Global Pulse

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  • Jack Letts appeals for repatriations from Iraq in ‘out of the blue’ phone call to parents

    Jack Letts appeals for repatriations from Iraq in ‘out of the blue’ phone call to parents

    Nine years after the last direct conversation with their son, the parents of Jack Letts – a British-born Canadian man who traveled to Islamic State (IS) controlled Syrian territory as an 18-year-old in 2014 – have opened up about the chaotic mix of shock, relief, and lingering frustration that followed an unexpected phone call from their son, who is currently detained in Iraq.

    Sally Lane, Jack’s mother, told Middle East Eye she believes the unexpected three-minute call, which took place last month, signals growing pressure from Iraqi authorities to push Western governments to repatriate their citizens who are held on alleged IS links. The call came entirely without warning: Lane nearly ignored the unfamiliar call, but answered after recognizing the Iraqi country code, only to hear her son’s voice greet her with a simple “Hello Mum.”

    “It was very short and he said there were a million things he wanted to say to me. The good thing is he sounded perfectly sane and normal,” Lane shared in her interview.

    Lane is convinced Iraqi authorities facilitated the call, amid mounting frustration from Baghdad that Western nations including Canada and the United Kingdom have refused to take back responsibility for their nationals detained over suspected IS ties. Jack conveyed a clear message to his parents: Iraqi officials have made clear they do not want to continue holding these foreign detainees, and are pushing for their repatriation to their home countries before any legal proceedings begin. He told his mother that an Iraqi legal delegation had already met with Canadian detainees days earlier to deliver this same demand. John Letts, Jack’s father, confirmed he received an identical brief call from his son carrying the same message, quoting Jack as saying “The Iraqis don’t want us here and the Iraqis are desperate to send us back.”

    Now 30, Letts first traveled to IS-held Syria and Iraq in 2014 when he turned 18. Three years later, as IS territorial control collapsed, he was captured by Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria, and was stripped of his British citizenship shortly after detention – a common measure taken against UK citizens who traveled to Syria during the civil war. For nearly a decade, Letts has been held without charge alongside hundreds of other suspected IS affiliates. Prior to last month’s calls, his parents had only received sporadic, limited updates on his condition and location, with the last direct communication via voice message shortly after his 2017 capture. In a 2024 interview, after a Canadian media crew located him in a Syrian prison, Letts denied ever being an IS member, though he noted he could not share full details while still in detention.

    In January of this year, Letts was one of more than 5,000 former detainees held in northeastern Syria transferred to Iraqi custody in a US-supported operation, part of the handover of security control from regional Kurdish authorities to Syria’s central government. Data from Iraq’s Ministry of Justice, reviewed by Middle East Eye, shows that more than 3,500 of the transferred detainees are Syrian, with dozens of other Western citizens among the group: at least five Canadians, 10 Britons, 27 Germans, and 13 Australians. Larger cohorts come from Arab nations including 187 from Morocco, 116 from Egypt, and 68 from Saudi Arabia, as well as 130 from Russia and 165 from Turkmenistan.

    Today, Letts is held in a foreign national detention facility run by Iraq’s Directorate for General Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism, located near Al-Karkh Central Prison on the outskirts of Baghdad. While Canada has previously repatriated female citizens and children held in Syrian displacement camps for families of IS affiliates, it has refused to repatriate male detainees on national security grounds. Since the transfer to Iraq earlier this year, Canadian embassy officials have visited Letts and other Canadian detainees, and facilitated the exchange of letters and photos between detainees and their families. But the Canadian government continues to reject calls for repatriation, advising families to hire Iraqi-based legal representation for their relatives.

    “The Canadian government has said that they can’t interfere in the judicial affairs of another country,” Lane explained. “They’ve just said you need to get a lawyer, either somebody appointed by the Iraqi court, or an international lawyer who is approved by the Iraqi Bar Association.”

