Global Pulse

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  • US tells Afghans to choose Taliban home or DR Congo: activist

    US tells Afghans to choose Taliban home or DR Congo: activist

    A human rights advocate has issued a damning revelation about the Trump administration’s latest immigration policy, which forces more than 1,100 former Afghan allies stranded in Qatar to pick between resettlement in conflict-ravaged Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) or forced return to Afghanistan under Taliban control. These are the same Afghans who aided U.S. military forces before the 2021 American withdrawal that saw the collapse of the Western-backed Afghan government, and who have waited in Qatar for years to gain entry to the United States, fearing violent persecution from the new Taliban regime for their cooperation with Washington.

    The camp where these evacuees reside, a decommissioned U.S. military base in Qatar, faces an immediate March 31 shutdown ordered by the Trump White House, which has centered its second term agenda on sweeping new restrictions to legal immigration into the country. Shawn VanDiver, a U.S. military veteran and leader of AfghanEvac — an advocacy organization dedicated to supporting former Afghan allies seeking safe resettlement — confirmed he received official briefings outlining the administration’s stark ultimatum for the camp’s residents.

    VanDiver argues the choice is intentionally designed to pressure Afghans into returning to Afghanistan, noting that the DRC is already grappling with its own prolonged humanitarian and refugee crisis, marked by ongoing armed conflict that has spilled over from neighboring Rwanda. “You do not relocate vetted wartime allies, more than 400 of them children, from American custody into a country in the middle of its own collapse,” VanDiver said in a formal statement. “The administration knows this. It is the point.”

    U.S. State Department officials have refused to publicly confirm that the DRC is the third-country resettlement option on the table, but confirmed that Washington is pursuing “voluntary resettlement” for the as-Sayliyah camp population. A department spokesperson framed the relocation of the group to a third country as “a positive resolution that provides safety for these remaining people to start a new life outside of Afghanistan while upholding the safety and security of the American people.”

    The policy has drawn fierce cross-party and advocacy criticism, with leading Democratic Senator Tim Kaine calling the plan to send U.S. Afghan allies to the DRC “insane.” “We told these Afghans that we would help ensure their safety after they helped us,” Kaine said. “We have an obligation to follow through on our promise because it’s the right thing to do, and because going back on our word will only make it harder for us to build the kinds of partnerships we may need to advance our national security in the future.”

    The broader context of this policy traces back to the chaotic 2021 U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, after which more than 190,000 Afghan evacuees have already been resettled in the United States under a program first launched by former President Joe Biden. That program initially earned bipartisan support, as most Republicans backed the 20-year U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan when it began. However, after a 2024 incident in which an Afghan evacuee with a history of post-traumatic stress disorder who had worked with U.S. intelligence shot two Washington D.C. National Guard troops — killing one — Trump moved to dismantle the wider national refugee resettlement program and suspend all processing for new Afghan arrivals.

  • Most serious cyberattacks against the UK now from Russia, Iran and China, cyber chief will say

    Most serious cyberattacks against the UK now from Russia, Iran and China, cyber chief will say

    At the annual CyberUK conference hosted in Glasgow, Scotland, the leader of the United Kingdom’s top cyber defense body will deliver a stark wake-up call this Wednesday: the gravest cyber threats facing the nation today are not the work of criminal gangs, but of hostile state actors based in Russia, Iran, and China. Richard Horne, chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) — a division of the UK’s signals intelligence agency GCHQ — will frame this growing threat against a backdrop of unprecedented geopolitical upheaval, arguing the world is now experiencing the most dramatic geopolitical shift seen in modern history. Previews of Horne’s speech, shared with journalists ahead of the event, emphasize that British private and public sector organizations cannot afford to delay upgrading their cyber defenses, as large-scale state-sponsored attacks could target the UK rapidly if the nation becomes entangled in a major international conflict.

    Horne’s warning aligns with a growing chorus of alarm across Europe, where Nordic and Central European nations have repeatedly flagged state-linked hacking campaigns targeting critical national infrastructure in recent months. Per Horne’s prepared remarks, the NCSC currently responds to roughly four nationally significant cyber incidents every week. While criminal activity, most notably ransomware attacks, remains the most common cyber challenge for UK entities, the most destructive and high-stakes threats stem from operations backed directly or indirectly by foreign governments.

    This characterization of an increasingly dangerous global security landscape echoes recent remarks from other top UK intelligence leaders. Back in December, Blaise Metreweli, head of the UK Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), noted that the international order is far more contested and dangerous than it has been in decades, with the UK now operating in a gray zone that falls somewhere between formal peace and open war. “Let’s be clear, cyberspace is part of that contest,” Horne will reiterate in his Glasgow address.

    Horne will outline distinct threat profiles for each of the three major hostile state actors: China’s intelligence and military apparatuses have demonstrated a staggering, eye-watering level of technical sophistication in their global cyber operations; Iran, he will add, is highly likely using cyber tools to repress British dissidents and activists within the UK itself, targeting individuals the Iranian regime views as threats to its rule. For Russia, Horne will note that the Kremlin has refined and tested its cyber tactics through its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and is now deploying those battle-hardened techniques far beyond the Ukrainian battlefield, carrying out sustained hybrid cyber operations targeting the UK and the wider European continent.

