Global Pulse

分类： politics

  • US justice department drops probe into Fed chairman Jerome Powell

    US justice department drops probe into Fed chairman Jerome Powell

    In a dramatic development that intersects long-running political tensions, Federal Reserve leadership battles, and questions of central bank independence, the U.S. Department of Justice has formally abandoned its criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over allegations of unauthorized building renovation cost overruns.

    Instead of a DOJ-led probe, the inquiry will now be handled through an internal review overseen by the Federal Reserve’s own inspector general, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced this week. The shift comes amid a tangled web of political friction that stretches back more than a year, tied to President Donald Trump’s long-running public feud with Powell over monetary policy.

    Last year, Trump first raised public complaints that the cost of the Federal Reserve’s headquarters renovation project had ballooned far beyond approved budgets, a critique that came in the middle of repeated demands from the president for the Fed to slash interest rates. After returning to office last year, Trump ramped up pressure on Powell, even floating the possibility of firing the Fed chair – a move that legal analysts widely argued would exceed executive authority and violate long-standing norms of central bank independence.

    Powell, whose current term as Fed chair is set to expire imminently, made waves in January when he took the unprecedented step of publicly disclosing that the Department of Justice had served subpoenas to the Federal Reserve and was weighing a criminal indictment against him over testimony he delivered to the Senate committee regarding the building renovation costs. In that groundbreaking public statement, Powell called the DOJ investigation “unprecedented” and argued it had been launched solely because of Trump’s anger over the Fed’s refusal to bend to political pressure and cut interest rates. Powell emphasized that the core issue at stake was the ability of the U.S. central bank to make monetary policy based on economic data rather than political intimidation, noting “This is about whether the Fed will be able to continue to set interest rates based on evidence and economic conditions, or whether instead monetary policy will be directed by political pressure or intimidation.” The White House has previously maintained that Trump had no knowledge of the original DOJ investigation.

    The decision to drop the probe follows a standoff over Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh to replace Powell as the next Fed chair, which is currently working its way through Senate confirmation. Key Senate Republican Thom Tillis had publicly refused to throw his support behind Warsh’s nomination until the Trump administration dropped the investigation into Powell, creating a critical roadblock for the White House’s priority of installing a new Fed leadership aligned with the president’s monetary policy goals.

    In an official statement released after the announcement, White House spokesman Kush Desai defended the shift to an internal probe, arguing that “American taxpayers deserve answers about the Federal Reserve’s fiscal mismanagement, and the Office of the Inspector General’s more powerful authorities best position it to get to the bottom of the matter.” Desai added that the White House retains full confidence that the Senate will quickly confirm Warsh, framing his appointment as a necessary step to “finally restore competence and confidence in Fed decision-making.”

    The development resolves one layer of tension in a fight that has shaken decades of norms around Federal Reserve independence, while setting the stage for the Senate to move forward on confirming a new Fed chair hand-picked by the Trump administration.

  • Trump says he speaks ‘for the UK more than Prince Harry’

    Trump says he speaks ‘for the UK more than Prince Harry’

    As the United States prepares to welcome King Charles III and Queen Camilla for a high-stakes four-day state visit starting next Monday, a public exchange between US President Donald Trump and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, has injected unexpected tension into bilateral diplomatic preparations. The disagreement centers on Harry’s recent comments about Washington’s responsibility in the Ukraine conflict, made during an unannounced working trip to the war-torn country.

    During his Kyiv visit, Harry — who stepped down from official royal duties alongside his wife Meghan Markle in 2020 — laid out a clear call for American leadership in upholding global security, without directly naming Trump. “The United States has a singular role in this story. Not only because of its power, but because when Ukraine gave up nuclear weapons, America was part of the assurance that Ukraine’s sovereignty and borders would be respected,” the Duke explained. He added that the US should “show that it can honour its international treaty obligations – not out of charity but out of its enduring role in global security and strategic stability.”

