Global Pulse

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  • Ex-opposition leader Sussan Ley describes ‘inevitable’ end to political career, ‘self-reckoning’ in leadership spill aftermath

    Ex-opposition leader Sussan Ley describes ‘inevitable’ end to political career, ‘self-reckoning’ in leadership spill aftermath

    Nearly two months after stepping away from a quarter-century in Australian public life and losing the Liberal Party leadership to Angus Taylor, former opposition leader Sussan Ley has made her first live public television appearance, opening up about the personal reckoning that followed her political exit and her perspective on the nation’s core social values.

    Appearing Tuesday night on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s flagship current affairs program *7:30*, Ley spoke with host Sarah Ferguson about the period of transition that began on February 13, when Taylor defeated her to take the opposition leadership, bringing an end to her decades-long political career. For Ley, the end of her time in elected office was not an entirely unexpected turn — she described it as an “inevitable ending” that called for intentional self-reflection rather than resentment.

    “When I lost the leadership, and went through, you know, the inevitable ending of 25 years in public life, I knew that I needed to find my own voice,” Ley told Ferguson. “There was a political self-reckoning for me, and I went through that process. It was about finding clarity. And I did find clarity.”

    To work through that transition and recover from the burnout that accumulated over her years in office, Ley made an unorthodox choice: she embarked on a multi-week Greyhound bus trip that stretched from the northern tip of Central America all the way through the continental United States to its southern border. Far from a policy research trip, the journey was an intentional retreat from the structured demands of political life, giving Ley space to reconnect with her own voice outside of party talking points.

    “I didn’t go to America to become an expert, I went to America to look, to notice, and to quietly write,” she explained. What stuck with her most during the trip was the vulnerability and humanity of the fellow travelers she met, many of whom were also navigating major life transitions and systemic disadvantage. “There was people whose lives were in transition and disarray, and that’s what struck me from the moment I got on the first bus,” she said. “It’s hard to describe the expression on someone’s face that comes from a lifetime of being overlooked.”

    That cross-continental bus journey became exactly the reset Ley needed, allowing her to draw a definitive line under her political career and embrace the next stage of her life without lingering bitterness. The burnout she experienced after decades in public life never derailed her, she noted, and the trip helped her process that fatigue and move forward.

    “It’s allowed me to draw a line, very conclusively, under those 25 years in public life. And move to this next chapter, where I know that I will have more to say,” Ley said. “While I dealt with the effects of burnout, it didn’t bring me undone. It allowed me to move to the next chapter of my life, which is where I am now.”

    Consistent with her focus on looking forward rather than rehashing past political battles, Ley declined to dive into detailed commentary on Australia’s current political landscape or revisit the circumstances of her ousting. “There is no point in relitigating something that happened in the past,” she emphasized. “If I think about my time in politics, I’m proud of what I achieved. I don’t dwell on it, because I’m very much focused on the next chapter of my life. I will leave the political commentary to others.”

    When pressed on controversial statements about Australian multiculturalism from the right-wing One Nation party, Ley drew on her U.S. trip observations to voice firm support for Australia’s multicultural model. She argued that Australia’s approach — which accommodates cultural difference rather than demanding people erase their individual backgrounds to fit in — is a rare achievement that all Australians should celebrate.

    “I’m a huge supporter of the Australian multicultural project for the simple reason we’ve been able to achieve multicultural Australia not by erasing people’s differences, but giving them space to belong,” Ley said. “I think this is something we should all be incredibly proud of.”

  • Watch: Family escapes home during Colombia earthquake

    Watch: Family escapes home during Colombia earthquake

    A devastating seismic event, one of the strongest earthquakes to strike Colombia in recent decades, has left the South American nation grappling with a rising death toll and widespread destruction. As of the latest official updates, at least 132 people have been confirmed dead following the tremor, which shattered residential structures and forced countless families to run for safety in a frantic escape from their collapsing homes.

    Footage captured in the immediate aftermath of the quake shows terrified household members scrambling out of damaged buildings, many grabbing only essential belongings before fleeing to open, safer areas away from at-risk structures. In response to the scale of the disaster, Colombian authorities have quickly enacted a formal state of emergency across the most affected regions, allowing for the rapid deployment of national emergency response resources, including search and rescue teams, medical personnel, and emergency supply stockpiles.

    The earthquake, which ranks among the most significant seismic events recorded in Colombia in recent years, has triggered widespread calls for international assistance as local agencies work tirelessly to locate survivors trapped under rubble and provide care to the injured. Recovery efforts are still in their early stages, with officials warning that the death toll could rise as rescue teams reach more isolated, hard-hit communities.

  • NSW government promises 2300 more surgeries by mid-2027 amid winter hospital surge

    NSW government promises 2300 more surgeries by mid-2027 amid winter hospital surge

    As New South Wales (NSW) braces for what state leaders call the most challenging three weeks of the winter respiratory season, the Australian state government is moving aggressively to clear a years-long backlog of delayed elective procedures by expanding a specialized, high-efficiency surgical model across public hospitals.

