Global Pulse

分类： world

  • Iranian footballers who defied Tehran become Australian citizens

    Iranian footballers who defied Tehran become Australian citizens

    In a landmark moment that blends personal courage, sporting ambition and global political tension, two Iranian female footballers who openly defied their home country’s government have officially become Australian citizens. Thirty-four-year-old Atefeh Ramezanisadeh and 22-year-old Fatemeh Pasandideh took part in a naturalization ceremony in Brisbane, Queensland on Wednesday, marking the end of a months-long uncertain journey and the start of a new chapter in their lives.

    The pair were part of a group of seven Iranian national team players who were offered humanitarian visas when Iran competed in the Women’s Asian Cup held on Australian soil in March. Their choice to reject the opportunity to return to Iran stemmed from a deliberate act of protest: the entire squad refused to sing the Iranian national anthem ahead of their opening tournament match, a show of solidarity that came just days after the United States and Israel launched joint air strikes against Iran on February 28.

    Fears of severe repercussions for the protest spread quickly after Iranian state television broadcast a segment labeling the players “traitors” who deserved punishment for their silence during the anthem. Australian authorities, responding to pressure from local Iranian community groups, extended an offer of asylum to all seven players. In the end, only Ramezanisadeh and Pasandideh chose to stay and pursue protection; the other five players opted to return to Iran. Human rights activists have since raised allegations that the returnees were coerced into changing their decisions by threats made against their family members still living in Iran. Iranian sports officials, for their part, praised the returning players for their “national spirit and patriotism,” claiming they had “defeated the enemy’s plans” through their choice to come home.

    The naturalization of the two footballers comes at a politically charged time for Australian migration policy. The current Australian government is preparing to roll out a series of stricter visa rules designed to reduce overall migration levels. The proposed reforms are expected to include limiting work rights and appeal avenues for asylum seekers, as well as a ban on visitor visa holders submitting family visa applications from within Australia. The government has faced growing pressure from opposition political parties, which have campaigned on stricter migration controls, while refugee advocacy organizations have repeatedly criticized existing and proposed measures, warning they put vulnerable asylum seekers’ safety at grave risk.

    Despite the shifting policy landscape, the two players’ path to citizenship moved forward as planned. At the Brisbane ceremony, which was attended by Australia’s Interior Minister Tony Burke, both women spoke of their pride and gratitude for their new status. “It’s a new beginning and a place I’m proud to call home,” Pasandideh said. Ramezanisadeh reflected on the obstacles the pair had overcome to reach this point, adding, “I feel proud and deeply grateful to become an Australian citizen.”

    Since making the decision to stay in Australia, Ramezanisadeh and Pasandideh have continued their athletic careers, training with Brisbane Roar, a professional club competing in Australia’s top A-League Women competition. They now look ahead to building their lives and pursuing their sporting goals in the country they now officially call home.

  • Nigerian president hails ‘largest ever’ single-day rescue as 308 abductees freed in country’s north

    Nigerian president hails ‘largest ever’ single-day rescue as 308 abductees freed in country’s north

    ABUJA, Nigeria – In a landmark operation described as unprecedented in the nation’s history, Nigerian security forces have rescued at least 308 people abducted in a series of separate attacks across the country’s northern region, President Bola Tinubu announced Wednesday in an official statement.

    Among the freed hostages are 163 residents taken captive from the Woro community in Kaiama, Kwara State, during a mass kidnapping in February. An additional 145 people, most seized from neighboring Niger State, were also released in the coordinated mission. Tinubu confirmed that all hostages were extracted from a remote forest hideout where they had been held for months in captivity. Few operational details have been made public to protect ongoing security work, but the president noted that all rescued people are currently receiving on-site medical evaluations and care for their ordeal.

    Tinubu labeled the mission the “largest rescue operation ever” conducted by Nigerian security forces in a single 24-hour period. He emphasized that the successful outcome was rooted in precise intelligence gathering and close inter-agency collaboration, a combination that has sharply boosted the effectiveness of the country’s security response to kidnapping threats. “The successful execution of this intelligence-led operation demonstrates the growing efficiency and collaboration among our security services,” Tinubu said. “I commend our gallant men and women in uniform for their bravery and unwavering commitment to safeguarding Nigerian lives.”

    The large-scale rescue comes amid a years-long crisis of mass abductions and ransom kidnappings across northern Nigeria. Armed groups locally referred to as bandits have expanded their control of remote border and forest regions in northwest and north-central Nigeria, launching regular raids on rural communities and schools to seize hostages for ransom. Security analysts note that many of these bandit formations emerged from long-simmering resource conflicts between pastoral herder communities and sedentary farming groups, with many former herders turning to armed violence after repeated cycles of displacement and confrontation.

