Global Pulse

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  • US and allied forces kick off combat drills with Philippines despite Washington’s focus on Iran

    US and allied forces kick off combat drills with Philippines despite Washington’s focus on Iran

    MANILA, Philippines – The United States and the Philippines officially launched one of the largest joint military exercises in their alliance’s history on Monday, rolling out an annual show of coordinated military capability designed to strengthen deterrence against regional aggression, even as Washington remains heavily engaged in ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

    This year’s drills mark a significant expansion, with the Philippine military confirming that troops from several extra nations – including Japan, France, and Canada, all of which have existing visiting forces agreements with Manila – will join the exercises for the first time. Known as Balikatan – a Tagalog term meaning “shoulder-to-shoulder” – the drills bring together more than 17,000 military personnel from the US and Philippines alone, with roughly 10,000 of those being American service members. The 18-day exercise will include simulated battle scenarios and live-fire training drills across multiple locations, including Philippine provinces adjacent to the contested South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.

    The large American deployment comes even as the US faces heightened tensions in the Middle East, a point US military leaders emphasized to underscore Washington’s unwavering focus on the Indo-Pacific region. “Regardless of the challenges elsewhere in the world, the United States focus on the Indo-Pacific and our ironclad commitment to the Philippines remains unwavering,” Marine Lieutenant General Christian Wortman stated during the official opening ceremony of the drills.

    General Romeo Brawner, chief of staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, framed the multinational drills as a critical step to build collective deterrence and resilience against destabilizing actions in the region. While Brawner did not name any specific country in his opening address, he has previously issued strong public criticism of China’s increasingly assertive military and maritime operations against Philippine navy and coast guard assets in the South China Sea. Beijing claims nearly the entire strategic waterway as its sovereign territory, a claim rejected by multiple other regional governments including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan. The waterway is one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes, carrying roughly one-third of global maritime trade, and territorial standoffs between Chinese and Filipino forces have grown more frequent and intense in recent years.

    China has repeatedly voiced opposition to the joint US-Philippine exercises, arguing that they are part of a broader Western strategy to contain China’s growing global influence. Philippine military officials have pushed back on this framing, insisting that Balikatan is not targeted at any single nation, and that the drills also include training for rapid humanitarian response to natural disasters, a frequent need across the typhoon-prone Philippine archipelago.

    The US has repeatedly reaffirmed its long-standing mutual defense treaty with the Philippines, its oldest Asian ally, warning that it is legally obligated to come to the Philippines’ defense if Philippine forces come under armed attack in disputed regional waters. “We remain guided by a shared commitment to uphold international law, to respect sovereignty and to contribute to a free and open Indo-Pacific where nations can thrive without coercion,” Brawner added.

    In one of the most high-profile drills planned, Philippine marine colonel Dennis Hernandez confirmed to the Associated Press that Japanese forces will conduct a live missile strike from coastal areas of Ilocos Norte, a northwestern Philippine province, to sink a decommissioned ship acting as a mock enemy target approximately 40 kilometers off the coast in the outer areas of the South China Sea. US marine units will follow up the strike by using an explosive-laden drone to conduct additional bombardment of the target, Hernandez said.

    During a 2025 visit to Manila, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Philippine officials that the current US administration would work closely with regional allies to ramp up deterrence against global threats, specifically highlighting Chinese aggression in the South China Sea. “Friends need to stand shoulder to shoulder to deter conflict, to ensure that there is free navigation whether you call it the South China Sea or the West Philippine Sea,” Hegseth told Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during the meeting.

    This report was compiled with contributions from AP writers Joeal Calupitan and Aaron Favila in Manila, Philippines.

  • At least 25 killed in firecracker factory blast in India

    At least 25 killed in firecracker factory blast in India

    A devastating explosion at an unauthorised operating firecracker factory in Virudhunagar district, Tamil Nadu, southern India, has claimed at least 25 lives and left 17 others injured, local authorities confirmed. The incident unfolded on Sunday evening at Vanaja Fireworks Industry, a licensed facility that was supposed to be closed for the day, but found roughly 50 workers on site when the first blast hit.