    When reporters asked Trump for his reaction to Harry’s remarks ahead of the royal visit, the president pushed back firmly, downplaying the Duke’s standing as a representative of the United Kingdom. “Prince Harry is not speaking for the UK, that’s for sure. I think I am speaking for the UK more than Prince Harry,” Trump told reporters. He opened his response with informal well-wishes for Harry and Meghan, who recently completed a private trip to Australia, and noted that he appreciates the Duke’s input “very much.” When asked whether Harry would be included in official engagements during the King’s visit, Trump declined to give a direct answer, only expanding on his excitement for King Charles’ arrival.

    “He’s a friend of mine. We’re really looking forward to it. We’ve spoken and we’re going to have a great time,” Trump said of the monarch. He added that all guests for the state visit events would be people who “love the UK,” a sentiment he said he shares, before offering unsolicited criticism of current UK policy directions. Trump argued that the UK government made “a big mistake on energy,” urging officials to open up more oil and gas extraction in the North Sea off Aberdeen. He also slammed the government’s immigration policies as another major misstep.

    Beyond his diplomatic comments on Ukraine, Harry’s Ukraine trip continued a decades-long family legacy of landmine clearance advocacy. The Duke traveled to Bucha, just north of Kyiv, to observe demining operations run by the HALO Trust, a prominent international landmine clearance charity. During the visit, he tested an AI-powered drone designed for detecting hidden explosives, a technological advancement that marks a stark shift from the manual work his mother, Princess Diana, witnessed nearly 30 years prior.

    “When my mother visited Angola nearly thirty years ago, deminers carried out their work on their hands and knees to uncover hidden explosives. Now they’re also using drones, AI and robots for greater precision and protection,” Harry noted. Diana’s 1997 visit to an active Angolan minefield, as a guest of the International Red Cross, is widely credited with catapulting the global landmine crisis into mainstream international attention, laying the groundwork for the Ottawa Treaty banning anti-personnel landmines.

    The upcoming royal visit comes at a period of significant strain in US-UK relations, primarily over the ongoing conflict with Iran. Trump has repeatedly criticized Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government for refusing to join US offensive operations against Iran, and even blocked the US military from launching strikes against Iranian targets from UK bases. In March, Trump publicly derided Starmer, saying he was “not Winston Churchill.” Still, the US president has struck an optimistic tone about King Charles’ visit, saying it could “absolutely” help repair fractured bilateral ties. He described the King as a “fantastic man” in his comments to BBC News. As of Wednesday, the BBC confirmed that it had requested comment from both Buckingham Palace and the UK Foreign Office on the exchange between Trump and Prince Harry, and had not yet received a response.

  • After last year’s fighting with Thailand, Cambodia readies new conscription law for men aged 18-25

    After last year’s fighting with Thailand, Cambodia readies new conscription law for men aged 18-25

    Phnom Penh, Cambodia – In a direct policy shift shaped by recent violent border tensions with neighboring Thailand, Cambodia’s Cabinet has formally approved a revised conscription law mandating two years of compulsory military service for all male citizens between the ages of 18 and 25. The legislative update comes eight months after two separate outbreaks of armed conflict along the Cambodia-Thailand shared border that left dozens dead and displaced hundreds of thousands of civilians on both sides of the divide.

  • Behind Nigeria’s murky coup plot – the money, the prayers and a Nollywood arrest

    Behind Nigeria’s murky coup plot – the money, the prayers and a Nollywood arrest

    For months, whispers and official silence shrouded the alleged Independence Day coup plot that targeted Nigeria’s sitting government last year. This week, the first public proceedings have finally lifted the veil, exposing new details of what prosecutors describe as an elaborate conspiracy to overthrow President Bola Tinubu, bringing long-unanswered questions into the public domain.

    The plot was scheduled to unfold on October 1, 2025, Nigeria’s 65th Independence Day, when the nation was set to mark decades of freedom from British colonial rule. The annual celebratory parade, scheduled to be attended by President Tinubu, was abruptly canceled at the eleventh hour, with government and military officials offering no public explanation for the last-minute change. It was not until January 2026 that the military made a sparse, short statement confirming that 16 unnamed senior military officers would face court-martial over the alleged plot, finally confirming publicly that an attempted takeover had been foiled.

