Global Pulse

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  • Another former Malaysia prime minister faces criminal charges after leaving office

    Another former Malaysia prime minister faces criminal charges after leaving office

    KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – A new chapter of political and legal turbulence opened in Malaysia this week, as former Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakib became the third former Malaysian head of government to face criminal charges after leaving office. The 66-year-old, who led the country as its ninth prime minister for just 15 months between 2021 and 2022, entered a not guilty plea Thursday to a charge under Malaysia’s anti-corruption legislation.

    The charge stems from a January 2025 notice issued by Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency, which alleges Ismail failed to submit a full declaration of his personal assets. Court documents list large unreported holdings of both domestic and foreign cash, as well as significant stocks of gold and silver. If found guilty on the charge, Ismail faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine of up to 100,000 Malaysian ringgit, equal to roughly $24,810.

    Ismail’s path to the premiership was an unusual one: he unexpectedly took office without a general election, emerging as a cross-party consensus candidate amid a period of severe political instability in 2021. His 15-month tenure makes him the shortest-serving prime minister in Malaysia’s modern history, holding office from August 2021 until the November 2022 general election that ended his administration.

    This is not the first time Ismail has been questioned by anti-graft investigators. Since leaving office, he has faced repeated questioning over potential misconduct related to millions of dollars in public funds allocated for government publicity during his time in office. Prior to Thursday’s indictment, the anti-corruption agency had already seized gold bars and approximately $40 million in cash from properties connected to the former leader.

    The original charging hearing scheduled for August 7 was delayed after Ismail was admitted to hospital to undergo a pacemaker procedure to treat an ongoing heart condition. Following Thursday’s court appearance, Ismail was released on bail. His defense lawyer, Amer Hamzah Arshad, told reporters that the former prime minister maintains his innocence and will fight to clear his name, calling the charges against him completely baseless and unfounded. The next court hearing is set for September 29, when prosecutors are scheduled to share additional evidence and case details with the defense team.

    Ismail’s indictment marks a continuation of an unprecedented pattern of criminal proceedings against former Malaysian prime ministers. He follows two predecessors who have also faced serious graft charges:
    Najib Razak, who preceded Ismail’s immediate predecessor Muhyiddin Yassin in office, is currently serving a reduced six-year prison sentence stemming from his 1MDB corruption conviction. Last year, he was sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison following the conclusion of his second and largest 1MDB-related graft trial, and still faces multiple ongoing legal proceedings tied to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund.
    Muhyiddin Yassin, Malaysia’s eighth prime minister, is currently on trial on charges of corruption and money laundering.

  • China deploys record number of ships around Taiwan as pressure grows

    China deploys record number of ships around Taiwan as pressure grows

    In a sharp escalation of Beijing’s pressure campaign against Taipei, official data from Taiwan’s Coast Guard confirms a historic surge in Chinese government-affiliated maritime vessels operating in waters surrounding the island, with numbers hitting an all-time high in July 2026. The revelation has sparked new warnings over growing regional instability and expanded Chinese military preparation in the strategically critical waters off Taiwan’s coast.

    Data shared exclusively with Agence France-Presse (AFP) by Taiwan’s Coast Guard shows that 244 Chinese vessels—including coast guard patrol craft, scientific research ships, and other government-operated boats—were detected around Taiwan’s main island in July. This marks a dramatic jump from 55 vessels recorded in June, 30 in May, and just 58 in July 2025. The monthly total averages out to nearly eight Chinese vessels operating in the area every single day. Even through the first 21 days of August, the service had already counted 152 additional vessels. Roughly 60 percent of the vessels detected are Chinese coast guard ships, with research vessels and other government craft making up the remaining share. The total does not include Chinese military warships, which Beijing deploys on near-daily patrols around the island on a consistent basis.

    Since May of this year alone, the cumulative number of Chinese vessels detected around Taiwan and its outlying islands has reached 1,247, according to full Coast Guard figures. A senior anonymous Taiwanese Coast Guard official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on media engagement, confirmed the rapidly deteriorating security landscape. “When we say the situation is becoming increasingly severe, we mean that the number of their government vessels in the waters surrounding Taiwan has increased, and there was a marked increase in July,” the official said. Reaffirming Taipei’s position on sovereignty, the official added that the Chinese Communist Party “has never ruled Taiwan for even a single day” and that “without sovereignty over land, it has no right to claim economic zones at sea.”