    Rescue teams had barely arrived at the scene when a secondary explosion struck, wounding 13 first responders and civilian rescuers. District Collector NO Sukhaputra told ANI, India’s national news agency, that none of those hurt in the follow-up blast suffered serious burns. Even after the secondary explosion, stray firecrackers continued to detonate inside the damaged factory complex for hours, drastically slowing recovery efforts. Rescue operations have since been wrapped up, authorities confirmed Monday.

    An injured eyewitness, currently receiving medical treatment, told BBC Tamil that around 25 workers were gathered on the veranda outside the main production building when the fire broke out. The blast destroyed at least three rooms and reduced large sections of the factory structure to piles of rubble. Many bodies were left charred beyond recognition by the intense heat from the explosion and subsequent fire, local reports say. As of Monday morning, district officials had successfully identified 22 of the 25 deceased, noting that a majority of the victims are women from nearby rural communities.

    Police have filed formal criminal charges against the factory’s owner and foreman, both of whom have fled the area since the tragedy. Four special investigation teams have been deployed to track down and arrest the two fugitives, law enforcement representatives confirmed. The root cause of the initial explosion remains undetermined, with a full official investigation ongoing.

    Factory safety violations have already emerged as a key focus of the probe. District Collector Sukhaputra told reporters that operating on Sunday was the first confirmed infraction, noting that the factory did hold a valid operating licence at the time of the blast. Inspections into other potential safety breaches, including unapproved working conditions and overcrowding, are still underway.

    Industrial accidents at firecracker production facilities are a recurring issue across India. The sector, which supplies pyrotechnics for weddings, religious festivals and major cultural events across the country, has faced repeated public and regulatory scrutiny for decades over persistent lax safety standards. This latest tragedy has reignited public debate about the enforcement of safety rules in the industry.

    Political leaders across India have responded quickly to the disaster, offering condolences to grieving families. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the incident deeply distressing in a public statement, extending his sympathies to all those affected. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin said the loss of life had caused immense sorrow across the state, and confirmed he had instructed local administration officials to provide full financial and logistical support to the families of the victims and injured workers.

  • Iran says it won’t negotiate with ‘erratic’ Trump

    Iran says it won’t negotiate with ‘erratic’ Trump

    A rapidly unfolding crisis in the Persian Gulf’s strategic Strait of Hormuz has sent global shockwaves, after a series of escalatory moves from both the United States and Iran have pushed regional security and global energy supplies to the breaking point. What began with incendiary rhetoric from US President Donald Trump has now devolved into armed confrontation at sea and a complete breakdown of planned diplomatic negotiations, raising grave fears of a broader regional war.

    On Sunday, Trump opened the week with an extreme public threat against Iran: if Tehran refused to sign a new US-brokered deal, he warned, “the whole country is going to get blown up.” Minutes later, conflicting claims emerged over a maritime confrontation in the Gulf of Oman. According to Trump’s account, US forces opened fire on an Iranian-flagged vessel, which he claimed ignored repeated warnings before being seized and disabled during operations to enforce a US naval blockade on Iranian ports. Iran’s account directly contradicts this narrative: state media affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says IRGC forces repelled US troops and forced them to retreat from Hormuz waters following the clash.

    The maritime incident is the latest flashpoint in a crisis that erupted after Trump unilaterally announced plans for a new round of talks set to take place Monday in Islamabad, Pakistan, saying the US delegation would be led by Vice President JD Vance, senior advisor Jared Kushner, and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff. Iran’s official government news agency IRNA swiftly refuted the announcement, calling the claim of planned talks “not true” and dismissing it as “a media game and part of the blame game to pressure Iran.”

    Iran’s position has long been clear: it will not enter negotiations with the US while the naval blockade of its ports remains in place, a measure Tehran considers a direct violation of the temporary ceasefire agreed between the two nations earlier this month. When Trump confirmed the blockade would continue, Iran acted Saturday to close all shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, just one day after reopening the route following a ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel.

    An anonymous senior Iranian official familiar with Tehran’s internal decision-making told Drop Site News that the collapse of talks stems from what Iranian leaders see as Washington’s unworkable approach to diplomacy. “Washington’s excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant shifts in stance, repeated contradictions, and the ongoing naval blockade” have convinced Iran to pull back its negotiating team, the official explained. While Iran remains open to a future agreement that would secure its right to enrich uranium, deliver meaningful sanctions relief, and establish a long-term non-aggression pact, Trump’s erratic leadership and maximalist demands – including the full surrender of all Iranian enriched uranium – have destroyed any trust that he could be a reliable negotiating partner.

