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  • Three dead after volcano erupts on Indonesian island

    Three dead after volcano erupts on Indonesian island

    On a Friday morning in Indonesia, a sudden eruption of the active Mount Dukono volcano claimed three lives, turning a routine early morning hike into a fatal tragedy that has sparked new debates about public risk perception and enforcement of volcanic safety regulations.

    The 1,335-meter volcano, located on Indonesia’s North Maluku island, erupted at 07:41 local time, sending a towering column of volcanic ash 10 kilometers into the sky. Footage captured from the scene shows thick plumes of ash and rocky debris continuing to spew from the volcano’s crater long after the initial blast. Among the hikers on the mountain that morning were 20 people who had ignored repeated official warnings against climbing the volcano: 18 Singaporean and Indonesian hikers, and two local porters. Three members of that group — two Singaporean citizens and one local resident from nearby Ternate — were killed by the eruption.

    Search and rescue teams were deployed immediately to extract the remaining hikers. Most of the surviving group members were safely evacuated and transported to local hospitals to receive treatment for eruption-related injuries. The two porters from the original group stayed behind on the mountain to help rescuers navigate the terrain and locate the victims’ remains, which are trapped at higher elevations. As of Friday afternoon, body recovery efforts have been blocked by ongoing volcanic activity, rough, uneven terrain, and repeated explosive blasts from the crater. Aldy Salabia, a local resident assisting with rescue operations, told BBC Indonesian that from the team’s staging shelter, continuous ejection of ash and rock material was clearly visible.

    Eyewitness accounts from other hikers on the mountain that morning have added context to the tragedy. A local guide who escaped unscathed with his two clients told reporters he had detected warning signs of an impending eruption days earlier. “When Dukono hasn’t erupted for a few days, you have to be careful,” he explained, noting that he spotted deep tremors just before the blast and immediately fled downslope with his guests. As he descended, he said, he saw dozens of other hikers still lingering at the summit — including one group at the edge of the crater itself, and another 50 meters away filming footage with a drone.

    Mount Dukono has had more than 200 recorded eruptive events since March 2025, and has maintained a Level 2 alert status on Indonesia’s four-tier volcanic warning system for an extended period, a classification that signals elevated activity and requires strict caution. Since December 2024, Indonesian volcanic authorities have officially banned all tourism and climbing activity within a 4-kilometer radius of the main crater, citing constant risks of flying rock, ash fall, lava flows and sudden explosive eruptions. Officials say these warnings were widely shared across social media platforms and posted on large banners at all trail entrances, but many climbers continue to disregard the restrictions.

    Indonesia’s national search and rescue agency, Barsanas, has launched an investigation into the incident, noting that initial reviews suggest possible negligence by tourism operators or individual guides who led groups up the mountain despite the known risks. “The government is continuing to gather information to establish a complete account of the incident,” a Barsanas spokesperson said.

    Disaster experts say the tragedy exposes a growing, dangerous misperception of volcanic risk among tourists fueled by social media content. Dr Daryono, a member of the Indonesian Association of Disaster Experts, told the BBC that active volcanoes should never be treated as routine tourist destinations. “Dukono is a mountain with almost continuous eruptive activity, so any violation of the danger zone carries a fatal risk,” he said. He added that social media has warped public understanding of the danger: users only see content from influencers and climbers who successfully summit and return unharmed, while the constant, lethal risks of volcanic activity are pushed out of public view. “The real danger remains and could emerge at any time in the form of ejections of incandescent material, thick ashfall, volcanic gas, or sudden explosive eruptions,” he warned.

  • South Africa court rules impeachment proceedings against president should not have been blocked

    South Africa court rules impeachment proceedings against president should not have been blocked

    In a landmark judicial decision that has upended South Africa’s political landscape, the country’s Constitutional Court has ruled that parliament acted unconstitutionally when it blocked efforts to initiate impeachment proceedings against sitting President Cyril Ramaphosa back in 2022. The ruling directly responds to a legal challenge launched by opposition parties, who argued that the 2022 parliamentary vote to halt impeachment violated the core separation of powers enshrined in South Africa’s constitution.

