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  • Brian Brobbey and the Dutch roll in the rain to a 3-1 win over Tunisia to top World Cup Group F

    Brian Brobbey and the Dutch roll in the rain to a 3-1 win over Tunisia to top World Cup Group F

    KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In a rain-soaked Group F World Cup clash at Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday night, the Netherlands secured their spot in the tournament’s knockout round as group winners, riding two Tunisia own goals and a third strike of the competition from Brian Brobbey to a comfortable 3-1 victory.

    Heading into the final matchday of group play, the Netherlands sat level on points at the top of Group F with Japan. However, Japan could only scrape out a 1-1 draw against Sweden in Arlington, Texas, leaving the Dutch side in first place. The result sets up a mouthwatering Round of 16 matchup for Virgil van Dijk and his squad against Group C runner-up Morocco on Monday, while Japan will face a far stiffer test against defending champions Brazil in the first knockout round.

    For Tunisia, the contest was a dead rubber, with elimination already confirmed after two opening defeats. The North African side, branded the Eagles of Carthage, had been in turmoil since the tournament kicked off: they sacked head coach Sabri Lamouchi immediately following a 5-1 opening loss to Sweden, and French manager Hervé Renard stepped in amid widespread reports of internal tension and squad infighting. A 4-0 defeat to Japan in their second match did nothing to reverse the team’s downward spiral, and Thursday’s result extended Tunisia’s winless run across major tournaments to six consecutive matches.

    The chaos that defined Tunisia’s campaign summed itself up in the opening minutes of the match. Denzel Dumfries drove a low cross across the six-yard box, and Tunisian captain Ellyes Skhiri, attempting a clearance to divert the ball away from goal, accidentally deflected it into his own net to give the Netherlands an early lead.

    Brobbey doubled the Dutch advantage just six minutes later, after the Oranje won a free kick 25 yards from goal. The 6-foot-5 Van Dijk, a towering presence in the box, directed a pinpoint header across the goalmouth, where Brobbey was perfectly placed to chip the ball over Tunisia goalkeeper Aymen Dahmen for his third goal of the tournament.

    Tunisia finally got on the board in the 54th minute, when Hazem Mastouri redirected a corner kick past Dutch goalkeeper to cut the deficit to 2-1. But any hopes of a comeback were extinguished eight minutes later, when Jan Paul van Hecke’s header from another Dutch corner glanced off the head of Tunisian’s Anis Slimane and bounced into the back of the net for the Dutch’s third, and second own goal for Tunisia.

    From that point, the Netherlands controlled the remainder of the match, as a steady first-half drizzle gave way to a heavy second-half downpour. Threats of thunderstorms had loomed over the venue all week, and a lightning warning briefly interrupted the pre-match “Oranje fanwalk” for supporters heading to the stadium. Once the all-clear was given, thousands of Dutch fans decked in their iconic bright orange kits packed into Arrowhead Stadium, turning the stands into a sea of orange that drew comparisons to Midwest deer hunting season.

    For the Netherlands, a nation famous for producing football legends including Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten, this tournament represents another shot at ending a long-running near-miss curse: the Oranje have reached the World Cup final three times in their history, only to finish as runners-up every time, most recently in a heartbreaking extra-time loss to Spain in the 2010 final, earning them the unwanted nickname of the best men’s national side never to lift the trophy.

    Their 2024 campaign got off to a slow start too, with a 2-2 draw against Japan in their opening group fixture. But a dominant 5-1 win over Sweden, with two goals each from Brobbey and Cody Gakpo, has built critical momentum for the side as they enter the knockout stage of the competition. For Tunisia, the final match was just a chance to put a disastrous campaign behind them, ending their World Cup run with three defeats from three matches.

  • North Korea’s Kim watches weapons tests and calls for ‘deadly and destructive’ military posture

    North Korea’s Kim watches weapons tests and calls for ‘deadly and destructive’ military posture

    Less than a week after inaugurating its most advanced naval warship to date, North Korea has carried out a series of high-stakes weapons tests that have underscored leader Kim Jong Un’s accelerating push to expand both nuclear and conventional military capabilities, according to state-run media reports from Pyongyang.

    State media KCNA confirmed Friday that Kim personally observed four separate weapons trials held Thursday, which were designed to validate key technical upgrades for multiple frontline weapons systems targeting potential enemy positions along the inter-Korean border. The tests included a new “special mission” warhead for tactical ballistic missiles, an updated multiple rocket launcher system, and extended-range artillery rounds for self-propelled howitzers.