    A core message of Horne’s speech is a call to action for British organizations: corporate and institutional leaders must study how cyber operations have been deployed in active conflict to build their own defensive resilience. Unlike ransomware attacks, which often can be resolved (at great cost) through payment of a ransom, large-scale state-sponsored cyberattacks in a conflict scenario leave no such exit. No amount of money will buy back access to hijacked systems or stolen data, Horne will stress, meaning every organization must map the full scope of its vulnerability and harden defenses before a crisis hits.

    Recent cyber incidents across Northern Europe back up the urgency of this warning. Last Friday, Swedish authorities confirmed that a pro-Russian hacking group with ties to Russian intelligence services was responsible for a cyberattack on a Swedish heating plant carried out last year. Carl-Oskar Bohlin, Sweden’s civil defense minister, drew a direct line between that incident and a coordinated series of attacks in Poland last December, which hit combined heat and power plants supplying nearly 500,000 customers alongside multiple wind and solar farms. Polish investigators later concluded the hackers behind that assault were directly linked to Russian intelligence services.

    Those attacks are not isolated. Norwegian authorities have tied an April 2025 hack that disrupted water flow from a Norwegian dam to Russian actors, while Danish officials confirmed a 2024 cyberattack on a Danish water utility that left hundreds of homes without water was also linked to the Kremlin. The Associated Press has tracked more than 155 disruptive incidents — including arson, sabotage, espionage, and cyberattacks — linked to Russia or its proxies by Western officials since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Beyond critical infrastructure attacks, European officials have also linked Russian actors to a hack of German air traffic control systems, repeated attempts to compromise Signal and WhatsApp accounts belonging to European officials and journalists, and campaigns to exploit router security vulnerabilities to steal sensitive user data on behalf of Russian military intelligence.

  • Foo Fighters interview: ‘We’re a different band without Taylor Hawkins’

    Foo Fighters interview: ‘We’re a different band without Taylor Hawkins’

    At 57 years old, rock legend Dave Grohl still holds tight to the rebellious 13-year-old punk kid he once was – a raw, unapologetic energy that bleeds through every chord of Foo Fighters’ 12th full-length studio album, *Your Favourite Toy*. In a new interview, Grohl opens up about the record, the band’s long healing journey following the 2022 death of iconic drummer Taylor Hawkins, and the personal upheaval that shaped one of the group’s hardest, fastest projects in a decade.

    Grohl describes *Your Favourite Toy* as a powder keg, a burning rush of diesel fuel, even a spicy, layered jambalaya – a deliberate return to the post-grunge and punk roots that launched the band in the 1990s. Cut quickly in just a matter of weeks, the album grew out of years of low-key experimentation: Grohl had demoed more than 50 tracks, often writing late at night, pulling influences from across the musical spectrum from trip-hop pioneers Massive Attack to prog-rock icons Pink Floyd and hardcore punk trailblazers Bad Brains. It was only when he stumbled across a sequence of 10 raw, high-energy demos that aligned with the music the band grew up loving that the project clicked into place.

    “This is how our band sounds,” confirmed bass guitarist Nate Mendel. “We can do other stuff too, but this feels comfortable.” For Grohl, forcing a more polished, mature sound would feel like wearing an ill-fitting suit to a formal event – a disconnect from his core identity. “It’s like when you get invited to a formal event and you try to put on something really nice and clean. I look in the mirror and I’m like, ‘That’s not me. I look like a stoner in court getting charged for some sort of misdemeanour marijuana offence!’” he joked.

    Recorded against a backdrop of profound personal upheaval, the album carries unflinching emotional weight. Its sharp, slashing guitar riffs and scorched, raw vocals capture turmoil, paranoia and uncertainty that Grohl has navigated in recent years. On the opening track *Caught In The Echo*, Grohl screams repetitive lines “Decide, decide, decide, decide / Do I? Do I? Do I? Do I?” – a whirlwind of intrusive thoughts that captures the paralysis of being stuck at a crossroads. Another standout track, *Of All People*, is a furious diatribe born from a chance encounter: Grohl ran into a drug dealer he had known in 1990s Seattle, a meeting that stirred up complicated emotions. Grohl, who has remained largely drug-free since he turned 20 (save for a 2010 caffeine overdose hospitalization), said he felt conflicted over the run-in: glad the man had survived, but angry about the harm the drug trade brought to so many people he knew. He wrote the track that night and recorded it the next morning in the small studio above his garage, capturing that raw moment of emotion exactly as it hit.

    That spontaneous, capture-the-moment approach became the album’s core creative ethos. “You write something really quickly, and the next day you record it and it’s done. That’s the photograph, that’s the one moment that you catch,” Grohl explained.

    The record also grapples with another public personal struggle: Grohl’s 2022 admission that he had fathered a child outside of his marriage, a revelation that shocked fans who had long hailed Grohl as “the nicest man in rock.” At the time, he released a public statement saying he planned to be a supportive parent to the child, and that he was committed to regaining the trust of his wife and existing children. The track *Unconditional* appears to chronicle his efforts to repair those fractured relationships. Grohl sings, “I’ll find a better way / To explain this to you… Under one condition, though / It’s unconditional,” and described the track as a mournful reflection on deep regret.

    “When you write a song like that, and you listen to it back, you kind of understand how you feel in yourself. And that makes it easier to use those words outside of the song, right?” he said, declining to share specific details of the situation, noting that some deeply personal matters remain private. “This band was born out of the pain of losing Kurt [Cobain] and Nirvana, so we’ve always relied on music to help us through difficult times – and it has certainly done that in my life in the last year and a half.”

