Global Pulse

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  • Trump administration proposes 25% tariffs on Brazil, citing “unreasonable’’ trade practices

    Trump administration proposes 25% tariffs on Brazil, citing “unreasonable’’ trade practices

    In a late announcement issued Monday, the second Trump administration unveiled a proposal to levy 25% tariffs on a portion of Brazilian imports to the United States, opening a new flashpoint in bilateral trade tensions between the two Western Hemisphere powers. The proposal follows a months-long investigation conducted by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), which accuses Brazil, the world’s 10th-largest economy, of maintaining trade practices that Washington labels unreasonable and harmful to American commercial interests. Among the specific allegations cited are insufficient anti-corruption enforcement by Brazilian authorities and existing unfair Brazilian tariff barriers that disadvantage U.S. exporters.

    USTR chief Jamieson Greer acknowledged that the Trump administration had held what he described as constructive discussions with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and other senior Brazilian economic and trade officials in recent weeks. Despite those talks, however, Greer confirmed that the two sides remain far apart on addressing the core concerns raised during the Section 301 investigation. “We continue to have substantial differences in resolving the issues identified in this investigation,” Greer stated in formal comments accompanying the proposal. To allow for public and industry input, the USTR has scheduled a public hearing on the planned tariffs for July 6, giving interested stakeholders an opportunity to comment on the potential economic impacts of the new duties.

    The current proposal marks a strategic shift for the Trump administration, coming after the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a major legal blow to the administration’s earlier trade actions in February. In a landmark ruling, the high court found that Trump had overstepped his executive authority when he imposed a 25%? No correction: Last year, Trump imposed a 50% tariff on Brazilian goods using the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a move widely interpreted as a protest against the Brazilian judiciary’s prosecution of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, Trump’s political ally. Bolsonaro, a right-wing populist who preceded Lula in office, is currently facing trial for his role in attempted coup efforts to overturn his narrow 2022 electoral defeat, a case that has drawn harsh criticism from Trump and his allies.

    The Supreme Court’s February ruling invalidated all sweeping tariffs imposed by Trump under IEEPA, eliminating a key tool the administration had used to pressure trading partners and wiping out billions in projected tariff revenue. Unlike IEEPA, however, tariffs authorized under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act — the legal authority the administration is relying on for the new Brazilian tariffs — have withstood repeated legal challenges in U.S. courts. Trade analysts note the administration’s new move is part of a broader strategy to shift its aggressive trade agenda to a more legally solid foundation, while also working to recover lost tariff revenue from the scrapped IEEPA duties.

    Ryan Majerus, a trade attorney and partner at the international law firm King & Spalding, pointed out that the proposed tariff package carves out exceptions for more than half of all U.S. imports from Brazil. Key excluded products include Brazilian civilian aircraft and critical industrial minerals, which are heavily relied on by U.S. manufacturing and aerospace sectors. The exemption of these strategically important goods suggests the administration has sought to limit potential economic backlash from U.S. industries that depend on Brazilian imports, while still maintaining pressure on the Brazilian government to make trade and policy concessions.

  • Zimbabwe justice minister introduces bill to extend 83-year-old president’s term

    Zimbabwe justice minister introduces bill to extend 83-year-old president’s term

    Zimbabwe’s legislative branch has become the center of a heated national debate this week after the country’s justice minister tabled a sweeping constitutional amendment bill that would reshape the nation’s electoral landscape and extend the sitting president’s time in office. The proposed changes, introduced Tuesday in Parliament, would adjust the timeline of upcoming national polls, lengthen all elected officials’ tenures, and fundamentally alter how the country chooses its head of state.

    If enacted, the bill would push back the 2028 presidential election by two years, extending 83-year-old President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s current term until 2030. Beyond delaying the upcoming poll, the legislation would extend the five-year term limit for all elected positions — including president, members of Parliament, municipal councilors and mayors — to seven years. Most notably, the proposal would also move presidential selection away from the current system of direct popular vote to appointment by sitting members of the national legislature.

