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  • Ebola, hantavirus show world’s risk preparedness lagging: pandemic expert

    Ebola, hantavirus show world’s risk preparedness lagging: pandemic expert

    Six years after the World Health Organization officially ended the Covid-19 public health emergency of international concern, a leading global pandemic preparedness expert has issued a stark warning that the world still has not closed critical gaps in early risk detection and pre-outbreak preparedness, as highlighted by two recent high-profile pathogen events.

    Helen Clark, former New Zealand Prime Minister and co-chair of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, shared her assessment in an exclusive interview with AFP in Geneva on Tuesday. She acknowledged that incremental progress has been made since the devastating Covid-19 pandemic in overhauling global public health response systems. New updated International Health Regulations, the binding global framework for cross-border disease surveillance and response, are already delivering improvements when active outbreaks are declared, she noted.

    Clark pointed to two recent cases that demonstrate this partial progress: the Ebola outbreak declared last Friday in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and the rare hantavirus outbreak that emerged several weeks ago on the Atlantic cruise ship MV Hondius. In both instances, once official alerts were issued, the coordinated international response unfolded smoothly, she said.

    But the core problem, Clark emphasized, lies far upstream of declared outbreaks. Critical gaps remain in the foundational systems of pathogen surveillance and early detection that are designed to stop small outbreaks from becoming large public health crises. “Those basic issues of surveillance, early detection… We’re not there yet,” she stated. Clark argued that the global public health community needs to dramatically expand investment in risk-informed preparedness, with a greater focus on proactively identifying emerging threats before they spiral out of control.

    She detailed how the recent hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship, which killed three people and triggered global concern, exposed these gaps. The specific hantavirus strain involved is known to be endemic in the region of Argentina where the cruise ship departed, but Clark questioned whether shipping operators and global health authorities had sufficient advance awareness of this local risk to put preventive measures in place.

    The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the DRC’s remote eastern province reveals even more troubling gaps. The outbreak is caused by the dangerous Bundibugyo Ebola strain, which has already claimed more than 130 lives. Clark revealed that the outbreak spread undetected for four to six weeks, because initial testing targeted a more common Ebola strain and returned false negative results. “How could this have gone for four to six weeks, spreading while not getting the testing results that we needed to show that it was a particular variant?” Clark asked. She called for a full independent investigation into the chain of events to identify critical lessons for strengthening local and global response capacity.

    Beyond surveillance gaps, Clark highlighted that sweeping cuts to global health aid have created a “perfect storm” that undermines outbreak prevention in the world’s most vulnerable nations. After major international donors drastically reduced funding, low-income fragile states are suddenly expected to cover the full cost of strengthening their domestic health systems, a burden they simply cannot afford, she explained. “With the best will in the world, the poorest and most fragile countries just haven’t got money sitting in the bank to do that, so things will get neglected across a range of areas,” Clark said.

    In closing, Clark reaffirmed that global solidarity remains an irreplaceable pillar of effective pandemic preparedness. Pathogens do not respect national borders, she noted: a confirmed Ebola case in a U.S. citizen linked to the DRC outbreak and cross-border spread of hantavirus from the cruise ship prove that all nations share a common interest in strong prevention systems everywhere. “We’re in this together, and so we have to look to ways of financing preparedness or response which reflect our shared interests,” Clark stressed.

  • 5.8 magnitude earthquake hits Peru, damaging buildings and injuring 27

    5.8 magnitude earthquake hits Peru, damaging buildings and injuring 27

    A 5.8-magnitude seismic event has rattled the southern Peruvian Pacific region late Tuesday, leaving at least 27 people injured and causing structural damage to multiple buildings across the affected area. Local authorities have confirmed that no fatalities have been recorded in the wake of the tremor.

    According to data from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquake’s epicenter was pinpointed 20 kilometers, or 12.4 miles, east-southeast of Pampa de Tate, a small town located in Peru’s Ica region. The temblor originated at a depth of approximately 56.5 kilometers, equal to 35 miles, below the Earth’s surface.

    In response to the disaster, Peruvian Defense Minister Amadeo Flores traveled to the impacted zone to assess the destruction and meet with local response teams. During his visit, Flores inspected several damaged structures, most notably the main campus of San Luis Gonzaga University.

    Seismic activity is a frequent occurrence across Peru, a geographic reality that stems from the country’s position along the Pacific “Ring of Fire.” This geologically active zone is a horseshoe-shaped arc of volcanoes and tectonic fault lines that wraps around the entire Pacific Basin, making nations along its perimeter highly prone to regular earthquake and volcanic activity.

  • LIV cash crunch hits Asian Tour as Korea Open prize money cut

    LIV cash crunch hits Asian Tour as Korea Open prize money cut

    Just weeks after celebrating a planned $500,000 prize money injection from LIV Golf, the Asian Tour has reversed course, slashing the total purse for this week’s Kolon Korea Open back to its original 2024 level of 1.4 billion South Korean won (approximately $1 million).

