Global Pulse

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  • Israel conveys ‘concerns’ to US on Gaza plan and keeps striking

    Israel conveys ‘concerns’ to US on Gaza plan and keeps striking

    Fresh tensions have emerged between the Israeli government and the Trump administration over a proposed framework to end the months-long Gaza war, with Jerusalem formally conveying its sharp concerns to Washington on Monday while continuing military strikes across the besieged Palestinian territory. This latest disagreement exposes a growing rift between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Donald Trump, just months before Netanyahu faces a critical reelection contest in October — a race where the Israeli leader has centered his campaign on his close personal and political alliance with the U.S. president, whom he met with just last week.

    At the heart of Israel’s objections is the demand for concrete, verifiable full disarmament of the Hamas militant group, which last Friday announced it would surrender its weapons to a newly formed interim Palestinian governing committee under the Trump-backed peace plan. In an official statement to Agence France-Presse, Doron Spielman, spokesperson for Netanyahu’s office, confirmed that Israeli officials had shared their reservations with U.S. counterparts. “The version that has been made public does not reflect Israel’s positions,” Spielman said, adding that Israeli intelligence assessments confirm Hamas has spent the months since the October 2024 ceasefire brokered by Trump actively rearming and recruiting new fighters, in clear preparation for future attacks.

    The October ceasefire has reduced the intensity of large-scale conflict, but Israel retains military control over more than 60 percent of the Gaza Strip. According to Gaza’s local authorities, over 1,200 Palestinians have been killed in the territory since the truce took effect. The Israeli military, for its part, has confirmed that five of its soldiers and one civilian contractor have been killed in Gaza during the same period.

    Trump framed Hamas’s announcement of weapons surrender as a transformative breakthrough for peace, calling the move a “major milestone” in efforts to end the devastating conflict that began when Hamas launched the deadliest single attack on Israeli soil in the country’s history on October 7, 2023. The U.S. president told reporters Friday that Israel was “very happy” with the development, but Netanyahu has until now remained publicly silent on the plan, breaking that silence only with Monday’s formal transmission of concerns to Washington.

    Spielman argued that Hamas’s continued rearming activity proves the group is planning another large-scale attack similar to the October 7 massacre, noting that the Trump administration’s own Board of Peace roadmap outlines a vision for Gaza as “a deradicalised terror-free zone that does not pose a threat to its neighbours”. “That vision stands in direct contrast to the current reality and to Hamas’s stated intentions,” he said. “The indispensable first step toward any lasting arrangement is the genuine, verifiable and irreversible demilitarisation of Hamas. Anything short of full demilitarisation will leave Hamas with the capability to threaten Israel again.”

    The four-day-old roadmap released by the Board of Peace calls on Israel to immediately and fully end all military operations in Gaza, and outlines a timeline for a phased Israeli military withdrawal from the territory — terms that run counter to Israel’s long-held position that its forces will remain in Gaza until Hamas’s disarmament is fully completed. This disagreement over the Gaza plan is not the only rift between the two allies: Israel has also openly expressed skepticism over Trump’s diplomatic push to end the brief Iran-Israel war that broke out in late February.

    On the ground in Gaza, violence has continued unabated despite the ceasefire agreement. A Gaza-based security official confirmed that Israeli strikes carried out since early Sunday have killed 19 Palestinians, among them multiple women and children. Palestinian authorities added that an Israeli airstrike on Saturday destroyed a large stockpile of critical medical supplies, a loss that exacerbates the already catastrophic humanitarian situation across the strip. Israel has long defended its strikes, stating that Hamas systematically uses civilian infrastructure to hide weapons and fighters, and that Saturday’s strikes targeted two individuals it accuses of planning imminent attacks on Israeli civilians and military personnel.

    The growing gap between U.S. and Israeli positions has drawn sharp criticism from senior Palestinian leaders involved in drafting the peace plan. Mohammad Dahlan, a prominent Palestinian political figure who played a central role in negotiating the framework, said that after the roadmap’s release he spoke with Trump’s senior aide and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who initially indicated Israel would end all strikes starting Sunday. Dahlan quickly walked back that claim on social media, revising his statement to say Kushner only confirmed he was “working with the Israeli side to halt the attacks”. Dahlan later accused Netanyahu of actively undermining the best chance to end the devastating conflict. “Netanyahu is working to obstruct the most promising opportunity to begin ending this war,” he said.