    Now, court documents filed by state prosecutors at the Federal High Court in Abuja, the nation’s capital, have named the alleged mastermind of the conspiracy and laid bare the plotters’ strategy to destabilize the country ahead of their power grab. Six individuals, all civilians – including one serving police inspector and multiple retired military personnel – are facing trial in the High Court, as civilians are ineligible to be tried before military tribunals. All six have pleaded not guilty to 13 charges ranging from treason and terrorism to money laundering. While they are not believed to be the top leaders of the conspiracy, their open trial is expected to shine a light on a plot that investigators say drew participants from across all branches of Nigeria’s security forces.

    Nigeria has a long history of military coups, but has maintained uninterrupted civilian rule since 1999. In recent years, however, a wave of successful military takeovers across neighboring West African nations, paired with rising economic hardship in Nigeria and widespread accusations of a political system rigged to favor a small elite, has fueled persistent speculation that the country could be next.

    Court documents identify Colonel Mohammed Ma’aji, a 50-year-old Muslim born in western Niger State, as the plot’s chief strategist. Ma’aji spent much of his early military career deployed in the oil-rich Niger Delta, climbing the military ranks during the mid-2000s at the height of regional oil militancy, when heavily armed militant groups attacked oil infrastructure and kidnapped foreign workers for ransom. During this period, he built close professional ties to Timipre Sylva, a prominent oil businessman and former governor of Bayelsa State who helped broker a 2009 ceasefire and amnesty deal with militant groups in the region’s creeks. Multiple newspaper reports confirm Ma’aji coordinated security for Sylva during his unsuccessful 2015 campaign for a second term as governor, a relationship that investigators say is at the core of the alleged coup plot.

    Though Sylva, 67, has not been formally indicted in this week’s filings, his name appears on seven of the 13 charges, each entry marked with the notation “still at large.” A former oil minister during the final term of President Muhammadu Buhari, who left office in 2023, investigators allege Sylva was the plot’s key financier, bankrolling the effort to oust Buhari’s elected successor, Tinubu. A member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Sylva notably declined to back Tinubu’s 2023 presidential campaign.

    After the Independence Day parade was canceled, investigators raided Sylva’s Abuja residence. His spokesman has repeatedly denied any involvement, claiming the coup allegations and a separate arrest warrant for corruption are politically motivated. Sylva is currently in the United Kingdom for what his spokesman says is medical treatment, and has promised to return to clear his name – a step he has not yet taken.

    Prosecutors allege the conspiracy required substantial funding to secure equipment and buy influence, with charges noting six accused civilians received payments ranging from 2 million naira ($1,500) to 50 million naira ($37,000), which they “reasonably ought to have known forms proceeds of an unlawful act… terrorism financing.”

    Beyond financial details, a serving military investigator who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity shared the full scope of the plotters’ plans. The conspirators intended to storm Aso Rock, Nigeria’s heavily fortified presidential villa in Abuja, on the morning of October 1, leveraging insider intelligence gathered from co-conspirators already embedded at the compound. One of the indicted civilians, Zekeri Umoru, worked as an electrician at the villa, giving the plotters critical insight into the site’s layout and security protocols.

    After seizing control of the villa, the plotters planned to immediately detain President Tinubu and other top government leaders. The investigator further alleged the conspirators intended to assassinate Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godswill Akpabio, and House Speaker Tajudeen Abbas. Authorities got wind of the plot in the days leading up to Independence Day, however, and made the first arrests before the plan could be executed. Concerns over the plot’s scale and penetration of security forces led the military to cancel the Independence Day parade, with investigations and additional arrests continuing in the months after.

    Investigators say the conspirators also procured a fleet of sport utility vehicles to reach key strategic targets, including airports and other sensitive government sites. Of the 16 senior military officers arrested in connection with the plot, 14 are from the army, spread across multiple divisions, with one from the navy and one from the air force.

