Global Pulse

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  • US special forces ready to step up combat drills in Philippines and help deter aggression in Asia

    US special forces ready to step up combat drills in Philippines and help deter aggression in Asia

    During a visit to Manila this Thursday, the top commander of U.S. Special Operations Command announced that American special operations personnel are prepared to scale up joint warfighting-readiness exercises with the Armed Forces of the Philippines and other regional Asian partners. The move is designed to strengthen long-standing security alliances and lower the risk of large-scale conflict in the strategically critical Indo-Pacific.

    Admiral Frank Bradley, who leads the 80,000-strong U.S. Special Operations Command headquartered at Florida’s MacDill Air Force Base, arrived in the Philippines following an official stop in South Korea, with next scheduled talks with military leaders in Japan. His trip marks the latest in a series of high-level visits by senior U.S. military officials to key Asian allies in recent weeks, a diplomatic push aimed at reinforcing Washington’s unwavering commitment to regional security even as the U.S. maintains a sharp focus on ongoing conflict in Iran.

    U.S. Special Operations Command oversees America’s military most sensitive and high-risk covert missions, with the majority of its personnel deployed across more than 80 nations globally, Bradley confirmed. During closed-door talks with Filipino military leaders, the two sides discussed the Philippines’ ongoing military modernization push, plans to intensify joint combat exercises with the U.S. and other partner nations, and efforts to expand a network of security partnerships designed to counter what the U.S. and Philippines frame as increasingly assertive Chinese actions in the disputed South China Sea.

    The South China Sea has been the site of decades-long territorial disputes between China and a group of smaller claimant states, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan. Tensions have spiked sharply in recent years, particularly between Chinese and Philippine military forces operating in the contested waterway. As the United States’ oldest treaty ally in Asia, Washington has repeatedly reaffirmed its legal and security obligation to come to the Philippines’ defense if its forces face armed attack in the region.

    Bradley argued that a united network of allied nations, each investing in their own defense capabilities and conducting regular joint readiness drills to prepare for potential contingencies, represents the most effective deterrent to large-scale regional conflict. “The best way to deter conflict is by being able to demonstrate convincingly to any adversary who may want to start a conflict that they won’t be able to win it,” Bradley told The Associated Press in an interview in Manila Thursday evening. “Where we have strong alliance structures … conflict has not come to it. Together, we are stronger, and together, we can prevent those conflicts from coming to us.”

    In recent years, large-scale joint combat exercises between U.S. and Filipino forces have expanded to include a growing number of allied and partner nations, including Japan, Australia, Canada, and France, with a core focus on territorial defense of Philippine claims in the South China Sea. U.S. Special Operations commandos already take part in these annual large-scale drills, alongside smaller, more focused warfighting exercises with Filipino forces in western Philippine provinces bordering the South China Sea and in Batanes, the Philippines’ northernmost island province located just off the coast of Taiwan.

    The plan to hold joint special operations training in Batanes was first announced by former U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a 2024 visit to Manila, when he stated the Trump administration would work with regional allies to ramp up deterrence against global threats, including what the U.S. frames as Chinese aggression in the South China Sea. Batanes, a chain of islands at the extreme northern edge of the Philippine archipelago, sits across a maritime border from Taiwan, the self-governing island that China claims as its own territory and has repeatedly threatened to seize by force if necessary.

    Bradley declined to share specific details of the upcoming and ongoing joint special operations training and drills, including the number of U.S. commandos set to participate or the exact types of maneuvers that will be conducted. He did confirm that exercises are already ongoing and that scaling up activities remains a possibility moving forward. “In the future, how it might scale will be based upon the sovereign needs of the Philippines and where the Philippine government may want us to come and partner, but we will always be committed to be a strong partner,” Bradley said.

    Reporting contributions to this article were provided by Joeal Calupitan and Aaron Favila in Manila, Philippines.

  • Italian police recover stolen Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse paintings worth millions

    Italian police recover stolen Renoir, Cézanne and Matisse paintings worth millions

    MILAN, Italy – In a major breakthrough for Italian art crime investigators, the country’s Carabinieri art recovery unit announced Friday it has successfully retrieved three 20th century masterpieces stolen earlier this year from a northern Italian private museum, with a combined estimated value of more than 9 million euros ($10.5 million).

    The recovered works belong to three of modern art’s most iconic figures: *Fish* by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, *Still Life with Cherries* by Paul Cézanne, and *Odalisque on the Terrace* by Henri Matisse. Valuations place the Cézanne piece at 6 million euros, Renoir’s work at 3 million euros, and Matisse’s at 20,000 euros, according to official art market assessments shared by authorities.