  • Ghana parliament backs tough cocoa farm protections, with up to 20 years in prison

    Ghana parliament backs tough cocoa farm protections, with up to 20 years in prison

    ACCRA, Ghana — A controversial piece of legislation that imposes harsh criminal penalties, including decades-long prison sentences, on cocoa farmers who convert their land to other uses without explicit government authorization has been approved by Ghana’s parliament, according to a full copy of the bill reviewed by the Associated Press.

    Lawmakers passed the new regulatory measure on Thursday, but full details of the legislation were not released to the general public until late Sunday. Ghanaian President John Mahama has not yet given his final signature to enact the bill into law.

    Under the proposed legislation, all existing and future cocoa farms across Ghana would be designated as protected national assets. Any repurposing of this land for non-cocoa agricultural or industrial activity without formal government approval would be classified as a criminal offense, a provision that has already drawn sharp pushback from farming advocacy groups and smallholder producers.

    Moses Djan Asiedu, who serves both as an active cocoa farmer and the administrator of the Ghana Cooperative Cocoa Farmers and Marketing Association Limited, called the draft law unfair in its current form. Asiedu explained that the vast majority of Ghanaian cocoa producers invest their own private capital to purchase land, clear vegetation, and maintain cocoa plantations for years before they begin turning a profit, all while receiving minimal financial or infrastructural support from the national government.

    “If cocoa is recognized as a critical national asset, then the government has a responsibility to support farmers to cover their core production costs,” Asiedu told reporters.

    The harshest penalties outlined in the bill are reserved for the conversion of cocoa land to illegal gold mining, a widespread practice that has drawn growing government concern in recent years. Farmers convicted of converting cocoa farms to unauthorized mining operations would face prison sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years, plus substantial fines levied per cocoa tree destroyed in the conversion process.

    Cocoa production is the backbone of the West African regional economy, supporting hundreds of thousands of smallholder livelihoods across Ghana and neighboring Ivory Coast. For Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, cocoa bean exports account for roughly 40% of the country’s total annual export revenue. In Ghana, the second-largest global producer of cocoa, cocoa exports contribute nearly 15% of the nation’s total export earnings.

    To shield smallholder producers from volatile global commodity pricing, Ghanaian government regulators set a fixed purchase price for cocoa beans at the start of every planting season. The vast majority of beans are sold through government-licensed buying agents to insulate producers from sudden price shifts in international futures markets.

    This year, however, global cocoa markets have seen unprecedented volatility. After a major surge in cocoa futures prices that pushed contract values above $12,000 per metric ton in 2024 — the highest level recorded in decades — the market corrected sharply, crashing to roughly $4,000 per ton as new supply growth outpaced lagging global demand.

  • US faces new pressure to build weapons without China’s rare earth magnets

    US faces new pressure to build weapons without China’s rare earth magnets

    Against a backdrop of rising geopolitical friction with China and depleting U.S. military stockpiles fueled by ongoing conflict in the Middle East, a small U.S. startup is stepping into a gap that has long left American defense supply chains vulnerable to external control. Phoenix Tailings, a small refinery based in Exeter, New Hampshire, is pioneering a new approach to domestic critical mineral production by extracting high-value rare earth elements from legacy mining waste, also known as tailings, a solution that could cut years off the timeline to build a sovereign U.S. supply chain.

    For decades, China has held a near-monopoly over the processing and separation of critical minerals—inputs essential to everything from advanced fighter jets to precision-guided missiles, electric vehicle batteries, and radar systems. Even as the U.S. has raced to unwind this dependence by developing domestic mining operations, most new projects are still years away from full production. Extracting usable minerals from existing mine waste, however, offers a near-term bridge to meet soaring demand, industry leaders say.

    Phoenix Tailings currently operates out of a modest office park facility, but the company has secured a $500 million loan from the U.S. Pentagon to construct a massive new expansion called the Freedom Facility, named for its mission to free the U.S. and its Western allies from Chinese influence in the rare earth sector. Construction of the new plant will take 14 to 18 months, and when fully operational, it will boost the company’s annual production capacity from just 200 kilograms to 120 tons of processed critical metal—enough to meet a large share of U.S. defense demand for high-priority minerals like samarium.