    Beyond personal turmoil, *Your Favourite Toy* marks only the band’s second release since the sudden 2022 death of beloved drummer Taylor Hawkins, who was found unresponsive in his hotel room hours before a scheduled concert. His cause of death has never been officially confirmed, and the band is still navigating grief years later. After Hawkins’ passing, Mendel admitted he thought the band was finished, questioning if they could ever continue without Hawkins’ electric, one-of-a-kind presence. Today, the band has welcomed new drummer Ilan Rubin, but they still carry Hawkins’ legacy with them every day.

    “But one thing that I’ve come to realise – this sounds a little hokey, but it’s true – is that Taylor is with us. His wife is on the road with us right now. We’re still very close to the Hawkins family. We talk about him every day,” Mendel said.

    Grohl added that continuing as a band after losing Hawkins was far from easy. The band had been closer than brothers, and even small, routine moments felt strange in the aftermath of the loss. “When you go through any sort of trauma or loss, you have to do everything all over again. So the next day, that’s the first cup of coffee since it happened. Then it’s the first song we’ve written since it happened,” he said. “But whenever we go through something really difficult, we go through it together, with our families and our kids and our wives. We really rally. And if you’re surrounded by people that you know you can really rely on, that’s the key.”

    The band got an early boost from fellow music legend Paul McCartney, who invited Grohl to join him on stage at the 2022 Glastonbury Festival – Grohl’s first public appearance since Hawkins’ death. Though Grohl almost missed the set after his flights were canceled, walking backstage just 20 minutes before showtime, the gesture meant the world to the band. Ahead of Foo Fighters’ 2025 summer show at Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium, Grohl clarified recent tabloid reports: he hasn’t formally asked McCartney to perform, only texted to let him know the band would be playing in McCartney’s hometown, to which McCartney replied with encouragement.

    Even as the band retains its raw punk energy, age has brought small changes to their pre-show rituals. Where the band once knocked back tequila shots before hitting the stage, these days they fit in naps, and pass downtime in the dressing room building elaborate Lego sets. Grohl has built the Eiffel Tower, the White House, and multiple Harry Potter castles, calling the process surprisingly meditative: “You can just turn your brain off and follow the instructions. It’s like Ikea furniture. I’ve built a lot of Ikea furniture in my time and you feel so proud.” An hour before showtime, though, the energy picks up, cocktails start flowing, and the band steps on stage with genuine, unforced joy. “There’s no faking it in this band. You get on stage and you have those few hours to do it – and you’ve got to do it for real,” Grohl said.

  • Japan’s easing of weapons export restrictions opposed

    Japan’s easing of weapons export restrictions opposed

    On Tuesday, two connected moves by the Japanese government sparked sharp condemnation from China and drew criticism from both domestic and international peace advocates, with observers warning that Tokyo’s accelerating remilitarization trajectory demands heightened global vigilance against resurgent Japanese neo-militarism.

    Early this week, Japan’s cabinet officially approved revisions to the country’s Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology, along with associated implementation guidelines. The policy change clears legal and procedural barriers for the export of lethal weaponry, eliminating the longstanding requirement for prior parliamentary approval before such shipments can move forward.

    Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun emphasized that this latest policy shift, paired with a string of other destabilizing developments in Japan’s military and security sphere, directly contradicts Tokyo’s repeated public claims of commitment to peace and its stated adherence to an exclusively defense-oriented national security policy. He recalled that Japan’s brutal wartime aggression and atrocities committed against China and other Asian nations gave rise to a series of binding international postwar legal frameworks, including the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation, and Japan’s own Instrument of Surrender. These documents explicitly require that Japan be completely disarmed and barred from maintaining industrial capacity that could enable large-scale rearmament. Furthermore, Japan’s own post-war Constitution imposes strict limits on the country’s military strength, its right to engage in belligerency, and its right to wage offensive war. For decades after World War II, Japan maintained tight restrictions on military expansion and arms exports under its exclusively defense-oriented principle, with a 1976 official policy stance committing the peaceful nation to strict caution on all arms exports.

    Guo noted that a growing community of experts and analysts share deep concerns that Japan is actively rebuilding its wartime military infrastructure and positioning itself to become a global exporter of lethal arms, with tangible steps toward accelerated remilitarization already well underway. In recent years alone, Japan has dramatically expanded its annual military budget, deployed intermediate-range offensive missiles, systematically rolled back arms export restrictions, proposed sweeping amendments to its pacifist post-war Constitution, and pushed to abandon its longstanding three non-nuclear principles.

    Lyu Yaodong, a senior researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that Tokyo’s primary justification for the new arms export rule changes — a claimed need to counter a so-called “China threat” — has no basis in fact. Lyu explained that the actual goals of the policy shift are twofold: to steadily erode the legal constraints imposed by Japan’s pacifist Constitution, and to open up new economic opportunities for Japanese defense contractors amid long-running domestic economic stagnation.

    Atsushi Koketsu, professor emeritus at Yamaguchi University, echoed these concerns, noting that Japan’s national security policy is increasingly being restructured around the misleading framing of “preparing for war in the name of peace”. For decades, the prospect of a remilitarized Japan has been a core source of concern for China and other Asian nations that suffered from Japanese wartime aggression, and that long-feared outcome is now becoming a tangible reality, Koketsu added.