    Beijing has long maintained that Taiwan, a self-governing democratic island, is an inalienable part of Chinese territory, and has repeatedly refused to rule out the use of military force to annex the island. It also claims full jurisdiction over all waters surrounding Taiwan. This expanded maritime presence is part of what analysts and officials describe as China’s “grey zone” tactics: incremental actions to assert territorial claims that fall short of open armed conflict, a strategy Beijing has already deployed widely in the contested South China Sea where it competes with multiple neighboring countries for sovereignty over disputed waters and features.

    Beyond general pressure on Taipei, experts warn the growing fleet of Chinese research vessels is conducting critical seabed and oceanographic surveys to build out Chinese military databases for submarine and anti-submarine warfare operations—preparations that would give Beijing a key strategic advantage in any future conflict over the island. Taiwan’s Coast Guard has previously tracked 41 Chinese research vessels operating in its territorial waters, out of more than 120 oceanographic research craft China operates overall. In May, the Chinese research vessel *Tong Ji* completed a full circumnavigation of Taiwan, tracking the edge of the island’s restricted waters and ignoring repeated orders from Taiwanese authorities to leave the area. The Coast Guard confirmed the vessel was almost certainly conducting oceanographic sampling and seabed mapping, work that directly feeds into China’s anti-submarine warfare data collections.

    This activity has been paired with a string of new incursions into previously less contested areas east of Taiwan. In June, Beijing conducted its first officially declared law enforcement patrol in waters east of the island, and earlier this August, China announced temporary traffic control measures in the Taiwan Strait under the cover of Typhoon Dolphin’s approach to the region. A senior Taiwanese security official recently accused Beijing of “authoritarian expansionism,” warning that China is “constantly pushing the limits through an incremental salami-slicing approach” to erode Taiwan’s sovereignty.

    Ryan D. Martinson, an expert on Chinese maritime strategy at the U.S. Naval War College, noted that while Chinese research vessels are formally owned and operated by civilian academic institutions, all data they collect is shared with the People’s Liberation Army. Speaking to AFP in an email, Martinson—who noted he was commenting in a personal capacity—explained that “That kind of data/knowledge is highly useful for Chinese naval forces, which will operate in these waters in the event of a conflict. It is especially important for anti-submarine warfare and submarine warfare.”

    Martinson emphasized that while Chinese research vessels have operated around Taiwan for years, the current scale of activity is unprecedented. “In the past couple of months, I had observed a ‘very large increase’ in the number of Chinese research vessels operating around Taiwan, especially to the east of the island,” he said. “This is not a new ‘play’ in its ‘playbook’. Rather, the novel aspect is that the scale of these operations around Taiwan is unprecedented.”

    New observations from maritime analysts also highlight increasingly coordinated operations between different Chinese maritime actors. Taiwanese Coast Guard officials confirmed that Chinese research vessels are now regularly operating alongside Chinese coast guard patrol craft. In August, the Chinese research vessel *Xiang Yang Hong 03* was detected operating within the exclusive economic zones of both Taiwan and Japan, traversing deep sea trenches that are home to critical international telecommunications cables, according to Jason Wang, chief operating officer of ingeniSPACE, a firm that analyzes satellite imagery and ship tracking data. Wang added that the research vessel was escorted by a Chinese coast guard ship and a fishing vessel affiliated with China’s civilian maritime militia—a first for operations in Taiwanese waters.

    Wang said China’s goal in this latest deployment is twofold: to gather updated hydrographic data of the Ryukyu Trench and East Taiwan Trench for anti-submarine warfare planning, and to block U.S. and allied research vessels from conducting similar surveys in the region. For analysts like Martinson, all of these interconnected actions add up to a clear shift in Beijing’s approach to Taiwan. “They represent a clear escalation in Beijing’s efforts to exercise jurisdiction over the waters surrounding Taiwan, putting pressure on the country’s leadership and undermining its sovereignty and sovereign rights,” he said.

  • ‘Blown out of proportion’: Bulldogs Covid nightmare over as emerging superstar signs huge extension with club

    ‘Blown out of proportion’: Bulldogs Covid nightmare over as emerging superstar signs huge extension with club

    The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs head into a season-defining NRL clash against the Penrith Panthers on Friday with two much-needed pieces of positive news, after navigating a disruptive COVID-19 outbreak within the squad that sidelined eight players earlier this week. Head coach Cameron Ciraldo has confirmed that all eight affected players have been cleared to take the field, keeping his side’s fragile 2024 finals hopes alive ahead of the virtual elimination final.