    The entire controversy traces back to a 2020 burglary at Ramaphosa’s private farm in rural South Africa, where intruders stole more than $500,000 in undeclared cash that had been stashed inside a sofa at the property. Following the incident, an independent panel of senior legal experts assembled by parliament concluded that there was sufficient credible evidence to open an impeachment inquiry, finding that Ramaphosa may need to answer to allegations of misconduct related to the unreported cash.

    Critics of the president have raised persistent questions about the origin of the large sum of hidden money, demanding full transparency over how the funds were acquired and why they were not properly disclosed per South African ethics rules for public officials. Ramaphosa has repeatedly and forcefully denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that he has violated no laws or ethical codes during his time in office.

    In 2022, when impeachment proceedings were first brought to a parliamentary vote, Ramaphosa’s long-governing party, the African National Congress (ANC), held an absolute majority in the chamber. That majority allowed the ANC to block the impeachment push from moving forward. However, the political calculus shifted dramatically following South Africa’s 2024 general election, where the ANC lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since the end of apartheid, leaving it reliant on fragile coalition agreements to retain power.

    With the Constitutional Court’s latest ruling clearing the legal path for a new impeachment vote, the coming parliamentary vote will be a critical test for Ramaphosa’s presidency, with the outcome potentially reshaping the future of South African politics.

  • Islamic militants attack Congo villages near Uganda, killing 40 people, local group says

    Islamic militants attack Congo villages near Uganda, killing 40 people, local group says

    KINSHASA, DRC – A series of coordinated overnight attacks carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), an insurgent group with ties to the Islamic State, has left at least 40 civilians dead in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo’s border region adjacent to Uganda, local civil society representatives confirmed Friday. The violent incursion unfolded between Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon, striking multiple rural communities across two of eastern Congo’s conflict-torn provinces. According to Charité Banza, head of the Ituri civil society collective, and Kinos Katua, an on-the-ground group member, 25 civilians were killed in border villages within Beni territory, North Kivu, while an additional 15 fatalities were recorded in neighboring Ituri province. Local activists warn the final death toll is expected to climb, as dozens of residents remain unaccounted for following the attacks, which also saw insurgents burn down residential structures and loot civilian property. The ADF, a rebel movement originally formed in Uganda that pledged formal allegiance to the Islamic State network in 2019, has waged a low-intensity insurgency in the shared border region of the two countries for decades, with frequent attacks targeting unarmed civilian populations. The latest bloodshed comes just weeks after Amnesty International released a damning report this week accusing the ADF of systematic war crimes and crimes against humanity against civilian communities in eastern DRC. This attack is one of the deadliest claimed by the group since July 2025, when an ADF assault left 66 civilians dead in eastern Congo—a massacre the United Nations labeled a deliberate “bloodbath.” The DRC is already grappling with one of Africa’s most complex and protracted conflict crises, with roughly 120 active rebel and insurgent groups operating across its eastern territory. The most significant threat to state control currently comes from the M23 rebel movement, which is backed by Rwanda and has seized control of multiple major strategic cities and large swathes of territory in North Kivu over the past two years, forcing hundreds of thousands of people to flee their homes.

  • Pope celebrates first anniversary of election with visit to Pompeii to pray at shrine

    Pope celebrates first anniversary of election with visit to Pompeii to pray at shrine

    POMPEII, Italy – On the first anniversary of his historic election as the first American-born pope, Pope Leo XIV traveled to the ancient Roman city of Pompeii on Friday to mark the occasion with quiet prayer and commemoration of a beloved Marian feast day that aligned perfectly with the start of his pontificate.

    Flying by helicopter to the archaeological hub near Naples, the pontificate dedicated his full day visit to honoring the Feast of Our Lady of Pompeii, a date that also carries historic meaning for the global Catholic Church: it was on this same day in 1876 that the cornerstone was laid for the city’s iconic sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

    Nestled steps away from the ongoing excavations of Pompeii, the Roman town that was entirely buried under volcanic ash and gas when Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, the sanctuary draws a different crowd than the ancient ruins that welcome millions of tourists annually. For decades, it has been a major pilgrimage site for Catholics, particularly those devoted to the rosary prayer tradition.

