Global Pulse

分类： world

  • Israel says Hamas armed wing chief killed in Gaza strike

    Israel says Hamas armed wing chief killed in Gaza strike

    In a confirmed development over the weekend, Israeli security and military forces announced they had successfully eliminated Ezzedine Al-Haddad, the top commander of Hamas’s armed wing, whom Israel identifies as a key architect of the deadly October 7, 2023 cross-border attacks from Gaza into Israel. The targeted airstrike was carried out Friday in the densely populated Rimal neighborhood of central Gaza City, striking a residential building in the area.

    The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security agency, jointly released a statement Saturday confirming the operation’s success. “The IDF and the ISA announce that yesterday, in a precise strike in the area of the City of Gaza, the terrorist Ezzedine Al-Haddad was eliminated,” the joint statement read. Multiple Hamas officials have independently confirmed Haddad’s death to Agence France-Presse, matching Israel’s account of the operation. According to one senior Hamas source, Haddad was assassinated in a strike that hit both a civilian residential apartment and a civilian vehicle in Gaza City. The same source confirmed that Haddad was killed alongside his wife and one of his daughters.

    Photographs captured by AFP journalists on the ground show mourners carrying Haddad’s flag-wrapped body on a stretcher pulled from the rubble of the targeted building. His remains were transported to a local mosque for funeral prayers before a processional through city streets to his burial site.

    Israeli military leadership has framed the elimination as a major breakthrough in its ongoing campaign against Hamas. IDF Chief Lieutenant Colonel Eyal Zamir called the killing a “significant operational achievement” in a public statement Saturday. “In every conversation I held with the hostages who returned, the name of the arch-terrorist Ezzedine Al-Haddad… came up again and again,” Zamir said. “Today, we succeeded in eliminating him. The IDF will continue to pursue our enemies, strike them, and hold accountable everyone who took part in the October 7th massacre.”

    Israeli officials say Haddad was not only a core planner of the October 7 attacks but also oversaw the group’s system of holding Israeli hostages captured during the incursion. The IDF claimed Haddad deliberately positioned himself near hostages to avoid being targeted, in an attempt to shield himself from Israeli assassination attempts.

    Haddad’s killing marks the latest in a string of targeted assassinations of senior Hamas leaders by Israel since the October 7 attacks. Prior to Haddad, Israeli forces have killed Yahya Sinwar, the group’s top political leader widely seen as the mastermind of the October 7 operation, as well as Mohammed Deif, the longtime commander of Hamas’s armed wing who was also identified as a key plotter of the incursion. Beyond Gaza, Israeli strikes have also targeted Hamas operatives in neighboring Lebanon, killing senior commanders from the Iran-aligned militant group Hezbollah, including its longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah.

    According to Hamas sources, Haddad, 55, was appointed to lead the group’s armed wing in May 2023, after his predecessor was killed in a previous Israeli assassination strike. He had already survived six separate Israeli assassination attempts prior to Friday’s strike, a Hamas source told AFP. Beyond his role as military commander, Haddad was a founding member of Hamas’s internal security service and oversaw multiple prisoner and hostage exchange negotiations, including the temporary ceasefire swap that took place in November 2023.

    The October 7 attacks, which were led by Hamas armed wing militants, killed 1,221 people in Israel according to an AFP tally compiled from official Israeli government data. Militants also abducted 251 people and took them back to Gaza as hostages. In response, Israel launched a large-scale retaliatory military campaign in Gaza that has killed more than 72,700 Palestinians in the territory, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, figures that the United Nations has deemed reliable.

    Even after a temporary ceasefire was agreed in October 2024, daily violence continues to grip Gaza, with both Israeli forces and Hamas repeatedly accusing the other side of truce violations. Since the ceasefire went into effect, Gaza’s health ministry reports at least 856 Palestinians have been killed in ongoing Israeli strikes, while the IDF confirmed five of its soldiers have been killed in militant operations in the territory during the same period.

  • Trump, Nigeria claim killing of senior IS leader

    Trump, Nigeria claim killing of senior IS leader

    In a landmark counterterrorism success announced jointly by the United States and Nigerian governments, a top-ranking Islamic State leader identified as Abu-Bilal al-Minuki — the group’s global second-in-command — has been killed in a precision joint operation in northeast Nigeria’s Lake Chad region. The strike, which also eliminated several of al-Minuki’s senior lieutenants, marks one of the most significant blows to the jihadist network’s leadership in recent years.

    US President Donald Trump first broke the news of the operation in a post to his Truth Social platform, confirming he had personally authorized the mission. “Tonight, at my direction, brave American forces and the Armed Forces of Nigeria flawlessly executed a meticulously planned and very complex mission to eliminate the most active terrorist in the world from the battlefield,” Trump wrote in the announcement.

