分类： politics

Tensions between the United States and Iran have spiked dramatically in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, after former U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new U.S. military escort mission for commercial shipping through the waterway, prompting Tehran to issue an explicit threat to attack any American forces that enter the strait.

The current standoff stems from a months-long conflict that has deadlocked diplomatic negotiations since a ceasefire between the U.S.-Israeli coalition and Iran went into effect on April 8. At the heart of the dispute is Iran’s decision to block access to the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global chokepoint that carries a third of the world’s seaborne oil and natural gas exports, along with key supplies of agricultural fertilizer. Iran’s blockade has choked off global energy and commodity flows, while the U.S. has retaliated with its own counter-blockade of Iranian ports.

On Sunday, Trump took to his social platform Truth Social to unveil the new maritime escort operation, which he branded “Project Freedom”. He framed the mission as a humanitarian intervention, designed to assist hundreds of commercial ships and crews trapped in the Gulf region, many of which are facing dwindling supplies of food and essential provisions. “We will use best efforts to get their Ships and Crews safely out of the Strait. In all cases, they said they will not be returning until the area becomes safe for navigation,” Trump wrote, confirming the operation would get underway on Monday.

The U.S. leader also noted that his diplomatic representatives were holding constructive talks with Iranian officials, adding that ongoing discussions could yield a mutually beneficial agreement for both sides. Notably, however, he made no public reference to the 14-point peace proposal that Tehran says it submitted last week to end the conflict, which includes a one-month deadline for negotiations to reopen the strait, lift the U.S. blockade, and formally end hostilities, according to U.S. news outlet Axios, which cited two anonymous sources briefed on the Iranian plan.

Within hours of Trump’s announcement, Iran’s military central command issued a firm rebuke. In a statement carried by Iranian state broadcaster IRIB, Major General Ali Abdollahi emphasized that all safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz must be coordinated with Iranian forces under any circumstances. “We warn that any foreign armed force — especially the aggressive US military — if they intend to approach or enter the Strait of Hormuz, will be targeted and attacked,” Abdollahi said. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards doubled down on the warning Sunday, framing Trump’s choice as a binary one: “an impossible operation or a bad deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

U.S. Central Command has assembled a large-scale force for the Hormuz mission, including guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 land and sea-based aircraft, advanced multi-domain unmanned surveillance and strike platforms, and 15,000 active-duty service members. As of April 29, maritime intelligence firm AXSMarine recorded more than 900 commercial vessels stuck in the Gulf region amid the ongoing blockade.

The escalating standoff has sparked deep concern among U.S. European allies, who face major economic damage from prolonged closure of the strait. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul publicly called for the immediate reopening of the waterway, and in a call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Wadephul stressed that Germany supported a negotiated settlement, but insisted “Iran must completely and verifiably renounce nuclear weapons and immediately open the Strait of Hormuz.”

French President Emmanuel Macron, who has led efforts to organize an international coalition to secure the strait alongside Britain and other partners, said the only viable path forward is “a coordinated reopening by the United States and Iran.”

Global energy markets have already been roiled by the blockade: current oil prices sit roughly 50 percent higher than pre-conflict levels, driven almost entirely by supply chain disruptions through the strait.

Trump, who spent the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, declined to specify what actions would prompt new U.S. military strikes against Iran, but warned that any interference with the humanitarian escort mission would be met with force. “If in any way, this Humanitarian (ship-guiding) process is interfered with, that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully,” he wrote.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent doubled down on Washington’s pressure campaign, telling Fox News that the U.S. naval blockade is part of a sweeping economic embargo designed to cripple the Iranian government. “We are suffocating the regime, and they are not able to pay their soldiers,” Bessent said. “This is a real economic blockade, and it is in all parts of government.”

