Global Pulse

分类： politics

  • China’s import of custard apples is sparking fears in Taiwan

    China’s import of custard apples is sparking fears in Taiwan

    A uniquely textured, heart-shaped tropical fruit has emerged as the newest point of friction between Beijing and Taipei, after Taiwan’s top agricultural regulator warned local producers against Beijing’s newly announced plan to ramp up purchases of the specialty crop. The fruit in question, the atemoya, is a sweet hybrid cross between two distinct custard apple varieties, prized for its creamy, soft white flesh and grown almost exclusively in Taiwan’s eastern Taitung County, where it has become a signature agricultural product.

    China has long served as the largest export market for Taiwanese atemoya, and earlier this month, Chinese authorities and trade groups announced a new commitment to increase purchases of the fruit. But in an official press release issued Saturday, Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture framed the expanded import pledge as part of what it calls Beijing’s long-running ‘raise, trap, kill’ economic strategy, a tactic that the ministry argues first builds dependency among Taiwanese farmers on the Chinese market before sudden policy shifts leave producers grappling with collapsed demand and massive financial losses.

    Cross-Strait relations have grown increasingly strained in recent years. Beijing claims the self-ruled island of Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory, has refused to rule out military force to assert control, and has ramped up large-scale military exercises near Taiwan’s coasts, including simulated full blockades of the island. Beyond military pressure, global observers have noted that Beijing has increasingly turned to non-military, economic tactics to pressure Taiwan’s government – and fresh fruit has repeatedly become a key tool in this strategy.

    The 2021 Chinese import ban on Taiwanese pineapples serves as a prominent example. The ban, which came without advanced warning, devastated the livelihoods of thousands of Taiwanese pineapple farmers and triggered a massive domestic ‘buy pineapple’ movement in Taiwan, widely seen as a grassroots response to what residents framed as economic coercion from Beijing. Now, Taiwanese agricultural authorities warn the same pattern is repeating with atemoya.

    According to the Taiwanese Ministry of Agriculture’s statement, Beijing has already cycled through disruptive shifts in atemoya trade policy over the past four years: it first fully suspended imports of Taiwanese atemoya in 2021 over unsubstantiated pest concerns, only partially resumed trade in 2023, then imposed steep new tariffs on the fruit in 2024. These inconsistent policy changes have created massive volatility for Taiwan’s atemoya industry, exposing smallholder farmers to extreme financial risk, the ministry added. It also noted that China has rapidly expanded its own domestic atemoya cultivation in recent years, creating a long-term structural threat to Taiwan’s export-dependent sector.

    The current controversy over atemoya trade traces back to an industry forum held earlier this month in Xiamen, a Chinese coastal city on the edge of the Taiwan Strait. At the gathering, Chinese firms announced expanded purchase commitments for multiple Taiwanese agricultural exports, including atemoya, fish and tea. The event drew attendance from Taiwanese business leaders and opposition politicians, despite an official ban on participation from Taiwan’s ruling central government. Following the forum, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, the agency that oversees cross-Strait policy, announced that any Taiwanese officials who violated the participation ban could face formal investigation.

    In response to the controversy, Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture said it would prioritize supporting sustainable agricultural development and stable farm incomes, and is guiding the atemoya industry to diversify its market outlets and product lines, including developing value-added products such as frozen atemoya chunks, fruit puree and fruit wine.

    But opposition politicians from Taiwan’s Kuomintang party, which traditionally favors closer cross-Strait trade ties, have pushed back against the government’s warnings, arguing that Taipei is unnecessarily politicizing the atemoya industry in a move that will ultimately harm the farmers it claims to protect. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an, a prominent Kuomintang leader, went so far as to accuse the Mainland Affairs Council of using the trade dispute to ‘bully and oppress’ Taiwanese farmers. Chiang even compared the fruit to Taiwan’s most iconic industrial success story, calling atemoya the ‘TSMC of the fruit world’, arguing that ‘There is not a country in the world that can produce a fruit as delicious and special as Taiwan’s atemoya.’

  • Starmer seen as likely to announce an exit timetable as rival Burnham heads to UK Parliament

    Starmer seen as likely to announce an exit timetable as rival Burnham heads to UK Parliament

    LONDON — Political pressure is reaching a fever pitch in the United Kingdom, with mounting expectations that Prime Minister Keir Starmer will outline a timeline for his resignation as early as this Monday, bowing to intraparty pressure to surrender control of the national government. If Starmer follows through on the widely reported plan, he will become the sixth British prime minister in 10 years to step down from office before completing a full term.