    Nigerian President Bola Tinubu later released an official statement confirming the outcome of the operation, noting that the strike targeted al-Minuki’s fortified compound in the Lake Chad Basin, a volatile, resource-scarce region that spans the borders of Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon. The Nigerian army detailed that the operation was a coordinated air-land assault carried out between midnight and 4 a.m. local time on Saturday, following weeks of intelligence gathering on al-Minuki’s hidden stronghold.

    Nigerian military spokesman Sani Uba explained that intelligence confirmed al-Minuki and his loyal cell had established a concealed, heavily fortified enclave in a remote village within Borno State, the heart of a 17-year-long Islamist insurgency that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions across northeast Nigeria. Both US and Nigerian officials frame al-Minuki’s death as a catastrophic disruption to IS global operations. The Nigerian defense statement called him a critical operational and strategic leader who not only directed IS activity in West Africa and the Sahel, but also provided guidance to IS affiliates across the globe on media strategy, economic warfare, and the production of weapons, explosives and drone technology.

    “This operation dealt a heavy blow to the ranks of the Islamic State,” Tinubu said, emphasizing the coordinated effort between the two nations’ armed forces. “Our determined Nigerian Armed Forces, working closely with the Armed Forces of the United States, conducted a daring joint operation that removes a key coordinator of global terror networks.”

    Al-Minuki, who was also known by the alias Abu-Mainok, had been subject to US sanctions since 2023 over his terror activities. A former senior commander in Boko Haram — the original jihadist group that launched its insurgency in northeast Nigeria in 2009 — al-Minuki was linked to some of the group’s most notorious atrocities. Nigerian military records tie him directly to the 2018 Dapchi kidnapping, in which more than 100 schoolgirls were abducted from their dormitory in Yobe State. Between 2015 and early 2016, he also facilitated the transfer of hundreds of Islamist fighters to Libya to reinforce IS operations in North Africa, according to official military accounts. In recent years, he oversaw coordinated IS-linked attacks targeting ethnic and religious minority communities across the Sahel and West Africa, officials confirmed.

    Nigeria has faced growing pressure from the United States since late 2025, with Washington accusing the Tinubu administration of not moving aggressively enough to root out jihadist insurgent groups operating across the country’s northern regions, including Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), an IS-aligned offshoot. The joint operation follows a December 25 airstrike in northwestern Sokoto State, carried out by US forces alongside Nigerian partners, that targeted fighters from the Islamic State in the Sahel group, which is primarily based in neighboring Niger. In the weeks following that strike, Washington deployed hundreds of additional US troops to Nigeria to train and support local counterterrorism forces.

    Tinubu opened his statement thanking Trump for his continued partnership, calling the US “an indispensable ally in our fight to eliminate terror from our soil.” He added that he looked forward to “more decisive strikes against all terrorist enclaves across the nation” in the coming months. The Nigerian army confirmed that no Nigerian or US military personnel were killed, and no coalition military assets were lost during the operation, a rare clean outcome for a high-risk counterterrorism mission in the region’s difficult terrain.

  • War in Middle East: latest developments

    War in Middle East: latest developments

    Just one day after the United States broker a 45-day extension of a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, the Israeli military launched a new wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah positions across southern Lebanon, marking an abrupt end to the temporary calm that followed the Friday diplomatic breakthrough. The escalation has triggered mass displacement of local residents, with hundreds of civilians fleeing five targeted southern villages toward the coastal city of Sidon and Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, according to the country’s official National News Agency.

    The violence was not confined to rural border areas: State media confirmed that an Israeli airstrike hit a multi-story residential building in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre, carried out hours after the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for the structure. AFP correspondents on the ground confirmed the strike. Separately, Lebanon’s health ministry announced that an Israeli strike in the southern town of Haruf killed three paramedics affiliated with the Hezbollah-linked Islamic Health Committee. The Israeli military reported that over the past seven days, its operations in southern Lebanon killed more than 220 Hezbollah militants and struck over 440 militant targets across the region.

    The ceasefire extension, announced Friday by the US State Department following two days of Washington-mediated talks, was intended to create space for negotiations toward a permanent, long-term political settlement between the two neighboring states. “The April 16 cessation of hostilities will be extended by 45 days to enable further progress,” State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott confirmed in a statement. He added that US officials will host new negotiations for a permanent agreement on June 2 and 3, while the Pentagon will convene military delegations from both sides for security talks on May 29.