    Even within Japan, opposition to the policy change remains strong. On Tuesday, hundreds of Japanese citizens who oppose constitutional revision gathered outside Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s official office, holding protest signs reading “Do not let Japan become a war merchant” and “No to exporting lethal weapons”.

    In a second provocative move that drew harsh Chinese condemnation on the same day, Prime Minister Takaichi sent a ritual offering to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, the iconic symbolic center of Japanese wartime militarism and aggression that honors 14 convicted Class-A World War II war criminals.

    Guo confirmed that Beijing has formally lodged solemn diplomatic representations with Tokyo over the offering, stating that Japan’s repeated provocative actions tied to the Yasukuni Shrine amount to a deliberate attempt to evade accountability for wartime atrocities, an affront to global justice, a direct provocation to the millions of people victimized by Japanese aggression, and a fundamental challenge to the internationally recognized outcome of World War II. These actions, Guo added, have been consistently condemned and rejected by the international community.

    Guo stressed that Japan now faces a clear choice: it can either allow the specter of pre-war militarism to spread, distort historical fact, and continue whitewashing its aggression-era crimes, or it can offer a deep, sincere reckoning with its wartime history, build a correct public narrative of the past, and earn back the trust of its Asian neighbors and the broader global community. Peace-loving forces across the world cannot allow resurgent neo-militarism to threaten regional peace and stability, Guo said, urging the entire international community to maintain close vigilance against Japan’s growing historical revisionism.

  • Dwayne Johnson wrestling film to be made into stage musical

    Dwayne Johnson wrestling film to be made into stage musical

    A beloved sports drama based on a groundbreaking British wrestler’s real life is stepping into a new arena: pro wrestling story *Fighting With My Family*, first released as a 2019 feature film starring Florence Pugh and Dwayne Johnson, is officially being reimagined as a full stage musical, producers have confirmed.

    The original film traces the extraordinary true journey of Saraya Knight, the UK-born pro wrestler best known by her in-ring alias Paige, as she climbs the ranks of professional wrestling to land a coveted spot in the global WWE organization. Johnson, whose own production studio is partnering on the stage project, says the underdog story feels custom-built for live theater. Looking back on his experience making the film with original director Stephen Merchant, Johnson called the collaboration a truly special project, adding that Merchant’s sharp, heartfelt work more than deserves this exciting new chapter.

    The narrative traces all the way back to a 2012 Channel 4 documentary, *The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family*, which followed Paige, her brother, and her two parents – all third-generation professional wrestlers. In the ring, her father Patrick performs as “Rowdy” Ricky Knight, while her Julia has taken on multiple personas, most notably Sweet Saraya – the name the couple also passed down to their daughter.

    The adaptation is being led by Tilted Musicals, the production company founded by hit Girls Aloud songwriter Miranda Cooper and veteran theater producer Sam Hodges. Cooper told BBC News the creative team is building the musical to resonate far beyond wrestling fans, noting that the world of pro wrestling is inherently theatrical. “You’ve got your heroes and villains, it’s all built on storytelling, and every performer steps into a larger-than-life version of themselves in the ring,” she explained. Beyond the in-ring action, though, Cooper pointed out that the story’s core themes of family, community, and belonging make it perfect for the stage. “These are wonderfully unconventional characters, but the love that binds them is at the heart of everything,” she added.

    The idea for the musical originated with playwright Jon Brittain, who will pen the stage book, with original songs composed by Cooper and long-time collaborator Nick Coler. The pair are best known as core members of iconic songwriting collective Xenomania, which penned chart-topping hits for artists including Sugababes, Kylie Minogue, Pet Shop Boys and Girls Aloud.

    In the 2019 film, Pugh portrayed Paige as a sharp-tongued goth outsider growing up in a chaotic but deeply loving wrestling-focused working-class family in Norwich, England. Her life shifts dramatically when she earns a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to train with WWE in the United States, leaving her family and her brother’s own wrestling dreams behind. Along the way, Paige and her brother Zak meet Johnson – who played a fictionalized version of himself in the film, offering the aspiring wrestlers career guidance. For long-time fans, the casting was particularly fitting: Johnson rose to global fame as pro wrestling icon The Rock before transitioning to his blockbuster A-list acting career.

    Hodges shared that original film director Merchant has supported the project from its earliest days, calling his enthusiasm and generosity invaluable to the adaptation. “He’s shared cut scripts that never made it into the final film, his personal footage of meeting the Knight family, so much behind-the-scenes insight that’s making this project so much richer,” Hodges said. Merchant himself noted that he always envisioned the story as a musical even while filming the movie. “When I was making the film, I always thought of it like a musical: a young woman from the background fighting to get her big break, surrounded by theatrical, larger-than-life characters and huge sweeping emotions,” he explained. “I approached each wrestling match like it was a different dance number, building to a big show-stopping finale. Seeing the film reimagined for the stage feels like the natural next step.”