    “Our assessment is that Trump effectively lacks both a coherent plan and the capacity to secure even a temporary agreement,” the official said, adding that Trump’s decisions are consistently shaped by daily Israeli security and political input. The official also noted that during the first round of Islamabad talks that produced the earlier two-week ceasefire, Iran explicitly warned the US delegation that public threats to destroy “Iranian civilization” would not be tolerated. Even before Sunday’s new threat, Iran had refused to commit to another round of talks.

    Should Trump choose to continue military escalation rather than pursue good-faith diplomacy, the official warned, Iran will suspend all diplomatic channels indefinitely and prepare to impose far greater costs on US interests across the region. “Tehran is prepared for a long war,” the official added.

    Tehran-based political analyst Mohammed Sani confirmed that Iran has used the two-week ceasefire to dramatically upgrade its military readiness. “The Americans have been bringing in more troops and equipment to prepare to attack, but the Iranians have also not been resting during these two weeks of ceasefire,” Sani told Drop Site News. “They have been preparing, repairing the underground missile cities, bringing in new air defenses, missiles, and drones. Iran is at a high standard of readiness right now. If there is another round of negotiations sometime later in the future, after another round of American attacks against Iran fail, the Iranian conditions for peace will be much tougher.”

    Foreign policy experts say Trump’s reliance on coercive threats is self-defeating, pushing Iran further from the negotiating table even as the president claims he wants an exit from the conflict that has already triggered economic upheaval and dragged down his already low approval ratings. Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, noted that Trump has prioritized public optics of victory over tangible diplomatic progress. “Due to poor discipline, Trump ends up prioritizing the optics of victory over actually getting a deal,” Parsi said Sunday. “Instead of using deescalatory signals from Iran to get closer to a deal, he declares victory and seeks Iran’s humiliation, and by that, he undermines his own diplomacy.”

    Global attention is now fixed on the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical chokepoints for global energy supplies, with market and diplomatic observers bracing for further escalation as both sides maintain hardline positions.

  • Israeli soldier filmed smashing Jesus statue in Lebanon

    Israeli soldier filmed smashing Jesus statue in Lebanon

    A widely circulated image posted to social media Sunday has ignited international anger after appearing to show an Israeli soldier using a jackhammer to destroy a crucifix statue of Jesus in a Christian village in southern Lebanon. The incident comes just days after a ceasefire took effect Friday, ending Israel’s military offensive launched against Lebanon on March 2 that has left much of the southern part of the country under Israeli occupation.

    According to local Christian community leaders, the statue stood in Debel, a majority Maronite Christian village positioned roughly six kilometers northwest of Ain Ebel and just five kilometers from the Israeli border town of Shtula. Officials with Debel’s municipal government confirmed the statue was located within the village when contacted by Agence France-Presse, though they stopped short of verifying the extent of damage shown in the photo.

    The image quickly spread across major social platforms, drawing condemnation from unexpected quarters, including prominent former allies of former US President Donald Trump aligned with the MAGA movement. Former Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has broken ranks with Trump in recent months over his handling of the Epstein files and his support for Israel’s push for conflict with Iran, shared the image sarcastically on platform X. She wrote, “’Our greatest ally’ that takes billions of our tax dollars and weapons every year,” a sharp rebuke of the decades-long US policy of robust military and financial aid to Israel.

    Fellow former Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz echoed the criticism, calling the scene captured in the image simply “horrific.” Political analysts note this public backlash from key MAGA figures threatens to erode Israel’s standing among one of its most loyal support bases in the United States: white evangelical Christian voters, who have long backed Israel as a core part of their ideological beliefs.

    Regional commentator Muhammad Shehada highlighted the hypocrisy he sees in the incident, captioning the viral post “’Judeo-Christian values’ in Israel” — a direct reference to the framing Israeli leaders often use to win support from Western audiences by highlighting shared cultural values with Europe and the United States.

    This incident is not an isolated case, rights observers and religious leaders emphasize. Over recent years, Christian communities living in Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank have faced a steadily rising tide of anti-Christian attacks, ranging from routine street harassment to the deliberate destruction of religious sites and symbols. Clergy report multiple instances of being spat on and physically assaulted by extremist groups, while churches, cemeteries and other Christian landmarks have been repeatedly vandalized. Most of these attacks have been tied to ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups, religious nationalist extremists and Israeli settlers in occupied territories, and human rights groups say the vast majority of these incidents have gone unpunished. Israeli police have repeatedly been accused of failing to intervene to stop attacks or hold perpetrators accountable.

