Global Pulse

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  • Foreign students, workers will now be forced to leave US to apply for Green Cards

    Foreign students, workers will now be forced to leave US to apply for Green Cards

    In a sweeping overhaul of U.S. immigration rules announced Friday, the second Trump administration has mandated that all foreign nationals currently residing in the U.S. seeking to adjust their visa status to permanent residency must first leave the country and submit their applications through U.S. embassies or consulates based in their home countries. This sudden, immediate policy shift marks a fundamental break from decades of established immigration practice, with potential impacts stretching across more than 10 million current visa holders in the U.S. — a group that includes international students, temporary skilled workers, humanitarian parolees, and even foreign spouses of U.S. citizens.

    In an official statement, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) spokesperson Zach Kahler framed the change as a return to the original text of U.S. immigration law. “We’re going back to the law’s original intent to ensure foreign nationals navigate our immigration system the way it was designed,” Kahler said. “From now on, any temporary visitor in the U.S. seeking a green card must return to their home country to file their application, outside of extraordinary circumstances.”

    The policy went into effect the same day it was announced, but critical details remain unaddressed: the administration has not publicly defined what qualifies as an “extraordinary circumstance,” leaving the decision largely to the broad discretionary authority traditionally granted to immigration and border enforcement officials. Kahler defended the vague language, arguing that requiring applications from overseas will cut down on cases where applicants denied permanent residency remain in the U.S. illegally. “When people apply from home, we eliminate the need to track down and remove those who choose to overstay after a denial,” he explained, adding that the change will also free up limited USCIS resources to prioritize high-priority cases including visas for victims of violent crime and human trafficking, and naturalization applications. “Following the law, which has been ignored for decades, will make our system fairer and more efficient,” he added.

    But immigration advocates and legal experts warn the new rule will carry devastating human and economic costs. Applications processed through overseas consulates typically face multi-year wait times, forcing applicants to give up pending job offers and spend years separated from their U.S. citizen family members. For nationals of countries where U.S. consular services have been suspended entirely — such as Russia and Afghanistan — the process is effectively impossible to complete.

    Immigration attorneys were quick to condemn the policy across social media within hours of its announcement. “This isn’t just an issue for immigrants — it hurts U.S. citizens too,” wrote Adrian Pandev, founder of Pandev Law LLC, on platform X. “Roughly one in five married U.S. couples have one spouse born abroad. This isn’t a small fringe group — that’s 21% of all married households in the country.” Pandev noted that the existing in-country adjustment of status process was created specifically to let spouses of U.S. citizens get green cards without leaving their family behind.

    Texas-based immigration attorney Steven Brown pointed out that Congress has explicitly allowed in-country status adjustments since the 1950s, codifying the practice in law for core policy reasons: to save applicants from the financial burden and disruption of international travel, to protect family unity, advance U.S. economic growth by supporting a stable immigrant workforce, and enable humanitarian relief. The American Immigration Lawyers Association emphasized that both Republican and Democratic administrations have upheld the in-country adjustment process for decades, and federal courts have repeatedly ruled it is legal. “Reversing settled law through an unvetted policy memo is legally questionable and creates needless chaos for millions of people,” the association said in a statement.

    The policy is already expected to face immediate legal challenges in federal court, and it marks the latest aggressive move in the Trump administration’s broader crackdown on both unauthorized and legal immigration since the administration took office in January 2025.

    Advocacy groups have also highlighted that the policy disproportionately targets vulnerable groups who came to the U.S. through humanitarian programs. AfghanEvac, an organization that supports Afghan allies who assisted the U.S. during its 20-year military campaign in Afghanistan and evacuated to the U.S. in 2021, called the timing of the announcement no coincidence. “This policy directly targets people who entered the U.S. on humanitarian parole — which is the entry status for nearly every Afghan ally who arrived after the withdrawal,” said Shawn VanDiver, the organization’s president. “There is no U.S. embassy in Afghanistan, so the administration’s required alternative of applying from home simply does not exist for these people.” VanDiver warned the rule sets in motion a deportation pipeline: “This memo doesn’t deport anyone today, but it starts the chain: a denial leads to removal proceedings, which leads to a deportation order.”