For more than 100 years, Wales – the birthplace of the UK’s beloved National Health Service and a once-thriving industrial powerhouse – has stood as an unshakable stronghold of the UK Labour Party. Woven into the very identity of the nation’s working-class communities, Labour’s roots here run deep: the party’s first leader, Keir Hardie, held a seat in the industrial South Valleys, and Welsh statesman Aneurin Bevan founded the NHS in 1948. Since the creation of Wales’ devolved parliament, the Senedd, in 1999, Labour has held uninterrupted control of the regional government, overseeing key portfolios from healthcare to education. But that decades-long hold is on the brink of collapse ahead of the May 7 Senedd elections, as persistent cost-of-living crises push long-loyal voters to abandon historic political loyalties for anti-establishment alternatives.

Polling data widely projects Labour’s 27-year run of devolved government will end this election cycle. The new proportional voting system leaves the final outcome unclear, but surveys show Labour trails both the hard-right Reform UK and progressive Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru, mirroring a national trend where the ruling Labour Party faces unprecedented pressure from both the far left and far right of the political spectrum. A defeat in Wales would deliver a devastating blow to UK Labour leader Keir Starmer, who has led the party for two years, and is expected to fuel growing calls for his resignation from within party ranks.

Many long-time Labour voters say the party has abandoned its working-class roots, pushing them to seek options elsewhere. Ross Mumford, a 59-year-old delivery driver in Cardiff who has voted Labour his entire life, following the same loyalty as his father and grandfather, called the break from Labour a generational end to a family tradition. Critical of Starmer’s handling of the Peter Mandelson scandal, which he accuses the leader of lying about, Mumford will now cast his vote for Reform UK, drawn to party leader Nigel Farage’s reputation as a straight-talking outsider. “Let’s give them a try. What have we got to lose?” he said, echoing a common sentiment among voters frustrated by Labour’s governance since the party took power from the Conservatives in 2024 after 14 years of Conservative rule.

Hope Porter, a 35-year-old artist and former Labour voter in Cardiff, plans to vote for the left-wing Green Party, angered by Starmer’s stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict. “They’re Tories in red at this point. I don’t think they are actually for working class people anymore,” she said. Not all long-time supporters have abandoned the party, however. Sitting near a statue of Aneurin Bevan in central Cardiff, 83-year-old retiree Sue Jenkins says she remains loyal to Labour. While she acknowledges Starmer could improve his performance, she praises his stance against former U.S. President Donald Trump over the U.S.-Israel conflict. “If Labour don’t get in, I’ll be very upset,” she said.

Labour candidate Huw Thomas argues that the complex new voting system makes an overall majority for any party unlikely, leaving the race wide open. “The narrative that this is the end of the Labour Party in Wales, I don’t think that’s a given,” he told reporters. On the campaign trail in traditional Labour territories, anti-establishment parties are seeing unprecedented momentum. In Merthyr Tydfil, 23 miles north of Cardiff where Keir Hardie once served as MP, Reform UK volunteers distribute campaign fliers to passing voters, drawing honks of support from drivers and occasional criticism from opponents. The town, once a global hub of coal mining and iron production, still struggles with high unemployment and systemic deprivation, says Reform candidate David Hughes. “People are losing hope,” he noted.

Robert Clarke, a 69-year-old Reform volunteer, cites the party’s pledges to scrap net-zero climate targets – he opposes large-scale wind farm development across Wales’ scenic countryside – and crack down on irregular migration as key reasons for his support. “Unless we change the direction this country is taking, I feel my grandchildren will not have a country,” he said. Further south in the market town of Pontypridd, Plaid Cymru campaigners are also capitalizing on voter discontent, knocking on doors in what has long been safe Labour territory. Candidate Heledd Fychan says the party is drawing thousands of disaffected Labour voters, who feel betrayed by Starmer’s decision to cut heating subsidies for elderly residents. “We’re definitely picking up disaffected voters,” Fychan said. Retired teacher Ceri James, 65, of Cardiff, says he will vote Plaid Cymru for their positive, community-focused policy agenda.