    Lebanon’s official delegation described the deal as a critical step toward long-term regional security, noting in a statement released by the Lebanese presidency that the truce extension and US-facilitated security negotiating track “pave the way for lasting stability” and provide “critical breathing space for our citizens.” Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam echoed that sentiment, adding in remarks at an NGO gathering Friday that his country has been exhausted by decades of “reckless” foreign-backed conflicts and called on Arab and international stakeholders to back Beirut’s position in upcoming negotiations with Israel.

    The conflict in the broader Middle East has already rippled through global energy markets, after Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz — the world’s busiest chokepoint for crude oil shipments — has gutted oil exports from OPEC founding member Iraq. Iraq’s new oil minister announced Friday that the country exported just 10 million barrels of crude through the strait in April, a stark drop from the typical monthly volume of 93 million barrels. Like most Persian Gulf oil producers, Iraq routes the vast majority of its crude exports through the strategic waterway, and has struggled to reorient its supply chain to alternate routes after the Iranian blockade took effect.

    The disruption to global oil supplies has shaken financial markets: Global equity indexes slumped Friday after high-level US-China summit talks failed to produce any breakthrough agreement to reopen the strait, stoking renewed fears that sustained energy price increases will fuel persistent global inflation and slow economic growth. Energy markets moved sharply in the opposite direction: International benchmark Brent crude rose 3% to trade near $109 per barrel following the news.

    In another development tied to regional tensions, the United Arab Emirates issued a firm rejection of Iranian accusations that the Gulf state has played an active offensive role in the ongoing conflict. “The UAE affirms its categorical rejection of Iranian claims and attempts to justify Iranian terrorist attacks targeting the UAE” and other regional countries, Minister of State Khalifa bin Shaheen Al Marar said in an official statement.

    Separately, in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials reported that Israeli forces shot and killed 34-year-old Nour al-Din Kamal Hassan Fayyad on the outskirts of the Jenin refugee camp in the northern portion of the territory. The Ramallah-based Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed Fayyad’s identity, saying he was “killed by occupation forces’ fire in the Jenin camp.” The Israeli military had not issued an immediate response to requests for comment on the killing as of Friday.

  • Putin to visit Chinese leader Xi Jinping days after Trump’s trip to Beijing

    Putin to visit Chinese leader Xi Jinping days after Trump’s trip to Beijing

    The Kremlin made a key announcement Saturday confirming that Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Beijing next week for a two-day official visit, where he will hold high-level talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The meeting comes less than 24 hours after U.S. President Donald Trump concluded his own state visit to China, where he discussed trade and the ongoing conflict between the U.S.-Israel coalition and Iran with Xi.

    Per the Kremlin’s official statement, Putin’s trip, scheduled for May 19 and 20, is timed to mark the 25th anniversary of the 2001 Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship. During the bilateral talks, the two leaders are set to cover the full scope of the two countries’ bilateral relationship, pressing global and regional security challenges, and deepening cross-border economic cooperation.

    Sino-Russian ties have grown substantially closer over the past several years, a shift accelerated after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Western sanctions imposed over the war left Moscow largely isolated across much of the global stage, forcing the country to become far more economically dependent on Beijing for bilateral trade. When Putin last traveled to China for an official visit in September 2025, Xi greeted him as an “old friend”, while Putin referred to Xi as his “dear friend” in return. Following this upcoming May visit, Putin is also scheduled to return to China this coming November to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit scheduled to be held in Shenzhen.

    Beyond the diplomatic developments between Russia, China and the U.S., the active conflict between Russia and Ukraine continued over the weekend, with new violence and prisoner exchanges unfolding across both sides of the front line. Over the course of Saturday, Ukraine confirmed that it had repatriated the remains of 525 fallen Ukrainian soldiers in a separate exchange with Moscow, following a larger prisoner of war swap held one day earlier. Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War announced that Russia transferred the remains, which Russian officials believe belonged to deceased Ukrainian service members. Forensic experts in Ukraine will now conduct full identification processes to name each fallen soldier and return their remains to their families.

    Friday’s exchange saw the two sides swap 205 captured service members each, a move Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy framed as the first phase of a larger planned exchange that will see 1,000 prisoners of war returned to each side. Zelenskyy noted that many of the recently released Ukrainian fighters had been in Russian custody since 2022, after participating in some of the war’s bloodiest battles.

    Simultaneously, Russia carried out a large-scale overnight drone attack targeting Ukraine’s southern Odesa region this past Saturday, local Ukrainian authorities confirmed. Regional governor Oleh Kiper reported that the strike hit a five-story apartment building and a smaller single-story residential structure, leaving two people injured, and also caused significant damage to Odesa’s critical port infrastructure. Ukraine’s Air Force released figures noting that Russia launched a total of 294 drones in the overnight assault, with 269 of those successfully shot down by Ukrainian air defenses.