    Launched in late 2025 with a AUD 30 million state investment, High Volume Short Stay (HVSS) units are dedicated hospital wings designed exclusively to handle low-complexity, same or short-day surgeries. Under the new expansion plan, these specialized units will deliver an additional 2,300 routine procedures over the coming 12 months, with the full capacity target expected to be met by July 1, 2027, according to projections from NSW Health.

    State Health Minister Ryan Park explained that the HVSS model is a core pillar of the current government’s pledge to eliminate the state’s long-delayed surgery waitlist, which swelled to a peak of more than 18,000 under the previous state administration. As of March 2026, government data shows the backlog has already been cut to roughly 4,000 cases, marking significant progress in clearing the backlog left by the prior government.

    “We are investing in surgery services across the state, expanding access to care, cutting wait times, and improving patient outcomes,” Park said in a press statement. “These high volume surgical programs are exactly the kind of innovative care we want to see, and I’m looking forward to seeing this model expanded across NSW.”

    The procedures handled by HVSS units cover 80 percent of all routine surgeries performed across NSW’s public health system, spanning common, low-risk procedures across ear, nose and throat care, general surgery, gynecology, urology, ophthalmology, and orthopedics. Currently, the units operate at five strategic locations: Campbelltown in outer western Sydney, Shellharbour, Wagga Wagga, Western NSW, and the Mid North Coast, bringing expanded care access to both metropolitan and regional communities.

    The expansion comes as NSW’s public hospital system grapples with an unprecedented winter surge in patient demand. Last week, Premier Chris Minns issued a public warning that emergency departments across the state were preparing for the “worst three weeks of the year”, urging patients with non-life-threatening conditions to seek care from alternative providers to ease pressure on overstretched emergency teams.

    “To the extent that you can go to an urgent care clinic or see your GP … if it’s not life-threatening, we genuinely suggest that you do that so the doctors can focus and nurses can focus their efforts and attention on people that are about to die,” Minns said.

    The scale of the surge already being felt was underscored by new data: Park confirmed that just under 10,000 patients presented to Sydney emergency departments on Monday, breaking the record for the busiest winter day on record. The state also recorded roughly 4,100 ambulance call-outs on the same day, pushing emergency response systems close to capacity.

    Beyond the seasonal surge, Park has repeated calls for the federal government to intervene to resolve the ongoing “bed block” crisis, which sees hundreds of aged care patients stranded in public hospital beds while waiting for commonwealth-funded aged care support packages. In June, state data showed the number of these so-called stranded patients had jumped to nearly 1,300, further reducing available capacity for acute and emergency care across the state.

  • Trump hid in catering truck in secret plane swap over Iran threat, reports say

    Trump hid in catering truck in secret plane swap over Iran threat, reports say

    In a stunning, meticulously planned security operation that has only recently come to light, former U.S. President Donald Trump executed a secret plane swap while departing last month’s NATO summit held in Ankara, Turkey, responding to what U.S. intelligence assessed as a credible Iranian missile threat against his aircraft, multiple major U.S. media outlets have reported.

    The elaborate ruse unfolded in broad daylight, with on-camera footage showing Trump boarding the decades-old legacy Air Force One jet at Ankara’s Esenboğa Airport on July 8, matching a pre-announced plan to fly out on the older aircraft “for old time’s sake”. What cameras and most onlookers did not see, however, was that after exiting the jet on the opposite side of the boarding ramp, Trump was secretly transported to a smaller, modified C-32A military aircraft — a Boeing 757 variant typically reserved for vice presidential travel — via a catering truck elevated to aircraft height, the Washington Post first reported.

    To maintain the ruse, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth boarded the empty legacy Air Force One separately via external stairs, selling the illusion that the president remained on board. Most journalists accompanying the presidential delegation, along with several junior White House staff, boarded the legacy jet and were instructed to close all window shades, remaining completely unaware that Trump had already been smuggled off the plane.

    The secret flight then took Trump first to RAF Mildenhall, a U.S. Air Force base in the United Kingdom, where he secretly transferred back to the legacy Air Force One, which had flown separately from Ankara. Press photographers on the ground captured Trump disembarking from the older jet at the British base, concealing the earlier swap from public view. From the UK, Trump transferred again to the newer Boeing 747-8 Air Force One, a jet donated to the U.S. by Qatar, to complete his journey back to Washington D.C.

    It was during this final transatlantic leg that Trump addressed ongoing threats from Iran with reporters, confirming he faced constant danger but making no mention of the secret plane swap. When asked why journalists had been told to close their window shades on the flight departing Turkey, Trump brushed off the question with a blunt warning: “Because you’re probably on a dangerous flight because of the sleazebags we have to deal with.” He reiterated his long-stated claim that he is Iran’s “number one target,” adding, “But if I go, you go, right? Perhaps someday you want to change professions.”

