Global Pulse

作者： admin

  • A life on the front line of drug war

    A life on the front line of drug war

    For more than three decades, Wang Yufei’s true identity remained locked away in classified police files, a necessary safeguard for a man who spent his career dismantling violent drug trafficking networks as the head of the Chengdu Public Security Bureau’s narcotics division. Only after his death in May 2025, brought on by work-related complications, could the veil of anonymity be lifted — allowing the public to finally learn the name of the officer who dedicated his entire life to protecting their safety.

    Posthumously recognized as an Outstanding Party Member and a national-level anti-drug expert, Wang leaves behind a city dramatically transformed by his decades of relentless work. In 2024, his final full year leading the division, drug manufacturing cases in Chengdu plummeted by 65.2% — a stark, powerful statistic that stands as his quiet, final accounting to the community he served.

    Born in Chengdu, Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, in January 1969, Wang joined the local police force in June 1991. He quickly climbed the ranks from a grassroots patrol officer, earning a reputation for stepping forward without hesitation when danger emerged. In his early application for Communist Party membership, Wang wrote that he deeply cherished police work and pledged to devote his entire life to the Party’s mission — a promise he kept unwaveringly across 34 years of frontline service.

    One of the earliest testaments to his courage came in May 2003, when he was still serving as a patrol officer with the Zhanqian Police Branch. Called to respond to a hostage situation involving a knife-wielding suspect, Wang remained cool under pressure, made rapid tactical decisions, and led his team to rescue the unharmed hostage and take the suspect into custody. It was around this time that he shared a core belief with his colleagues that would shape all his future work: the police uniform is worn to hold back darkness, so ordinary citizens never have to face it.

    When the Zhanqian Branch’s new anti-narcotics brigade was founded in June 2006, Wang was selected as its founding leader. The area surrounding Chengdu Railway Station, the brigade’s primary patrol zone, was a crowded, socially complex neighborhood long plagued by open drug-related crime. Undeterred by the lack of existing infrastructure, Wang moved his team to a base near the station, mapped out local crime patterns through months of on-the-ground observation, and built the brigade’s operational capacity from the ground up.

    A defining moment from that early period remains etched in the memories of Wang’s former colleagues. On the night of May 11, 2008, Wang led his team through an overnight drug arrest operation, wrapping up just hours before the devastating Wenchuan earthquake struck at midday on May 12. Wang was the first person in the building to feel the initial tremors. He immediately rushed to wake officers sleeping on the third floor, then sprinted to the unit’s storage facility to secure thousands of dollars’ worth of seized illegal drugs. Colleagues later recalled he was the first to respond to the emergency and the last to evacuate the damaged building, never letting go of his radio to keep command lines open.

    By 2009, Wang had been promoted to lead the first brigade of the Chengdu Public Security Bureau’s narcotics division, and he would go on to serve as deputy head, political commissar, and finally division head. Over the next 19 years, he guided the department through some of its most high-stakes investigations, and helped build Chengdu’s anti-narcotics ecosystem into one of the most robust and effective in the entire province.

    Across his career, Wang led or contributed to breaking more than 200 major drug cases. He was famous for taking point on every step of high-risk operations: drafting arrest plans, pulling all-night surveillance shifts, and sitting through interrogations that stretched more than 30 hours straight. More than once, he faced down traffickers armed with loaded firearms or sharp-edged weapons.

    Beyond his bravery on frontline operations, Wang reshaped local anti-drug work by embracing modern technological innovation. In 2018, he led a 12-month long investigation that leveraged big data analytics to map and dismantle an underground smuggling ring moving drug precursor materials from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to clandestine labs in Chengdu. The operation ended with more than 40 arrests, the seizure of over 270 kilograms of finished and semi-finished methamphetamine, 11 million yuan ($1.61 million) in tied drug funds, and two illegal firearms.

    Today, as Wang’s legacy is made public for the first time, the dramatic drop in drug crime across Chengdu stands as a quiet monument to the decades of sacrifice he gave to keep his city safe.

  • Rural elderly care system to be revamped

    Rural elderly care system to be revamped

    China is enacting a comprehensive overhaul of its rural elderly care system, shifting beyond incremental pension hikes to build a diversified, sustainable support model to address the rapidly aging demographic reshaping the nation’s countryside. Driven by decades of out-migration of working-age residents to urban centers, rural regions are aging at a faster pace than cities, creating unique unmet needs for senior care that demand a multi-pronged policy and innovation response, experts and policymakers have confirmed.