    One of the most high-profile names among the six indicted civilians is Sani Abdulkadir, a popular Islamic cleric from Zaria in Kaduna State. Abdulkadir was reported missing by his family in late 2025 after he traveled to Abuja to inquire why his bank account had been frozen, sparking public outcry over his disappearance. It was only revealed months later he had been taken into security custody. On Monday, a Federal High Court judge ordered his release, awarded him more than $3,500 in damages for proven human rights violations, and ordered security agencies to issue a formal apology. Just 24 hours later, prosecutors named him as a coup conspirator and ordered him re-detained, noting court records show he received $1,500 from a plot leader. Contrary to early speculation that he was recruited to spread radical Islam to destabilize the country, the investigator said Abdulkadir was brought on as a “spiritual ‘prayer-warrior’ for the operation” – a common role for clerics in northern Nigeria, where community leaders regularly offer prayers for supporters undertaking major endeavors.

    Earlier in 2026, an investigation by Nigerian newspaper Premium Times identified 40 total suspects, the vast majority serving military officers. Last week, the government inaugurated a closed-door military tribunal to try more than 30 of the accused officers, a decision that has drawn questions about transparency. One name that appears on leaked suspect lists but has not been brought into open court is Stanley Amandi, a popular Nollywood actor and director better known by his stage name “Stan K.” In January, the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN) confirmed to BBC Pidgin that Amandi, from the eastern city of Enugu, was arrested in September 2025 over allegations he was hired to serve as the plot’s propagandist. A legal source close to the investigation said Amandi was tapped to use his existing media connections and film production experience to build public support for the coup after the takeover.

    AGN leader Emeka Rollas Ejezie said the organization has reached out to Nigeria’s domestic spy agency, the Department of State Services (DSS), to arrange access for Amandi’s lawyer, wife, and doctor. The DSS has stated Amandi is not in their custody, and is instead being held by military intelligence, which has declined to comment on his detention or whereabouts. Amandi has not been able to respond to the allegations against him, and the AGN continues to push for confirmation of his location.

    The six defendants in the open High Court trial were remanded to DSS custody this Wednesday, with their next court date set for April 27 to hear bail applications. The limited details that have emerged so far have shaken Nigeria, where the last successful military coup took place in 1993 under General Sani Abacha. For many Nigerians, the trial offers the first chance to learn full details of what analysts say is the most serious coup attempt since the return to democracy in 1999 – a worrying development for a region that has already seen a string of military takeovers in recent years.

  • Xi’s everlasting passion for books

    Xi’s everlasting passion for books

    BEIJING – For Chinese President Xi Jinping, reading is far more than a casual pastime – it is an enduring passion and a core way of life that has shaped his decades-long journey from grassroots rural work to leading the world’s most populous nation. Beyond personal enrichment, Xi’s deep engagement with books has also become a unique diplomatic bridge, strengthening cultural connections between China and the global community and advancing dialogue and mutual understanding across different civilizations.

    Xi’s love of reading began in childhood, rooted in the educational values of his family. Born in Beijing to a revolutionary family, Xi grew up in a household that prioritized learning. His father, veteran revolutionary leader Xi Zhongxun, rarely purchased toys for Xi and his siblings, but was always open-handed when it came to buying books. He would regularly take the children to bookstores and let them pick whatever volumes sparked their interest.

    Chen Qiuying, who taught Xi Chinese when he was a teenager in 1965, recalled that even at a young age, Xi was a devoted reader of history and literature, with a particular fascination for the poetry of Tang Dynasty master Du Fu. Du, one of China’s most celebrated realist poets, wove profound empathy and care for ordinary people into his work, themes that would leave a lasting impression on Xi.

    In 1969, at just 15 years old, Xi was sent to work as an “educated youth” in Liangjiahe, a remote mountain village in Shaanxi Province in Northwest China. Among his few belongings were two large suitcases stuffed entirely with books. Over the seven years he spent living in a yaodong – a traditional cave dwelling carved into the region’s yellow loess hills – harsh living conditions never dimmed his enthusiasm for reading. Instead, books became a vital source of spiritual strength through those challenging years.