    This executive overhaul has already sparked sharp backlash and escalated political friction across the southern African nation, where government critics have long faced routine detention and official harassment. Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi confirmed last week that the ruling administration is pushing for an expedited legislative timeline, with a target to pass the measure through the majority-ruling Parliament by the end of June, before sending it to Mnangagwa to sign into law.

    Mnangagwa first took office in 2017, when a military-assisted popular uprising removed his long-time mentor and former ruler Robert Mugabe, who led the country for decades before his 2019 death. The ruling ZANU-PF party controls an overwhelming majority in Parliament, and maintains aligned working relations with a faction of Zimbabwe’s fractured opposition movement, putting the bill on a clear path toward passage in the legislative branch.

    Critics of the amendment argue that altering presidential tenure requires a public referendum to gain legitimate democratic support, asserting that such a fundamental change to the nation’s foundational law cannot be enacted by Parliament alone. Supporters of the proposal push back, noting that the constitutional cap of two total presidential terms would remain intact under the changes — only the length of each individual term would increase. Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court has not yet issued a ruling on multiple pending legal challenges brought against the amendment, leaving the final legal fate of the proposal uncertain.

  • Kostyuk dedicates historic win to Ukraine

    Kostyuk dedicates historic win to Ukraine

    In a moment that blended sporting triumph with raw, heartfelt grief, 23-year-old Ukrainian tennis star Marta Kostyuk etched her name into Grand Slam history at the 2025 French Open, dedicating her historic quarterfinal victory to her war-torn homeland after outlasting compatriot Elina Svitolina in a three-set thriller.

    The clash on Paris’ Court Philippe Chatrier marked the first ever major quarterfinal contested between two Ukrainian women, a landmark moment for the country’s tennis community that unfolded against the grim backdrop of a devastating Russian missile and drone strike that killed at least 18 people across Ukraine just 24 hours before the two players took the court. When the final point landed to secure Kostyuk’s 6-3 2-6 6-2 win, an emotional Kostyuk broke down in tears as she addressed the cheering Paris crowd, making clear where her win belonged.

    “We had another difficult night in Ukraine, especially in Kyiv where so many people died, so I want to give this match to Ukraine,” she said, her voice cracking as former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli stepped in to embrace her during the post-match on-court interview. The Parisian crowd responded with a lengthy standing ovation, with many spectators waving Ukrainian flags in a show of solidarity.

    Beyond the historic result, Kostyuk also paid warm tribute to Svitolina, the 31-year-old seventh seed who has long been a trailblazer for Ukrainian tennis. Calling Svitolina “a legend of Ukrainian tennis” ahead of the match, Kostyuk doubled down on that praise after the win, noting, “I want to point out Elina’s incredible impact on tennis, Ukrainians and me. She is incredible.” For her part, Svitolina framed the shared achievement of two Ukrainian players reaching the sport’s later stages as a beacon for the next generation of athletes from her country, even as she acknowledged the unrelenting weight of war hanging over every Ukrainian.

    “It’s a big inspiration for the next generation. I think this is great for sports in general in Ukraine,” Svitolina told reporters. “[I’m] just very sad that we all have to put up with this heaviness and pain every single day, scared moments not knowing what the next day is going to bring for our family, for our friends, and for Ukraine in general.”

    With the win, Kostyuk becomes the first Ukrainian woman in the Open Era to advance to the Roland Garros singles semifinals, and only the third Ukrainian woman ever to reach the final four of any Grand Slam, joining Svitolina and Dayana Yastremska. The last Ukrainian singles player to reach the French Open semifinals was Andrei Medvedev in 1999, meaning Kostyuk’s run ends a 26-year drought for her country at the clay-court major.

    Kostyuk’s historic run comes amid the unrelenting Russian invasion of Ukraine, a conflict that has forced her and all of her compatriots to carry constant worry for loved ones back home. When this year’s French Open began, Kostyuk showed reporters photos of a building in flames just 100 meters from her family’s Kyiv home following a Russian missile strike, a stark reminder of the danger her loved ones face daily.