    The cluster was first identified on Monday, when eight players and two support staff were isolated from the main training group as a precaution. The disruption even forced retired former Bulldogs outside back Steve Turner to step in to fill the fullback position for a light training session, with Ciraldo also forced to miss the session amid precautionary protocols. But speaking this week, Ciraldo downplayed the severity of the outbreak, noting the entire squad was cleared for Thursday’s captain’s run at Belmore Sports Ground, including club captain Stephen Crichton, who was among the players to contract the virus.

    “It was probably a little bit blown out of proportion,” Ciraldo told reporters. “A couple of weeks ago we had influenza A go through the camp that hit a number of our guys pretty hard, so we were extra cautious when a few boys started getting runny noses this time around. It was just a precautionary move at the start of the week to separate the group after our light early-week session, and we kept them apart until after our scheduled day off. Everyone was back in full training yesterday, preparations went really well, and we’re all excited for the opportunity tomorrow.”

    Along with the clear medical bill of health for his squad, Ciraldo received a second major boost on Wednesday, with young edge forward Jacob Preston signing a four-year contract extension to remain at Belmore. The deal ends months of speculation that the rising star back-rower would enter the free agent market on November 1, with two expansion franchises, the proposed Brisbane Bears and Gold Coast Chiefs, linked with aggressive approaches to poach the 20-something talent.

    Club powerbroker Phil Gould led the re-signing negotiations, and Ciraldo said the outcome is a massive vote of confidence in the culture the Bulldogs are building. “It’s been awesome watching Jacob’s journey over the last four years – he’s grown so much both as a player and as a person, and we’re really excited to have him around for a lot longer,” Ciraldo said. “Jacob was always very clear: he loves this club, he loves the environment we’ve built here, and he believes he can play his best footy right here. I was always confident he wanted to stay, and we wanted to keep him, so I’m just happy it’s all done now. I don’t get involved in the contract details – that’s between Gus, Jacob and his management – but this is a great result for the whole club.”

    All focus now turns to Friday night’s clash at Penrith, a match the Bulldogs must win to keep their post-season aspirations alive. Currently sitting two points behind the eighth-placed North Queensland Cowboys, who hold the last finals spot, Canterbury knows only a win will keep their 2024 campaign alive. In a promising sign for the club, the Bulldogs already upset the Panthers in round 6, handing the reigning premiers their first loss of the 2024 season.

    Instead of looking at the big-picture pressure of the match, Ciraldo said his squad is focused only on the 80 minutes of play ahead. “We’re not talking about what’s on the line in the grand scheme of things,” he said. “We’ve got a very short-term focus: we just want to stay present throughout every minute of the game. If we can do that and play our style of footy, we’ll give ourselves a good shot. There’s no point worrying about anything that happens outside those 80 minutes.”

  • South Korean police seek indictments of 7 transport ministry officials over Jeju Air crash

    South Korean police seek indictments of 7 transport ministry officials over Jeju Air crash

    On Thursday, South Korean law enforcement announced a major development in the investigation into the country’s worst aviation disaster in nearly 30 years: authorities are pushing for criminal indictments against seven senior transport ministry officials linked to the December 2024 Jeju Air crash at Muan International Airport that claimed 179 lives.

    The tragedy unfolded when a Boeing 737-800 operated by regional carrier Jeju Air attempted an emergency landing after its landing gear failed to deploy. The aircraft skidded off the runway before colliding with a concrete structure housing landing guidance equipment, triggering a catastrophic fire that left only two survivors among the 181 people on board.

    Investigators have already recovered physical evidence of bird strike damage to both of the plane’s engines, a key detail that has factored into early probes. A further unusual finding has added complexity to the case: the jet’s two black boxes, which record flight data and cockpit audio, ceased recording approximately four minutes before the crash, leaving gaps in investigators’ full understanding of the final moments of the flight.

    Many aviation safety experts have pointed to additional systemic failures that contributed to the high death toll, specifically calling out the design and construction of the concrete localizer structure the plane hit. Localizers are antenna arrays that guide aircraft during landing approaches, and global aviation safety standards require these structures to be built with frangible, easily breakable materials to minimize damage in the event of a collision. Experts argue the non-frangible concrete construction of the Muan airport localizer directly worsened the crash’s impact.

    Police investigations have now uncovered that the seven indicted transport ministry officials knowingly falsified official records and public statements, falsely claiming the Muan localizer had been installed in full compliance with both South Korean domestic regulations and international aviation safety standards. Law enforcement has officially referred the case to state prosecutors, requesting the seven officials be charged with the criminal offense of falsifying official government documents. Conviction on this charge carries a maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment in South Korea. When contacted for comment following Thursday’s announcement, the South Korean Transport Ministry declined to issue any statement.