    Xi made use of every spare moment to read: he would study dictionaries during breaks from farm work, steal quiet moments to read while tending sheep on hilltops, and lose himself in books under the glow of a kerosene lamp long after dark. In one famous anecdote, he walked 15 kilometers along a rutted, dusty country road just to borrow a copy of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s *Faust*. He also drew great inspiration from Russian writer Nikolai Chernyshevsky’s *What Is to Be Done?*, where the main character’s unyielding resilience encouraged him through difficult times. By the end of his time in Liangjiahe, Xi had read nearly every classic work of literature he could get his hands on, once saying that the knowledge he draws on easily today all stems from the reading he did in those years.

    Over time, Xi developed a distinctive, thoughtful reading method: he describes the approach as “turning thick books thin, and thin books thick.” This means distilling the core essence from dense, complex texts to extract key insights, while diving deep into the layers of shorter, concise works to unpack their full depth and meaning. By the time he was admitted to Tsinghua University in 1975, he had read Karl Marx’s *Das Kapital* cover to cover three times, and filled 18 notebooks with his own reflections and analysis.

    For decades, no matter if he was serving as a grassroots local official or leading the entire country, Xi has maintained this consistent reading routine. He has also repeatedly encouraged both government officials and the general public across China to make reading a regular part of their lives.

    Global observers have long noted the significance of Chinese leaders’ reading habits, as the knowledge gained from books directly shapes how policy is conceived and implemented. As international outlet *The Diplomat* wrote in a piece on the topic, “Overseas analysts of China are understandably very interested in whether Chinese leaders are reading, whether they have time to read, and what kind of books they are reading. Leaders’ knowledge is formed by the books they read … This in turn is an important factor in determining the shaping and implementation of policy.”

  • What is Nato and which countries are in it?

    What is Nato and which countries are in it?

    A leaked internal Pentagon memo obtained by Reuters has exposed unprecedented proposals from the United States to impose punitive measures on NATO allies that the Trump administration accuses of failing to back the US and Israel during their late February military campaign against Iran. The controversial plans include the radical step of suspending Spain’s membership in the 77-year-old transatlantic alliance and reopening a formal review of the United Kingdom’s long-recognized sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.

    The disclosure comes amid a sustained wave of public criticism of NATO from President Donald Trump, who has spent months lashing out at member states for their perceived lack of support following the Iran conflict, which led to Iran imposing restrictions on commercial shipping through the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz. Trump has repeatedly questioned the alliance’s relevance, even labeling it a “paper tiger” and openly floating the possibility of a full US withdrawal from the bloc. In a post on his Truth Social platform following a recent meeting with new NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, the president doubled down on his stance, writing bluntly: “NATO WASN’T THERE WHEN WE NEEDED THEM, AND THEY WON’T BE THERE IF WE NEED THEM AGAIN.” He has also consistently accused fellow member nations of free-riding on the massive US military investment that underpins collective transatlantic security.

    NATO officials pushed back immediately on the suspension proposal, telling the BBC that the alliance’s founding treaty contains no legal mechanism to suspend or expel a member state. Downing Street also rejected the suggestion of reviewing Falkland Islands sovereignty, reaffirming that the UK’s claim to the territory remains unambiguous and fully rooted in the self-determination of the islands’ population.

    Founded in 1949 in Washington D.C. by 12 original signatory nations, NATO was initially created to counter Soviet expansion in Europe and foster political integration across the continent to prevent the resurgence of nationalist militarism. Today, the alliance counts 32 member states spanning North America and Europe, with the most recent expansions bringing Finland into the bloc in 2023 and Sweden in 2024, both abandoning decades of neutrality after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Georgia hold official candidate status and have formally requested membership.

    At the core of NATO’s collective defense framework is Article 5, which states that an armed attack against any single member is considered an attack against all, requiring members to take whatever action they deem necessary to restore security. To date, Article 5 has only been invoked once, in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States in 2001. A separate provision, Article 4, allows members to bring pressing security concerns to the alliance’s main decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, and has been used seven times since the alliance’s founding.