    The turning point for Starmer’s leadership came last week, when his intraparty rival Andy Burnham secured victory in a special parliamentary by-election. Burnham, who previously served as Greater Manchester’s Labour mayor, ran the campaign as an open challenge to Starmer’s authority over the party and Downing Street. He is scheduled to be formally sworn in as a Member of Parliament on Monday, the same day the resignation announcement is expected.

    While Starmer’s official office has declined to publicly confirm or comment on the resignation reports, Business Secretary Peter Kyle released a statement Sunday acknowledging that the prime minister is “making time to reflect on the political realities, challenges and opportunities that he finds himself in.”

    Grassroots and parliamentary discontent with Starmer has built steadily for months, just half a year after he led the centre-left Labour Party to a landslide general election victory in July 2024. Since taking office, Starmer has failed to deliver on campaign pledges to jumpstart promised economic growth, repair Britain’s long-strained public services, and ease the persistent national cost of living crisis. His tenure has also been marred by repeated high-profile missteps, most recently his controversial appointment of Peter Mandelson — a figure long tied to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — as the UK’s ambassador to the United States.

    Political headwinds have grown increasingly severe for Labour in recent months: the party has hemorrhaged liberal voters to the rapidly expanding Green Party, while the Nigel Farage-led anti-immigration party Reform UK has jumped to consistent leads in national public opinion polling.

    If Starmer does step aside, it remains unclear whether Burnham will ascend to the leadership unchallenged or face a competitive party contest. Already, former Health Secretary Wes Streeting — who resigned from Starmer’s cabinet last month to protest his leadership — has confirmed he will enter the race if a contest is called.

    Even before any official announcement, former and current U.S. President Donald Trump weighed in on the unfolding crisis, tying Starmer’s potential exit to two of his most frequent policy talking points: immigration and domestic energy production. “Keir Starmer will resign as Prime Minister of The United Kingdom. He failed badly on two very important subjects- IMMIGRATION AND ENERGY (OPEN NORTH SEA OIL!). I wish him well! President DJT,” Trump posted on his social media platform. It is unclear whether Trump’s comment was based on prior knowledge of Starmer’s plans or a response to circulating media reports, and Downing Street confirmed the two leaders held no conversations over the weekend. Relations between Starmer and Trump, which started out warm after Starmer took office, have deteriorated sharply in recent months over disagreements including the UK’s decision not to join the U.S.-led Iran war.

    Notably, while Starmer has faced widespread criticism for his domestic policy performance, he has drawn broad praise for his work on the international stage. Political observers across the ideological spectrum have commended his efforts to rally unified European support for Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing invasion, as well as his work to contain the economic and political instability triggered by the recent Iran conflict.

    Opinion within the Parliamentary Labour Party remains divided. While a majority of lawmakers have rallied around Burnham as Starmer’s replacement, some have argued that the prime minister has been treated unfairly. London MP Neil Coyle publicly pushed back against the ouster effort on the social platform X, decrying “the prospect of an utter stitch-up & the media circus being rewarded.” He added, “When the next leader cannot change Trump, Iran, Ukraine, Putin, Musk, broadcast editorial & algorithm bias overnight they’ll bay for his blood too. Better keep that guillotine sharp.”

  • Trump-endorsed de la Espriella holds slim lead in Colombia’s election as his rival challenges vote

    Trump-endorsed de la Espriella holds slim lead in Colombia’s election as his rival challenges vote

    BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia’s deeply divided electorate has produced a cliffhanger presidential runoff election, with first-time political candidate and conservative outsider Abelardo de la Espriella holding a narrow lead over progressive Iván Cepeda — a result that the ruling party’s camp has already pledged to contest in the coming days.

    With 99.9% of all ballots counted by national electoral authorities, de la Espriella, a 47-year-old lawyer and business owner who holds dual Colombian-U.S. citizenship and earned an endorsement from former U.S. President Donald Trump, secured 49.7% of the vote. His opponent, sitting lawmaker Iván Cepeda and close ally of outgoing progressive President Gustavo Petro, trailed at 48.7%. Official results have not yet been certified by election officials, leaving the country’s next four-year leadership in limbo.

    If de la Espriella’s lead holds, the political newcomer is expected to roll back nearly all of Petro’s core policy agenda. Most notably, he has vowed to terminate Petro’s controversial initiative to conduct parallel peace negotiations with the country’s network of illegal armed groups — an effort that has already failed to deliver tangible reductions in violence. Cepeda, by contrast, ran on a platform of continuing Petro’s peace strategy and advancing the outgoing administration’s slate of social reforms.