    Mass school kidnappings have become a particularly common tactic for these groups, who use the public outrage over captive children to pressure the federal and state governments and extract large ransom payments. In addition to the bandit insurgency in the northwest and north-central regions, Nigeria has also grappled with a separate 13-year-old extremist insurgency in the country’s northeast that has displaced millions and left thousands dead. Recent United Nations security assessments have warned that armed kidnapping groups are increasingly expanding their operations southward, seizing more young hostages and extending their influence beyond northern strongholds.

  • US asks Philippines to extradite Filipino church leader accused of sex crimes and fraud

    US asks Philippines to extradite Filipino church leader accused of sex crimes and fraud

    Two senior Philippine government officials have confirmed that the United States has formally submitted an extradition request for 76-year-old Apollo Carreon Quiboloy, a once-powerful Filipino church leader who served as a spiritual adviser to former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Quiboloy, currently held in Philippine custody on domestic human trafficking and child abuse charges, is wanted by U.S. authorities on charges including child sex trafficking and financial fraud that earned him a spot on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

    The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to discuss the extradition process publicly, confirmed the U.S. request was transmitted to Manila’s Department of Justice via the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs back in July 2025. The U.S. Embassy in Manila has not yet issued a public response to requests for comment on the filing from the Associated Press.

    Quiboloy is the founder and leader of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ church, which he established in 1985 in Davao City, southern Philippines. The organization claims millions of followers across the Philippines and in overseas communities including the U.S. At the peak of his influence, Quiboloy was widely viewed as a political kingmaker in the country, and held enormous sway as an influential spiritual confidant to Duterte during his 2016 to 2022 presidency. Duterte himself is currently in detention in the Netherlands, facing an International Criminal Court trial on charges of crimes against humanity linked to thousands of deaths during his controversial national anti-drug crackdown.

    Known for his provocative public claims, Quiboloy has described himself as the “appointed Son of God” and has asserted he even intervened to stop a major earthquake from striking the southern Philippines — claims that drew widespread skepticism from critics but cemented his loyalty among his devout following.

    Domestic legal trouble for Quiboloy began in 2024, when a Philippine court issued an arrest warrant for him and multiple associates on allegations of child abuse, sexual abuse, and human trafficking. The Philippine Senate also ordered his arrest that year after he refused to attend public hearings into the claims. After months in hiding, Quiboloy and four co-accused surrendered to authorities in September 2024, following a large-scale raid by roughly 2,000 police officers on his organization’s 30-hectare Davao compound, which housed a cathedral, sports stadium, aircraft hangar, and private access taxiway connected to Davao International Airport. He has remained in Philippine custody since his surrender, and has repeatedly denied all allegations, claiming they are fabricated political attacks by critics and former members expelled from his church.

    Parallel to the domestic Philippine charges, U.S. federal prosecutors first issued an indictment against Quiboloy in 2021. A superseding indictment from a U.S. federal grand jury, unsealed that November, charged Quiboloy and eight other co-defendants with a broad series of offenses: conspiracy, child sex trafficking, sex trafficking obtained through force, fraud, and coercion, marriage fraud, money laundering, cash smuggling, and visa fraud. Prosecutors allege Quiboloy coerced women and underage girls into sexual encounters, threatening victims with eternal damnation if they refused his demands. Following the unsealing of the indictment, Quiboloy was added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

    Under Philippine domestic law, criminal suspects are typically required to complete any ongoing domestic trials and serve all imposed sentences before they can be extradited to another country. However, the 1994 bilateral extradition treaty between the U.S. and the Philippines includes a provision that allows Philippine justice officials to petition a domestic court for a temporary transfer of a suspect to face foreign prosecution before domestic legal proceedings are concluded. The U.S. extradition request will now require approval from two separate Philippine courts to move forward, as Quiboloy’s domestic trial on local charges is already underway.

  • In Odesa, no-one is safe from Russia’s new Black Sea strikes

    In Odesa, no-one is safe from Russia’s new Black Sea strikes

    In the hushed, damaged warehouses of Odesa’s main Black Sea port, Svitlana Halchenko still carries the physical and emotional scars of the day Russia brought war directly to her workplace. A Russian ballistic missile strike took two of her colleagues, one just five meters from where she stood. Shrapnel remains embedded in her leg and back, leaving her with a permanent limp, but she refuses to abandon her post as a warehouse shift manager. Her quiet courage stands in stark contrast to the once-bustling port that now sits largely idle, a casualty of Moscow’s escalating campaign to choke off all Ukrainian commercial access to the Black Sea.