    The operation came just one day after the U.S. renewed military strikes against Iranian targets, following a total breakdown in negotiations between Washington and Tehran to de-escalate ongoing conflict. U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News, the BBC’s U.S. partner, that intelligence agencies had detected a specific, credible threat of an Iranian missile attack targeting Trump’s aircraft during departure from Turkey.

    Officials have previously raised security questions about the Qatari-donated Boeing 747-8, which the U.S. has spent $400 million retrofitting for presidential use. The New York Times first reported that the U.S. Secret Service had explicitly urged Trump to switch planes for the return flight from the NATO summit over unresolved security concerns about the new jet. Older legacy Air Force One aircraft are fitted with specialized laser technology designed to blind incoming anti-aircraft missiles, and it remains unclear whether the Qatari-donated jet has received all the same defensive upgrades.

    In an official statement to CBS News, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt sought to downplay security concerns, saying, “The new Air Force One is perfectly safe for the President’s travels, but will receive additional upgrades and enhancements in the fall which will take approximately one month to complete.” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung declined to directly confirm or deny the reports of the plane swap, only noting that the new jet is a “state-of-the-art aircraft” fitted with robust protective measures for the president and his staff.

    The revelation of the secret operation has also reignited controversy over the leaking of sensitive national security information. After The New York Times’ initial reporting on security concerns around the Qatari jet, multiple of the outlet’s journalists were subpoenaed to testify under oath about their sources. The U.S. Justice Department confirmed to the BBC that it is currently conducting an investigation into the illegal disclosure of classified information related to the incident.

  • Russia using North Korean missiles to strike Ukraine, Zelensky says

    Russia using North Korean missiles to strike Ukraine, Zelensky says

    Overnight exchanges of heavy fire between Ukrainian and Russian forces have reignited tensions in the 2.5-year full-scale conflict, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky leveling new accusations that Moscow is relying on military support from North Korea to sustain its offensive operations. The latest cycle of violence follows one of the deadliest Ukrainian deep strikes into Russian territory in months, leaving dozens dead and extending the reach of combat far from frontline battle zones.

    According to Zelensky, Monday’s Russian missile attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia that killed at least six civilians and wounded 19 others used ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea, a close diplomatic and military ally of Moscow. In a Monday evening video address, Zelensky argued that this marked a clear turning point in the conflict, claiming “for the first time” Russia cannot continue its war effort without foreign military reinforcements. He warned that the growing use of North Korean military hardware and planned deployments of North Korean troops poses a growing global threat, noting that battlefield use of these weapons helps Pyongyang refine its missile technology and correct design flaws. This is not the first such allegation from Zelensky; last weekend he warned that up to 50,000 North Korean soldiers could be deployed to fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine.

    Zelensky also celebrated a separate Ukrainian deep strike on a Russian petrochemical facility in western Siberia, calling the operation a “very significant achievement” for Ukrainian forces. He pledged that more long-range strikes on Russian targets will follow, with the goal of forcing Moscow to recognize the necessity of negotiated peace.

    Across multiple Ukrainian regions, Russian overnight attacks left a trail of civilian casualties and infrastructure damage. Zaporizhzhia regional governor Ivan Fedorov shared on-the-ground images of burning vehicles and collapsed buildings, confirming that Russian forces used a combination of missiles and guided bombs to target industrial sites, critical infrastructure and non-residential buildings in the city. One civilian was injured in strikes on the outskirts of Kyiv, where air raid sirens sounded twice overnight, and a local hospital suffered structural damage—though all staff and patients had taken shelter and no additional casualties were reported. Strikes on energy infrastructure in Kherson and Kharkiv triggered widespread power outages across both regions, while a Russian drone strike on Sumy injured two women aged 52 and 66, who received on-site medical treatment, Sumy City Military Administration head Sergiy Kryvosheenko confirmed in a Telegram post. The attack also damaged civilian vehicles, local warehouses and public infrastructure.

    Ukrainian air force officials reported that Russia launched more than 120 drones and an unspecified number of different missiles in overnight attacks—marking the first time officials have declined to release a full breakdown of missiles fired and intercepted. This disclosure comes one day after the Ukrainian Air Force issued a public request for media to avoid sensationalized coverage and unnecessary spread of pessimism amid reported shortages of air defense interceptor missiles.

    On the Russian side, Ukraine targeted key commercial infrastructure in the southern Russian region of Voronezh, which shares a border with Ukraine. Local reports confirmed large fires and explosions at a logistics warehouse operated by Wildberries, Russia’s largest e-commerce retailer, often called the “Amazon of Russia” for its dominant position in the country’s online retail market. While Wildberries has not yet formally confirmed the strike, the company announced it had evacuated all staff from its facilities in the region. This is not the first time Wildberries infrastructure has been targeted; in July, a series of Ukrainian drone strikes on multiple Wildberries warehouses disrupted operations for thousands of small and medium-sized Russian businesses that rely on the platform. Kyiv has stated that it targets these logistics hubs because they are used to process and ship supplies to Russian military forces, including military equipment purchased by Russian entities.