    Inside the company’s current facility, technicians clad in heat-resistant hazmat suits and sealed face masks use a low-emission electrolysis process to separate pure rare earth metals from mining waste powder. The end product, a grayish mixture of neodymium and praseodymium, is used to manufacture high-strength permanent magnets that power F-35 fighter jets, Tomahawk cruise missiles, THAAD missile defense systems, military drones, and radar arrays. As Anthony Balladon, Phoenix Tailings co-founder and chief commercial officer, puts it: a $150 million advanced weapons system is entirely useless without the $20,000 to $30,000 in critical minerals it requires.

    The urgency of this supply chain overhaul has accelerated sharply in recent months. Ongoing conflict in the Middle East has drawn down U.S. munitions stockpiles at an unprecedented rate, and the newly escalating tensions with Iran have further stretched already thin inventories. A May 2025 analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank, warns that it could take at least three years to replenish stockpiles of key systems such as Tomahawk cruise missiles, Patriot interceptors, and THAAD defense systems. Shortfalls not only leave the U.S. and its Middle Eastern allies more vulnerable in the current conflict, but also leave the U.S. with diminished firepower for any potential future confrontation with China.

    Last month, former President Donald Trump added new pressure to the sector with an executive order tightening restrictions on defense contractors sourcing critical mineral components from China. The order also curtails the Pentagon’s ability to issue waivers for contractors that claim domestic supplies are unavailable, making it mandatory for all critical materials used in U.S. military equipment to be sourced from the U.S. or allied nations. “It is the policy of the United States that not only the finished equipment deployed by our military, but also the critical materials and components necessary to manufacture, maintain, sustain, and repair that equipment, are sourced domestically or from allied nations,” the July 20 order states.

    Major defense contractors have signaled they are working to adjust their supply chains. Lockheed Martin, the world’s largest defense contractor, said in a statement that it “continuously assesses the global rare earth supply chain to ensure access to critical materials that support our customers’ missions.” Other leading firms including Raytheon Technologies and Northrop Grumman declined to comment on their supply chain adjustments to AP.

    Balladon acknowledges that scaling domestic production to meet demand in the required timeline is a significant challenge. “It will be a tall order and a challenge to replenish these stocks and scale up in the time frame needed to meet defense demand and regulations,” he said. Still, the company is moving forward quickly, with plans to boost output to 5 tons within three months, and reach full 120-ton capacity by 2027 or 2028 at the latest.

    Phoenix Tailings is not the only firm shifting supply chains away from China. Rochester, New York-based magnet manufacturer Arnold Magnetic Technologies, which supplies critical components for precision-guided weapons, has for years relied on Chinese-sourced samarium. Today, the company is sourcing its samarium from a restarted rare earth operation in La Rochelle, France, where Belgium-based chemical firm Solvay has resumed processing rare earths from legacy mining waste that was abandoned when China dominated the global market in the 2000s. After China weaponized its rare earth monopoly in 2025 by restricting exports during the U.S.-China trade war, Solvay restarted processing operations at the site, ramping up output to meet growing demand from both European and North American defense and industrial clients. While Solvay’s materials come at a higher cost than Chinese alternatives, Arnold CEO Matt Blake notes that the magnets represent a tiny share of total weapons system costs, making the price increase negligible.

    Not all critical mineral supply gaps are close to being filled, however. Brodie Sutherland, CEO of Patriot Critical Minerals Corp., which is developing domestic tungsten mining operations in the U.S., warns that the U.S. remains fully dependent on imports for tungsten, with China controlling roughly 80% of global mine supply and an even larger share of downstream processing. With a 2027 Pentagon deadline to eliminate Chinese tungsten from defense supply chains approaching, Sutherland says U.S. production will take years to ramp up, leaving the Department of Defense reliant on existing stockpiles, recycling, and limited alternative sources in the near term.

    Despite these headwinds, Balladon remains optimistic that U.S. companies and allied partners can meet the challenge. “Ultimately, with the right support and partners across the industry, we think we can make it happen,” he said.