    Cooper, who says she feels both excited and challenged by the project, shared that the creative team has worked closely with the Knight family to craft a score that reflects their vibrant, one-of-a-kind personalities. “Centre stage we have Saraya, who is this mouthy, irreverent outsider, complicated, flawed, and it’s her journey of realising all those attributes are the things that make her really special,” Cooper said. “We’ve been speaking to her and she is awesome.” The creative team is leaning into the family’s signature punk energy, but plans to move beyond the generic pub-rock sound often associated with wrestling to create an eclectic, unique score. “Early writing sessions started off referencing Britpop, because they are a quintessentially British family, but the influences quickly began evolving,” Cooper explained. “We’re looking at everything from Chemical Brothers to Propellerheads, drum and bass, all iconic British sounds. We want a soundtrack that reflects all these multi-faceted characters that are unique and extraordinary.”

    The adaptation arrives at a moment of shifting momentum for professional wrestling globally: in 2023, media group Endeavor purchased WWE and installed new leadership, with plans to build a sprawling, Marvel-style franchise around the brand. At the same time, streaming giant Netflix recently secured exclusive UK broadcast rights to WWE content, bringing pro wrestling back to mainstream British television for the first time in 25 years. “It’s an interesting moment for people’s access to wrestling and their relationship with it in this country,” Hodges noted.

    While the original 2019 film has earned a loyal cult fanbase, it never achieved blockbuster box office success, so the creative team is approaching the musical as an entirely original work rather than relying on existing film fans to sell tickets. “We’re not assuming people have seen the movie, so we’re building the show’s identity from the ground up to welcome all audiences,” Hodges said.

    The musical will begin additional workshop development later this year, with the creative team targeting the first full public performances in 2027. In a final statement, Johnson shared his optimism for the project, saying he has “no doubt it will be an absolute blast for theatergoers”. He added that the story is “packed with personal emotion expressed through the dynamic world of wrestling, which has always been about storytelling and connecting with a live audience.”

  • Mexico pyramid shooter inspired by Columbine attack, pre-Hispanic sacrifices

    Mexico pyramid shooter inspired by Columbine attack, pre-Hispanic sacrifices

    On the 27th anniversary of one of the most infamous mass shootings in United States history, a lone gunman launched a deadly attack at Mexico’s iconic Teotihuacan archaeological site, leaving one person dead and more than a dozen injured before turning the gun on himself. New details emerging from official investigations reveal the 27-year-old attacker, Julio Cesar Jasso Ramirez, drew ideological inspiration from two starkly different sources: the 1999 Columbine High School massacre and ancient pre-Hispanic ritual human sacrifice.

    The violence unfolded on a Monday at the UNESCO-recognized pre-Columbian heritage site, a top global tourist destination located roughly 50 kilometers outside of Mexico City. By the end of the rampage, a Canadian tourist was dead, 13 other people had sustained injuries, and the attacker had died by suicide. In the days following the incident, Mexico State Prosecutor Jose Luis Cervantes Martinez outlined key findings from the ongoing probe, confirming Jasso Ramirez, a Mexico City resident, spent months carefully plotting the attack.

    According to Cervantes, the gunman made multiple scouting trips to the archaeological site in advance, booked stays at nearby hotels to survey the area, and mapped out his violent plan long before the scheduled date of the attack. Investigators quickly uncovered clear, chilling links between the Teotihuacan attack and the 1999 Columbine massacre, which killed 12 students and one teacher and wounded 20 others in Colorado, and fell on the exact same calendar date 27 years before Jasso Ramirez’s attack.

    “The collected evidence reveals a psychopathic profile of the attacker, characterized by a tendency to copy situations that happened in other places at other times by other people,” Cervantes told reporters at a Tuesday press conference.

    Investigators found multiple pieces of evidence tying the gunman directly to the Columbine attackers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Among Jasso Ramirez’s personal belongings, authorities discovered an AI-generated image depicting the Mexican gunman posing alongside Harris and Klebold. The shirt he wore to carry out the shooting also matched the style of the trench coats worn by the two Columbine perpetrators.

    Witness testimony has also shed light on why the attacker specifically chose the Teotihuacan site for his violence, pointing to a fascination with pre-Columbian ritual sacrifice. Jacqueline Gutierrez, an American tourist who was visiting the pyramids with her family and partner when the shooting broke out, recalled the gunman shouting that the site was a place for sacrifice, not sightseeing photos. He also explicitly referenced that the day marked the Columbine massacre anniversary, Gutierrez told Mexican broadcaster Milenio.

    Gutierrez described the 14-minute attack as a period of unmitigated terror, with visitors trapped on the pyramid structure with no route for escape. “We couldn’t move or we’d fall down the pyramid…if he had wanted to kill us all, he would have,” she said, adding that Jasso Ramirez told witnesses he had spent three years planning the attack.

    Investigators have so far confirmed that Jasso Ramirez acted entirely alone, with no known collaborators or extremist group ties. A search of his belongings turned up a collection of written materials referencing notorious mass attacks and violent figures linked to this type of criminal violence, further supporting the conclusion that the incident was an act of lone-wolf copycat violence.

  • UN urges freedom of navigation in Hormuz

    UN urges freedom of navigation in Hormuz

    Tensions are rising across the Persian Gulf as a fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran is set to expire Wednesday, with the United Nations calling for urgent action to preserve open navigation through the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz. Against a backdrop of conflicting rhetoric from both sides and ahead of a second round of peace talks scheduled in Islamabad, global powers are scrambling to prevent a wider regional conflict that could upend global energy markets.