    Addressing thousands of cheering supporters Sunday night from behind bulletproof glass in the northern Colombian city of Barranquilla, de la Espriella struck an initial conciliatory tone before shifting to a combative message. “I will govern for all Colombians,” said de la Espriella, who goes by the nickname “The Tiger.” He then turned directly to his opponent, adding, “Pack your bags and prepare to exercise the opposition. Make no mistake, Mr. Cepeda. You already know how fiercely the tiger roars.” Former President Trump celebrated the preliminary outcome on his social media platform, posting simply, “He Won, BIG!”

    Speaking from the capital Bogotá after the partial count was released, Cepeda rejected the preliminary tally as “unofficial and non-binding.” His campaign announced plans to challenge results across more than 30,000 voting stations, a move that carries little historical precedent for success: no recount has ever overturned a Colombian presidential election. “We will not allow … the rollback of the social gains we have achieved,” Cepeda told his supporters. “We will not allow democracy to be violated.” Outgoing President Petro echoed that commitment, vowing to back the challenge to the preliminary outcome. The winner of the race is set to be inaugurated for a four-year term on August 7.

    The entire election campaign was shaped by widespread public anxiety over a potential return to the large-scale internal armed conflict that plagued Colombia for decades. Both candidates ran on sharply divergent platforms to address ongoing violence, which has risen steadily in recent years. Current data shows illegal armed groups in Colombia now count more than 27,000 total members, and 2023 saw 14,780 homicides recorded nationwide — the highest annual total since at least 2015. The rising violence included the assassination of conservative presidential hopeful Miguel Uribe on the campaign trail.

    De la Espriella has campaigned on an aggressive, hardline approach to cracking down on organized crime and drug trafficking, explicitly modeling his plan on the mega-prison strategy implemented by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. While Bukele’s tactics have reduced homicide rates in El Salvador, they have also drawn widespread international condemnation for systematic human rights abuses. De la Espriella has repeatedly stated he will abandon all peace talks with illegal armed groups, which he blames for the country’s ongoing instability.

    Many voters who shifted their support to de la Espriella cited frustration with unmet economic promises and ongoing violence. Yolanda Hernández, a 49-year-old waste recycler who voted for Petro in the 2022 election, explained her switch this cycle: “We want change in Colombia because it’s always the same violence, always the same thing. Petro said he was going to lower the cost of services, that he was going to lower the price of food, and everything is more expensive.”

    Will Freeman, a Latin American Studies fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, noted that the razor-thin result reflects that Colombia has not shifted overwhelmingly to either the left or the right, but instead remains deeply split along both ideological and regional lines. “It’s regional not just ideological polarization; or rather, the two overlapping,” Freeman explained. “Ironically, de la Espriella’s iron-fist message performed best in the core of the country, not the periphery, which bears the brunt of Colombia’s violence.”

  • China hits back at US sanctions on tech giants, restricting its exports to American defense firms

    China hits back at US sanctions on tech giants, restricting its exports to American defense firms

    In a tit-for-tat response to a recent Washington policy that blocks leading Chinese technology firms from accessing U.S. defense contracts, China unveiled new sanctions against 10 American defense and aerospace companies on Monday, according to China’s Ministry of Commerce.

    The sanctions impose a blanket ban on Chinese enterprises exporting dual-use items — products engineered for both civilian and military applications — to the targeted American firms. The list of sanctioned entities includes major military drone manufacturers and two leading U.S. rare earth mining producers: AVEOX, Red Cat Holdings, Teal Drones, IMSAR, Jaia Robotics, Ball Aerospace & Technologies, Oshkosh Defense, L3Harris Maritime Services, MP Materials, and USA Rare Earth.

    Beyond the direct export ban, the policy also prohibits third-party businesses and individuals from retransferring Chinese-origin dual-use goods to the sanctioned American companies. The Ministry of Commerce noted that exceptions will be considered for exports deemed genuinely necessary, where qualified Chinese firms can apply for special approval to ship restricted items.

    Chinese authorities framed the move as a necessary measure to protect core national security interests, adding that the action directly counters what Beijing calls the U.S. government’s improper expansion of its so-called Chinese Military Companies list. Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Defense added prominent Chinese technology giants including Alibaba and Baidu to the restricted list, claiming the firms maintain unacknowledged ties to China’s military. Baidu has publicly rejected the allegation, calling the characterization of the company as a military-linked entity “totally baseless.”

