles cemented Chase’s place in pop culture history. First, she took on the iconic part of Samara Morgan, the vengeful, long-haired ghost at the center of Gore Verbinski’s American remake of the Japanese horror classic *The Ring*. Her haunting portrayal of the character who crawls out of television screens to kill her victims earned her the 2003 MTV Movie Award for Best Villain, a testament to her uncanny ability to bring terrifying characters to life. Speaking to the *Los Angeles Times* shortly after the film’s release, Chase said she relished the chance to play against type. “It is not your typical character. Usually they are looking for a happy-go-lucky kid, but Samara was a pretty interesting character to play. I just kind of took my own voice and put this freaky twist on it,” she explained.

    Later that same year, Chase showcased her range by voicing the lead role of Lilo Pelekai, the adventurous, Elvis-loving young Hawaiian girl at the heart of Disney’s animated hit *Lilo & Stitch*. Her warm, heartfelt performance earned her an Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature, and she would go on to reprise the role in multiple franchise spin-offs.

    Throughout her career, Chase amassed an extensive resume of television roles, including single-episode guest spots on hit series *Charmed*, *ER*, and *Touched by an Angel*. She also held a 32-episode recurring role on HBO’s acclaimed drama *Big Love*, playing Rhonda Volmer, a young child bride in the show’s central polygamous community.

    Ryan, who represented Chase for 15 years, remembered her as a talented performer who rejected the glitz and glamour of Hollywood fame. “She was the greatest. She loved cats. She worked with cat rescues with us. She was very to herself,” Ryan said. He added that Chase often spent years at a time retreating to her Las Vegas home and regularly turned down big-budget studio roles in favor of independent projects. “She was not very Hollywood,” he said. “She’d rather eat at Bob’s Big Boy and go home with the cats. She loved acting but wasn’t into the fame scene.” Chase maintained residences in both downtown Los Angeles and Nevada throughout her adult life.

    Chase retired from full-time acting in 2015. Later in her career, she faced well-documented personal and legal challenges, including multiple charges for drug possession and joyriding in a stolen vehicle, according to *The Hollywood Reporter*. Tributes began circulating across social media shortly after news of her passing broke, with fans and industry peers remembering her unforgettable contributions to film and animation.

  • World Cup 2026: Bosnia’s diaspora generation unites a nation still healing from war

    World Cup 2026: Bosnia’s diaspora generation unites a nation still healing from war

    On a sweltering, muggy Toronto afternoon, just hours before Bosnia and Herzegovina’s opening World Cup group stage clash with Canada, 40-year-old veteran striker Edin Dzeko wrapped up training with the national side and walked calmly toward a metal fence packed with dozens of cheering fans, all waiting for a quick photograph or a signature.

    As he moved slowly down the line of young, shouting supporters, Dzeko’s quiet, unassuming smile stood in sharp contrast to his legendary status: he is widely regarded as the greatest footballer Bosnia and Herzegovina has ever produced. For a small southeastern European nation still picking up the pieces after the brutal 1992–1995 Bosnian War and grappling with persistent systemic challenges and limited resources, this year’s World Cup berth marks only the second appearance in the tournament’s history — and a moment of profound national meaning.

    “It means everything,” 22-year-old Ammar Brezovic told Middle East Eye at Toronto’s Centennial Park, where the Bosnian side was holding public training sessions. Brezovic traveled all the way from his home in Chicago to attend the match, where he is creating social media content about the tournament and filming a feature documentary about the national team. “To see a country so small, that’s been through so much to qualify for the World Cup alongside the world’s biggest football nations, it’s truly inspirational — not only to Bosnians, but to people everywhere,” he said. “The fact that even people with no connection to Bosnia are rooting for us says something really special.”

    Bosnia’s journey to the 2026 World Cup caught nearly all football observers off guard. The national side had endured a brutal slump in form in the years leading up to qualification, losing all five of its previous playoff campaigns and securing only four wins across 19 total matches over two full qualification cycles. Between 2022 and 2024 alone, the Bosnian Football Association changed head coaches five times. Long-standing deep political divisions and the complex administrative framework put in place by the Dayton Peace Accords, which ended the war decades ago, have also created persistent barriers to the development of domestic football.