  • Uganda’s military unveils statue of Netanyahu’s brother who died in 1976 Entebbe hostage rescue

    Uganda’s military unveils statue of Netanyahu’s brother who died in 1976 Entebbe hostage rescue

    Nearly half a century after one of the most audacious hostage rescue missions in modern military history played out on Ugandan soil, Uganda’s military has dedicated a permanent memorial to the fallen Israeli commando who led the operation: Yonatan Netanyahu, older brother of current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The bronze statue, which depicts the lieutenant colonel holding an assault rifle in a combat-ready stance, was formally unveiled Saturday by Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda’s top military commander and the eldest son of long-serving President Yoweri Museveni, widely viewed as his likely political successor. Kainerugaba, who personally commissioned the monument, used the opening ceremony to honor the fallen soldier’s extraordinary courage and commitment. The memorial stands on the grounds of Entebbe International Airport, the exact site where the 1976 raid unfolded, and the event drew a crowd that included Israeli nationals based in the region, among them local businessman Barak Orland. The story of the Entebbe raid began when pro-Palestinian hijackers — two Palestinian militants and two German collaborators — seized an Air France passenger flight carrying 106 people, diverting it to Entebbe Airport. The hijackers separated Jewish and Israeli passengers from the rest of the group and issued an ultimatum: they would execute the hostages unless Israel released dozens of imprisoned Palestinian militants within a week. Over seven days of stalled negotiations, Israeli military planners secretly prepared a high-risk rescue mission that would go down in military legend. On the night of July 3, 1976, Israeli commandos landed at Entebbe, stormed the terminal, and engaged hijackers and responding Ugandan forces. In the under-an-hour operation, Yonatan Netanyahu, the raid’s commander, was fatally struck by enemy gunfire — the only Israeli commando killed in the mission. Just three hostages died in the crossfire, and the vast majority of captives were brought to safety. Dozens of Ugandan soldiers were also killed during the clash. At the time of the 1976 raid, Uganda was ruled by dictator Idi Amin, who had cut diplomatic ties with Israel and openly supported the Palestinian independence movement. Israel’s successful rescue severely humiliated Amin, and the operation drew sharp criticism from the Organization of African Unity, the precursor to the modern African Union, which condemned the raid as a violation of Ugandan national sovereignty. For Israel, however, the mission has become a defining moment in the nation’s modern history, widely celebrated as one of the most extraordinary military achievements in its history. Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that his brother’s death during the raid fundamentally altered the trajectory of his own life and political career. In his remarks at the unveiling, Kainerugaba emphasized the enduring meaning of the memorial beyond just remembrance. “Today, this memorial stands not only in remembrance of a distinguished soldier, but also as a tribute to the enduring values he embodied: courage in the face of danger, unwavering commitment to protecting innocent lives, and steadfast devotion to duty,” he told attendees. Today, relations between the Ugandan government and Israel are officially cordial, with President Museveni having repeatedly stated his public support for a two-state solution to resolve the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The unveiling of the monument marks a striking shift from the diplomatic tensions that surrounded the original raid, representing a public acknowledgment of the fallen soldier’s sacrifice decades after the historic mission.

  • Washington state wildfires force 60,000 people to evacuate homes

    Washington state wildfires force 60,000 people to evacuate homes

    A devastating outbreak of wildfires across Washington state has triggered the largest evacuation in the region’s recent history, forcing more than 60,000 residents to flee their homes as flames destroy hundreds of structures and cripple local infrastructure. As of Monday, three large uncontrolled blazes were still raging on the outskirts of Spokane, Washington’s second-most populous city, with emergency officials warning that containment remains far out of reach.

    Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown labeled the event “the worst natural disaster our region has ever faced”, noting that assessment teams are still working to map the full scale of destruction and have not ruled out potential fatalities. To date, no official deaths or injuries have been confirmed by authorities. Across the entire state, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources reports a total of 16 active wildfires burning across more than 250,000 acres of land. The destruction extends far beyond charred wilderness: an estimated 600 buildings, including residential homes and local commercial properties, have been reduced to ash, and local utility provider Avista Utilities confirms more than 10,000 customers remain cut off from electrical power.

    Footage captured from Spokane shows towering plumes of black smoke billowing over residential neighborhoods, with fire crews operating helicopter water dumps to slow flames advancing toward occupied homes. The conditions that allowed the fires to spread so rapidly were predicted days in advance: the U.S. National Weather Service issued an “extremely critical” fire weather warning ahead of the weekend, noting that high gusty winds paired with record-dry vegetation would create ideal conditions for fast-moving wildfires. Meteorologists and climate scientists warn that these extreme conditions are becoming increasingly common, pointing to human-caused climate change as a key driver of warmer, drier summers, more frequent intense heatwaves, and longer, more severe droughts that set the stage for catastrophic wildfire seasons.

