Global Pulse

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  • SpaceX IPO set for liftoff in record market debut

    SpaceX IPO set for liftoff in record market debut

    As the opening bell rings at New York’s Nasdaq exchange in Times Square on Friday, one of the most anticipated and largest initial public offerings in Wall Street history is set to get underway: Elon Musk’s SpaceX is making its public debut, a milestone that redefines the boundaries of private sector ambition and billionaire wealth.

    On Thursday, SpaceX filed documentation with U.S. market regulators confirming its pricing of more than 555 million shares at $135 apiece. The valuation lands just under $1.8 trillion, catapulting the aerospace and technology conglomerate into the top 10 of the largest publicly traded companies on Wall Street—surpassing the current market capitalizations of Tesla, Meta Platforms, and Walmart. The primary share offering alone is projected to raise more than $75 billion, smashing the previous IPO record set by Saudi Aramco’s $29.4 billion 2019 debut. If underwriters exercise options for an additional 83 million shares, total proceeds could climb above $86 billion, a figure unmatched in the history of public markets.

    Founded by Musk as a small rocket startup in 2002, SpaceX has expanded far beyond its original mission of interplanetary exploration. Today, it operates the world’s largest commercial satellite constellation through Starlink, functions as a primary launch provider for NASA and commercial missions, and has absorbed Musk’s artificial intelligence firm xAI—along with the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Trading under the ticker symbol “SPCX”, SpaceX leads the wave of major AI-focused companies preparing to enter public markets, beating competitors OpenAI and Anthropic, both of which have only recently filed initial regulatory documentation for their own planned offerings.

    The record-breaking listing comes just over one year after Musk stepped back from his role in former President Donald Trump’s administration, where he led the controversial “DOGE” initiative aimed at slashing federal government spending while holding onto his CEO positions at both Tesla and SpaceX. In recent years, Musk has transformed from a broadly celebrated technology innovator into one of the world’s most polarizing public figures: his open support for Trump and right-wing populist movements across Europe, paired with a long history of incendiary statements on X, has drawn widespread criticism and public pushback.

    Even amid this controversy, investor enthusiasm for the IPO has been unprecedented. Bloomberg reports that the offering was more than four times oversubscribed, with strong demand from both institutional and retail investors—who have been allocated 20 percent of the available shares. The IPO is expected to create thousands of new millionaires and multiple new billionaires, as current and former employees, as well as early backers from the company’s 23-year history, prepare to cash out a portion of their long-held stakes. If the debut performs as expected, Musk will become the first person in recorded history to hold a net worth exceeding $1 trillion, a milestone that would push his fortune to nearly three times that of the world’s second-richest person, Google co-founder Larry Page. Entering Friday’s trading session, Musk’s current net worth already stands at $782 billion, per Forbes’ real-time billionaire rankings.

    Not all observers have welcomed the historic offering, however. Oxfam America senior director of economic justice Nabil Ahmed argued that a trillion-dollar fortune held by a single individual is incompatible with both an equitable economy and a functional healthy democracy. On the eve of the listing, activist protesters positioned a giant inflatable of Musk outside Nasdaq’s headquarters to draw attention to concerns that xAI’s Grok chatbot can be used to generate non-consensual deepfake sexual imagery.

    Wall Street analysts also remain divided over the sustainability of SpaceX’s near-$1.8 trillion valuation. The company’s ambitious growth projections rely on Musk delivering on a slate of science fiction-level promises that require unproven technology, including placing data centers in low-Earth orbit and establishing permanent human settlements on Mars. Much of the company’s long-term value is also tied to the massive expansion of Starlink satellite internet and the growth of xAI’s Grok chatbot, which has so far failed to gain significant market traction against competitors like OpenAI’s ChatGPT. While SpaceX grew rapidly to $18.7 billion in revenue in 2025, it also posted a net loss of $4.9 billion for the year, driven largely by massive capital spending to expand AI computing capacity. In its public filing, SpaceX projects it could eventually generate more than $28.5 trillion in cumulative revenue across its operating segments—a prediction that has left many market observers skeptical.

    As markets open on Friday, all eyes are on Wall Street’s reaction to the offering, which will set a precedent for the wave of big tech and AI IPOs expected to follow in the coming months.

  • Happy Birthday Mr. President: Trump to turn 80 with cage fight

    Happy Birthday Mr. President: Trump to turn 80 with cage fight

    As former President and current Republican front-runner Donald Trump approaches his 80th birthday, the most iconic lawn of the United States’ executive residence is being transformed into a gladiator-style fighting arena, marking an unprecedented break from White House tradition that has sparked fierce public debate.