    The urgency of overhauling rural elderly care has been elevated to a top national policy priority, with explicit commitments highlighted in two key national documents: the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (2026-2030) and 2026’s Government Work Report. For years, incremental adjustments to basic pension levels have been the primary policy intervention, but policymakers and experts now agree a holistic system redesign is required to meet growing demand.

    Du Zhixiong, Party secretary of the Rural Development Institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, emphasized that the geographic dispersion of rural seniors creates far steeper service delivery challenges than in dense urban areas. Unlike cities, where older residents are often concentrated in centralized communities, rural seniors are scattered across hundreds of thousands of small villages, making consistent access to critical services including routine healthcare, daily living assistance, and emergency response far more difficult. Du noted that this gap will only widen in the coming decade as demographic shifts continue.

    To tackle the challenge, Beijing has already locked in stronger policy support and concrete funding commitments. The 15th Five-Year Plan outlines plans to refine the dynamic adjustment mechanism for pension benefits and deliver gradual increases to the basic pension for all urban and rural residents. The 2026 Government Work Report goes a step further, committing to a 20 yuan ($2.9) monthly increase to the minimum basic pension for urban and rural residents, alongside pledges to actively expand accessible rural elderly care services.

    Rural pension reform and care expansion emerged as one of the most discussed trending topics on Chinese social media during this year’s Two Sessions, the annual gathering of China’s top legislative and advisory bodies, with dozens of lawmakers and political advisers putting forward targeted proposals to strengthen support for older rural residents.

    Lu Qingguo, a National People’s Congress deputy from northern China’s Hebei province, has proposed a phased roadmap to raise rural basic pensions, targeting 300 yuan per month by the end of 2026, 500 yuan by 2030, and 800 yuan by 2035. The proposal aims to narrow the persistent pension gap between urban and rural older residents and shore up social security for lifelong farmer retirees.

    China’s 2026 No.1 Central Document, the annual guiding blueprint for national rural development, also lays out a foundational framework for the new system: it positions home-based care as the core model, while encouraging regions with adequate resources to expand public services including subsidized meal assistance, daytime care centers, and outpatient rehabilitation services. The document also prioritizes regular check-in visits and tailored support for vulnerable groups, including elderly rural adults living alone, left-behind children, and people with disabilities.

    Experts and policymakers say digital and smart technology can play an outsize role in strengthening home-based care for rural seniors. Du noted that connected wearable health devices and remote monitoring platforms can track seniors’ vital health metrics in real time, enabling emergency response teams to deploy rapidly if a medical event occurs. On-demand services, from at-home haircuts to home repair, can also be coordinated through centralized digital platforms to eliminate the barriers rural seniors face when accessing daily support, he added.

    Other lawmakers have put forward place-specific proposals to strengthen the system. Guo Wenxia, an NPC deputy from northwestern China’s Shaanxi province, is calling for widespread subsidies for age-friendly home renovations for rural seniors, including installation of anti-slip flooring, safety handrails, and direct-access emergency call devices. She also pushed for stronger community-level support systems to help families fulfill their caregiving responsibilities, alongside expanded access to free legal assistance for rural seniors when needed.

    Jin Li, an NPC deputy and vice-president of Shenzhen’s Southern University of Science and Technology, emphasized that supporting family caregivers is a critical, underaddressed pillar of a sustainable rural care system. He proposed integrating informal home caregiving into the expanding domestic services sector, and rolling out free standardized training programs for family members providing full-time care. To address caregiver burnout, Jin suggested that professional caregivers should offer planned respite care, allowing family caregivers to take scheduled breaks from the constant pressures of long-term caregiving.

    Jin also proposed transforming scattered rural community care spots into centralized service hubs that deliver high-demand services including communal dining, on-site primary care assistance, and assisted bathing, with local governments contracting out operations to qualified professional care organizations to boost service quality. To build a self-sustaining local care ecosystem, he recommended expanding a time-bank volunteer model: healthier younger seniors can earn service credits by providing care to older, less mobile residents, which they can later redeem for care services for themselves when they need it. The model mobilizes underused local rural resources while building a more resilient, community-led support system for China’s aging rural population.