    Kim stated that the successful trials confirm significant technological advances that will allow North Korea to revise its combat fire posture along the southern border, a statement widely interpreted as confirmation that all tested systems are engineered to strike critical targets in South Korea, including major U.S. military installations located across the country. The special-purpose tactical warhead, KCNA added, is explicitly designed to inflict catastrophic damage on high-priority enemy targets including military airfields, commercial ports, and key national power infrastructure.

    Under Kim’s current national defense doctrine, Pyongyang’s self-defense strategy now centers on building a “deadly and destructive offensive posture” that will deter potential adversaries from choosing military confrontation. “To make the enemies feel constant uneasiness and fear is just an important aspect of the exercise of war deterrent,” Kim told military observers at the test site, per KCNA.

    The latest round of tests aligns with a years-long shift in Pyongyang’s security and diplomatic posture that began after high-profile denuclearization talks between Kim and former U.S. President Donald Trump collapsed in 2019. Since that breakdown, Kim has prioritized rapid expansion of the country’s nuclear and missile arsenals, while also ramping up investment in modernized conventional weapons capabilities. While Kim has left the door open to a resumption of diplomatic talks with Washington, he has made clear that negotiations will only move forward if the U.S. abandons its longstanding demand that North Korea commit to denuclearization as a precondition for any diplomatic progress.

    Relations with South Korea have deteriorated even more sharply in recent years: Kim has officially labeled Seoul Pyongyang’s “principal enemy” and has overseen the construction of additional military fortifications along the heavily militarized inter-Korean border. The weapons tests come just three days after Kim presided over the commissioning of the Choe Hyon, a new 5,000-ton guided-missile destroyer that Pyongyang frames as a tangible symbol of its growing naval and nuclear-powered strike capacity. The Choe Hyon is the most advanced warship ever deployed by the North Korean Navy.

    In recent years, Kim has also worked to expand North Korea’s diplomatic and military ties abroad, most notably building a much closer partnership with Moscow that has included open support for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Just two weeks before the latest weapons tests, Chinese President Xi Jinping made his first visit to North Korea in seven years for a high-profile summit with Kim, a meeting that highlighted growing alignment between the two neighboring authoritarian states amid rising regional tensions with the U.S. and its allies.

  • A battle of narratives emerges as Mamdani-backed candidates sweep NYC primaries

    A battle of narratives emerges as Mamdani-backed candidates sweep NYC primaries

    In a shocking political upset that has sent shockwaves through the U.S. Democratic Party, candidates backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani claimed major primary election wins across New York City this week, unseating three incumbent congressional Democrats and flipping five local legislative seats. The surprising results have ignited a fierce national debate over shifting party priorities, the growing influence of pro-Palestine sentiment among Democratic voters, and the future of the party’s long-standing alignment with pro-Israel interest groups.

    Among the most high-profile upsets, former New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, running with Mamdani’s support, defeated two-term incumbent Congressman Dan Goldman in Brooklyn’s 10th congressional district. In another major shakeup, first-time candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier ousted long-serving veteran Congressman Adriano Espaillat, while Claire Valdez secured victory in an open congressional primary. Five additional Mamdani-backed candidates, including Palestinian-American activist Aber Kawas, won their New York State Senate primaries. If Kawas holds her seat in the November general election, she will make history as the first Palestinian-American member of the New York State Senate.

    Competing narratives have quickly emerged to interpret the results. Factions of the Republican Party, alongside moderate establishment Democrats, have sounded the alarm over what they frame as a socialist takeover of the nation’s largest city and a growing anti-Jewish mobilization within New York’s political landscape. On the other side of the debate, pro-Palestine advocates and left-wing activists frame the primary sweep as clear evidence that rank-and-file Democratic voters are hungry for candidates willing to break from the party establishment’s unwavering pro-Israel stance.

    Beth Miller, political director of JVP Action, the advocacy and electoral arm of Jewish Voice for Peace, called the results a clear warning to the Democratic Party establishment. She argued that the wave of wins was built on massive grassroots organizing, and hailed what she described as a pro-Palestine sweep across New York City, noting that voters are demanding candidates that back bold progressive priorities: taxing the wealthy, abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and advocating for Palestinian freedom. Miller also emphasized that the results exposed the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) as a toxic brand within the Democratic Party, adding that voters have grown weary of lawmakers who defend what pro-Palestine activists characterize as Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.