    Halchenko’s trembling composure — twisting a crumpled tissue as tears well behind her glasses, even as she forces a brave smile — mirrors the broader trauma facing Ukraine’s entire Black Sea coastline. Over the past weeks, attacks have grown more frequent and deadly than at any point since the full-scale invasion began. Ukraine’s port administration recorded 57 separate Russian strikes on civilian vessels in July alone, 22 of them at sea, alongside 67 hits to critical port infrastructure. The intensity of these attacks marks a stark escalation: never before have Russian strikes targeted international commercial shipping at this scale.

    One of the deadliest incidents came on July 19, when three Russian missiles struck the Turkish-owned cargo vessel *Golden Leo*, which was carrying Ukrainian corn. The attack killed nine Indian and Syrian crew members and one Ukrainian pilot; the ship sank off the Odesa coast a week later. Data from global shipping industry journal Lloyd’s List now confirms what dock workers and sailors have experienced firsthand: the Black Sea has become the most dangerous waterway for commercial shipping on the planet, with July 2026 ranking as the deadliest month for merchant seafarers since Russia’s full-scale invasion began.

    For the workers who keep these ports running, the daily risk exceeds even the danger faced by frontline military troops. Oleg Grygoriuk, Chairman of the Marine Transport Workers Union of Ukraine, says many long-time veteran workers openly admit working in the Odesa port is more terrifying than serving in combat. Odesa’s proximity to Russian-occupied Crimea leaves dock workers with almost no time to escape incoming attacks: a missile fired from occupied Crimea reaches the port in just one minute, but it takes a crane operator three and a half minutes to climb down from their cab and reach a shelter. For many, there is simply no time to flee.

    A rare on-the-ground visit to one of the region’s major ports — granted by military authorities on condition of anonymity to avoid aiding further Russian targeting — paints a clear picture of the collapse of activity. Hundreds of meters of commercial berths sit completely empty. Towering gantry cranes that once loaded and unloaded ships around the clock stand motionless, with only a tiny skeleton crew on site to conduct basic maintenance. Two damaged cargo vessels are moored nearby, their superstructures, bridges and crew quarters heavily battered by explosions. Only one lone freighter was spotted moving toward the port during the visit, a far cry from the pre-war days when ships would queue for miles off the coast waiting for a berth.

    A senior unnamed port manager summed up the sudden collapse of normal operations: “My heart is broken. Normally there’s a queue, even out at sea, waiting for a berth.” He traces the current crisis back to the end of the UN-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative, the 2022 agreement that established safe corridors for Ukrainian agricultural exports after Russia’s initial blockade. While Russia withdrew from the deal in mid-2023, the systematic large-scale attacks on port infrastructure and shipping only began in recent weeks. Today, the strikes are continuous and coordinated.

    Midway through the port tour, air raid sirens cut through the quiet, forcing the entire group to take shelter for several minutes as a Russian jet-powered Shahed drone passed overhead. Weary dock workers waited silently, checking their phones for all-clear updates, a routine they now repeat multiple times a day. The manager says frequent alerts have forced the port to shut down operations for 15 out of every 24 hours. Technically, all Odesa-region ports remain officially open to commercial traffic, with no official ban on vessels attempting to dock. But the risk of attack is so extreme that nearly all shipowners have refused to send vessels into the dangerous corridor.

    Andrey Stavnitser, co-owner and CEO of one of the region’s largest port operations, explains the market reality: “There is barely anybody who wants to call because there is a huge problem with people getting killed. We can see that the whole supply chain is on hold.” Stavnitser notes the current escalation is almost certainly Russian retaliation for Ukraine’s recent successful targeting of Russian shipping, including sanctioned oil vessels and ships ferrying military supplies to occupied Crimea. Ukraine’s Operation MoLoChKa, which translates roughly to “Moscow will fall through Crimea,” has used drones to strike roughly 200 Russian vessels, bringing almost all commercial traffic in the strategic Sea of Azov to a standstill. Ukrainian officials reject any equivalence between the two campaigns, pointing out that Kyiv is targeting military and logistical assets to weaken Russia’s occupation, while Moscow is deliberately targeting civilian grain exports to disrupt global food supplies.

    The timing of Russia’s port blockade could not be worse, as Ukraine is in the middle of its critical summer grain harvest. Volodymyr Slavinskyi, trading director for leading Ukrainian grain exporter Nibulon, explains the urgency for producers: “It’s the most sensitive period. Farmers need to quickly harvest grains from the fields, not to lose the crop. They need to be able to sell the crop they harvested and reinvest money in the next production cycle.” A prolonged shutdown of Black Sea exports carries severe consequences for both Ukraine and global food markets. Before the full-scale invasion, Ukraine was one of the world’s top grain exporters, accounting for roughly 6% of global wheat exports and 10% of global corn exports. Its total export capacity has already dropped by at least a third since 2022, and the Greater Odesa ports still handle more than 73 million tonnes of maritime exports annually, 38 million tonnes of which are grain. With almost no vessels moving through the corridor, exporters are already losing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of product. Slavinskyi estimates that Ukraine has already lost the ability to deliver between 500,000 and 700,000 metric tons of grain and oilseeds to global customers.