    Legal experts and global human rights organizations have raised urgent alarms over the fate of foreign detainees transferred to Iraq, who face potential trials in Iraqi courts for alleged offenses committed in Syria after a decade of detention conditions widely condemned as unlawful. In February, Human Rights Watch warned that detainees transferred to Iraq face severe risks including enforced disappearance, unfair trials, torture, ill-treatment, and even violation of the right to life, due to well-documented failures of due process in Iraqi counterterrorism cases.

    Prominent human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith told Middle East Eye that prosecuting these detainees in Iraq for crimes not committed on Iraqi soil is “legal nonsense.” He argued that any accused individuals should face trial in their home countries, noting that most have already spent nearly 10 years imprisoned in what he described as “pretty barbarous conditions.”

    John Letts accuses the Canadian government of “hiding behind words” to avoid repatriation, pointing out that Ottawa’s position has not shifted even after the transfer to Iraq. When his son was held in Syria, Canada routinely refused to provide consular assistance to Letts and other detainees on the grounds that it had no diplomatic representation in the country during the civil war. “In practical terms, nothing has actually changed. The Canadian position is still no repatriations,” John Letts said. He remains deeply concerned about his son’s treatment in Iraqi custody, and even during the brief three-minute call, Jack shared the names of two fellow detainees he said were in urgent need of legal help before the line cut out. “He sounded together, but the bittersweetness is that you know he’s had a terrible time and that terrible time is still continuing,” John Letts added.

    Both of Letts’s parents say they plan to travel to Iraq in the near future to visit their son in detention. Middle East Eye has reached out to both Canadian and Iraqi foreign ministries for comment on the case.

  • Young Danes start extended military service

    Young Danes start extended military service

    Shifting its national defense posture in response to shifting European security threats following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Denmark has rolled out a landmark reform to its national conscription system, launching an 11-month mandatory military service period that is nearly three times longer than the previous four-month term. Some 1,600 young Danish recruits reported to bases across the country on Monday to begin their service, marking the first cohort to train under the updated policy adopted by the NATO member state in 2024. The reform also breaks historic gender barriers by formally opening conscription to all eligible women.

    Among the high-profile recruits reporting for duty on Monday was 19-year-old Princess Isabella of Denmark, who began her conscription service with the elite Guard Hussar Regiment at Antvorskov Barracks in the southwestern city of Slagelse.

    For senior defense officials, the overhaul of the conscription system is a direct response to heightened security risks along NATO’s eastern flank. During a visit to Oksbol military base in western Denmark, Colonel Michael Villumsen framed the change as a straightforward reaction to regional instability. “Well, look east. Need I say more? It is of course the security situation from the Russia perspective and what Russia will be able to do if NATO actually does not do anything,” Villumsen told Agence France-Presse. “Now NATO is doing something and our Danish contribution to this is actually enforcing our combat readiness very quickly through conscription,” he added.

    Unlike mandatory conscription systems in many other countries, Denmark’s model remains largely rooted in voluntary participation. When volunteer numbers fall short of required recruitment targets, remaining positions are filled through random lottery selection. This year, women make up roughly 20 percent of the incoming conscript cohort, a milestone following the 2024 reform.

    Beyond extending the service period, the updated system expands the scope of operational duties that new conscripts can be assigned to after initial training. The first three to five months of service are dedicated to building core military competencies, including marksmanship, battlefield first aid, and rigorous physical conditioning. Once trainees complete this foundational phase, they are deployed to a range of active operational missions, from border and critical infrastructure surveillance to operating unmanned aerial drone systems.

  • Infantino, the FIFA president under pressure after scrapped investor plan

    Infantino, the FIFA president under pressure after scrapped investor plan

    For nearly a decade at the helm of global football’s governing body, FIFA President Gianni Infantino has cultivated an image of unassailability – brushing off repeated criticism, securing backing for expanded editions of the Club World Cup and men’s World Cup, and solidifying his hold on power. But the sudden collapse of his signature private investment initiative has left the 56-year-old facing the most significant threat to his leadership since he took office in 2016.