    Standing before crowds of gathered faithful ahead of celebrating Mass inside the sanctuary, Pope Leo shared his reflections on the meaningful occasion, saying, “What a beautiful day, how many blessings the Lord wanted to give to all of us. I feel I am the first blessed to be able to come here to the sanctuary of the Madonna on the day of her feast and on this anniversary.”

    This Pompeii pilgrimage marks the opening of a months-long series of day trips Pope Leo will take across the Italian peninsula over the coming weeks. The journey comes as the Bishop of Rome, who hails from the United States as former Cardinal Robert Prevost, deepens his connection to the Italian national church he serves as its symbolic head.

    The pope’s pontificate was literally launched with a prayer centered on this very feast day. On the night of his election, when he first stepped out onto the loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to be introduced to the world, Pope Leo immediately referenced the Feast of Our Lady of Pompeii before leading crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square in a public prayer for his new papacy. That night, he emphasized Mary’s constant presence for believers, saying, “Mary, the mother of Christ, always wants to walk at our side, to remain close to us, to help us with her intercession and her love.” He asked the crowd to join him in praying for grace for his new mission, for the global church, and for peace across the world.

    The Pompeii sanctuary is forever tied to St. Bartolo Longo, the founder who built the basilica and is widely venerated across Italy for his lifelong charitable outreach to orphans, prisoners, and other marginalized communities. In a full-circle moment for the site, the late Pope Francis approved the miracle required for Longo’s canonization from his hospital room just weeks before Francis’s death, and Pope Leo formally canonized Longo as a saint last October.

    Pope Leo opened his visit on Friday by meeting with sick and disabled people supported by a charitable center affiliated with the sanctuary, a site that was named a pontifical basilica in 1901 by Pope Leo XIII, the current pope’s namesake. In his opening remarks, he retraced Longo’s work in the region, recalling that when Longo first arrived in the Pompeii valley, “he found a land plagued by great poverty, inhabited by a few very poor farmers, and ravaged by malaria and bandits.”

    Yet despite the harsh conditions, Longo “was able to see, however, the face of Christ in everyone: in the great and the small, and especially in the orphans and the children of prisoners, to whom he made the beating of God’s heart felt through his tenderness,” the pope added.

    Thousands of cheering Italian faithful lined the pope’s route, with many reporting they had waited since the middle of the night to catch a glimpse of the new pontiff. Many attendees made clear they were paying close attention to the recent public disagreement between Pope Leo and U.S. President Donald Trump over the escalating conflict in Iran, and they expressed strong approval of the pope’s response.

    “He doesn’t let anyone intimidate him. Look at the recent issues with Trump,” said Rita Borriello, a resident of nearby Torre del Greco. After Trump publicly criticized the pope, Leo “simply answered, ‘I preach the Gospel’. I see him as a very humble pope, very close to us, a pope who entered in our hearts.”

    Reporter Nicole Winfield contributed reporting from Rome. This coverage of religion comes via the Associated Press’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding provided by Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP retains full editorial responsibility for all content.

  • Japan confirms year’s first fatal bear attack, two more suspected

    Japan confirms year’s first fatal bear attack, two more suspected

    Just months after Japan recorded its deadliest year on record for human-bear conflicts, the East Asian nation has officially confirmed its first fatal bear attack of 2026, with two additional suspicious deaths under investigation that experts link to hungry bears emerging from winter hibernation. The 2025 crisis, which saw a staggering 13 fatal bear attacks and more than 200 injured people—more than double the previous annual record of six deaths—sparked national alarm, forcing the Japanese government to deploy military troops to assist with trapping and culling aggressive animals that wandered deep into human-populated areas. Incidents ranged from bears roaming near schools and breaking into residential homes to rampaging through supermarket aisles and wandering through popular hot spring resort districts, bringing the long-simmering human-wildlife conflict to the forefront of national public discourse.

    According to Japan’s Ministry of the Environment, the first confirmed fatality of 2026 was a 55-year-old woman whose body was discovered on April 21 in Iwate Prefecture, a rural region in northern Japan’s Tohoku area. Police confirmed to AFP that two additional sets of human remains have been recovered this week: one found Thursday in another part of Iwate, and a second recovered Tuesday in a Yamagata Prefecture forest. While police have not officially ruled on the cause of death, local media and wildlife experts have linked both deaths to bear attacks.