    The probe remains ongoing: police confirmed they are still investigating roughly 70 other individuals connected to the crash, including personnel involved in the original installation of the Muan airport localizers and senior airport operations managers.

    The crash marks South Korea’s deadliest aviation accident since 1997, and as of yet no formal final cause has been publicly released by investigators, and no prior criminal prosecutions have been filed in connection with the disaster. The investigation has already been marked by controversy earlier this year: the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board initially planned to release an early probe finding that both engines sustained bird strike damage, and that pilots had shut down the less severely damaged engine moments before the emergency landing. That draft finding, widely interpreted as implying pilot error contributed to the crash, sparked fierce public pushback from bereaved families of the victims and active-duty South Korean pilots, who accused authorities of attempting to shift blame for the disaster onto the deceased pilots to deflect from institutional failures. In response to the outcry, the investigation board scrapped the planned announcement of the preliminary results.

  • Nepal-Tibet disaster: what we know

    Nepal-Tibet disaster: what we know

    A catastrophic natural disaster along the Nepal-Tibet border has left at least 165 people dead and hundreds unaccounted for, after a collapsing glacier unleashed massive walls of floodwater and debris across both sides of the frontier. The disaster, which unfolded on Wednesday morning, has sparked an urgent international response, with aid organizations and governments around the world stepping in to support search and rescue operations.

    While the full sequence of events is still being pieced together by geologists and disaster response teams, dramatic surveillance footage from the Chinese side of the border captured the raw force of the disaster: a towering surge of mud and water swept over a structures as residents fled for safety. On the Nepalese side of the border, fast-moving floodwaters slammed into settlements along the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli rivers, destroying homes, infrastructure and cutting off entire communities.

    In the immediate aftermath of the event, initial descriptions varied: Nepalese officials first categorized it as a major flood, while Chinese authorities labeled it a catastrophic mudslide. The death toll has continued to climb in the days since the disaster: 162 fatalities have been confirmed in Nepal, with three more recorded in Tibet. As of Thursday, more than 350 people are officially listed as missing in Tibet, while Nepal reports 468 unaccounted-for tourists, 393 of whom hold foreign nationalities, alongside 93 missing Nepalese citizens. Foreign nationals missing span the globe, including citizens from India, Ukraine, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, South Africa and Australia, which has confirmed 34 of its residents are unaccounted for in the affected region.

    Early theories about the cause of the disaster pointed to a small earthquake triggering a landslide that blocked a upstream river, creating a natural dam that eventually burst to release the catastrophic downstream surge. This initial hypothesis aligned with an early reading from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), which detected seismic activity in northern Tibet near the disaster zone. However, further analysis of seismic data from nearby monitoring stations, long-period wave readings and satellite imagery has revised that conclusion. USGS now confirms the seismic signal initially mistaken for an earthquake was actually the event itself: a large-scale glacial collapse and subsequent debris flow, with no tectonic earthquake involved.

    The international community has moved quickly to offer support to response efforts. The United States has committed $500,000 in immediate emergency aid, while the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has released $1.4 million to fund on-the-ground assistance. David Fisher, head of IFRC Nepal, emphasized that reaching cut-off and affected communities is the top priority, with teams working to deliver support to people who have lost their homes, suffered injuries, or been isolated by the disaster. The European Union has activated its Copernicus satellite surveillance system to map damage and guide recovery teams, and stands ready to deploy additional support. The World Health Organization has already shipped emergency medical supplies to the region, and neighboring India has dispatched an initial 10 tonnes of humanitarian aid to support response efforts.

  • Climate change leaves its mark on America’s largest reservoir

    Climate change leaves its mark on America’s largest reservoir

    Perched high on the sunbaked hills surrounding Las Vegas, French tourist Choune Osterero stares out at a stark, unavoidable marker of human-caused climate change: a thick, pale band of mineral-encrusted rock that circles the entire basin of Lake Mead, the United States’ largest man-made reservoir. Known locally as the “bathtub ring,” this chalky line sits 186 feet (57 meters) above the reservoir’s current water surface, a 25-year record of relentless drought that has drained the lake to historic lows. For Osterero, the unmissable geologic clue makes abstract climate talk tangible. “You can see the effects of climate change with the naked eye,” she told Agence France-Presse during her visit. “It’s truly striking; it really makes you wonder.”

