Global Pulse

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  • Trump announces $700m coal investment using wartime powers

    Trump announces $700m coal investment using wartime powers

    Amid skyrocketing U.S. energy prices spurred by the Iran war and disruption to global fossil fuel supplies, former (current) U.S. President Donald Trump has announced a landmark $700 million initiative powered by Cold War-era wartime authority to reverse the U.S. coal industry’s years-long decline and lower household energy costs for American families.

    Speaking at a White House press briefing on Thursday, Trump framed the large-scale investment as a historic intervention to ease the growing cost of living burden on everyday Americans, touting coal as a “clean, reliable” domestic energy source. “So today we’re taking historic action to bring down the price of energy and the cost of living for all Americans with the power of clean, beautiful coal,” he told reporters.

    The policy rollout comes in direct response to the energy market volatility triggered by the ongoing war with Iran, which closed the Strait of Hormuz — the critical global chokepoint that carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s total oil and gas supplies. The supply disruption has sent energy prices soaring across the U.S.: as of Thursday, the national average price for a gallon of gasoline hit $4.24, up sharply from $2.98 on the day the U.S. and Israel launched strikes against Iran. Year-over-year consumer energy prices surged 17.9% through April, according to the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

    To fund the unprecedented coal revival, Trump invoked the Defense Production Act, a Cold War-era legislative tool that grants the U.S. president sweeping emergency authority to direct federal funding to industries deemed critical to national security. The bulk of the funding — $500 million in federal allocation — will go toward shoring up 14 at-risk existing coal plants spread across 10 states: Kentucky, North Carolina, Indiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, Arizona, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Wisconsin and West Virginia. It will also cover construction of a large new coal export terminal in Oakland, California, which the president projects will generate more than 1,400 new construction and operations jobs.

    An additional $200 million will be allocated by the U.S. Department of Energy to build two brand-new coal-fired power plants, one in Alaska and the other in West Virginia. These facilities will mark the first new coal plants permitted and constructed in the U.S. since 2013, ending a 13-year gap in new coal energy development driven by market pressures and regulatory shifts toward lower-carbon energy sources. In total, the full $700 million package is expected to support approximately 14,000 existing and new jobs across the domestic coal sector, according to Trump’s projections.

    Beyond infrastructure and jobs, the president used the announcement to double down on his long-standing criticism of renewable energy expansion, arguing that global economic leadership depends on robust coal production. He attacked nations investing heavily in wind and other renewable sources as what he called “failure countries”, framing his policy as a defense of American energy dominance. He also projected the initiative would save U.S. consumers a cumulative $50 billion in new energy generation costs that he claimed would otherwise be passed on to households as higher utility and fuel bills.

    The plan marks one of the most aggressive federal interventions in the U.S. energy sector in modern history, using emergency wartime authority to prop up a declining fossil fuel industry amid a period of acute global energy instability.

  • How Trump’s White House ballroom plan has doubled in size and cost over a year

    How Trump’s White House ballroom plan has doubled in size and cost over a year

    One year after former (and current) U.S. President Donald Trump first unveiled plans for a new White House state ballroom, the proposal has ballooned far beyond its original scope, with a projected price tag that has doubled to $400 million and new additions that include high-security features ranging from a rooftop drone port to an underground three-story hospital and top-secret military facilities. The expansion of the project comes as congressional Republicans have pushed for hundreds of millions in taxpayer funding for the complex, at a moment when American households are already grappling with soaring living costs tied to the ongoing Iran conflict – even as Trump has repeatedly insisted the entire build would come at no cost to public coffers.

    The proposal’s evolution, tracked by BBC Verify through public statements and social media posts from the president, offers a rare window into how one of the most sweeping changes to the White House complex in decades has shifted dramatically over 12 months. It all began on June 6 last year, when Trump shared the news on his social media platform Truth Social, saying he had already inspected the proposed construction site. He framed the project as a lighthearted side endeavor amid his work on global economic policy and international relations with major powers including China and Russia, promising the ballroom would be built quickly and designed to complement the White House’s existing historic aesthetic.

    A month later, the Trump administration formally revealed the full initial plan: a new 90,000-square-foot state ballroom would replace the aging, extensively modified East Wing, with architectural design matching the historic main residence. The new space would hold 650 guests, a major jump from the 200-person capacity of the main residence’s East Room, which has served as the White House’s primary venue for official state events and ceremonies for decades. In recent years, large state gatherings – including 2022’s state dinner for French President Emmanuel Macron, which hosted more than 300 guests – have been forced to move to temporary tents erected on the South Lawn, a gap the new ballroom is intended to fill. The administration initially announced construction would begin by the end of that year and be completed well before the end of Trump’s second term in January 2029, with Trump emphasizing the build would not damage or interfere with the existing White House structure.