    Public broadcaster NHK identified one of the two deceased as 69-year-old Chiyoko Kumagai, who went missing after traveling to a mountain forest to harvest edible wild plants, a popular seasonal activity in rural Japan. After launching a large search operation Thursday around the forest where Kumagai’s parked car was found, rescuers located her body shortly after 8 a.m. local time. NHK reported that Kumagai suffered extensive claw injuries to her face and head consistent with a bear attack, and local officials confirmed that licensed hunters would begin increased patrols of the high-risk area starting Friday.

    Wildlife scientists have traced the steady rise in bear conflicts across Japan to a combination of interconnected environmental and demographic shifts. A 2025 Japanese government survey found that the national brown bear population has doubled over the past 30 years to roughly 12,000 individuals, while the population of Asian black bears—responsible for the vast majority of attacks on humans, and common across most of Honshu, Japan’s largest main island—has grown to 42,000. Experts note that warming temperatures have boosted food supplies for bears, including acorns, deer, and wild boar, creating ideal conditions for population growth even as rural human populations decline.

    This population boom has created what experts describe as “overcrowding” in Japan’s mountainous regions, which cover roughly 80 percent of the country’s total land area. Overcrowding forces younger, bolder bears to stray beyond mountain boundaries into rural villages and towns, where many quickly develop a taste for easy access to farmed crops and cultivated fruits such as persimmons. Compounding this issue, a poor acorn and nut harvest in 2025 pushed large numbers of bears out of the mountains and into populated areas in search of food, leading to last year’s record number of conflicts. Depopulation and population aging in rural Japan have also left large swathes of former farmland abandoned, creating extra habitat for bears and expanding their range closer to remaining human settlements.

    While 2026 forecasts for natural bear food sources are more favorable, local media reports show that bear sightings this spring have already hit record levels as animals emerge hungry from hibernation. The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that the number of confirmed sightings in April across Miyagi, Akita, and Fukushima prefectures was roughly four times higher than the same period in 2025. Koji Yamazaki, one of Japan’s leading bear experts and director of the Ibaraki Nature Museum, warned that Tohoku region residents must remain vigilant through the spring, despite his prediction that 2026 will ultimately see fewer conflicts than 2025’s historic high.

    “I’m not sure yet why we’re seeing this kind of unprecedented damage so early in the spring,” Yamazaki told AFP. “Given that all the incidents have occurred relatively close to settlements and the bodies have been severely damaged, I suspect a bear has eaten them.” Yamazaki added that the Tohoku region has one of the densest bear populations in the country, following 20 years of consistent population growth, and that abandoned land from depopulation and aging has only worsened the overlap between bear territory and human communities. For context, brown bears— which can grow to more than 500 kilograms and run faster than the average human—are limited almost exclusively to Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost main island, while smaller black bears are widespread across Honshu and linked to most deadly attacks.

  • Spain readies for evacuations as a hantavirus-hit cruise ship heads for the Canary Islands

    Spain readies for evacuations as a hantavirus-hit cruise ship heads for the Canary Islands

    As the Dutch-flagged cruise vessel MV Hondius, which has been hit by a deadly hantavirus outbreak, prepares to dock off the coast of Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands this Sunday, emergency and public health teams across the globe are scrambling to coordinate evacuation protocols and track down potentially exposed passengers who left the ship before the outbreak was confirmed.

    Three fatalities have already been linked to the outbreak, and five passengers who disembarked the ship earlier have tested positive for the virus, according to cruise operator Oceanwide Expeditions. The company confirmed Friday that no remaining passengers or crew members currently show visible signs of hantavirus infection, even as preparations for a controlled, phased evacuation move forward.

    Spain’s emergency services chief Virginia Barcones outlined strict protocols for the arrival, stating that all people on board will be moved to a fully isolated, cordoned-off zone once the ship docks. Evacuation will proceed in small groups via shuttle boats, with passengers transported to cordoned-off sections of Tenerife’s airport in dedicated, guarded isolation vehicles only after their repatriation flights are fully ready for departure. Canary Islands public officials have moved quickly to reassure local residents that the broader population faces minimal exposure risk.