    Away from the silent docks, life in Odesa continues against all odds, a testament to the city’s resilience. The summer tourist season is in full swing, and beaches draw visitors from across Ukraine, who sunbathe and walk the promenade even as sirens wail and distant explosions rumble. Buskers perform on the iconic Potemkin Stairs, and locals have adapted to the constant threat: in one viral recent video, swimmers calmly pulled an intact Russian drone out of the water while onlookers watched. But the risks are ever-present: in late June, 26-year-old Daria Kravchenko was killed when shrapnel from an intercepted Russian drone landed on a crowded Odesa beach. Just this week, a similar incident killed seven people, including three children, on the Russian-held Black Sea coast when an intercepted Ukrainian drone crashed onto a busy beach.

    The expanding conflict at sea and along the coast has left a trail of accidental casualties far beyond port facilities and commercial vessels. Just outside Odesan, 83-year-old Andrii Dudik surveyed the mangled wreckage of his home and garden just hours after a stray drone from a port attack shattered his routine afternoon nap. He walked away without physical injury, and even joked about the disruption: “I was lying there, wondering what I was going to do this afternoon. Now I know.” When asked if he considered himself an accidental victim of Russia’s port campaign, he did not hesitate. “Absolutely. And I won’t forget it.”

  • Israel reports troop deaths as Lebanon talks underway in Rome

    Israel reports troop deaths as Lebanon talks underway in Rome

    Diplomatic efforts to de-escalate months of cross-border conflict between Israel and Hezbollah hit a fresh point of tension this week, as Israeli military operations in southern Lebanon left two reservist soldiers dead even as US-mediated negotiations to end hostilities got underway in Rome.

    The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed Thursday that the two service members, killed in combat operations Wednesday in southern Lebanon, were 34-year-old Major Harel Birenstock and 33-year-old Sergeant Major Tamir Vaknin, both assigned to the 2855th Battalion of the 55th Brigade. The fatalities mark the first reported Israeli military deaths in southern Lebanon in more than six weeks, since a June 28 incident that broke a brief period of relative calm.

    The deaths came hours after the IDF launched new targeted strikes across southern Lebanon, issuing an evacuation order for residents of the border town of Mansouri — the first such public evacuation warning the military has issued since late June. In an official statement, the IDF framed the strikes as a direct response to what it called “blatant ceasefire violations” by the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which has been engaged in intermittent cross-border conflict with Israel since March.

    “In light of Hezbollah’s violations of the ceasefire agreement, the Israel Defense Forces are compelled to act against it with force,” IDF Arabic spokeswoman Ella Waweya posted on the social platform X Wednesday, urging all Mansouri residents to evacuate their homes immediately and relocate north for their safety.

    Lebanese state media reported that a separate Israeli strike in the area left one civilian dead and 11 others wounded, adding to the mounting civilian death toll that Lebanon’s government has tracked since the conflict began.

    Even as strikes resumed across the border, diplomatic delegations from Israel and Lebanon gathered in Rome for the seventh round of US-brokered talks aimed at reaching a permanent ceasefire and border security deal. Just ahead of the strikes, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani — whose country is hosting the negotiations — spoke with his Iranian counterpart and called on Iran, Hezbollah’s primary financial and military backer, to pressure the group to halt its cross-border operations. Tajani also voiced public optimism that the talks would yield tangible progress toward peace.

    A last-minute disruption hit the talks Wednesday, however, when Israeli negotiators requested to end the day’s session three hours ahead of schedule. A source close to the negotiations told Agence France-Presse that Israeli delegation head Yechiel Leiter blamed the early adjournment on what he called “misleading leaks” from the Lebanese negotiating team. Despite the interruption, talks are set to resume Thursday for what is scheduled to be the final day of this round of negotiations.

    The current framework for a potential deal was first agreed during US-sponsored talks in June. Under the draft terms, Hezbollah would complete full disarmament in southern Lebanon, Israeli forces would carry out a gradual withdrawal from occupied border territory, and the regular Lebanese army would deploy to the border region, starting with small test areas dubbed “pilot zones.” Beirut has pushed publicly for a full, phased Israeli withdrawal from all southern Lebanese territory as a core condition of any final agreement.

    Hezbollah has repeatedly rejected the framework of direct negotiations, with group leader Naim Qassem saying earlier this week that the talks would bring Lebanon “nothing but shame, humiliation” and forced concessions. The militant group also refuses to give up its arsenal, a key sticking point in the negotiations.