    A consistent and vocal critic of Russian players who have refused to denounce the invasion, Kostyuk, like many of her Ukrainian compatriots, maintains a policy of refusing to shake hands with Russian and Belarusian opponents. Asked about the widespread silence from Russian players on the ongoing war, she said she has grown accustomed to the inaction. “For me, it’s not frustrating anymore. They are all grown-ups. They are clearly aware of what’s going on. If this is something that they want to avoid talking about, they have to live with this, not me. I don’t know how you can sleep at night peacefully when you know that this is going on and you have nothing to say about it.”

    Next up for Kostyuk is a semifinal clash against Russian rising star Mirra Andreeva, with a spot in Saturday’s French Open final on the line. When asked about facing an opponent from Russia, Andreeva struck a neutral tone, telling reporters, “It doesn’t matter who I play. I really try to play against the ball that is coming at me and focus on the game.”

    Heading into the semifinal, Kostyuk carries an impressive 17-match clay winning streak to start the 2025 season, the longest opening-season clay streak on the WTA Tour since Iga Swiatek won her first 18 matches on the surface in 2022. Driven by a desire to bring the trophy home for Ukraine, Kostyuk kept her focus on the task ahead, telling the cheering Paris crowd, “I still think it [the title] is very far. I have two matches to play and hopefully you will come and support me on Thursday.”

    When asked if she would repeat the backflip celebration she pulled off after beating Andreeva to win the Madrid Open last month, Kostyuk joked that she was already prepared. “In Madrid I practised the day before the final. I don’t need to practise here – I did it a month ago – but I promised I will only do it again when I win a final,” she said.

  • Canada formally requests renewal of North American free trade pact

    Canada formally requests renewal of North American free trade pact

    As a critical July 1 deadline for renegotiating the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) rapidly approaches, Canada has tabled a formal request to extend the landmark North American trade pact for 16 years, with its top trade envoy set to meet with U.S. trade officials in Washington on Tuesday to break a months-long deadlock in bilateral negotiations.

    Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s Minister for Canada-U.S. Trade, formally submitted the 16-year extension proposal in an official notice released Tuesday, framing the tripartite agreement as a mutually transformative framework that has delivered broad economic gains across all three North American nations. LeBlanc’s trip to the U.S. capital comes directly after U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer wrapped up a fresh round of formal bilateral talks with Mexico, a negotiation process that has moved far faster than parallel discussions with Canada, where several core sticking points have kept the two sides far apart.

    The primary flashpoints in the Canada-U.S. talks center on long-running sectoral tariff disputes, automotive regional content rules, agricultural market access, and lingering tensions tied to tariffs first imposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has repeatedly pushed for the elimination or reduction of existing U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum, automobiles and softwood lumber, a key Canadian export. But Greer has signaled that Washington is unlikely to fully remove these levies, and has pushed back against Canada over a series of ongoing trade irritants.

    One major point of U.S. frustration stems from a decision by most Canadian provinces to pull American liquor off retail shelves in response to Trump’s original tariffs, a retaliatory move that Greer has highlighted as a key barrier to progress. Washington is also demanding expanded access to Canada’s tightly regulated dairy market, where Canada uses production quotas and import restrictions to protect its domestic dairy farming sector. Additionally, the U.S. is pushing to raise the required share of U.S.-sourced content in vehicles manufactured in North America to qualify for USMCA tariff-free treatment, a proposal that would tighten the existing rules of origin for the automotive sector.

    Per Reuters reporting, the U.S. has proposed a mandate that at least 50 percent of a North American vehicle’s content be sourced from the United States during its talks with Mexico. Carney pushed back on this demand this week, noting that vehicles currently produced in Canada already contain a U.S. content share roughly equal to the 50 percent threshold the U.S. has proposed. In a speech in New York City last week, Carney framed a strong Canadian economy as a net benefit for U.S. growth, saying, “A strong Canada will help make America great again,” nodding to a well-known political slogan from Trump.

    Domestically, Carney is facing mounting political pressure to wrap up a successful deal quickly, as the Conservative opposition has targeted the prime minister over Canada’s sluggish economic growth and elevated youth unemployment. On Tuesday morning, Conservative Member of Parliament Jasraj Singh Hallan used a press conference to attack Carney, calling the prime minister a “grand illusionist” who has failed to deliver on his campaign promises to boost Canadian economic growth. Hallan demanded the government outline a clear plan to move negotiations forward.