Political analysts say a Labour loss in Wales would trigger immediate turmoil at the national level, with widespread speculation that disgruntled Labour MPs in Westminster would move to oust Starmer from his leadership position. Laura McAllister, a politics professor at Cardiff University, told AFP that a defeat “will pose enormous problems for the party.” As voters prepare to head to the polls, the election is set to be one of the most significant political shifts in modern Welsh history, ending an era of unbroken Labour rule and reshaping the future of UK politics.

Western Australia has become the latest Australian state to advance sweeping rental market reforms centered on a full ban on no-grounds evictions, a policy shift that has ignited sharp disagreement between state government leaders, housing industry representatives and tenant advocacy groups amid an ongoing national housing affordability crisis. The proposal comes as Western Australia grapples with one of the country’s tightest rental markets, with plummeting available supply and soaring rental costs that have put unprecedented strain on low- and middle-income renters across the state.

Under the planned changes to Western Australia’s Residential Tenancies Act, private landlords will only be permitted to end a tenancy if they can demonstrate a legally valid reason for eviction. Acceptable reasons outlined in the reform package include the property owner or an immediate family member planning to move into the home, the need for major structural renovations or full demolition of the property, repeated breaches of tenancy terms by the renter, sale of the property, consistent non-payment of rent, and documented illegal activity occurring on the premises. Beyond the ban on no-fault evictions, the reforms also introduce new limits on what personal background information landlords and real estate agents can request from prospective tenants, along with a mandate that requires property owners to offer at least one rent payment option that does not charge extra processing fees to renters.

State officials confirmed that the Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety will launch a public consultation period to gather feedback on the fine details of the legislation as the drafting process moves forward. In a formal announcement of the reforms, Western Australian Premier Roger Cook emphasized that the changes are designed to reinforce rental security and build a more equitable housing market for all residents. “Ending no-grounds terminations and replacing them with commonsense, clearly defined reasons for eviction makes Western Australia’s rental market far fairer,” Cook said. “This next wave of residential tenancies reforms builds on our previous changes, which included a ban on competitive rent bidding and limiting rent increases to no more than once every 12 months.”

Commerce Minister Tony Buti added that the reform package responds directly to growing cost-of-living pressures that have left many private renters at constant risk of unexpected displacement. “The government is committed to reform that ensures fairness across the board, and that includes making sure no Western Australian loses their private tenancy amid rising cost-of-living pressures,” Buti said. “This has flow-on benefits for the entire community. At the same time, the next phase of tenancy reforms demonstrates our commitment to providing stronger protections for renters and a fairer, more secure housing system for all.”

Not all stakeholders have backed the plan, however. The Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA) has emerged as the policy’s most prominent critic, with president Suzanne Brown warning that the change will backfire for both landlords and renters, leaving “no winners” in the already strained rental market. Brown stressed that the organization’s opposition is not rooted in anti-tenant bias, but in concern for the long-term stability of Western Australia’s rental supply. “Across the state, the rental market has not fully recovered from the mass exodus of investors that followed the COVID-19 pandemic,” Brown said. “Western Australia cannot afford to lose any more rental properties. Another drop in supply will see the vacancy rate fall even further, competition for available properties increase, and put even more upward pressure on rent prices that are already out of reach for many families.”

Tenant advocacy groups have pushed back strongly against these warnings, arguing that data from other Australian states that have already implemented no-grounds eviction bans shows no measurable negative impact on overall rental supply. Jesse Noakes, a campaigner with the End Unfair Evictions coalition, noted that even if some property investors choose to exit the market following the reform, existing properties do not disappear from the housing system entirely. “Even if a property investor sells a house, it is not as if it disappears into a puff of smoke. Either it houses someone who was previously renting, or it returns to the rental market shortly after,” Noakes said. Citing data from Anglicare, he added that available rental supply in Western Australia has already collapsed from more than 14,000 available properties in 2018 to just 3,000 in 2024, meaning the market cannot get any tighter than it already is. “The rental market can’t get any worse – this can only make things better for renters across the state,” he said.