    The heist targeted the Magnani Rocca Foundation, a prominent private museum located roughly 20 kilometers outside the city of Parma. The break-in unfolded overnight between March 22 and 23, when thieves forced entry through the museum’s main entrance. Local reports indicate the perpetrators carried out the theft in less than three minutes before fleeing across the museum’s landscaped gardens, interrupting by the facility’s security alarm mid-heist.

    Founded in 1977, the Magnani Rocca Foundation holds the private collection of renowned Italian art historian Luigi Magnani, which includes dozens of world-famous works from masters spanning centuries, from Albrecht Dürer and Peter Paul Rubens to Francisco Goya and Claude Monet. Museum investigators have long suspected the crime was carried out by an organized criminal network with experience targeting high-value artworks, a theory consistent with the brazen speed and precision of the heist.

    Italian law enforcement confirmed the paintings were located during court-ordered search operations authorized by prosecuting magistrates, but has not released additional details on where the artworks were found or whether any suspects have been taken into custody. The investigation remains active as authorities work to trace the full network behind the theft.

    This museum heist was part of a growing string of high-profile art thefts across major European cultural institutions in recent months. Just last October, a group of thieves stole 88 million euros worth of French crown jewels and other rare artifacts from the Louvre Museum in Paris, marking one of the largest art heists in recent European history.

  • Persistent Etna ash shuts Catania airport during peak holiday week

    Persistent Etna ash shuts Catania airport during peak holiday week

    As one of Europe’s most active geological landmarks, Sicily’s Mount Etna has thrown peak summer travel plans into chaos across the Italian island, with its persistent ash emission forcing the closure of Catania Fontanarossa Airport — Sicily’s busiest air hub — for a fifth consecutive day. Thousands of summer vacationers have been left stranded at the height of Ferragosto, Italy’s most popular annual travel week, when millions of Italians leave major cities to crowd coastal and mountain getaways across the country. Airport officials confirmed the shutdown will extend through early Saturday, extending what already marks the longest period of flight disruption from Etna’s volcanic activity since 2002.

    Volcanologists emphasize that the extreme caution behind the extended closure is well-founded. Ash particles ejected by the volcano pose severe safety hazards to commercial aircraft, explained Boris Behncke, a senior researcher at the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology’s Etna Observatory. When fine volcanic ash is pulled into jet engines, it can melt on the hot internal components of the motor, coat turbine blades, and cause complete engine failure — a risk that aviation regulators have zero tolerance for. Unlike many of Etna’s past eruptions, which are shorter and more explosive, the current event is defined by unusual, sustained ash output that has continued for days. Northerly winds have even carried trace amounts of ash as far south as Malta and northern Africa, extending the volcanic activity’s geographic reach.

    What makes this disruption unique compared to previous volcanic events at the site is its longevity, Behncke noted. While Etna’s frequent activity has caused dozens of shorter flight interruptions over recent decades, and even triggered temporary shutdowns during more powerful past eruptions, the ongoing steady ash release from the volcano’s summit has created an unprecedented extended disruption for travel. Catania Airport sits just 20 kilometers south of the active crater, making it particularly vulnerable to ash fallout during periods of sustained activity.

    The travel chaos has already sparked secondary disruptions across the island, according to local reporting from Italian daily *Corriere della Sera*. With hundreds of flights forced to divert to smaller airports across Sicily, demand for ground transportation has skyrocketed, leading to sharp, unregulated hikes in taxi fares and car rental prices. Italian consumer advocacy group Codacons has announced it will formally file a complaint with Italy’s national competition authority over widespread reports of price gouging against stranded travelers.

    Data from SAC, the operator of Catania Airport, shows the scale of the disruption: between August 6 and August 12, 36% of the nearly 2,000 scheduled flights to and from the hub have been canceled. More than 600 diverted flights have been redirected to alternate airports including Palermo, Trapani, Comiso on Sicily, and Lamezia Terme on the Italian mainland in Calabria. While limited outgoing flights were permitted over the weekend immediately after the eruption began, the airport moved to a full shutdown, banning both incoming and outgoing commercial traffic, starting Monday. Nearby Comiso Airport also briefly suspended operations due to ash accumulation on its runways earlier this week.

    To ease the strain on stranded passengers, Italian national rail operator Trenitalia has added six extra daily services along the busy Palermo-Messina-Catania coastal route to increase passenger capacity between the island’s major cities and alternate air hubs. Italy’s national travel industry federation, FIAVET, has called for the creation of a dedicated government task force to better coordinate responses to future volcanic travel disruptions, and is demanding a formal review of how airlines handled mass cancellations and passenger support during the current crisis.