    The designation of Chinese firms by the U.S. bars the listed companies from securing any federal defense contracts. Beijing has additionally pointed out that the latest American restrictions contradict the bilateral consensus reached by Chinese President Xi Jinping and former U.S. President Donald Trump during Trump’s official visit to China in May, according to earlier statements from Chinese officials.

  • Japan quintuples foreigner visa fees in first price hike since 1978

    Japan quintuples foreigner visa fees in first price hike since 1978

    Japan is set to roll out a landmark fivefold increase to visa fees for foreign visitors starting 1 July, marking the first adjustment to these charges since 1978. Under the new fee structure, the cost of a single-entry visa will jump from the current 3,000 Japanese yen to 15,000 yen, while multi-entry visas will see an equivalent increase, rising from 6,000 yen to 30,000 yen.

    Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi announced the revisions during a press briefing on Friday, noting that the price adjustments are designed to reflect ongoing global inflation and significant exchange rate volatility that has impacted Japan’s economy in recent years. When addressing concerns about the effect on Japan’s booming post-pandemic travel sector, Motegi emphasized that authorities do not expect the fee hikes to trigger an immediate decline in inbound tourism.

    The Japanese yen has faced persistent weakening since 2021, currently trading near 40-year historic lows against major global currencies. This currency depreciation, paired with the broad rebound in international travel following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, has driven an unprecedented surge in tourist arrivals to Japan. In 2024 alone, the country recorded a new all-time high of 42.7 million international visitors, underscoring the rapid recovery of its travel industry.

    The visa fee revision is not an isolated policy change. Earlier this year, Japan’s Upper House approved a separate bill that raises administrative fees for a range of other immigration-related services for foreign nationals. Under that legislation, the statutory cap for permanent residency application fees will increase 30-fold, jumping from the current 10,000 yen to 300,000 yen. Fees for changing residency status or extending an authorized stay will also see a tenfold increase, rising from 10,000 yen to a maximum of 100,000 yen.

    Proponents of the fee adjustments argue that bringing Japan’s visa and residency-related charges into line with the fee structures of other G7 major economies is a long-overdue correction. As a point of comparison, non-immigrant visa application fees in the United States currently range from $185 to $315, while a standard six-month short-term visitor visa for the United Kingdom costs £135.

  • Trump-backed political outsider wins Colombia election, initial count shows

    Trump-backed political outsider wins Colombia election, initial count shows

    Colombia is facing a seismic political shift after preliminary runoff election results showed right-wing outsider candidate Abelardo de la Espriella, who goes by the nickname “El Tigre” (The Tiger), has secured a razor-thin victory over his left-wing opponent Iván Cepeda, a close ally of sitting president Gustavo Petro. With more than 99% of ballots counted in the June runoff, initial tallies put de la Espriella at 49.7% of the vote, compared to Cepeda’s 48.7% — a margin of just one percentage point that has left the nation deeply divided.

    A lawyer and businessman with no prior elected political experience, de la Espriella campaigned on a hardline platform centered on reversing Petro’s flagship peace negotiation strategy and cracking down on the country’s spiraling armed conflict and drug trade. Endorsed early by former U.S. President Donald Trump, he has pledged to abandon all talks with illegal armed groups, including FARC dissidents, the ELN, and Clan del Golfo, and instead ramp up military operations against these organizations, expand cooperation with U.S. security agencies, and construct new maximum-security mega-prisons in remote jungle regions. He has also outlined plans to shrink the size of the national bureaucracy and overhaul Colombia’s public health system.

    Colombia’s decades-long internal conflict has escalated sharply in recent years: armed group membership has doubled over the last five years, as factions fight for control of profitable cocaine trafficking routes and illegal mining operations. As the world’s top cocaine producer, Colombia has seen output hit record highs, and a 2025 offensive along the Venezuela border displaced more than 30,000 people. Critics of Petro’s “total peace” initiative, which prioritized ceasefires and negotiations with armed groups, argue the policy has allowed criminal organizations to expand their territory and power unchecked, creating a opening for de la Espriella’s tough-on-crime message to resonate with voters.