    The retreating waters of Lake Mead have exposed hidden relics long swallowed by the lake: sunken boat wrecks, and even scattered human remains, including the body of a man believed to be a victim of 20th-century Las Vegas organized crime. But far beyond these macabre discoveries, the shrinking reservoir threatens the foundational infrastructure that powers and sustains the entire American West.

    The modern development of iconic desert metropolises — from Las Vegas to Los Angeles and Phoenix — was only made possible by an extensive water distribution system tapping the Colorado River. The river, which originates from snowmelt in the Rocky Mountains and flows south through the U.S. Southwest into Mexico, provides drinking and irrigation water to more than 40 million people across seven U.S. states. Two massive hydroelectric dams, built 300 miles apart along the river’s course, created the country’s two largest reservoirs: Lake Mead and Lake Powell. These basins store snowmelt to ensure year-round water access, while the dams’ turbines generate carbon-free electricity for hundreds of thousands of households across the region.

    Today, that entire system is teetering on the edge of crisis. The roots of the vulnerability stretch back a century: the 1922 interstate agreement governing Colorado River water allocations assigned more annual water to the seven basin states than the river actually carries on average. But human-caused climate change has drastically worsened this systemic flaw, altering regional precipitation patterns, extending extreme heat and drought events, and amplifying precipitation volatility across the continent.

    Against a backdrop of global record-breaking temperatures in 2026, the Colorado River system is facing dual pressures that have pushed reservoirs to unprecedented lows, explains David Kreamer, a hydrology professor at the University of Las Vegas. An unusually dry winter left the Rocky Mountains with far less snowpack than average — the primary source of the river’s annual flow. At the same time, the record-hot July the U.S. experienced this year has accelerated evaporation from the open surfaces of Lake Mead and Lake Powell, draining stored water even faster.

    “As climate change is affecting things, and it gets more intense, the challenges become greater,” Kreamer noted. Currently, Lake Mead holds only 25% of its total capacity, while Lake Powell dropped to an all-time historic low in August. Both reservoirs are now perilously close to the critical threshold where dam operations for electricity generation become impossible. A further decline could push the system into “deadpool” — a state where water levels drop too low to flow through the dam’s intake structures, cutting off water access for millions across the Southwest. The catastrophic consequences would reach far beyond the region’s big cities.

    “The majority of the winter vegetables in the United States are grown in California, and so if the irrigation systems in Southern California are impacted, it would impact people beyond just the Colorado River Basin, but throughout the United States,” Kreamer explained.

    In response to the deepening crisis, the Trump administration — which has repeatedly questioned the scientific consensus around human-caused climate change — released a 10-year management plan this month that imposes deep water use cuts on three lower basin states: California, Arizona, and Nevada. The three states are required to reduce their collective annual water withdrawals by 3.7 billion cubic meters — a volume equal to 1.5 million Olympic-sized swimming pools — while upper basin states including Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico face no mandatory cuts. The unequal burden of the plan prompted Nevada to file a lawsuit against the federal government on Monday challenging the policy.

    The divisive cuts have laid bare long-simmering tensions between water users across the basin, with many pointing the finger at other regions and industries for overconsumption. Bruce Nelson, whose family has owned a marina on Lake Mead for nearly 70 years, argues that Las Vegas has already done more than its share to cut use: over the past two decades, the city has reduced its total water consumption by a third through aggressive wastewater recycling programs, restrictions on lawn watering, and limits on new residential swimming pool sizes. He argues that the burden falls disproportionately on southern Nevada, while other states continue to waste water.

    “Las Vegas has done a phenomenal job in preserving and reclaiming water,” Nelson said. In contrast, he noted, neighboring Utah recycles very little of its wastewater and continues to approve large, water-intensive recreational projects inland, including artificial surf parks in fast-growing cities like St. George. “Maybe they need to think about how they’re conserving water,” he added.

    Waterskiing enthusiast Brian Essex, who was visiting the lake, echoed that frustration. “It’s not our problem, really,” he said. He pointed to two major drivers of unsustainable water use: unregulated rapid real estate development in Phoenix, which is constantly expanding into the desert, and the massive water consumption of California’s alfalfa industry. Alfalfa, a lucrative forage crop for livestock, is one of the most water-intensive crops grown in the Southwest.

    “What do you want to do?” Essex asked. “Do you want to build houses or do you want to sell alfalfa? You can’t do both.”