    Just two weeks before the plan unravelled, Infantino was riding a wave of momentum following the 48-team 2025 World Cup, hosted across three North American countries. Widely regarded as a successful logistical feat despite numerous off-field controversies, the tournament cemented Infantino’s reputation as a leader who delivers: he has consistently funneled more revenue into the accounts of FIFA’s 211 member associations, the electorate that retains power over his future.

    Walking onto the final match pitch alongside close ally and former U.S. President Donald Trump, Infantino’s public standing appeared at an all-time high. The son of Italian immigrants, who has opened up about childhood bullying in his native Switzerland over his red hair and freckles, that personal anecdote was previously deployed to deflect criticism of 2022 Qatari World Cup host’s human rights record. “I am not an Arab, I am not African, I am not gay, I am not disabled,” Infantino said at the time. “But I feel like it, because I know what it means to be discriminated against as a foreigner in a foreign country. As a child I was bullied — because I had red hair and freckles.”

    Unlike his polarizing predecessor Sepp Blatter, Infantino has largely kept a low profile with the media, and won three consecutive presidential elections unopposed in 2016, 2019 and 2023. Still, critics have long accused him of turning FIFA into an autocratic body, claims that have gained new traction after the fiasco of the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan. The initiative, billed as Infantino’s personal project, proposed bringing outside private investment into FIFA’s flagship competitions, including both the men’s and women’s World Cup. Announced publicly last Tuesday, the plan was completely scrapped by Saturday following a massive backlash from member federations and football stakeholders worldwide.

    One of Infantino’s most prominent critics is former UEFA president Michel Platini, who gave Infantino his start in senior football administration as UEFA’s secretary-general in 2009. “Unfortunately Infantino has become more of an autocrat since the (Covid) pandemic,” Platini told *The Guardian* in January. “I think he lost the game. There is less democracy than in Blatter’s time.” The 71-year-old, who was banned from football in 2015 over a 2011 FIFA payment but later exonerated by a Swiss court, has argued Infantino is better suited to a secondary leadership role. “He was a good No. 2, but is not a good No. 1,” Platini said. “He worked very well at UEFA but he has one problem: he likes the rich and powerful people, the ones with money. It’s his character.”

    That tendency has drawn intense scrutiny in recent weeks, particularly over Infantino’s ties to Trump. He faced widespread ridicule last year after awarding Trump the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize, and controversy erupted during the 2025 World Cup when U.S. striker Folarin Balogun’s one-match suspension was overturned immediately following a phone call from Trump, allowing the player to compete in the round of 16 against Belgium.

    The revelation that the FFE plan partnered with a firm owned by Joshua Kushner, brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, only reinforced critics’ claims that Infantino prioritizes connections to powerful figures over institutional integrity. “Josh Kushner’s firm has a legitimate track record,” Terrence Burns, a veteran brand marketing strategist who worked on two successful World Cup host bids, told AFP. “But the association was always going to be read politically, in a year when Infantino’s proximity to the White House was already the subject of formal ethics complaints, and after a red card review a good many federations regarded as a red line.”

    Burns added that the due diligence process for the partnership failed a key test: “We’ve understood in sponsorship for 40 years that a partner brings their whole context with them, and the diligence question isn’t ‘Is this money clean?’ but ‘What will this money be understood to mean?’ That test was either not run, not believed, or not cared about.”

    In the wake of the FFE plan’s collapse, Infantino has moved to calm tensions, saying he will prioritize repairing relationships with member federations. “Moving forward, my intent is to bring all interested parties back together… in the spirit of shared interest in our game,” he said. “And with the objective to continue growing football everywhere.”

    The coming months will decide the future of Infantino’s tenure. FIFA will hold its next presidential election in Rabat next March, with nominations for candidates closing on November 18. For the first time in nearly a decade, Infantino’s hold on the sport’s top office is far from certain.