    By October, when Trump announced groundbreaking on the site, plans shifted: the 120-year-old East Wing, which previously housed dozens of offices including the First Lady’s workspace, would be fully demolished and modernized as part of the project. Within just a few days, the entire East Wing and its connecting hallway to the main White House building had been cleared by construction crews.

    It is after groundbreaking that the project’s scope expanded dramatically. In an update shared to Truth Social this past April, Trump revealed the new design would add a suite of security-focused features: bomb-resistant blast shelters, a cutting-edge underground medical facility, classified military command space, and a dedicated rooftop landing pad for drones. Recent satellite imagery confirms extensive excavation work for the three-story underground section of the complex.

    Trump’s public framing of the project has also shifted, with growing emphasis on its national security purpose. Where he made no mention of security in 2025’s posts, he has referenced the project’s security benefits at least 10 times on Truth Social in 2026 alone, a ramp-up that followed an assassination attempt at the April White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Speaking at a White House press conference immediately after the shooting, Trump argued the new facility was a critical demand from both the U.S. Secret Service and the military, noting it would be drone-proof and fitted with bulletproof glass. He has since claimed the ballroom’s roof will be resistant to missile attacks, and shared an AI-generated rendering of the rooftop “DronePort” that he says will protect Washington D.C. for decades to come.

    When contacted by BBC Verify to ask about the shifting scope and purpose of the project, the White House has denied any changes to the original plan.

    Funding for the project has emerged as a core point of controversy. Trump has repeatedly stated the ballroom, which was originally estimated to cost $200 million, would require zero taxpayer dollars, claiming the entire cost would be covered by his personal funds and private donations. But this May, congressional Republicans requested $1 billion in a broad security spending package that reportedly earmarked $220 million specifically for security works tied to the new ballroom complex. That initial request was rejected by Congress and withdrawn, but Republicans have since introduced a separate $400 million security bill linked to the project, co-sponsored by Senator Lindsey Graham, who says the funding would be raised through new fees on imported goods and international travelers entering the U.S.

    The project’s direct construction cost estimate has also doubled over the past year, rising from the original $200 million to the current $400 million, according to BBC Verify’s analysis of 35 Trump Truth Social posts about the project published over the past year. Trump has defended the cost increase, telling reporters during a May visit to the construction site that the project remains on schedule and on budget, and the only change is that the project size was doubled at the request of the U.S. military. The Department of Defense did not respond to BBC Verify’s request for comment on what specific changes it requested. When asked about the push for taxpayer funding tied to the project, Trump argued the requested funds are for general White House grounds security upgrades, not the ballroom itself.

    When construction began last October, the administration released an initial list of private donors that included major tech firms such as Amazon, Google and Meta, as well as multiple billionaire investors, but no updated details on donor contributions have been released since. The White House also declined to provide BBC Verify with a breakdown of how much of the final cost will be covered by Trump personally, by private donors, and by public funds, saying it had no additional information to share.

    Beyond funding, legal questions have been raised about whether the administration has the authority to demolish and rebuild the portion of the White House complex. The U.S. National Trust for Historic Preservation has filed a lawsuit to halt construction, arguing that no sitting president has the legal right to demolish sections of the historic White House without formal public or regulatory review. The Trump administration has pushed back by pointing to past renovation projects carried out by previous presidential administrations, but historians note that the current proposal is the most extensive change to the White House in more than 70 years. Political historian Dr. Matthew Dallek of George Washington University notes that President Harry Truman’s sweeping mid-20th century White House renovation faced little opposition because it was prompted by severe structural decay that threatened the entire building – a justification that does not apply to the current project.

    A federal judge initially issued a temporary order blocking construction after the National Trust’s lawsuit, but the Trump administration appealed the ruling, and construction was allowed to resume pending a full hearing scheduled for this June.

  • US journalist pleads guilty to acting as an illegal agent for China

    US journalist pleads guilty to acting as an illegal agent for China

    In a high-profile development in the U.S. Department of Justice’s ongoing crackdown on undeclared foreign influence operations, American journalist Thomas Pauken II — who has resided in China and held positions with multiple Chinese state-run media outlets since 2010 — entered a guilty plea on Thursday to charges of acting as an undisclosed illegal agent for the Chinese government.

    Pauken, who publishes under the pen name Tom McGregor to distinguish himself from his father, a former chair of the Texas Republican Party who ran for governor in the 2000s, is scheduled for sentencing on September 1 at a federal U.S. District Court. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years behind bars.