    Washington Governor Bob Ferguson has already signed a declaration of statewide emergency to free up additional state resources, and confirmed Sunday that he has formally requested federal disaster assistance following a conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump. Speaking to media, Mayor Brown emphasized that public compliance remains critical to avoiding loss of life, urging at-risk residents to remain alert, follow evacuation orders promptly, and stay patient as first responders work to get the blazes under control. She also highlighted the enormous strain the disaster has placed on local support systems: “While local communities have stepped up with incredible generosity, and our first responders are working 24 hours a day, we need outside support to address the scale of mass displacement, the shortage of emergency housing, and the growing need for basic essential supplies for displaced residents.”

    While forecasters predict calmer, lighter winds for Monday, they have also warned that temperatures are set to climb again later this week, which could reignite active flames and speed new spread across dry unburned areas.

  • Sudan army drone strike on court session kills 35, rights group says

    Sudan army drone strike on court session kills 35, rights group says

    Three years into Sudan’s devastating civil conflict between the national army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a deadly drone attack has left dozens dead and wounded in the restive Darfur region, amplifying global concerns over escalating violence against civilian populations.

    A local Sudanese human rights monitoring group, the Emergency Lawyers Group, has confirmed that 35 people lost their lives in the Sunday afternoon strike, which hit an open-air traditional court session in Ghara al-Zawiya village. The village is currently under RSF control, a faction that holds sway over most of Darfur, Sudan’s western territory. Dozens of additional civilians and attendees were injured in the attack, and as of Monday, the Sudanese army has not issued any public statement acknowledging or responding to the incident.

    Witnesses to the strike shared chilling details with Agence France-Presse, confirming that the informal court gathering was held under a tree, with local community leaders in attendance. Among those killed were four prominent tribal leaders and two RSF commanders, the witness reported. Local outlet Darfur 24, a privately owned regional news site, cited a resident who said two unmanned aerial vehicles circled the settlement before launching at least four missiles into the gathering.

    The Emergency Lawyers Group has issued an official statement condemning the attack, calling for an immediate independent investigation into the strike. The organization emphasized that deliberately targeting civilian gatherings and community infrastructure constitutes a severe violation of established international humanitarian law. It also drew attention to a worrying growing trend in the conflict: the increasing use of drone strikes to target populated civilian areas and public gatherings, a shift that has drastically raised safety risks for millions of Sudanese civilians trapped in crossfire.

    The current conflict, which broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the RSF, has already been marked by widespread atrocities against civilian populations on both sides. The RSF has faced repeated accusations of war crimes and mass atrocities, including large-scale drone strikes targeting civilian communities over the course of the three-year war. A United Nations fact-finding mission concluded last year that the RSF’s prolonged siege and assault on el-Fasher, Darfur’s largest remaining major city, carried all the identifying characteristics of genocide—a finding the RSF has repeatedly denied.

    As the army continues to mobilize its supporters amid ongoing frontline clashes across the country, the humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan shows no sign of abating. The conflict has killed more than tens of thousands of people to date, and forced millions more to flee their homes as internally displaced persons or cross-border refugees into neighboring countries.

  • Record low Danube levels push some countries in Eastern Europe to the brink of energy emergency

    Record low Danube levels push some countries in Eastern Europe to the brink of energy emergency

    A devastating combination of prolonged drought and repeated extreme heat waves has pushed the Danube River, one of Europe’s most critical water and energy infrastructure arteries, to historically low water levels, triggering a regional energy crisis that has forced governments across Central and Eastern Europe to implement urgent power conservation measures.

    On Monday, water levels at the Danube running through Hungary’s capital Budapest dropped to approximately 10 centimeters (4 inches), a reading far below the previous all-time low of 33 centimeters (13 inches) recorded in 2018. With no substantial rainfall forecast in the coming days or weeks, and a new blistering heat wave bringing daytime temperatures above 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) driving sharp increases in both electricity and water demand, hydrological conditions are not expected to improve any time soon.

    The most pressing crisis is unfolding at Hungary’s Paks Nuclear Power Plant, the nation’s single largest source of electricity, which relies on Danube water to cool its four Soviet-built reactors. Now in its 44th year of operation, the facility is teetering on the edge of a total shutdown for the first time in its history. By Monday, successive reactor power reductions had cut output from the plant’s typical 2,000 megawatts to just 240 megawatts.