    The sudden change traces back to a bombshell announcement from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), LIV Golf’s primary backer since the breakaway tour launched in 2021. Just one week after the Asian Tour trumpeted the Korea Open purse boost in late April, PIF confirmed it would end all financial support for LIV following the 2026 season, after sinking an estimated $5 billion into the rival circuit. The news has left LIV scrambling to secure new backing and thrown its long-term future into uncertainty, with ripple effects now spreading to its partner tours.

    First launched in 1958, the Korea Open is one of Asian golf’s most historic tournaments. The LIV-funded increase would have pushed the total purse to a record 2 billion won ($1.5 million), marking the largest prize pool in the event’s 66-year history. Organizers had even previously confirmed the champion would take home a 700 million won winner’s share. While the overall purse has been rolled back, the Asian Tour confirmed Wednesday that the defending champion will still receive a previously announced 200 million won bonus, per an update from title sponsor Kolon.

    Despite the funding shakeup, several high-profile LIV Golf players are still set to compete when the tournament tees off Thursday in Chuncheon. The field includes two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson, Mexican standout Abraham Ancer, and Korean-born New Zealander Danny Lee.

    The funding crunch also casts doubt over another key collaboration between LIV and the Asian Tour: the Asian Tour’s International Series, a slate of elevated mini-tour events that LIV has fully bankrolled to date. Each International Series stop currently offers a $2 million purse and serves as a direct qualification pathway for LIV Tour spots. The next event on the International Series calendar is scheduled to tee off in Morocco from June 11 to 14, leaving the golf world waiting to see if that tournament will proceed with its planned purse structure.

  • Fifa World Cup 2026: Is this the most exclusionary tournament in history?

    Fifa World Cup 2026: Is this the most exclusionary tournament in history?

    As the most anticipated global celebration of the world’s most beloved sport, the FIFA World Cup has long been framed as a unifying month-long spectacle that transcends national borders. For decades, billions of fans have gathered across living rooms, neighborhood cafes, local pubs, and packed stadiums to cheer on their teams and watch history unfold as the tournament’s most coveted trophy is lifted. But the 2026 edition, set to run from June 11 to July 19 across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, stands apart from all previous tournaments – and not for the better. Billed as the largest World Cup in history, with 48 competing nations and three co-hosts, the 2026 event has been overshadowed from its early planning stages by cripplingly high ticket prices, restrictive border controls, sweeping travel bans, and rising authoritarianism under the current U.S. administration, leaving fans across the globe disheartened and locked out.

    Unlike previous single-nation tournaments, the 2026 edition’s spread across three vast North American countries has created fragmentation from the start. Vast distances between host venues eliminate the cohesive geographic and cultural identity that defined past tournaments in South Africa, Brazil, and Qatar, where fans could move between matches without cross-border travel and the event felt rooted in a single shared host community. Still, diehard football fans have historically traveled across continents to support their teams, but 2026 presents barriers unlike any the sport has seen before.

    For international fans, journeying to North America begins with exorbitant baseline costs. Transatlantic flights to the U.S. are already long and pricey, with analysts warning costs could spike further amid potential jet fuel shortages linked to the U.S.-Israeli confrontation with Iran. Once inside the U.S., intercity travel between venues almost always requires additional plane or train tickets, and fans hoping to catch matches across all three host nations face even steeper compounding travel and accommodation costs.

    Despite these barriers, demand for the tournament remains high. In the first round of ticket sales in late 2025, FIFA received roughly 20 million ticket requests, a number that surged to 500 million requests by January 2026, with the largest volume of international applications coming from fans in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, England, Germany, Portugal, and Spain. But affordability remains out of reach for all but the most wealthy fans, a stark contrast to past tournaments that offered subsidized ticket rates for local residents. There is no comparable federal subsidized ticketing program for 2026, and prices across all three host nations are at historic highs. During the second round of sales in April 2026, CNN reported opening match tickets in Mexico ranged from $3,000 to $10,000. Even with minor price drops in recent weeks driven by cooling resale market demand, the tournament remains completely unaffordable for even the most loyal local fans.

    “I know dozens of people who have travelled to World Cups around the world, or even to the Olympics in Paris, but very few people I know have bought tickets for this one,” Jennifer Muller, a board member of Cloud 9, the supporters group for Gotham Football Club based in New York-New Jersey, told Middle East Eye. Multiple reports from across the U.S. echo this sentiment: one Atlanta sports retail owner noted local fans were purchasing tickets that cost as much as a monthly mortgage payment.

    In response to mounting criticism, FIFA rolled out a small batch of $60 entry-tier tickets for all participating national team fans in December 2025, but analysts dismiss the move as a hollow publicity stunt, with only a few hundred discounted tickets allocated per match. New York City recently announced a similar gesture: 1,000 $50 tickets for local residents via lottery for matches at the 82,500-seat MetLife Stadium, which will host eight matches including the July 19 final. This works out to just 125 discounted seats per non-final match – roughly 0.15% of the stadium’s total capacity – a move that critics say only highlights the extent of predatory price gouging.