  • Ruthless Bayern target treble as rivals reboot on Bundesliga return

    Ruthless Bayern target treble as rivals reboot on Bundesliga return

    As Germany’s top-flight football league Bundesliga kicks off its new campaign this Friday, defending double champions Bayern Munich have entered the season with high ambitions of claiming an unprecedented treble, while their closest competitors have executed major offseason overhauls in a bid to close the growing gap on the Bavarian giants.

    Bayern Munich will kick off their title defense at home against Stuttgart, the 2025-26 German Cup runners-up, fresh off a historic domestic campaign that saw the club claim both the Bundesliga and German Cup titles, secure the fourth-highest points total in league history, and set a new goal-scoring record of 122 goals across 34 regular-season matches. Led by star striker Harry Kane, who lined up alongside lethal wingers Michael Olise and Luis Diaz, Bayern dropped just one domestic fixture all last season, with Kane netting a hat-trick to seal the Cup final win over Friday’s opening opponent. The only significant setback of Bayern’s 2025-26 campaign came in European competition, where they bowed out of the Champions League semi-finals in a tight 6-5 aggregate defeat to eventual tournament winners Paris Saint-Germain.

    This offseason, Bayern has reinforced its title-chasing squad by adding Moroccan World Cup standout Ismael Saibari and young German defender Nathaniel Brown, building on a already dominant core. The club’s hunger for silverware remains unquenched, as demonstrated by their recent 2-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the German Super Cup. Speaking to reporters after the Super Cup win, Kane made clear the team’s intentions for the new season, framing the early win as a warning to the rest of the league. “We fell just short in the Champions League, but our momentum is to keep pushing, pushing each other, pushing this team to see how far we can go,” the England captain said. “Our aim is to continue to dominate in Germany, and I think winning here is a great statement.”

    Kane, who joined Bayern from Tottenham Hotspur in 2023 after years without major silverware in England, has already claimed three domestic trophies and two Super Cup titles with the Bavarian side, following a 61-goal haul across all competitions last season. The 33-year-old also has extra motivation for a strong start to the new campaign: the Ballon d’Or award will be presented in October in his home city of London, and Bayern’s leadership has publicly thrown their full weight behind Kane’s candidacy. “It can only be Harry Kane. We can just give it to Harry already,” Bayern board member Rouven Kasper told AFP. Sporting director Christoph Freund echoed that sentiment, noting “[Kane] deserves to win the Ballon d’Or — he had an outstanding season.”

    Off the pitch, Bayern has also been navigating a health concern for star playmaker Jamal Musiala. The 23-year-old German international, who revealed this summer he is living with a neurological disorder that caused two on-pitch collapses during pre-season, is expected to be gradually eased back into the starting lineup, with Saibari’s arrival providing the squad with enough depth to cover for his slow return. Bayern’s technical staff has expressed confidence that Musiala will return to his best form in due time.

    While Bayern enters the season as the overwhelming favorite, their Bundesliga rivals have all undergone major changes in the offseason in an attempt to mount a credible title challenge. Longtime Bayern challenger Borussia Dortmund, after years of prioritizing established senior players, have returned to their historic model of investing in high-potential young talent, sinking a reported 110 million euros into new signings this summer. That total matches Bayern’s own offseason spending on Saibari and Brown, with Dortmund adding 19-year-old winger Konstantinos Karetsas, teenager defender Joane Gadou, 23-year-old midfielder Giannis Konstantelias, and experienced midfielder Joey Veerman to their ranks.

    For Dortmund head coach Niko Kovac, who won the Bundesliga title with Bayern in 2018-19, the gap between his current side and the defending champions remains sizable, even after the summer investment. “A lot must happen to close the gap,” Kovac told AFP. “We must play over our capacities, I would say. And then Bayern Munich play under their capacity. But you can be sure we will try everything.”

    Elsewhere across the league, Stuttgart, who have qualified for the Champions League in two of the three full seasons under manager Sebastian Hoeness, has achieved a rare offseason stability: for the first time since Hoeness took charge in 2023, the club has managed to retain all its top talents despite interest from bigger European clubs, rather than selling key stars. 2023-24 Bundesliga winners Bayer Leverkusen have turned to Spanish manager Carles Martinez Novell to continue the club’s rebuild that began when former coach Xabi Alonso departed in 2025. RB Leipzig, who finished third last season to qualify for the Champions League, has appointed Argentine manager Martin Demichelis to replace outgoing coach Ole Werner, and has seen major squad turnover after selling star midfielder Yan Diomande to Real Madrid for 120 million euros. Despite bringing back fan favorite Christopher Nkunku on a season-long loan from AC Milan, the squad still lacks top-level experience in key positions heading into the opener.