    The latest cross-border strikes come just one day after a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian republic of Tatarstan, located more than 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) from the Ukrainian border, killed at least 13 people including one child and injured 75 more. That attack ranks among the deadliest strikes on Russian territory since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. The Uzbek consulate in Tatarstan confirmed that seven of the people killed in the strike were citizens of Uzbekistan. Verified social media footage from the attack showed large plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky over the city of Nizhnekamsk, with constant air raid sirens audible in the background. Ukrainian armed forces confirmed they targeted the Tanevo oil refinery in the city, a critical piece of Russia’s energy infrastructure.

  • Malaysian farmers, environmental groups call for rejection of GMO rice trial

    Malaysian farmers, environmental groups call for rejection of GMO rice trial

    In Kuala Lumpur, a broad coalition of 61 Malaysian farmers’ groups, consumer associations, and environmental advocacy organizations is calling on the country’s National Biosafety Board to turn down an application for a confined field trial of genetically modified (GM) rice, citing widespread risks to public food safety, ecological integrity, and smallholder farmer livelihoods.

    The application under review comes from Zen Cropscience, which seeks approval to test a modified version of Malaysia’s widely planted MR219 rice variety in the northern state of Perak. The edited crop is engineered with two key traits: tolerance to the widely used herbicide glyphosate, and built-in resistance to bacterial and fungal crop diseases.

    Coalition members confirmed they submitted a formal formal objection to the proposal during a public consultation period that closed last week, reviving arguments they first raised against a nearly identical GM rice trial application submitted for Perlis state in 2019 that was ultimately withdrawn before approval. The group’s core concern centers on the risk of genetic contamination of conventional and wild native rice populations. Unlike the biosafety board’s claim that the risk of cross-pollination is low, coalition members warn that even confined trials carry the possibility of genetic material spreading via wind, insect activity, or human error, and current Malaysian biosafety legislation lacks adequate legal safeguards and compensation frameworks for conventional farmers who would face financial losses if their non-GM crops become accidentally contaminated.

    Beyond contamination risks, opponents highlight multiple interconnected hazards tied to the crop’s glyphosate tolerance. Farmers argue the trait will incentivize increased glyphosate application, speeding the evolution of herbicide-resistant “super weeds” that require ever-larger doses or more toxic chemical inputs to control. They also warn that glyphosate residues can persist in harvested grain and enter the national food supply. The genetic modification for fungal disease resistance raises additional food safety alarms, the coalition notes, with potential to alter the rice’s nutritional profile or raise levels of allergens and naturally occurring toxins.

    Abdul Rashid Yob, who leads a national farmers association representing 200,000 members across Malaysia, pointed to past industry experience with the herbicide-tolerant Clearfield rice variety as a warning of what could come. While initial yields improved after Clearfield rice was introduced, weeds quickly developed resistance to the herbicide, forcing farmers to spend more on increasing chemical doses that drove up production costs and eroded long-term soil fertility. “GM rice will be much worse. It is not the answer,” Yob said.

    Malaysia currently meets only half of its domestic rice consumption through local production, relying on imports to cover the remaining demand, according to official national data. Despite the country’s need to boost food security, coalition members argue there is no justification for GM rice trials, noting that proven non-GM alternatives already exist for weed and disease management, including Japanese robotic weed removal technology that can clear fields efficiently without chemical over-reliance. “There is no need for such a trial. We don’t want GM crops,” said Mageswari Sangaralingam, a representative of the Consumers Association of Penang. Opponents stress that even though the current application is only for a confined trial, not full commercial cultivation, GMO material cannot be fully contained or recalled once it enters the environment, making any trial an unacceptable risk.

    The National Biosafety Board has stated that the proposed trial would be conducted in an insect-proof, enclosed net house located on industrial land separated from active agricultural areas, and has acknowledged that long-term toxicological data for the GM rice variant has not yet been finalized. To date, no timeline has been announced for when the board will issue its final decision on the application.

    The debate around glyphosate, the herbicide tied to the proposed GM rice, remains divided among global health and regulatory bodies. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the cancer research wing of the World Health Organization, classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans,” drawing on limited evidence of cancer links in human populations and sufficient evidence from animal studies. Other leading regulatory agencies have reached opposing conclusions: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ruled glyphosate is “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans,” and the European Food Safety Authority concluded in a 2023 assessment that it found no critical public or environmental health risks from glyphosate use.