    Iranians currently in the U.S. on temporary visas also face identical barriers, as Iran is included in the Trump administration’s existing travel ban, and U.S. diplomatic operations in the country have been shuttered for decades. Tens of thousands of Iranian nationals are currently studying, working, or seeking asylum in the U.S. after building lives legally in the country. The National Iranian American Council called the new rule a “trap” for this community. “The administration is telling Iranians who have built their lives here legally to leave — and once they do, they will never be allowed to come back,” said NIAC president Jamal Abdi. “Does the Trump administration seriously expect Iranian nationals legally in the U.S. to return to their country, in the middle of a war and a naval blockade this administration imposed, to apply for a status adjustment that will likely never be approved?”

  • Rubio visits India to sell energy as Iran oil shock persists

    Rubio visits India to sell energy as Iran oil shock persists

    Against the backdrop of heightened geopolitical tension and a global energy crunch sparked by the ongoing Iran war, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio touched down in India on Saturday, kicking off a four-day trip that will tackle a packed agenda spanning energy cooperation, trade negotiations, and regional security alignment. Rubio landed first in Kolkata, the bustling eastern Indian metropolis formerly known as Calcutta, in local morning hours, with subsequent stops scheduled for the national capital New Delhi, the northern cultural hub Jaipur, and the historic tourist landmark Agra. His highest-profile engagement will be a sit-down with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, where energy security is widely expected to top the list of priority discussions.

    The current energy crisis traces back to the confrontation that erupted after U.S. and Israeli military strikes on Iran in February, which turned the Strait of Hormuz — the world’s most critical chokepoint for global oil shipments — into a dangerous flashpoint. Commercial energy traffic through the strait has now effectively halted, with Iran leveraging the closure as a key bargaining chip during fragile ongoing peace talks with Washington. For India, which relies on imported energy to meet more than 80% of its total demand, the shutdown has hit particularly hard. With a population of over 1.4 billion depending on foreign supplies of everything from cooking gas to transportation fuel to power daily life, the supply gap has created urgent pressure on New Delhi to secure alternative import sources.

    Rubio has openly acknowledged the severe challenges facing Asia’s third-largest economy, and has positioned the U.S. as a reliable alternative energy supplier. “We want to sell them [India] as much energy as they’ll buy. And obviously, you’ve seen, I think, we’re at historic levels of US production and US export,” he stated ahead of the visit. For Washington, expanded Indian energy imports would also address a longstanding irritant in bilateral relations: the expanding U.S. trade deficit with India, which swelled 27.1% year-over-year to hit $58.2 billion in 2025, a figure that has consistently drawn criticism from President Donald Trump.

    Despite the mutual incentives, however, a rapid shift to U.S. energy supplies faces major practical hurdles. Shipping energy from the U.S. to India requires far longer, costlier trade routes than established supply chains from the Middle East, and analysts widely agree that U.S. shipments cannot logically close India’s current import shortfall in the near term. Beyond energy, trade relations between the two powers have seen tentative progress after months of stalemate, though major questions remain unresolved. Earlier this year, Trump cut reciprocal tariffs on Indian goods from 50% to 18% following a 10-month impasse, a move that was widely welcomed in New Delhi. After a U.S. Supreme Court ruling struck down parts of Trump’s original sweeping tariff scheme, levies were further reduced to 10%, easing pressure on Indian exporters. The tariff cuts came in exchange for India’s commitment under a February interim trade deal to purchase $500 billion worth of U.S. goods across energy, aircraft, technology, and agricultural sectors.

    Negotiations are still ongoing to finalize a broader comprehensive bilateral trade agreement, but details of the final text remain sparse, and trade analysts have expressed skepticism about the ambitious $500 billion purchase target. India’s total annual trade with the U.S. currently amounts to only a small fraction of that figure, and New Delhi has yet to put forward concrete, verifiable investment commitments to back up the public pledge. Most notably, Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani has remained publicly uncommitted to Trump’s announcement that Ambani’s firm Reliance Industries would back a $300 billion new oil refinery project in Brownsville, Texas — the first new major refinery built in the U.S. in half a century.

    Even amid that uncertainty, Indian export data tells a cautiously positive story: Indian shipments to the U.S. held steady at $87.3 billion in the 12-month period ending March 2026, posting a 0.9% year-over-year increase even during the period of steep tariffs between May 2025 and February 2026. After tariffs were lowered, exports picked up further, hitting $8.5 billion in April 2026 alone. Indian research firm Crisil Research noted that this growth reflects the “continued positive impact of the lowered tariffs,” but added that lingering uncertainty over future tariff policy means export trajectory will require close monitoring. To hedge against ongoing trade risks with the U.S., New Delhi has accelerated efforts to liberalize its historically protectionist trade policy, concluding advanced free trade agreements with a range of partners including the United Kingdom, European Union, Australia, and Oman in recent months. HSBC economist Pranjul Bhandari noted that while Trump has demanded India eliminate all tariff and non-tariff barriers on U.S. goods, these new FTAs allow India to preserve protection for key sensitive sectors. Even after a final U.S.-India trade deal is signed, she added, sectors like domestic agriculture and dairy are almost certain to remain protected.