    The United States and United Kingdom have both arranged special charter flights to repatriate their citizens who remain on the vessel. The U.S. will fly roughly 17 American passengers back to Omaha, Nebraska, where they will be quarantined at the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s specialized National Quarantine Unit – a facility purpose-built to handle high-risk infectious diseases, previously used to treat Ebola and the earliest known COVID-19 cases in the U.S. “We are prepared for situations exactly like this,” noted Nebraska Medicine CEO Dr. Michael Ash, adding that none of the American passengers currently show symptoms. The UK will evacuate nearly 24 British nationals remaining on board via a chartered flight of its own.

    Global public health authorities have stressed that the overall risk of a widespread community outbreak from this event remains low. The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed Friday that a KLM flight attendant who was feared to have contracted the virus after sharing a flight with an infected passenger has tested negative. WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier emphasized that this negative result should ease public anxiety, reiterating, “The risk remains absolutely low. This is not a new COVID.”

    Hantavirus is most commonly transmitted to humans through inhalation of air contaminated by rodent droppings, and does not spread easily between people. The Andes virus strain detected in this outbreak is a rare exception, with documented limited person-to-person transmission in uncommon circumstances. Symptoms typically develop between one and eight weeks after exposure, creating a challenge for contact tracers tracking potentially infected people who left the ship weeks ago.

    The outbreak’s slow detection created significant challenges for contact tracing efforts. The first passenger death on board occurred in mid-April, but nearly two dozen passengers from 12 different countries were allowed to disembark on April 24, before any official confirmation of hantavirus. It was not until May 2 that health authorities formally confirmed hantavirus in a passenger from the ship, prompting a global race to track down all people who may have been exposed.

    As of Friday, new suspected cases continued to emerge outside the vessel. UK health authorities reported a third suspected hantavirus case in a British former passenger currently on the remote South Atlantic territory of Tristan da Cunha, where the ship made a stop in April. In southeastern Spain, a former passenger in Alicante who shared a flight with an infected Dutch cruise passenger who later died in Johannesburg is currently undergoing testing for the virus. Two confirmed British cases are already hospitalized, one in the Netherlands and one in South Africa.

    South African health authorities are focusing contact tracing efforts on an April 25 flight from St. Helena to Johannesburg, which carried multiple passengers who disembarked the cruise ship at the remote South Atlantic island. U.S. health officials are monitoring a small number of former passengers who have already returned to the U.S., along with their close contacts, and have reported no symptomatic cases so far.

    For passengers still on board the MV Hondius, life has continued with relative calm in recent days, with many engaging in birdwatching, reading, or attending shipboard talks while adhering to masking and social distancing rules. But two Spanish passengers, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity over fears they will face social ostracism after disembarking, said they fear the reaction they will face from the public. “We’re scared by all the news that’s coming out, by how people are going to receive us, by how people see us,” one passenger said. “We’re just normal people. We’ve heard that this is a millionaires’ cruise, and it’s the complete opposite of reality. And we’re scared by this.”

  • Rubio set to meet Italy’s Meloni as both sides seek to ease frictions over Iran war

    Rubio set to meet Italy’s Meloni as both sides seek to ease frictions over Iran war

    ROME — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio launched a high-stakes diplomatic push on Friday for his second day of damage-control talks, kicking off the day’s schedule with a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The negotiations center on defusing mounting tensions between the two longstanding NATO allies over the ongoing U.S.-led conflict with Iran, alongside simmering disagreements over trade policy.

  • Family of imprisoned Chinese journalist pleads for his release over health concerns

    Family of imprisoned Chinese journalist pleads for his release over health concerns

    BANGKOK, Associated Press – In a desperate new appeal, family members of Chinese journalist Dong Yuyu and international press freedom advocates are calling for the immediate release of the 7-year-sentenced editor, whose rapidly deteriorating health has put his life at imminent risk.

    Dong, a veteran editor at Beijing-based state-owned Guangming Daily who also contributed commentary to Chinese independent outlets and The New York Times’ Chinese-language platform, was detained in 2022 during a routine lunch meeting with a Japanese diplomat in Beijing. In 2024, Chinese courts convicted him of espionage charges and handed down a seven-year prison term.