    Constructed atop the historic South Lawn, where generations of past presidents have hosted diplomatic milestones and farewell addresses, a 600-ton steel lighting and structural installation nicknamed “The Claw” now towers 92 feet into the sky — taller than the White House building itself. This massive structure frames an 8-sided Octagon fighting cage for the “UFC Freedom 250” event, scheduled for Sunday, which will feature 14 of the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s top mixed martial artists. Around 4,000 spectators will fill the arena, with more than half of the spots reserved for U.S. military service members, while an additional 125,000 people are expected to watch the live broadcast on a giant screen at the nearby Ellipse public green space.

    For Trump, the event pulls double duty: it celebrates his 80th birthday and kicks off the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence. The former reality TV star and real estate tycoon, who has cultivated a brash, larger-than-life public persona over decades, has embraced the event’s macho energy. In an interview with the New York Post, he praised the sport’s athletes, saying, “They’re the roughest people you’ll ever meet. If you haven’t seen it much, you’re not going to believe it.”

    Trump has longstanding close ties to UFC leadership, having attended multiple previous events, and the sport’s largely young male fanbase has been a core pillar of his political support. Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed Trump’s enthusiastic framing of the event, announcing a new partnership between the State Department and UFC to promote mixed martial arts globally. “That’s what Sunday is about, it’s a gift to the American people,” Rubio told reporters this week, projecting that up to a billion viewers worldwide would tune in. Trump also pushed back against criticism of the event’s costs, insisting that UFC is covering the full $60 million price tag, with no public funds being used.

    But the unprecedented decision to host a professional cage fighting event on the White House lawn has drawn sharp condemnation from critics, who call the move tone-deaf amid ongoing economic strain for ordinary Americans — a crisis worsened by the escalation of Trump’s ongoing military conflict in Iran that has driven global energy and living costs higher. Legal challenges have also been mounted: a lawsuit filed ahead of the event argues that using public land for the private event amounts to improper enrichment of Trump’s political allies, a claim the White House has formally rejected in court filings. Officials also clarified that unlike the Eiffel Tower, which was retained after the 1889 Paris World’s Fair after a suggestion from Trump that the arena could become a permanent fixture, “The Claw” will be fully dismantled immediately after the event concludes.

    Political analysts say the spectacle is entirely consistent with Trump’s unique approach to the presidency. “Donald Trump has built a public persona throughout his life by being the Donald Trump show,” Peter Loge, director of George Washington University’s School of Media, told AFP. “It’s loud, it’s glitzy, it’s glossy, that’s what this is.” Loge added that the event’s display of raw, masculine force during a period of war and domestic chaos is a deliberate message designed to resonate with Trump’s base. “It’s gladiators,” he explained. “In a time of chaos in the US, it is to say that the US is strength, it is force, and it is in control. There’s fireworks — and two guys beating each other up.”

    Regardless of where observers stand, the event will go down as a one-of-a-kind moment in the 200-year history of the White House, a far cry from the diplomatic negotiations and formal addresses that have defined the South Lawn’s past. It stands as a clear reflection of how Trump has redefined the norms of American political spectacle during his time in office.

  • Do not use my music, Ariana Grande tells White House

    Do not use my music, Ariana Grande tells White House

    A high-profile conflict over artistic autonomy and political messaging has erupted after the White House used pop superstar Ariana Grande’s 2024 chart-topping track *Bye* as the soundtrack for a TikTok video promoting the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies, prompting a fierce public rebuke from the artist.

    The short-form video, shared to the White House’s official TikTok account on Monday, opens with graphic footage of U.S. border officers placing undocumented individuals in handcuffs, escorting them into vehicles, and transferring them to immigration detention facilities. The caption paired with the clip reads: “Bye-bye… President Trump has delivered the most secure border in history.”

    Grande did not hold back in her public response to the unauthorized use of her work, commenting directly on the TikTok post: “Please do not use my music in relation to this barbaric, inhumane, heinous nonsense.”

    Not long after the Grammy-winning artist and *Wicked* film star issued her criticism, the video had its audio muted, and Grande’s critical comment was removed from the comment section. Multiple TikTok users quickly noticed the changes, pointing out the removal of the artist’s remark and the disabled audio in their own responses to the post.

    The White House pushed back against Grande’s condemnation in a statement from spokesperson Abigail Jackson to U.S. media outlets. Jackson argued: “What’s actually barbaric, inhumane, and heinous are the criminal illegal aliens who have injured and murdered innocent American citizens.”

    The controversy comes on the heels of President Donald Trump signing a major immigration funding bill into law, which allocates more than $70 billion (£52 billion) to U.S. immigration agencies for the remainder of his current presidential term, which will last two and a half years.