    In a Facebook video posted Monday, Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced that engineering teams had successfully kept the plant’s last operating turbine running temporarily, staving off a full shutdown that was projected over the weekend. Magyar noted that a complete power down is still likely to occur as early as Tuesday or Wednesday, but called the temporary reprieve good news, especially amid peak summer energy demand.

    Located roughly 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Budapest, Paks supplies nearly half of Hungary’s total electricity generation and meets around a third of domestic consumption. To offset the massive output gap created by the plant’s reduced operations, Hungary has turned to regional electricity imports and scaled up utilization of renewable energy sources.

    Last week, the Hungarian government called on large industrial energy users to cut consumption and asked households to voluntarily reduce power use during peak demand hours between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. Starting Monday, the government banned electric freight trains from operating during peak hours, a measure expected to save between 70 and 90 megawatt-hours of electricity daily. What began as voluntary conservation became mandatory for large industrial and commercial users after the government issued an official decree Saturday. Magyar reported that the collective effort cut national electricity use by 700 megawatts on Sunday, and thanked Hungarian residents for their cooperation.

    The crisis extends far beyond Hungary’s borders, with neighboring Serbia and Romania also grappling with crippling low water levels that have disrupted energy production, shipping, and agricultural activity.

    In Romania, the Danube’s water flow has dropped to 1,500 cubic meters per second, less than a third of the average July flow. To redirect water into the Danube’s main channel and secure cooling supplies for the state-owned Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant, the Romanian military used 180 kilograms (397 pounds) of explosives to clear rock formations near the lower Danube’s Bala Canal on Monday. Authorities have already shut down one reactor unit at Cernavoda, cutting the plant’s total output to half its normal capacity, and warn the second reactor could also be taken offline if water levels do not rise. Romania declared a nationwide energy sector state of alert Friday, and Acting Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan has appealed to citizens to voluntarily cut electricity use during evening peak hours.

    In Serbia, record low Danube levels have forced the country’s primary hydroelectric power plant to operate at just 20% of its normal capacity. Prime Minister Djuro Macut convened an emergency energy crisis meeting in Belgrade on Monday, and urged residents to minimize use of high-power household appliances, particularly air conditioning. Over the weekend, Macut described the unfolding situation as “serious and demanding.”

    Associated Press correspondents Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Serbia, and Stephen McGrath in Leamington Spa, England contributed reporting to this article.

  • Japan’s Nissan sees profit for latest quarter but warns of Middle East and China woes

    Japan’s Nissan sees profit for latest quarter but warns of Middle East and China woes

    YOKOHAMA, Japan — Japanese automaker Nissan Motor Corp. has flipped to a net profit for the first quarter of the current fiscal cycle, marking an unexpected turnaround after two consecutive years of deep annual losses, company officials announced Monday.

    The Yokohama-based manufacturer reported a 3.8 billion yen ($24 million) net profit for the January-to-March period, a stark reversal from the 115.8 billion yen net loss it recorded in the same three-month stretch last year. Quarterly total revenue also climbed 9.5% year-over-year, rising from 2.7 trillion yen to 2.96 trillion yen ($19 billion).

    Nissan has accumulated billions of dollars in losses over the past two fiscal years, but executive leadership has committed to a full return to profitability for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, which concludes in March 2027. In a press briefing, Chief Executive Ivan Espinosa confirmed that the company’s aggressive cost-reduction strategy is now gaining traction, though uneven market performance across the globe continues to pose challenges.

    “ We are managing disruption where it exists, building momentum where we see opportunity,” Espinosa told reporters. Growth in sales is holding steady in key markets including the United States and Japan, but the brand continues to see weak results in the Middle East, he added.

    The ongoing conflict in Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping chokepoint for Japanese trade with the Middle East, adding a layer of supply chain uncertainty for the automaker. In China, Nissan’s sales have been hit hard by cutthroat competition from domestic Chinese brands, which have seized a dominant lead in the fast-growing electric vehicle segment that Nissan was once an early pioneer in.

    As a result of ongoing headwinds in China, Nissan has cut its full-year global sales projection to 3.15 million vehicles, matching last year’s total output and down from an earlier forecast of 3.3 million units. The company maintains its alliance with France’s Renault SA and Japan’s Mitsubishi Motors, and also holds a technology and parts-sharing partnership with Japanese rival Honda Motor Co.