    Greer has previously blamed the slow pace of Canada-U.S. talks on Canada’s decision to retaliate against U.S. tariffs, a step Mexico opted not to take. “Two countries in the world retaliated against us: The People’s Republic of China and Canada,” Greer told reporters last week. “So they’re just in a different spot, and it’s hard to see necessarily where that ends.”

    If all three member nations fail to reach an agreement to extend the full USMCA by July 1, the pact will default to annual renewal cycles, a status that will continue through 2036 unless a new long-term extension is approved. The upcoming talks between LeBlanc and Greer are widely seen as a critical test of whether a long-term deal can be reached before the deadline, with economic implications for trade, manufacturing and employment across North America.

  • Al-Aqsa imam warns against Israeli bill to ban Muslim call to prayer

    Al-Aqsa imam warns against Israeli bill to ban Muslim call to prayer

    A controversial Israeli bill that would codify restrictions on the Islamic call to prayer, known as the adhan, has cleared a critical legislative hurdle, drawing sharp condemnation from senior Muslim religious leaders and Palestinian communities who frame the measure as an attack on their religious identity and a violation of international law.

    On Sunday, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation — the body that vets whether proposed bills move forward for a preliminary vote in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset — advanced the legislation. The bill was submitted by far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Zvika Fogel, chair of the Knesset’s National Security Committee, and while it has secured committee backing, it still requires approval from the full Knesset, with no vote date scheduled as of yet.

    Under the terms of the proposed law, the installation and operation of loudspeakers for religious calls to prayer would be banned by default, with permits granted only at the discretion of Israeli authorities. Approval would hinge on a set of criteria including volume limits, required noise reduction infrastructure, a mosque’s geographic location, proximity to residential neighborhoods, and the perceived impact on local residents. If permit conditions are violated, police would gain the authority to immediately order loudspeakers shut off, with repeated violations leading to equipment confiscation and steep financial penalties: unpermitted loudspeaker use would carry a fine of 50,000 Israeli shekels (approximately $17,719), while violations of permit terms would incur a 10,000 shekel fine (around $3,545).

    Sheikh Ekrima Sabri, the imam of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque — one of the holiest sites in Islam and a flashpoint of longstanding Israeli-Palestinian tension — labeled the latest legislative push a dangerous escalation of repeated, previously unsuccessful efforts to curtail the adhan. “The current attempt to ban the Muslim call to prayer has taken a dangerous turn by legalising the banning of the call to prayer through issuing a law to prohibit it,” Sabri stated on Monday. He emphasized that Israeli authorities have no legitimate standing to classify the centuries-old religious practice as unwanted noise or a public nuisance, arguing “The disturbance and noise come from the war machines of the aggressors.”

    The bill’s backers have defended the proposal as a necessary public health and quality of life measure. Ben Gvir has claimed that excessive noise from muezzins (the religious figures who recite the adhan) harms the well-being of Israeli residents, saying, “In many places, the noise of the muezzin is unreasonable and harms the quality of life and health of residents. This is a phenomenon that cannot be tolerated.”

    Palestinian citizens of Israel, who would bear the direct brunt of the new regulations, have widely condemned the proposal, rejecting the claim that the adhan constitutes a noise problem. They argue the legislation is just the latest example of the current Israeli government’s systematic efforts to erode Palestinian religious and cultural identity across territories under Israeli control.

    A key unresolved question remains: whether the new rules would apply to Al-Aqsa Mosque, located in occupied East Jerusalem. Israel formally annexed East Jerusalem in 1980, a move that has never been recognized by the international community. Consistent with international law, most of the global community regards East Jerusalem as occupied Palestinian territory, holding that an occupying power cannot claim sovereignty over the area and is barred from implementing permanent legal or structural changes to the occupied territory. Sabri emphasized this principle, noting that as an occupying power, Israel “has no right to alter the existing status quo of the occupied territory” and “has no right to enact laws that contradict the laws that were in effect in the country before its occupation.”