    Grande is far from the first high-profile musician to push back against the Trump administration’s unauthorized use of their work for political promotion. Last year, singer Sabrina Carpenter publicly demanded the White House cut ties with her music after a similar clip featuring a segment of her 2024 song *Juno* was released to highlight Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations. Carpenter wrote at the time, “do not ever involve me or my music to benefit your inhumane agenda.”

    During Trump’s 2024 re-election campaign, dozens of legendary and contemporary artists publicly called on the campaign to stop using their music at rallies and official campaign content. ABBA, Céline Dion, and Beyoncé were among the big-name acts that explicitly banned the campaign from using their copyrighted work.

    The incident highlights the ongoing tension between political actors seeking to co-opt popular culture to advance their policy messaging and artists who want to control how their creative work is used, particularly when it comes to policies they view as morally objectionable.

  • Pope ends Spain visit with migrant meetings

    Pope ends Spain visit with migrant meetings

    Pope Leo XIV is wrapping up his official visit to Spain this Friday, centering the final day of his trip on the urgent humanitarian crisis facing irregular migrants crossing to Europe, with scheduled meetings with displaced people and an open-air mass on the Atlantic island of Tenerife. As the spiritual leader of 1.4 billion Catholics around the globe, his closing appearances reinforce a clear message: the world must step up support for vulnerable migrants and crack down on the ruthless human trafficking networks that profit from irregular migration, a topic that remains one of the most divisive issues in contemporary European political debate. Tenerife forms part of Spain’s Canary Islands archipelago, a primary Atlantic entry point for tens of thousands of people fleeing poverty, conflict and instability in Africa and the Middle East who seek new, better lives in the European Union. On Friday, the pope will first address hundreds of migrants staying at the Las Raices migrant facility, a converted former military barracks that previously drew widespread public criticism for severe overcrowding and poor living conditions. Following that meeting, he will lead a large open-air mass for tens of thousands of worshippers gathered in Santa Cruz de Tenerife’s main port. The final leg of the papal trip began Thursday, when the pope arrived on Gran Canaria, another major island in the archipelago, after completing earlier visits to the Spanish mainland cities of Madrid and Barcelona earlier in the week. During his first day in the Canaries, he delivered a sharp rebuke of global indifference to the migrant crisis, holding a solemn ceremony to cast a memorial wreath into the waters off Arguineguin port to honor the thousands of migrants who have lost their lives attempting to cross the sea to reach the islands. “Human dignity has no passport,” he stated from the dock, before blessing a weathered blue wooden cross crafted from the remnants of a migrant vessel that washed ashore after a crossing. “Monsters lurk in these seas… traffickers who enslave women and children, and those whose indifference allows the poor to be swallowed up by exploitation or forgetfulness,” he added. Data from the International Organization for Migration confirms that nearly 1,200 migrants lost their lives or went missing on the dangerous crossing from North Africa to the Canary Islands last year alone, cementing the route as one of the deadliest migration corridors on the planet. With European national governments tightening migration policies amid rising political pressure from far-right parties across the continent, the pope pushed back against hardened approaches: Europe “cannot claim to uphold human dignity while growing accustomed to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic becoming unmarked graves,” he argued. He further emphasized that the ongoing tragedy demands a moral reckoning not just for destination countries in Europe, but also for nations of origin and transit, where widespread poverty and unaddressed conflict leave people vulnerable to exploitation by trafficking gangs. For migrant communities on the Canary Islands, the papal visit carries enormous weight during what many describe as a defining moment for the crisis. “We really value this visit. It’s very important for us at such a critical moment,” Mohamed Amjahdi, a Moroccan migrant who arrived on the islands by boat at the age of 17, told Agence France-Presse on the ground in Arguineguin. After concluding his events in Tenerife, the pope will depart for Rome, where he is expected to hold a press conference with traveling journalists aboard his return flight. Pope Leo XIV has made reforming global approaches to migration a core priority of his papacy, using high-profile international visits to draw global attention to the human cost of restrictive immigration policies and systemic indifference to displaced populations.

  • Ex-Tottenham owner sells art collection in blockbuster auction

    Ex-Tottenham owner sells art collection in blockbuster auction

    One of the most valuable private art collections ever assembled in Europe, built over decades by former Tottenham Hotspur majority owner Joe Lewis, is set to hit the auction block this month at Sotheby’s London, with an opening total valuation of no less than £200 million ($267 million) that experts say could climb far higher on the night.

    The 89-year-old British billionaire, who holds an estimated net worth of £5.8 billion according to 2024’s The Sunday Times Rich List and transferred his controlling stake in the Premier League football club to a family trust back in 2022, has amassed a trove of 48 works spanning more than a century of modern and contemporary art from some of the most iconic names in global art history. The upcoming sale spans creations from early 20th century pioneers to boundary-pushing post-war British artists, with standout pieces carrying eight-figure valuations that draw collectors and enthusiasts from across the globe.