    As the first kickoff of the new Bundesliga season approaches, all eyes will be on whether Bayern can turn their domestic dominance into a historic treble, or if the league’s revamped challengers can finally dethrone the Bavarian giants.

  • Yayoi Kusama, who splashed polka dots across art world, dies at 97 in Tokyo

    Yayoi Kusama, who splashed polka dots across art world, dies at 97 in Tokyo

    Legendary Japanese contemporary artist Yayoi Kusama, whose instantly recognizable polka dot works transformed global visual art, passed away on August 14 at a Tokyo hospital at the age of 97, her official studio confirmed in a public statement released Thursday.

    Kusama remained dedicated to her craft right up to her final moments, the statement emphasized: “She continued to paint until her final days, never setting aside her brush, and continued exploration of forever love and eternal soul. We will carry forward Kusama’s wishes and, through art, continue to bring hope and strength for the future to people around the world.”

    Widely celebrated as one of Japan’s most influential contemporary creators, Kusama’s work has been showcased in leading cultural institutions across the globe, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Repetition lies at the core of her artistic identity: while she experimented with recurring motifs ranging from woven net patterns to swirling, worm-like forms, polka dots remain her most iconic signature. These vibrant, psychedelic spots danced across her canvases, took shape as glittering spheres, and became glowing installations that immerse visitors in her singular visual world.

    In a 2012 interview with The Associated Press, Kusama — appearing in her characteristic orange bob wig and a garment covered in her beloved dots — summed up her creative mantra simply: “Polka dots are fabulous.” Speaking in a gentle, straightforward tone, she added, “I want to create a thousand paintings, maybe two thousand paintings, as many as I can draw. I will keep painting until I die.” She kept that promise.

    Kusama drew the world as she experienced it: she explained that the spotted perspective that defined her work originated from the hallucinations she experienced from childhood. For decades, she navigated regular stays in psychiatric institutions, but her mental health struggles never derailed her trailblazing career. In 1957, she became one of the first Japanese female artists to relocate to New York to pursue artistic work. Though soft-spoken and naturally shy, she was unapologetically bold in advancing her unique creative vision, sticking to her dot-centric style for decades while working to make her art accessible to mainstream audiences, not just gallery elites.

    In her later life, Kusama received the widespread acclaim she had long been denied. She collaborated with global luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton and lent her designs to a range of licensed consumer goods, from teacups and t-shirts to keychains and store display figures of herself. In 2008, one of her works sold for $5.8 million at Christie’s auction house, cementing her status as a major commercial force in the art world. In 2016, she received Japan’s highest honor for artists, the Order of Culture. Upon accepting the award, she reaffirmed her unwavering commitment to her craft, noting that the sincerity and devotion she brought to her personal life formed the core of her artistic legacy. “I feel there is little left in my life, but I am now still fighting to the death for my art,” she said at the time. “I am giving all I have so that many people will continue to be interested in my art, even after I am dead.”

    Critics have labeled her work with a wide range of labels, from pop art and avant-garde to feminist art, but Kusama rejected most attempts to box her practice into narrow categories. Born into a middle-class Japanese family, Kusama grew up feeling deeply misunderstood: her parents discouraged her artistic ambitions, pushing her to pursue traditional domestic life and marriage instead, offering to buy her kimonos rather than paints and brushes. Knowing she had to escape to fulfill her potential, she chose to build her career in the United States.

    When Kusama arrived in New York, the dominant artistic trend was abstract expressionist “action painting,” defined by gestural drips and broad brushstrokes — not the controlled, repetitive dots that would become her trademark. She endured years of poverty and public obscurity, but never abandoned her commitment to painting dots. In the late 1960s, she gained media attention (and legal scrutiny) for anti-war “happening” performances where she placed paper dots on participants’ bodies — and even on a horse — leading to obscenity arrests for some involved. While building her practice in New York, she befriended leading contemporary artists including Andy Warhol, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Joseph Cornell, all of whom praised her innovative creative approach.

    Over her seven-decade career, Kusama created a vast body of quirky, celebratory works that span multiple mediums. Notable pieces include *Macaroni Girl*, a figure covered in dry macaroni that explores fear of food; *The Visionary Flowers*, large-scale sculptural works of twisting tulips; and *Mirrored Corridor*, an immersive installation that uses reflective surfaces to create the illusion of an endless field of dotted phallic forms. Beyond visual art, Kusama also experimented with filmmaking and published multiple novels. She once told the AP that the origin of her creative ideas remained a mystery even to her: she simply picked up her brush and started creating, and the process often surprised her. “I think, ‘Oh, I drew that? I was thinking that,’” she said.