  • In rejecting Trump’s Gaza plan, Netanyahu reprises a balancing act he has mastered

    In rejecting Trump’s Gaza plan, Netanyahu reprises a balancing act he has mastered

    For every Israeli prime minister, few responsibilities carry more weight than navigating the delicate dual challenge of preserving Washington’s unwavering support while pushing back against U.S. demands that are viewed as threatening Israeli national security. No leader in Israel’s modern history has pulled off this precarious balancing act for longer than Benjamin Netanyahu, the country’s longest-serving head of government. But with the ongoing conflict with Iran locked in a stalemate and U.S. President Donald Trump prioritizing winding down regional tensions ahead of American congressional elections, Netanyahu’s political tightrope walk has grown exponentially more difficult — and it is unfolding just three months before Israel’s national elections.

    On Sunday, Netanyahu formally rejected Trump’s latest proposal to break the deadlock on a long-stalled ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. In his statement, the prime minister made clear that Israeli forces would not withdraw from any part of the roughly 60 percent of Gaza that it currently controls until Hamas, the militant faction that governs the remaining 40 percent of the enclave, is fully and completely disarmed — a condition Hamas has rejected consistently for years.

    The rejection puts Netanyahu in a risky political bind: defying the same U.S. president he has repeatedly called the strongest ally Israel has ever had in the White House could erode the bilateral relationship he has long leaned on for political capital. Yet any public hint of compromise on the disarmament demand would almost certainly be fatal to his reelection bid, in a nation still reeling from the traumatic Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack that occurred on Netanyahu’s watch.

    For Trump, the standoff comes as he faces mounting pressure to deliver on his self-styled reputation as a global peacemaker. With nuclear talks with Iran stalled and global energy prices remaining elevated ahead of November’s U.S. congressional elections, the Trump administration needs visible progress on regional de-escalation. Trump’s latest Gaza proposal builds on a ceasefire framework he announced last fall, which paused large-scale Israeli military operations and secured the release of all remaining Israeli hostages held by Hamas, but has failed to move toward a permanent peace agreement.

    Under the terms of the new plan, Hamas would surrender its weapons in a phased process, in exchange for a permanent end to Israeli strikes and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Hamas has already accepted the framework, though it has tied the surrender of its heavy weaponry to the formal establishment of an independent Palestinian state — a concession that Netanyahu’s far-right-led government and the vast majority of Israel’s political establishment reject outright.

    Netanyahu’s refusal to accept the plan puts all other elements of the ceasefire proposal on indefinite hold, including the deployment of an international peacekeeping force and the start of reconstruction for the Gaza Strip, which has been left devastated by months of conflict. Data from Gaza’s Health Ministry shows that more than 1,250 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since the initial October ceasefire took effect, though Israeli military activity has eased in recent days.

    Israeli media reports have indicated that the authority to approve new strikes in Gaza has been restricted exclusively to the Israeli army’s chief of staff, a quiet, unpublicized concession to Trump’s ceasefire push. The Israeli military declined to confirm or deny the report when contacted for comment. A senior official with the Board of Peace, the Trump-led body tasked with overseeing the ceasefire process, spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, saying that while progress has been incremental, there have been tangible gains on the ground.

    “We are focused on actions, not rhetoric or politics,” the official said. “There have been some results on the ground in the last few days, including restraint from strikes and new Israeli military procedures. There is constructive cooperation behind the scenes and our conversations continue.”

    As the election campaign heats up, the legacy of the Oct. 7 attack hangs over every political calculation Netanyahu makes. On the campaign trail, he has leaned heavily on highlighting Israeli military gains from the wars that followed the 2023 attack: Israeli forces have seized large swathes of territory across Gaza, southern Lebanon and Syria, and launched two major air campaigns targeting Iran’s military and its disputed nuclear program. But the “total victory” Netanyahu promised over Hamas in Gaza has yet to materialize, and a large share of the Israeli public continues to hold him directly responsible for the massive security failures that allowed the Oct. 7 attack to occur. Critics have also pointed to his past policy of allowing Qatar to deliver cash payments to Gaza, a strategy intended to appease Hamas that many now argue directly helped the group rearm.

    Netanyahu’s rejection of Trump’s plan has been enthusiastically embraced by his far-right coalition partners, who are expected to play a critical role in any new government he forms after the election. Jonathan Lis, diplomatic correspondent for leading Israeli newspaper Haaretz, noted that Trump’s priority is advancing tangible steps to rebuild Gaza, but Netanyahu’s vulnerable election position and the demands of his right-wing allies leave him unwilling to make even the smallest concession.

    Ghaith al-Omari, a former Palestinian negotiator and now a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, explained that even if the White House chooses to overlook Netanyahu’s rejection, Trump cannot move the plan forward without convincing the Israeli prime minister to reverse course. In al-Omari’s assessment, Hamas has already emerged from the standoff with a strategic PR win, positioning itself as the more reasonable party in the conflict.

    Trump’s standing among Israeli voters has shifted noticeably in recent months, as his policy priorities have diverged from Netanyahu’s. During Trump’s first term in office, he enjoyed widespread popularity in Israel, thanks to unprecedented pro-Israel moves including moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. That popularity held steady early in his second term, when he backed Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and joined Israel in bombing strikes on Iran. For Netanyahu, the close alliance with Trump was a major political asset, helping to shore up his domestic standing at a time when his political future was very much in doubt.