    Headlining the auction is Amedeo Modigliani’s *Nu assis au collier* (Seated Nude Wearing a Necklace), a work that sparked public scandal when it was first unveiled in 1917 Paris. The iconic nude painting carries an estimate of over £45 million, making it one of the most expensive lots in the entire collection. Other high-profile entries include a bronze dancer sculpture by Impressionist master Edgar Degas, valued between £18 million and £25 million, and Gustav Klimt’s 1902 *Portrait of Gertrud Loew*, a key work from the Vienna Secession movement projected to sell for £20 million to £30 million. Rounding out the star lots are Pablo Picasso’s 1938 *Buste de femme*, a portrait of the artist’s muse and collaborator Dora Maar valued at £12 million to £18 million, and Lucian Freud’s 1995-1996 *Sleeping by the Lion Carpet*, a nuanced nude depiction of the artist’s long-time muse Sue Tilley estimated to fetch between £25 million and £35 million. Sotheby’s Europe Chairman Oliver Barker calls the Freud work “arguably the greatest Lucian Freud painting ever to make its way to market.”

    The collection also includes additional entries from Vienna Secession pioneer Egon Schiele, surrealist icon René Magritte, and groundbreaking British post-war artist Francis Bacon, bringing together a diverse curation that reflects Lewis’s decades-long eye for transformative 20th century art. Barker emphasized that the scope of the Lewis Collection is unprecedented for a European auction: “There’s never ever been a collection of this magnitude that’s ever been offered for sale, actually, either in the UK or indeed in Europe.” He added that the £200 million pre-sale estimate is the highest ever attached to a private collection offered anywhere on the continent, and calls the valuation “very moderately estimated” with strong potential for final bids to far exceed projections.

    Members of the public can view all auction lots for free at Sotheby’s London location through June 23. The 25 most valuable works will be auctioned on the evening of June 24, with the remaining lots going under the hammer the following day. Barker frames the sale as a turning point for Lewis and his family, coming shortly after the billionaire received a presidential pardon from former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2024, months after he pleaded guilty to federal insider trading charges. Lewis’s daughter Vivienne Lewis remains an active collector focused on supporting emerging and avant-garde contemporary artists, Barker noted.

    The upcoming auction aligns with a resurgent global art market following a period of slowdown driven by economic uncertainty and a shortage of top-tier works for sale. Earlier this spring, blockbuster auctions in New York delivered record-breaking prices for iconic creations by Jackson Pollock, Constantin Brâncuși, and Mark Rothko, signaling renewed buyer enthusiasm for museum-quality masterpieces. Back in March, four works from Lewis’s collection by members of the London School of British art, including pieces by Freud and Bacon, sold for £35.8 million at Sotheby’s to a packed salesroom.
    “You know there’s been a great deal of wealth creation around the world at the moment and I think more of it has been driven to the art market,” Barker explained. “The market has been so starved of true masterpieces, and so the opportunity to acquire works of this calibre truly is a great opportunity.”

    If the Lewis Collection matches or exceeds its estimated value, it will come close to matching the 2009 European record for a private collection auction set by the estate of fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent and his partner Pierre Bergé. That Christie’s auction carried an initial estimate of 200 to 300 million euros, and ultimately sold for 373.9 million euros, equal to roughly £333 million at the time.

  • Trump hints at ground invasion to get ‘total control’ of Iran oil

    Trump hints at ground invasion to get ‘total control’ of Iran oil

    In a series of incendiary comments posted to Truth Social and shared during a Fox News interview on Thursday, former President and current U.S. Commander-in-Chief Donald Trump doubled down on threats of expanded military action against Iran, announcing that intensified strikes would launch the same night and openly floating a plan to seize Iran’s critical Kharg Island to take control of the country’s oil and gas markets— a move that military and geopolitical analysts widely agree would require a sustained ground troop deployment.

    In his Truth Social post, Trump claimed Iran’s entire naval, air, radar and air defense networks, alongside the vast majority of its offensive military capacity, had already been destroyed, writing that the U.S. would strike the country “VERY HARD TONIGHT”. The announcement came after days of ongoing U.S. strikes that have already targeted Iranian military infrastructure and accidentally damaged two water reservoirs, cutting off access to clean drinking water for roughly 20,000 Iranian civilians.