  • India and South Korea agree to nearly double trade to $50B by 2030

    India and South Korea agree to nearly double trade to $50B by 2030

    NEW DELHI – In a high-stakes diplomatic meeting held in the Indian capital on Monday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi have announced a bold new commitment to expand bilateral economic and strategic cooperation, setting an ambitious target to nearly double two-way trade by the end of the decade.

    Against a backdrop of growing global economic volatility and widespread supply chain disruptions stoked by ongoing conflict in Iran, the two leaders framed the expanded partnership as a mutually beneficial step to shore up economic stability for both nations. Modi outlined that the current annual trade volume between the two countries sits at roughly $27 billion, with the new goal to push that figure to $50 billion by 2030. To hit this target, the countries will focus on reinforcing interconnected supply chains, easing barriers to improve market access for businesses on both sides, and creating more favorable conditions for increased cross-border investment.

    “India and South Korea are going to transform their trusted ties into a futuristic partnership,” Modi stated during the meeting, emphasizing the long-term strategic vision guiding the new agreement.

    President Lee echoed this sentiment, confirming that the two sides had reached a consensus to substantially upgrade their economic cooperation framework, with targeted focus on high-growth, strategically important sectors including shipbuilding, national defense, and artificial intelligence. Beyond these areas, Lee added that the partnership will also broaden industrial collaboration, ramp up trade and investment flows in advanced manufacturing, and deepen cooperation in sensitive, critical sectors ranging from essential critical minerals to civilian nuclear energy.

    To directly address growing risks of supply chain disruptions from Middle East tensions, President Lee revealed that South Korea is proactively moving to increase imports of naphtha, a key crude oil derivative used in petrochemical manufacturing, from India. This strategic shift is designed to cushion South Korean markets against potential supply shocks linked to regional instability. Last year, India already supplied roughly 8% of South Korea’s total naphtha imports, a share that is set to rise in the coming months under the new agreement.

    Following the conclusion of his official visit to India, Lee is scheduled to travel next to Vietnam for the next stop of his regional diplomatic tour.

  • Omega-3 pork launched to fortify nation’s nutrition

    Omega-3 pork launched to fortify nation’s nutrition

    China has marked a new intersection of public health policy and agricultural innovation with the launch of its first domestically developed omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid-enriched pork, a breakthrough that addresses long-standing dietary imbalances while reshaping the country’s $200-billion-plus pork industry. The rollout, unveiled Friday, arrives alongside a landmark new national agricultural standard set to take effect May 1, which requires all fortified pork products to maintain omega-3 levels accounting for more than 2% of total fatty acids — creating the first official regulatory framework for this emerging product category.

    For decades, public health experts have flagged a critical nutritional shortfall across China’s population: the average daily intake of omega-3 fatty acids sits at just 49 milligrams, less than one-fifth of the globally recommended daily allowance. Compounding this issue is a broader imbalance in the national diet, where Chinese consumers typically consume high volumes of dietary fat, but lack adequate proportions of the heart-healthy polyunsaturated varieties that support long-term wellness.

    Omega-3 fatty acids are widely recognized by nutrition researchers for their multifaceted health benefits: they regulate blood lipid levels, reduce cardiovascular disease risk, support healthy inflammatory function, and are critical for fetal and childhood brain development. Experts across agriculture and public health sectors say the new fortified pork product offers a practical, accessible solution to close the country’s omega-3 gap, by integrating nutritional improvement into a food that is already the staple protein source for most Chinese households.

    “Developing nutritionally fortified pork products delivers a dual win: it lifts public dietary health outcomes while adding significant value to China’s pig industry,” noted Wang Xiaohong, deputy director of the Institute of Food and Nutrition Development at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. Wang added that the new national standard does more than set a benchmark for omega-3 content: it establishes clear quality requirements across every link of the production and supply chain, laying a foundation for consistent, standardized growth for the niche nutritional pork segment.

    Ding Gangqiang, lead nutrition expert at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, emphasized that adjusting the fatty acid composition of the national diet through accessible fortified food sources is an urgent public health priority. Unlike less accessible omega-3 sources such as fatty fish or specialized supplements, omega-3-enriched pork fits seamlessly into existing consumer dietary habits, making it easy for everyday households to increase their intake of this essential nutrient, he explained.