    In a statement addressing the chaos, FIAVET President Gian Mario Pilieri noted that travel providers have been working around the clock to rebook passengers, arrange alternate itineraries, and support stranded travelers, but the current crisis has exposed gaps in systemic preparedness. “Operators are working around the clock to provide assistance, process cancellations and arrange alternative travel arrangements, but they cannot bear the burden of structural shortcomings and the management responsibilities of others,” Pilieri said.

  • Latest developments: Europe battles wildfires

    Latest developments: Europe battles wildfires

    On Friday, nations across the European continent launched coordinated emergency responses to a surge of uncontrolled wildfires, fueled by record-breaking high temperatures and parched, flammable vegetation that has created near-ideal conditions for catastrophic blazes to spread. As the world’s fastest-warming continent, Europe has long faced growing gaps in infrastructure and preparedness to handle the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme heat events, a crisis that climate scientists overwhelmingly link to anthropogenic climate change.

    This summer of unrelenting heat and rampant wildfires has already entered the history books as one of the most deadly on record, with thousands of heat and fire-related fatalities recorded across the region. AFP analysis drawing on data from Germany’s national weather service and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre reveals that on Friday alone, roughly 150 million people across France, Germany, Spain, Italy and other high-risk nations faced air temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius. Even more startling, around 350 million European residents – three out of every five people living on the continent excluding Turkey – experienced temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius.

    In France, which has already endured a string of massive, destructive blazes already this wildfire season, a new outbreak ignited in the country’s southwest on Friday. Local officials confirmed that the fast-moving fire forced more than 500 residents to evacuate their homes immediately. The blaze has already consumed 1,100 hectares (approximately 2,700 acres) of land in the Landes department, and was advancing toward the small village of Luglon as of Friday afternoon. Regional fire chief Arnaud Fabre noted that the spread of the fire had slowed, but warned that forecasted local temperatures as high as 36 degrees Celsius created a high risk of dangerous flare-ups in the coming hours. This new emergency comes as the vast majority of France remains in the grip of a prolonged, extreme heatwave.

    Western Germany also faced a rapidly escalating wildfire crisis Friday, with local officials ordering the evacuation of approximately 1,800 residents from their homes overnight. Firefighting operations deployed military equipment and helicopter support to contain the blaze, which originated near the town of Huertgenwald, close to Germany’s borders with Belgium and the Netherlands. By Friday morning, the fire had expanded dramatically from an initial 25 hectares (around 60 acres) to 300 hectares, prompting the full evacuation of one of the town’s districts. Southwestern Germany has been one of the hardest-hit regions across the continent this summer, with sustained high temperatures and record low rainfall drying out farmland and pushing river levels to dangerous multi-decade lows.

    Across the English Channel, the United Kingdom’s firefighting infrastructure was pushed to breaking point, according to the head of the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC). NFCC leadership confirmed that firefighters were operating under “significant pressure” as multiple concurrent wildfires spread across the country against a backdrop of soaring temperatures and widespread drought conditions. On Thursday, which marked the UK’s hottest day of the year to date, a large blaze in the central English town of Stourbridge left a trail of destruction that included charred agricultural fields and destroyed residential properties. Three firefighters responding to that blaze, located southwest of Birmingham, were admitted to hospital for treatment of injuries sustained while fighting the fire.

    Croatia is confronting what national fire chief Slavko Tucakovic described as one of the worst wildfires in the country’s modern history. The coastal blaze has already destroyed multiple residential buildings and left 19 people injured, according to local reports. At least 1,000 people displaced by the fire near the coastal town of Omis, located south of the major coastal city of Split, were relocated to a temporary shelter set up in a local sports hall. Tucakovic mobilized additional firefighting teams from across the country to reinforce frontline crews working at the scene, while four Canadair water-bombing aircraft were placed on standby to support containment operations. The same air fleet helped bring a separate wildfire on the nearby island of Brac under full control by Thursday evening.

    In northern Greece, a fleet of civilian small craft carried out a dramatic evacuation of roughly 500 tourists from coastal beaches on Thursday, after a large forest fire advanced toward two popular tourist resorts. Hundreds of firefighters, two of whom sustained injuries while battling the flames, worked alongside water-bombing aircraft for hours to contain the blaze on the Halkidiki peninsula, located south of the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, successfully stopping the fire from spreading across the entire peninsula. Local officials and Greece’s public broadcaster ERT reported that tourists, many still wearing their bathing suits and carrying small children, were ferried to safe nearby beaches, while approximately 200 evacuees were brought to a waiting passenger ship anchored offshore for shelter.