    This guilty plea marks the most recent entry in a series of federal prosecutions targeting individuals accused of working on behalf of the Chinese government without meeting the legal requirement to disclose their foreign ties to U.S. authorities. Earlier this year, in May, former Arcadia, California mayor Eileen Wang reached a plea deal to admit guilt on identical charges of acting as an illegal foreign agent. Prosecutors allege Wang carried out directives from Chinese officials, including circulating pro-Beijing content to shape U.S. public opinion.

    Another high-profile case involving similar accusations involves Linda Sun, a former senior aide to multiple New York governors. Sun faces charges including failure to register as a foreign agent, conspiracy to launder money with her husband, and facilitating illegal visa fraud for Chinese nationals seeking entry to the U.S. She has pleaded not guilty to all counts. A criminal trial against her concluded in December with a mistrial after the federal jury deadlocked and could not reach a unanimous verdict.

    Court documents and the investigative affidavit outline the timeline of Pauken’s alleged activities. He was first taken into custody in February, following a trip to Washington D.C. after traveling from China. According to the affidavit, Pauken arranged a meeting with an individual who had previously pursued a position in the Trump White House. During the meeting, he provided the individual with a SIM card and offered a $10,000 payout in exchange for producing policy reports that would ultimately be delivered to Chinese President Xi Jinping.

    Investigators allege Pauken positioned himself as an intermediary between Chinese intelligence operatives and U.S.-based contacts who could supply sensitive, and potentially classified, information to Beijing. As of Thursday evening, Pauken’s legal team had not issued any public statement and did not respond to requests for comment on the guilty plea.

    Court records show Pauken’s collaboration with Chinese agents dates back to at least 2019. He worked closely with an individual he identified as “Cathy,” whom he acknowledged he believed was affiliated with China’s national security apparatus. Between 2019 and 2025, Pauken received more than $100,000 in payments for the reports he delivered to Cathy, in addition to having all of his U.S. travel expenses fully covered by his Chinese contacts. Cathy explicitly told Pauken that the reports he produced would be read directly by President Xi, the affidavit states.

    Pauken was first questioned by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents when he reentered the United States in January 2025. During interviews with CBP and FBI investigators, Pauken admitted he planned to provide the Trump administration job applicant with a Samsung smartphone and a laptop computer. He told agents he was “80% sure” that if the contact was hired for a role in the new administration, they would pass classified U.S. government information to Beijing, according to the affidavit.

    After that January interview, federal agents allowed Pauken to proceed with his planned meeting, instructing him to continue the operation as part of the undercover investigation. The contact who met with Pauken later told investigators that while Pauken initially requested only publicly available open-source information, he regularly noted that his Chinese clients sought access to far more sensitive, classified data. The contact also confirmed they never had any intention of cooperating with Pauken’s proposal.

    A year after the first encounter, Pauken traveled back to the U.S. to reconnect with the contact, framing the outreach around a potential commercial oil and gas partnership. The pair met at a Washington D.C. restaurant on February 23, then held a second meeting two days later at a local hotel — a meeting that was closely monitored by FBI agents.

    During the second meeting, Pauken provided the contact with the pre-arranged SIM card and reiterated the $10,000 offer for weekly reports that would “influence policy and be read by Xi Jinping,” the affidavit records.

    U.S. government database checks confirm that Pauken never completed the required registration under the federal Foreign Agents Registration Act, nor did he notify the U.S. Attorney General that he was acting on behalf of the Chinese government, a legal requirement for all foreign agents operating in the U.S.

    The Department of Justice also revealed additional allegations against Pauken: he also sold custom intelligence reports to a group of Chinese individuals based in Wuhan, central China. The group sought non-public information about U.S. technology sector developments and internal Justice Department operations, and asked Pauken to recruit a U.S.-based expert to assist them in carrying out cyberespionage operations against American targets.

  • Trump confirms mass rally, scrapping US 250th concerts

    Trump confirms mass rally, scrapping US 250th concerts

    U.S. President Donald Trump made a key announcement Thursday, confirming plans for a large-scale public rally in Washington D.C. on June 24 to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence, while confirming he had scrapped the planned series of anniversary concerts after multiple high-profile performers dropped out of the lineup.

    Speaking on his personal social platform Truth Social, Trump framed the upcoming gathering as a historic event for the nation. “In celebration of our Country’s 250 Year History, we will be bringing you, LIVE, the Greatest Rally, EVER! It will be special at every level — A Rally to end all Rallies!” the 79-year-old Republican incumbent wrote.

    Responding to the wave of artist withdrawals, Trump pushed back against the original concert format, arguing that big-name performers demanded exorbitant fees while offering little in terms of engaging performance. “We don’t want singers with no talent, but big fees to put you to sleep, we’ve told them all to stay home,” he said. “All we want is you, me, a few speakers, and the Greatest Music ever played, the same Music you have listened to for years!”