  • WWII shells surface in wildfire-ravaged French village

    WWII shells surface in wildfire-ravaged French village

    A devastating large-scale wildfire that tore through forested areas near Bordeaux in southwestern France has unearthed a hidden leftover from World War II: hundreds of explosive munitions in the coastal village of Le Porge. After days of coordinated demining operations to clear the dangerous relics, all local residents were able to return to their residences starting Monday.

    Local government officials confirm that recovery teams have pulled approximately 400 intact shells and ammunition fragments from the fire-ravaged zone, where more than 180 residential properties were destroyed by the fast-spreading flames. During the height of the wildfire, residents and first responders reported hearing repeated loud explosions that were initially assumed to be rupturing gas cylinders stored in homes. But fire commander Thomas Mimiague says those blasts were almost certainly triggered by the heat of the fire igniting the long-buried World War II ordnance.

    A closer inspection of the recovered munitions shows the cache includes both German and French military hardware, dominated by mortar shells with a smaller number of high-explosive anti-tank rounds. Speaking on the origins of the cache, Mimiague noted that there is no clear documentation of why the munitions were placed in the area, but the leading working theory is that they were simply dumped and abandoned by military forces at the end of the conflict.

    The Le Porge find comes amid an unprecedented summer wildfire season across France. The Bordeaux region blitz, the most severe fire to hit the area since 1949, burned through more than 40,000 hectares (nearly 99,000 acres) of forest and brush over roughly 10 days before fire crews successfully brought it under control. Fortunately, the blaze did not spread into the region’s iconic premium wine-growing estates, avoiding widespread damage to the area’s world-famous wine industry.

  • US regulators grant long-awaited Boeing 737 MAX 7 certificate

    US regulators grant long-awaited Boeing 737 MAX 7 certificate

    More than eight years after its first test flight took to the skies, Boeing’s 737 MAX 7 has officially received airworthiness certification from U.S. regulators, marking a long-awaited milestone for the aerospace giant after years of crisis and regulatory scrutiny. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the approval of the MAX 7, the smallest and newest member of Boeing’s troubled single-aisle MAX jet family, on Monday. The certification process was stretched far beyond original timelines by strict new regulatory requirements imposed after two deadly 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people and shook global confidence in Boeing’s safety oversight.

    The green light, which had been widely expected by industry observers and company insiders in recent weeks, immediately sent Boeing’s share price surging 8 percent in trading. This certification marks the first new Boeing aircraft model to win regulatory approval since the 2018-2019 crisis pushed the company into a years-long period of reputational and financial damage.

    “This important certification validates the rigor of our airplane’s design and recognizes the determination and resilience of our 737 MAX development team,” said Stephanie Pope, president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “Our team stayed focused on completing all requirements and delivering a safe and more capable airplane to our customers.”

    In its own statement, the FAA confirmed that the approval followed “almost a decade of extensive review” and “years of sustained work to resolve complex technical issues” on the program. Boeing initially targeted 2019 for the first deliveries of the 172-seat MAX 7, a timeline that collapsed entirely after the two fatal crashes, and was further complicated by a mid-flight fuselage blowout on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 flight in January 2024 that reignited safety concerns across the MAX program.

    To earn certification, Boeing completed an exhaustive testing regimen including 441 separate flight tests totaling 686 hours of airborne evaluation. The 2018 and 2019 crashes were ultimately traced to a poorly designed anti-stall system called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which was found to activate improperly and overpower pilot controls. U.S. prosecutors later charged that Boeing intentionally misled FAA regulators about MCAS, leaving the system unmentioned in flight manuals and pilot training materials. Congressional hearings also revealed weak FAA oversight of Boeing as a contributing cause of the crashes, leading to 2020 federal legislation that required Boeing to install upgraded angle-of-attack (AOA) sensors across the entire global fleet of more than 2,300 existing MAX aircraft within a two-year window.