    Match tickets are only the first expense. Transportation costs have also reached absurd levels: the Associated Press reports train fares from New York City to MetLife Stadium have jumped to 12 times the standard rate. “I live 12 miles from the MetLife Stadium. Even if tickets fell into my lap, I have no idea how I would get to the stadium without spending over $100 for a 12-mile trip,” Muller added. Even traditional free public viewing events have been monetized: multiple U.S. cities initially converted popular fan parks into paid ticketed events, only rolling back entry fees in New York and other locations after widespread backlash, though premium fan park sections still cost $200 to $300 per person.

    For millions of fans across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, the barriers extend far beyond cost. Strict U.S. visa rules, new social media vetting requirements, and sweeping travel bans have made attending the tournament all but impossible for supporters from the Global South. Unlike the 2018 Russian World Cup and 2022 Qatari World Cup, which created streamlined special entry systems for ticket holders, the U.S. has added layers of new hurdles. The Trump administration imposed a full travel ban on Haiti and Iran, and partial bans on Senegal and Ivory Coast – four participating nations that are now effectively locked out of direct U.S. match attendance. When Iran requested its scheduled fixtures be moved to Mexico to avoid these restrictions, the request was denied. The U.S. also mandated a $5,000 to $15,000 visa bond for travelers from 50 countries, though it later exempted ticket holders from participating participating nations following outcry.

    Even with the exemption, many fans and official delegations have already been denied entry. Cheikh Tham, a Senegalese community organizer in Atlanta, told Middle East Eye multiple members of the Senegalese Football Federation and the team’s official traveling fan entourage have already been denied U.S. visas. “So now we’re trying to work with the embassy to see how to help us get the ticket cheaper, so at least we can get the flights and go to support the team,” Tham said. The combination of pricing out local fans and blocking Global South supporters has created a tournament defined by exclusion – a reality that directly contradicts FIFA’s core branding of football as a unifying global force.

    “Gianni Infantino, the president of Fifa, talks all the time about how this World Cup will net 11 billion dollars for his organisation. I wouldn’t be surprised if, actually, it went more than $11bn,” said Jules Boykoff, author of *Red Card: The 2026 World Cup, Sportswashing, and the FIFA Greed Machine*. “That is more money than any sporting event in the history of the world. The travel restrictions slices mightily against the FIFA slogan that ‘football unites the world.’ This form of exclusion threatens to suck much of the joy from the tournament, given that visiting football fans bring zest and passion to the festivities. These exclusionary practices may well put a serious damper on the fun.”

    Critics also point out that this tournament fits a long history of large-scale sporting events being used for sportswashing – the practice of using a major tournament to launder a host’s global image amid widespread human rights violations. While sportswashing is most often associated with non-Western hosts such as Russia and Qatar, Boykoff argues the same dynamic is at play in 2026, with the Trump administration using the tournament to distract from rising authoritarianism and anti-immigrant policy. “That’s not to say that massive human rights problems don’t occur in Russia or Qatar. They’re well documented, so that’s for real, but oftentimes, people do turn a blind eye to the human rights violations in the United States, or they don’t call them human rights violations,” Boykoff noted. He added that the tournament could ultimately have an unexpected upside: “And quite honestly, the World Cup, if it has any positive effects, it could open a lot of people’s eyes to the double standard that we’re talking about here, and start looking at the United States and other so-called democracies with a more critical lens that also takes their human rights problems into consideration.”

    Under the Trump administration, the U.S. has seen a sharp rise in anti-immigrant enforcement, including mass immigration raids, expanded detentions, and aggressive deportation campaigns targeting immigrant communities across the country. The administration has refused to issue any guarantee that non-U.S. citizens will be safe from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids inside World Cup stadiums. Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House Task Force on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, told reporters in December 2025 that “the president does not rule out anything that will help make American citizens safer. This tense environment mirrors an incident at a 2025 FIFA Club World Cup match in New Jersey, where a father of two was arrested by ICE during the event.

    In late April 2026, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) issued an unprecedented travel warning for the tournament, alerting international visitors to the risks of arbitrary detention, deportation, invasive social media screening, racial profiling, free speech suppression, surveillance, and even inhumane treatment or death in U.S. detention facilities. Jamil Dakwar, director of the ACLU’s human rights program, called the warning the first of its kind for a large-scale sporting event in modern U.S. history.

    “Over the past year, we have engaged with Fifa and raised these issues and concerns multiple times, particularly around abusive immigration enforcement,” Dakwar told Middle East Eye. “We alerted them to the deteriorating human rights situation under the Trump administration, including illegal and unconstitutional immigration practices where individuals were detained and deported without due process, [and] in some instances, attempts to deport even permanent legal residents in connection to their activism in support of Palestinian rights. The abusive deployment of armed federal forces, including the National Guard, is, in my view, unlike anything we have seen in many decades. It affects not only migrants or asylum seekers, but also bystanders, people observing events, reporters, and even lawful residents.”