  • Eurovision proposes new rules to tackle mass voting

    Eurovision proposes new rules to tackle mass voting

    The Eurovision Song Contest, one of the world’s most-watched live annual music competitions, is navigating unprecedented growing pains, as organizers roll out sweeping rule changes and address lingering controversies tied to politically motivated voting. This year’s iteration of the contest wrapped with a decisive victory for Bulgarian singer Dara, who secured the top spot after earning first place from both the professional jury and the global public vote, earning her home country the right to host the 2027 edition. Organizers recently confirmed the 71st Eurovision will be held in Bulgaria’s Black Sea coastal town of Burgas between May 12 and 15, 2027.

    But behind the celebration of this year’s win, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which oversees the contest, has been grappling with persistent problems tied to the current voting structure, driven by the shifting global geopolitical climate. The push for new rule changes gained momentum after the 2025 contest, when Israeli contestant Yuval Raphael placed second overall despite only ranking 15th among jury members. Raphael outperformed every other competitor in the public vote, earning 297 points, after official Israeli government social media accounts – including that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – urged supporters to cast the maximum allowed 20 votes for the singer.

    Broadcasters across multiple countries raised formal questions about the lopsided result, with critics alleging a coordinated political voting campaign had skewed the rankings in Israel’s favor. In response to the outcry, the EBU adjusted the rules for the 2026 contest, cutting the maximum number of votes per viewer from 20 to 10. Even that change failed to stop coordinated campaigning, however: ahead of this year’s event, Israeli public broadcaster Kan received a formal warning from contest organizers after Raphael released videos instructing fans to “vote 10 times for Israel.” Eurovision officials ruled the posts violated the spirit of the competition and ordered the videos removed.

    Now, the EBU is proposing far more radical changes to eliminate the influence of targeted political voting, according to a letter sent to all participating broadcasters and first reported by Swedish outlet Aftonbladet. Under the draft plan, the entire public vote would move online, doing away with the current phone and text voting options. Most notably, viewers would be required to select their top three favorite acts, ending the longstanding rule that allowed voters to cast multiple ballots for a single contestant.

    The EBU explained that technical barriers have stopped multiple-act voting requirements from being implemented via phone and text channels, which is why a full shift to online voting is needed. The United Kingdom has already successfully transitioned to an online-only voting model for this year’s contest, serving as a test case for the broader change. In their letter, EBU chief executive Jean Philip De Tender and Eurovision Reference Group chair Ana Maria Bordas noted that geopolitical fragmentation has created persistent problems for the contest’s integrity.

    “Even without major paid campaigns, and with a voting system that we can vouch for, it has become clear that today’s geopolitical climate is driving votes for certain artists for reasons that have very little to do with their performances,” the letter read. “This is nothing new in Eurovision’s history – we have seen it happen before – but this time it is persistent, and for many it is deeply worrying.” Officials added that the proposed changes would “help dilute the effect of a mobilised block vote, without compromising fairness or trust” in the competition’s results. While dedicated fans could still technically create multiple accounts to vote repeatedly for one act using different payment details, the new structure would create a significant barrier to large-scale coordinated campaigns.

    In an official comment to BBC News, the EBU confirmed the ongoing review: “We can confirm that we have begun investigating a move to wholly online audience voting for the Eurovision Song Contest and more details will be announced in the months ahead.”

    The voting overhaul is just one of multiple major changes coming to the 70-year-old competition in the wake of growing controversy. Organizers also recently announced that broadcasters from states involved in “armed conflict” or “sensitive geopolitical situations” will no longer be eligible to host the contest. They have also raised the minimum age for competing artists from 16 to 18, and implemented stricter regulations around the use of pre-recorded vocals during live performances.

    In a separate development that underscores the ongoing tensions surrounding the contest, the EBU also confirmed that Israeli cosmetics and haircare brand Moroccan Oil has ended its six-year sponsorship of Eurovision. The company did not publicly share a reason for ending the partnership, which saw Moroccan Oil provide professional styling services and products to competing artists each year. The sponsorship had faced widespread criticism in recent years amid growing protests over Israel’s continued participation in the contest during the ongoing war in Gaza.

  • US missionary released following kidnap in Niger, Christian group says

    US missionary released following kidnap in Niger, Christian group says

    After more than nine months of being held captive, American missionary Kevin Rideout has been freed, his employing international Christian organization has confirmed. The 19-year veteran missionary and pilot for SIM International was abducted outside his Niamey, Niger residence last October, and the organization announced in a Friday statement that Rideout is now in good health under the care of United States officials.