    Kharg Island, the linchpin of Iran’s crude oil export network that handles approximately 90% of the country’s total crude exports, has become a repeated target of Trump’s rhetorical aggression amid soaring global oil prices, triggered by Iran’s retaliatory blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following the outbreak of the U.S.-Israeli coordinated war against the country. The current energy price shock has driven U.S. inflation to its highest level in more than three years.

    “At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Kharg Island, and other oil infrastructure points, and assume total control of their Oil and Gas Markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America,” Trump wrote in his post. During his subsequent Fox News interview, he doubled down on this framing, explicitly tying the proposed seizure to economic gain for the U.S., echoing his earlier rhetoric about the 2019 Venezuelan intervention, where he stated the goal of U.S. action was to “get the oil flowing” to American energy corporations.

    “My preference has always been to take Kharg Island,” Trump told Fox News. “I don’t know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest with you. You’d make a fortune…. We did it with Venezuela. Venezuela’s worked out great for everybody. We’ve taken millions and millions of barrels of oil out of Venezuela. We’ve brought them to Houston and various other places, Louisiana. Refineries that we have that are incredible, they’ve gone 24 hours a day. Making a fortune.”

    Despite this brazen framing, Trump acknowledged that recent national polling shows a strong majority of U.S. voters oppose expanded military action against Iran, and admitted he was unsure the country “has the appetite” for a ground invasion of Kharg Island. According to a May 2026 survey conducted by the Institute for Global Affairs, just 18% of U.S. adults support deploying ground troops to seize and hold the island, a policy that even a majority of Republican respondents oppose. Administration plans for a potential Kharg Island invasion were first drafted as early as March, but were shelved after U.S. military officials warned of the risk of massive American casualties, particularly after Iranian forces laid extensive anti-personnel and anti-armor mines across the island in preparation for a potential assault. Even with widespread public opposition, Trump maintained Thursday that the invasion would move forward if he chooses to approve it, saying it is “a guarantee if I want to do it.”

    Geopolitical risk experts have uniformly panned the proposal as reckless and strategically senseless. Brett Erickson, managing principal of Obsidian Risk Advisors and a leading expert on sanctions and global geopolitical risk, called the plan “grim and stupid.” Erickson noted that Iranian oil exports through Kharg Island have already dropped to nearly negligible levels amid ongoing conflict and blockades, with just one cargo vessel loaded at the terminal over the past five weeks. He added that as a fixed, stationary target, the island would face constant drone and missile attacks from Iranian forces even after a U.S. seizure. “We would likely, in the absolute best case, lose hundreds of lives,” Erickson said. “Worst case? Well into the thousands. Would it change anything about the war? No. It literally would not matter. The only thing to be gained is a lot of Americans dying for an oil export hub that is not being used, and that is blockaded anyway.”

    Reactions from Capitol Hill have been deeply divided, with most top Republican leaders declining to embrace the plan. House Speaker Mike Johnson, when asked by reporters about Trump’s threats, downplayed the proposal, suggesting Trump was merely sending a strategic message to adversaries and adding “I would not put too much stock in the details of that right now.”

    The proposal does have support from high-profile Republican war hawks, most notably Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has been credited with pushing Trump to launch the current war against Iran at Israel’s behest. Graham, who has previously compared seizing Kharg Island to the World War II Battle of Iwo Jima — a conflict that left more than 26,000 U.S. troops wounded or killed — praised Trump for raising the idea Thursday, thanking the president for “going the extra mile to obtain a diplomatic solution to the Iranian conflict.”

    Democratic lawmakers have pushed back hard against the threat, arguing that an invasion of Kharg Island without formal congressional approval would be a blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution. “American troops would die during the invasion,” said Rep. Ted Lieu of California. “And then every day Iran would try to kill more American troops on Kharg Island.” Last week, Lieu joined four House Republicans and all House Democrats to pass a bipartisan war powers resolution that would block Trump from continuing military action against Iran without explicit congressional authorization. Following Trump’s latest threats, Lieu called on the Senate to immediately take up and pass the House-passed resolution.

  • Colombia starts its World Cup preparations in Guadalajara ahead its 2 matches in Mexico

    Colombia starts its World Cup preparations in Guadalajara ahead its 2 matches in Mexico

    In the lead-up to their highly anticipated Group K World Cup fixtures, Colombia’s national men’s football team has officially launched the final phase of their competitive preparations on Mexican soil, following a multi-phase training schedule spanning two countries.

    The squad touched down in the western Mexican city of Guadalajara on Wednesday, and wasted no time getting to work: their first on-site training session took place Thursday, with the session opened to allow members of the local press and Guadalajara football fans to observe the team’s first workout in their new base camp.