    But the two leaders’ strategic interests diverged sharply last spring. Netanyahu pushed for continued military strikes against Iran and the Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon, while Trump prioritized winding down regional conflicts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global energy chokepoint, and ease economic pressure on global markets. Since the rift opened, Trump has said he would “likely” endorse Netanyahu ahead of the Israeli election, but has not yet issued a formal full endorsement. While a U.S. president’s endorsement still carries weight in Israeli politics, the public rift between the two leaders is complicating Netanyahu’s campaign.

    Yohanan Plesner, president of the Jerusalem-based Israel Democracy Institute think tank, noted that just a few months ago, a large majority of Israelis believed Trump prioritized Israeli security interests when making policy decisions. “This is no longer the case,” Plesner said. The once-close relationship between Netanyahu and Trump “used to be an asset, but not anymore.”

    Netanyahu has a long track record of defying sitting U.S. presidents, particularly Democratic chief executives. During his first term in office in the late 1990s, he resisted Bill Clinton’s efforts to broker a permanent peace deal with the Palestinians. In 2015, he clashed publicly with Barack Obama over the landmark Iran nuclear deal. But political analysts warn that defying Trump now carries far greater risks than past standoffs with U.S. leaders. Israel’s aggressive regional military campaigns have left it increasingly diplomatically isolated across the globe, and eroded its longstanding bipartisan support among U.S. voters, leaving Trump as one of Israel’s few remaining high-level powerful allies in Washington.

    Plesner argues that Netanyahu’s dependence on Trump is “tremendous,” and Israeli voters will punish the prime minister if he is seen as mismanaging the critical bilateral relationship. “If Trump will insist on carrying on, I think Netanyahu will have no choice but to tag along rather than take on the president, since he’s left Israel with very few diplomatic cards to maneuver,” Plesner said.

    Associated Press writers Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

  • Wildfire at Indonesia’s Mount Bromo mostly contained as smoke forces school closures

    Wildfire at Indonesia’s Mount Bromo mostly contained as smoke forces school closures

    As Indonesia confronts its annual dry season wildfire crisis, authorities announced Wednesday that firefighting teams have mostly contained a large blaze that tore through one of Java’s most visited protected natural landmarks, Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park. Though several lingering hot spots continue to challenge crews, the progress comes as a much-needed reprieve for the iconic tourist destination, which has been closed to visitors since the fire ignited last week.

    As of Tuesday, the fire had burned through nearly 900 hectares (2,224 acres) of park land, destroying vast swathes of dry grassland, native vegetation, and protected edelweiss flower populations, according to Rudijanta Tjahja Nugraha, head of the East Java-based national park. The world-famous volcanic terrain of Mount Bromo, a top draw for domestic and international tourists that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors annually, falls within the burned perimeter. The entire conservation zone remains closed while crews work to stop any further spread of the blaze.

    Four active hot spots still persist across the park, located in the Watangan, Argowulan, Dingklik-Pakis, and Bincil-Mungal regions. Nugraha explained that combined ground teams and aerial firefighting units are working around the clock to prevent these hot spots from flaring back into full blazes. “We are not only trying to put out the visible fire, but also ensuring it is completely extinguished and does not reemerge later,” he said.

    The Bromo blaze is just one small part of a far larger national wildfire emergency gripping Indonesia this dry season. As of Monday, Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) confirmed that nearly 48,900 hectares (121,000 acres) of vulnerable peatland has already burned across six fire-prone provinces, with the largest concentration of destruction recorded in West Kalimantan on the island of Borneo.

    In Pontianak, the capital of West Kalimantan, the widespread fires have already upended daily life: officials suspended all in-person classes after local air quality plummeted to unsafe levels, and health authorities have documented a sharp spike in reported respiratory illnesses across the province.

    In response to the growing crisis, the Indonesian government has ramped up national firefighting efforts across the high-risk islands of Sumatra and Borneo, deploying more than 35 aircraft to support ground operations, including water-bombing helicopters and surveillance patrol planes. BNPB chief Suharyanto, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name, emphasized the critical role of aerial support, particularly for peatland fires. “Aerial operations are supporting ground operations which are especially critical in peatland areas,” he explained. “Because peat fires can continue smoldering underground long after surface flames disappear and can reignite if not fully extinguished.”

    Suharyanto added that peatland fires produce uniquely dangerous outcomes: the dense smoke they generate creates toxic, widespread haze that cripples regional air quality, elevates public health risks for local communities, and often drifts across international borders to impact neighboring countries. BNPB data confirms that satellite imagery has detected thick smoke haze drifting from West Kalimantan into neighboring Malaysia multiple times this month.

    This annual cycle of forest and peatland fires is a long-running environmental and diplomatic challenge for Indonesia. Authorities confirm that most blazes are deliberately ignited illegally by commercial plantation operators or small-scale traditional farmers clearing land for new planting. These unchecked burns periodically blanket huge swathes of Southeast Asia in hazardous haze, repeatedly straining Indonesia’s diplomatic relations with neighboring countries.