    In a public statement released Thursday, Dong’s family warned that the journalist’s current condition amounts to a de facto death sentence. According to the family’s account, Dong was admitted to a prison-run hospital in Tianjin on April 27, where medical practitioners diagnosed him with heart arrhythmia and detected a lung tumor that the family suspects is cancerous. The family added that Dong has been forced to work long hours on garment production tasks during his incarceration, with no access to adequate rest to manage his worsening health.

    Speaking from the United States, where he has waged a sustained advocacy campaign for his father’s release, Dong Yuyu’s son Dong Yifu shared that he and his grandmother are overwhelmed by grief and anxiety over the rapidly unfolding situation.

    International press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders has joined the call for action, with Aleksandra Bielakowska, an activist with the group, urging the global community to ramp up diplomatic pressure on Beijing. The organization is pushing for Beijing to grant Dong medical parole, approve his travel to an overseas medical facility for urgent treatment, and allow him to reunite with his waiting family.

    Dong’s family has pinned additional hopes on the upcoming bilateral summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, expressing optimism that world leaders will raise Dong’s case during high-level talks.

    Prior to his detention, Dong published commentary advocating for constitutional democracy, political liberalization, and greater government transparency – reform-minded positions that were once permitted for public discussion in Chinese media circles but have become heavily restricted and taboo in recent years under Beijing’s tightening ideological control.

  • Dozens killed in jihadist attacks on villages in central Mali

    Dozens killed in jihadist attacks on villages in central Mali

    More than a decade of rolling insurgency has reached a new brutal peak in central Mali, after coordinated simultaneous attacks on two rural villages left dozens of civilians and militiamen dead this week — marking the deadliest single assault since jihadist and separatist groups launched a nationwide coordinated offensive last month.

    The al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has officially claimed responsibility for the Wednesday night raids on the villages of Korikori and Gomossogou, located in Mali’s volatile central Mopti Region. Initial casualty counts from sources quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP) put the death toll at 30, but separate accounts from diplomatic and humanitarian sources speaking to Reuters and regional security journalism collective West African Network for Peace and Security (WAMAPS) have revised the provisional number of fatalities to at least 50. Multiple residents and local sources confirm that while most victims were members of local self-defense militias, the death toll also includes teenage civilians and young children, with an unknown number of residents still unaccounted for in the wake of the assault.

    Local witnesses describe attackers entering the villages under cover of night, opening indiscriminate fire on residents, ransacking and looting residential and community structures, and setting multiple properties ablaze. A security source told AFP the attacks were carried out in retaliation for recent operations by Dan Na Ambassagou, a community-organized self-defense militia formed to counter years of persistent militant violence in central Mali.

    Mali’s military junta, led by General Assimi Goïta — who seized power in a 2020 coup — has responded to the assault with immediate counteroperations. Military officials confirmed that a “targeted strike” was launched in the attack area, with roughly a dozen jihadist fighters “neutralized” in the operation. Bandiagara Region Governor condemned the violence in an official Thursday statement, labeling the coordinated assaults “despicable and inhumane acts.” A subsequent military update clarified that nearly 10 additional “terrorist” fighters were killed and an insurgent logistical base was destroyed during further counteroffensive actions.

    The latest attack comes against a backdrop of rapidly escalating instability that has gripped Mali since April, when an alliance of jihadist militants and separatist rebels from the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) launched a coordinated nationwide offensive aimed at ousting Goïta’s military regime. That opening wave of attacks included a suicide truck bombing targeting the residence of Malian Defense Minister Sadio Camara near the capital Bamako that killed the top security official. Just this week, Goïta announced he would fill the vacant defense minister post, with support from army chief of staff General Oumar Diarra.

    Speaking at a Wednesday press briefing in the capital, Malian army commander Djibrilla Maiga acknowledged that insurgent groups have been working to regroup and rearm in the weeks following the April offensive, warning that “the threat is still present” and confirming that military forces are working to disrupt further militant advances.