    The New York Times was the first outlet to break news of the release, citing anonymous U.S. officials who confirmed Rideout is currently in FBI custody. As of the latest updates, critical details surrounding the circumstances of his release, as well as the identity of the group that held him, remain undisclosed.

    Early reporting from Reuters, which cited diplomatic sources, outlined that three armed gunmen seized Rideout and transported him to Niger’s western Tillaberi region, an area long recognized as a major hub for militant extremist activity. Security analysts had initially raised concerns that Rideout was captured by jihadist militants, a group that has increasingly turned to violence and targeted abductions across the Sahel region. Many suspect he was held by Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaeda-linked affiliate that has carried out multiple deadly attacks across western Niger and neighboring countries.

    For decades, Islamist militant factions operating out of neighboring Nigeria, Mali, and Burkina Faso have destabilized Niger, launching repeated attacks on both civilian targets and state security forces. A years-long insurgency has pitted jihadist groups against government troops, Western security deployments, and allied local forces, creating a persistent state of insecurity across large swathes of the country. Just days after Rideout’s abduction, the U.S. government updated its travel advisory, warning all American citizens against non-essential travel to Niger, citing elevated risks of terrorism, violent crime, and civil unrest.

    According to additional reporting from The New York Times, Rideout may have been transferred between different armed groups in the months leading up to his release. SIM International confirmed that the missionary will soon be reunited with his wife Krista, their children, and extended family.

    Rideout has served as a Christian missionary in Niger for nearly two decades, combining his pastoral work with service as a pilot for SIM International, a global mission organization that operates in over 70 countries worldwide. For the organization, his release marks a long-awaited positive turning point after months of anxiety over his fate.

    SIM International called Rideout’s release “incredibly good news” in its statement, adding, “Krista and the rest of Kevin’s family are profoundly grateful for the prayers offered on their behalf by people around the world throughout his captivity.” The family has requested privacy as they readjust to being together after the months-long separation.

    Rideout’s release comes amid a prolonged period of crisis across West Africa and the Sahel, where multiple nations have grappled with a sprawling insurgency that has stretched on for more than 10 years. The violence has killed thousands of people, displaced millions, and undermined regional stability. In addition to the insurgency, the region has also seen a wave of military coups since 2020, with multiple democratically elected governments overthrown in Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso, further complicating efforts to counter militant activity.

  • Thousands of Australians to receive official government letter on dementia risk in new prevention push

    Thousands of Australians to receive official government letter on dementia risk in new prevention push

    In a landmark public health initiative targeting one of Australia’s fastest growing chronic neurological conditions, the federal government is set to mail personalized dementia risk awareness letters to nearly 350,000 Australians turning 50 over the coming 12 months, backed by leading dementia researchers and aged care officials calling for urgent national action on prevention.

    Starting July 1, the outreach campaign will reach all citizens hitting the 50-year milestone between July 2025 and June 2026. Crafted in consultation with leading dementia clinical and research experts, the letters outline evidence-based steps people can take to cut their dementia risk, from reducing alcohol consumption and adopting nutrient-dense eating patterns to quitting tobacco use. Recipients are also encouraged to schedule regular screenings for cardiovascular disease and diabetes, two conditions linked to elevated dementia risk, and to prioritize ongoing cognitive stimulation through lifelong learning and mentally engaging activities. To help people understand their individual risk profile, all recipients will also gain access to a complimentary personalized dementia risk assessment.

    The campaign comes as 2026 Senior Australian of the Year Professor Henry Brodaty AO, a world-leading dementia researcher, throws his weight behind national prevention efforts, drawing a parallel to Australia’s successful public health campaigns that cut rates of skin cancer, smoking-related illness and heart attack deaths. “We are now ready to tackle dementia prevention,” Brodaty said. “Many trials internationally, including our own Maintain Your Brain trial, have shown that addressing modifiable risk factors for dementia can improve cognitive abilities and delay cognitive decline. Let’s do the ‘Slip, Slop, Slap’ of brain health” — a reference to Australia’s iconic sun safety campaign that became a model for public health outreach globally.

    Current data paints a stark picture of dementia’s growing impact on Australia’s aging population: around 469,000 Australians are currently living with the condition, and that number is projected to surge to more than 1.1 million by 2058 as life expectancies rise and population aging accelerates. However, peer-reviewed research consistently shows that as much as 45 percent of all dementia cases could be delayed entirely, or prevented outright, by addressing known modifiable risk factors — a statistic that has underscored the urgency of the government’s new midlife outreach campaign.