    The visit also unfolds against a backdrop of lingering bilateral friction beyond trade. Tensions have persisted for months over conflicting narratives surrounding last year’s brief India-Pakistan border conflict: Trump has repeatedly claimed he brokered the ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, a claim New Delhi has consistently rejected, citing its longstanding policy of opposing third-party mediation in bilateral disputes with Pakistan. Trump’s public praise for Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir — whom the U.S. president has called his “favorite field marshal” — has also rankled Indian officials, and recent Pakistani mediation efforts between Washington and Tehran have drawn bilateral ties between the U.S. and Pakistan even closer. Indian analyst Vineet Prakash, an associate professor of U.S. studies at New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, noted that Pakistan’s proximity to Iran makes its strategic value to Washington unsurprising, but added that any discussion of Pakistan during Rubio’s trip will almost certainly take place behind closed doors, with no public statements expected.

    On energy security, Prakash noted that the Iran crisis is unlikely to be resolved quickly, so the issue will remain the core priority of Rubio’s visit. While the U.S. has already granted India a waiver to continue purchasing Russian oil, Prakash expects Indian officials will push for additional concessions during talks. Another longstanding point of contention that will be addressed is India’s reluctance to comply with Trump’s calls for nations to deploy military assets to the Strait of Hormuz to guarantee free navigation. New Delhi has made clear it will only participate in diplomatic efforts to resolve the standoff, so observers will be watching closely to see what public stance Rubio takes on India’s position during the visit.

    The final key item on Rubio’s agenda is the upcoming Quad Foreign Ministers meeting, scheduled for May 26 in New Delhi. The Quad, a regional security grouping comprising the U.S., India, Australia, and Japan, was framed by Trump in his first term as a counterweight to growing Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific. A planned Quad leaders summit was delayed last year due to a perceived lukewarm commitment from Trump, leading some analysts to question the grouping’s future viability. To date, there is still no confirmation that Trump will attend the rescheduled summit planned for later this year in New Delhi, or even that the summit will proceed as planned. Prakash argued that the uncertainty reflects a shift in Trump’s approach, as the administration has come to recognize that China cannot be easily pressured, leading to a reevaluation of the Quad’s purpose. For India, hosting a successful Quad leaders summit is a key priority to reinforce its growing status as a major geopolitical power, so New Delhi is eager to see the event go forward. Indian officials will wait to hear Rubio’s remarks on the grouping before committing to a public stance on the summit’s future.

    The future of the Quad also intersects with another major Indian diplomatic event on the horizon: New Delhi is scheduled to host a BRICS summit in September, an expanded grouping that now includes China, Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia alongside Brazil and South Africa. The balance India strikes between its engagements with the Quad and BRICS will be closely watched by global observers, as it will signal New Delhi’s broader geopolitical alignment amid growing great power competition. With multiple high-stakes issues on the table, Rubio’s visit is set to shape the trajectory of U.S.-India relations and regional security in the Indo-Pacific for months to come.

  • UK officials suggested single market for goods with Europe

    UK officials suggested single market for goods with Europe

    Months of public rhetoric from Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves calling for deeper post-Brexit economic integration with the European Union has now revealed an unexpectedly ambitious proposal from UK officials: the creation of a full single market for all goods trade between the two blocs, multiple sources familiar with the matter have confirmed to the BBC.

    The far-reaching plan was put forward by British negotiators as a potential core agenda item for the upcoming UK-EU summit scheduled for July, marking a sharp escalation of the UK’s ambition to unwind long-standing post-Brexit trade frictions. Until now, public discussions over the next phase of Brexit relations have centered on incremental improvements to existing arrangements, covering targeted sectors including agricultural products, food trade, electricity systems, and emissions trading. This newly disclosed proposal would go far beyond those incremental talks, aiming for full frictionless goods trade across the entire UK-EU economic border.