    Boeing is now closing in on a second key certification milestone for the MAX family: approval for the MAX 10, the largest variant that can carry up to 230 passengers. The company is also continuing to work through regulatory processes for the long-delayed 777X widebody jet program.

    With certification of the MAX 7 secured, Boeing is moving forward with plans to ramp up MAX production to meet years of accumulated backlogged orders. The company confirmed Monday it is already preparing the first customer aircraft for delivery to launch operator Southwest Airlines, which welcomed the FAA’s decision and said it expects to introduce the MAX 7 into revenue service “in the coming months.”

    Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took the helm in August 2024 in the wake of the Alaska Airlines incident, has centered his leadership on strict quality control and hitting incremental production targets. The FAA has already approved gradual production increases for the MAX line, raising monthly output from 38 aircraft to 42, and most recently to 47 jets per month. Last week, Ortberg told financial analysts he does not expect major supply chain disruptions to slow the company’s plan to lift monthly MAX production to 52 jets, though he acknowledged challenges ahead as output climbs further.

    “I think it’s going to get harder as we go from 52 to 57 and beyond that. We’ll just have to see how well we’re all collectively doing,” Ortberg said. “But look, we’re on our plan. Our plan’s working.”

    In July, Boeing opened a new MAX production line at its Everett, Washington facility that is designed to support the target of 52 monthly MAX deliveries. Reaching this output level is critical to the company’s medium-term financial recovery goals, which include generating $10 billion in annual free cash flow after years of underperforming earnings that have weighed heavily on shareholder returns.

  • Why is Trump Media selling early access to Trump’s Truth Social posts?

    Why is Trump Media selling early access to Trump’s Truth Social posts?

    In a surprising business move that has sparked widespread discussion across digital and political circles, Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s social platform Truth Social, has introduced a high-cost premium service that grants elite subscribers early access to posts from high-profile accounts on the network.

    According to industry reports, the exclusive offering can cost eligible participants as much as $100,000 (equivalent to roughly £74,170) per calendar month for the privilege. The core perk of this premium tier is a significant time advantage: paying subscribers receive the content from influential Truth Social accounts milliseconds before those posts are made visible to the general public on the platform.

    For context, Truth Social was launched in 2022 as an alternative social media platform after Donald Trump was banned from major mainstream platforms including Twitter (now X) and Facebook following the 2021 Capitol riot. Since its launch, the platform has worked to build a loyal user base and generate consistent revenue to support its operations and growth goals. The launch of this high-priced early access program marks one of the most unconventional monetization strategies adopted by a major social media platform in recent years, drawing attention both to the company’s revenue priorities and the potential implications of pay-to-play early access for social media information dynamics.

  • Last Scottish island bird hunt banned after almost 500 years

    Last Scottish island bird hunt banned after almost 500 years

    After nearly half a millennium of annual tradition, a historic gannet chick hunt on a remote uninhabited Scottish island has been halted for 2026, government conservation officials announced Monday. The centuries-old practice, widely known as the Guga Hunt, will not proceed this year in response to growing risks to the local northern gannet population, according to NatureScot, Scotland’s national natural heritage agency.

    The hunt, which was first officially documented in 1549, sees a group of hunters from the Isle of Lewis called the Men of Ness undertake a grueling 40-mile voyage across rough, open seas to reach Sula Sgeir, a remote rocky islet off Scotland’s northwest coast. Once on the island, hunters use specialized long poles to remove juvenile gannets from cliffside nests, kill the birds, and cure their meat with salt before bringing it back to the Isle of Lewis to be prepared as a traditional local delicacy.