    Aged Care Minister Sam Rae explained that the initiative is designed to be more than just a warning: it is intended to spark critical conversations about brain health that many people delay until it is too late. “These letters are a simple prompt to start a conversation every Australian should be having with loved ones and their doctor,” Rae said. “The science is clear that the choices we make in midlife matter. Staying active, eating well and keeping on top of your heart health can help reduce your risk of developing dementia. Together we can bring dementia numbers down and give more older Australians longer, healthier lives.”

    Dementia Australia chief executive Professor Tanya Buchanan echoed that sentiment, emphasizing that it is never too early or too late to prioritize brain health. “While we cannot change getting older, our genetics or family history, scientific research shows that looking after our brain health can make a big difference to reducing the risk of developing dementia,” Buchanan said. She also noted that many lesser-known modifiable risk factors often surprise the public: addressing hearing and vision loss, treating clinical depression, and maintaining consistent social connection all contribute to lower dementia risk. “Making sure there are services and support to help people address risk factors is vitally important,” she added.

    The national letter campaign aligns with a string of recent advancements in dementia care in Australia, including the recent launch of the nation’s first locally accessible Alzheimer’s blood test, a breakthrough tool that enables far earlier detection of the disease than traditional diagnostic methods.

  • Exiled Putin critic says push for peace put him in danger

    Exiled Putin critic says push for peace put him in danger

    For 63-year-old veteran Russian politician Boris Nadezhdin, exile in Paris was never part of the plan. Speaking to Agence France-Presse from a suburban Paris hotel, the one-time Kremlin insider-turned-peace advocate says he remained in Russia as long as he possibly could, carefully navigating shifting unwritten rules around dissent until even his mild criticism of Moscow’s ongoing military campaign in Ukraine crossed an uncrossable line.

    Once a little-known token figure in Russia’s liberal opposition, Nadezhdin carried deep ties to the current Russian leadership: he has met President Vladimir Putin in person, sharing tea on multiple occasions shortly after Putin rose to power 25 years ago. He previously collaborated with Sergei Kiriyenko, now one of Putin’s most influential senior advisors, and spent years appearing on state-aligned Russian political television programming. Following the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, however, the Kremlin erased even the smallest hints of domestic political pluralism, outlawing all public criticism of the war and forcing leading government critics into exile, prison, or an early grave.

    Nadezhdin initially believed he could avoid repression by sticking to the state’s evolving rules. But his public calls for a negotiated peace and measured criticism of what the Kremlin calls its “special military operation” — now in its third year — made him a target. In 2024, he launched a long-shot bid for the Russian presidency, quickly becoming a rallying point for widespread hidden anti-war sentiment, with viral images of long lines of his supporters circulating across the globe. The Kremlin ultimately blocked his candidacy.

    By July this year, Nadezhdin learned that any further challenge to the Kremlin could result in a lengthy prison sentence. When he attempted to register for September’s tightly controlled parliamentary elections, authorities labeled him a “foreign agent” — a designation widely used to silence dissenting voices. Citing his pre-existing heart condition, Nadezhdin said he feared he would not survive incarceration, so just days after receiving a summons for official questioning, he slipped out of Russia via Kazakhstan, leaving his elderly parents and children behind. Within days of his escape, Russia’s only registered anti-war party, Yabloko, was also blocked from contesting the September polls.

    Nadezhdin says his campaign before it was shut down revealed extraordinary pent-up demand for political change and an end to the war. “I met with hundreds, perhaps thousands of young Russians. They all say they want peace, and they all want a return to normal life,” he explained. “That is why they did not let me or Yabloko run. Putin is convinced that the entire country supports him and that victory for the Russian military is just around the corner.”

    His comments echo growing visible impacts of the war inside Russia itself, as Ukraine escalates drone strikes on Russian energy and logistics infrastructure to bring the conflict home to ordinary citizens and disrupt Moscow’s war economy. “Every day Ukrainian drones fly over Russian territory and people die — even children,” Nadezhdin said. “There are gasoline shortages, internet outages, and prices keep climbing. If you walk through any cemetery in a Russian city, you will see immediately how many young men have been killed.”

    While independent polling on public opinion in Russia is heavily constrained by strict censorship laws, recent data from the Levada Center — Russia’s last major independent pollster, itself labeled a foreign agent by Moscow — shows 62 percent of Russian respondents support immediate peace talks with Ukraine, compared to just 28 percent who back continuing the military campaign. Nadezhdin added that even many members of Russia’s ruling elite are privately frustrated with the war, but fear repression too much to speak out. “They all toe the official line, and they tell me: ‘Boris, you understand. One wrong step, and we are ruined,’” he said.

    Observers note that while Putin’s public approval has declined from its peaks, his hold on political power remains unchallenged. But Nadezhdin argues that further escalation of the conflict will continue to erode public support over time. “After three years of war, Russian voters understand very well the real human and economic cost of these so-called great victories,” he said.