    Activists are also specifically concerned about restrictions on political speech: after fans widely displayed Palestinian solidarity during the 2022 Qatar World Cup, there are no guarantees that similar displays will be tolerated in the U.S. “We have not been able to get binding assurances from Fifa or the federal government that people attending the World Cup will not be subject to the same kinds of abusive or authoritarian practices, including deadly use of force, profiling, inhumane detention and summary deportation without due process. If this can happen to permanent legal residents and even citizens, then it can certainly happen to visitors coming into the country as well,” Dakwar added.

    Beyond visitor rights, the ACLU and local labor groups are also raising concerns about the impact on communities already living in the U.S. Just this week, workers at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, which will host multiple World Cup matches, publicly demanded that ICE have no presence at the tournament and that FIFA stop sharing worker and fan data with ICE and foreign intelligence agencies. “We cannot celebrate the World Cup while workers, tourists, immigrant families, and local communities are made to feel unsafe. Los Angeles should be a city of welcome – not fear,” Yolanda Fierro, a SoFi Stadium worker and member of Unite Here Local 11, said in a statement.

    Activists stress they are not calling for a boycott of the tournament, but rather for global fans to take precautions and hold FIFA accountable for enabling the current administration’s policies. “It is a call for precaution – for awareness of risks, for preparation, and for safety planning,” Dakwar said. “More than anything, it is also a signal to Fifa that they need to take responsibility and use their leverage to ensure that this World Cup does not become a space where abusive practices and widespread human rights violations are normalised, and where people are exposed to surveillance, deportation, arrest, detention, or other violations.”

    Despite the widespread criticism, inequity, and human rights concerns, the world’s biggest football show will go on. As Boykoff put it: “I believe that we can both appreciate the action on the field and support the worker-athletes on the field, and critique Fifa for the way that it is basically turning the people’s game into a game for plutocrats.”

  • ‘I saw my leg still there’: Deine Mariner set for stunning Broncos return after fears he could lose his leg

    ‘I saw my leg still there’: Deine Mariner set for stunning Broncos return after fears he could lose his leg

    Brisbane Broncos rugby league winger Deine Mariner is on track for one of the most remarkable comebacks in the sport’s recent history, just weeks after medical experts held genuine fears that a rare, sudden medical condition could force the amputation of his leg. The 2023 grand final hero is now eyeing a return to the field before the end of the 2024 season’s finals series, in a story defined by grit, fast-acting medical care and extraordinary good fortune.

    Mariner first sustained what medical staff initially believed to be a severe bruising injury, or cork, during the Broncos’ round nine clash against the Sydney Roosters. The Samoan international was forced off the field early in the match, but returned to the pitch to cover for a teammate who suffered an injury later in the game. By the time the match concluded, Mariner was already showing clear signs of distress, but the full severity of his condition did not emerge until that night, when he was staying at the team’s Sydney hotel.

    As his condition rapidly deteriorated overnight, Mariner made the critical decision to contact the Broncos’ medical staff, who immediately arranged an urgent dash to Sydney’s Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. By the time he arrived, he had developed acute compartment syndrome, a dangerous condition that causes dangerous pressure buildup in muscle tissue that can cut off blood flow and lead to tissue death if not treated immediately. When medics checked for a pulse in Mariner’s foot, the risk of amputation became a real possibility.

    Mariner recalled the harrowing experience in an interview following his recovery: “I got rushed into surgery, so I didn’t really get to understand what was happening. All I knew was that there was a lot of pressure on my leg at the time. And I think a lot of the blood flow was starting to stop going into my leg. It would definitely be up there with the worst pain I’ve experienced. I was trying to go to sleep and I was thinking, ‘Should I call them or not?’ Then when I really started to feel a lot of pain and I couldn’t move, that’s when I was like, ‘I better call them.’”

    “I didn’t even think of losing my leg as an option until I got to the hospital and they were checking for the pulse in my foot, and that’s when that stuff started coming up,” he added. “But I was like, ‘Just do the surgery so I can get it over and done with.’ When I woke up, I saw my leg still there, so I was like, ‘It’d be pretty bad if I woke up and my leg wasn’t there.’ I’m just pretty lucky to be in this position. I’m still breathing and I’m still alive. Being in ICU, I saw a lot of other people that don’t get a second chance.”

    In total, Mariner underwent seven separate surgeries to save his leg. The first two procedures focused on cutting into the affected muscle tissue to release the dangerous pressure buildup. Over the following days, surgeons closed the wound gradually across five additional procedures, a process that required repeated rounds of general anesthesia.