    In 2025, NATO leaders agreed to a landmark new defense spending target requiring all members to commit 5% of their national GDP to defense-related expenditure by 2035. Of that total, 3.5% must go toward core defense capabilities, with up to an additional 1.5% allocated to broader security infrastructure. Prior to this agreement, members operated under a non-binding 2% target, which all alliance nations finally met for the first time in 2025. The United States remains by far the alliance’s largest defense spender, contributing roughly $980 billion in 2025 – accounting for 60% of total NATO defense spending across all members. Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia, all frontline states facing direct Russian pressure, each spent over 3.5% of GDP on defense in 2025, while the UK reported 2.3% of GDP spent on defense that year, with a government target to reach 3% by the end of its next parliamentary term.

    Ukraine’s path to NATO membership remains one of the alliance’s most contentious issues. Russia has vehemently opposed Ukraine’s accession, viewing the expansion of alliance infrastructure to its border as an existential security threat. After the 2022 invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky pushed to accelerate the accession process, but former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed membership would only move forward after the conclusion of active hostilities. Most recently, in August 2025, President Trump stated that Ukraine would not be permitted to join NATO as part of any proposed peace deal with Russia, placing a major new cloud over Kyiv’s long-term membership aspirations. While NATO has labeled Russia’s invasion of Ukraine the most direct threat to transatlantic security in decades, the alliance has declined to deploy direct military support or impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine to avoid a direct armed conflict with nuclear-armed Russia. Individual member states, however, have provided billions of dollars in military and humanitarian aid to Kyiv since the invasion began.

  • ROK’s special counsel seeks 30-year sentence for ex-president Yoon over general treason

    ROK’s special counsel seeks 30-year sentence for ex-president Yoon over general treason

    In a landmark legal development stemming from one of South Korea’s most dramatic political crises in modern history, independent prosecutors have formally called for a 30-year prison term for former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on charges of general treason connected to a 2024 unauthorized drone incursion into the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

    The investigation into Yoon’s actions is being led by Cho Eun-suk, the special counsel appointed to probe allegations of insurrection and other criminal offences connected to Yoon’s 2024 emergency martial law declaration. Prosecutors argue that Yoon ordered the secret drone operation into Pyongyang around October 2024 as a deliberate military provocation against the DPRK. The incursion was designed to manufacture a security crisis, which Yoon planned to use as justification for his contested declaration of martial law two months later, according to the indictment.

    Prosecutors outlined the severe consequences of Yoon’s actions during Friday’s court proceedings: the unauthorized operation sharply escalated military tensions on the Korean Peninsula, a region already marked by decades of inter-Korean hostility. After the drone crashed in DPRK territory, sensitive classified information related to South Korea’s military operations and strategic assets was compromised, directly damaging the country’s national security interests, the prosecution team argued.

    Along with the request for Yoon, the special counsel’s office is seeking a 25-year prison sentence for former South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun, who is also a co-defendant in the case. Yoon, Kim, and a former South Korean counterintelligence commander were all formally indicted on general treason charges in November 2025.

    The case traces its origins to the night of December 3, 2024, when Yoon, who was still serving as sitting president at the time, made a sudden declaration of emergency martial law, accusing the opposition of engaging in anti-state activities. The move triggered immediate political chaos, and South Korea’s National Assembly voted within hours to revoke the declaration, rendering it legally void.

    Yoon made history in January 2025 when he was arrested and indicted while in detention as the suspected ringleader of the insurrection plot, becoming the first sitting South Korean president to ever be taken into custody and formally charged with criminal offences. As the legal process moves forward, the outcome of the trial is expected to reshape South Korea’s political landscape and set a lasting precedent for executive accountability in the country.