    The innovation also comes as China’s centuries-old indigenous black pig sector undergoes a major structural transformation. Wang Lixian, chief scientist of the pig genetic breeding innovation team at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, explained that the industry has shifted its core focus from simply expanding breed populations and preservation to prioritizing end-product quality and nutritional density. “Nutritional enhancement will become a defining competitive advantage for pork producers moving forward,” he said.

    The new product also addresses a pressing challenge facing China’s pork industry today: the market is currently in a prolonged low-price cycle, with live hog and retail pork prices falling to multi-year lows in most regions. Developing high-value, nutritionally differentiated products gives pork producers an alternative pathway for growth, helping them escape the intense price competition that plagues the commodity pork market, Wang added.

    The omega-3-enriched pork being launched is developed by Qinglian Food using the indigenous Taihu black pig breed, a variety that has been continuously raised in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, for more than 7,000 years. To achieve the natural omega-3 enrichment, producers integrated established breeding techniques for nutritional enhancement and developed custom feed formulas that add natural, omega-3-rich ingredients such as flaxseed. This dietary adjustment allows omega-3 fatty acids to deposit naturally into the pork tissue, rather than relying on artificial fortification after processing.

    “Just as human diets require balanced nutrition to support good health, pigs need balanced nutrition to produce healthier food for consumers,” said Miao Yu, head of Qinglian Food’s Taihu black pig brand division. With the new national standard now in place and the first commercial product hitting the market, stakeholders say the launch paves the way for a new wave of value-added agricultural innovation that aligns industry growth with national public health goals.

  • Novel ‘firewall’ boosts battery safety

    Novel ‘firewall’ boosts battery safety

    Battery safety has long been a critical pain point for the global energy storage and consumer electronics industries, and a team of Chinese researchers has now delivered a transformative solution that upends decades of conventional industry thinking. In a newly published study in *Nature Energy*, the team introduced an innovative liquid electrolyte that activates instantly when a battery overheats, forming a protective ‘firewall’ that stops catastrophic thermal runaway before it can begin. This work also marks the first time researchers have demonstrated full thermal runaway prevention in commercial-scale sodium-ion batteries, a milestone that could reshape the future of energy storage.

  • Scientists tackle pain relief with fewer risks

    Scientists tackle pain relief with fewer risks

    For millions of people living with persistent chronic pain worldwide, the search for an effective pain management solution free from dangerous dependency and tolerance has remained one of modern medicine’s most pressing unmet needs. Now, a research team from Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, has announced a groundbreaking advance that could transform this landscape: two newly engineered chemical compounds that retain cannabis’s proven pain-relieving properties while fully eliminating the side effects of addiction, cognitive impairment, and tolerance that have long restricted the drug’s medicinal use. Published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell on April 13, 2026, the study marks a potential turning point for patients seeking safer alternatives to opioids, a class of painkillers that drives a global public health crisis of overdose and addiction.

    Cannabis has been used for therapeutic purposes for millennia, from ancient Roman healing practices to contemporary clinical settings. Despite this long history, legal and medical regulators have strictly limited its widespread medical adoption, due to the core challenge researchers call “dissociating toxicity from efficacy,” according to Li Xiaoming, lead researcher and vice-president of Zhejiang University. Put simply, the scientific community has struggled for decades to separate cannabis’s therapeutic pain-relieving effects from its harmful side effects, which include addiction, altered cognitive function, and the development of drug tolerance that reduces effectiveness over time.

    The team’s breakthrough centers on a better understanding of cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1), a specialized protein found on the surface of brain nerve cells. In biological terms, receptors act as molecular “locks” on cell surfaces: when a matching chemical “key” — such as the active compounds found in cannabis — binds to the lock, it triggers a signal cascade inside the cell that alters brain function. Li’s team uncovered a previously unclarified structural detail of the CB1 receptor: it acts like a molecular fork in the road, capable of sending signals down two entirely separate cellular pathways. One pathway produces the desired therapeutic effect of pain relief, while the second is responsible for triggering all of the unwanted side effects, from addiction to tolerance.