    For its part, Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed its own air defenses shot down 138 Ukrainian drones overnight across 14 different Russian regions, including the area surrounding the Russian capital Moscow. Russian officials added that drones were also intercepted and destroyed over Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, as well as over the Black Sea and Azov Sea.

    The Associated Press continues to provide full ongoing coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war, accessible at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.

  • Maldives divers search for 4 missing Italians in an underwater cave

    Maldives divers search for 4 missing Italians in an underwater cave

    COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – After rough ocean conditions derailed initial recovery efforts on Friday, divers from the Maldives resumed search operations Saturday for four Italian divers who are presumed dead after being trapped deep in a remote underwater cave off the archipelago’s coast. The tragedy, which unfolded during a deep technical diving expedition on Thursday, has prompted official investigations and new regulatory action, with one victim’s body already recovered.

    Italian Foreign Ministry officials confirmed early Friday that the group was exploring an underwater cave located roughly 50 meters below sea level in the Vaavu Atoll when the accident occurred. Of the five Italian divers who entered the cave, only the body of lead diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti was recovered on Thursday, found just outside the cave’s entrance. Maldivian government spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef confirmed that authorities believe the remaining four divers ventured further into the cave system before conditions turned deadly.

    The victims have been formally identified by the Maldivian government as: Monica Montefalcone, an associate professor of ecology at the University of Genoa; her 24-year-old daughter Giorgia Sommacal; Federico Gualtieri, a practicing marine biologist; Muriel Oddenino, a marine research fellow; and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti. All members of the 25-person larger expedition, 20 of whom are also Italian nationals staying aboard the expedition vessel *Duke of York*, have been confirmed unharmed. Italy’s embassy in Colombo is currently offering consular support to the uninjured group, and the Maldivian Red Crescent has mobilized volunteer counselors to provide emergency mental health support to the surviving expedition members.

    Cave diving is widely classified as an extreme high-risk activity that demands years of specialized technical training, custom deep-diving equipment, and rigid adherence to safety protocols. At depths over 40 meters, risks of disorientation, decompression sickness, and equipment failure rise exponentially; major recreational scuba certification bodies cap recreational diving at 40 meters, and the Maldives enforces a national recreational depth limit of just 30 meters, meaning the 50-meter dive far exceeded standard safety guidelines. Inside cave systems, disturbed sediment can cut visibility to near zero in seconds, leaving even experienced divers unable to locate exit routes.

    Search teams made incremental progress on Friday, exploring two of the cave system’s three large interconnected chambers before oxygen supply limits and required decompression stops forced teams to suspend operations for the day. Two specialized Italian rescue experts – a deep-sea recovery specialist and a veteran cave diving expert – are en route to the Maldives to join the search effort, according to Shareef. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has confirmed that the ministry is coordinating closely with Divers Alert Network, a global non-profit specializing in diving safety and rescue, to support recovery operations and arrange for the repatriation of all victims once recovered. Italian consular officials are also in constant contact with the victims’ next of kin to provide updates and consular assistance.

    In the wake of the accident, the Maldives Ministry of Tourism has announced an immediate suspension of the *Duke of York*’s operating license, which will remain in place throughout the official investigation into the incident. Authorities have not yet released any conclusions on the cause of the accident, which remains under active review.

  • Senior IS leader killed by US and Nigerian forces

    Senior IS leader killed by US and Nigerian forces

    A high-stakes joint counterterrorism operation conducted by Nigerian and U.S. military forces has resulted in the death of one of the Islamic State (IS) group’s most senior global commanders, Abu-Bilal al-Minuki, Nigerian President Bola Tinubu has officially confirmed.

    In an official statement announcing the success of the mission, Tinubu emphasized that the operation marked a major milestone in the two nations’ deepening counterextremism partnership. “Our determined Nigerian Armed Forces, working closely with the Armed Forces of the United States, conducted a daring joint operation that dealt a heavy blow to the ranks of the Islamic State,” the president said.

    The operation was first disclosed by U.S. President Donald Trump, who identified al-Minuki as the second-highest-ranking leader in the global ISIS network. Washington had officially designated al-Minuki as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist back in 2023, recognizing his outsize role in orchestrating violence across the African continent and beyond. Taking to his platform Truth Social, Trump praised the mission as flawlessly executed, calling the eliminated commander “the most active terrorist in the world.”