    Raised on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, de la Espriella drew overwhelming regional support, and celebrated the preliminary result alongside thousands of jubilant supporters in Barranquilla, addressing the crowd from a stage lined with images of his face. “Tonight marks the beginning of a new story for the nation, tonight a new era begins, a change of order,” he told the gathered crowd. He emphasized he would govern for all Colombians — both his supporters and those who backed his opponent — and pledged unwavering loyalty to the country’s 1991 constitution. Supporters waved national flags, donned yellow Colombian national football jerseys (a staple of de la Espriella’s campaign that critics have slammed as politicization of the national team), and chanted slogans including “Petro out!” and “Make Colombia Great Again” on red baseball caps echoing Trump’s iconic campaign merchandise. Fireworks capped off the evening of celebration.

    The narrow margin has sparked immediate backlash from the left, however. Cepeda has refused to concede the race, noting that the preliminary count is not official or legally binding. “Once the official canvass takes place and its final result is produced, and the corresponding verifications have been carried out, we will recognize the official result that emerges from that structure,” he said. According to Reuters reporting, the official verification process produced almost no changes to preliminary counts in the May 31 first round, reducing the likelihood of a major shift in the final runoff result. Even so, sitting president Petro has already backed calls for a full audit of voting software, repeating unsubstantiated claims that dozens of polling stations were “compromised” and suggested neither candidate should be declared president based on preliminary results.

    Across the country, deep unease lingers over the divided result. Left-wing activists and Cepeda supporters say the razor-thin outcome lays bare the nation’s extreme polarization. “Such a narrow margin also worries us, because it reflects how divided the country is and the enormous challenges we face in defending democracy, peace, and people’s rights,” Catalina La Grande, a student activist in Barranquilla, told the BBC. While most post-result protests remained peaceful, late Sunday saw violent clashes break out in Cali, Colombia’s third-largest city, where demonstrators burned U.S. flags and police deployed tear gas to disperse crowds angered by the outcome.

    De la Espriella’s political profile carries unusual international context: he has held U.S. citizenship since 2023, after years of living and working in Miami, Florida. As a defense attorney, he previously represented high-profile clients including Alex Saab, an ally of Venezuela’s ousted leader Nicolás Maduro who faces U.S. money laundering charges, and David Murcia Guzman, one of Colombia’s most notorious convicted fraudsters. De la Espriella has described this work as standard practice for a defense lawyer. Observers have frequently drawn comparisons between de la Espriella and El Salvador’s populist hardline president Nayib Bukele, both for his aggressive security agenda and similar personal style, including his signature beard. He often speaks to crowds behind bulletproof glass, and his supporters regularly perform military-style salutes at campaign events.

    The result has already been celebrated by conservative leaders across the hemisphere and in the United States. Trump called the win in a post on Truth Social: “He Won, BIG!”, and had previously promised de la Espriella the “total support and strength of the United States” if he won. Argentina’s populist right-wing President Javier Milei released a statement praising Colombians for choosing “economic freedom, prosperity, unwavering security, and telling organised transnational crime and drug trafficking ENOUGH ALREADY.” Chile’s right-wing president José Antonio Kast added that “a new stage of freedom begins for Colombia that will allow them to recover security and prosperity.”

    De la Espriella’s victory caps a broader regional shift to the right across Latin America, where rising public concern over violent crime and insecurity has propelled hardline conservative candidates to power in recent years. It also marks a potential reset in U.S.-Colombia relations, which have become strained during Petro’s presidency, marked by public clashes between Petro and U.S. leaders over migration policy, trade tariffs, and military intervention in the region. For Colombia, the coming weeks will center on official vote verification, as the nation waits to confirm whether the narrow preliminary result will stand, and what “El Tigre’s” hardline new era will mean for the country’s decades-long conflict.

  • After Trump inspects Reflecting Pool, he says repair work will begin ‘immediately’

    After Trump inspects Reflecting Pool, he says repair work will begin ‘immediately’

    As the United States prepares to mark its 250th Independence Day celebration, the iconic National Mall Reflecting Pool has become the center of a growing political and public controversy, with President Donald Trump announcing urgent corrective action just weeks ahead of the national holiday.

    In a post to his Truth Social platform Sunday, President Trump confirmed he had personally assessed the condition of the 100-year-old landmark from the air as his helicopter returned to the White House from the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland. He stated that immediate repair work would get underway to address the damage and ongoing water issues plaguing the site. “I just inspected it, and could only say to myself, and those gathered around me, WOW, who would do such a thing? SICK, DERANGED PEOPLE!” Trump wrote in the post.