    NatureScot confirmed that the Men of Ness had submitted an application for a license to harvest up to 2,000 young gannets this season. After a full review, the agency rejected the request, citing the latest scientific research on the health of the Sula Sgeir gannet colony. The region’s gannet population suffered widespread mass mortality between 2021 and 2023 driven by outbreaks of avian influenza, leaving the colony vulnerable to further population decline. Conservation officials determined that allowing the hunt to proceed this year would carry a measurable risk of long-term harm to the colony’s recovery. The license ban will remain in place through 206, with hunters eligible to reapply for permission to resume the hunt in 2027 should the population show signs of recovery.

    The hunt has faced widespread opposition from animal rights advocates for decades, who have organized repeated petitions and campaigns calling for the practice to be ended permanently. However, the decision to cancel this year’s hunt has sparked disappointment among local communities who view the tradition as a core part of their cultural heritage. For centuries, wild bird meat was a critical source of nutrition for remote, marginalized communities in Scotland’s harsh northern island environments, where access to affordable food was often extremely limited. Guga, the salted gannet chick meat, is traditionally boiled for several hours and served with potatoes, and remains a cultural touchstone for local residents even today.

    John Malcolm, a 46-year-old local resident, told reporters that while he recognized the ban was a necessary outcome of the latest conservation science, the loss of the annual tradition is a significant loss to the region. “It’s a real shame,” he said. “The hunt’s been going for almost 500 years, and for generations it was seen as a sustainable practice that supported our community.”

  • Analysis: Trump fumes as top allies back down on his personal battles

    Analysis: Trump fumes as top allies back down on his personal battles

    Just months into the final stretch of his second presidential term, U.S. President Donald Trump is navigating a cascade of overlapping political and legal setbacks, with challenges emerging even from circles that have long remained unflinchingly loyal to his leadership. As the nation prepares for pivotal midterm congressional elections in three months, these recent hurdles have laid bare growing strains on his authority, and shifted the conversation around his political standing heading into the critical vote.

  • Ariana Grande has had enough of body comments, but ‘scrutiny’ will linger

    Ariana Grande has had enough of body comments, but ‘scrutiny’ will linger

    Global pop superstar and Oscar-nominated actress Ariana Grande has announced she will step away from all public-facing work and appearances following the conclusion of her current *Eternal Sunshine* Tour, after decades of relentless public scrutiny of her body and health that has intensified in recent weeks amid her new album rollout. The decision also includes canceling her previously announced lead role in a highly anticipated 2027 London stage production of Stephen Sondheim’s *Sunday in the Park with George*, where she was set to star opposite her *Wicked* co-star Jonathan Bailey.

    This latest chapter of public debate over Grande’s physique is not a new development. Three years ago, the star took to TikTok to directly address unsolicited comments about her weight and figure, urging the public to recognize that “many different ways to look healthy and beautiful.” Despite that plea, invasive speculation about her body and well-being has continued to spread across social media, reaching a fever pitch this month following the release of her eighth studio album *Eternal Sunshine* (titled *Petal* for its lead single) and its accompanying music video.

    The video for *Petal* directly confronts the toxic pressures of fame, with Grande portraying an aspiring starlet who cycles through multiple pop star personas to please a panel of male talent scouts. The judges ultimately tell her it “couldn’t hurt” to lose weight and say they miss “the way you used to be,” prompting a violent symbolic climax where the protagonist eliminates the panel with a chainsaw. In discussing the album, Grande explained it was written from a place of “unfiltered rage” — a raw departure from her usual creative perspective.

    Since the video’s release, social media has been flooded with commentary about Grande’s current appearance. While many commenters frame their scrutiny as rooted in genuine concern for her health, with top YouTube comments and posts on X noting she has become unusually thin, the star’s most loyal supporters have pushed back against the invasive discourse. The hashtag #Weloveyouariana trended globally over the weekend, with many users emphasizing that no one has the right to pass judgment on another person’s body or personal health journey.

    Music journalist Sophie Williams told BBC Radio 5 Live that the intensity of public commentary has spiked dramatically during Grande’s current press cycle for new music, and that this unrelenting scrutiny directly led to the star’s decision to step back. “The constant commentary around her has really, really elevated over the weekend as she’s been promoting new music,” Williams said. “So we’re led to think in part that that [commentary] has brought us to this decision.”