    Mainstream media outlets have echoed this framing: The New York Times framed the results as proof of a measurable leftward shift within the Democratic Party on Israel policy, while The Times of Israel argued that the primary sweep has cemented anti-Zionist politics as a permanent force in New York, home to the world’s largest Jewish diaspora community. Even some establishment figures have reacted sharply: U.S. Senator John Fetterman, a centrist Democrat, dismissed the winning candidates as part of what he called the “dirtbag left.”

    Yet many political observers and even some pro-Palestine activists warn that framing the results as an outright, decisive victory for the Palestinian liberation movement overstates their significance. While three incumbents backed by AIPAC fell to candidates critical of Israel’s war in Gaza, and several pro-Palestine democratic socialists won local seats focused on bread-and-butter issues like rent stabilization, healthcare access, and eviction protections, analysts argue the results reflect a broader coalition of discontent rather than a single-issue mandate.

    Critics of the dominant progressive narrative note that voter frustration with the Democratic establishment runs far beyond the Israel-Palestine issue. A 2025 Data for Progress poll confirms that New York City voters rank domestic economic concerns — particularly affordable housing and the rising cost of living — as the top issues shaping their votes, with just 27% of voters identifying U.S. foreign policy and relations with Israel as a key motivating factor for their choice. Mamdani, who rose to office on a platform of working-class economic transformation, has emphasized this coalition building, reiterating in a recent MSNBC interview that the only viable majority in American politics is a cross-ideological coalition of working-class voters united around economic justice.

    “One of those tools is using your political capital to ensure that the people who will fight hardest for that same agenda are going to be there, whether it’s in Albany or whether it’s in DC,” Mamdani told host Chris Hayes, acknowledging that Palestine played a major role in the winning candidates’ support, but tying that support to his broader project of making New York affordable for working people.

    Aber Kawas, the history-making primary winner, framed support for Palestine as a broader marker of a candidate’s willingness to challenge power: “Expressing support for Palestine is a signal that you are willing to speak out and speak truth to power, and I think that’s what people want out of their local politicians. What you are saying is, I’m going to fight for the most marginalised, forgotten communities that so many politicians don’t centre,” she told Middle East Eye earlier this month.

    Still, critics within the pro-Palestine movement push back against framing the primary wins as a major win for Palestinian liberation. They argue that the movement’s focus has been narrowed to simply opposing AIPAC, rather than demanding a full end to U.S. complicity in Israel’s occupation and military campaign, and that many of the winning candidates fall far short of embracing full Palestinian self-determination.

    The most prominent example of this tension is Lander, the winning congressional candidate who defeated Goldman. While Lander has stated he will oppose Israel’s occupation and actions in Gaza, he remains a self-identified Zionist who has previously opposed the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement, and as city comptroller oversaw an increase in New York City pension fund investments in Elbit Systems, Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer. Niaz Kazi, a professor at Stockton University and observer of U.S. Palestine politics, notes that Lander’s framing as a left-wing hero highlights the danger of diluting the Palestinian struggle into a broader economic critique.

    “There’s something surreal in seeing self-identified Zionist Brad Lander’s face on schnazzy posters rendering him not the lesser evil, but a legitimate hero for the left,” Kazi told Middle East Eye. “At a time when those in the Palestine solidarity movement who disrupted the operations of Elbit Systems face the harshest of state crackdowns, it’s a sucker punch to see elements of the same movement celebrate Lander, given his own involvement with the arms manufacturer Elbit.”

    Kazi added that the results ultimately prove that “Zionism can absolutely flourish without AIPAC,” arguing that the Democratic establishment is adapting to shifting public opinion by allowing a veneer of Palestine solidarity that does little to change on-the-ground policy for Palestinians. Local pro-Palestine group Within our Lifetime echoed this criticism, noting that Lander “proudly defended investing in genocide just last year,” casting doubt on his recent shift in rhetoric.

    For its part, AIPAC pushed back on narratives of defeat, noting Wednesday that 180 of its endorsees across the country won their primaries and will advance to the November general election. The mayor’s office had not responded to requests for comment as of publication. As parties continue to battle over what the New York primary results mean for the future of the Democratic Party, one thing remains clear: the battle for the soul of the Democratic majority is just getting started.