  • Macao SAR chief executive pledges strengthening cooperation with Spanish-speaking countries

    Macao SAR chief executive pledges strengthening cooperation with Spanish-speaking countries

    During an official reception hosted by the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government in Madrid on Wednesday, Macao SAR Chief Executive Sam Hou-fai announced that deepening and expanding partnerships with Spanish-speaking economies has been elevated to a strategic priority for the region. As part of this new strategic push, Sam outlined plans to extend the scope of Macao’s well-established platform bridging China and Portuguese-speaking countries to include Spanish-speaking nations, unlocking new cross-regional collaborative potential.

    Sam emphasized that Macao has nurtured long-standing, robust ties with Spain and other European nations. Moving forward, the SAR will prioritize deepening mutually beneficial cooperation across key sectors including bilateral trade, cultural exchange, tourism, and the conventions and exhibitions industry, while stepping up people-to-people connections that underpin long-term partnership.

    Against the backdrop of China’s upcoming 15th Five-Year Plan, which will map out the nation’s development blueprint for the next five years, Sam noted the framework opens up extensive new opportunities for China-Spain cooperation. Macao is actively aligning its own development priorities with the national plan and is currently drafting its third five-year development plan, which focuses on refining external cooperation mechanisms and building an inclusive platform that allows all stakeholders to share new development opportunities.

    Concha Andreu, Second Vice-President of the Spanish Senate, welcomed the initiative, noting that both Spain and China share a clear commitment to strengthening bilateral cooperation, and overall bilateral relations are currently on a steady positive growth trajectory.

    Andreu pointed out that China has delivered remarkable progress in technological innovation and other key fields in recent years, while Macao’s economy continues to demonstrate strong resilience and untapped growth potential. She added that as two leading global tourist destinations, Spain and Macao hold particularly promising cooperative prospects in culture, tourism, and the conventions and exhibitions sector.

    The Madrid reception drew more than 300 representatives from Macao’s government and business communities, alongside leaders and stakeholders from Spain’s economic and commercial sectors, marking a broad show of support for the new cooperative initiative.

  • Ties with US must be based on mutual respect: Venezuela’s acting president

    Ties with US must be based on mutual respect: Venezuela’s acting president

    In a major national rally held in Venezuela’s western Lara State as part of a nationwide campaign calling for an end to punitive U.S. measures and lasting peace, acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez has publicly reaffirmed that any future diplomatic relations between Caracas and Washington can only proceed on the foundation of full mutual respect. The high-profile statement came on the same day that new U.S. special envoy John Barrett touched down in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, a development that follows the January 2026 U.S. military operation that resulted in the forced removal of sitting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

    Rodriguez, who was leading the “Great National Pilgrimage for a Venezuela Without Sanctions and in Peace” — a cross-country movement that kicked off formally in Maracaibo on April 19, 2026, to rally public support for ending decades of U.S. economic restrictions — made clear that the Venezuelan side is open to continuing its diplomatic work agenda with the newly arrived U.S. representative, but that non-negotiable respect for Venezuelan sovereignty forms the baseline of any engagement.

    A core demand at the heart of Rodriguez’s address was the full, permanent removal of all the increasingly harsh economic sanctions that the United States has levied against Venezuela over the course of many years. These restrictions have placed crippling pressure on the country’s economy and everyday Venezuelan households for more than a decade. Even in the face of these punitive measures, Rodriguez highlighted that the Venezuelan government and its population have demonstrated remarkable resilience, successfully expanding domestic production and building up the country’s independent economic and institutional capacities against the odds.

    Looking ahead to the country’s future, Rodriguez called on all of Venezuela’s diverse political and social factions to set aside differences, engage in collective reflection, and work in unity to prevent a repeat of the January 3 U.S. military incursion that upended the country’s existing political order and led to Maduro’s forced seizure. “May missiles and bombs never again fall on our territory,” she emphasized, echoing the widespread Venezuelan public desire for lasting peace and sovereign self-determination. The address comes at a pivotal moment for U.S.-Venezuela relations, as Washington pushes its proposed political transition plan for the South American nation amid ongoing domestic and international tension over the intervention.