    Efforts to restrict the adhan in Israel are not a new development. In 2017, a nearly identical bill targeting loudspeaker use for the Islamic call to prayer passed a preliminary Knesset reading but was never enacted into law. Most recently, at the end of 2024, Ben Gvir already issued a directive ordering Israeli police to block mosques from broadcasting the adhan, repeating his claim that the practice disturbs Jewish residents.

  • Watch: Massive hailstones pound Denver in powerful storm

    Watch: Massive hailstones pound Denver in powerful storm

    On Monday, a powerful and unanticipated severe weather system swept across Denver and its adjacent surrounding regions, leaving a trail of disrupted daily life in its wake. The storm system brought with it a triple threat of dangerous weather conditions: roaring high-speed winds, torrential downpours that saturated roadways and low-lying areas, and exceptionally large hailstones that reached the approximate diameter of standard golf balls.

    Local residents captured dramatic footage of the extreme weather event, showing thick hailstones pummeling residential rooftops, vehicle windshields, and public spaces across the city. The sudden onset of the storm caught many commuters and outdoor-goers off guard, forcing rapid evacuations to shelter and causing widespread temporary traffic disruptions on major metropolitan arteries.

    As of initial reports from local weather authorities, assessment teams are beginning to survey the extent of property damage across the region, with early indications pointing to impacts on thousands of vehicles and structures in the hardest-hit neighborhoods.

  • DR Congo airport reopens in Ebola-hit area as suspected cases drop

    DR Congo airport reopens in Ebola-hit area as suspected cases drop

    Nearly two weeks after flight restrictions were imposed to slow the spread of an ongoing Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the key airport serving the epidemic’s epicentre has resumed regular commercial operations, as health officials confirm a sharp drop in the number of pending suspected cases. This outbreak, caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, was formally declared a major public health emergency by the DRC government on May 15, just days after the first cases were detected in the conflict-affected Ituri province. Within 48 hours of the declaration, the World Health Organization elevated the event to an international public health alert, triggering a coordinated global response to contain the virus before it could spread more broadly beyond national borders.

  • Houthis and Al-Shabaab conspiring to choke Red Sea routes

    Houthis and Al-Shabaab conspiring to choke Red Sea routes

    Stretching between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden basin stands as one of the world’s most critical maritime trade arteries, carrying nearly 30% of all global container traffic between Asia and Europe via the Suez Canal. What was once already a region roiled by decades of conflict is now facing a new and alarming threat: two ideologically opposed militant organizations are quietly forging opportunistic cooperative ties, sharing military expertise and equipment that risk expanding instability far beyond their existing borders.

    According to United Nations expert panels and U.S. intelligence assessments, Yemen’s Houthi insurgency (officially the Ansar Allah movement, which controls large swathes of northern Yemen and maintains the capacity to disrupt Red Sea shipping) and Somalia’s Al-Shabaab—widely recognized as al-Qaeda’s most powerful active affiliate—have been exchanging logistical and military support, despite the absence of a formal binding alliance. The two groups hold starkly opposing ideological views: the Houthis adhere to Zaydi Shiism, while Al-Shabaab follows a hardline anti-Shia Sunni extremist doctrine. Yet shared strategic and material interests have overcome these divides, marking a worrying new shift in regional security dynamics.

    First reports of emerging cooperation between the two groups surfaced in 2024, when the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen issued an official warning over growing arms trafficking across the shared waters between Somalia and Yemen—two nations that have been mired in continuous conflict since 1991 and 2014 respectively. The panel later expanded its warning to note deepening logistical and operational coordination between the militant organizations.

    Accounts suggest Houthi leaders have made direct trips to Somalia to establish working relationships with Al-Shabaab commanders, while cross-border criminal smuggling networks long active in the region have also acted as intermediaries to facilitate these connections. Illicit trafficking of weapons, goods and people has flourished along the ungoverned coasts of the Horn of Africa and Yemen for decades, providing a ready infrastructure for underground cooperation.

    For both groups, the partnership serves clear strategic goals. The Houthis aim to expand their regional influence and diversify their revenue streams, while Al-Shabaab seeks to bolster its outdated military arsenal with more advanced capabilities. Per UN documentation, Al-Shabaab militants have already received training in Houthi-controlled Yemeni territory on drone operation and the manufacturing of advanced improvised explosive devices. The Houthis have also reportedly supplied Al-Shabaab with armed drones—weapons the Houthis have used extensively to target commercial and military shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden between 2023 and 2025—and Al-Shabaab has additionally requested guided missiles from its Yemeni partners.