    Currently ranked 14th in the official FIFA global rankings, Colombia built up their fitness and tactical coordination in stages ahead of this final camp. The team began preliminary preparations at training facilities within their home nation, before moving to a second training block in California, United States, to acclimate to different playing conditions before traveling south to Mexico.

    Colombia’s three Group K matches will take place across three different North American venues. Their opening group stage fixture is scheduled for next Wednesday in Mexico’s capital, Mexico City, where they will face off against Uzbekistan. They will return to Guadalajara for their second group match against Congo on June 23, before wrapping up group play against Portugal on June 27 in Miami, Florida.

    Organizers and the Colombian coaching staff have already flagged a key environmental challenge the team will face in their first two matches: the high altitude of both Guadalajara and Mexico City, which can impact player endurance and breathing over the course of 90 minutes of competitive play.

    For Colombia, this World Cup marks a chance to return to the global football stage after a disappointing cycle four years ago. The South American nation posted its best-ever World Cup result in 2014, hosted by neighboring Brazil, when the squad advanced all the way to the tournament quarterfinals before being eliminated. Four years later in Russia, the team exited the competition in the round of 16, and failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup held in Qatar, leaving them hungry to prove their skill on the global stage once again.

  • Japan captain Wataru Endo is out of the World Cup and retires from international duty

    Japan captain Wataru Endo is out of the World Cup and retires from international duty

    Just three days before Japan’s opening Group F match against the Netherlands at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the Asian side has been rocked by two major pieces of unwelcome news: veteran captain Wataru Endo has been forced to pull out of the tournament due to a lingering foot injury, and the 33-year-old Liverpool midfielder has announced his immediate retirement from international football.

    Endo, who first underwent corrective surgery on his left foot back in February, first confirmed his double announcement via a post on his official X (formerly Twitter) account written in Japanese. At the time of the announcement, the Japanese national squad was continuing their pre-tournament training camp in Nashville, Tennessee, as they make final preparations for their clash with the Dutch.

    In his statement, Endo emphasized that he had left no stone unturned in his efforts to recover fitness in time for the World Cup, leaving him with no regrets over his approach to rehabilitation. “Since getting injured and up till this point, I’ve done everything I could and I have no regret,” he wrote. Endo made his return to competitive action just over a month ago, coming off the bench in a pre-tournament warm-up friendly against Iceland in Tokyo on May 31, but was substituted at half time as his foot failed to cope with the physical demands of 90 minutes of play, with Japan ultimately claiming a 1-0 win in that fixture.

    Looking ahead, Endo said he will shift his focus to his club career with Liverpool, and will transition from team leader to passionate supporter of his national side. “With this campaign, I will be retiring from the national team. So from here on, I’ll be cheering for the Japan national team as one of the fans,” he added.

    Japan Football Association officials have already moved quickly to fill the gaps left by Endo’s exit. National team director Masakuni Yamamoto confirmed Thursday that Ko Itakura, the experienced Ajax defender, will take over as the new captain of the Samurai Blue for the duration of the World Cup. To round out the squad, Borussia Monchengladbach forward Shuto Machino has been called up as Endo’s replacement, completing the 26-man roster ahead of their opening fixture.

  • Ukraine hits fuel supplies to Crimea, sparking a fuel crisis on the Russian-held peninsula

    Ukraine hits fuel supplies to Crimea, sparking a fuel crisis on the Russian-held peninsula

    A sustained and increasingly effective campaign of drone strikes by Ukrainian forces has plunged the Russian-occupied Black Sea peninsula of Crimea into its most severe fuel crisis since Moscow’s illegal 2014 annexation, delivering a fresh blow to the Kremlin’s claim of progress in its four-year full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

    The coordinated strikes have targeted critical energy infrastructure deep inside Russia, supply routes along the land corridor connecting mainland Russia to Crimea, and key transport links into the peninsula, leaving tanker trucks charred along highways, stranding motorists in multi-hour queues at gas stations, and forcing occupied authorities to implement strict fuel rationing. As the crisis unfolded as Russia marked its annual Russia Day holiday, the unofficial kickoff to the summer tourist season that Crimea’s economy depends heavily on, the damage has already rippled through the region’s vital hospitality sector.

    To understand the stakes of this escalation, it is necessary to contextualize Crimea’s long-standing strategic and symbolic importance to the Kremlin. First seized by the Russian Empire from the Crimean Tatars in the 18th century following a victory over the Ottoman Empire, the peninsula was transferred from Soviet Russia to Soviet Ukraine in 1954 by then-leader Nikita Khrushchev. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Crimea became part of the newly independent Ukrainian state, though Moscow maintained a large naval base at Sevastopol under a long-term lease. In 2014, following the ousting of a pro-Moscow Ukrainian president by a popular pro-European uprising, Putin deployed unmarked troops to seize control of Crimea, and oversaw a widely unrecognized referendum to formalize its annexation. The move triggered a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine that simmered until Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022; early in that invasion, Russian forces based in Crimea seized large swathes of southern Ukraine and secured the overland corridor to the peninsula that remains Moscow’s primary supply route today.