  • ‘The face of a tortured man’: Photos of Palestinian journalist released from Israeli prison spark outrage

    ‘The face of a tortured man’: Photos of Palestinian journalist released from Israeli prison spark outrage

    Shocking before-and-after images of Palestinian journalist Mujahed Bani Mufleh, released from Israeli administrative detention, have ignited widespread anger across social media platforms, with rights groups and journalists demanding accountability over systemic abuses against Palestinian detainees. The 36-year-old father of three, from Beita in the occupied West Bank, was held without charge or trial for 14 months before being released in January 2026. Just 48 hours after regaining his freedom, Bani Mufleh was diagnosed with a life-threatening brain hemorrhage, a condition the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) attributes to deplorable prison conditions and deliberate medical neglect. The journalist has since undergone multiple emergency surgeries and faces an extended, uncertain road to recovery.

    When Bani Mufleh shared his post-detention photograph to his Instagram page on June 24, 2026, the visible dramatic deterioration in his health sent immediate shockwaves across digital spaces. In a personal reflection accompanying the images, Bani Mufleh detailed the systemic dehumanization he endured during his incarceration. “You lie awake between physical suffering and heavy thoughts, counting the hours and waiting for dawn as if it were salvation,” he wrote of his daily experience. He described being stripped of all autonomy and dignity: “I learned humiliation when every part of your day is controlled by someone else… When even your privacy and dignity are no longer yours.”

    Bani Mufleh also chronicled the persistent hunger that defined his time in custody, writing, “I learned how to be grateful and understood the true meaning of hunger; when you wait for a morsel that isn’t enough, you go to sleep with a stomach ache, and wake up with the same feeling. I learned how a loaf of bread can become a dream, and how a sip of cold water can feel like a blessing from heaven… Fourteen months taught me that blessings aren’t as vast as we thought; rather, they are these small details we took for granted.”

    The viral spread of the images quickly drew condemnation from medical professionals, journalists, activists, and ordinary social media users, who highlighted Bani Mufleh’s case as evidence of long-documented abuses in Israeli detention facilities. “This is the face of a tortured man who has barely survived an emergency procedure… whose quality of life has been reduced to almost zero forever,” one physician posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. Another commentator, Kuwaiti-American journalist Ahmed Eldin, wrote on Instagram that the images lay bare a system intentionally designed to destroy Palestinian bodies while silencing Palestinian dissent: “starvation, abuse, humiliation, and imprisonment without accountability.”

    Multiple social media users noted that administrative detention—imprisonment without formal charge or trial—functions as a deliberate strategy to debilitate detainees before release, when Israeli authorities can avoid any legal liability for the harm caused. One Arabic-language post, which also went viral, framed Bani Mufleh’s condition as proof of the cruel reality behind claims of Israeli democratic governance, noting that after more than a year of torture, starvation, and abuse, he emerged with a catastrophic health condition requiring years of treatment. The post also placed responsibility for the ongoing crisis of Palestinian detainees, who number more than 10,000, on global governments and international institutions.

    In an official statement responding to the public outcry, the PPS emphasized that Bani Mufleh’s experience is not an isolated incident, but representative of a broader, systemic “exterminatory prison system” that acts as “a tool for both the slow and direct killing” of Palestinian detainees. The organization detailed that thousands of current and former detainees have endured systematic crimes including torture, intentional starvation, total denial of adequate medical care, and widespread physical and psychological abuse, alongside constant 24/7 psychological terror. It added that hundreds of detainees are released every year in catastrophic physical and mental condition, but most cases remain hidden from public view: former detainees and their families often stay silent out of fear of re-arrest.

    Reports of torture, neglect, and deaths in Israeli detention facilities—labeled “torture camps” by leading Israeli human rights group B’tselem—have increased dramatically since the outbreak of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza in October 2023. According to PPS data, at least 245 Palestinian journalists have been arrested by Israeli forces since the start of the conflict in Gaza. Official data puts the current number of Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody at more than 9,500, but rights groups estimate the actual figure is far higher, as Israeli authorities have refused to release information on hundreds of additional people detained in Gaza.

  • World Cup what to know: France’s Kylian Mbappé, Norway’s Erling Haaland take center stage

    World Cup what to know: France’s Kylian Mbappé, Norway’s Erling Haaland take center stage

    As the 48-team expanded World Cup enters its final week of group stage play, Friday’s fixture list delivers the kind of star-studded matchup that even casual soccer fans have marked on their calendars for months: a clash between two of the game’s greatest modern strikers, Erling Haaland of Norway and Kylian Mbappé of France, in Foxborough, Massachusetts.