    During a Monday press briefing, Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, outlined the world body’s deep concern over recent maritime disruptions and escalating incidents in the strait over the prior 48 hours. The UN chief is calling for the immediate full restoration of international navigation rights through the waterway, which Dujarric noted has been plagued by conflicting reports and widespread uncertainty over its operational status. Dujarric emphasized that freedom of navigation must be respected by all parties involved, and rejected any military actions that target civilian infrastructure or intentionally harm civilian populations.

    Diplomatic efforts are continuing to de-escalate tensions, with Pakistani-mediated peace talks set to open in Islamabad early Wednesday. Unnamed Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity due to their lack of authorization to speak publicly, confirmed to The Associated Press that US Vice President JD Vance will lead the American delegation, while Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf will head Tehran’s negotiating team. Multiple regional media outlets have confirmed additional high-profile members of the US delegation, including Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the US president’s son-in-law and senior advisor.

    US President Donald Trump has delivered stark warnings about the outcome of the talks, telling PBS NewsHour Monday that if no agreement is reached before the ceasefire expires, “lots of bombs” will be launched against Iran. Trump has also left open the possibility of making a surprise appearance at the talks, after previously telling the New York Post that he would be willing to meet directly with senior Iranian leaders if negotiators are able to secure a preliminary breakthrough.

    Iranian leaders have pushed back against American pressure, issuing firm statements rejecting what they describe as coercive diplomacy. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote Tuesday on the social platform X that honoring commitments is the only foundation for meaningful negotiation. He noted that Iran holds deep, historically rooted mistrust of US actions, and that contradictory and unconstructive signals from Washington make clear the US is seeking Iran’s unconditional surrender — a outcome Pezeshkian said will never happen. “Iranians do not submit to force,” he wrote.
    Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi echoed that sentiment during a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, saying contradictory US positions undermine Washington’s claims of pursuing diplomacy. According to Iran’s Mehr News Agency, Araghchi reaffirmed that Tehran will take all necessary steps to protect its national interests and security.

    Senior Iranian military commander Ali Abdollahi also issued a warning Tuesday, saying Iranian armed forces are fully prepared to deliver immediate, proportional responses to any aggression from the US or its allies. Speaking in a statement marking the anniversary of the founding of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Abdollahi said the Iranian people are proud of the IRGC’s recent heavy missile and drone strikes against Israel and US targets. He added that Iranian forces will not allow the Trump administration to manipulate the situation or spread false narratives about battlefield conditions, especially developments surrounding the Strait of Hormuz.

    Tensions spiked further this week after US military forces seized an Iranian container ship, the Touska, off Iran’s southern coast in the Sea of Oman Monday. Iran’s Foreign Ministry condemned the action as an act of “maritime piracy” and a blatant violation of international maritime law, per Iran’s official IRNA news agency. The ministry called on the United Nations, International Maritime Organization, and the international community to issue a firm, decisive response to what it called a criminal attack on legitimate international commercial shipping, adding that Iran will use all available tools to defend its national security and interests.

    A second maritime incident followed Tuesday, when the US Department of Defense announced that US forces had boarded the Tifani, an oil tanker previously sanctioned for smuggling Iranian crude oil to Asian markets. The Pentagon said the operation was a routine right-of-visit maritime interdiction and was completed without incident.

    The escalating conflict has already triggered serious consequences for global energy security. Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency, told France Inter radio that the ongoing US-Iran tensions have sparked what he described as “the world’s worst-ever energy crisis” in modern history. With roughly 20% of global oil shipments passing through the Strait of Hormuz daily, any prolonged disruption to navigation through the waterway would send global energy prices soaring, exacerbating already strained energy markets worldwide.

  • Israel must take sharply declining US public support seriously, think tank warns

    Israel must take sharply declining US public support seriously, think tank warns

    A leading Israeli security research institution has issued an urgent warning: the sharp, ongoing drop in Israel’s public approval across the United States has evolved into a major threat to the country’s national security, and cannot be ignored if Israel hopes to preserve decades of robust backing from Washington. The new analysis, published Monday by the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) — a think tank with formal ties to the Israeli military and Tel Aviv University — draws on recent polling data to highlight the far-reaching implications of this shifting public sentiment, arguing that without a dramatic reversal in American opinion, Israel will soon face a critical loss of support in the U.S.

    The INSS analysis centers on April polling from the Pew Research Center, which confirms that 60% of U.S. adults now hold an unfavorable view of Israel, up from 53% just one year prior. Newly released joint data from INSS and Pew breaks down this trend by age, revealing that 75% of young American adults between 18 and 29 hold negative views of Israel, with 67% of 30 to 49-year-olds sharing that sentiment. Partisan divides are even starker: 80% of Democratic voters hold unfavorable views of Israel, compared to 41% of Republican voters. For younger Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters, the negative rate climbs to 85% among 18-29-year-olds and 83% among 30-49-year-olds.

    The erosion of support is not limited to age or partisan groups, the report notes: falling approval cuts across nearly all major U.S. religious demographics, with majorities of Catholics, Protestants, and white evangelical Christians under 50 holding unfavorable opinions of Israel. Catholics are the most critical, with 74% of under-50 Catholic adults viewing Israel negatively. Even among white evangelicals — a core demographic of former President Donald Trump’s conservative political coalition — half of adults under 50 now hold negative views of Israel, versus just 47% who view it positively.