    Trump confirmed that the rally will still feature musical performances, including from Lee Greenwood — the artist behind “God Bless the USA,” a long-standing staple of Trump’s political campaign rallies. The event will also include sets from U.S. military bands and choruses, he added, ending with a speech from himself, whom he described as “a fine and highly dignified gentleman known as, President DONALD J. TRUMP!”

    While Trump had previously teased that the gathering would double as a rally for his “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) movement, he made no mention of the slogan or movement in Thursday’s official announcement.

    The 250th anniversary celebrations have been a priority for Trump, who has sought to tie his presidency to the milestone. His most high-profile planned addition to the calendar is a mixed martial arts UFC fight, scheduled for June 14 — Trump’s 80th birthday — held in a custom-built arena constructed on the White House South Lawn. Construction work on that purpose-built venue is still ongoing as of this report.

    Troubles have mounted for the anniversary celebrations in recent weeks, however. Shortly after being named as performers for a series of concerts tied to the July 4 holiday, multiple musical acts pulled out of the lineup, with several publicly citing concerns over the event’s heavy politicization. Among the high-profile withdrawals are popular country artist Martina McBride and Bret Michaels, lead vocalist of iconic 1980s rock band Poison.

    The concerts were originally scheduled to launch June 25 on the National Mall, as part of a slate of official anniversary events organized by Freedom 251 — a public-private partnership group backed directly by Trump. After the wave of withdrawals, the remaining lineup is made up almost entirely of acts whose mainstream popularity peaked decades ago, including 1990s rapper Vanilla Ice and 1990s dance group C+C Music Factory. The truncated lineup has sparked widespread sarcasm and criticism across social media platforms from users and political observers.

  • Mangrove forests are healing after decades of human destruction

    Mangrove forests are healing after decades of human destruction

    Long known as one of the planet’s most underappreciated environmental workhorses, coastal mangrove forests are now making a surprising global recovery, according to new research published by an international team of scientists. For nearly half a century, these salt-tolerant swampy trees faced rapid, widespread clearing as coastal development, industrial aquaculture, and agricultural expansion pushed human activity deeper into tropical and subtropical shorelines. But the latest study reveals a striking reversal of this decades-long trend: since 2010, global mangrove coverage has grown at a faster rate than it has declined.

    Mangroves deliver a rare stack of interconnected ecological and community benefits that few other ecosystems can match. Their dense, tangled root systems act as natural coastal barriers, dissipating wave energy from storm surges and tsunamis to shield millions of people living in low-lying coastal communities. They are also unparalleled carbon sinks, storing up to five times more carbon dioxide per hectare than most terrestrial forests, making them a critical natural tool in the fight against anthropogenic climate change. Beyond climate and protection, their root networks form thriving nurseries for hundreds of species of fish, crustaceans, and other marine life, supporting global fisheries and coastal biodiversity.

    From the 1980s through 2010, this vital ecosystem suffered devastating losses: more than 12,000 square kilometers of mangrove forest—an area roughly equal to the entire island nation of Jamaica—was cleared across Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Today, that net loss has shrunk dramatically to just 849 square kilometers total since the 1980s, a staggering reduction that points to widespread, meaningful change in how communities and governments value these forests.

    Researchers attribute this shift to multiple interconnected factors, starting with shifting public and policy attitudes spurred by high-profile climate disasters. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed hundreds of thousands of people across the region, was a turning point: communities observed that shorelines protected by intact mangrove forests suffered far less damage and loss of life than those where forests had been cleared. In Indonesia, one of the world’s most mangrove-dense nations, this awareness led to a sharp slowdown in clearing mangroves for commercial fish farms. A similar shift followed Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar in 2008, reinforced by a national logging ban implemented in 2016; today, mangrove coverage is growing steadily there, while it has stabilized in Indonesia after decades of decline.

    Beyond policy and awareness, researchers highlight mangroves’ extraordinary natural resilience as a key driver of recovery. Once human clearing activity stops, these forests can regenerate naturally and expand on their own far faster than many restoration projects can achieve. Improved satellite imaging technology also played a role in documenting this recovery: the study used high-resolution Landsat satellite data, which is far more sensitive to small changes in forest canopy coverage than older mapping systems, allowing scientists to detect new growth that previous global assessments missed. Independent experts note this new data marks a major advance in global mangrove monitoring.

    Even with this encouraging trend, the research warns of remaining threats and uneven progress across regions. West and Central Africa have emerged as new hotspots of mangrove destruction, with the Niger Delta standing out as a particularly hard-hit area. Oil exploration and pipeline construction have left clear, permanent cut through large swathes of the delta’s mangroves, with ongoing pollution degrading remaining stands. Additionally, some new mangrove growth has a hidden environmental cost: in regions like Brazil, increased nutrient runoff from upstream deforestation and mining has created fertile growing conditions for downstream mangroves, meaning one ecosystem’s loss is fueling another’s gain. Intense tropical cyclones also continue to cause large, sudden annual losses from Australia to the Caribbean, threatening long-term recovery in storm-prone regions.