    Traditional cannabis-based medications act as non-specific molecular keys that unlock both pathways at once, leading to unavoidable side effects. To overcome this limitation, the research team leveraged artificial intelligence models to design so-called “biased” chemical compounds, precision-engineered to bind to CB1 in a configuration that only activates the pain-relief pathway. Li characterized this cutting-edge development as a form of highly precise “chemical surgery,” where molecules are tailored at the atomic level to avoid the problematic side-effect mechanism entirely.

    The newly developed compounds underwent rigorous preclinical laboratory testing, where they demonstrated significant effectiveness against two major types of persistent pain: inflammatory pain caused by injury or tissue swelling, and neuropathic pain, a debilitating chronic condition triggered by nerve damage. Most critically, test subjects showed no evidence of addictive behavior, no reduction in the drugs’ pain-relieving effectiveness over extended testing periods, and fewer negative impacts on motor function and body temperature compared to traditional cannabis-derived pain treatments.

    This advance builds on the team’s foundational 2023 discovery, when they first mapped the full atomic structure of CB1 bound to the signaling protein responsible for triggering side effects. By decoding the exact molecular mechanism of the harmful pathway, the team was able to design compounds that avoid interacting with that mechanism entirely. Currently, the researchers are refining the molecular structure of the two lead compounds and conducting additional preclinical safety validation, in preparation for human clinical trials. Li emphasized that the team’s ultimate goal is to translate this basic scientific discovery into a widely accessible new class of pain medications that can meaningfully improve quality of life for millions of chronic pain patients around the globe.

  • Mine scars healed with green technology

    Mine scars healed with green technology

    For decades, the sky over Songwan Village, tucked in the industrial heart of Daye, central China’s Hubei Province, was often choked by a thick, gritty dust that blew from the region’s hundreds of active mines. 57-year-old Zuo Zijian, who has lived in the village his entire life, recalls the grim reality of life in a mining community: on clear, windy days, the mineral dust was so dense it burned residents’ eyes and left them gasping for air, while heavy rain turned unpaved roads into muddy swamps that were nearly impassable.

    Daye’s rich mineral deposits fueled China’s rapid industrial expansion for more than a century, building the foundation of the nation’s heavy industry while leaving a legacy of environmental devastation. Decades of intensive extraction stripped the landscape bare, drained local ecosystems, and left thousands of acres of abandoned mining pits scarring the countryside. By 2008, the city’s mineral reserves had been depleted to the point that China’s State Council officially designated Daye a “resource-depleted city,” forcing local leaders and residents to make a fateful choice: allow the city to fade into industrial decline, or reimagine the very mining pits that built the city as a launching pad for a new, sustainable future.

    Today, that choice has delivered a remarkable transformation. The air over Songwan Village is now crisp and clear, and the once-barren hillsides that were stripped of vegetation by mining activity are now covered in dense, thriving green forest. The turning point for the village came when the large, abandoned Baoshan mining pit on its outskirts was redeveloped into a cutting-edge production facility for Lyuye Hydrogen Energy Co, turning a long-standing environmental hazard into a high-value asset for China’s fast-growing green economy.

    Daye’s strategic pivot from a historic “mining capital” to a leading green energy hub aligns perfectly with the priorities laid out in China’s newly released 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), which centers on accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy and meeting national carbon reduction targets. As the central government has set a binding goal of cutting carbon intensity by 17 percent by 2030, former resource-dependent cities like Daye are stepping forward to turn their industrial legacies into assets for the nation’s clean energy transition. What was once a landscape of ecological damage is now becoming a core part of China’s rapidly expanding green hydrogen sector, turning century-old mining scars into economic opportunity.

    For a city that anchored China’s mining industry for generations, the ecological restoration and economic reinvention of Daye delivers three layers of critical benefits: it heals longstanding damage to the natural environment, creates high-quality new jobs for former mining workers, and builds a sustainable, forward-looking economic base that aligns with global efforts to combat climate change. The transformation of Daye stands as a working model for resource-depleted cities across the world, showing how industrial history can be reimagined to deliver both environmental and economic prosperity.