    But everything shifted when former national team captain Sergej Barbarez took the helm as head coach in April 2024. Barbarez had waited 15 years for the opportunity to lead the national side, despite never holding a senior coaching role at any level. He immediately overhauled the squad, calling up 16 uncapped new players, and results began to emerge far faster than even the most optimistic fans predicted. That spring, Bosnia upset Wales in the playoff semi-finals, then knocked out four-time World Cup champions Italy in a dramatic final qualifying match.

    It was 21-year-old Esmir Bajraktarevic, a winger born in Wisconsin to Bosnian refugee parents who survived the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, who scored the decisive winning penalty against Italy to secure Bosnia’s spot at the tournament. Bajraktarevic had previously represented the United States at the U-19 and U-23 youth levels, but when the time came to choose a senior national side, his decision required no debate. “The decision for me was very easy,” Bajraktarevic told reporters after the win. “It was something I knew I wanted to do since I was little. It was just a process that took a while. There was no dilemma: It had to be Bosnia.”

    In the aftermath of the historic victory against Italy, more than 100,000 Bosnians flooded the streets of Sarajevo to celebrate, waving national flags and cheering the team’s accomplishment. For many in the country, this World Cup berth carries meaning that extends far beyond the pitch. Emir Suljagic, head of the Srebrenica Memorial Center, wrote on social media platform X: “There was a plan for this boy never to be born, for my own children never to be born, for any of our children never to be born. Their laughter is our greatest revenge.”

    Bosnian sports journalist Sasa Ibrulj told Middle East Eye that the current squad shares a unique cohesion and a love for the national side that has been missing for many years. “You can feel that they are driven with motivation to play for the national team, something we haven’t had for a long time,” Ibrulj said. “I think the most important factor is their love towards the national team, their love towards the country that they play for, and the fact that this is now a positive source of motivation for them.”

    Brezovic summed up the team’s underdog spirit simply: “We’re underdogs. We’ve got nothing to lose and everything to give… we’re here to give it our all.” It is a team that truly started from the bottom, a narrative woven into the story of its oldest and most iconic player. Dzeko was only six years old when war broke out in Bosnia, growing up playing football on the bullet-riddled streets of besieged Sarajevo, under constant threat of shelling and sniper fire from surrounding Serb forces. He has previously recounted a childhood memory: he once begged his mother to let him go outside to play with friends, but she refused, fearing for his safety. Minutes later, a shell struck the spot where his friends had gathered, killing them instantly. Today, Dzeko is one of the most storied strikers of his generation, and he now captains the third-youngest squad at this year’s World Cup.

    Most of the current squad’s players were born and raised in the global Bosnian diaspora, many of them children of war refugees who fled the conflict in the 1990s. Like Bajraktarevic, they grew up watching Dzeko play, and ultimately chose to represent the country their parents were forced to leave. Anisa Dzumhur, a 19-year-old Bosnian fan based in Toronto who came to watch the team’s public training session, said the bond between Dzeko and the young new players is a core part of the squad’s strength. “Our fan base is so strong, and football has been the most popular sport in Bosnia for years and years. Us being strong as a community is what pushed us to go further,” she said. “There are so many new, young players that have joined the team that are 18, 19, 20 and Dzeko has been such a good mentor for all of them, just being able to connect everyone together. It’s the culture that really ties the whole sport together.”

    This year’s Bosnian squad also makes history as the most diverse at the tournament, with players drawn from 19 different professional leagues across the globe. “One of our strengths is that we have a diverse team in terms of football culture, football philosophy, and the types of players who have developed in different countries,” Ibrulj noted. He added that the large number of diaspora-raised players also highlights a long-standing challenge for Bosnian football: “I definitely think that the fact that 16 or 17 of them come from abroad, is in itself, proof that we are not doing a good enough job of developing young players in our domestic clubs, and that the Bosnian diaspora remains strongly connected to their homeland.”

    After Bosnia’s opening match against Canada on June 12 ended in a 1-1 draw, several young players have already drawn praise from international football analysts. Fox Sports named 23-year-old center-back Tarik Muharemovic one of the tournament’s most underrated players, praising him as “composed in possession, ruthless in the duels, never hurried.”