    The Reflecting Pool, completed in 1922 and stretching more than 2,000 feet between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, recently completed a $13 million full renovation project that included draining the pool and applying a fresh coat of blue epoxy paint to its basin. But just weeks after the project wrapped, the site has faced two overlapping crises: widespread reports of new paint peeling from the pool floor, and a thick algal bloom that has turned the once-clear blue water a vivid, unappealing shade of green. Trump has claimed that vandals deliberately damaged the new paint job ahead of the July 4 national celebration, alleging one perpetrator used a blade to cut a 250-foot gash into the pool’s coated facade.

    Washington DC’s US Attorney Jeanine Pirro has pledged aggressive legal action against anyone linked to the vandalism. “Anyone who is in a position of vandalising or attempting to vandalise will face the criminal justice system in DC,” Pirro told Fox News in an interview Sunday. A senior anonymous Trump administration official confirmed to CBS, the BBC’s US distribution partner, that five suspects were arrested on vandalism charges Saturday night, with five more issued police citations, and a total of 14 separate police reports filed over damage incidents. US Park Police, the federal agency responsible for patrolling National Mall monuments, has not responded to a BBC request to confirm these arrest numbers.

    The case has already drawn public scrutiny after police arrested former Olympic canoeing champion David “Davey” Hearn on vandalism charges Friday. Hearn has denied all wrongdoing in an interview with the BBC, insisting he only touched already peeling paint and did not cause any damage to the pool. “I didn’t destroy, rip, tear, peel, or remove any part of the paint,” Hearn said Saturday. “The condition of any part of the reflecting pool didn’t change. It wasn’t affected. It was the same before I got there as when I walked away.” He called his arrest an “arbitrary, capricious prosecution.”

    For the algal bloom turning the pool green, officials have already deployed chemical treatments including hydrogen peroxide to reduce the growth, and officials are now considering draining and refilling the pool for a second time this month to resolve the issue. The algal problem is not unprecedented: the Reflecting Pool has dealt with chronic leaks, structural aging, pipe failure, excess bird waste and recurring algal growth for decades, even prior to this year’s renovation.

    Over the weekend, a news photographer spotted a dead duckling floating in the pool’s water, though there is no confirmation yet of how the animal died or if its death is linked to chemical treatments or other repair work. Rosalina Stancheva Christova, an aquatic ecology professor at George Mason University who studies algal growth, collected a water sample from the pool June 16 and identified the dominant algae species as Desmodesmus, a common genus that she confirmed is “absolutely harmless” to humans and animals. Still, Christova warned that the site carries ongoing risk: visiting wild birds could introduce other algal species that host harmful bacteria, and the aquatic ecosystem of the man-made pool shifts rapidly. “These ecosystems are very dynamic, and the algal composition is changing really quickly,” she said, noting that the pool requires constant monitoring “to know which organisms are living there.”

  • US hopes to turn over ‘new leaf’ with Iran, but Trump threatens to resume bombing

    US hopes to turn over ‘new leaf’ with Iran, but Trump threatens to resume bombing

    A landmark round of technical negotiations between U.S. and Iranian officials got underway Sunday at Switzerland’s Burgenstock mountain resort, marking the first formal in-depth discussion between the two nations in modern history following last week’s landmark memorandum of understanding signed by Washington and Tehran. Leading the U.S. delegation, Vice President JD Vance outlined the White House’s stated goal: to turn a new page in relations between the United States and the Iranian people, extending what he called an “outstretched hand” to Tehran conditional on key concessions.

    Speaking to reporters on the opening day of talks mediated by Qatar and Pakistan, Vance said President Donald Trump has made a full reset of bilateral ties a top priority, contingent on Iran abandoning long-term nuclear ambitions and ending its role as a sponsor of regional instability. “This is a historic meeting,” Vance noted, adding that while the ongoing technical discussions would not resolve every outstanding disagreement overnight, they mark the first time both sides have sat down as collaborative negotiating teams to work through sticking points. The Iranian delegation is led by parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, with Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir also present in Burgenstock to support mediation efforts.

    Yet even as negotiators convened for the landmark talks, Trump injected sharp tension into the process Sunday, issuing a public threat of expanded military strikes against Iran via his Truth Social platform unless Tehran halts what he described as destabilizing actions by its proxies in Lebanon. “Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble,” Trump wrote. “If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder!!!”