    However, the ambitious idea has failed to gain traction so far, after encountering significant skepticism from EU side. Industry leaders briefed on the negotiations say EU officials have already signaled the proposal is off the table under the UK’s current red lines, which include maintaining restrictions on the free movement of people – a core requirement for full single market membership. Negotiations are currently focused on working through the details of the more limited, sector-specific agreements already on the table, pushing the broader single goods market proposal to the back burner for the time being.

    Downing Street has not confirmed the exact details of private talks with EU representatives, but has acknowledged that a wide range of potential integration options have been presented to the bloc over recent months, and that constructive discussions are still ongoing. British business associations, which have long pushed for reduced post-Brexit trade barriers to cut costs for exporters and importers, have already been briefed on the proposal and the EU’s initial pushback.

    Some senior UK ministers have held out hope that shifting global political dynamics could create new flexibility for the plan down the line. They argue that recent changes to the United States’ strategic posture toward Europe have altered the geopolitical landscape, potentially making continental European capitals more open to revisiting closer economic ties with the UK.

    While a European Commission spokesperson declined to directly comment on the UK’s single market proposal when contacted by the Guardian, which first broke news of the plan, the spokesperson did note that the bloc sees room to deepen cooperation in areas including industrial defense, pointing to ongoing talks around a proposed loan package for Ukraine.

    The British government has already laid legal groundwork for deeper alignment with EU rules through the recently announced European Partnership Bill, unveiled in the latest King’s Speech. The legislation will create a formal framework to align UK and EU regulations in sectors covered by new post-Brexit agreements, starting with the ongoing food trade talks. The legal structure is designed to be flexible enough to accommodate alignment in additional sectors, if broader agreements are reached in future negotiations.

  • Moment SpaceX rocket explodes in the Indian Ocean after splashdown

    Moment SpaceX rocket explodes in the Indian Ocean after splashdown

    In a landmark test for aerospace development, Elon Musk-led private space company SpaceX has pulled off a successful launch of its next-generation Starship V2 rocket, marking another critical step forward in the firm’s ambitious deep space exploration agenda.

    Friday’s mission unfolded according to pre-planned test parameters: after completing its scheduled in-flight test objectives, the rocket stage executed its splashdown in the Indian Ocean as projected, and then underwent a deliberate controlled explosive disintegration. The intentional detonation was part of SpaceX’s iterative test design protocol, a strategy the company has long used to gather critical flight data that will inform improvements for future iterations of the Starship system.

    SpaceX’s Starship program is designed to eventually carry crew and cargo to lunar surfaces, Mars, and other deep space destinations, as well as support point-to-point travel on Earth. This latest test, even with its planned explosive conclusion, provides the engineering team with invaluable real-world data on vehicle performance, heat shield integrity, and splashdown dynamics that cannot be replicated in ground simulations. Industry analysts note that the successful launch itself is already a major win for the program, with the controlled destruction aligning with the company’s “test fast, iterate faster” philosophy that has accelerated the development of reusable rocket technology over the past decade.

  • State coroner Liberty Sanger to begin inquests into Dezi Freeman and slain police officers on Monday

    State coroner Liberty Sanger to begin inquests into Dezi Freeman and slain police officers on Monday

    Next week will mark the formal start of long-awaited coronial inquests examining three linked deaths: two police officers gunned down while executing a warrant, and their killer, Dezi Freeman, who was shot dead by officers following a seven-month manhunt across the Victoria-New South Wales border region.

    The deadly incident unfolded on August 26 last year, when a team of Victoria Police officers arrived at Freeman’s rural property in Porepunkah, north-eastern Victoria, to serve an arrest warrant over historical sexual offence allegations. The 56-year-old, a self-identified “sovereign citizen” previously known under the name Desmond Filby, had a long record of open hostility toward law enforcement and the Australian judicial system. When officers entered the property, he opened fire, killing 59-year-old Detective Leading Constable Neal Thompson and 35-year-old Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart. A third member of the police team was left with life-threatening injuries.

    In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, Freeman fled the scene into the dense bushland of Mount Buffalo. An experienced outdoorsman with extensive knowledge of the local terrain, he evaded the massive manhunt launched by Victoria Police for seven months. Authorities offered a AU$1 million reward for any information that would lead to his capture on September 6, as the search expanded across state borders.

    It was not until March 30 this year that Freeman was located, hiding in an abandoned shipping container on a rural property in Thologolong, roughly 200 kilometres northeast of his original Porepunkah home and just kilometres from the NSW border. After a multi-hour standoff with tactical police, Freeman was shot dead by officers.