    Despite these caveats, the study’s authors frame the overall trend as a clear win for conservation. Not only has net loss slowed to a near standstill, but existing mangrove forests are also growing healthier: the proportion of closed-canopy mangroves—the most carbon-dense and biodiverse form of the ecosystem—has increased by nearly 20% since the 1980s. Lead researcher Dr. Zhen Zhang of Tulane University emphasized that the global trajectory is clearly moving in the right direction, proving that intentional conservation policy and increased public awareness can reverse even decades of ecosystem decline.

  • France stunned by Ivory Coast in World Cup warmup, Spain held by Iraq

    France stunned by Ivory Coast in World Cup warmup, Spain held by Iraq

    In a stunning pre-World Cup friendly upset held on Thursday at Nantes’ Stade de la Beaujoire, Ivory Coast secured a 2-1 victory over host nation France, with the match delivering a special personal twist for Ivory Coast’s standout performer Guéla Doué, whose own brother Désiré Doué sat on France’s substitutes bench.

    The first half looked to be heading France’s way, as promising young attacker Rayan Cherki broke through two Ivory Coast defenders in stoppage time before slotting a low shot past Ivorian goalkeeper Yahia Fofana to put Les Bleus up 1-0 going into the break. Fofana was put under consistent pressure throughout the 90 minutes, pulling off critical saves to deny star forward Kylian Mbappé, Michael Olise, and a second effort from Cherki that would have doubled France’s lead.

    Ivory Coast turned the tide early in the second half. Eight minutes after the restart, Nicolas Pépé played a perfectly timed through ball to Guéla Doué, who converted the chance to level the score at 1-1. With six minutes remaining on the clock, the 22-year-old winger set up the match-winning goal: his low cross from the right flank found Amad Diallo, who fired home to secure the unexpected win for the African side.

    France head coach Didier Deschamps opted to leave all six of his players who featured in the recent 2024 UEFA Champions League final – Ousmane Dembélé, Bradley Barcola, Warren Zaïre-Emery, Désiré Doué, Lucas Hernandez and William Saliba – on the bench for the fixture. He did bring on Hernandez, Zaïre-Emery and Barcola as second-half substitutes as he looked to change the game. The match also marked a rare public show of appreciation for Deschamps, whose tenure as France manager, which began in 2012 and includes a 2018 FIFA World Cup title and a 2022 World Cup final appearance, will end following this summer’s tournament. Many fans in attendance held up posters displaying Deschamps’ image to thank him for his years of successful leadership.

    In a separate pre-World Cup warm-up fixture on the same day, another tournament favorite Spain was held to a 1-1 draw at home against Iraq in La Coruña. La Roja, missing key young forwards Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams through injury, took an early lead through Ferran Torres, who found the back of the net in the 16th minute. But Iraq equalized before the 30-minute mark, when Merchas Doski hit a powerful left-footed strike from just outside the penalty area that beat Spain goalkeeper Joan Garcia.

    Spanish manager Luis de la Fuente confirmed after the match that he expects Lamine Yamal to regain full fitness in time for Spain’s opening World Cup group match against Cape Verde, scheduled for June 15 in Atlanta. Like Deschamps, de la Fuente rested all players who took part in the recent Champions League final – David Raya, Martin Zubimendi and Fabián Ruiz – while recently injured midfielder Mikel Merino made an appearance as a second-half substitute.

    Following Thursday’s fixtures, both European sides have one final warm-up match scheduled before traveling to the United States for the World Cup. France will face Northern Ireland in Lille on Monday, while Spain will take on Peru in Mexico the same day. For their opening group matches, Ivory Coast kicks off its World Cup campaign against Ecuador in Philadelphia on June 14, with Spain facing Cape Verde a day later in Atlanta. France opens its title bid against Senegal on June 16 in New Jersey, while Iraq meets Norway on the same day in Massachusetts.

  • Lao president visits China Academy of Space Technology

    Lao president visits China Academy of Space Technology

    For decades, China Daily Information Co (CDIC) has maintained clear intellectual property guidelines for all content hosted on its official digital platform. First established with copyright protection in 1994, the company retains full legal rights to every piece of content published on the site, covering a broad range of material from written articles and photographic work to interactive multimedia resources. Under CDIC’s intellectual property rules, no party is permitted to republish or reuse any content from the platform in any format without obtaining explicit, written advance authorization from the organization.