    For 45-year-old Bosnian fan Denis Pasalic, the team’s World Cup appearance will do more than unite the country: it will also put Bosnia on the global map. As the third-smallest nation competing in this year’s tournament, Pasalic argues that global exposure will bring long-term benefits from tourism to economic growth. “For example, no one knew about Croatia until they won third place in the World Cup,” Pasalic told Middle East Eye. “A lot of people haven’t heard of Bosnia, and now they will. And of course tourism, our traditions, will become much better known to people worldwide. The higher we rank, the better. And it’s good for our federation too; they’ll get more money, new players – it’s all positive.”

    Whatever the outcome of Bosnia’s remaining group stage matches against Switzerland and Qatar, Ibrulj said the squad has already achieved something historic for the nation. “I believe this is the beginning of something that has yet to reach its peak — if not at this World Cup, then at one of the future major tournaments,” he said. “There’s no doubt that, with the group that is currently gathered around Sergej Barbarez and his coaching staff, we have a bright and positive future ahead of us.”

  • Japan ramping up defence is ‘critical’ to prevent war, Defence Minister Koizumi tells BBC

    Japan ramping up defence is ‘critical’ to prevent war, Defence Minister Koizumi tells BBC

    In an exclusive sit-down interview with the BBC’s Tokyo correspondent from his Tokyo office, Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has laid out the most dramatic reorientation of Japan’s national security posture since the end of World War II, arguing that the country must fundamentally strengthen its defence capabilities and re-examine the pacifist framework that has guided its foreign and military policy for 80 years.

    Koizumi framed the sweeping policy changes as a core component of building multi-layered deterrence to prevent new conflict in the Indo-Pacific, a goal that relies on three interconnected pillars: boosting domestic defence capacity, reinforcing the long-standing security alliance with the United States, and expanding defence cooperation with other like-minded nations across the globe.

    One of the most significant recent shifts has been the relaxation of Japan’s 50-year-old restrictions on arms exports, a change that opens new doors for Japanese defence manufacturers to sell and transfer defence equipment and lethal weaponry to 17 nations that have signed formal partnership agreements with Tokyo, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Koizumi detailed the early progress of this new policy, noting that Australia has already selected Japanese-built warships, active negotiations are ongoing with the Philippines to transfer used destroyers from Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force, deep discussions are underway with Indonesia, and New Zealand has formally expressed interest in acquiring Japanese destroyers. “This vision of trading equipment and assets throughout the Indo-Pacific is something we have never seen before,” Koizumi told the BBC.

    Defence policy has jumped to the top of the policy agenda for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s current administration, which took office in October 2025 and has already pushed through historic increases in defence spending, framing the reforms as an urgent response to growing instability across the region. Takaichi, a long-time advocate for stronger defence alliances and a hawkish approach to regional security, has made revising Japan’s iconic Article 9 a core policy priority. Enshrined in Japan’s post-WWII constitution, Article 9 formally renounces war as a sovereign right of the nation, bans the use of force as a tool to resolve international disputes, and prohibits the maintenance of formal land, sea, and air military forces.

    Speaking as a member of parliament rather than in his official cabinet role, Koizumi confirmed his full support for amending Article 9, arguing that the dramatic shifts in the regional security environment over the past eight decades demand an update to the country’s founding legal framework. “Japan has not amended its Constitution even once since World War Two. Given how dramatically the security environment has changed, we need to adapt to those changes if Japan is to remain peaceful,” he said.

    Koizumi identified Beijing as Japan’s most significant strategic challenge, with China’s claims over self-governing Taiwan representing the latest flashpoint in a long-fraught bilateral relationship. The uninhabited Senkaku Islands, known as Diaoyu in China and claimed by both nations, sit in a strategically critical location along the First Island Chain, a geographic formation long described as a key strategic barrier between China’s coastal waters and the wider Pacific Ocean. Over the past year, Chinese aircraft carriers have conducted intermittent operational activities beyond the islands, a shift that has raised alarm in Tokyo. Japan’s Defence Ministry formally labeled China’s military activity the “greatest strategic challenge” in its most recent cabinet-submitted white paper, and is expected to reaffirm this assessment in its upcoming annual government report.