    Since Freeman’s death, Victoria Police has launched an additional line of inquiry into whether the fugitive received outside assistance from any sympathizers during his seven months on the run, a question the coronial inquest is expected to explore in depth.

    The Coroners Court of Victoria has scheduled separate initial hearings for Monday, with a morning session dedicated to the two slain officers and an afternoon hearing held for Freeman’s death. State Coroner Liberty Sanger will oversee the proceedings, and a court spokesperson confirmed that the first session will lay out the foundational framework for the independent investigations.

    “Judge Liberty Sanger will confirm the Victoria Police member assigned to be the coroner’s investigator in each respective coronial investigation and establish a timeline for delivery of the coronial briefs of evidence,” the spokesperson said.

    Under Victorian law, coroners are tasked with independently examining all circumstances surrounding a death, and can make formal recommendations to change policies or practices if they identify gaps that contributed to the fatal outcome, in order to prevent similar tragedies in the future.

    Speaking shortly after Freeman was shot dead in March, Victoria’s Chief Police Commissioner Mike Bush defended the tactical response, saying that officers had gone to great lengths to avoid a fatal outcome. “We tried everything possible, every tactical option that we have, to encourage the deceased to end this in a safe and peaceful manner,” Bush said. “He was given every opportunity to resolve this peacefully, and those opportunities weren’t taken.”

  • Rubio arrives in India ahead of Quad talks as US tries to reset strained ties

    Rubio arrives in India ahead of Quad talks as US tries to reset strained ties

    NEW DELHI – U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio touched down in India on Saturday, kicking off a four-day trip that will culminate in a high-stakes regional ministerial gathering with top diplomats from the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), the Indo-Pacific strategic bloc comprising the United States, India, Australia, and Japan.

    The trip arrives at a critical juncture for U.S.-India ties, as Washington works to repair bilateral relations strained by former President Donald Trump’s contentious tariff policies, which imposed steep new duties on a range of Indian goods exported to the American market. While mending bilateral friction is a key undercurrent of the visit, much of Rubio’s schedule is dedicated to a multi-city cultural tour and a celebratory event marking a major American milestone.

    Before departing for India, Rubio framed the trip as a meaningful moment for deepening cooperation between the two nations, noting, “There’s a lot to work on with India, they’re a great ally and partner. We do a lot of good work with them so this is an important trip.”

    Rubio’s first stop after arrival was Kolkata, the bustling eastern Indian metropolis. There, he is slated to visit the Mother House, global headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity, the iconic humanitarian organization founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa. In the days ahead, he will also travel to Agra, home to the world-famous Taj Mahal, and Jaipur, the fabled “Pink City” renowned for its royal palaces and historic architecture.

    Alongside the cultural itinerary, Rubio has a packed schedule of high-level bilateral diplomacy: he will hold formal one-on-one talks with India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, and is expected to meet privately with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss bilateral and regional priorities.

    The centerpiece of the visit will come Tuesday, when Rubio joins his Quad counterparts in New Delhi for the bloc’s latest ministerial meeting. The Quad has repeatedly raised international alarm over what it describes as increased Chinese military posturing in the South China Sea and aggressive pursuit of contested maritime territorial claims in the strategically vital waterway.

    China has pushed back firmly against these criticisms and the Quad’s broader regional role. Beijing argues that its military activities in the South China Sea are purely defensive, carried out to protect its recognized sovereign rights. Chinese officials have repeatedly characterized the Quad as a deliberate Western-led effort to curb China’s global economic expansion and diplomatic influence.

    For Rubio, the India trip marks a continuation of his focus on the Quad as a core U.S. foreign policy priority in the Indo-Pacific. Shortly after his inauguration as Secretary of State in January of last year, his first formal international engagement was a series of meetings with his fellow Quad foreign ministers, both in group discussions and separate bilateral sessions, underscoring the Biden administration’s commitment to strengthening the bloc.

  • Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation as director of national intelligence, removes sidelined Iran war sceptic

    Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation as director of national intelligence, removes sidelined Iran war sceptic

    In a public letter posted to X Friday, former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and current U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced she will resign from her post in June, after her husband Abraham received a diagnosis of an extremely rare subtype of bone cancer.

    Addressed to President Donald Trump, the letter laid out Gabbard’s reasoning for stepping away from the nation’s top intelligence role: “I am deeply grateful for the trust you placed in me and for the opportunity to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. My husband, Abraham, has recently been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer. He faces major challenges in the coming weeks and months. At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle.”