    Beyond its copyright policies, the website also provides practical guidance for visitors, recommending that users access the platform through browsers configured to a minimum resolution of 1024*768 for the optimal viewing experience. The site also holds the required official licensing for online multimedia publication, with a published license identifier 0108263 and official registration number 130349 on record.

    To help visitors engage more deeply with the organization, the platform lists a range of quick access links for core services and resources. These include a detailed informational page about China Daily, resources for brands and organizations interested in purchasing advertising space on the site, contact information for general inquiries, current open job vacancies for job seekers, and dedicated employment resources for expatriate workers looking for opportunities with the organization. Visitors are also invited to follow China Daily’s content across its social media channels to stay updated on the latest news and updates.

  • Tough cookies: How pop group Le Sserafim overcame internal conflict and internet trolls

    Tough cookies: How pop group Le Sserafim overcame internal conflict and internet trolls

    The pop industry is littered with the remains of iconic bands that collapsed under the weight of internal drama: British boyband Five split after backstage brawls turned physical, 90s pop collective All Saints disbanded over a petty argument about a jacket, and Britrock legends Oasis endured a 16-year split after Liam Gallagher pelted brother Noel with a piece of fruit. What is far less common is a musical act willing to openly address their rifts, work through friction, and emerge stronger on the other side. That makes the latest full-length album from global K-pop phenomenon Le Sserafim a truly remarkable outlier in modern pop.

    Nestled in the heart of the group’s new tracklist is the raw, introspective single “Need Your Company”, a track that lays bare the past interpersonal tension between Huh Yunjin, the group’s New York-born vocalist, and leader Kim Chaewon. Over a gentle, melancholy guitar riff, the pair sing lines that cut straight to complicated, messy human connection: “Is friendship all just for show? / I really wanna trust you… no matter how you hurt me.”

    In an interview from her label’s Seoul offices, Yunjin opened up about the emotional core of the track, explaining it explores the awkward, conflicting feeling of craving closeness with someone while struggling to vocalize that vulnerability. “There are times when you doubt your own emotions, like, ‘Oh, am I the only one who wants to be this intimate? Are they not committed to this relationship?’” she said.

    Chaewon, who was unable to attend the interview while recovering from a neck injury, previously framed the friction behind the song as a failure of communication rather than deep personal dislike. Speaking to Korean talk show *Lee Mu-jin Service*, she noted that all people have inherently different personalities, and the pair spent months working to adapt to those differences. For Yunjin, even opening up about pain was an act of care: “Sometimes saying, ‘you hurt me’, can sound harsh, but it can also mean I care enough about us that I want things to get better,” she wrote in the album’s liner notes. Chaewon echoed that sentiment, confirming that after their honest conversation, the pair actually grew closer – close enough, in fact, to complete a heart-stopping 233-metre tandem bungee jump off Macau Tower together. After the jump, Chaewon laughed that she spent the entire fall clinging to Yunjin.

    This willingness to confront hard feelings head-on is far from a one-off for the quintet, which also includes Japanese members Miyawaki Sakura and Nakamura Kazuha, and youngest member Hong Eunchae. Since debuting in 2022, the group has carved out a unique niche in K-pop, blending radical self-awareness with playful, unapologetic absurdity. Their name, an anagram of the phrase “I’m Fearless”, established their early brand: combative, bulletproof confidence, paired with sophisticated bass-driven dance hits like *Antifragile* and *Unforgiven* that cemented their mainstream appeal.

    But their resolve was tested early on by a vicious, sustained online hate campaign that targeted every part of the group, from their live vocal performances to their physical appearance, and even their family members. A 2024 documentary laid bare the heavy toll that vitriol took on the five members, with Sakura – a seasoned industry veteran who previously performed with J-pop’s HKT48 and global project group Iz*One – breaking down in tears as she questioned why she continued to put herself through the pain of public scrutiny.

    Against all odds, Le Sserafim turned that hardship into success, growing into one of the best-selling pop acts on the planet. They have notched five Top 10 albums in the United States, and their tracks have amassed more than 33,000 appearances on Spotify’s global charts. As they have matured both as people and artists, their music has grown more adventurous and genre-bending: 2024’s *Crazy* drew inspiration from New York ballroom culture with pulsing house beats, while 2025’s *Come Over* enlisted production from beloved British dance collective Jungle. Even fellow artists have taken note: British singer-producer PinkPantheress, a self-professed fan, collaborated on a remix of *Crazy* and hailed the group’s music as “way ahead of its time”.

    The group has also paid forward the resilience they built through hardship, mentoring newer labelmates Katseye as the rookie group navigated their own run-ins with internet trolls. “Yunjin, I talk to her almost every single day,” Katseye member Sophia Laforteza said, with bandmate Lara Raj adding, “I feel like, if there is anyone that would understand us, it’s them.”