    According to details released by Nigerian authorities, the precision strike that killed al-Minuki targeted his compound in the volatile Lake Chad Basin, where he was hiding alongside several of his top lieutenants. All of the senior IS figures in the compound were killed in the operation.

    Nigeria’s military confirmed that the successful mission was directly enabled by a recently established strategic counterterrorism partnership and expanded intelligence-sharing framework between Abuja and Washington. Military officials outlined al-Minuki’s rapid rise through the IS ranks: he was most recently promoted to the position of Head of the General Directorate of States, placing him among the core leadership of the global extremist organization.

    Prior to his promotion to the global IS hierarchy, al-Minuki oversaw all IS-affiliated operations across the Sahel region and West Africa. Under his leadership, the group carried out dozens of deadly attacks targeting civilian populations, vulnerable minority communities, and local security infrastructure.

    Nigerian military investigators have also linked al-Minuki to one of the most high-profile extremist kidnaps in the country’s recent history: the 2018 abduction of more than 100 schoolgirls from a boarding school in Dapchi, northeastern Nigeria, which was carried out by Boko Haram, the extremist faction that al-Minuki once served as a senior commander before pledging allegiance to IS in 2015. Earlier in his militant career, military spokesperson Samali Uba confirmed al-Minuki facilitated the movement of extremist fighters to Libya to support IS operations across North Africa.

    Trump framed al-Minuki’s death as a devastating blow to both IS’s African networks and its global operational infrastructure, noting that the strike has disrupted key terrorist funding channels and fractured the group’s command structure. The U.S. president extended his gratitude to Nigeria’s government for its close collaboration, adding that al-Minuki “will no longer terrorize the people of Africa or help plan operations to target Americans.”

    The successful operation comes as part of a growing trend of deepened military cooperation between Nigeria and the United States, as Nigeria escalates its years-long campaign to root out extremist violence across the country’s northern and northeastern regions. Just weeks prior to this strike, in April, IS claimed responsibility for a mass shooting at a football pitch in northeastern Nigeria’s Adamawa State that left at least 29 people dead. Late last year, during the Christmas holiday period, the two countries carried out another joint airstrike targeting IS-affiliated groups in Sokoto State, demonstrating the consistent momentum of their counterterrorism partnership.

  • ‘My China Album’ interviewees anticipate new stories

    ‘My China Album’ interviewees anticipate new stories

    Against the backdrop of a landmark US presidential state visit to China, long-time advocates of people-to-people exchange between the two nations are sharing their hopeful outlooks on bilateral ties, their perspectives featured in a newly released collaborative book project between two leading Chinese publishing and media institutions.

    The collection, titled *My China Album*, published by Tsinghua University Press in partnership with China Daily, compiles firsthand stories from individuals who have dedicated years to building mutual understanding and cross-cultural friendship between the United States and China. As former US President Donald Trump concluded his official state visit to Beijing on a Friday, these contributors collectively expressed measured optimism about the future of the world’s most consequential bilateral relationship.

    Charles Foster, vice-chairman of the George H. W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations, framed the visit as an unequivocally positive milestone for bilateral engagement. Echoing the long-held belief of the late former US president George H.W. Bush that China has been and will remain the United States’ most important bilateral partnership, Foster noted that while public messaging from Washington has often been inconsistent in recent years, direct, high-level dialogue between the two countries’ top leaders delivers far more value than empty rhetorical posturing.

    Foster emphasized that the visit signals a clear willingness from the US side to build a more productive, mature dynamic with China, one that opens space for ongoing honest, solution-focused dialogue on the core issues that matter to both nations. He also pointed to the unusually large, cross-sector delegation accompanying Trump, which included senior administration officials and leaders from major American corporations, as a particularly meaningful detail. After experiencing China firsthand, Foster said, these delegates will return to the US with a far deeper understanding of the sweeping transformation that has reshaped China since Richard Nixon’s groundbreaking 1972 visit. Echoing the old adage that a first-hand impression is worth more than thousands of secondhand accounts, he added that on-the-ground experiences create lasting mutual understanding that lays the groundwork for more durable, stable US-China relations.

    For Benjamin Renton, a research associate at Brown University’s School of Public Health, the Beijing summit could not have come at a more critical moment, and it has left him more hopeful than ever for the future of bilateral ties. “For those of us who care deeply about the US-China relationship, seeing the two leaders sit down together for substantive talks is incredibly encouraging,” Renton said. “It sends a strong positive signal for people-to-people exchange between our two societies.” He added that he hopes the summit will keep bilateral engagement moving in a constructive direction, noting that ordinary Chinese and American people share far more common ground than often is highlighted: both value hard work, prioritize family, and aspire to build better lives for future generations. It was encouraging, he said, that the summit’s leadership-level discussions acknowledged these shared priorities. Renton also called for the summit to translate into concrete expanded support for student exchange and study abroad opportunities, pointing out that current participation rates remain low, and increasing opportunities for young Americans to study and live in China would have a transformative impact on bilateral understanding.