  • Nato says ‘no provision’ to expel members after report US could seek to suspend Spain

    Nato says ‘no provision’ to expel members after report US could seek to suspend Spain

    Tensions are roiling the North Atlantic Treaty Organization after a leaked internal Pentagon email laid out potential retaliatory measures against alliance members that have declined to back US military efforts in the ongoing Iran conflict, sparking a fierce debate over alliance cohesion and the future of collective defense commitments. The leak, first reported by Reuters via an unnamed senior US official, triggered immediate pushback from NATO leadership, affected member states and key European allies, who have moved quickly to reject any suggestion that membership could be revoked or suspended.

    The controversy stems from growing friction between the US administration under Donald Trump and several NATO allies over responses to the Iran conflict that escalated after joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran in late February. Following the attacks, Iran restricted commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical chokepoints for global energy supplies. Spain has drawn particular US ire for its refusal to grant US forces access to its two military installations — Naval Station Rota and Morón Air Base — to launch offensive operations against Iran.

    In the wake of the report claiming Washington was exploring options to suspend Spanish membership over its stance, a NATO spokesperson told the BBC that the alliance’s founding Washington Treaty contains no mechanism whatsoever to suspend or expel member states. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez also dismissed the leaked memo outright, noting that Madrid only recognizes formal official communications from the US government. “We do not work based on emails. We work with official documents and official positions taken, in this case, by the government of the United States,” Sánchez told reporters. He added that Spain remains committed to full cooperation with its allies, but that all actions will adhere strictly to international law.

    Beyond potential action against Spain, the leaked email also outlined a far more provocative proposal: reassessing longstanding US diplomatic support for the United Kingdom’s sovereignty claim over the Falkland Islands, a South Atlantic territory that is also claimed by Argentina as the Malvinas. The 1982 Falklands War between the UK and Argentina ended in British control of the archipelago, which sits roughly 300 miles off Argentina’s coast and 8,000 miles from the UK. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has already drawn a line against deeper involvement in the Iran conflict, saying that expanding UK participation in the war or supporting the current US port blockade of Iran runs counter to British national interests. While the UK has allowed the US to use its military bases for strikes on Iranian targets and has deployed Royal Air Force jets to shoot down Iranian drones, Starmer’s government has stopped short of full backing for the US campaign.

    Other retaliatory options outlined in the memo included removing so-called “difficult” allied nations from key leadership positions within the alliance’s bureaucratic structure. The memo did not propose a full US withdrawal from NATO or the permanent closure of American military bases across Europe, the source told Reuters. Instead, it framed access to basing, staging and overflight rights as the non-negotiable baseline for alliance participation, arguing that members that refuse to extend these privileges should face consequences.

    Trump has spent months openly criticizing NATO allies for what he frames as unequal burden-sharing and a lack of reciprocity in security commitments. Just last month, he repeated his longstanding claim that NATO has been a “one-way street” for the US, writing that “We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us.”

    In an official comment following the leak, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson did not deny the existence of the internal memo, and echoed the president’s criticism of alliance members. “Despite ‘everything’ the US has done for its NATO allies, ‘they were not there for us,’” Wilson stated. She added that the Defense Department will work to present the president with actionable options to ensure that allies move beyond being a “paper tiger” and begin contributing their fair share to collective defense efforts, declining to offer further detail on internal deliberations.

    Key European leaders have moved quickly to tamp down divisions and reaffirm their commitment to alliance unity in the wake of the leak. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni used a recent EU summit in Cyprus to call on all NATO members to close ranks, arguing that the alliance remains an indispensable source of collective strength for the transatlantic community. “We must work to strengthen NATO’s European pillar… which must clearly complement the American one,” Meloni told reporters.

    A German government spokesperson echoed that sentiment in a regular Berlin press briefing, saying that Spain’s NATO membership is not in any doubt: “Spain is a member of NATO. And I see no reason why that should change.” Other European powers, including France, have joined the UK in saying they will only commit to securing the Strait of Hormuz after a lasting ceasefire or end to the conflict. The BBC has reached out to both the Pentagon and 10 Downing Street for additional comment on the leak and the proposals outlined in the memo.