    A separate recent survey adds further evidence of this trend, finding that support for Israel has also dropped sharply among American Jews, with a majority opposing any U.S. war with Iran. Conducted by GBAO Strategies for Washington-based liberal Zionist group J Street, the poll found that 70% of American Jews oppose unconditional U.S. military and financial aid to Israel. Thirty percent of respondents reported greater sympathy for Palestinians than Israelis, a statistic INSS cites as further proof of the scale of Israel’s declining popularity.

    On Capitol Hill, shifting sentiment among elected Democrats was on display last week, when the U.S. Senate voted down two resolutions to block the sale of military bulldozers and the transfer of 12,000 1,000-pound bombs to Israel. Even with the resolutions failing, a historic number of Democratic senators supported the measures: 40 of 47 backed halting the bulldozer sale, while 36 voted against the bomb transfer. Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen argued that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s current administration “helped launch the Iran war, has unleashed an offensive in Lebanon and continues to harm civilians in the West Bank and Gaza,” adding that “we shouldn’t send taxpayer-funded bombs and equipment to facilitate this brutality.”

    INSS emphasizes that the growing negative trend among both the American public and political leaders poses a grave threat to Israeli national security, given Israel’s decades-long dependence on U.S. backing. According to an October 2025 report from the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, the U.S. has provided more than $300 billion in total aid to Israel since the country’s founding in 1948. While Washington has extended large foreign aid packages to other Middle Eastern nations, including Egypt and Iraq, Israel has received more military and economic support than any other country in the world. Today, just 37% of the American public holds a favorable view of Israel — a rating lower than that of longstanding U.S. adversaries Russia, Iran, and China, the report notes. Netanyahu himself also carries an unfavorable rating among most U.S. adults, the Pew data confirms.

    The report frames this shift in American public opinion as a long-term trend that has been drastically accelerated by the Gaza conflict, with the U.S.-Israel war on Iran, widely viewed in the U.S. as initiated by Netanyahu, causing further damage to Israel’s reputation. While the recent ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran could help modestly improve Israel’s standing, INSS warns that a fundamental shift in how the U.S. public perceives Israel is already taking hold. Even if Israel sees a small rebound in approval, the report argues that without significant policy changes from the current Israeli government, this negative image is likely to become permanent. Pushing the current U.S. administration to provide maximum support for Israeli military escalation across multiple fronts, the report adds, could eliminate any chance of repairing Israel’s standing in the long term.

    The warning comes as Israel prepares to mark its Independence Day Tuesday evening, a celebration overshadowed by combative rhetoric from top Israeli officials. Speaking Sunday, Netanyahu stated that Israel’s fight against Iran is “not over yet,” warning that “any moment could bring us new developments.” On Tuesday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he and Netanyahu had ordered the military to “operate with full force, both on the ground and from the air, even during the ceasefire” in Lebanon. Katz also confirmed the Israeli military would continue demolishing residential properties in Lebanon and issued a direct death threat to Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem.

  • Mexico pyramid shooter planned attack, fixated on US massacre

    Mexico pyramid shooter planned attack, fixated on US massacre

    A deadly premeditated shooting at one of Mexico’s most iconic cultural landmarks has left one international tourist dead and more than a dozen injured, sending shockwaves through the country’s tourism sector just weeks ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Authorities confirmed Tuesday that the attack, carried out Monday at the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Teotihuacan archaeological site, was planned days in advance and directly inspired by one of the United States’ most infamous mass killings.

    The shooter, identified as 27-year-old Julio Cesar Jasso Ramirez, a resident of Mexico City, took his own life as Mexican military personnel approached to apprehend him. The sole fatality was a Canadian woman in her early 20s who was visiting the site. Thirteen other people were wounded in the attack, which unfolded on the Pyramid of the Moon – the 45-meter-tall ancient monument that draws thousands of global visitors annually. Among the injured were a six-year-old boy, a second Canadian national, a Colombian woman, a Brazilian man, and two American citizens.

    Mexico State Prosecutor Jose Luis Cervantes told reporters at a press briefing alongside Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum that the attacker had carried out extensive pre-attack preparation. “He made multiple visits to the pyramids, stayed in hotels near the site ahead of time, and from there planned his violent acts,” Cervantes said. Investigators recovered a backpack at the shooting scene that contained a loaded firearm, a knife, 52 additional rounds of ammunition, and printed materials and images directly connected to the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in Colorado, according to Cervantes.

    The 1999 Columbine attack, carried out by two teenaged students who killed 12 classmates and one teacher before dying by suicide, has become a twisted inspiration for dozens of copycat mass shootings around the globe in the decades since. Jacqueline Gutierrez, an American visitor who survived Monday’s attack, told Mexican newspaper Milenio that the shooter explicitly referenced the attack’s 27th anniversary, which fell on April 20. He also made comments tying the Teotihuacan site to its history of pre-colonial ritual sacrifices, Gutierrez added.

    President Sheinbaum confirmed that investigators have found no links between the shooting and organized crime, noting that the perpetrator “had psychological problems” and “was influenced by events that had occurred abroad.” She called the attack an unprecedented event for Mexican archaeological sites and pushed for immediate policy changes to strengthen safety protocols at tourist destinations across the country. “We need to have better security to make sure someone can’t enter an archaeological site, a tourist site, with a firearm,” Sheinbaum said.