    Grande will wrap up her *Eternal Sunshine* Tour with a stop in Chicago this week, followed by 10 sold-out shows at London’s O2 Arena that conclude on September 1. Once the tour ends, she will begin an extended, well-deserved break from all public work and appearances.

    For Grande, this kind of invasive public attention is not a new experience: she has lived in the global spotlight for more than 15 years, half of her lifetime. During the 2024 press tour for the first *Wicked* film, for which she earned a 2025 Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Glinda, she reflected on the constant criticism she has faced since entering the industry as a teenager.

    “I’ve been doing this in front of the public and been a specimen in a petri dish since I was 16 or 17, so I have heard it all,” she said. “I’ve heard every version of it, of what’s wrong with me. And then you fix it, and then it’s wrong for different reasons. But that’s everything from – even just the simplest thing – your appearance, you know? It’s hard to protect yourself from that noise.”

    Grande first rose to fame as a teenage actress on Nickelodeon’s hit sitcom *Victorious* and its spin-off *Sam & Cat*, after beginning her singing career at age 8. Since releasing her debut single in 2011, she has earned 10 number-one singles on the U.S. Billboard charts, 20 Grammy Award nominations, and three Grammy wins, alongside a critically acclaimed transition to film that netted her an Oscar nomination last year.

    But alongside her unprecedented professional success, Grande has navigated severe public trauma and mental health challenges that have played out entirely in the public eye. In 2017, a suicide bomb attack outside her Manchester Arena concert killed 22 concertgoers, leaving Grande with post-traumatic stress disorder that she opened up about the following year. She has also spoken publicly about crippling grief following the 2018 death of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller, as well as her ongoing experiences with depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Her high-profile romantic relationships and breakups have also remained a constant target of tabloid attention for decades. In a new track from her latest album, titled *Oh Well*, she directs a blunt message to former partners, singing that they can “all go to hell.”

    Long an advocate for mental health support for young performers, Grande has repeatedly called for mandatory therapy access for all child stars. This summer, she launched the Brighter Days Ahead Foundation, a mental health initiative that provides support to tour crew and performers working in the entertainment industry.

    Williams, the music journalist, noted that Grande’s decades of public life and public trauma make the current scrutiny particularly unfair. “A lot of people perhaps forget that she’s been famous for nearly 15 years, and she has a unique story in that she sadly lived out a lot of trauma in the public eye,” Williams told BBC News. “As fans and those working in music, all that we can do is wish her well.”

    Grande first pushed back against body commentary three years ago, emphasizing that even well-intentioned comments about a person’s appearance can cause harm. She pointed out that the period when the public widely praised her as looking her healthiest actually coincided with the unhealthiest period of her life, when she was on antidepressants and struggling with disordered eating and alcohol use.

    “I think we should be gentler and less comfortable commenting on people’s bodies, no matter what,” she said in her 2023 TikTok appeal. “Healthy can look different. You never know what someone is going through, so even if you are coming from a loving place and a caring place, that person probably is working on it or has a support system that they are working on it with.”