    The highly anticipated Group G showdown carries even more off-pitch context: France head coach Didier Deschamps will miss the fixture after his mother’s recent passing, leaving assistant manager Guy Stéphan to lead the side in his place. Deschamps, who has already announced he will step down from his post after 12 years in charge following this tournament, returned to France this week to be with his family. Stéphan told reporters Thursday that Deschamps remains deeply affected by the loss, and that he would work to maintain normalcy for the squad to honor Deschamps’ trust. Defensive star William Saliba will also miss the match after being rested in training, while forward Marcus Thuram sat out practice as a precaution.

    For Haaland, the Norwegian superstar downplayed expectations ahead of the clash, saying he had little focus on the France game immediately after his side’s opening win over Senegal. But the global soccer community is already hyped for the battle: Haaland has exploded in his first ever World Cup appearance, netting two goals in each of Norway’s opening wins over Senegal and Iraq to put his side on the cusp of knockout stage qualification. Mbappé, meanwhile, has continued to chase history, pushing his all-time World Cup goal tally to 16 – just two goals behind Lionel Messi’s all-time tournament record of 18, after scoring four goals in his first two matches.

    Beyond the headline clash, Friday’s six matches across North America will decide the fates of multiple groups, with several teams facing do-or-die fixtures to keep their knockout stage hopes alive.

    In Group H, European champions Spain will face South American powerhouse Uruguay in Guadalajara, Mexico, with both sides entering the match with high stakes. Uruguay has only earned two draws from its opening two matches against Saudi Arabia and first-time qualifiers Cape Verde, leaving the side relying entirely on a win to guarantee progression to the knockout round. A draw or loss would leave Uruguay’s fate hanging on the result of the final group match between Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia. For Spain, a draw will be enough to secure progression, but a win will lock in the side’s spot as group winners.

    Cape Verde, the tiny African island nation of just 500,000 people, has already turned heads in its first ever World Cup appearance, holding pre-tournament favorite Spain to a scoreless draw in its opener before notching its first ever tournament goals in a 2-2 draw with Uruguay. Now the Blue Sharks have a chance to make history, with a spot in the knockout stage well within their reach when they face Saudi Arabia in Houston Friday evening. A win would guarantee Cape Verde finishes no worse than second in Group H, and even a draw could be enough to see the side advance. Defender Roberto Lopes made the team’s stance clear ahead of the match: “It’s in our hands. We have to go and take it.”

    In Vancouver, British Columbia, both Belgium and New Zealand will face off in a must-win contest, with elimination on the line for the loser. The Group G table will also be finalized on Friday, when Egypt and Iran face off in Seattle to decide who claims the group’s top spot. The fixture comes with an unusual subplot: the match was already scheduled to be Seattle’s official “Pride Match”, coinciding with the city’s annual LGBTQ+ community celebration. Both Egypt and Iran, which rank among the world’s most repressive countries for LGBTQ+ people, attempted to have the public celebrations canceled, but their requests were denied. Iran has also faced unique travel hurdles during this World Cup amid ongoing Middle East conflict, with U.S. officials only recently easing travel restrictions that had previously forced the side to travel only on match days from their Tijuana, Mexico, base camp, allowing them to arrive in Seattle two days ahead of kickoff.

    Other key matches Friday include a do-or-die clash between Senegal and Iraq in Toronto, with both sides still fighting to claim one of the third-place knockout spots that come with the expanded 48-team tournament format. The full slate of Friday kickoffs (all EDT) is: Norway vs France at 3 p.m. on Fox, Telemundo and Peacock; Senegal vs Iraq at 3 p.m. on FS1, Telemundo and Peacock; Uruguay vs Spain at 8 p.m. on Fox, Telemundo and Peacock; Cape Verde vs Saudi Arabia at 8 p.m. on FS1, Telemundo and Peacock; New Zealand vs Belgium at 11 p.m. on Fox, Telemundo and Peacock; and Egypt vs Iran at 11 p.m. on FS1, Telemundo and Peacock.

    Off Friday’s pitch, the tournament already hit a major milestone: with just over half of all 104 scheduled matches complete, the 2025 World Cup hosted across the U.S., Canada and Mexico has already broken the all-time tournament attendance record, hitting 3,605,357 fans – passing the 3,587,538 record set when the U.S. last hosted in 1994.