    Nadezhdin, a trained physicist who previously served in Russia’s parliament and 1990s federal government, says he has no regrets about his past cooperation with Russian authorities. “I would have made a good European politician,” he joked. “A European politician knows how to seek compromise, find common ground, read the public mood and adapt.”

    Though he has received offers of assistance from diplomats in multiple countries, Nadezhdin chose to settle temporarily in France. The father of four still has no clear long-term plans: he does not know where he will live, how he will support himself, or when he will be able to return to Russia. He remains hesitant to force his family to uproot their lives to join him in exile. “I don’t have a clear plan for the coming weeks or months,” he said. “But I will keep working until I can go home to Russia again.”

  • Afghanistan marks 5 years under the Taliban with safer streets but pleas for jobs and education

    Afghanistan marks 5 years under the Taliban with safer streets but pleas for jobs and education

    It has been five full years since the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, a watershed moment that followed a sweeping territorial offensive launched as the United States and NATO withdrew their forces after 20 years of war. The withdrawal culminated in chaotic, widely documented scenes at Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, where tens of thousands of Afghans crowded the facility desperate to flee the country ahead of the new regime’s takeover.

    As the Islamist administration marks its five-year anniversary in power, the legacy of its rule remains deeply divided: while many Kabul residents acknowledge an end to decades of open conflict that shook the country, widespread frustration over persistent economic hardship, systemic exclusion of women and girls from education and employment, and international isolation casts a long shadow over the regime’s claimed progress.

    For many ordinary Afghans, the most immediate improvement cited is the end of large-scale war. “Thank God, the past five years have passed in safety,” said 30-year-old Mohammad Qasim, speaking amid the country’s ongoing economic crisis. Like many Afghans, he emphasized that the Taliban’s primary unfinished task is addressing widespread youth unemployment, calling on the administration to open pathways to work and education for the country’s growing young population. “We, along with the entire nation, call upon the government to create employment opportunities for the youth and to encourage them to pursue education,” Qasim added.

    The most contentious and widely condemned policy of the Taliban administration remains its sweeping rollback of women and girls’ rights. Though the group initially pledged to protect women’s rights following its takeover, it quickly implemented a ban on girls above age 12 attending secondary education, followed by a full ban on women’s access to higher education, citing its own strict interpretation of Islamic law. Additional restrictions have since barred most women from formal employment and required women to be accompanied by a male guardian for domestic and international travel.

    The United Nations has acknowledged that large-scale conflict has decreased across Afghanistan since the takeover, but has repeatedly warned that durable stability and economic recovery are impossible unless the Taliban reverses its gender-based restrictions. “A reduction in conflict has brought tangible benefits for many Afghans and created opportunities to focus on recovery, development and regional economic cooperation,” the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) noted in a pre-anniversary statement. The mission added, however, that “the restrictions on women and girls impede Afghanistan’s recovery and its reintegration with the international community.”

    This week, UN Women reinforced that warning, declaring Afghanistan is currently home to the world’s most severe women’s rights crisis. “Half a decade after the Taliban takeover in August 2021, Afghanistan has systematically dismantled the rights of half its population, making it a global outlier with no parallel in the modern world,” the agency said, adding that the exclusion of women from public life, education, employment, healthcare and the justice system has only intensified over the past year.

    For Afghan women’s rights advocates like Fazila Soroush, a 39-year-old Kabul-based entrepreneur and activist, the five-year anniversary is a moment to demand concrete action from the Taliban to reverse education bans that have sidelined an entire generation of girls. “We consider it essential that the officials of the Islamic Emirate who had announced the closure of schools and universities until further notice, now make a clear and practical decision regarding this matter,” Soroush said.

    Across Kabul, the Taliban has moved forward with public preparations for anniversary celebrations, with street vendors selling the group’s distinctive white flag with black script, and workers painting pro-Sharia slogans on public walls, including messages that “The Islamic system has been achieved at the cost of the martyrs’ blood” and “Our commitment stands firm: Consolidation and implementation of Islamic Sharia.”

    Taliban officials defend their five-year record, framing the end of decades of war as their core achievement. Molvi Hayatullah Mahajar Farahi, deputy minister for broadcasting at the Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture, told the Associated Press that in addition to delivering nationwide security, the administration has stabilized the Afghan currency, upgraded critical infrastructure, and established new industrial parks that have created new jobs for Afghans.