While some progressive political leaders have welcomed the announcement as a long-overdue win for tenant rights, the Western Australian Greens have argued that the proposed reforms do not go far enough to address the state’s housing crisis. Tim Clifford, the Greens’ WA housing spokesperson, called the ban a historic step forward, but warned that similar legislation in other Australian states contains significant loopholes that still allow landlords to carry out de facto no-fault evictions, such as through extreme rent hikes that force renters to leave voluntarily. “We’re still going to introduce our rent cap bill this week, because we do know the government will walk back from any reforms if we do not maintain pressure on them to deliver stronger protections,” Clifford said.

Sydney, Australia – As public hearings kick off for Australia’s national royal commission investigating rising antisemitism, witnesses are delivering harrowing firsthand accounts of grief, fear, and a dramatic shift in social acceptance of anti-Jewish hatred tied to the December 2024 Bondi Beach Hanukkah shooting that left 15 people dead. The commission was convened in direct response to the deadly attack, the first major public inquiry of its kind focused on addressing a documented surge in antisemitic violence and harassment across the nation.

Sheina Gutnick, the daughter of victim Reuven Morrison, was the first witness to take the stand at the Sydney public hearing on Monday. Morrison, a Jewish Australian who fled the Soviet Union at age 14 and built his life in Australia, meeting his wife on iconic Bondi Beach, was killed while rushing to stop the attackers by hurling objects at the gunmen to disrupt their shooting rampage. In raw, emotional testimony, Gutnick detailed the abuse she has endured in the attack’s aftermath, including direct messages calling for her own death. She also described a stark, alarming shift in the visibility of antisemitism dating back to October 2023, saying anti-Jewish rhetoric has rapidly moved from the margins to mainstream public discourse.

“I felt as though antisemitism was allowed to come into the open,” Gutnick told the commission. “All of a sudden it was socially, morally acceptable for antisemitic comments to be made in public discourse.” Even the place her parents fell in love now carries heavy, conflicting emotions for Gutnick: “Bondi held ‘complicated’ feelings for me, despite having beautiful childhood memories at the famous beach,” she added.

The attack, carried out by 50-year-old gunman Sajid Akram who was shot dead by responding police at the scene, also involved his son Naveed Akram, the alleged second attacker. Naveed Akram was critically wounded during the police response, has since been moved from hospital to custody, and faces 59 criminal charges including 15 counts of murder and one count of committing a terrorist act.

A second witness, identified only as AAL for safety reasons, also broke down during his testimony, describing decades of love for his adopted country after moving from South Africa in the 1980s, but now questioning whether it is a safe home for his grandchildren. “I treated Australia as home from the day I stepped off the plane,” AAL said. “I have to admit things have changed – I have to think very seriously whether this is the country for my grandchildren.”

Commission officials confirmed that as of Monday morning, nearly 7,500 public submissions have been received from community members and stakeholders across the country. This first phase of public hearings, scheduled to run through May 15, centers on collecting firsthand lived experiences of antisemitism from victims and community members.

Last week, Virginia Bell, a former High Court justice leading the inquiry, released an interim report containing 14 urgent policy recommendations. Key proposals include strengthening national gun reform regulations and expanding dedicated police protection currently reserved for major Jewish high holy days to all Jewish community events. Bell has already noted that the sharp spike in antisemitism recorded in Australia mirrors surges seen across other Western nations, and is directly linked to ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

“It’s important that people understand how quickly those events can prompt ugly displays of hostility towards Jewish Australians simply because they’re Jews,” Bell said ahead of this week’s hearings. The commission is on track to deliver its final full report to the government on the one-year anniversary of the December shooting.

Against a backdrop of shifting global alliances and rising geopolitical uncertainty driven by U.S. policy shifts under Donald Trump, dozens of European leaders and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney convened in Armenia’s capital Yerevan on Monday for the latest summit of the European Political Community (EPC), a biannual forum designed to strengthen cross-continental security cooperation.