    Located just six miles south of the Lebanese city of Tyre and 10 miles north of the Israeli border, Mansouri has been the site of repeated Israeli strikes and artillery shelling in recent weeks, even after the June ceasefire went into effect. The town’s municipal government allowed residents to return to most of the area in late June, but advised them to avoid the section of town that falls within Israel’s self-declared 10-kilometer-deep “security zone” along the Lebanese border, where Israeli forces continue to operate.

    The resumption of active fighting comes just after the United Nations’ top humanitarian agency announced that more than 800,000 people displaced by earlier rounds of violence had begun returning to their homes in southern Lebanon during the recent lull in hostilities. More than 360,000 people remain displaced, the UN added, as the uncertainty over the conflict’s trajectory continues to uproot civilian communities.

    Since Hezbollah opened its front against Israel in March in support of Iran, the conflict has killed more than 4,300 people in Lebanon, according to the Lebanese government. On the Israeli side, 38 soldiers and one civilian contractor have been killed since the border war began, with the two latest deaths bringing that count up to date. While overall violence has dropped significantly since the June preliminary ceasefire and a separate preliminary agreement between the US and Iran on Middle East de-escalation, both sides continue to report intermittent strikes, shelling, and explosive operations in southern Lebanese villages.

  • Nigerian security forces rescue more than 300 abductees

    Nigerian security forces rescue more than 300 abductees

    Nigeria’s federal presidency has announced a landmark success for the country’s joint security forces: the rescue of more than 300 people kidnapped in separate attacks across two north-central states, marking what officials call the largest single-day hostage rescue operation in the nation’s modern history.

    All 308 freed captives were pulled from hiding sites within Kainji Lake National Park, located in Niger State, during a coordinated mission that brought together personnel from the Nigerian military, national police, domestic intelligence units, and the National Counter-Terrorism Centre. Among those rescued were 163 residents of the Woro community in neighboring Kwara State, who were abducted during a brutal jihadist attack on the village in February that left dozens of residents dead. An additional 145 hostages kidnapped in separate incidents across Niger State were also freed in the same operation.

    As of the presidency’s announcement, no information has been released confirming whether any suspect kidnapping perpetrators were detained during the mission. All rescued captives are currently receiving on-site medical assessments and care at a military facility, and are expected to be reunited with their family members in the coming days after completing necessary health screenings.

    “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu warmly welcomes the successful rescue of 308 Nigerian citizens who were abducted in different attacks in Niger and Kwara states,” presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga confirmed in an official statement. Onanuga emphasized that the operation is unprecedented, noting it is “the largest rescue operation ever carried out” in a single day in Nigeria.

    Tinubu framed the successful mission as clear evidence of improving inter-agency coordination between Nigeria’s multiple security bodies, a key policy priority of his administration as it works to address widespread insecurity across the country.

    The February attack on the Woro community that left dozens dead and more than 160 abducted was one of the most high-profile mass kidnappings in Nigeria this year. Investigations and witness accounts show that the armed jihadist attackers demanded Woro residents renounce the Nigerian government and national constitution, and instead adhere to the group’s extreme ideological teachings. The assault was an explicit attempt to impose a parallel, extremist-led system of governance over the local area.

    Post-attack forensic investigations compiled by Amnesty International documented gruesome details of the violence: many of the slain Woro residents were found with their hands and feet bound, with some killed by slit throats and others shot execution-style. The Nigerian government has officially blamed Boko Haram, the long-active extremist jihadist group based in the country’s northeast, for the February attack, though the group has not released any public statement claiming or denying responsibility for the assault to date.

    This latest successful rescue comes just weeks after a separate month-long security operation ended with the release of 44 abducted pupils and teachers from a school in Oyo State, who had spent more than 50 days in captivity.

    The string of mass abduction attacks across north-central and parts of southern Nigeria in recent months has sparked growing concern among analysts and residents that insecurity is spreading beyond the country’s traditional conflict zones in the northeast, where Boko Haram and related extremist groups have waged an insurgency for more than 15 years.

  • Iran says close to Hormuz plan with Oman, but reopening depends on US

    Iran says close to Hormuz plan with Oman, but reopening depends on US

    Fresh regional tensions have underscored ongoing risks to global energy shipping, as Iran announced Wednesday it has reached a core agreement with Oman on a new transit route through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, with final arrangements for joint management of the waterway now in their last stages. Even as progress on the bilateral framework moves forward, Iranian officials have stressed that any full reopening of the critical chokepoint remains conditional on the United States lifting its naval blockade of Iranian ports.

    Since the U.S. and Israel launched military operations against Iran on February 28, Tehran has held de facto control over the strait and has issued warnings that any vessels using transit routes it has not authorized will face threats. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed Iran is eager to negotiate a direct deal with Washington to reopen Hormuz, but Iranian officials have rejected this assertion, instead moving forward to finalize arrangements with Oman, its neighbor that borders the opposite side of the strait.

    Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters, per state news agency IRNA, that the two nations have already settled on the exact geographic coordinates for the agreed transit route. If no external parties interfere with the process, a joint formal statement outlining all key terms and consensus points is already in the final review and drafting stage, Baqaei added.

    However, Baqaei clarified that even after a full bilateral understanding is reached, this will not automatically make the strait safe for all transiting vessels. “The factors making the Strait of Hormuz insecure still exist on the part of the United States, particularly the naval blockade and other aggressive and threatening actions against Iran and its interests,” he said.

    The ongoing volatility in the region was highlighted Wednesday when the United Kingdom’s maritime security body UKMTA confirmed that the captain of an oil tanker reported two explosions near the vessel while transiting 9 nautical miles southeast of Kumzar, Oman. No injuries or damage to the crew or ship were reported.

    In a separate development, Yemen’s Houthi movement announced it had attacked two Saudi oil tankers, marking the eighth and ninth such strikes since the group launched its own blockade of Saudi Arabia last month. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree stated that missiles hit the tanker Wafa near the Saudi port of Yanbu in the northern Red Sea, and the tanker Daisy in the Gulf of Aden. Saudi officials have not yet issued a public response to the attacks.

    Before the outbreak of current hostilities, the Strait of Hormuz carried roughly one-fifth of all global oil and liquefied natural gas exports. Global energy prices have spiked repeatedly since the dispute over the waterway began, building significant economic and political pressure on the U.S. government.

    U.S. Vice President JD Vance recently acknowledged Washington’s frustration with the slow pace of diplomatic progress with Iran, telling Fox News in a Wednesday interview that negotiations will likely take extended time due to internal divisions within Iran’s leadership. “It’s going to be messy and it’s going to take some time to get there,” Vance said. “The reality… is that number one, the Iranians are extraordinarily difficult people. Number two, they have a fractured system.”

    Since imposing its effective de facto blockade of most existing transit routes, Iran has required all ships to use a narrow route along the Iranian coastline. However, a large number of commercial vessels have instead opted for a southern route near Omani waters, and several of these ships have come under attack in recent weeks.

    Tehran is also seeking formal authority to control the strait and collect transit tolls, a set of powers it did not exercise before the current war, a shift that the U.S. has already stated it will strongly oppose.

    In a pattern that has become familiar in recent weeks, Trump last week issued a sharp threat to strike Iran “very hard”, even suggesting attacks on civilian infrastructure, only to back away from the threat days later and hint that a deal with Tehran was close. But Iran’s foreign ministry has repeatedly denied that any direct negotiations are ongoing between Iran and the U.S.

  • Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing arrives in Thailand on first trip as civilian leader

    Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing arrives in Thailand on first trip as civilian leader

    Four years after seizing power in a 2021 coup that ousted Myanmar’s democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s top military leader Min Aung Hlaing has stepped onto the international stage for his first official foreign trip, landing in neighboring Thailand for a multi-day state visit. The 2021 takeover triggered a widespread civil conflict that has claimed the lives of thousands of civilians and reduced Myanmar’s once-stable economy to ruin, deepening a humanitarian crisis that has rippled across Southeast Asia.

    Long isolated by the global community, Min Aung Hlaing has carried international sanctions and condemnation for years, stemming first from his role in the 2017 mass expulsion of the Rohingya Muslim minority, a campaign that international courts have labeled crimes against humanity. Banned from entering nearly all Western nations, he has existed as a pariah in most global diplomatic circles for years. His international standing has not improved since he was sworn in as Myanmar’s president in April, following a widely discredited election that was boycotted by major opposition parties, excluded voting in large swathes of opposition-held territory, and was universally rejected as neither free nor fair by the international community. The rigged vote left Myanmar’s military-aligned party with full control of the country’s new parliament.

    For three years, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has barred Min Aung Hlaing from its official summits, a punitive measure imposed after he refused to uphold a 2021 five-point peace consensus agreed to by all ASEAN member states. The deal required Myanmar’s military to end hostilities and open inclusive negotiations with opposition groups, a commitment the junta has never honored. Many key ASEAN members, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore, have maintained that full diplomatic engagement with the junta should only resume after it makes tangible concessions to ease the humanitarian crisis and end the civil war.