    Kayla Raden, a high school biology educator from New Jersey and a self-described Chinese language enthusiast, said she feels optimistic that the two countries are working together to find collaborative solutions to shared global challenges. “It is absolutely essential that our two nations reach common ground and build frameworks to sustain positive relations long-term,” Raden said. “Our futures are deeply intertwined: our shared economic prosperity depends on cooperation between us.” Raden, who said she feels a personal connection to China every time she studies the Chinese language, argued that expanding cultural and linguistic exchange would go a long way toward defusing unnecessary tensions between the two countries. “If more Americans learned Chinese, many of the misunderstandings that currently feel insurmountable would become far easier to resolve,” she said. “Language and cultural exchange build the strong foundation of mutual understanding that strong bilateral relations need.”

    Jeffrey Greene, chairman of the Sino-American Aviation Heritage Foundation, said he was pleased to see the leadership summit go forward, noting that the meetings between the two heads of state were marked by clear sincerity and mutual interest in dialogue — two qualities that are indispensable for productive relations. As the world’s two largest economies, Greene noted, cooperation between the US and China is non-negotiable for global prosperity and stability, and the Beijing summit marked a welcome, positive step forward in that direction.

    Ren Ming, a professor at multiple California-based art institutions and a pioneering figure in US-China arts exchange, said he followed the summit closely and was encouraged by the clear, genuine willingness on both sides to deepen engagement. Ren echoed the widespread call for expanded people-to-people exchange, noting that these grassroots connections make a lasting contribution to global peace, the advancement of human civilization, and the building of a more harmonious shared future.

    Emmy Award-winning documentary producer Bill Einreinhofer added that people-to-people diplomacy is more critical today than it has ever been. “It is important that the two countries have more to talk about than just their differences,” Einreinhofer said. “We also need to intentionally explore the many things we share in common. That kind of connection often happens away from the spotlight of sensational media coverage — it happens one person at a time, through direct personal engagement.”

    The *My China Album* project, first launched in 2019 by the Chinese embassy and consulates across the United States in collaboration with China Daily, is now in its seventh year of operation. The initiative centers on documenting the personal journeys of Americans who have lived, worked, and built connections in China, with a core focus on highlighting the power of grassroots ties to bridge cultural and political divides.

  • Spain’s Eurovision boycott over Israeli participation leaves contest fans torn

    Spain’s Eurovision boycott over Israeli participation leaves contest fans torn

    The 2025 Eurovision Song Contest grand final is unfolding in Vienna this week, but for millions of Spanish viewers and long-time fans, the beloved annual celebration of music looks drastically different this year. For the first time in seven years, Madrid resident Silvia Díaz will not gather her close group of friends for their traditional viewing party, complete with shared snacks, friendly banter and collective excitement over each competing performance. The annual gathering was canceled after Spain’s public broadcaster RTVE pulled out of the iconic contest, joining a growing boycott of the event over the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) decision to allow Israel to compete amid its ongoing military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. While Díaz plans to stream the final on YouTube if her schedule allows, she says the experience will never measure up to the group tradition. “It’s not the same watching it alone at home as it is with friends. That’s the only thing that upsets me,” she shared.

    Eurovision, a five-day international song competition that draws global audiences far larger than many major U.S. sporting events, recorded 166 million total viewers in 2024 – outpacing average viewership for the annual Super Bowl. For Spaniards, Eurovision has long been a deeply ingrained cultural tradition, even though the country has not claimed the top prize since 1969. In typical years, Spain’s competing entry gets months of heavy airplay on national radio and television, watch parties draw crowds in private homes and bars across the country, and the contestant’s performance dominates front-page news the day after the final. Fans who travel to the event famously show national pride by waving Spanish flags, dressing in the country’s iconic red colors, and even donning traditional bullfighting costumes for the crowd.

    Spain first announced its boycott in December, shortly after the EBU confirmed Israel would be permitted to participate in this year’s contest. Spain has since been joined by four other European public broadcasters: Ireland, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Iceland. The boycott has triggered a full media blackout of the event on state-controlled airwaves in each boycotting nation, altering how fans can engage with the iconic contest.