The geopolitical shadow of U.S. President Donald Trump hangs heavily over the two-day gathering, held at a strategic crossroads between Russia and the Middle East — the two core topics dominating the summit agenda. Ahead of the official opening of talks, European Council President Antonio Costa posted to social media Sunday after arriving in Yerevan, noting that leaders from across Europe, joined by Canada as an invited guest, would collaborate on strategies to boost collective security and regional resilience.

Two ongoing conflicts have sent shockwaves through transatlantic relations in recent months: the escalating Iran war, which has sent global energy prices soaring and disrupted international markets, and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now grinding into its fifth year. Recent tensions between Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz — who publicly criticized Washington’s handling of the Iran conflict — prompted the U.S. to announce plans to withdraw 5,000 American troops from Germany, deepening existing doubts about Washington’s long-term commitment to defending its NATO allies in Europe.

Key attendees at the summit include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte; Merz will be represented by French President Emmanuel Macron for the proceedings. Notably, Carney’s participation marks the first time a non-European leader has joined EPC talks, a shift widely interpreted as a response to closer alignment between Ottawa and Europe amid shared pushback against Trump’s policies. Like many European economies, Canada has taken major damage from Trump’s sweeping tariffs, and Carney has emerged as a leading voice for middle powers pushing back against the U.S. president’s unilateral agenda. Earlier this year, he delivered a widely cited address calling on mid-sized nations to unite in the face of a new global order defined by great power competition and the erosion of long-standing international rules-based systems.

Sebastien Maillard, a special adviser at the Paris-based Jacques Delors Institute think tank, noted that the EPC was originally framed as a cooperative body focused on countering Russian aggression after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. “With the invitation to Canada, this initiative — which was initially driven by geography — is now taking on an anti-Trump slant,” Maillard explained. In a tangible step to deepen its ties with Europe, Canada has already become the first non-European country to join the EU’s defense financing scheme, as Ottawa actively seeks to diversify its economic and security partnerships away from its traditional southern neighbor the U.S., while expanding bilateral trade cooperation with the bloc. A senior anonymous EU official noted that “Canada has a way of looking at the world and looking at ways to solve the challenges we have currently that Europe shares to a great extent.”

Launched in 2022 on the initiative of Emmanuel Macron, the EPC was created in direct response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, bringing together all EU member states alongside 21 additional non-EU countries for informal dialogue. Unlike formal EU summits, the EPC does not typically produce binding policy decisions, instead prioritizing open multilateral and one-on-one discussions between leaders. Most delegates arrived in Yerevan on Sunday for an informal opening dinner, with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expected to join Monday after a technical issue with his aircraft forced an emergency landing in Turkey, requiring him to stay overnight in Ankara.

Monday’s gathering marks the first time the EPC has held a summit in the Caucasus region, a milestone that comes as Armenia actively pursues closer ties with the European Union while carefully reducing its long-standing reliance on traditional ally Russia. The EPC summit will be followed Tuesday by a formal EU-Armenia summit featuring European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, who has described the meeting as a “major milestone” in Armenia’s rapprochement with the bloc.

Relations between Yerevan and Moscow have deteriorated sharply in recent years, fueled by widespread anger in Armenia over the failure of Russian peacekeepers to intervene during recurring military conflicts between Armenia and neighboring Azerbaijan. Under Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Armenia has adopted an official strategy of “diversification”, maintaining limited ties with Russia while expanding political and economic links with Western institutions. The country of 3.5 million signed a comprehensive partnership agreement with the EU in 2017, and formally announced its intention to apply for EU membership last year. In April, the EU deployed a special mission to Armenia to help the country counter foreign interference, amid widespread intelligence suggesting Russia is running a large-scale disinformation campaign to disrupt Armenia’s June general elections.

While Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated he is “completely calm” about Armenia’s outreach to the EU, he has issued a clear warning that simultaneous membership in both the EU and the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union is “simply impossible.”