    Espinosa also addressed recent operational disruption from a magnitude 7.1 earthquake that struck southwestern Japan’s Kumamoto region last week. The tremor forced partial halts to Nissan production lines, but no employees were injured and no major damage was reported to Nissan facilities or those of its supply partners. Production disruptions are expected to wrap up by Wednesday, with an estimated total impact of 5,000 lost vehicles, Espinosa said.

    In the U.S. market, Nissan and other Japanese automakers continue to grapple with elevated import tariffs imposed by the administration of President Donald Trump. After negotiations, tariffs were lowered to 15% from the initial proposed 27.5%, but remain far higher than the previous 2.5% rate. Persistently high raw material costs also continue to put pressure on the company’s bottom line.

    Despite these overlapping challenges, Nissan has reaffirmed its earlier full-year fiscal forecasts, targeting a 20 billion yen ($127 million) net profit on 13 trillion yen ($83 billion) in total annual sales. “Our focus is unchanged: Creating value for customers, improving profitability and free cash flow, and building a stronger, more resilient Nissan for the long term,” Espinosa said.

  • Singapore bans 2 Massive Attack members after pro-Palestine display at concert

    Singapore bans 2 Massive Attack members after pro-Palestine display at concert

    In a diplomatic and social controversy that has sparked international debate over free expression versus domestic social cohesion, Singapore has permanently barred two founding members of the iconic British trip-hop group Massive Attack from reentering the country, following an on-stage pro-Palestine demonstration during a late July concert in the city-state.

    Singaporean police announced in an official statement that the two musicians were investigated over actions that took place during their sold-out July 29 performance, which included unfurling a Palestinian flag on stage and one member chanting the slogan “Free Palestine” for the crowd to hear. After completing their inquiry, law enforcement officials issued the pair formal stern warnings and added them to the country’s entry blacklist.

    Singaporean police emphasized that authorities view any action that could threaten the nation’s carefully maintained racial and religious harmony with severe seriousness. The statement called on all visitors and local residents, including foreign nationals performing in the country, to avoid bringing divisive foreign political conflicts into Singapore’s public sphere, noting that such actions can erode national social cohesion and violate the country’s commitment to the rule of law.

    While police declined to publicly name the two banned individuals, video footage shared by local Singaporean media outlets confirms the pair are the band’s two core founders: Robert “3D” Del Naja and Grant “Daddy G” Marshall.

    In an official response posted to the band’s Instagram account shortly after the ban was announced, Massive Attack representatives said the group was caught off guard and deeply disappointed by the Singaporean government’s decision.

    The band explained that long before their formal set began and after the performance concluded, large portions of the concert audience chanted “Free Palestine” spontaneously. The group said they had no prior expectation that displaying the flag in solidarity with fans would run afoul of any Singaporean regulations, but added that they remain proud of the impromptu collective expression of solidarity with the Palestinian cause alongside the audience.

    Massive Attack concluded its statement by calling on the Singaporean government to respect its own citizens’ right to express their conscientious beliefs without the threat of state enforcement.

  • Will Israel build a stealth fighter jet?

    Will Israel build a stealth fighter jet?

    During a recent press briefing on his visit to the White House in Washington, senior Israeli official — widely believed to be Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — outlined an ambitious new national defense plan: to develop an indigenously built stealth fighter jet paired with a purpose-built unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV). The core driver behind this initiative, Netanyahu has repeatedly emphasized in recent public remarks, is to eliminate Israel’s reliance on foreign military suppliers, whose political goodwill can no longer be taken for granted.

    This long-simmering anxiety over supply chain vulnerability has been sharply amplified by a string of recent disruptions. The United Kingdom has suspended key military exports to Israel, while France has deliberately interfered with defense hardware shipments and blocked Israeli participation in major European defense exhibitions including Eurosatory and the Paris Air Show. These incidents add to a decades-long pattern of intermittent supply delays from the United States across multiple presidential administrations, including cutoffs of critical equipment such as Hellfire missiles, precision bombs, JDAM guidance kits, and tank ammunition under both the Obama and Biden administrations. Most recently, hostile remarks from senior figures in the current Trump administration, including Vice President J.D. Vance, have further stoked Israeli concerns about the reliability of outside suppliers.

    According to Netanyahu’s outline, the full development program is expected to take 10 years to complete. But the initiative faces steep structural and financial challenges, rooted in Israel’s own history of domestic aerospace development.