    RTVE has repeatedly voiced its public opposition to Israel’s inclusion in this year’s lineup. During 2024’s semifinal round, RTVE commentators paired their introduction of Israel’s competing artist with a mention of Palestinian civilian casualties in the Gaza war. Ahead of last year’s grand final, the network also displayed a clear on-screen message reading “Peace and justice for Palestine” on a black background for hundreds of thousands of Spanish viewers tuning in. This year, instead of airing Eurovision’s final from Vienna, RTVE will broadcast a retrospective tribute to the network’s long musical history, headlined by the two artists it would have sent to represent Spain at the contest: Tony Grox and Lucycalys. Other boycotting nations have replaced Eurovision with alternate programming: Ireland’s public broadcaster will air a documentary following a couple’s quiet life in the Irish countryside, while Slovenian public television will broadcast an episode of a 10-part documentary series focused on Palestinian life. While frustrated fans can still access the contest via the EBU’s official YouTube channel, the absence of national broadcasters, homegrown competitors and native-language commentators has stripped much of the passionate, patriotic energy that draws casual and diehard fans alike each year.

    Israel has competed in Eurovision for 50 years, claiming four championship titles over that span. For Israeli audiences, participation in the contest is widely viewed as a marker of international acceptance and normalcy; each year’s competing artist becomes an instant national celebrity, and a strong showing – even one that stops short of a win – is a widely celebrated source of national pride.

    Across Spain, the boycott has deeply divided the country’s tight-knit community of Eurovision fans, splitting them between those who back the political stand and those who argue the beloved music event should remain separate from global geopolitics. For 42-year-old Madrid marketing executive Rebeca Carril, a lifelong fan who revisits classic contest performances from the 1960s and 1970s, the decision to support the boycott came after years of growing discomfort with Israeli sponsorship of the contest. “I have Palestinian friends and I began to understand a little better how things worked,” she explained, noting she did not want to support Israeli-linked marketing efforts by tuning in.

    On the other side of the divide is Guillermina Bastida, a 47-year-old communications professional from Asturias province who drove three and a half days with her two daughters in a van to attend last year’s contest in Basel – her third time attending the event in person. Bastida holds her own critical views of Israel’s military campaign, but argues politics have no place at a global music celebration. “It’s a song festival, period,” she said. “I also have my own stance, which is critical, but not to the point of boycotting the festival.” This year, she will watch the final on YouTube after making the difficult decision to skip the in-person event.

    Eurovision’s official motto is “United by Music,” and organizers have long framed the event as an apolitical space that brings diverse European nations together through art. But in recent years, that effort to keep politics out of the competition has repeatedly failed. Just months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the EBU disqualified Russia from the contest, and the country has not been permitted to rejoin since. Official contest rules already ban overtly political lyrics or symbols, and organizers emphasize the competition is a contest between national broadcasters, not national governments.

    Jose García, co-director of a popular Spanish Eurovision news website with a combined social media following of nearly 100,000, notes that the boycott carries tangible costs for both sides. As one of Eurovision’s “Big Five” countries – the group of nations that provide the largest financial contributions to the contest – Spain’s withdrawal means the event loses not only substantial broadcasting rights revenue but also significant domestic publicity, which García argues erodes the contest’s credibility across the region. Even so, he says most diehard Spanish fans will still find a way to watch. “It has marked the television and personal history of many people, and fans will watch it via international channels or YouTube. But it’s one thing to be able to watch it and another to agree with what’s happening,” García explained.

    On the ground in Vienna, the absence of the boisterous, high-energy Spanish fan contingent is already noticeable to attendees. Vicente Rico, a 40-year-old Madrid perfumery owner who is attending his 18th consecutive Eurovision, said that Spanish fans are famously one of the most visible and lively groups at the annual event. “We’re a group that, just like at other events, makes its presence felt — we’re among the happiest, the loudest and the most fun,” he noted. Rico said he struggled deeply with his decision to make his annual pilgrimage to Vienna this year, even though he agrees the boycott is morally justified. He argues that Eurovision has become an unfair scapegoat for broader political inaction on the Gaza conflict, pointing out that no similar boycotts have been called for other major upcoming international events, including the FIFA World Cup scheduled to begin in just one month. With no Spanish competitor to root for, Rico says he and many other Spanish fans in Vienna have adopted a simple rule for this year’s contest: “This year, we’re rooting for everyone except Israel.”

  • Trump says Islamic State group leader was killed in a joint US-Nigerian mission

    Trump says Islamic State group leader was killed in a joint US-Nigerian mission

    In a targeted joint operation conducted Friday in Nigeria’s volatile Lake Chad Basin, U.S. and Nigerian security forces have eliminated Abu Bakr al-Mainuki, one of the highest-ranking leaders of the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP), U.S. President Donald Trump announced in a late-night social media post. While Trump’s announcement offered few immediate operational details, it marked a major milestone in counterterrorism efforts across the Sahel region, where IS-affiliated militants have expanded their influence in recent years.