    “Naturally, challenges and difficulties exist, yet we can highlight several accomplishments,” Farahi said. When pressed about the ban on girls’ and women’s education, Farahi declined to address the policy directly, instead noting that “the level of investment made in universities surpasses anything seen in the past.” He added that “the Emirate continues its efforts to further organize and improve services for our citizens in the fields of education and other sectors.”

    Farahi rejected U.N. warnings that terrorist networks have reestablished footholds in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, dismissing the claims as “enemy propaganda, spread to portray the country as unstable.” On the issue of the Taliban’s ongoing international isolation, Farahi claimed the administration maintains working relations with roughly 40 countries, though to date only Russia has formally granted the Taliban government full diplomatic recognition. “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has fulfilled all the requirements necessary for official recognition. It is now up to the international community and others to step forward and take the appropriate action,” he said.

    New U.N. data released this week underscores the depth of the educational crisis triggered by the Taliban’s gender ban. UNESCO estimates that 2.4 million girls are currently excluded from secondary education in Afghanistan — an increase of 200,000 from just one year ago. The restrictions have reversed 20 years of incremental progress in expanding educational access across the country, the agency said, noting that the crisis extends beyond gender exclusion: overall, 53% of primary school-aged Afghan children are out of school, and most schools lack basic infrastructure including clean water, sanitation and heating, with hundreds more closed due to frequent natural disasters.

    Compounding these challenges, the U.N. World Food Program warns that child malnutrition has reached critical levels in one-third of Afghanistan’s provinces, and conditions are expected to worsen as international funding shortfalls force cuts to food assistance and other life-saving support for vulnerable households.

    Even among Afghans who support the Taliban administration and welcome the end of open conflict, many are pushing for policy changes to address the country’s multiple crises. Dost Mohammad Khan, a 38-year-old Kabul resident who backs the Taliban, said the past five years have delivered the stability Afghans longed for after decades of war, but the country needs trained professionals from doctors to engineers to move forward. “We also call upon the Islamic Emirate to permit women to attend school under the sharia dress code and we urge the public to heed the directives of the Emirate also,” Khan said.

  • Stolen Matisse artworks recovered by police in Brazil

    Stolen Matisse artworks recovered by police in Brazil

    A high-profile art theft case from one of Brazil’s most iconic cultural institutions has marked a major breakthrough, with law enforcement announcing the recovery of eight rare Henri Matisse illustrations stolen nearly a year ago. The valuable artworks were discovered Thursday at a private residence in São Bernardo do Campo, a southern suburb of São Paulo, where officers took a 44-year-old suspect into custody at the scene of the seizure.

    The heist that shook Brazil’s cultural community unfolded on December 7 last year, when two robbers targeted the Mario de Andrade Library in downtown São Paulo during the final day of a special collaborative exhibition with the São Paulo Museum of Modern Art. Witness accounts confirm the assailants overpowered an on-duty security guard and two elderly visiting patrons before fleeing the library on foot through the main entrance, escaping quickly to a nearby metro station.

    According to local Brazilian news outlet Globo, the arrested suspect, João Paulo Linhares de Araujo, is believed to have acted as a storage middleman, holding the artworks on behalf of the criminal network that planned and carried out the robbery. Investigative sources name 53-year-old Laéssio Rodrigues de Oliveira, already described by Brazilian media as a repeat art thief with a long rap sheet, as the mastermind who planned and coordinated the heist. Oliveira has already been behind bars since April, arrested in connection with an unrelated art crime case.

    Thursday’s arrest marks the fourth person taken into custody in connection with the theft: Oliveira, a second man and a woman were all arrested previously in the ongoing investigation. The breakthrough brings partial closure to the case, however: five original engravings by iconic Brazilian modernist artist Candido Portinari, stolen alongside the Matisse works during the raid, remain missing as of the latest police update.

    The recovered Matisse works are original illustrations created for the artist’s famous limited-edition 1947 art book *Jazz*, with an official estimated combined market value of roughly $200,000 (£148,000). The Portinari works, meanwhile, were custom engravings created to illustrate a special edition of Brazilian writer José Lins do Rego’s classic novel *Menino de Engenho* (Plantation Boy). While the market valuation of the Matisse pieces is set at $200,000, art critics have noted their cultural and historical value is effectively incalculable; Matisse is widely ranked as one of the most influential visual artists of the 20th century, whose work redefined modern European and global art. Portinari, for his part, remains one of Brazil’s most celebrated modernist creators, best known for his iconic portrayals of rural workers and working-class life across the country.

    Following their recovery, the Matisse illustrations have already been returned to the Mario de Andrade Library, the city’s cultural department confirmed. In the wake of the high-profile theft, the institution has implemented a series of upgrades to its on-site security protocols to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.