    Mariner paid tribute to the medical teams that saved his leg and his future playing career: “I wasn’t used to going back under anaesthetics for that long. It was pretty full on, but I was in such good hands. Shout out to Dr Gupta and his team at St Vincent’s Private Hospital. They were the best. I wouldn’t be able to be here today if it wasn’t for them. Even the doctors were saying they haven’t seen this happen in a player in this context before.”

    Even more incredibly, Mariner’s recovery has progressed far faster than many medical observers expected. Currently recovering at home after his time in hospital, Mariner says he is targeting an eight-week timeline for his return to full training and match play, putting him on track to rejoin the Broncos squad ahead of the 2024 NRL finals.

    “At the moment my leg is stuck a bit, so once that opens up, I’ll be able to start moving again. I’ve got a lot of confidence in myself to get back out there again for the Broncos,” he said. “I think we’re looking around the eight-week mark for returning to play. Obviously we’ve still got plenty more games to go, so I’ll just have to take it day by day and let the body heal itself. It gives me a bit more hunger to get back out there. At the same time, I just want to make sure that I’m doing the best for myself and putting myself in a good position for my body to heal.”

    Mariner added that the overwhelming support from his club, teammates and family has helped him maintain a positive outlook through the harrowing experience: “It has been a pretty hectic couple of weeks. My leg is doing a lot better and I am back home now which helps. I’m good. It was pretty full on with everything but I had a really good support group and the club were so good to me and my family. I am in a pretty good headspace. When the time comes, I’ll be ready.”

  • ‘Cherished and loved’: Anthony Albanese meets with family of Kumanjayi Little Baby

    ‘Cherished and loved’: Anthony Albanese meets with family of Kumanjayi Little Baby

    A national tragedy that has sparked urgent calls for systemic reform in remote Indigenous community services moved forward this week, as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met privately with the family of Kumanjayi Little Baby, the five-year-old Warlpiri girl allegedly murdered last month at an Alice Springs town camp.

    WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article references a deceased Indigenous child, whose name and story are shared with the permission of her family.

    Kumanjayi went missing from the Northern Territory town camp on April 25, with 47-year-old Jefferson Lewis taken into custody in connection with her death. Lewis’ arrest ignited violent clashes between community members and police outside Alice Springs Hospital, where the suspect was detained, and amplified long-simmering demands for urgent action to address intergenerational poverty and overhaul flawed child protection systems across the Northern Territory.

    On Wednesday, Albanese traveled to Alice Springs to sit down with Kumanjayi’s mother, grandfather and grandmother, marking his first face-to-face meeting with the grieving family since the child’s killing. After the meeting, the prime minister spoke publicly to honor the young girl’s life and acknowledge the family’s immeasurable pain.

    “Kumanjayi was cherished and loved,” Albanese told reporters. “They are going through the worst of devastation, and at this time, they have asked that they be allowed to go through their sorry business with the privacy, dignity and solemnity that it deserves.”

    Albanese added that the family had taken some small comfort in the outpouring of community support that has emerged in Alice Springs since the tragedy. “It was an opportunity as well, too, where we laid flowers at the memorial, at the camp that has sprung up spontaneously,” he said. “This is a young person lost far too early under circumstances unbearable. They are trying to bear their way through this with dignity, with respect, and it will remain something that is with them forever.”

    He noted that the family remains proud of their beloved daughter and granddaughter, but carry the devastating regret that Kumanjayi will never get to grow into the adult she was meant to become. “It was important to be able to say to the family that the nation stands with them in their grief … we’ll give them every support that they need,” the prime minister said.

    Turning to the broader policy failures that the tragedy has laid bare, Albanese committed that the federal government would work collaboratively with the Northern Territory government and local Indigenous leaders to deliver tangible improvements. “Every child has the right to be safe and to enjoy a quality of life free from danger,” he said. “This is a time where what I want to see is the different levels of government coming together with the community in the same way that the community has.”

    Addressing longstanding inadequate conditions in remote town camps specifically, Albanese acknowledged that all levels of government have fallen short, and must “do much better” to improve living outcomes. “My government has acknowledged that is the case,” he said. “When it comes to housing, we are building more remote housing. When it comes to the issues that were raised with me about Yuendumu and other communities, as well as the town camps – clearly, the Northern Territory government have had responsibility since 2012 for the town camps. Clearly, there’s a need to do better, to make sure that the living conditions are improved.”

    Albanese pointed to on-country dialysis programs that keep Indigenous community members connected to their traditional lands while accessing critical care as a practical model for how targeted government investment can deliver tangible change to remote communities.

    The tragedy has already prompted a high-profile call for national reckoning from Kumanjayi’s aunt, Coalition frontbencher Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who broke down in tears earlier this month while delivering an emotional tribute to her niece on the floor of the Senate.

    Price used the address to demand an honest, unflinching conversation about the ongoing failures of child protection systems for Indigenous children across remote Australia. “I don’t want to be here right now, to have to stand in this chamber, to deliver a condolence speech for a little girl in my family,” she said. “She was loved. She should still be here.”