    Thailand, however, has broken ranks with the regional bloc’s cautious approach, adopting a policy it calls “calibrated re-engagement” with Min Aung Hlaing’s regime. Citing its 2,400-kilometer shared border with Myanmar, Thai officials argue that high-level dialogue is essential to addressing cross-border challenges ranging from human trafficking to insurgent spillover. This week, that approach has translated into full ceremonial welcome: Min Aung Hlaing has received a red-carpet reception from Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, is scheduled to attend an official state dinner, meet with leaders of Thailand’s upper and lower parliamentary houses, and co-lead a bilateral Thai-Myanmar business forum designed to expand economic ties between the two nations.

    Thailand’s move follows a similar path taken by Myanmar’s two largest neighbors, China and India. Both countries formally recognized Min Aung Hlaing’s new government immediately after his swearing-in and extended invitations for official visits shortly after he took office. China’s ongoing support has been particularly critical for the embattled junta, with military and economic assistance helping the regime reverse earlier battlefield losses and retake significant territory from anti-junta armed groups.

    Unlike China and India, however, Thailand is a founding ASEAN member and a self-identified democracy, making its high-profile reception of Min Aung Hlaing a source of sharp international criticism. Campaigning group Justice for Myanmar has condemned the visit, arguing that Thailand’s ongoing diplomatic outreach grants unwarranted legitimacy to the unelected junta. The organization added that the policy of calibrated re-engagement is a failed strategy that will only extend the suffering of the millions of Myanmar people affected by the ongoing civil conflict.

  • Hiroshima marks 81st atomic bomb anniversary as mayor deplores the pursuit of nuclear weapons

    Hiroshima marks 81st atomic bomb anniversary as mayor deplores the pursuit of nuclear weapons

    On Thursday, the western Japanese city of Hiroshima gathered to honor the 81st anniversary of the world’s first wartime atomic bombing, with local leadership issuing a stark rebuke of global reliance on nuclear deterrence amid growing tensions over Japan’s own postwar security policy.

    In a peace declaration delivered at Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, Mayor Kazumi Matsui drew a direct line between contemporary great power conflicts and the risk of repeating the catastrophic destruction of 1945. He argued that efforts to downplay the humanitarian catastrophe of nuclear weapons, paired with the acceptance of military force to advance national interests, creates a dangerous cycle of retaliation that could lead to another attack on the scale of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

    “Too many political leaders still frame nuclear deterrence as a credible strategy and legitimize state violence,” Matsui told the assembled crowd. “This only pushes the goal of a nuclear-free world further out of reach.” He closed his address by calling on individual people around the world to study the history of the bombing and take grassroots action to advance disarmament.

    Nearly 50,000 people attended the annual memorial, including diplomatic representatives from more than 120 countries and regions, including the United States and Iran. At exactly 8:15 a.m. — the exact minute the U.S. B-29 Enola Gay released the bomb over the city 81 years prior — attendees fell silent for a full minute as the Hiroshima Peace Bell rang out across the memorial grounds.

    Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi participated in the ceremony for the first time since taking office, stating that her administration would pursue a “realistic approach” to the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons, working within the framework of the United Nations’ Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Her appearance comes amid widespread speculation that her hawkish administration, which has publicly endorsed the logic of nuclear deterrence, could loosen Japan’s long-held postwar Three Non-Nuclear Principles when the government updates its national security and defense strategy later this year.

    Takaichi has already publicly called for a review of the principles, specifically opening the door to dropping the third principle that prohibits the introduction of nuclear weapons onto Japanese territory. During Thursday’s memorial, she only reaffirmed that Japan has abided by the principles to date, declining to give any binding commitment to maintain the policy going forward.

    Nuclear bomb survivors, known locally as hibakusha, have voiced growing frustration and anxiety over rising global and domestic support for nuclear deterrence. The legacy of the 1945 bombings hangs heavy over modern Japanese security policy: Japan relies on the U.S. nuclear umbrella for its national defense, and has repeatedly pushed Washington for public reassurance of its security commitment and extended deterrence guarantees. As a result, the Japanese government has repeatedly rejected survivors’ calls to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or even attend the treaty’s meetings as an observer.

    The Aug. 6, 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima levelled nearly the entire city and killed an estimated 140,000 people by the end of that year. Three days later, a second U.S. atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing an additional 70,000 people. Japan announced its unconditional surrender on Aug. 15, 1945, bringing World War II to a close and ending nearly 50 years of Japanese imperial aggression across Asia.

    Today, the population of surviving hibakusha has shrunk dramatically to just 91,105 people nationwide, roughly a quarter of the peak survivor population. The average age of survivors now exceeds 86, and even the youngest survivors have only faint, unclear memories of the attack, leaving survivors concerned that the memory of the bombing’s horror will fade from public consciousness as their generation passes.