    Israel has a decades-long track record of building its own fighter aircraft, with mixed results. Its first domestic program, the Nesher, was developed as a derivative of the French Mirage 5, pairing a French Snecma jet engine with additional Israeli and American components. The platform served effectively in the Israeli Air Force until it was replaced by its successor, the Kfir, and updated Nesher jets were later exported to Argentina, where they saw combat action against British vessels during the 1982 Falklands War. The Kfir, the next iteration of Israel’s domestic fighter program, incorporated upgraded American avionics and a General Electric J-79 engine — the same powerplant used in the U.S. F-4 Phantom. The Kfir has been exported to multiple countries, including Colombia, Ecuador, and Sri Lanka; while Ecuador retired its fleet in 2012 after 30 years of service, seven upgraded Kfirs remain in active service with Sri Lanka as of 2026.

    But Israel’s most ambitious prior domestic fighter effort, the Lavi program, ended in dramatic cancellation. Launched as an all-weather, 4.5-generation fighter platform, the Lavi quickly suffered massive cost overruns that consumed more than half of U.S. foreign military assistance allocated to Israel in the 1980s. The Israeli military openly opposed the project, arguing that its ballooning budget was crowding out other critical defense priorities, including the Merkava main battle tank and national air defense systems. At the same time, U.S. aerospace firms viewed the Lavi as a low-cost competitor to their own F-16 and F/A-18 platforms, and lobbied the Reagan administration to withdraw funding support. In 1987, the Israeli cabinet voted 12-11 (with one abstention) to cancel the program, a decision that remains controversial in Israeli defense circles to this day, with many viewing it as a devastating missed opportunity for the country’s domestic aerospace sector.

    Today, the new stealth fighter and UCAV program faces many of the same obstacles that doomed the Lavi, alongside new challenges. Any full indigenous stealth development would almost certainly still require access to American or European propulsion technology, with the U.S. being the only viable major supplier. The finished aircraft would also directly compete with offerings from major American defense primes including Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and General Dynamics, meaning U.S. opposition would likely mirror the lobbying that derailed the Lavi. To move forward, Israel would likely need to negotiate a joint venture with U.S. industry or agree to export restrictions to ease competitive concerns.

    Financially, the massive price tag of a full stealth development program would put significant strain on Israel’s national budget, threatening funding for other urgent defense priorities such as Iron Dome and other advanced air defense systems and precision smart weapons production. Additionally, Israel’s leading defense firms — including Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), Elbit Systems, and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems — are already operating at full capacity to meet existing order demands and ongoing acute security requirements.

    Against this backdrop, development of a standalone UCAV has emerged as a potentially more feasible alternative. Israel already has extensive experience integrating advanced unmanned aerial systems with its fleet of F-35 Adir stealth fighters, and UCAVs offer inherent stealth and performance advantages over manned platforms: removing the cockpit and pilot life support systems reduces radar cross-section, and unmanned platforms can withstand extreme G-forces that would incapacitate human pilots.

    Even a UCAV program, however, would still face major hurdles. Like a manned stealth fighter, it would require an American-built powerplant, and the U.S. is already far along in development of its own Loyal Wingman collaborative combat aircraft (designated the F-47), which is scheduled to reach initial operating capability by 2030. The U.S. platform is designed specifically to augment the combat capability of F-35s, absorbing risk during strikes on heavily defended high-value targets such as enemy air defenses and command nodes, and will eventually complement the U.S. Air Force’s upcoming sixth-generation NGAD air dominance fighter that will replace the F-22 Raptor.

    Ultimately, defense analysts conclude that Israel lacks the industrial depth, manufacturing capacity, and financial resources to develop both a manned stealth fighter and a new UCAV from scratch. A more pragmatic path could involve converting existing manned aircraft platforms into unmanned combat platforms, reducing development costs and timelines. As Israeli leaders weigh this critical strategic decision for the future of the country’s domestic defense aerospace sector, they will need to balance long-term strategic goals of supply independence against near-term budget realities and pressing security requirements. Most analysts expect that Israel will ultimately abandon plans for a fully indigenous manned stealth fighter, and will restructure its UCAV ambitions to align with its financial constraints and operational needs.

    This analysis was contributed by Stephen Bryen, former U.S. Deputy Under Secretary of Defense, and appears originally in his newsletter *Weapons and Strategy*.