    Gabbard also expressed lasting gratitude to Trump for nominating her to the cabinet-level position, making no mention of ongoing tensions over the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran in her public statement.

    Beyond the personal health crisis that Gabbard cites as the catalyst for her exit, her departure removes one of the last remaining prominent anti-interventionist, Iran war skeptics from the Trump White House. The vacancy comes two months after her close ally Joseph Kent, former director of the National Counterterrorism Centre, resigned over the administration’s shift toward war with Iran. In his March resignation statement, Kent said he could not “in good conscience” continue in the role, as the White House had “succumbed to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby” to launch military strikes.

    News agency Reuters, however, has reported that Gabbard was effectively “forced out” by the White House, despite the official framing focused on family health. President Trump pushed back against any implicit suggestion of tension in his own X post acknowledging the resignation, praising Gabbard’s tenure: “Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her. She rightfully wanted to be with her husband and bring him back to good health.”

    Policy analysts and major U.S. outlets including The Wall Street Journal note that Gabbard’s exit is unlikely to shift the Trump administration’s current policy direction on Iran or Israel, as the former congresswoman had already been largely sidelined from key war-related decision-making for months. Even during the U.S. military offensive in Venezuela earlier this year, Gabbard was vacationing at a beach in her home state of Hawaii, far from the White House Situation Room. Gabbard’s most high-profile break with administration policy came in March, when she submitted written testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee confirming Iran had made “no efforts” to rebuild its uranium enrichment program after U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025. This assessment directly contradicted public claims from Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and special envoy Steve Witkoff, who have repeatedly claimed Iran was on the brink of developing a functional nuclear weapon. Notably, Gabbard never presented the testimony in person to Senate committee members.

    For his part, Trump has maintained a long-running distrust of the established U.S. intelligence community, and in recent months his appointed CIA Director John Ratcliffe has emerged as the dominant figure in the administration’s national security apparatus, taking on high-profile foreign policy assignments including a recent visit to Cuba, where the Trump administration continues to enforce harsh, economically devastating sanctions and a decades-long blockade.

    A veteran of two U.S. military deployments to the Middle East, Gabbard built her political profile around consistent anti-interventionist positions long before joining the Trump administration. She completed a 12-month combat tour in Iraq in 2004, followed by a 2009 deployment to Kuwait where she helped train local counterterrorism forces. She represented a Democratic congressional district in Hawaii from 2013 to 2021, where she was an early advocate for a full U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan, calling for a pullout as early as 2011. She has also repeatedly pushed for a full withdrawal of the roughly 900 U.S. troops currently stationed in northeastern Syria, and was a vocal critic of U.S. military backing for the Saudi-led coalition’s intervention in Yemen, co-sponsoring bipartisan legislation to block U.S. arms sales to Riyadh in 2019.

    Gabbard’s political trajectory has shifted dramatically over the past decade: after running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination as a progressive ally of Senator Bernie Sanders, she later endorsed centrist Democratic President Joe Biden before formally switching allegiances to campaign for Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential comeback bid.

  • Coal mine gas explosion in China kills 8 and leaves dozens trapped underground

    Coal mine gas explosion in China kills 8 and leaves dozens trapped underground

    BEIJING – A devastating gas explosion at a coal mine in northern China’s major coal-producing region of Shanxi has claimed at least eight lives and left 38 workers trapped deep underground, Chinese state media confirmed Saturday.

    The emergency incident unfolded Friday evening at the Liushenyu coal mine, located in Changzhi city. At the time of the blast, a total of 247 miners were working below the surface, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported. By early hours Saturday, rescue teams had successfully evacuated 201 workers to safety, but dozens remained unaccounted for, according to the report.

    Authorities have not yet determined what triggered the explosion, and an official investigation into the root cause of the accident is currently underway, Xinhua added.

    Chinese President Xi Jinping has issued urgent instructions calling for an all-out, unreserved rescue effort to reach the trapped workers. Beyond rescue operations, the president ordered a full probe into the disaster and that any parties found responsible for the incident be held legally accountable, per Xinhua’s report.

    Shanxi holds a central role in China’s domestic coal industry. Spanning an area larger than the entire nation of Greece and home to roughly 34 million residents, the province hosts thousands of mining operations and employs hundreds of thousands of coal workers. Last year alone, Shanxi produced 1.3 billion tons of coal, which accounts for nearly one-third of China’s total annual coal output, cementing its position as the country’s top coal-producing region.