    Kusama embraced public attention and acclaim for her work, happily reading her poetry for reporters and posing with energy for press photographs. She remained a disarmingly charming mix of vulnerability and defiance to the end: one moment declaring herself “an artistic revolutionary,” and the next murmuring, “I am so afraid, all the time, of everything.” Her work and legacy continue to resonate with audiences around the world, carrying forward the message of hope and creativity she spent a lifetime building.

  • Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama dies aged 97

    Japanese avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama dies aged 97

    Yayoi Kusama, the iconic Japanese avant-garde artist whose decades-spanning career redefined global contemporary art, has passed away at the age of 97, her official company confirmed in a formal public statement this week. The pioneering creator died on August 14, 2025, while receiving care at a Tokyo hospital, ending a life singularly dedicated to boundary-pushing artistic innovation.

    Widely recognized for her instantly recognizable visual language of infinite polka dots, immersive installations, and bold, colorful large-scale sculptures, Kusama rose to widespread international acclaim late in her life, cementing her status as one of the most influential contemporary artists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Unlike many creators who confined their practice to a single medium, Kusama built a boundary-crossing career that spanned far beyond visual art: her body of work includes groundbreaking performance pieces, published fiction, and collections of poetry, each marked by her distinctive exploration of infinity, obsession, mental health, and human connection.

    For much of her later life, Kusama chose to live voluntarily in a Tokyo psychiatric hospital, a decision she framed as central to sustaining her artistic practice while managing her long-standing mental health challenges. She was equally famous for her iconic public persona as for her art, often appearing at exhibitions and public events in her signature bright crimson wig and playful polka-dot clothing, a look that became synonymous with her unapologetically creative and whimsical approach to life and work.

    Born in 1929 in Matsumoto, Nagano, Kusama moved to New York City in the 1950s to pursue her artistic career, where she became a central figure in the 1960s avant-garde movement alongside pop art and minimalist pioneers. Though she faded from public attention for decades after returning to Japan in the 1970s, a global critical re-evaluation of her work starting in the 1990s catapulted her to the mainstream fame she holds today, with blockbuster exhibitions drawing record crowds at museums around the world. Tributes to her life and work have begun pouring in from art institutions, fellow creators, and fans across the globe, who celebrate her as a visionary who turned personal struggle into universally resonant art.

  • Trial date set for alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

    Trial date set for alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

    Nearly 25 years after the deadliest terror attack on modern U.S. soil, a long-awaited legal milestone has finally been set: the military trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused architect of the September 11, 2001 attacks, will begin in June 2028. The date was announced this week by U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael A Schrama, the presiding military judge, who rejected prosecutors’ request for an earlier 2027 start as unfeasibly rushed.

    Alongside Mohammed, three co-accused alleged accomplices – Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi – will also stand trial on the same date. In his ruling, Schrama explained that the two-year timeline was intentional, designed to give all parties sufficient time to resolve pre-trial procedural disputes, particularly over the admissibility of evidence, a sticking point that has delayed proceedings for decades.

    The road to this trial has been marked by repeated delays, legal reversals, and decades of pre-trial detention. Mohammed, a U.S.-educated engineer, was first captured alongside al-Hawsawi in Pakistan in March 2003, three years after the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people across New York, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. He has been held in military detention at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba since September 2006, and has previously publicly claimed he planned the 9/11 operation “from A to Z”. Prosecutors allege Mohammed developed the plot to train hijacker pilots to fly commercial aircraft into prominent U.S. targets, and personally presented the plan to al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden.

    Most recently, a 2021 plea deal that would have spared Mohammed the death penalty in exchange for a guilty plea and a sentence of life without parole collapsed last summer, after a federal appeals court struck down the agreement. The deal, negotiated over two years and signed by a Pentagon representative appointed by then-U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, caught Austin off guard, and he moved to revoke it almost immediately after it was finalized.

    Next month will mark 25 years since 19 al-Qaeda hijackers seized four commercial airliners, crashing two into the World Trade Center’s twin towers in New York, one into the Pentagon outside Washington D.C., and a fourth into a rural field in Pennsylvania after passengers revolted against the hijackers. The attack remains the deadliest criminal act on U.S. soil in modern history, and the prolonged detention and legal process at Guantanamo Bay – which opened just six months after the attacks, and still holds 15 detainees today – has been one of the most contentious legacies of U.S. counterterrorism policy in the post-9/11 era.