    This threat aligned with recent escalatory moves across the region: Iran re-closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, a response to ongoing Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon that came just one day after a tentative ceasefire was reached between Israel and Hezbollah. The Israeli attacks that preceded the Strait closure killed at least 29 people, and Iran reiterated Sunday that it will not move forward with a broader comprehensive agreement with Washington until Israel ends all military operations in Lebanon.

    Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz doubled down on his country’s hardline position Sunday, confirming that Israeli troops operating in southern Lebanon face “no restrictions” on eliminating perceived threats, and adding that Israel has no plans to withdraw from the 10-kilometer deep security zone it currently occupies inside Lebanese territory. Katz’s remarks came alongside startling new polling data that reveals deep public anger in Israel over the outcome of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran launched in late February.

    The survey, conducted by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, found that 92% of Israeli respondents believe Iran emerged as the winner of the conflict. A full 83% of those polled said the war has weakened Israel’s long-term national security, while 86% hold a negative view of the final outcome. Nearly 73% of respondents reject Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Israel secured significant gains and eliminated an existential threat from Iran, a reflection of growing political uncertainty surrounding Netanyahu’s leadership. The poll results mirror widespread skepticism among Israel’s political and military elite, who widely view the end of the war as a turning point that could erode Israel’s regional influence.

    The talks in Switzerland have also thrown the close but increasingly strained relationship between the Trump administration and Netanyahu’s government into sharp relief. Last Friday, Vance pushed back against the common framing that criticism of the Israeli government inherently equates to antisemitism, noting that the Trump administration holds clear disagreements with Netanyahu on how the Iran war was concluded. “It’s just not the case that every criticism of Bibi Netanyahu’s policy decisions leads to antisemitism,” Vance said. He added that Israel is a valuable U.S. partner, similar to the United Kingdom or France, but that does not require aligned interests on every issue.

    Vance’s comments followed a stark warning he issued just one day earlier, when he argued that Trump is the only major global leader that remains openly sympathetic to Israel, urging Netanyahu’s government to avoid attacking its last powerful ally. “If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world,” Vance told reporters Thursday.

  • Thousands of Czechs rally against a government plan to overhaul the funding of public broadcasters

    Thousands of Czechs rally against a government plan to overhaul the funding of public broadcasters

    PRAGUE — Tens of thousands of Czech citizens filled the streets of the capital Sunday, turning out in a show of mass opposition to a controversial policy proposal from populist Prime Minister Andrej Babiš’s ruling coalition that critics warn would fatally undermine the independence of the country’s public broadcasting sector. The demonstration assembled directly outside the headquarters of Czech public television, building on a wave of similar protest actions that have already swept through regional capitals and Prague in recent weeks. The gathering comes 24 hours before public media employees are set to stage a nationwide warning strike to push back against the restructuring plan.

  • Ten years on, Brexit still divides Britain and casts a pall over its economy

    Ten years on, Brexit still divides Britain and casts a pall over its economy

    LONDON – It has been 10 years since United Kingdom voters cast the historic referendum that split the nation, upended decades of European integration, and continues to define British politics to this day. The 2016 vote that birthed Brexit – shorthand for British exit from the European Union – delivered a narrow but transformative result: 52% of voters, totaling more than 17 million people, backed leaving the bloc. That slim margin triggered the most sweeping restructuring of Britain’s economy and society since the end of World War II. Like any complex marital dissolution, the formal separation was far from instantaneous: the full process stretched out over nearly five years before Brexit became official.

    The Brexit campaign grew from mounting public frustration, fueled not just by discontent with EU governance but also the lingering economic fallout of the 2008 global financial crisis. Leave campaigners channeled that widespread anger, promising that an independent Britain would be reinvigorated, free to set its own priorities and focus entirely on domestic needs. Conversely, Remain supporters warned that exiting the bloc would trigger severe economic chaos and erode Britain’s global standing. A decade on from the 2016 vote, the outcomes of the historic decision are coming into sharp focus.

    ### Unmet Economic Promises and Lingering Stagnation
    Brexit backers, commonly called Brexiters, once outlined a bold vision: outside the EU, Britain would unleash the entrepreneurial, buccaneering spirit that once made it the world’s preeminent global power and build a thriving independent economy. While overlapping global shocks – the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and escalating Middle East tensions – have muddied outcomes, the promised economic revitalization has failed to materialize.

    The 27-nation EU remains the UK’s largest trading partner by a wide margin, but British businesses have faced persistent new hurdles to cross-Channel trade. Though no tariffs apply to most British goods entering the bloc, a thick web of non-tariff barriers has slowed commerce: burdensome customs documentation, strict border certification requirements, and new visa restrictions that increase time and cost for traders. Most of the ambitious new trade deals that Brexiters touted – most prominently a comprehensive bilateral agreement with the United States – have never been finalized.