    Unlike previous deployments, when Mali relied on United Nations peacekeepers and French counterinsurgency forces, Goïta’s junta has partnered with the Russia-linked Africa Corps, a paramilitary force that grew out of the now-fractured Wagner Group, to combat the insurgency. Even with this support, the FLA-led offensive has forced Russian fighters to withdraw from the key northern city of Kidal, which is now fully under separatist control. The FLA has since announced plans to advance on other northern population centers and issued an explicit demand for the full withdrawal of Africa Corps forces from all Malian territory. Beyond territorial gains, insurgents have also tightened a blockade on Bamako, establishing a network of checkpoints on all major road arteries leading into the capital to cut off supply lines.

    Mali’s ongoing crisis traces its roots back to 2012, when a Tuareg separatist rebellion in northern Mali evolved into a full-scale Islamist insurgency that has since spread to central and eastern regions of the country. Today, large swathes of northern and eastern Mali remain completely outside of government control. When Goïta’s junta first seized power, it held broad popular support on a promise to end the decade-long security crisis. Following the coup, however, the new regime expelled UN peacekeeping forces and French counterinsurgency troops that had been deployed to stem the insurgency, clearing the way for the current surge in violence that has pushed the country to the brink of state collapse.

  • Trump’s tariffs hit Toyota profit, though its global sales grew

    Trump’s tariffs hit Toyota profit, though its global sales grew

    TOKYO – Japan’s leading automaker Toyota Motor Corporation has posted a sharp 19% decline in full-fiscal-year profit for the 12 months ending March 2025, with former U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs and unfavorable currency fluctuations identified as the primary drags on its bottom line.

    Released on Friday, the company’s financial results show net profit landed at 3.85 trillion Japanese yen, equivalent to roughly $25 billion, down from 4.8 trillion yen in the prior fiscal year. Toyota, which produces popular nameplates including the Camry sedan, Prius hybrid, and Lexus luxury line, estimated that Trump-era tariff policies alone carved 1.4 trillion yen ($9 billion) off its annual operating income. Unfavorable foreign exchange swings further compressed profit margins for the global manufacturer, which is headquartered in Toyota City, central Japan.

    Despite the profit decline, Toyota outperformed many analyst expectations in key operational metrics. Global vehicle sales rose to nearly 9.6 million units from 9.4 million in the previous year, while total annual revenue climbed 5.5% to 50.7 trillion yen ($323 billion), up from 48 trillion yen a year prior. On a quarterly basis, the brand closed out the fiscal year with strong momentum: January to March profit jumped 23% year-over-year to 817 billion yen ($5.2 billion), from 664 billion yen, while quarterly sales edged up nearly 2% to 12.6 trillion yen ($80 billion).

    Looking ahead to the current fiscal year running through March 2026, Toyota is maintaining a cautious outlook amid escalating geopolitical risk in the Middle East. The company projects it will again sell 9.6 million vehicles globally, while forecasting a relatively modest annual profit of 3 trillion yen ($19 billion). The ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel, which has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz — a critical global shipping chokepoint for energy and trade — has created significant uncertainty for the manufacturer. Toyota expects persistent supply chain disruptions from the strait closure, and has already recorded a drop in regional vehicle sales across the Middle East.

    As Japan relies on imports for nearly 100% of its oil, much of which comes from Middle Eastern producers, the conflict has driven sharp increases in oil and raw material prices. Additionally, rerouting cargo to avoid the Strait of Hormuz adds substantial fuel and labor costs to Japanese importers, a pass-through expense that hits manufacturing giants like Toyota directly.

    Beyond near-term financial headwinds, Toyota reaffirmed its long-term strategic vision to transition from a traditional automaker to a diversified mobility company. The brand confirmed plans to expand its product portfolio beyond passenger vehicles to include personal watercraft and small aircraft, alongside innovation in adjacent industrial and service sectors. Current development projects include robotic arms designed to restock retail store shelves and autonomous transport devices for medical equipment in hospitals. To support this transformation, Toyota announced it will streamline operations, rationalize its vehicle model lineup, increase local component sourcing to cut supply chain risk, and implement company-wide cost reduction initiatives.

    Following the release of the earnings report, Toyota’s share price declined 2.2% in Tuesday trading in Tokyo.