    Last month, Koizumi pushed back against Beijing’s criticism that Japan’s defence shifts amount to a return of “new militarism”, arguing instead that China’s massive expanded weapons arsenal is the source of widespread global concern. Despite the rising tensions, Koizumi stressed that Japan remains committed to maintaining open lines of communication with Beijing. He noted that he met with his Chinese counterpart last November, and conveyed a clear desire to maintain ongoing dialogue despite the deep disagreements between the two nations. “Unfortunately, there have not been many opportunities for direct communication recently. However, as I stated at the Shangri-La Dialogue, Japan is always open to dialogue. We will continue sending that message and hope that opportunities for dialogue can be created whenever necessary,” he said.

    Efforts to revise Japan’s post-war security framework are not new: Nobusuke Kishi first pushed for a more normalized military posture in the 1950s, Koizumi’s own father Junichiro Koizumi, who served as prime minister in the early 2000s, also backed constitutional revision including reforms to Article 9, and the late Shinzo Abe, Kishi’s grandson, made amending the pacifist clause a central priority during his time in office. But the pace of change has accelerated sharply under the Takaichi administration, a shift that has sparked some of the largest anti-war protests Japan has seen in decades.

    Koizumi also emphasized the need to formalize the legal status of Japan’s Self-Defence Forces (SDF). While the SDF operates as a functional military in practice, Japanese law and political convention have long avoided labeling it as an official military force. “The SDF should be able to carry out its mission with pride and honour, and Japan must possess defence capabilities that remain steadfast even in today’s challenging security environment,” he added.

    Critics of the proposed changes, however, argue that formal recognition and expansion of the SDF undermines the core pacifist principles of Article 9, and that the existing constitutional framework is already sufficient to meet Japan’s current defensive needs. “We don’t need to amend Article 9 for defensive operations against China. So it’s more a political agenda than something based on military rationality,” explained Hirohito Ogi, a senior research fellow at the Institute of Geoeconomics specializing in military strategy and defence policy. Ogi noted that even in the event of a threat to Japanese-controlled southern islands claimed by Beijing, or an attack on U.S. military bases located in Okinawa or Kyushu, the current constitution can already be interpreted to recognize such an attack as a direct act of aggression against Japan, justifying a full defensive response.

    Koizumi acknowledged that while the ruling Liberal Democratic Party supports constitutional revision, the final decision will rest with the Japanese people. Under Japanese law, constitutional amendments require approval via national referendum, and Koizumi noted that “the timing and circumstances under which the public is asked to make that decision involve major political judgements.”

    The evolving defence posture also requires Japan to balance its stance toward China while upholding its core alliance with the United States, which remains the cornerstone of Tokyo’s security policy. Established in the post-WWII era, the alliance hosts roughly 50,000 U.S. troops in Japan, the largest overseas U.S. military deployment in the world. In recent years, however, U.S. leaders – particularly President Donald Trump in his second term – have pushed for greater alliance burden-sharing, demanding that U.S. allies increase their own domestic defence spending. “The era of the United States subsidising the defence of wealthy nations is over,” U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth declared last month during his keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue.

    In response to this pressure, and driven by its own security priorities, the Takaichi administration has raised Japan’s defence spending to 2% of GDP, double the long-standing post-war benchmark. The expanded budget is earmarked for the development and deployment of new surface-to-ship missiles and unmanned drone systems for both land and underwater operations.

    Defence analysts are divided on the implications of this shift: some argue that Japanese defence-related industries, including shipbuilding and advanced electronic systems, are well-positioned to become increasingly competitive in the global defence export market. The Center for Strategic and International Studies has noted that the emergence of dedicated, full-scale Japanese defence firms focused primarily on the sector will be critical to the success of this new export strategy. Other analysts argue that larger budgets and updated deterrence frameworks are not enough to address the challenge from China, and that Japan needs bolder structural reforms to make its military forces more nimble and adaptable to modern security threats.

    Aligning with U.S. regional strategy, Koizumi argued that Japan is ready to take on a more prominent independent role in maintaining Indo-Pacific security, beyond its existing partnership with Washington. “Japan can make contributions to the region that are uniquely Japanese – not solely through our relationship with the US, but also in our own independent role,” he said. “It’s our country. We need to protect it.”