  • Police fire rubber bullets as Paraguay derby abandoned

    Police fire rubber bullets as Paraguay derby abandoned

    On a Sunday matchday in Asuncion, Paraguay’s most anticipated domestic football fixture — the capital city Superclasico between league giants Olimpia and Cerro Porteno — collapsed into chaos, forcing officials to call off the game just 29 minutes after kickoff following widespread violent clashes between supporters and law enforcement. The match between the top two clubs in Paraguay’s Division de Honor carried high stakes: six points separated first-place Olimpia from defending 2025 Torneo Clausura champions Cerro Porteno, making the result critical to the season’s title race. When the violence broke out, hundreds of panicked spectators fled the stands and surged onto the playing pitch to escape the unrest, as police responded to the disorder by firing rubber bullets and tear gas into crowd sections.
    Witnesses on site confirmed the unrest began when unidentified individuals set off multiple firecrackers in the stands reserved exclusively for Cerro Porteno supporters. The disturbance quickly escalated into full-scale confrontation between fans and security forces: one local witness told reporters a supporter managed to seize a police riot shield and paraded it through the stands as a trophy, intensifying the chaotic atmosphere.
    By the time order was partially restored, local law enforcement had detained approximately 100 fans connected to the violence. While there has been no official confirmation of injuries among supporters, at least six police officers were hospitalized with a range of serious wounds. David Torales, a spokesperson for a local Asuncion hospital, confirmed the officers suffered multiple injuries including head trauma, lacerations, and suspected stab wounds, with one officer remaining in critical condition.
    In an official statement following the clashes, Paraguayan police emphasized that officers intervened rapidly to protect all spectators in attendance. “Our priority was to contain the violence as quickly as possible to prevent further harm to civilians and staff,” the statement read, adding that authorities are currently working to identify and prosecute the individuals who instigated the unrest, with plans to push for permanent bans from future sporting events for those found responsible.
    The match was tied 0-0 at the time of abandonment, and the outcome of the fixture will now be determined by the Paraguayan Football Association (APF) disciplinary tribunal, under existing league rules. APF regulations clearly state that if a match is forced to be suspended due to unrest caused by one team’s supporters, that team forfeits the match and the opposing side is awarded three points. However, the two club presidents have already taken opposing stances in the lead-up to the tribunal ruling.
    Olimpia president Rodrigo Nogues confirmed his club will formally file a request to be awarded the full three points from the abandoned fixture. In contrast, Cerro Porteno president Blas Reguera has pushed back against any potential forfeiture, arguing that as the host club for the match, Olimpia bore full legal and operational responsibility for stadium security, shifting blame for the unrest away from his side’s supporters.
    The incident has sparked renewed debate around fan violence and stadium security protocols in Paraguayan top-flight football, with authorities promising a full review of safety measures ahead of future high-profile derby matches.

  • EU hosts Palestinian leader in conference about security and peace in Gaza and the West Bank

    EU hosts Palestinian leader in conference about security and peace in Gaza and the West Bank

    BRUSSELS – As global diplomatic focus remains glued to escalating crises in Iran and Lebanon, more than 60 countries have dispatched senior representatives to the Belgian capital for a high-stakes meeting focused on rebuilding stability, advancing security, and securing a durable long-term peace across Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza. The conference, co-hosted by Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot and European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas, convenes amid growing pessimism over the viability of the decades-old two-state solution, one of the most widely backed frameworks for regional peace.

    Opening the meeting on Monday, Prévot acknowledged the steadily shrinking window for a two-state outcome, marked by persistent Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank and ongoing widespread destruction across war-battered Gaza. “We observe without naivety that the two-state solution is being made more difficult by the day,” Prévot told attendees. “But Belgium and many European and Arab partners continue to believe that this remains the only realistic path to a lasting peace, for Israelis, for Palestinians and for the stability of the entire region.”

    The European Union, a bloc of 27 member states, stands as the largest single donor to the Palestinian Authority, which has been led by 90-year-old President Mahmoud Abbas from its Ramallah headquarters for 20 years. Unlike previous United States-led initiatives, the EU has declined to join the Board of Peace established by former U.S. President Donald Trump, opting instead to anchor its diplomatic approach in United Nations multilateralism and established international legal norms. Even so, the bloc has made clear it is eager to avoid being sidelined from diplomatic efforts in a volatile region that shares a direct maritime border with Europe across the Mediterranean.