    Teotihuacan, the ancient capital of a pre-Aztec civilization that built its massive step pyramids between the 1st and 7th centuries AD, is Mexico’s second most-visited archaeological site, drawing millions of visitors every year. Until Monday, the site had no history of violent mass attacks. Prior to the shooting, visitors entered the site without any security screenings for weapons, Juan Carlos Mejia, executive director of local tourism agency Estur, told AFP. “Previously they never check you,” before entering, Mejia said.

    In response to the attack, authorities have closed the site temporarily to adjust safety measures, with a scheduled reopening on Wednesday that will introduce enhanced security protocols. The shooting comes just three weeks before Mexico is set to host multiple matches in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, including the tournament’s opening match on June 11 in Mexico City – just 50 kilometers from the Teotihuacan site. President Sheinbaum’s call for tighter gun controls at tourist sites has drawn broad support from tourism industry leaders, who say the changes are critical to protecting both visitors and Mexico’s reputation as a top international travel destination.

  • A new ‘Rafa’ rises in Spain as Rafael Jódar storms into top 50 before Madrid Open debut

    A new ‘Rafa’ rises in Spain as Rafael Jódar storms into top 50 before Madrid Open debut

    Even at just 22 years old and already established as one of the world’s top tennis talents, Carlos Alcaraz is paving the way for a new wave of elite Spanish men’s tennis prospects — and two rising stars are ready to seize their moment at the 2024 Madrid Open after Alcaraz was forced to withdraw due to a wrist injury.

    Nineteen-year-old Rafael “Rafa” Jódar, a prospect sharing a first name and nickname with Spanish tennis legend Rafael Nadal, has captured global tennis attention over the past 12 months with one of the fastest ranking climbs the ATP Tour has seen in recent years. Just one year ago, Jódar sat outside the ATP’s top 600. By March 2024, he had cracked the top 100, and the latest ATP rankings released ahead of the Madrid Open pushed him all the way to world No. 42, booking him a spot in his first ever main draw at the Madrid-based ATP Masters 1000 event.

    Jódar’s rapid ascent hit new milestones earlier this spring: he notched three straight-set wins to advance to the Barcelona Open semifinals, took home his first career ATP tour-level trophy at the Morocco Open earlier this May, and booked a spot in Spain’s 2024 Davis Cup training squad. A former US Open junior boys’ singles champion, Jódar spent 2023 competing collegiately at the University of Virginia before making the decision to turn professional. For the Madrid native, this week’s tournament carries extra personal meaning: he attended the event as a young spectator growing up, and will make his Madrid main draw debut against Netherlands’ Jesper de Jong, ranked world No. 109.

    Speaking ahead of his debut, Jódar emphasized his calm approach to the sudden attention and pressure that has come with his breakout run. “I try to handle the pressure as I have done since I was little. I’ve always been a very calm person both on and off the court. I know there’ll be moments when things don’t go as well as they have in recent tournaments. In those moments, you prove whether you’re mentally strong. Those moments will also make me stronger,” he said. Rather than setting rigid long-term ranking targets, Jódar said he plans to focus on gaining experience in his first full season on tour: “I’ve never set myself a goal. I have to take it tournament by tournament, it’s my first year on tour. I think I’m still a young player and I’m discovering a lot at these tournaments. I need to gain experience, compete against these kinds of players. I don’t set targets for the future, just take it tournament by tournament and do my best.”

    Joining Jódar as a hometown fan favorite in Madrid is 20-year-old Martin Landaluce, another top Spanish prospect who recently earned his own place in the ATP top 100, entering the tournament ranked world No. 99. Like Jódar, Landaluce is a former US Open junior boys’ singles champion, and he trains at the Rafa Nadal Academy. Landaluce notched his best ever ATP Masters 1000 result earlier this spring, reaching the Miami Open quarterfinals before falling to Czech player Jiri Lehecka. Both Jódar and Landaluce competed at the 2023 Next Gen ATP Finals, the annual showcase for the tour’s top players under 20 years old; Jódar defeated Landaluce in their head-to-head matchup, though neither advanced past the round-robin stage.

    Reflecting on his breakthrough into the top 100, Landaluce said the milestone has only motivated him to reach higher. “It’s very special to see myself there (in the top 100). It’s something we’ve all wanted to achieve since we were young. I’ve never set a specific ranking goal, but now that I’m in this position, I believe I can go further, and that’s what I intend to do,” he said.

    Alcaraz, the seven-time Grand Slam champion and world No. 2 who was forced to pull out of Madrid to recover from his wrist injury, has already thrown his full support behind the two rising stars, saying the pair will push each other to new heights in the coming years. “The two of them will mutually help each other to keep improving and reach the top. They have a great future,” Alcaraz told the ATP Tour. He praised Jódar specifically for his rapid adjustment to the top level of tour tennis, calling him “an outstanding player” who “has broken into the tour really quickly.” Alcaraz also spoke highly of Landaluce after recently practicing with him, describing the 20-year-old as “an incredible player.”

    Jódar and Landaluce are far from the only Spanish men ranked inside the ATP top 100 ahead of the Madrid Open. They join Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (No. 24), Jaume Munar (No. 38), Roberto Bautista Agut (No. 93) and Pablo Carreño Busta (No. 94) in the top tier of men’s tennis, signaling a continued era of depth for Spanish men’s tennis.