    “The hardest truth is that for many in my hometown, none of this came as a surprise,” Price continued. “For too long in this country, there has been silence around what is happening in too many town camps and remote communities – a silence driven by fear, a fear of causing offence, a fear of being labelled racist, fear of speaking honestly about dysfunction, violence, alcohol abuse, neglect and conditions. Vulnerable children are growing up in that silence and it is killing our babies. And when I say our babies, our people, I mean all Australians.”

  • China confirms it will buy 200 Boeing jets after Trump-Xi summit

    China confirms it will buy 200 Boeing jets after Trump-Xi summit

    A high-stakes diplomatic visit to Beijing by former U.S. President Donald Trump has delivered tangible breakthroughs on trade between the world’s two largest economic powers, headlined by a confirmed Chinese order for 200 Boeing commercial aircraft and a new push to expand a critical tariff truce.

    China’s Commerce Ministry made the order official in an announcement Wednesday, confirming that alongside the aircraft purchase, the United States has committed to providing long-term supply guarantees for jet engines and key aircraft components to Chinese operators. Beyond the aerospace deal, the two nations have also agreed to open negotiations aimed at extending the tariff truce first reached in October 2025, with plans to cut existing tariffs on at least $30 billion worth of mutual goods trade.

    The confirmation came as Chinese President Xi Jinping convened talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing, just days after Trump wrapped up his bilateral meetings with Chinese leadership. During his trip, Trump secured a slate of trade pledges that also included expanded market access for American agricultural producers into the huge Chinese consumer market.

    Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One shortly after departing China last Friday, Trump framed the agreements as a historic win for U.S. manufacturing. “We made a lot of great trade deals, including over 200 planes for Boeing, with a promise of 750 planes total, which would be by far the largest order ever,” he told journalists.

    The U.S. business delegation that accompanied Trump on the trip included Boeing Chief Executive Officer Kelly Ortberg, alongside other major U.S. business leaders such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Jensen Huang, head of leading artificial intelligence chip maker Nvidia.

    In a post-trip statement, Boeing hailed the visit as a turning point for its access to the Chinese market. “We had a very successful trip to China and accomplished our major goal of reopening the China market to orders for Boeing aircraft,” the company said. The 200-aircraft commitment marks the first tranche of a larger expected deal, with the manufacturer noting that “we expect further commitments will follow after this initial order.”

    The current tariff truce between Washington and Beijing dates back to October 2025, when negotiators from both sides reached an agreement on the sidelines of an international meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, ahead of a previous Trump-Xi summit in South Korea. That earlier deal extended the pause on tit-for-tat tariffs until November 2026, and included a small reduction in U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports alongside a Chinese commitment to pause new restrictions on exports of rare earth minerals and specialized magnets—critical inputs for a wide range of U.S. manufacturing and tech sectors.

  • ‘I’m here’: Jaydn Su’A shuts down early release rumours as he prepares to return from lengthy ban

    ‘I’m here’: Jaydn Su’A shuts down early release rumours as he prepares to return from lengthy ban

    One of the National Rugby League’s most experienced forwards has put to bed widespread speculation of an early mid-season departure, confirming he will see out the remainder of his contract with the St George Illawarra Dragons before his scheduled move to the Parramatta Eels in 2027.

    Veteran back-rower Jaydn Su’A, who is set to make his return to the Dragons’ starting 17 this weekend after serving a three-match suspension, has already put pen to paper on a three-year deal that will see him join the Sydney-based Eels once his current tenure at the Red V wraps up at the end of the current season. The 28-year-old, who previously plied his trade with the Brisbane Broncos and South Sydney Rabbitohs before a five-season stint with the Dragons, addressed rumours of an early switch that gained traction this week, amid St George Illawarra’s poor run of form that has already ruled them out of 2024 finals contention.

    Speaking to media on Wednesday, Su’a made his position clear, shutting down any talk of an immediate departure. “There have been conversations in-house, but I’m here for the rest of the year,” he said. “I just want to play my best and do whatever I can to help this club get some wins.”

    Su’a has been one of the Dragons’ standout performers throughout the 2024 campaign, but was sidelined after a controversial high tackle on former Rabbitohs teammate Cam Murray in Round 7, which resulted in an immediate send-off. The suspension came just one day after Su’a formally announced his three-year deal with Parramatta, leading to unsubstantiated claims that his decision to leave the club stemmed from dissatisfaction with the development of the Dragons’ young cohort of incoming forwards. The veteran NRL representative pushed back firmly on those claims.

    “I didn’t really ever think like that,” Su’a said. “I was in talks with the club early this year and obviously that stuff broke down, but at the end of the day when your time is done, it’s done. For me, it was time to look elsewhere and look for another opportunity. I’m thankful I got that, but at the end of the day, I’m here for the rest of the year and just want to go out there and put my best foot forward. I’ve been here for five years now, so I just want to go out and play.”