  • ‘I channelled a bit of Victor’: Club hatred put to the side as Cameron Murray and Victor Radley reunite for the Blues

    ‘I channelled a bit of Victor’: Club hatred put to the side as Cameron Murray and Victor Radley reunite for the Blues

    The State of Origin rugby league series has long been defined by its iconic “mate against mate, state against state” ethos. Nowhere is this dynamic more apparent than in the 2026 opening clash, where two of the National Rugby League’s most storied club rivals are putting decades of inter-club animosity aside to share the blue jersey for New South Wales for the first time.

    Cameron Murray of the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Victor Radley of the Sydney Roosters have grown up competing against each other, their clubs’ century-long rivalry ingrained in them from the earliest stages of their junior careers. Yet for the upcoming three-game series, that decades-long hatred is taking a backseat to shared state pride as the pair prepares to take the field as teammates.

    For Murray, a mainstay of the Blues lineup since his 2019 State of Origin debut, the 2026 series marks a much-anticipated return to representative rugby. A devastating Achilles injury forced him to miss the entire 2025 campaign, an experience that gave him a new perspective on how much the jersey means. “You don’t really know how much you miss something until it’s gone,” Murray shared in pre-series comments. “Sitting out and watching from the sidelines was always hard. It makes you miss everything – the good and the bad bits, the highs and the lows. It’s all part of what makes rugby league such a great game, and what we do so special. I missed it a lot, I’m grateful that I’m back in, and I’m just working hard to do my best and prove to everyone – but more so prove to myself – that I’m ready to be back in the Origin arena.” The NSW side has openly missed Murray’s signature leg speed and rapid play-the-ball ability during his absence, and his return adds a critical dimension to the team’s forward lineup.

    For Radley, the series marks a long-awaited debut. A recent change to State of Origin eligibility rules cleared the way for the English-born international to represent the state he has always called home, fulfilling a lifelong dream. The 28-year-old enforcer has built a reputation over his career as a fearless, boundary-pushing player whose aggressive style and relentless tenacity have made him a nightmare for opposition offenses.

    The pair’s history stretches back to their childhood: they have been competing against and occasionally alongside each other since they were 8 years old, and shared a Junior Kangaroos lineup back in 2017, when Murray started at lock and Radley came off the bench. Even so, Murray says he has only played one or two representative games alongside Radley across their entire careers, with almost all of their matches seeing them on opposite sides of the field.

    “I’ve had a lot of respect for Victor and what he’s been able to achieve and the type of footy that he plays,” Murray said. “I don’t think I’d be alone in saying that he’s built for an arena like this, and he’ll bring his best and he definitely deserves his shot. I’m really looking forward to running out alongside him.”

    Both players have been named as reserves for next Wednesday’s series opener at Accor Stadium in Sydney. NSW Blues coach Laurie Daley selected the pair specifically for their above-average mobility and strong ball-playing skills, attributes that he views as critical to matching the frenetic pace of modern top-flight rugby league in 2026.

    When asked about how evolving NRL rule changes might impact the pace and structure of next week’s Origin clash, Murray noted that the high-intensity representative fixture often looks different from regular season club play. “It’ll probably be a bit of a guessing game because the club competition has shown one thing, and Origin might show another,” he explained. “I’m not sure if Origin is going to be similar to the regular NRL season or the same old Origin that we all know it can be. You can overthink it a little bit if you try to plan for every outcome, but we’re all just going to be trying to bring our best, and I think we’ve got the talent in the team that if we can all play to our strengths and if we can play to our best ability, we’ll be able to get the job done.”

    While the two forwards have very different on-field personas – with Radley’s aggressive, edge-of-the-rules play contrasting with Murray’s more controlled style – Murray says he has full confidence that Radley will find the right balance for Origin, where a single costly penalty can swing the result of a tight match. Murray himself knows the risk of overstepping the line: he was sin-binned for involvement in a melee during the 2024 series, an incident he jokes saw him channelling Radley’s signature intensity. “I think Victor’s been around the game long enough now and I think his maturity levels are at an all-time high, and he’ll just go out there and be Victor,” Murray said.

    Blues star halfback Nathan Cleary got a firsthand look at Radley’s toughness during a training session this Thursday, and said he is equally excited to share the field with the Roosters forward. “It wasn’t much fun wrestling with him, I’ll tell you that,” Cleary laughed. “But Victor’s another one that I’ve never been able to play alongside him, but I’ve always admired him from afar. Just his competitive nature, his tenacity, and his will to win has always impressed me. Now getting to take the field with him, I’m really looking forward to it. He’s not afraid of putting his body on the line and doing what’s best for the team, and that’s shown so far.”