    In response to growing outcry over the viral image, an Israel Defense Forces spokesperson did not explicitly dispute the photo’s authenticity. In a post on X, the spokesperson said that “If this photo is indeed real and recent,” then the actions shown do not align with the Israeli military’s official values.

    This report was originally published by Middle East Eye, an outlet that provides independent, on-the-ground coverage of the Middle East, North Africa and surrounding regions.

  • Hit reality show helps rev up Japan’s delinquent youth subculture

    Hit reality show helps rev up Japan’s delinquent youth subculture

    Decades after Japan’s iconic 1980s delinquent subculture faded from the streets, a surprise global hit reality dating series on Netflix has sparked a resurgence of fascination with the ‘yankii’ counterculture, drawing both new fans and enduring criticism across the country. Today, young Japanese enthusiasts like 15-year-old Reona are embracing the iconic aesthetic of the original yankii movement: towering Elvis-inspired pompadours, altered school uniforms that emphasize a rebellious silhouette, and baggy trousers designed to project an imposing, tough persona. For Reona, the allure lies in the unapologetic boldness of the 1980s generation of rebels. ‘I think their hardcore manliness on full display is so cool,’ he told reporters, drawing a sharp contrast between the original yankii movement and the shallow, online-focused delinquency that dominates modern youth culture. Born from the economic boom and social unrest of 1980s Japan, the original yankii movement was defined by hot-blooded teens who rejected rigid social conformity through reckless motorcycle rides, inter-school clashes, and large-scale street brawls. The movement’s signature ‘bosozoku’ motorcycle gangs, flamboyant custom bikes, and embroidered military-style ‘tokkofuku’ jackets became cultural symbols, alongside widely celebrated traits like loyalty to friends, chivalry, and unfiltered straightforwardness. Despite longstanding disapproval from Japan’s generally conformist mainstream society, yankii culture has remained a staple of Japanese pop fiction, spanning hit anime, manga, and feature films. Now, Netflix has broken new ground by bringing the subculture out of fiction and into unscripted reality with its series *Badly in Love*, which follows 11 young people with past delinquent ties, including former bosozoku members, as they navigate dating. To coincide with the show’s viral success, a yankii-themed exhibition is currently running in Tokyo, recreating the chaotic energy of the 1980s movement through displays of custom motorcycles and authentic tokkofuku garments. The resurgence of interest in classic yankii culture comes as many young Japanese people openly dismiss modern youth delinquency as cowardly and unprincipled. Unlike the 1980s rebels, who fought openly and faced consequences for their actions, modern delinquents are often criticized for chasing TikTok clout through petty pranks, engaging in online bullying, and running ‘black market part-time jobs’ that scam vulnerable elderly citizens. High-profile incidents like the so-called ‘sushi terrorism’ pranks, where teen customers posted viral videos of unhygienic stunts at conveyor-belt sushi restaurants, have drawn particular condemnation from classic yankii fans. ‘Getting arrested for riding around your motorcycle may have some honour, but getting arrested for those sushi pranks is plain lame,’ Reona said. Even many parents of young yankii enthusiasts draw clear lines between embracing the subculture’s aesthetic and endorsing harmful behavior. Hirotaka Sotooka, a 43-year-old Tokyo resident whose 8-year-old son has developed a fascination with gangster-style yankii fashion, says he tolerates the aesthetic and even appreciates the culture’s focus on loyalty, but sets firm boundaries. ‘I don’t want him to bully the weak, be violent toward women or do anything purely evil,’ Sotooka explained during a February visit to the Tokyo yankii exhibition, where he watched his son pose for photos in front of a vintage bosozoku-style motorcycle. ‘Otherwise it’s his life to enjoy.’ While interest in the yankii aesthetic has grown, the actual bosozoku biker gangs that defined the 1980s movement have all but disappeared. Official Japanese police data shows the total number of bosozoku members has plummeted nearly 90% from the 1982 peak, dropping to just 5,880 active members in 2024. Kenichiro Iwahashi, a former bosozoku biker who now works as a delinquency researcher, says widespread surveillance is the biggest driver of the decline. ‘Surveillance cameras are now everywhere and everyone films you on an iPhone and leaves proof of your act,’ he explained. As a result, the hardcore, unlicensed, helmet-free bosozoku gangs that dominated 1980s streets are ‘almost non-existent today.’ In mainstream Japanese society, real-world yankii culture still remains deeply stigmatized, with many critics arguing that it normalizes rule-breaking and can lead to lifelong criminal activity. Satoru Saito, a popular 33-year-old comedian who performs under a yankii persona complete with a towering quiff, shaved eyebrows, and authentic tokkofuku, says he regularly faces online harassment from people who condemn his ‘anti-social’ aesthetic. ‘For some people, this is a hard no,’ he said. ‘Most of these yankii folks are doing things like fighting or committing crimes, and the act of riding motorcycles at midnight can be extremely noisy, so I get why they are hated.’ That stigma makes *Badly in Love* a particularly audacious project that no mainstream Japanese TV network would have agreed to produce, according to veteran entertainment journalist Motohiko Tokuriki. While yankii-themed fiction like *Tokyo Revengers* and *Crows* has long been popular as escapist fantasy, airing unscripted content featuring real former delinquents would have ‘risked exposing TV stations to criticism from the public that they are endorsing the yankii culture,’ Tokuriki explained. Aware of the public backlash risk, Netflix took extra steps to avoid sensationalizing or glorifying delinquency, going far beyond basic legal compliance to contextualize cast members’ past mistakes. ‘We had extensive internal discussions… to ensure the production would not be perceived as glorifying or condoning the violence,’ said Dai Ota, the show’s executive producer. The gamble has paid off: *Badly in Love* has spent weeks on Netflix’s global top 10 most-watched list, earning large audiences across South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and other international markets, with a second season set to premiere later this year. Ota says the show’s core goal is not to celebrate delinquency, but to humanize young people who have long been marginalized as social outcasts. ‘Our hope was to show that these young people — who have often been marginalised or labelled as ‘social outcasts’ — are simply youths who worry, struggle and genuinely grow,’ he explained. For many cast members, that framing aligns with their own perspective on their pasts. Otoha, a 23-year-old Season 1 participant who has the tough, heavily tattooed exterior stereotypical of yankii culture, says she is actually an introvert who now sees her past delinquent behavior as embarrassing. ‘I’d like people not to admire us, but take us as their anti-role model,’ she told reporters.