    Up to this point, Al-Shabaab has only used drones for surveillance and intelligence gathering. The acquisition of armed offensive drones would transform the group’s operational capacity, allowing it to carry out deadlier attacks against the already overstretched Somali national army and its international backers, both within Somalia and across regional borders. The United Nations has warned this expansion could allow Al-Shabaab to extend its reach far beyond Somali territory, further destabilizing the already fragile Horn of Africa region.

    Al-Shabaab’s growing power comes after nearly two decades of gradual expansion across Somalia. Emerging in the mid-2000s, the group has carved out control over large areas of central and southern Somalia, outlasting multiple international counterinsurgency campaigns. Its resilience is rooted in longstanding political, military and economic failures of the Western-backed Somali federal government, which has failed to unify fragmented regional forces and consolidate authority across the country. Al-Shabaab has successfully exploited violent rivalries between the federal army and regional militias seeking greater autonomy, expanding its influence as political divisions deepen in Mogadishu.

    International forces have also struggled to contain the group. African Union troops deployed to support the Somali government have faced persistent setbacks, and U.S. counterterrorism airstrikes—hit a record high in 2025—have done little to roll back Al-Shabaab’s territorial control, even as they weakened the smaller Islamic State affiliate in northern Somalia (which is also suspected of maintaining informal links to the Houthis).

    Currently, Somali security forces, backed by U.S. support, are preparing a new major offensive, codenamed Operation Onkod (Thunder), targeting Al-Shabaab in coastal areas west of the autonomous northern Puntland region, following a successful earlier campaign against the local Islamic State faction. Al-Shabaab has already begun reinforcing its positions in the area in anticipation of the assault.

    The growing cooperation between the Houthis and Al-Shabaab carries severe risks for global trade and regional security. While current cooperative activity remains limited, it could eventually push increased instability into the Gulf of Aden, already roiled by Houthi attacks on commercial shipping carried out in support of Palestinians since 2023. Those previous attacks already diverted international naval resources and contributed to a resurgence of pirate activity off the Somali coast, which has only partially abated. A stronger Al-Shabaab controlling northern Somali coastal territory, paired with ongoing Houthi aggression, could create a sustained arc of instability across the entire Red Sea corridor.

    Against the backdrop of open regional tensions between Iran, the United States and Israel that began in February 2024, the Houthis have already amplified destabilizing activity across the waterway. With the global economy already vulnerable to supply chain disruptions through strategic chokepoints like the nearby Strait of Hormuz, any further escalation in the Red Sea could have far-reaching economic consequences for markets worldwide.

    This analysis is based on research by Brendon Novel, a doctoral candidate in political science at the University of Montreal specializing in Horn of Africa and Red Sea security dynamics.

  • Trump names inexperienced ally as intelligence director

    Trump names inexperienced ally as intelligence director

    In a surprise and controversial Tuesday announcement, former and current US President Donald Trump has tapped one of his most aggressively loyal allies, 38-year-old Bill Pulte, to serve as acting director of national intelligence — a role Pulte will hold alongside his existing positions overseeing the nation’s federal housing finance system. Pulte, who currently leads the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and regulates the government-sponsored mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, will step into the intelligence role to succeed Tulsi Gabbard, whose short tenure ended with her resignation in late May. Gabbard, herself a divisive pick for the intelligence post, departed after public reports of friction between her and Trump over his hardline policy against Iran.

    In an official post shared on his Truth Social platform Tuesday, Trump defended the unconventional appointment, highlighting Pulte’s track record overseeing US housing finance markets. “William has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the Markets,” Trump wrote, confirming that Pulte would not step away from his current housing and mortgage regulatory roles while leading the US intelligence community.