    The former Queensland State of Origin representative also noted that he was open to extending his tenure at the Dragons, but ultimately saw the 2027 move as a critical career step. “I was open (to staying). I’m coming to that age now where the next move I make is probably vital, but I know I’ve still got some good footy left in me. Things happen for a reason and that’s been done now, so as I said, I’m still here for another six months. I’ll do what I do and I’ll give my all like I always do.”

    Reflecting on his half-decade with the club, Su’a acknowledged the many struggles the Dragons have endured during his time in Wollongong, noting that the organisation is finally starting to turn a corner – even if he will not be part of that next chapter. “It’s been hard. I’ve been through a lot of dark days with this club, and you can see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I’m not going to be here. I’m grateful for my time here, thankful to all the people that have helped me along the way, and it is what it is.”

    Much has shifted at the club since Su’a last took the field in Round 7. Former head coach Shane Flanagan has departed the club, with interim boss Dean Young taking the reins – and the side has yet to register a win under his leadership. For this weekend’s clash against the New Zealand Warriors, Young has named Su’a to start at right centre, covering for the injured Moses Suli, who is sidelined with a back issue. Su’a has spent recent weeks training with the Dragons’ NSW Cup feeder side, and has previous experience filling in at the centre position, making him the ideal emergency replacement.

    After a frustrating three weeks on the sidelines, Su’a said he is eager to get back out on the field and contribute to the club for the remainder of the season. “It’s tough, but all I can do is rock up to training with a good attitude and prep the boys as well as I can. I couldn’t really do anything, so I just had to bide my time, train hard, and be ready for when I get called back in.”

  • Taiwan’s Lai says he would tell Trump he hopes to continue arm purchases, if given a chance

    Taiwan’s Lai says he would tell Trump he hopes to continue arm purchases, if given a chance

    As Lai Ching-te reaches the midpoint of his four-year term as Taiwan’s leader, cross-strait relations and the island’s security partnerships with Washington have emerged as the defining flashpoints of his administration, with growing pressure from Beijing and shifting rhetoric from U.S. leadership raising new uncertainty for the region. In a press briefing Wednesday, Lai laid out his vision for Taiwan’s defense and sovereignty, revealing what message he would deliver to U.S. President Donald Trump if given the opportunity to speak directly.

    Lai’s core priority, he emphasized, would be to secure continued U.S. arms sales to the island, a policy he frames as non-negotiable for maintaining cross-strait peace. He argued that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait are foundational to global security, and went on to claim China is the primary force undermining that stability. Repeating his belief that “only strength can bring peace,” Lai noted that Taipei has steadily increased its defense budget in response to growing regional threats, and purchases of U.S. military equipment remain an essential pillar of the island’s deterrence strategy.

    “No country has the right to annex Taiwan,” Lai said. “Democracy and freedom should also not be seen as provocation.”

    The midterm briefing comes against a backdrop of intensifying geopolitical friction. China has long maintained that Taiwan is an inalienable part of its territory, and has ramped up diplomatic and military pressure on Lai’s administration, which Beijing labels as separatist. Just one week before Lai’s remarks, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a stark warning to Trump during their summit in Beijing, calling the Taiwan question the most sensitive issue in U.S.-China relations, and warning that mishandling it would lead to direct clashes and conflict between the two powers.

    Recent comments from Trump have also fueled concerns about the future of longstanding U.S. support for Taiwan, even in the absence of formal diplomatic ties. Late last year, Trump approved a historic $11 billion arms package to Taipei, but during his recent visit to China, he suggested that a proposed $14 billion follow-up arms deal would be used as a negotiating lever with Beijing, telling Fox News its approval would depend on China’s cooperation. He later added that he planned to speak with Taiwan’s leader, without naming Lai directly.

    Lai pushed back on the idea that Taiwan’s future could be determined by outside powers, stating: “Taiwan’s future cannot be decided by external forces, nor can it be hijacked by fear, division, or short-term interests.” While he said Taipei is open to peaceful, equal, and dignified cross-strait exchanges with Beijing, he firmly rejected Chinese unification overtures that frame political integration as a path to peace, calling these coercive united front tactics unacceptable.

    Beyond security and cross-strait policy, Lai also addressed domestic economic priorities, responding to concerns over Taiwan’s heavy reliance on its booming tech sector, which has surged on the back of the global AI boom. The island is the world’s leading producer of advanced semiconductors and AI server hardware, and top tech firms have posted record profits in recent quarters, but analysts have warned that overreliance on AI-related manufacturing leaves the economy exposed if the current AI boom deflates into a bubble. To diversify Taiwan’s economic base, Lai announced a NT$100 billion (US$3.1 billion) initiative to support the upgrading and transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises and traditional manufacturing sectors, with the goal of leveraging the tech industry’s growth to lift all segments of the economy.