  • Nahid Rana takes five wickets as Bangladesh beats New Zealand to level ODI series

    Nahid Rana takes five wickets as Bangladesh beats New Zealand to level ODI series

    On a sluggish, low-bouncing pitch in Mirpur, Bangladesh, young pace bowler Nahid Rana delivered a career-defining performance on Monday, claiming a spectacular 5 wickets for just 32 runs to power the hosts to a six-wicket victory over New Zealand in the second One Day International. The result levels the three-match series at one win apiece, setting up a highly anticipated decider scheduled for Thursday in Chattogram.

    New Zealand captain Tom Latham won the toss and made the call to bat first, a decision that quickly came under pressure as Nahid’s blistering express pace – clocked at a maximum of 144.7 kilometers per hour – tore through the visitors’ top order on the slow playing surface. The 22-year-old seamer notched his first breakthrough early, dismissing Henry Nicholls, and followed up with a second wicket in consecutive overs to remove Will Young. By the middle of the innings, New Zealand’s batting lineup was in disarray, with only opening batter Nick Kelly able to withstand Bangladesh’s bowling attack.

    Kelly, playing in just his third ODI, notched a maiden half-century and went on to score an 83 off 102 balls, laced with 14 fours, to anchor New Zealand’s innings and drag the side to the brink of a 200-run total. But he received almost no meaningful support from the rest of the batting order: no other New Zealand batter managed to cross the 20-run mark, leaving the tail exposed to Bangladesh’s pace attack. Nahid continued his rampage through the middle and lower order, clean-bowling Jayden Lennox for a duck to secure his second five-wicket haul in his short international career. He came close to a sixth wicket when Will O’Rourke survived a close review, but Taskin Ahmed cleaned up the innings soon after, leaving New Zealand all out for 198 in 48.4 overs. Fellow Bangladeshi pacer Shoriful Islam chipped in with two key wickets – including Kelly, removed by a well-directed short delivery – to finish with figures of 2 for 32.

    Needing just 199 runs to level the series, Bangladesh got off to a rocky start that gave New Zealand a faint glimmer of hope. Pacers Nathan Smith and Will O’Rourke removed openers Saif Hasan and Soumya Sarkar (returning to the side in place of Afif Hossain) for single-digit scores, leaving the hosts reeling at 21 for 2 after just four overs. But a transformative 120-run third-wicket partnership between opener Tanzid Hasan and captain Najmul Hossain Shanto flipped the match entirely in Bangladesh’s favor.

    Tanzid played a fluent, aggressive innings, reaching 76 runs off just 58 balls, while Shanto built a patient innings to anchor the chase. Just after Shanto hit his 12th career ODI fifty – his first since February 2025 – a sudden muscle cramp forced him to retire hurt, but by that point Bangladesh held unchallenged control of the run chase. Left-arm spinner Lennox did manage two late wickets, removing Tanzid and Bangladesh wicketkeeper Litton Das (playing his 100th ODI) for 7, but it was too little too late. The hosts reached the winning target of 199 with four wickets in hand and 87 overs remaining, closing out the win and setting the stage for a series decider in Chattogram later this week.

  • New Zealand declares state of emergency in Wellington as floods hit

    New Zealand declares state of emergency in Wellington as floods hit

    Just one week after Cyclone Vainau swept through New Zealand’s North Island, the region is facing another extreme weather disaster: record-breaking torrential rain that has triggered catastrophic flash flooding and widespread landslides, prompting official authorities to declare a full state of emergency across the capital city of Wellington.

    Viral footage circulated across social and online platforms has captured the full scale of the destruction: passenger vehicles are fully submerged in swollen floodwaters, mature trees have been ripped from the ground by surging currents, and multiple residential properties have sustained severe damage after being hit by debris-heavy landslides. According to Wellington Mayor Andrew Little, the capital saw an unprecedented 77 millimeters (3 inches) of rainfall fall in less than 60 minutes on Monday, a rainfall rate that overwhelmed local drainage systems far beyond their design capacity.

    In the wake of the downpour, local emergency management officials have issued urgent guidance for Wellington residents: stay indoors and shelter in place as additional rain is projected to continue over the next 36 hours. All non-essential travel has been strongly discouraged, and residents living in low-lying or historically flood-prone neighborhoods have been advised to relocate to the homes of friends or family members for a minimum of 24 hours to avoid risk.

    Disruptions to daily life have been widespread across the region. Multiple commercial flights in and out of Wellington International Airport have been canceled, and dozens of local schools have closed their campuses to protect students and staff from hazardous travel conditions. More than 12 local residents have already been evacuated from high-risk areas, and emergency teams are currently searching for a 60-year-old man who was reported missing in Wellington’s Karori suburb. As of the latest update, no fatalities have been confirmed.

    Little described the ongoing unfolding crisis in a video posted to his official Facebook page, noting “The wild weather continues. We’ve had flooding, slips and evacuations… The flooding has been strong enough to move cars, and many manhole covers have been lifted” by the force of the surging water. To support residents displaced by the disaster, the Wellington City Mission has been activated as an official emergency shelter for anyone in need of a safe place to stay amid the ongoing bad weather.

  • Australian businesses urge government to slash $160bn red tape burden

    Australian businesses urge government to slash $160bn red tape burden

    A coalition of almost 30 leading Australian business industry groups is pushing for sweeping regulatory reform ahead of the federal government’s upcoming budget, warning that crippling red tape currently costs the national economy $160 billion annually and is pushing struggling businesses to the breaking point.

    Leading the coalition’s pre-budget submission, Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black told reporters that businesses of all sizes, just like household consumers, are grappling with mounting cost pressures amid global economic uncertainty. He laid out the startling example of overburdened licensing requirements that illustrate the scope of the problem: cafes in New South Wales must secure 25 separate permits just to operate and serve a basic cup of coffee, while Victorian food service businesses are forced to obtain 37 distinct licences to open their doors.

    “We’re seeing that there are extraordinary costs that businesses are incurring right across the economy, and it doesn’t matter if you’re in farming or in retail or in small business, you’re seeing those challenges,” Black said.

    Black is calling on the federal government to adopt an official national target to cut unnecessary red tape by 25% by 2030, a goal aligned with ongoing regulatory reform efforts across European nations that have struggled with their own bureaucratic bloat. He emphasized that the timing for reform is critical, as global economic volatility driven by ongoing conflicts such as the crisis in the Middle East has amplified existing cost pressures for Australian businesses.

    Wes Lambert, director of the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia (COSBA), echoed Black’s urgency, noting that small operators across the country are “drowning” under overlapping bureaucratic requirements that show no sign of easing despite government claims of progress. Lambert cited research from the Australian Institute of Company Directors, which confirms that overlapping rules and regulations from local, state and federal levels of government combine to create the $160 billion annual drag on Australian business output.

    Black added that the upcoming May federal budget represents a make-or-break opportunity to address longstanding complaints about regulatory burden, a demand the business community has raised for years but that has grown more urgent amid global market instability.

    In response to the coalition’s proposal, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher confirmed that the current government plans to prioritize targeted regulatory reform in the upcoming budget, but rejected calls for broad, across-the-board cuts. “One of the things about regulatory reform is the government’s keen to do something where it makes sense, where it improves outcomes, where it delivers better regulation,” Gallagher told ABC Radio on Monday. “It’s not just a ‘cut all regulation and see how it goes’, so we’re working with their ideas as well as ideas across the government.”

  • French prosecutors summon Elon Musk over allegations of child abuse images and deepfakes on X

    French prosecutors summon Elon Musk over allegations of child abuse images and deepfakes on X

    PARIS — French law enforcement has called on Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest individual, to appear in Paris this week for voluntary questioning as part of a sprawling investigation into serious misconduct allegations tied to his social media platform X. The probe covers a range of damaging content hosted on the platform, from child sexual abuse material to Holocaust-denying output from X’s integrated AI chatbot Grok.

    Alongside Musk, former X CEO Linda Yaccarino has also been summoned for a voluntary interview. Multiple other X employees are scheduled to give witness testimony throughout the week, confirmed by the office of the Paris prosecutor. Yaccarino led X from May 2023 through July 2025, and both she and Musk are being questioned in their capacities as top platform executives during the period covered by the investigation. As of Monday morning, it remains unclear whether the two executives will comply with the summons. A representative for X declined to respond to media inquiries from the Associated Press, and eMed, Yaccarino’s current employer, also did not answer a press request for comment.

    The investigation traces its origins back to January 2025, when the Paris prosecutor’s cybercrime unit first opened the case following allegations from a French lawmaker claiming X’s biased algorithms improperly manipulated automated data processing systems. The scope of the probe expanded dramatically after disturbing content emerged from Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot built by Musk’s xAI and accessible exclusively via X. The chatbot prompted global outrage earlier this year when it generated hundreds of non-consensual sexually explicit deepfake images in response to user requests. It later drew further condemnation for a widely shared French-language post that repeated classic Holocaust denial tropes, falsely claiming the gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau were built for typhus disinfection rather than mass murder. Grok later walked back the claim, deleting the post and acknowledging that historical evidence confirms Zyklon B was used to kill more than 1 million people at the camp.

    Today, investigators are examining multiple formal allegations, including complicity in the distribution and possession of child sexual exploitation imagery, spread of non-consensual explicit deepfakes, denial of crimes against humanity, and algorithmic manipulation as part of an organized criminal scheme.

    In a statement, prosecutors noted that the voluntary interviews are designed to let senior leaders lay out their side of the story and outline any compliance changes they intend to adopt. “At this stage, the conduct of this investigation is part of a constructive approach, with the ultimate objective of ensuring that platform X complies with French law, insofar as it operates within the national territory,” the statement read. When asked whether Musk would face legal consequences for failing to appear, prosecutors declined to comment.

    The investigation has already sparked cross-Atlantic tension. In March, French prosecutors notified two top U.S. agencies — the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission — of a separate bombshell allegation: the controversy surrounding Grok’s explicit deepfake output may have been intentionally orchestrated to inflate the valuations of X and xAI ahead of a planned 2026 public listing of the merged SpaceX-xAI entity. Prosecutors noted the scheme was alleged to have been launched at a time when X was facing declining market momentum.