    A masterclass in handling online hate came in the form of the group’s 2025 one-off single *Spaghetti*, a deliciously sarcastic takedown of obsessive haters that asks the blunt question: If we’re really that terrible, why are you so obsessed with us? Packed with layered hooks and a showstopping guest verse from BTS’ J-Hope, the track became a massive viral hit and marked a creative turning point for the group. “We realised how positive and energetic we are, especially on tour. It turns out that having fun looks really good on us,” Yunjin explained. “That helped us narrow down what we want to do for our new music, and that’s how Spaghetti came along.”

    The track’s quirky visuals and unapologetic fun opened a new creative chapter for the group, who have long been known for their off-stage humor – from their absurd attempts to sneak out of rehearsals, to their relentless gentle teasing of youngest member Eunchae, to the time Kazuha snuck into a concert queue disguised in a full horse costume – and now they’re weaving that personality into their recorded music.

    Another album track, *Saki*, leans into this playful satire, building a raucous posse rap around a fake alter-ego that Sakura created to mock the absurd online rumors that follow the group. “It’s kind of satire,” Yunjin explained. “Everybody’s like, ‘Who the heck is Saki?’ Why is everybody so obsessed with her? Is she a nepo-baby? I heard she’s the rudest person. No, I’ve heard she stays sober and drives everyone home from parties.’” The punchline? Sakura laughs that Saki is actually an introvert who never attends parties, preferring to stay home and knit. For Sakura, hobbies like crocheting and knitting are a way to hold onto her identity outside of the group: “I’m kind of afraid to just be ‘Sakura from Le Sserafim’,” she said. “That’s why I try to take on a lot of different hobbies, because even if you’re going through hard times, when you go into the world of crochet, all those fears are brushed away.” Her knitting hobby has even spawned its own line of official merchandise, while Kazuha’s famous horse costume stunt has inspired hundreds of viral memes.

    At its core, the new album is a love letter to the solidarity that has kept the group intact through every high and low. Before writing and recording began, Yunjin – who co-wrote the majority of the album’s tracks – sat down with each bandmate to talk through their shared experiences and feelings. “She’s one of our closest friends,” Kazuha said. “We’ve been through the same things and shared a lot of different emotions. The fact that she can make that into a song for us, so we can speak through the lyrics, means a lot.” Yunjin summed up the album’s core mission: “Overall, we had the same sentiment. We wanted to talk about how this sisterhood helped us become resilient, so that we’re able to dream and to run again.”

    The album’s lead single *Celebration* brings that message of solidarity to the dancefloor, while redefining what the group’s “fearless” brand means four years into their career. “During our early days, fearless meant that we’re free of fear, and that’s why we’re strong,” Sakura explained. “In the era of ‘Fearless 2.0’, we don’t deny fear but we embrace it. We use fear as fuel to go forward.”

    Perhaps the group’s most fearless creative move yet is their latest single *Boompala*, which samples 1990s novelty hit *The Macarena* over a thumping Latin House beat. The unlikely combination shouldn’t work on paper – but it defies expectations, resulting in another viral smash. The track’s opening choreography, which shows Chaewon pausing mid-meditation to sneak in a silly dance, has exploded in popularity on TikTok, and the album has already sold more than 500,000 physical copies worldwide in its first week.

    For long-time fans who have stood by the group through every hardship, the band’s transition into a happier, more confident new era is deeply heartwarming. The group will kick off their second world tour this July, marking their first ever UK show with a stop at London’s O2 Arena on 16 October. Eunchae says the new tour will build on the raucous party atmosphere of their 2025 *EasyCrazyHot* run, packed with new ideas for staging and performance that the group brainstormed on their first world tour, which wrapped in January. “On tour, we kept thinking, ‘Maybe we can try this kind of performance or that kind of stage direction next time’. So we’ve added lots of those ideas. I think it’s going to be a visual and aural feast,” she said.

    Yunjin also teased that more new music is on the horizon before the tour wraps in December, pointing to the album’s title, which is labeled as “Part 1”. For fans who have fallen in love with the group’s raw honesty and unapologetic joy, that can only be good news. Tickets for Le Sserafim’s O2 Arena show are on sale now.

  • Here’s why election results in the second largest US city are so slow

    Here’s why election results in the second largest US city are so slow

    As vote counting continues across California’s 2026 statewide primary elections, the days-long wait for final results has sparked familiar political friction, with former President Donald Trump amplifying baseless claims of electoral fraud to criticize the state’s widely used vote-by-mail system. Here is a breakdown of why results are taking longer to finalize, and what the current state of key races looks like.