  • I left my wife and twins behind – why this Nigerian man fled South Africa

    I left my wife and twins behind – why this Nigerian man fled South Africa

    In the wake of escalating anti-migrant protests that have roiled South Africa since early 2024, tens of thousands of foreign migrants have abandoned their lives, businesses and loved ones to flee the country, turning a wave of popular hostility into a continental diplomatic crisis that has strained Pan-African solidarity. For 47-year-old Nigerian migrant Richard Itoro, the decision to get on a voluntary repatriation flight to Lagos in June came after 15 years of building a stable life in Johannesburg: he owned a successful car dealership, purchased a home, and built a family with his South African wife and their twin children. But when anti-migrant sentiment reached a fever pitch, even his legal status could not shield him and his family from targeted intimidation.\n\nItoro says neighbors began harassing his wife, telling her she had betrayed South Africa by marrying a Nigerian and ordering the entire family to leave the country. ‘My family was just a small, peaceful, beautiful family. I never had any conflict with anyone,’ Itoro told the BBC, his voice breaking as he recalled saying goodbye to his wife. ‘Starting over from scratch back home is better than staying here, being harassed and living in constant fear for my life.’ Even with valid documentation proving his legal right to reside in South Africa, the Nigerian high commission refused to allow Itoro to bring his wife and children with him on the repatriation flight. He compared the experience to fleeing a besieged city on the last evacuation helicopter: ‘I watched the car pull away, and all I could do was wish I had told her not to cry.’ Today, Itoro rebuilds his life in Lagos, but he remains separated from his family, speaking to them every day while he waits for enough stability to bring them home. ‘It feels like I lost everything,’ he said. ‘It’s heartbreaking, but I hold out hope that my wife will join me soon.’\n\nItoro’s story is far from unique. The wave of anti-migrant protests reached a peak in late June, led by groups that claim they are targeting only undocumented migrants to address South Africa’s crippling 32% unemployment rate. Gayton McKenzie, South Africa’s outspoken Culture Minister and leader of a key party in the country’s coalition government, has echoed this framing: ‘No man can feed another man’s children while his own children go hungry. Our people are starving for jobs,’ he said, backing calls for undocumented migrants to leave the country. He emphasized that South Africa remains open to migrants who enter through legal channels with proper documentation. But multiple African governments say even documented migrants have been targeted in the wave of hostility, putting paid to claims that the crackdown only targets people without papers.\n\nEmmanuel Asamoah, a 37-year-old Ghanaian hairstylist who moved to Soweto in 2023 to pursue better economic opportunity, is one such example. He had a valid stamp in his passport granting him permission to reside in the country, but earlier this year he was surrounded by a group of local residents who harassed him, pushed him, and demanded he leave. A video of the confrontation circulated widely on social media, sparking outrage across the continent. ‘They said we were ruining their country, that we were taking their jobs and their girlfriends, that they had nothing because of us,’ Asamoah recalled. He returned to Accra, Ghana’s capital, in May, where he has since opened a new cement business with support from a local entrepreneur. ‘I tell my former neighbors in South Africa: I’m back home fixing my country now,’ he said.\n\nThe crisis has already done severe damage to South Africa’s standing across the continent, with social media videos of attacks on migrants amplifying public anger in neighboring countries. Tensions spiked further last week after a Nigerian citizen was killed during a police arrest on suspected drug charges, prompting South Africa to launch an independent investigation into the death. Speaking after a meeting with his South African counterpart Ronald Lamola, Nigerian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sola Enikanolaiye made clear that documented Nigerians have been targeted: ‘We have records of Nigerians with valid legal permission to stay in South Africa who have still been attacked.’ Lamola countered that South Africa is committed to prosecuting people who take vigilante action, but also defended the country’s right to enforce its immigration laws: ‘President Cyril Ramaphosa is very firm on South Africa’s sovereign right to enforce our immigration rules.’\n\nGhana’s Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa says the treatment of Ghanaian migrants violates the core spirit of Pan-Africanism and continental integration, pointing out that other African countries supported South Africa’s fight against apartheid before it ended in 1994. ‘South Africa should be the epitome of Pan-Africanism. We talk constantly about African integration and free movement of people,’ he told the BBC. ‘Even if you have serious challenges with high irregular immigration, is this how you resolve the issue?’ Beyond Nigeria and Ghana, Malawi has also organized repatriation transport for its citizens fleeing the hostility, with tens of thousands of migrants having left South Africa over the past two months alone. For the thousands of migrants who have returned home, the crisis has brought fractured families, dashed economic dreams, and an uncertain future – even as some have managed to build unexpected new starts on their home soil.