  • Ukraine says Russia fired N. Korean missiles in deadly attack

    Ukraine says Russia fired N. Korean missiles in deadly attack

    A new wave of Russian overnight bombardments targeting multiple cities across Ukraine has left at least nine civilians dead and dozens more injured, with Ukrainian authorities leveling fresh accusations Tuesday that Moscow used North Korean-supplied ballistic missiles in the deadly assault. The claims come amid escalating warnings from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that North Korea is expanding its military support to Russia, even as Kyiv has yet to release public evidence to back its most recent assertions of growing Pyongyang-Moscow military cooperation.

    Over more than four years of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, North Korea has emerged as a key military backer for Moscow. Western, South Korean and Ukrainian intelligence have long documented Pyongyang’s weapons shipments to Russia, and earlier in the conflict, North Korea deployed thousands of troops to support Russian operations pushing back a Ukrainian counteroffensive into Russia’s western Kursk region, according to Kyiv’s accounts. The two countries formalized their deepening alliance with a mutual defense pact in 2024, just ahead of that troop deployment.

    In the latest barrage, the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia suffered the heaviest damage, recording six fatalities and 19 injuries, according to Zelensky. In a public address following the strikes, Zelensky stated the city was hit by a combination of North Korean ballistic missiles, Russian Zircon hypersonic missiles, and guided aerial bombs. He called the attack deliberately vicious, noting it was designed to inflict maximum harm on civilian infrastructure.

    Three additional civilians were killed in Russian missile and drone strikes in neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region, local military officials confirmed. In Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, strikes damaged an infectious disease hospital and a separate children’s healthcare facility, according to Ukraine’s health ministry, which released photographs of shattered windows and debris scattered across the children’s hospital courtyard. The ministry added that no children or medical staff were harmed, as all personnel and patients had taken shelter in secure facilities before the strike hit. Frontline cities Kharkiv and Kherson also suffered strikes that knocked out power to large parts of the urban areas.

    Russia’s defense ministry responded to the accusations with its own statement confirming the strikes, framing the operation as a targeted group attack using high-precision ground-based weapons against Ukrainian military-industrial sites and transport logistics hubs in Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia.

    Zelensky has ramped up public warnings of the deepening military partnership between Moscow and Pyongyang in recent days, as he steps up appeals to Western allies for additional air defense supplies to counter the growing threat. On Monday, he claimed Russia had already taken delivery of a new shipment of ballistic missiles from North Korea. Over the preceding weekend, he alleged Pyongyang had made a decision to deploy between 30,000 and 50,000 additional troops to Russian territory to support the invasion effort. To date, Kyiv has not disclosed how it obtained these deployment figures, nor has it provided a specific timeline for when the troop buildup would occur. Zelensky has now expanded his appeal for air defense support to Asia-Pacific allies, asking them to contribute systems to counter capabilities supplied by North Korea.

    In recent weeks, Russia has dramatically increased its use of ballistic missiles in strikes across Ukraine — fast, highly destructive projectiles that are extremely difficult for Ukrainian air defense systems to intercept. Only advanced Western systems such as the U.S.-made Patriot air defense system are capable of reliably shooting down incoming ballistic missiles. Ukraine has faced a critical shortage of Patriot interceptors since the outbreak of the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran in February, which has redirected large volumes of interceptor stockpiles to the Middle East.

    In response to the intensified Russian strikes, Ukraine has stepped up its own long-range drone attacks targeting Russian territory, hitting key oil infrastructure and e-commerce warehouses. Ukrainian officials frame these counterstrikes as a legitimate effort to disrupt Russian military logistics and cut into revenue streams that fund Moscow’s war effort.

    The United Nations has confirmed that this latest cycle of escalation has driven the monthly civilian death toll in Ukraine to its highest level since the opening months of the full-scale invasion in 2022, marking a dangerous new turn in the long-running conflict.

  • Russian attacks kill 10 in Ukraine as Zelenskyy says Moscow is getting more North Korean missiles

    Russian attacks kill 10 in Ukraine as Zelenskyy says Moscow is getting more North Korean missiles

    On a single Tuesday, multiple Ukrainian cities across the country endured a massive combined barrage of Russian missiles, drones and glide bombs that left at least 10 civilians dead, marking a sharp intensification of hostilities four years into Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has revealed alarming new details of growing military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, warning that Pyongyang is not only supplying advanced weaponry to Moscow but also preparing to deploy additional troops to support the invasion.

    The deadliest assault of the day targeted the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, where Zelenskyy confirmed Russian forces used ballistic missiles supplied directly by North Korea to strike a local steel plant operated by leading Ukrainian mining and metals firm Metinvest. Seven workers at the facility were killed and another 21 were wounded as staff attempted to reach bomb shelters following incoming missile warnings. The attack damaged the plant’s blast furnace and key industrial infrastructure, forcing a full shutdown of operations at the site that employs thousands of workers.