    Growing public outrage across Europe over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza has pushed a majority of EU leaders to publicly condemn Israel’s conduct of its war against Hamas and ramp up pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. A recent political shift, which saw the ouster of longtime Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán – a staunch Netanyahu ally – has cleared the way for a possible shift in EU policy, with growing momentum within the bloc for tougher measures. These potential actions include targeted sanctions against extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank and even the temporary suspension of some formal ties with Israel.

    Palestinian residents of the West Bank have reported that Israeli authorities have exploited the distraction of regional tensions following the Iran conflict to tighten their control over the occupied territory. Settler violence against Palestinian communities has surged in recent weeks, and the Israeli military has enacted sweeping new wartime movement restrictions on civilian residents, citing ongoing security needs.

    Speaking at the Brussels conference on Monday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohamed Mustafa laid out his administration’s vision for post-war Gaza, calling for a unified governing structure for the territory. “Gaza requires ‘one state, one government, one law and one goal,’” Mustafa said. He emphasized that a unified security framework under the legitimate Palestinian Authority must guide coordination between any future international stabilization force, Palestinian security institutions, and global partners. “Security must not be fragmented,” he added. Mustafa also put forward two core demands for a lasting peace: the gradual, controlled disarmament of all armed groups operating in Palestinian territory, and a full unconditional withdrawal of Israeli military forces from the Gaza Strip following any ceasefire.

  • Pope Leo visits Angola’s diamond-rich northeast

    Pope Leo visits Angola’s diamond-rich northeast

    Pope Leo XIV began the eighth day of his ambitious 11-day, four-nation African pilgrimage on Monday, traveling to Angola’s remote, diamond-abundant northeastern region — the third stop on his journey that has centered on addressing systemic inequality and extractive harm across the continent.

    Departing from Angola’s capital Luanda, the pontiff flew 800 kilometers east to Saurimo, the capital of historically marginalized Lunda Sul province. This region sits adjacent to Catoca, Angola’s largest diamond mining operation, which accounts for roughly 75% of the country’s total diamond output.

    Angola holds a position as one of Africa’s leading producers of both crude oil and diamonds, yet widespread prosperity remains out of reach for much of its population. Official World Bank data indicates that nearly one-third of Angolans live below the international poverty line. Lunda Sul exemplifies this gap: despite sitting atop the country’s most valuable mineral reserves, the province struggles with pervasive poverty, decades of underinvestment in public infrastructure, and severe environmental degradation linked to unregulated mining activity.

    The 70-year-old pontiff’s first scheduled activity in Saurimo was an open-air mass held mid-morning, which organizers projected would draw an estimated 30,000 worshippers from across the surrounding region. Following the service, Leo is set to visit a local residential facility for elderly residents, a stop designed to highlight the Catholic Church’s outreach to communities underserved by limited public services in the province.

    Since arriving in Angola on Saturday, the pope has doubled down on a core theme of his African tour: condemning the damaging impacts of unchecked natural resource extraction. During his opening address to senior government officials, including Angolan President Joao Lourenco, Leo questioned the human and ecological cost of prioritizing profit over community well-being. “How much suffering, how many deaths, how many social and environmental disasters are caused by this logic of exploitation,” he told the assembled audience.

    On Sunday, one day before his trip to Lunda Sul, Leo led a mass in Luanda attended by more than 100,000 people. There, he urged Angolans to move beyond the deep divisions left by the country’s decades-long civil war, calling for collective action to build a more equitable future. He specifically called for systemic change to root out graft, saying he hoped “the scourge of corruption will be healed by a new culture of justice and sharing.”

    Later on Monday, the pontiff is scheduled to meet with local Catholic clergy to discuss pressing challenges facing the Church in Angola, including limited institutional resources and the rapid growth of evangelical Protestantism across the country.

    Leo XIV is only the third sitting pope to visit Angola, following trips by John Paul II in 1992 and Benedict XVI in 2009. The country only emerged from a brutal 27-year civil war in the 2000s, a conflict that broke out immediately after it gained independence from Portugal in 1975 and left deep economic and social scars that persist to this day.

    The pope’s 18,000-kilometer African tour launched one week ago in Algeria, continued with a stop in Cameroon, and will conclude with a three-day visit to Equatorial Guinea from April 21 to 23.