    Since the start of the full-scale war, Ukraine has systematically targeted Russian assets in and around Crimea to erode Moscow’s control. Ukrainian strikes have sunk multiple Russian warships at Crimean bases, severely degrading Russia’s Black Sea Fleet capabilities and forcing most of the fleet to redeploy to the far eastern Russian port of Novorossiysk. Ukraine has also repeatedly targeted the Kerch Strait Bridge, the iconic fixed span that directly connects mainland Russia to Crimea, which Putin has long framed as a symbol of his regime’s success in annexing the peninsula. An October 2022 truck bombing on the bridge killed five people, destroyed two large spans, and required months of reconstruction, with additional successful strikes following in 2023 and 2025.

    After repeated attacks on the Kerch Bridge left it unsafe for large-scale fuel shipments, Russia shifted most fuel and critical supplies to the overland highway and rail corridor running through occupied territories along the Sea of Azov coast, a route that Russian military planners once considered far more secure than the bridge. That assumption has proven catastrophic: last month, Ukrainian drones struck a convoy of fuel trucks traveling the corridor, leaving dozens of vehicles burned out. In recent weeks, the strikes have only intensified. This week alone, Ukrainian forces repeatedly hit the Chonhar Bridge, another key crossing linking occupied mainland Ukraine to Crimea, disrupting all movement across the span and forcing occupation authorities to deploy temporary pontoon bridges to restore limited access. Ukrainian military officials confirmed the Chonhar strike was intended to cut off Russian military movements of troops, ammunition and fuel into and out of the peninsula.

    Compounding the supply crunch, Ukraine’s long-range drone campaign has targeted refineries, oil storage depots and pipeline infrastructure hundreds of kilometers inside Russian territory, eroding Russia’s total domestic fuel production capacity even as demand rises ahead of the summer travel season. The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has highlighted the strategic synergy of Ukraine’s dual strike campaign: long-range attacks cut Russia’s ability to produce fuel, while mid-range strikes on supply lines disrupt what little fuel Russia is still able to route to occupied Crimea.

    “The long-range strike campaign is therefore reducing Russia’s production capacity, while the midrange strike campaign is hurting Russia’s ability to transport the gasoline Russia is still able to produce,” the ISW explained in its recent analysis.

    The acute fuel shortage is already being felt acutely by civilian residents and tourists in Crimea. While the peninsula has experienced periodic supply disruptions from Ukrainian strikes in past years, current shortages represent the worst crisis since the 2014 annexation. In late May, occupation authorities introduced strict rationing, capping sales at just 20 liters of gasoline per vehicle per week, distributed via prepaid coupons. The entire allocation of coupons sold out within minutes of being released on an official government messaging channel, leaving motorists waiting for hours in snaking lines at the few stations still selling fuel.

    Social media platforms have been flooded with residents sharing tips for locating scarce fuel and pleas for assistance, while authorities have launched a dedicated hotline to assist tourists who have found themselves stranded without fuel. While ferries have supplemented fuel shipments from mainland Russia after Kerch Bridge traffic was restricted, and private motorists are allowed to bring up to 100 liters of fuel into Crimea per vehicle from the mainland, the additional supply has been far too little to meet demand. Unregulated black market speculators are now selling gasoline at twice the official market price.

    The crisis has already delivered a severe blow to Crimea’s tourism sector, which is the backbone of the local economy. The peninsula drew nearly 7 million Russian tourists in 2024, and occupation officials had projected an even higher number for the 2025 summer season. However, business daily Kommersant reports that roughly 80% of hotel bookings were canceled in late May and early June as travelers avoid the unstable region. Some hotels have even begun offering free gasoline as a booking incentive to attract hesitant visitors, offers that were immediately taken up by the few travelers still planning trips.

    Recent attacks on passenger rail lines have further eroded traveler confidence. Earlier this week, a Ukrainian drone strike hit a passenger train traveling from Moscow to Crimea, wounding the engineer and killing his assistant, forcing a temporary suspension of all rail service and the evacuation of passengers by bus. A prior strike on a commuter train in Crimea killed one person and injured three others, prompting occupation authorities to cut daytime service over security concerns.

    In a rare public acknowledgment of the scope of the crisis, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed this week that widespread fuel shortages exist and pledged that authorities are taking urgent measures to resolve the issue. The Russian Defense Ministry has remained publicly silent on the repeated strikes along the Crimean land corridor, but prominent Russian pro-war military bloggers have fiercely criticized the military establishment for failing to anticipate the Ukrainian campaign and mounting a glacial, ineffective response. Some bloggers have called for mandatory military escorts for all fuel convoys traveling the corridor, while others have urged the Russian military to escalate strikes on Ukrainian energy and transport infrastructure in retaliation.

    As the fuel crisis and internal criticism continued to unfold, Ukraine delivered an additional symbolic blow to Moscow this week, striking a historic landmark in Sevastopol that houses a massive panoramic painting commemorating the 19th century Russian defense of the city during the Crimean War. According to Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Kremlin-appointed mayor of Sevastopol, the painting was completely destroyed in the fire that followed the strike. Given Putin’s long-standing framing of the 2014 annexation of Crimea as a fulfillment of Russian imperial and historical destiny, pro-war blogger Valery Shiryayev noted the attack would be particularly infuriating to the Russian leader.

    “It’s hard to find another work of art, another part of national heritage, whose destruction would be as painful for Putin,” Shiryayev said.

    As of Thursday, the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine entered its 1,569th day, surpassing the total duration of World War I, with Russian frontline advances having ground to a near standstill even as Ukraine demonstrates growing capability to strike deep into Russian-held and Russian territory.

  • Thai Princess Bajrakitiyabha, who was known for her legal work, dies at 47

    Thai Princess Bajrakitiyabha, who was known for her legal work, dies at 47

    BANGKOK – Thailand’s Bureau of the Royal Household has confirmed the passing of Princess Bajrakitiyabha Mahidob, the eldest child of King Maha Vajiralongkorn and a prominent advocate for justice reform, at the age of 47. The royal announcement, released Friday, states that the princess died Thursday evening at a Bangkok hospital, where she had received continuous medical care since collapsing from an unexpected illness three years prior.

    Born in December 1978, when her father still held the title of crown prince, Princess Bajrakitiyabha built a long professional career rooted in law and public service. After completing undergraduate legal studies at Thailand’s top Thammasat University, she pursued advanced degrees at Cornell University Law School in the United States, earning a master’s in 2002 and a doctorate in 2005. Her doctoral research centered on protecting the legal rights of accused individuals, laying the foundation for her lifelong work in criminal justice reform. In recognition of her contributions, academic institutions later established Cornell Law School scholarships and a Thai-U.S. legal scholar exchange program in her name.

    Following a short stint at Thailand’s permanent mission to the United Nations in New York, Princess Bajrakitiyabha returned to her home country to work as a public prosecutor. She later returned to diplomatic service, serving as Thailand’s ambassador to Austria between 2012 and 2014, before stepping back from diplomatic roles to refocus on domestic justice initiatives. In 2017, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime named her a global goodwill ambassador, and she also took on an honorary role advocating to end gender-based violence and improve outcomes for women caught up in the criminal justice system.

    Her most enduring legacy is the Kamlangjai or “Inspire” project, a groundbreaking initiative designed to support the rehabilitation and reintegration of incarcerated Thai women into society after release. Her advocacy on this front ultimately pushed the United Nations General Assembly to adopt the landmark “Bangkok Rules,” a global framework outlining standards for the treatment and care of female prisoners. In a 2013 interview with the Associated Press, the princess emphasized her core belief that equitable justice and the rule of law are foundational to national progress. “Society cannot grow if there is instability and injustice,” she said. “Without the rule of law, without a good justice system, it’s always chaos. I think the rule of law is a very important pillar to development, to economic growth, and of course to human rights.”

    Princess Bajrakitiyabha first fell ill in December 2022, when she lost consciousness while training dogs for a royal army exhibition. The palace later confirmed she had contracted a mycoplasma infection, a bacterial illness most commonly linked to pneumonia, that required immediate hospitalization. Limited official updates on her condition in the years following her admission fueled widespread concern among the Thai public. The 2023 royal New Year greeting card, which showed King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Sithida dressed in formal black attire, was widely interpreted by Thais as a signal that her health was severely declining, and subsequent statements confirmed a gradual deterioration of her condition.

    As the king’s eldest child, Princess Bajrakitiyabha’s decades of public service sparked widespread speculation about her potential future role in Thailand’s monarchy. Under current Thai succession rules, male heirs hold priority, making her younger half-brother Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti the current presumptive heir to the throne. Even so, many political analysts and royal observers long believed that her extensive experience in public affairs positioned her to take on a key role in future royal leadership, potentially serving as regent if the young prince ascended the throne early.

    Princess Bajrakitiyabha is survived by her father King Maha Vajiralongkorn, her mother Princess Soamsawali, and her siblings.