    Further civilian casualties were recorded in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, where Russian drone and artillery strikes killed three people, including a 15-year-old boy. In the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, overnight strikes hit multiple targets, including the grounds of a children’s hospital. While all children and medical staff were sheltering underground and no injuries were reported, the attack left two large craters and shattered windows across the facility. A separate strike on a Kyiv warehouse sparked a blaze that spread across 1,200 square meters before emergency crews contained it.

    In addition to the already delivered ballistic missiles, Zelenskyy announced late Monday that North Korea is preparing to send more troops to bolster Russia’s war effort. The two countries signed a formal strategic partnership agreement in 2024 that includes pledges of mutual military assistance if either faces an act of aggression, and Pyongyang has already shipped thousands of troops and vast stockpiles of weapons to support Moscow’s invasion. Military analysts note that the direct battlefield engagement with Russia is allowing North Korea to refine its own military capabilities, a development Zelenskyy warns will embolden Pyongyang to threaten neighboring countries in East Asia.

    Kyiv also warned that Russia is pursuing a broad campaign to escalate the war beyond new external support. Ukrainian officials say Moscow has dramatically scaled up domestic production of ballistic missiles, and is seeking to exploit a critical shortage of Patriot air defense interceptors in Ukraine — the primary system capable of shooting down the incoming weapons. Russia is also preparing a new wave of troop mobilization to support a fresh offensive along the 1,250-kilometer front line that stretches across eastern and southern Ukraine, Zelenskyy added.

    “Every step Russia takes — increasing ballistic missile production, bringing in North Korean equipment, preparing for mobilization — all of this shows that Moscow is preparing not for peace, but for escalation,” Zelenskyy stated in a social media address.

    In an unusual move, Ukraine’s air force did not disclose the total number of missiles Russia launched in the overnight attack in its daily operational update, and it remains unclear whether the omission was deliberate. Ukrainian officials declined immediate comment on the redacted report.

    Diplomatic efforts led by the United States to broker a ceasefire have stalled in recent months, as Washington’s frustration with the lack of progress has grown and U.S. foreign policy attention has shifted to the ongoing conflict in Iran.

    Domestically, Russia’s Supreme Court ordered the removal of Yabloko, the last remaining major Russian political party openly opposed to the war in Ukraine, from all ballots ahead of the country’s September 18-20 parliamentary elections. The move has been widely interpreted as clear sign that President Vladimir Putin remains committed to continuing the invasion rather than pursuing negotiations.

    The Washington-based think tank the Institute for the Study of War echoed this assessment in a Monday analysis, noting: “The Kremlin will not enter serious negotiations or make meaningful compromises on its demands as long as Putin believes that he has a viable military path to achieving his full objectives. Ukraine’s Patriot shortages offer Russia an opportunity to cause very serious damage to Ukraine over the coming winter and will therefore contribute to delaying meaningful negotiations and protracting the war.”

    In its official statement on the strikes, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed it targeted what it described as “military industrial facilities and transport and logistics centers” in Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, using ground-based precision weapons. Russian officials claimed the strike hit a storage site housing Ukrainian drones in Kyiv and the targeted metallurgical plant in Zaporizhzhia.

    Ukrainian air force officials reported that Russia used a mix of Zircon anti-ship missiles and Iskander ballistic missiles in the strikes on Kyiv and Zaporizhzhia, alongside launching more than 120 long-range attack drones across all regions of Ukraine.

    As cross-border strikes continue, Ukraine carried out retaliatory attacks on Russian territory overnight. The Russian Defense Ministry said its air defense systems intercepted nearly 400 Ukrainian drones across 14 Russian regions and the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula.

    One of the targeted sites was a logistics facility belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s largest e-commerce retailer, in the Voronezh region bordering Ukraine. The facility caught fire after the attack, but the company reported that the blaze was quickly extinguished and most stored goods remained undamaged. Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Wildberries warehouses alongside Russian energy infrastructure as part of a stated strategy to increase domestic pressure on Putin to enter peace talks.

    Ukrainian forces also struck a large oil refinery in the Russian city of Orsk, located in the Orenburg region roughly 1,500 kilometers from the Ukrainian border near Kazakhstan. The refinery, which has an annual crude processing capacity of 44 million barrels and produces gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel, caught fire after the strike. Ukrainian military officials say assessments of the extent of damage are still ongoing.

    In a new update on the humanitarian toll of the conflict, the United Nations reported Monday that more than 16,000 Ukrainian civilians detained by Russian forces since the start of the invasion remain in arbitrary detention, with many held incommunicado in violation of international law. Claudia Fuentes Julio, U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, told an informal U.N. Security Council briefing that widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment of both civilian detainees and Ukrainian prisoners of war continues, including widespread acts of sexual violence.

    This report was contributed to by Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations.