Global Pulse

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  • Pope Leo XIV says ‘not in my interest at all’ to debate Trump but will keep preaching peace

    Pope Leo XIV says ‘not in my interest at all’ to debate Trump but will keep preaching peace

    While traveling aboard the papal plane between Cameroon and Angola, mid-way through his 11-day pastoral tour of Africa, Pope Leo XIV spoke publicly Saturday to push back against widespread media narratives framing his recent calls for peace as a direct attack on U.S. President Donald Trump. The first American pope told reporters traveling with him that entering a public debate with Trump over the ongoing Iran war holds no personal or institutional interest for him, but he made clear that his commitment to spreading the Gospel’s core message of peace will remain unshaken.

    The back-and-forth between the two leaders has dominated global headlines this week, after Trump launched a series of criticisms against the pope on his social media platform Truth Social on April 12. At the time, the Iran war — which erupted following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on February 28 and subsequent Iranian retaliation — was already intensifying. Trump accused Pope Leo of being soft on conflict, aligned with left-wing political interests, and even claimed that the first American pontiff owed his election to Trump’s own influence.

    Pope Leo has been consistent in his public calls for diplomatic dialogue to end all armed conflict, and has repeatedly condemned efforts to frame war as a religiously justified cause. Most notably, he previously labeled Trump’s public threat to annihilate Iranian civilization as “truly unacceptable.” Vatican officials have already clarified that the pope’s peace advocacy applies to every ongoing war across the globe, not just the Iran conflict — pointing to examples like the Russian Orthodox Church’s framing of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine as a “holy war” as another target of his criticism.

    Addressing the viral interpretation of his recent remarks at a peace gathering in Bamenda, Cameroon — a city that has sat at the center of a nearly decade-long separatist conflict in the country’s Anglophone western region — the pope pushed back on claims the speech was crafted to respond to Trump. He confirmed that the text of his address, which blasted a “handful of tyrants” that are devastating the planet through war and exploitation, was finalized two full weeks before Trump released his first criticism. “Much of what has been written since then has been more commentary on commentary, trying to interpret what has been said,” he told reporters, adding that widespread narratives framing his comments as a jab at the president are largely inaccurate. “And yet as it happens, it was looked at as if I was trying to debate again the president, which is not in my interest at all.”

    Looking ahead to the remainder of his African tour, Pope Leo emphasized that his primary mission is pastoral: as head of the Catholic Church, he has traveled to the continent to walk alongside, celebrate with, and encourage Catholic communities across the region. He added that his ongoing peace preaching is not rooted in political confrontation, but in the core tenets of his faith. “I primarily come to Africa as a pastor… but also looking for ways to promote justice in our world, promote peace in our world,” he said, reaffirming that he will continue lifting up these values as part of his ministry regardless of political pushback.

  • Hormuz standoff sets a tense tone for Trump-Xi meet

    Hormuz standoff sets a tense tone for Trump-Xi meet

    The Persian Gulf has been pushed into uncharted, high-risk territory following the Trump administration’s decision to impose a naval blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic chokepoint that carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s daily oil shipments. The controversial measure was announced by former President Donald Trump after ceasefire negotiations with Iran collapsed on April 11, with the breakdown rooted in Iran’s refusal to relinquish its claimed control over the strait. Washington’s blockade is explicitly framed to counter two Iranian moves: Tehran’s plan to block passage for vessels it considers hostile, and its proposal to implement a new transit toll system for all commercial ships passing through the waterway.

    Beyond its stated goal of countering Iran, the blockade marks a deliberate show of force by the Trump administration that directly challenges Beijing. In recent years, China has emerged as the largest buyer of Iranian crude oil, and it is one of the only countries whose commercial shipping has been able to transit the strait without interference from regional forces. This special status was put to an early test on April 14, when the Rich Starry, a Chinese-owned and operated tanker already under US sanctions for carrying Iranian oil, prepared to make the passage. While many observers expected a direct confrontation between the tanker and US naval forces deployed to the region, the vessel ultimately reversed course in the Gulf of Oman and turned back. US officials have since confirmed that six vessels attempting to transit the strait have been turned away under the blockade.

    The Rich Starry’s decision to avoid confrontation has been widely interpreted as a signal that Beijing is not yet willing to directly challenge Washington’s stated red lines in the region, particularly ahead of a planned US presidential state visit to China scheduled for next month — a trip that was originally postponed from March 31 amid escalating tensions with Iran. Beijing has already publicly condemned the US blockade, labeling it a “dangerous and irresponsible act” that threatens global energy security. Even so, the decision to step back from a direct clash may be read by Washington as a sign of Chinese reluctance to escalate, a perception that analysts warn could embolden the Trump administration to take more aggressive action against Chinese shipping in the region going forward.

    Any attempt by the US to seize a Chinese-flagged or Chinese-owned tanker carries severe escalation risks. If Washington moves to seize a vessel, Beijing could easily characterize the action as an act of war, framing it as a deliberate attempt to disrupt the Chinese economy by cutting off critical energy supplies. While a direct armed confrontation between the United States and China in the Persian Gulf remains unlikely at this stage, the crisis has already spurred speculation that Beijing could deploy its 48th Escort Group, based at its military facility in Djibouti, to the region. The unit has long conducted anti-piracy patrols and escort missions for Chinese commercial ships in the Gulf, and its deployment would raise a pressing new question: would Washington be willing to open fire on Chinese naval vessels to enforce its blockade?

    Beyond direct naval confrontation, China has multiple indirect options to respond to the US move. One widely discussed path is increased military support for Iran. Unconfirmed intelligence reporting from The New York Times has alleged that Beijing has already shipped shoulder-launched anti-aircraft missiles to Tehran, a claim that Chinese officials have repeatedly and forcefully denied. China’s Beidou satellite navigation system is already known to provide positioning support for Iran’s existing missile arsenal, which is targeted at US and Israeli assets in the region. Additional transfers of advanced weapons, including long-range missiles and attack drones, would allow Beijing to counter the US blockade without direct engagement.

    Alternative, Beijing could choose to retaliate against US interests outside the Middle East, targeting American economic and strategic assets in the Asia-Pacific. The current context plays into this possibility: the US has already redeployed key missile defense systems from South Korea to the Middle East, leaving American allies in the Asia-Pacific more exposed. At the same time, fuel shortages sparked by strait disruptions have already put additional economic strain on regional powers, creating more openings for Chinese action if Beijing chooses to escalate.

    Despite Beijing’s stated preference for a stable Middle East and open global trade — a status quo from which China has benefited enormously from decades of globalization — the crisis also creates unique strategic and economic opportunities for China to advance its long-term goals. One of the most significant is the expansion of the renminbi’s role in global energy markets. Iran already conducts nearly all of its oil trade transactions in renminbi, accelerating the rise of the so-called petroyuan as a challenger to the decades-long dominance of the petrodollar in global energy trade. Combined with China’s position as the leading supplier of aviation fuel across the Asia-Pacific, the current crisis has already cemented China’s larger role in the global energy economy.

    Another potential beneficiary of prolonged energy market disruption is China’s electric vehicle (EV) industry. A sustained oil shortage would likely push more consumers and governments to accelerate the transition to EVs, a market where Chinese manufacturers like BYD already hold a dominant global market share. Analysts draw a parallel to the 1970s OPEC oil crisis, when fuel-efficient Japanese vehicles outcompeted larger, less efficient American and European models, capturing massive global market share. A prolonged oil crisis today could similarly turn Chinese EV brands into global household names, expanding the global influence of “Brand China.”

    Finally, the crisis reinforces China’s ongoing narrative that it is a more reliable and stable global partner than the United States, amid widespread perceptions of unpredictability from the Trump administration over the past 15 months. China already holds a more favorable global public image than the US in most international polling, and a wider regional conflict stemming from the blockade would likely widen that gap further. In the end, the course taken by the Rich Starry may end up charting the future trajectory of US-China great power competition, and the shape of the global order that competition will produce.

  • Millions listen to Ethiopian star’s song taking swipe at government

    Millions listen to Ethiopian star’s song taking swipe at government

    As Ethiopia prepares for its upcoming June general election, a new music release from the nation’s most iconic musician has ignited widespread public conversation, delivering a seeming rebuke of the current government that resonates deeply with growing discontent across the country. Titled *Das Tal*, which translates to “Put Up the Tent” in English, the track was uploaded to YouTube last Thursday, and has already amassed more than seven million views from audiences at home and abroad.

    The song draws its symbolism from Ethiopia’s traditional mourning tents, spaces where communities gather to grieve shared loss. Throughout the track, 49-year-old Teddy Afro — born Tewodros Kassahun — crafts a raw, lyrical lament for what he frames as a lost nation. “The spirit of being Ethiopian is now pushed away,” he sings. “Now I understand the sorrow and pain. Where can someone go to mourn, where do you cry? In the place that raised me, in the village where I grew up, I have become a stranger, like someone with no country.”

    Controversy preceded the track’s official launch, when a planned preview event for journalists in the capital city of Addis Ababa was abruptly canceled, with no clear explanation given for the last-minute cancellation.

    This is far from the first time Teddy Afro has clashed with Ethiopian governments: for more than two decades, he has been one of the most prominent dissident voices in the country’s cultural landscape, where open criticism of ruling authorities has regularly resulted in legal and professional repercussions for critics. Twenty years ago, he was imprisoned for 16 months on charges related to a hit-and-run incident, charges he has long maintained were fabricated as political retribution for his criticism of the government.

    In 2017, his most recent full album *Ethiopia*, which centered on historical narratives and called for cross-ethnic unity across the country, became a commercial sensation. It topped Billboard’s World Albums chart for multiple consecutive weeks and recorded massive sales among Ethiopian audiences both domestically and internationally, but authorities blocked the album’s official release within Ethiopia’s borders.

    That same period saw massive nationwide anti-government protests sparked by longstanding grievances over the marginalization of the Oromo people, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group. Those protests ultimately led to the resignation of the long-serving prime minister and paved the way for current Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, an Oromo himself, to take power. Abiy campaigned on a promise of a new era of inclusive unity for Ethiopia’s multi-ethnic population, and Teddy Afro initially welcomed his agenda. In a 2017 interview with the BBC, the musician framed his work as rooted in a call for collective love, echoing civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.: “Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. And for us to come out of the situation we are in, I believe the only choice we have is love.”

    In the years since Abiy took office, however, Teddy Afro has become increasingly disillusioned with the government’s leadership. Widespread interethnic violence across the country and the brutal two-year civil war in the Tigray region, which killed hundreds of thousands of people, have pushed the musician to sharpen his criticism. In 2022, he released a track calling out the growing danger of ethnic tribalism, a theme he expands on in his latest release.

    For his part, Prime Minister Abiy has repeatedly emphasized his commitment to national unity, framing collective solidarity as the only path to lasting security and economic prosperity for all Ethiopians. With the general election just weeks away, political messaging around national unity is set to intensify across the political spectrum — and Teddy Afro’s viral new track has already placed national discontent at the center of public discourse in the lead-up to the vote.

  • Macron says 1 French soldier was killed and 3 injured in attack on peacekeepers in Lebanon

    Macron says 1 French soldier was killed and 3 injured in attack on peacekeepers in Lebanon

    BEIRUT, PARIS – A deadly ambush targeting United Nations peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon has claimed the life of a French service member and wounded three more, triggering an urgent diplomatic response from French leadership just one day after a fragile 10-day ceasefire took hold along the Lebanon-Israel border.

    French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed the fatal attack in a social media statement Saturday morning, noting that all preliminary evidence points to Hezbollah bearing responsibility for the strike on the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) patrol. The fallen soldier was identified as Staff Sergeant Florian Montorio, a 17th Parachute Engineer Regiment member based in the southwestern French city of Montauban. Macron added that the three injured service members have already been evacuated for medical care.

    “In this moment of grief, the entire nation bows in respect for our fallen comrade, and extends its unwavering support to Montorio’s family, as well as all French military personnel deployed to advance peace in Lebanon,” Macron wrote.

    This death marks the second French peacekeeper fatality in less than a month. In mid-March, a drone strike on a Kurdish military base in Iraq’s Erbil region killed Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion and left six other French service members wounded.

    French Armed Forces Minister Catherine Vautrin later clarified details of the Saturday incident, confirming the ambush unfolded in the Deir Kifa region of southern Lebanon. The patrol was carrying out a critical operational mission: clearing a secure path to a UNIFIL outpost that had been cut off from supply and reinforcement for several days, amid escalating cross-border clashes between Hezbollah and Israeli forces that have roiled the region for months.

    Montorio was ambushed at close range by fighters from an armed group, Vautrin explained in a post on the social platform X. “He was struck immediately by a direct round from a light weapon. His comrades pulled him to cover under active enemy fire, but were unable to resuscitate him,” she wrote.

    Within hours of the attack, President Macron held separate urgent calls with Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam to deliver France’s formal demands. According to a readout from Macron’s office, the French leader called on Lebanese officials to launch a full, transparent investigation into the strike, rapidly identify the perpetrators and bring them to prosecution, and take all necessary measures to protect UNIFIL personnel, who operate under international mandate to maintain stability in the region and are never legitimate targets.

    Macron used the diplomatic exchange to reaffirm two core French priorities for the region: that all parties must fully comply with the newly implemented ceasefire, and that France remains deeply committed to upholding Lebanon’s full sovereignty, a pillar of broader stability across the Middle East that benefits all Lebanese citizens.

    The ceasefire that went into effect Friday was negotiated without input from Hezbollah, leaving international observers uncertain whether the group would respect the truce. Saturday’s fatal attack, which comes just 24 hours after the truce was supposed to take hold, has already raised new concerns about the durability of the pause in fighting.

  • Pope brings Africa tour to Angola as Trump feud drags on

    Pope brings Africa tour to Angola as Trump feud drags on

    Pope Leo XIV has launched the third stop of his historic 11-day, four-nation African pilgrimage, arriving in Angola Saturday after wrapping up a high-profile three-day visit to Cameroon, where he delivered sharp social and political critiques amid a worsening war of words with former U.S. President Donald Trump over the ongoing Middle East conflict.

    The American pontiff, who was elected to the papacy in May 2025 after the passing of Pope Francis, marked the end of his Cameroon leg with a massive open-air mass at Yaoundé’s airport that drew more than 200,000 adoring worshippers, who greeted him with traditional songs and festive dances. Speaking in French during his homily, Pope Leo thanked the Cameroonian people for their warm welcome, before issuing a pointed call for the nation to find the courage to break from harmful long-standing habits and outdated power structures. His remarks came against the backdrop of 42 years of authoritarian rule by 93-year-old President Paul Biya, who has held power since 1982.

    Following the mass, Pope Leo departed midday for Angola’s capital Luanda, where he is scheduled to meet with President Joao Lourenco and deliver a policy address before wrapping up his visit on Tuesday. Only two other popes have traveled to the resource-rich southern African nation: John Paul II in 1992 and Benedict XVI in 2009, with roughly 44% of Angola’s population identifying as Catholic. Organizers and local officials expect tens of thousands of worshippers to travel across the country to catch a glimpse of the head of the global Catholic Church, which counts 1.4 billion followers worldwide.

    For many Angolans, the papal visit carries deep personal and national meaning. “It’s as if God were very close to us,” Helena Maria Miguel, a 40-year-old human resources manager based in Luanda, told reporters ahead of the pope’s arrival.

    Pope Leo’s consistent calls for global peace are expected to resonate particularly strongly in Angola, a nation that only emerged from a brutal 27-year civil war in 2002. The conflict broke out immediately after Angola gained independence from Portugal in 1975, leaving deep socioeconomic scars that persist decades later. Despite the country’s vast fossil fuel reserves, an estimated one-third of Angolans still live below the poverty line, with the national economy overly reliant on volatile global oil prices and long plagued by systemic corruption that has even reached the inner circle of former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

    Many local residents hope the pope’s visit will shine a light on the unmet needs of Angola’s young population. “There is a lot of suffering, a lot of poverty in Angola. I hope the pope will see with his own eyes the needs of the youth here,” said 33-year-old engineer Antonio Masaidi.

    The visit comes as Pope Leo has adopted a far more assertive public tone after facing repeated sharp criticism from Donald Trump, breaking from the more low-key, measured approach he took immediately after his election. Up until the public feud erupted, the new pope had positioned himself as more discreet than his predecessor, Pope Francis, who led the church from 2013 to 2025. Throughout the African tour, the pontiff has repeatedly called out global corruption, the exploitative plunder of Africa’s natural resources by foreign and domestic actors, and the unregulated risks of artificial intelligence, even as his public clash with Trump continues to unfold. After Trump’s Vice President JD Vance, a Catholic, publicly called on the Vatican to stay out of political affairs and “stick to matters of morality”, Pope Leo fired back Thursday, arguing the world is “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants” and doubling down on criticism of actors who misuse religious doctrine to justify armed conflict. During his time in Cameroon, he doubled down on these critiques, demanding local leaders root out graft and condemning “those who, in the name of profit, continue to seize the African continent to exploit and plunder it”.

    On Sunday, Pope Leo will lead a second massive open-air mass in Kilamba, a suburb of Luanda, where local authorities have built new infrastructure including a large public food court to accommodate the expected crowds of worshippers. In the afternoon, he will travel by helicopter to the riverside village of Muxima, roughly 130 kilometers southeast of the capital, which is home to a 16th-century church that has grown into one of southern Africa’s most important Catholic pilgrimage sites. The village, where enslaved Africans were once baptized before being forcibly shipped out of the continent, is currently the site of a multi-million-dollar government development project to build a new basilica and transform the area into a major international religious tourism destination.

    “It is a historic moment of grace, a moment of profound emotion, with tears in our eyes and gratitude in our hearts,” Father Mpindi Lubanzadio Alberto, rector of the Muxima shrine, told the Catholic outlet ACI Africa ahead of the visit. On April 20, the pope will travel more than 800 kilometers from Luanda to Saurimo, where he will visit a local retirement home and lead another mass before departing Angola the following morning. After wrapping up his time in Angola, Pope Leo will travel to Equatorial Guinea for the fourth and final stop of his 18,000-kilometer journey, which launched in Algeria earlier this month.

  • China-US youth mark 55th anniversary of ‘ping-pong diplomacy’

    China-US youth mark 55th anniversary of ‘ping-pong diplomacy’

    Fifty-five years after a historic table tennis exchange broke decades of ice between China and the United States, young players from both nations gathered in Yinchuan, the capital city of northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, on Thursday to honor the legacy of what is now widely known as “ping-pong diplomacy”.

    Organized around the shared passion for table tennis that first connected the two peoples half a century ago, the commemorative event brought together young collegiate table tennis athletes from Northwestern United States and eight elite young players from China. Rather than sticking to rigid, country-versus-country competition formats, organizers reimagined the tournament to reflect the core values of the original diplomatic breakthrough: connection and mutual understanding.

    All players were split into two mixed transnational squads, named “Peace” and “Friendship”. In a symbolic twist that embodied the event’s spirit of cooperation alongside friendly competition, athletes paired with cross-national partners for doubles matches, and faced off against peers from the other country in singles rounds. This structure encouraged collaboration even as it highlighted the players’ sharp competitive skills.

    Throughout the day, participants displayed remarkable technical proficiency and exemplary sportsmanship, drawing warm, sustained applause from the local audience that turned out to watch the historic commemoration. Moving away from traditional hierarchical medal ceremonies that prioritize winning above all else, every athlete at the event received a custom commemorative medal in recognition of their role in advancing people-to-people exchange.

    Beyond the confines of the competition court, the gathering functioned as an informal platform for deep cultural exchange. Players discussed table tennis technique, swapped recommendations for favorite films, and shared personal stories, small interactions that helped bridge lingering cultural gaps and build new personal connections between the younger generations of both nations. Organizers noted that the event echoes the original 1971 ping-pong diplomacy, which proved that people-to-people exchange can lay the groundwork for greater mutual understanding between nations, even when official relations face challenges.

  • Son of 85-year-old French widow home after 16 days in US immigration custody says she needs rest

    Son of 85-year-old French widow home after 16 days in US immigration custody says she needs rest

    An 85-year-old French widow who endured a traumatic 16-day detention by U.S. immigration authorities has safely returned to her home country, where her family is now prioritizing her recovery and emotional healing. Marie-Thérèse Ross, who had married a retired American military veteran decades after he was stationed in France, was held by federal immigration officials for overstaying her 90-day visitor visa, a detention that has sparked diplomatic criticism from French officials.

    Speaking publicly outside Orvault, the western French town that has long been Ross’s home, her son Hervé Goix told reporters Friday that the family’s sole immediate focus is protecting Ross as she processes the harrowing experience. “To preserve her health and her rest, and for her to be able to rebuild herself,” Goix said, speaking alongside Ross’s three other children. “We are particularly relieved today to see our mother again, to have her back. She has necessarily gone through a difficult ordeal.”

    French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed Ross’s repatriation on Friday, issuing a sharp rebuke of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over their handling of the case. Without going into further detail, Barrot said ICE’s treatment of Ross “was not in line” with French standards for detainee care, and “not acceptable to us.”

    Court documents trace the origins of the incident back to a bitter family estate dispute following Ross’s husband’s death. The retired soldier, who first met Ross when he was posted to France in the 1960s, married her last June, and she moved to the U.S. to join him. When he died of natural causes in January, a conflict over his estate erupted between Ross and her stepson — a U.S. federal employee. An Alabama judge later found the stepson had intervened to push for Ross’s immigration detention.

    According to U.S. Department of Homeland Security records, ICE agents took Ross into custody at her Alabama home on April 1. Detention records show agents arrested the elderly widow while she was wearing only a nightgown, and she was not allowed to bring her phone, passport, or any form of personal identification with her. She was transferred to a detention facility in Louisiana, where she remained for 16 days while French diplomatic officials lobbied for her release, raising repeated concerns about her health and well-being. Goix told the Associated Press that Ross had already begun the application process for a U.S. green card when she was detained.

    “the essential thing is that she is truly safe, that she regains her comfort, that she is surrounded by her children and grandchildren,” Goix added of the family’s priorities for Ross in the coming weeks.

    Orvault mayor Sébastien Arrouët, who spoke with Ross shortly after her return, told French reporters that the 85-year-old is overjoyed to be home. “she is delighted, she is happy, she is relieved,” Arrouët said. “Put yourselves in her place, in a country she knows a little bit, it all happened to her so suddenly. We don’t realize the psychological violence. She needs to process all this, and the most important thing is that she is back with us.”

  • War in the Middle East: latest developments

    War in the Middle East: latest developments

    Fresh developments across the Middle East this week have deepened existing frictions between the United States and Iran, while regional mediators continue high-stakes diplomatic pushes to de-escalate the crisis and advance stalled peace negotiations. From a provocative attack on a commercial tanker in a strategic waterway to shifting positions on ceasefire extension and navigation access, the rapidly unfolding events have left regional stability hanging in the balance.

    In the first major reported incident, the United Kingdom’s Maritime Trade Operations Centre confirmed that Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) gunboats opened fire on a commercial tanker 20 nautical miles northeast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, without prior radio warning. Authorities confirmed all crew members aboard the vessel are unharmed, and official investigations into the attack are currently underway. The Strait of Hormuz remains one of the world’s most critical chokepoints for global oil supplies, with roughly a fifth of all global oil shipments passing through the waterway daily.

    Shortly after the tanker incident, a statement attributed to Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared in public since the current conflict began, was published to his official Telegram channel. In the message, Khamenei asserted that Iran’s naval forces are fully prepared to inflict new defeats on US military forces in the region, saying “our brave navy stands ready to make the enemies taste the bitterness of new defeats.”

    Diplomatic efforts to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table remain gridlocked, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh confirmed to reporters this week. After the first round of Pakistan-brokered peace talks between Iran and the US collapsed, no new date for a second meeting has been set. “Until we agree on the framework, we cannot set the date,” Khatibzadeh said, adding that Tehran refuses to enter talks that are destined to fail, as such an outcome would only provide a pretext for further escalation. The deputy foreign minister also pushed back against recent threats from Washington of new military strikes, criticizing US President Donald Trump’s frequent public comments on the conflict, saying “the American side tweets a lot, talks a lot. Sometimes confusing, sometimes contradictory.”

    Despite the stalemate, regional mediators Egypt and Pakistan say they are continuing intensive work to broker a final agreement between the two adversaries. Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told reporters that both Cairo and Islamabad are working “very hard” to reach a deal, saying “we hope to do so in the coming days” and that Cairo is “pushing very hard in order to move forward.” Pakistan’s top diplomatic and military leadership have also wrapped up a round of shuttle diplomacy this week: Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir concluded a three-day visit to Tehran where he met with Iran’s top leadership and peace negotiators, while Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif returned home from a separate visit to Turkey. A second round of official talks is still tentatively expected to be held in Islamabad in the coming week, though no date has been confirmed.

    In a major reversal of a prior concession made during early negotiations, Iran’s central military command announced this week that it would resume “strict management” of the Strait of Hormuz, rolling back a previous decision to unblock the strategic channel. The military said the reversal came in response to Washington breaking its earlier commitment to ease a naval blockade on commercial ships traveling to and from Iranian ports.

    Iran has taken a small step to ease restrictions on global aviation, however, partially reopening its eastern airspace to transit flights for international airlines. The Iranian Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that key air routes through the eastern section of the country’s airspace are now open for transiting international flights, and that several Iranian airports have also resumed limited operations.

    On the American side, President Trump confirmed Friday that if no peace deal is reached with Tehran, he plans to maintain the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, and may choose not to extend the current bilateral ceasefire that is set to expire this coming Wednesday. “Maybe I won’t extend it, but the blockade is going to remain,” Trump told reporters during an interview aboard Air Force One. Despite the tough stance, the president remained optimistic about the prospects for a breakthrough, saying “I think it’s going to happen.”

    In another key development related to broader regional conflict, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan used his speaking slot at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum to level sharp criticism at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, accusing it of using national security as a pretext to seize additional territory. “Israel is not after its own security. Israel is after more land. Security is being used by the Netanyahu government as an excuse to occupy more land,” Fidan said.

  • French film star Nathalie Baye dies aged 77, media report

    French film star Nathalie Baye dies aged 77, media report

    Beloved French acting legend Nathalie Baye, a towering figure in domestic and international cinema whose decades-long career shaped European film, has passed away at the age of 77, multiple French media outlets have confirmed.

    The four-time César Award winner—France’s highest honor for film performance—died at her Paris residence on Friday evening following a struggle with Lewy body dementia, a progressive neurodegenerative condition, her family confirmed to Agence France-Presse.

    Born in 1948 to a bohemian artist family in Normandy, Baye began her professional journey as a dancer before pivoting to acting in the late 1960s. Her breakout roles in the early 1970s quickly propelled her to national fame, and she went on to collaborate with some of the most influential directors of the French New Wave, including François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, cementing her status as a core figure in 20th-century European cinema.

    Over a career spanning more than 50 years, Baye starred in nearly 80 feature films, expanding her reach to global audiences in the 2000s. One of her most famous international roles came in Steven Spielberg’s 2002 hit *Catch Me If You Can*, where she portrayed the mother of lead character Frank Abagnale Jr., played by Leonardo DiCaprio.

    In more recent years, Baye continued to captivate audiences with versatile performances: she delivered a beloved comedic parody version of herself in the hit French series *Call My Agent!*, sharing the screen with her daughter, fellow actress Laura Smet. She also appeared as a French aristocrat in the 2022 *Downton Abbey: A New Era* feature film. Most recently, her 2016 film *It’s Only the End of the World* earned a nomination for the Palme d’Or, the top honor at the Cannes Film Festival, marking one of the final high-profile recognitions of her decades-long career.

    French President Emmanuel Macron led tributes to the star in a post on social media platform X, remembering Baye as a constant, beloved presence in French cultural life. “We loved Nathalie Baye so much. With her voice, her smile and her grace, she has been a constant presence in French cinema over the past few decades, from François Truffaut to Tonie Marshall,” Macron wrote. “She was an actress with whom we loved, dreamed and grew up. Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones.”

  • With a handshake, Spain and Mexico put diplomatic tussle over their colonial past behind them

    With a handshake, Spain and Mexico put diplomatic tussle over their colonial past behind them

    BARCELONA, Spain – In a landmark moment for bilateral ties, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum closed a years-long diplomatic rift between Mexico and Spain rooted in the legacy of Spanish colonial rule, wrapping up the reconciliation with a handshake and conciliatory remarks during her Saturday appearance at a Barcelona pro-democracy gathering.

    Addressing delegates at the IV Meeting in Defense of Democracy – a conference bringing together political representatives from 15 nations focused on countering the global rise of illiberal governance – Sheinbaum pushed back on narratives of ongoing tension between the two nations. “There is no diplomatic crisis, there never was one,” she stated, moments before she greeted Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez with a handshake. She emphasized that the core of the discussion has always been honoring the experiences and contributions of Indigenous communities across Mexico, rather than perpetuating conflict.

    The diplomatic standoff stretches back to 2019, when then-Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador sent an open letter to Spain’s King Felipe VI and Pope Francis calling for a formal, public acknowledgment of systematic abuses carried out against Indigenous populations during the 16th-century Spanish conquest of Mexico. The Spanish government rejected the demand for an official apology at the time, a decision that gradually eroded warm relations between the two governments.

    Ties reached their lowest point earlier this year, when Sheinbaum declined to extend an inauguration invitation to King Felipe VI over the continued refusal to issue the formal apology. Sánchez labeled the snub “unacceptable,” and Spain retaliated by breaking with longstanding diplomatic tradition, declining to send any official representative to the Mexican president’s inauguration ceremony.

    The turning point came in March 2025, when King Felipe VI took an unprecedented step toward reconciliation by publicly acknowledging that the colonial conquest of the Americas resulted in widespread abuse and mistreatment of Indigenous native communities. The concession cleared a path for renewed diplomacy, and the Mexican government responded by inviting the Spanish monarch to attend a 2025 FIFA World Cup match hosted in Mexico this summer.

    At Saturday’s summit, Sánchez did not publicly address the now-resolved dispute, instead focusing on shared collaborative goals. He thanked Sheinbaum for Mexico’s agreement to host the next iteration of the pro-democracy gathering in 2026, marking a quiet but clear return to normal diplomatic engagement between the two nations.