  • Drones are making Sudan’s war even deadlier for civilians

    Drones are making Sudan’s war even deadlier for civilians

    Two years into Sudan’s devastating civil conflict between the national military and the rival Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group, experts and international monitors warn that remotely piloted drones have emerged as the single deadliest threat to non-combatant populations, with foreign powers continuing to funnel advanced drone technology to both warring sides despite widespread humanitarian outcry.

    United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk confirmed this week that armed drones are responsible for more than 80% of all conflict-related civilian deaths in Sudan, with at least 880 civilians killed by drone strikes between January and April 2025 alone. Most of these fatalities have been concentrated in Sudan’s central Kordofan region, but deadly drone attacks have spread across seven provinces in recent weeks, targeting vulnerable populations and critical civilian infrastructure.

    The Sudanese conflict, which erupted in April 2023, has already claimed at least 59,000 lives, displaced 13 million people, and pushed large swathes of the country into catastrophic famine conditions. Data collected by the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) underscores the rapidly growing toll of drone warfare: between 2024 and 2025, drone-related fatalities surged 600%, while the number of drone attacks jumped 81%, leaving 2,670 people dead across both combatant and civilian groups in 2025.

    Unlike the early months of the war, when drone use was limited to the Sudanese military, the RSF has rapidly expanded its drone capabilities over the past 12 months, using the technology to enable offensive operations in contested territory including the North Darfur capital el-Fasher. In the 2024 capture of el-Fasher, RSF drones employed a coordinated “hunter-killer” strategy that targeted civilians attempting to send distress signals, shutting down communications and trapping populations in densely populated areas before launching strikes. United Nations experts have already labeled the violence in el-Fasher as carrying the “hallmarks of genocide,” with at least 6,000 people killed over three days of fighting. Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of the Humanitarian Research Lab at the Yale School of Public Health, noted that the RSF could not have seized the city without its advanced external drone support.

    Worryingly, both warring parties have systematically targeted protected civilian infrastructure in their drone strikes, including hospitals, dams, schools, public markets, and displacement camps. In one high-profile incident last year, a drone strike on Al Daein Teaching Hospital in East Darfur killed at least 64 civilians. While the Sudanese military officially denied responsibility for the attack, two anonymous military officials later confirmed the strike had targeted an adjacent police station. Recent on-the-ground reports also document 26 civilian deaths in drone strikes across South and North Kordofan in early May, more than 70 civilian fatalities in Kordofan strikes earlier this year, and 36 people killed in nine separate drone attacks on civilian vehicles over a 10-day period in May 2025. Sudanese human rights group Emergency Lawyers has warned that many drones deployed by both sides are equipped with advanced visual target identification technology, raising the disturbing possibility that attacks on civilians are deliberate, not accidental.

    Multiple independent analysts confirm that neither Sudanese warring party produces its own advanced drones, relying entirely on foreign suppliers to build up their strike capabilities. ACLED’s latest assessment confirms the Sudanese military receives drone technology from Turkey, Russia, Iran, and Egypt, while the RSF obtains drones through transnational smuggling networks linked to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with transit routes running through Ethiopia, Chad, and Libya. Research from The Soufan Center notes that both sides are actively competing to acquire newer, more sophisticated drone models primarily manufactured in China, with satellite imagery from Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab confirming the RSF operates Chinese-built CH-95 and FH-95 drones – large systems comparable in size to small manned aircraft. The UAE has repeatedly denied supplying drones to the RSF, while Ethiopia has also rejected Sudanese government accusations that it facilitated recent RSF drone strikes on Khartoum International Airport and other capital-area targets. Gabriella Tejeda, a research associate at The Soufan Center, however, notes that the allegations are not unfounded, given Ethiopia’s close strategic partnership with the UAE and clear shared interest in shaping the outcome of the Sudanese conflict.

    Jalale Getachew Birru, ACLED’s senior East Africa analyst, explained that drones have transformed the trajectory of the Sudanese civil war, acting as a “force multiplier” that allows both sides to expand strikes into densely populated residential areas, secure contested territory, disrupt enemy mobilization, and spread widespread insecurity across rival-held regions. The proliferation of foreign-supplied drones has not only driven a catastrophic rise in civilian deaths, experts warn, but has also complicated international peace efforts and stoked fears that the conflict could escalate into a full-blown regional proxy war. With foreign backers continuing to invest in military capabilities and both warring parties ramping up their battle tempo, analysts say there is little indication either side is willing to pursue a negotiated end to the conflict.