    California, the most populous U.S. state, has more than 23 million registered voters, and state law automatically sends a mail-in ballot to every registered voter ahead of any election. Currently, around 80% of all ballots cast in the state are submitted by mail, requiring a multi-step, labor-intensive process to sort, verify signature matches against official voter records, and count each ballot. Under state rules, any mail-in ballot postmarked by Election Day (June 2, 2026, this year) and received by county election offices no later than June 9 is considered valid, regardless of when it arrives. Additionally, provisional ballots and ballots with mismatched or missing signatures require extra follow-up: voters are notified of issues and given until two days before certification to correct any errors.

    State law grants California’s 58 counties up to 30 days after Election Day to complete counting, with final results required to be submitted to Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber by July 3, and official certification scheduled for July 10. Most county results are expected to be finalized by June 15, nearly two weeks after polls closed.

    Weber emphasized in an election night statement that the delayed outcome is entirely standard, urging Californians to remain patient. “California elections officials prioritise the right to vote and election security over rushing the vote count. We have a process that by law ensures both voting rights and the integrity of elections,” she said.

    But Trump has seized on the delay to spread unsubstantiated claims of widespread Democratic electoral misconduct, repeating false assertions he first promoted after his 2020 loss to Joe Biden. “Democrats are stealing” the California election, Trump claimed Thursday, repeating his longstanding criticism of universal mail-in voting. He has also pushed baseless claims that federal prosecutors in Los Angeles are investigating voter fraud; California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office refuted the claim on social media as another lie about the state, while a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles declined to comment on Trump’s remarks to the BBC. Trump has also called on Congress to pass his proposed Save America Act, which would mandate proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration, and previously issued an executive order to restrict mail-in voting by creating federal voter eligibility lists, a move experts and critics say exceeds presidential authority.

    Newsom’s office has pushed back against the misinformation, reposting an official explainer of the vote counting process on social media, noting that state officials also wish results could be finalized more quickly.

    As of Thursday, the Associated Press reports that roughly 56% of all ballots have been counted. In the high-profile race for California governor, where Newsom is term-limited and dozens of candidates are vying to advance to the November general election, early partial results show Republican Steve Hilton, a British-American former television host, holding a narrow lead with 27.6% of the vote (1.42 million votes counted). Trailing closely behind are Democratic candidates Xavier Becerra, a former Biden cabinet secretary, with 25.6% (1.32 million votes), and billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer with 19.8% (1.02 million votes). Under California’s jungle primary system, the top two vote-getters advance to the general election in November, regardless of partisan affiliation. Trump publicly congratulated Hilton on his early lead Wednesday on social media. Political analysts stress that Hilton’s lead could shift dramatically as millions of remaining outstanding ballots are counted in the coming days.

    In the Los Angeles mayoral primary, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass has secured a spot in the November runoff, but made history as the first sitting mayor in more than two decades to fail to reach the 50% vote threshold needed to avoid a runoff. As of Thursday’s count, Bass holds 35% of the vote. The race for the second runoff spot remains too close to call: reality TV star Spencer Pratt holds 29.9% of the vote, while Democratic city council member Nithya Raman trails close behind at 22.8%.

    The sheer scale of Los Angeles County contributes heavily to the extended counting timeline: the county is home to nearly 6 million registered voters, a larger voting population than 41 U.S. states, and the city of Los Angeles itself is the second most populous city in the country. Despite the delays, election officials note that the slower timeline is a deliberate feature of California’s election system, designed to protect ballot access and ensure every valid vote is counted.

  • ‘It looks black’ – Americans react to Reflecting Pool’s completed paint job

    ‘It looks black’ – Americans react to Reflecting Pool’s completed paint job

    After multiple weeks of intensive renovation work at one of Washington D.C.’s most iconic public landmarks, crews have started the process of refilling the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool — a project that has already sparked heated discussion among visitors over its freshly applied coating. The material used to line the basin is a specially selected shade officially labeled “American flag blue”, but many casual observers stepping up to the edge of the partially filled pool are saying the finished surface reads as deep black to the naked eye.

    The Reflecting Pool, which draws millions of domestic and international tourists every year, has long been recognized for its mirror-like views of the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, a feature that has made it one of the most photographed sites in the U.S. capital. This latest renovation was aimed at addressing long-standing issues with leaking and erosion that have plagued the structure for decades, with the new coating intended to improve durability and reduce maintenance needs moving forward.

    As water levels continue to rise slowly across the 1,668-foot-long basin, visitors have been sharing mixed reactions on social media and in on-the-record interviews, with many noting that the darker hue fundamentally changes the visual character of the landmark that generations have known. Others have pushed back, arguing that the true color will become more apparent once the pool is completely filled, and that the darker base will actually improve the clarity of the iconic reflections the site is famous for. Project managers have not yet issued an official comment addressing the public’s observations about the coating’s perceived color discrepancy.