    That request for U.S. cooperation has been rejected, according to the *Wall Street Journal*. The U.S. Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs sent a two-page letter to French authorities last week stating it would not facilitate the investigation, accusing France of misusing its legal system to interfere in U.S. business operations. The letter, quoted by the *Wall Street Journal*, argued that the French probe “seeks to use the criminal legal system in France to regulate a public square for the free expression of ideas and opinions in a manner contrary to the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.” It added that France’s request for assistance “constitute[s] an effort to entangle the United States in a politically charged criminal proceeding aimed at wrongfully regulating through prosecution the business activities of a social media platform.” French judicial officials have not issued any public response to the U.S. rejection.

    Adding another layer to the legal pressure on X, press freedom advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) recently filed an additional complaint against the platform with Paris’s cybercrime prosecution unit. The new complaint targets X’s content moderation policies that RSF says enable widespread disinformation to spread unchecked, in violation of the public’s right to access accurate information. “Disinformation campaigns are flooding X, some of which have accumulated several hundred thousand views. Although the staff at Elon Musk’s platform are well aware of the situation, this has not stopped them from responding to RSF’s repeated alerts with automated refusals to remove the content in question,” the group said in a statement. “This is a deliberate policy instated by X, and it is incompatible with the public’s right to reliable information.”

  • AFL 2026: St Kilda CEO Andrew Bassat defends Ross Lyon’s media style

    AFL 2026: St Kilda CEO Andrew Bassat defends Ross Lyon’s media style

    A fresh controversy has erupted in Australian Football League (AFL) circles following a fiery post-match exchange between coach Ross Lyon and reporters, with St Kilda’s top executive stepping forward publicly to back the embattled coach. The drama unfolded after the Saints suffered a gut-wrenching one-point defeat to Adelaide on Saturday night, where Lyon pushed back against media questioning in a tense press conference that quickly divided opinion across the football community.

    In the tense press briefing, Lyon stood by his claim that the St Kilda side had shown clear improvement despite underwhelming early season results that leave the club with a 2-5 win-loss record halfway through the opening round of fixtures. The coach went as far as pressing reporters to recall the final ladder positions of each of the Saints’ opponents from the previous season, a standoff that sparked widespread debate across the sport.

    The criticism reached a peak when former AFL player and prominent player agent Liam Pickering called on sports journalists to boycott Lyon’s future press conferences in response to the coach’s confrontational approach. But St Kilda president Andrew Bassat has doubled down on the club’s support for Lyon, defending both the coach’s stance and his unfiltered style of media engagement in an interview with ABC Melbourne on Monday.

    “Ross is a fascinating guy, and I personally love working with him. He’s incredibly driven, hungry to win, and has that relentless edge every top coach needs,” Bassat explained. “It’s worth remembering just how unforgiving the position is: we walked away from a one-point heartbreaker, with almost no luck down the stretch, and immediately he has to stand in front of a room of reporters to answer questions.”

    Bassat acknowledged that Lyon reacts very differently depending on the quality of questioning he receives, confirming that the coach’s famous line — “ask stupid questions, win stupid prizes” — is a genuine reflection of his approach to media interactions. “He’s far more responsive when the questions are intelligent and fair, that’s no secret. I’ve been on the receiving end of that sharpness myself when I’ve asked a question he thinks misses the mark,” Bassat said. “The truth is, he’s just more honest than most coaches when he thinks a question isn’t worth answering. That’s just who he is.”

    Beyond the controversy over the press conference, Bassat also opened up about his mixed views on the AFL’s new Opening Round concept, which gave selected clubs early starts to their home-and-away season this year. St Kilda was chosen to feature in the opening round, drawing the club’s largest ever home-and-away crowd for a match against Collingwood at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The big turnout was a win for the club, even if they walked away with a loss, but Bassat still has lingering reservations about the restructured opening to the season.

    “I’m a bit torn on the whole idea, to be honest,” Bassat admitted. “I don’t love that it creates an uneven start to the season for different clubs and messes with the structure of bye rounds later in the year. That said, if the league is going to have an Opening Round, we absolutely wanted to be part of it — we asked the AFL for a spot, and they agreed. It gave us a fantastic chance to play in front of a huge crowd, even if we didn’t get the result we wanted. If I’m being honest, I’d rather we didn’t have the concept at all, but if we’re going to have it, I’m glad we were included.”