    Long recognized as one of Trump’s most vocal public defenders, Pulte has built a reputation as a blunt “attack dog” for the president, repeatedly targeting Trump’s political opponents across the Democratic Party with public accusations and investigations. He has openly claimed that Democratic Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James falsified information on their personal mortgage applications. According to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, an internal Fannie Mae complaint alleges Pulte improperly accessed the confidential mortgage records of James and other top Democratic officials, drawing criticism for misusing his regulatory power for political gain.

    The accusation against James led to a federal grand jury indictment in October last year, though a federal judge dismissed the case without prejudice a month later over unrelated procedural issues. Pulte has also brought forward mortgage fraud claims against Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, a move that prompted Trump to attempt to fire the sitting central bank official. That legal dispute remains pending before the US Supreme Court.

    Beyond his attacks on political opponents, Pulte has drawn controversy for his actions inside FHFA and Fannie Mae. He has fired internal ethics watchdogs who were investigating close allies of his, framing the dismissals as a deliberate effort to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs within the agency. On housing policy, he has pushed a controversial proposal to introduce 50-year mortgages in the US, a plan that has sparked intense backlash even within Trump’s own pro-Trump MAGA movement.

    Pulte, the heir to the PulteGroup homebuilding fortune, left the company’s board of directors in 2020 after a public falling out with his family over the future of the business. His aggressive, public approach to political combat has also alienated many insiders, even within Trump’s own inner circle. Multiple US media outlets including The Wall Street Journal and Politico have reported that in 2025, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened to physically assault Pulte during a private dinner at an exclusive club, highlighting the deep divisions within the Trump administration over Pulte’s actions. Critics have raised widespread alarm over the appointment, noting that Pulte has no prior experience in national security or intelligence work, marking a sharp break with standard practice for the top intelligence leadership role.

  • South Africa police investigate killing of two Mozambican men

    South Africa police investigate killing of two Mozambican men

    On Tuesday, South African police confirmed the deaths of two Mozambican citizens killed over the weekend in Mossel Bay, opening a formal homicide investigation that has deepened a public dispute with Maputo over rising xenophobic violence in the country. The two victims, aged 27 and 43, were killed on Saturday, just one day after a separate outbreak of unrest in the Western Cape province.

    In an official statement, Mozambique’s government has alleged that five of its nationals were killed in targeted xenophobic attacks, with an additional 800 Mozambican citizens victimized during violent unrest that broke out on Friday in the KwaNonqaba settlement. Following the violence, 300 Mozambicans crossed the border back to their home country on Saturday, with another 500 expected to follow in the coming days. Tragically, two people died in a road accident during this mass evacuation. South African law enforcement has not confirmed any xenophobic motive for the two confirmed deaths, saying the investigation is still ongoing, and noted that they released the updated details to “set the record straight” amid conflicting public claims.

    The violence comes amid a months-long surge in anti-foreigner sentiment across South Africa, driven by grassroots protests demanding stricter immigration enforcement. Demonstrators, led by advocacy group March and March, argue that undocumented migrants strain public services and contribute to rising crime rates. The group has issued an unofficial deadline for all undocumented immigrants to leave the country by 30 June, with protests ramping up ahead of local elections scheduled for later this year.

    The Friday unrest in KwaNonqaba saw widespread arson that left more than 50 informal shacks destroyed. Police have arrested five people in connection with that arson attack. In a separate, unrelated incident, an 18-year-old South African man was stabbed to death during an apparent botched robbery early Sunday, with no arrests made in that case as of Tuesday.

    Officially, South Africa is home to more than 3 million documented foreign nationals, making up roughly 5% of the country’s total population. Government figures do not account for the estimated millions more who reside in the country without formal documentation. Xenophobic violence has been a persistent systemic issue in South Africa for decades, with periodic deadly outbreaks targeting foreign communities.

    In response to the rising unrest, multiple neighboring and African nations have issued travel warnings advising their citizens in South Africa to exercise heightened caution. Countries including Kenya, Malawi, Lesotho, and Zimbabwe have all issued public alerts. Earlier this year, Ghana completed an evacuation of hundreds of its citizens from South Africa citing growing safety risks. While South Africa’s national government has formally condemned criminal acts directed at foreign nationals, police have stopped short of confirming that recent violence constitutes organized xenophobic attacks.