    Independent economic analysis confirms the UK has paid a steep price for the split. Experts estimate the British economy is between 4% and 8% smaller today than it would have been if the country had voted to remain in the bloc. That gap translates to lower household living standards and billions of pounds in lost revenue that could have been directed to public services – including the country’s beloved National Health Service (NHS). During the campaign, Brexit leaders infamously promised a 350 million pound weekly boost to NHS funding, a claim emblazoned on their iconic red campaign bus that has never come to fruition.

    “Brexit has made the U.K. economy smaller than it otherwise would have been,” explained Jonathan Portes, a professor at King’s College London. Writing for the UK in a Changing Europe think tank, Portes noted: “The effect has not been a sudden collapse, but a gradual and cumulative drag on trade, investment and productivity.”

    Brexit supporters push back against short-term criticism, arguing that the benefits of leaving the bloc can only be measured over decades. They maintain that short-term economic disruption was a predictable tradeoff for regaining full control over key policy areas, most notably immigration rules.

    ### Immigration: A Broken Promise of Border Control
    Ending the free movement of people between the UK and EU was a core policy goal of Brexit, but the push to “take back control” of Britain’s borders has delivered mixed results at best. While net migration from European countries has plummeted as promised, overall net migration from non-EU nations has surged. That sharp rise is partly a product of visa rule changes enacted by the former Conservative government, designed to fill critical labor gaps in sectors heavily dependent on foreign workers, such as elder care.

    In recent years, the UK government has moved to tighten overall immigration rules, and net migration has fallen sharply from a peak of more than 900,000 in 2023 to just 171,000 in 2024. Even as overall numbers decline, public anger has erupted over illegal migration, particularly the small boat crossings of the English Channel that bring asylum seekers – many fleeing war and persecution in Afghanistan, Sudan, and other conflict zones – to British shores.

    Though these crossings account for a tiny fraction of total migration to the UK, the issue has become one of the country’s most divisive political flashpoints. Crossings peaked at 46,000 in 2022, and remained high at 41,000 in 2023. Public outrage has centered on the cost of housing asylum seekers at public expense, and in some cases, violent protests have erupted outside hotels that house asylum seekers, including attempted arson attacks on facilities.

    ### Shifting Political Tides and Growing Public Regret
    In the decade since the referendum, Britain’s political landscape has fractured dramatically, with support collapsing for the two long-dominant parties: the Conservatives and Labour. The Conservative Party, which held power for 14 years and spent most of its final term mired in intractable debates over UK-EU relations, was voted out of office in 2024. The new Labour government has failed to win over public confidence, with widespread expectations that Prime Minister Keir Starmer will announce his resignation in the near future.

    Many disillusioned voters have flocked to Reform UK, the right-wing party led by iconic Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage. Farage’s party has held the lead in nearly every national opinion poll for more than a year.

    Alongside this political upheaval, a growing consensus has emerged across the UK that the Brexit project has failed. Recent polling from Ipsos finds that 52% of British voters now favor rejoining the EU, compared to just 33% who oppose re-entry. The poll also found that 48% of respondents believe Brexit has performed worse than they expected, while only 9% say it has gone better than expected. Nearly half of voters – 48% – support holding a second referendum on EU membership, compared to just 27% who oppose a new public vote.

    ### A Path Forward Remains Elusive
    Against this backdrop, the ruling Labour Party has navigated a precarious political tightrope since winning the 2024 general election. Party leaders have explicitly ruled out reversing Brexit, or even rejoining the EU’s frictionless single market, leaving little room for major policy shifts. Starmer has pushed for a limited “reset” of UK-EU relations focused on easing trade barriers, built up after years of acrimonious negotiations. He is expected to announce new easing measures at an upcoming summit with EU leaders next month – if he still holds the office of prime minister by that time.

    Andy Burnham, widely seen as Starmer’s most likely successor, has softened his stance on re-entry while campaigning ahead of a recent key special election. Burnham defeated a Reform UK challenger in a constituency that heavily backed Brexit in 2016. “I am not proposing that the U.K. considers rejoining the EU,” Burnham said. “I respect the decision that was made at the referendum and it is going to undermine everything I have said about strengthening democracy if we don’t respect that vote.”

    Associated Press writer Jill Lawless contributed reporting from London.