  • Japanese woman who scaled the world’s 14 top peaks says she wants to share joy

    Japanese woman who scaled the world’s 14 top peaks says she wants to share joy

    Tucked in a Tokyo interview with the Associated Press, 44-year-old Japanese mountaineer Naoko Watanabe opens up about a journey that has cemented her place in climbing history — while rejecting the idea that her legacy is built on stacking records. Watanabe, the first woman ever to summit K2, the world’s second-tallest peak, three times, just added another groundbreaking milestone to her resume: she has now reached the top of all 14 of the planet’s 8,000-meter-plus peaks. For the Tokyo-based nurse who funds every expedition through her medical work, though, climbing has never been about trophies.

    “I’m just an ordinary person who happened to rack up records while climbing the Himalayas during my vacations,” Watanabe said. “I don’t even consider myself a professional mountaineer.”

    Watanabe’s connection to high-altitude adventure began long before her record-breaking climbs. Born in 1981 in Onojo City, a southern Japanese community, Watanabe was introduced to outdoor exploration at the age of 3, when her mother signed her up for a children’s adventure club. By 12, she had already tackled her first snowy Pakistani peak, cut her teeth on expeditions across China’s islands and Mongolia’s grasslands, and developed a lifelong love of the wild that would help her navigate the intense social pressure of growing up in Japan’s conformity-focused culture.

    Her first 8,000-meter summit came in 2006, when she was still a student nurse. That year, she successfully topped out on Cho Oyu, the world’s sixth-highest peak straddling the Nepal-China border. After taking a full-time position as a university hospital nurse in 2009, Watanabe struggled to balance the demands of her medical career with her climbing schedule. To make more time for the Himalayas, she eventually switched to per diem temporary nursing work — a shift that let her pursue her passion while still funding every expedition herself.

    Far from being a separate part of her life, Watanabe says her nursing background has been a critical advantage on the mountain. Across 31 expeditions over two decades, her medical training has helped her make split-second, life-saving decisions during emergencies, whether assessing rapidly shifting weather or evaluating her own health mid-climb. That quick judgment saved her life during a 2011 attempt on Mount Everest: just 150 meters from the summit, a sudden weather turn led her to turn back, even as her tearful Sherpa guide insisted the top was only an hour away. Watanabe correctly predicted that worsening conditions would drain her oxygen supply, and despite losing her vision on the descent and developing pneumonia after the retreat, she made it back to safety. Two years later, she returned and summited Everest safely, even as other climbers turned back amid harsh winds.

    In 2024, Watanabe claimed two of the most notable achievements of her career. In July, she became the first woman to summit 8,611-meter K2 three times, a feat officially recognized by Guinness World Records. Then, in October 2024, she topped out on China’s 8,027-meter Mount Shishapangma, becoming the first Japanese woman to complete all 14 of the world’s highest peaks.

    Today, Watanabe sees climbing as a much-needed escape from the constant stress and rigid expectations of everyday life in Japan, and she is committed to sharing that joy with new climbers. This coming June, she will lead a group of amateur trekkers to Nanga Parbat, the world’s ninth-highest peak in Pakistan, which she calls her favorite climb. Nicknamed the “killer mountain” for its deadly history, Nanga Parbat was first summited by Watanabe on her second attempt in 2022, and she says its base camp offers some of the most stunning scenery in the entire Himalayas.

    Unlike competitive climbing expeditions that prioritize reaching the summit at all costs, Watanabe’s upcoming trek is designed to let participants set their own pace. Amateurs will stay mostly at base camp, with no pressure to push further than they are comfortable. Watanabe wants to challenge the common stereotype that high-altitude climbing is only for elite athletes chasing records.

    “They are not supposed to be working hard,” she said of the upcoming participants. “I want climbers to break free from stereotypes and realize that the Himalayas can be fun… and to know there are more important things than reaching the summit.”

    Looking ahead, Watanabe has no plans to slow down. She expects to clock around 100 Himalayan climbs before she retires from the sport, and says any future records that come from that journey will just be a happy side effect of doing what she loves. For Watanabe, the true reward of climbing has never been a trophy or a world record — it is the adventure, the joy, and the chance to meet new people, experience new cultures, and try new things along the way.