    Beijing has rejected Lai’s framing of cross-strait tensions outright. Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, labeled recent claims by Lai that China is responsible for altering the cross-strait status quo as a web of “lies and deception, hostility and confrontation,” according to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency. She accused Lai of clinging to a separatist pro-independence agenda and deliberately inciting confrontation across the Taiwan Strait, countering his claim by saying that Lai himself is the true “destroyer of the status quo of the Taiwan Strait.” The remarks cap off a week of escalating verbal exchanges between the two sides, as geopolitical shifts continue to reshape the future of the region.

  • Sky bridges, citizen science protect endangered Malaysia monkeys

    Sky bridges, citizen science protect endangered Malaysia monkeys

    Against the backdrop of accelerating habitat loss across Southeast Asia, one grassroots conservation initiative in Penang, Malaysia, is turning to low-cost innovation and local community participation to pull the iconic dusky leaf monkey back from the brink of extinction. Listed as endangered by global conservation bodies, the distinct primate—easily identified by the crisp white fur mask that frames its dark eyes—faces three interconnected existential threats: fragmented forest territories cut off by urban development, growing conflict with human communities expanding into historic monkey habitats, and persistent poaching.

    On a recent afternoon, a female dusky langur carefully picked her way across a swaying red rope canopy bridge strung high above a busy residential thoroughfare in Penang, her movements documented by a team of local conservation volunteers who have become the species’ most dedicated advocates. For these primates, survival today hinges on two simple, effective tools: these man-made sky crossings and the growing network of ‘citizen scientists’ who track and protect the langurs day-to-day.

    The work is led by Langur Project Penang (LPP), a community-focused conservation organization founded by wildlife researcher Yap Jo Leen. The idea for the crossing project grew out of a sobering observation Yap made during 2016 fieldwork: langurs were repeatedly risking their lives darting across multi-lane roads to reach coastal foraging areas, since urban development had split their once-continuous forest habitat into isolated pockets.

    “At the time, the idea was wild because no one in Malaysia had actually done it before,” Yap told Agence France-Presse. While canopy bridges had been used successfully to protect other endangered primates across the region—including a recent sighting of orangutans using similar structures in Indonesia—no program had yet tested the model for Penang’s dusky langurs.

    After experimenting with multiple materials, Yap’s team settled on a low-cost, eco-friendly design: upcycled fire hoses twisted to mimic the texture and shape of natural tree branches, suspended between existing trees on one side of the road and custom-installed steel poles on the other. To date, LPP has installed three bridges across the region, including the latest structure added in April in the popular coastal tourist suburb of Batu Ferringhi.

    Early data confirms the approach is working. At one busy crossing site, eight langurs died in vehicle collisions between 2016 and 2018. Since the bridge was installed in 2019, there have been zero recorded road fatalities for the primate population at that location. Beyond saving individual lives, the crossings also reconnect genetically isolated groups of langurs, allowing them to expand their ranges into less populated forest areas higher up Penang’s hills.

    “They have more opportunity to venture closer to the hills… and find their way to a safe haven,” Yap explained. A secondary benefit has been a sharp reduction in human-wildlife conflict: as langurs gain access to more natural foraging territory, fewer hungry groups wander into residential neighborhoods searching for food, cutting down on friction between humans and primates.

    Addressing remaining community tension is the second core pillar of LPP’s work, which leans heavily on local citizen science engagement. The organization recruits residents from all walks of life to train as volunteer citizen scientists, who track langur movements, log population data, and record GPS coordinates using simple tools including spreadsheets and the Wikiloc trail navigation app. In exchange for committing to three months of regular tracking work, volunteers receive a small stipend and hands-on field training.

    The resulting dataset gives researchers critical insight into langur home ranges, feeding patterns, and population dynamics, information that will guide future reforestation and conservation planning. Today, LPP’s volunteer team ranges in age from 17 to 65, and volunteers have affectionately nicknamed themselves the “monkey stalkers” and “monkey whisperers.”

    Teo Hoon Cheng, a 65-year-old former IT manager, signed up more than a decade ago after encountering the langurs on local hiking trails. “You don’t need background knowledge in zoology or biology. Anyone can be a citizen scientist,” he said. For local residents like retired graphic designer Tan Soo Siah, the work extends beyond tracking to mediating communication between unhappy residents and the langur population.

    Many Penang locals complain about loud langurs crossing rooftop structures, or occasional break-ins when residents leave windows open. Tan works directly with communities to explain why langurs are entering residential areas, and shares simple, non-harmful tactics like spraying a light stream of water to gently encourage langurs to leave. The work, he said, has fundamentally shifted his perspective on sharing space with wildlife.

    “Somebody needs to step up to act as a bridge for this communication,” the 64-year-old said. “It’s good that we can use my experience to show how we can live in harmony with the primates.”

    Fellow resident Lim Hock Cheng, 66, noted that community attitudes have gradually shifted as more locals buy into the coexistence model. “We’ve encroached into their habitat… We have to coexist, learn to live with each other,” he said. “The dusky langurs are also part of our society.”

    This reporting is part of a collaborative project between Mongabay and Agence France-Presse.