  • This African city thought cable cars could fix its traffic gridlock. It was wrong

    This African city thought cable cars could fix its traffic gridlock. It was wrong

    In a bold, unprecedented experiment for sub-Saharan Africa, Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo embarked on an ambitious plan to beat crippling urban gridlock: a purpose-built cable car system designed to lift thousands of daily commuters over the city’s notorious traffic jams. Today, the empty cable lines stretch unused across the Antananarivo skyline, leaving what is widely seen as a $170 million misstep for one of the world’s poorest nations.

    The project was the flagship infrastructure initiative of former Madagascan President Andry Rajoelina, who inaugurated the system ahead of his ousting in a military-led coup late last year. Rajoelina rose to power amid widespread youth-led protests that accused his administration of systemic failure across core public services, and he was removed from office shortly after the cable car’s launch.

    Rajoelina had framed the cable car as the only viable solution to Antananarivo’s growing transit crisis. The capital, originally designed to house just 300,000 residents, now is home to more than 3 million people, a surge driven by rapid rural-to-urban migration. For decades, the city has relied on aging, severely overcrowded minibus taxis, which create multi-hour traffic snarls that disrupt daily life for commuters. Light rail, Rajoelina argued, was unworkable due to the region’s widespread marshy terrain, calling the cable car system a transformative project on par with France’s iconic Eiffel Tower at its 2024 unveiling.

    Planners projected the system would carry up to 75,000 commuters daily, remove 2,000 private cars from city roads, and cut one-way commutes that often stretched to three hours down to just 10 to 30 minutes, depending on a rider’s route. But after the fanfare of the opening, when Rajoelina and his cabinet took the first ceremonial ride over the city’s steep hills and tightly packed informal neighborhoods, very few ordinary Madagascans stepped on board.

    Built over three years with nearly $173 million in French development loans, the cable car project failed at its first hurdle: affordability for local residents. Project officials set a per-trip fare between 70 and 90 U.S. cents – six to eight times the cost of a ride on a traditional minibus. For most Antananarivo residents, that price point is insurmountable: a 2022 World Bank report puts the average monthly commuter salary in Madagascar at just $72, with roughly 75% of the country’s 30 million total residents living below the poverty line.

    Pieter Onderwater, a public transport planning consultant and guest lecturer at the University of Cape Town’s Center for Transport Studies, explained that both the Madagascan government and the French development consortium behind the project overlooked a critical reality for low-income communities across the continent: cost prioritizes far over convenience for most people.

    “Obviously people will not use it because money is far more key than time,” Onderwater noted. “The price is six times higher than a conventional minibus taxi? Well then, we just sit in traffic because we know better things to do with that money.”

    Beyond the issue of cost, the project sparked widespread public anger from residents who have long struggled with a lack of basic core services, including reliable running water and consistent electricity. Many questioned why the government poured hundreds of millions into a luxury transit project instead of addressing these unmet fundamental needs first.

    Residents also raised widespread safety concerns, particularly around the capital’s frequent power outages that already forced the cable car to stop operating repeatedly during its short trial run. “In a city where they cannot even fix the roads, how can we trust being more than 65 feet above the ground when there is a power cut?” asked Erica, a local shop owner who shared only her first name. “And if something goes wrong, how long would it take them to fix it?”

    Tensions boiled over during the coup that removed Rajoelina from power, when demonstrators angry at the administration’s disconnect from public needs burned and damaged multiple cable car stations across the city. Since the coup, a transitional government led by former army colonel Michael Randrianirina has taken control of the country, but officials have not released any public plans for the abandoned cable car system. The transitional government did not respond to repeated requests for comment from the Associated Press.

    A French firm part of the construction consortium confirmed that the partnership completed an inspection of the idle system in March and submitted its findings to Madagascan authorities, leaving the government to “decide on the next steps.”

    The failure of the Antananarivo cable car project underscores a broader challenge facing the African continent as rapid urbanization outpaces infrastructure development. Antananarivo’s population has grown more than tenfold since the 1960s, mirroring a regional trend: the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development projects Africa’s total urban population will double from its current 700 million to 1.4 billion by 2050, creating massive unmet demand for public transit, housing, healthcare, education, water, and electricity.

    Despite having some of the fastest urbanization rates globally, Africa also has some of the world’s least developed formal public transport systems, according to research institution Transport Africa. Onderwater explained that most African governments have largely left transit development to the private sector, which has organically built the widespread network of affordable private minibus taxis – known as kombis in South Africa, matatus in Kenya, and danfo in Nigeria – that carry the vast majority of working commuters across the continent.

    While some Antananarivo commuters say they are intrigued by the idea of skipping over daily traffic jams, most have been grounded by practical concerns over cost, reliability, safety during severe seasonal storms and cyclones, and poor route planning. Hery Ratsimbazafy, a local office worker, summed up a common critique: the cable car lines do not even reach the city’s central business district, leaving it unable to serve the daily commute needs of most workers. “It doesn’t help me get where I need to go,” he said.