  • A Chinese box office hit sparks a debate about identity in Singapore

    A Chinese box office hit sparks a debate about identity in Singapore

    This summer, a low-budget Chinese drama has become an unexpected cultural flashpoint halfway across the world, after a sleeper box office success from China reignited long-simmering conversations about cultural identity and language policy in Singapore. *Dear You*, a nostalgic story exploring family bonds, hardship, and cross-generational hope, was shot almost entirely in Teochew — a regional dialect originating from China’s Chaoshan area that remains a mother tongue for many older ethnic Chinese communities across Southeast Asia, including Singapore.

    When the film arrived in Singaporean cinemas this month, local audiences were quick to express frustration: most screenings were slated to run only with a Mandarin dub. Mandarin, one of Singapore’s four official languages alongside English, Malay, and Tamil, has been actively promoted by the government for decades as a unifying common language for the country’s Chinese majority, at the expense of regional Chinese dialects. Only eight special original-language Teochew screenings were initially scheduled, and all tickets sold out in under two hours, highlighting overwhelming unmet demand from local viewers.

    Wu Silin, a Singaporean church worker who secured tickets to one of the rare original screenings alongside her mother, noted that experiencing the film in Teochew added an irreplaceable layer of personal meaning for community members. The outcry over limited original screenings quickly grew into a broader public debate about Singapore’s decades-long language policy. Even expats like Anna Zhang, a Beijing-based worker who relocated to Singapore for employment, sought out the original Teochew cut with subtitles, arguing that dubbed versions lose the authentic nuance of the original characters’ performances.

    Written on a modest budget and led mostly by first-time actors, *Dear You* follows the journey of a young southern Chinese villager who travels to Thailand to track down his grandfather, who fled his hometown in 1948 to avoid conscription during China’s civil war. The grandfather built a new life as a trishaw rider in 1950s Bangkok, sending years of longing-filled letters back to his wife and children in China. The story’s themes resonate deeply with Singapore’s ethnic Chinese community, 70% of the country’s total population, whose ancestors were part of the massive 19th to mid-20th century wave of Chinese migration that brought millions to Southeast Asia in search of new lives.

    “Dialects have always been the root of where the Singaporean Chinese come from. Mandarin, I would say, is mostly a superimposed language that we learn from schools,” explained Lee Cher Leng, an associate professor of Chinese studies at the National University of Singapore. “I think it’s really interesting that a small movie like that would bring something so impactful to the surface.”

    Singapore’s official approach to dialects dates back to the 1960s, when the government adopted a national bilingual policy that designated English as a universal working language and assigned one of four ethnic “mother tongues” — Mandarin for Chinese Singaporeans — to be taught in schools. The 1979 Speak Mandarin Campaign amplified this push, aiming to unify the linguistically diverse Chinese community by replacing regional dialects including Teochew, Hokkien, Cantonese, and Hakka with standard Mandarin. By the 1980s, dialect content had been removed from radio and television, and most films screened in Singapore were dubbed into Mandarin.

    The policy has been undeniably successful in its original goals: in 1980, roughly 70% of Singaporean Chinese spoke a dialect at home. By 2020, that number had plummeted to just 8.7%, with dialect use now concentrated almost entirely among a shrinking cohort of elderly Singaporeans. Today, nearly half of all Singaporeans report English as their most comfortable language, but restrictions on dialect content remain largely in place.

    In response to the public outcry over *Dear You*, Singapore’s Ministry of Communications and Information acknowledged widespread calls for more accessible dialect film screenings in a public statement, announcing that authorities would adopt a “more flexible approach” to the policy. Following the initial sell-out of the eight original screenings, a second round of 5,000 tickets for eight additional shows sold out in two hours, and authorities approved 50 more Teochew-language screenings just days later. Some viewers even reported planning cross-border trips to neighboring Malaysia to catch the original cut before the additional screenings were approved.

    The debate has drawn commentary from across Singapore’s political and cultural spheres. In an open letter published in *The Straits Times*, two local filmmakers argued that the Speak Mandarin Campaign had fully achieved its founding goal of unifying Chinese Singaporeans around Mandarin, and that relaxing dialect screening rules would signal a new, mature approach to celebrating the community’s cultural diversity. Opposition Member of Parliament Dennis Tan echoed this sentiment in a Facebook post, framing dialects as “the living, breathing repositories of our forefathers’ journeys, customs, and identity.” Two sitting lawmakers have also formally submitted questions to authorities about revising rules for screening original dialect films, ensuring the conversation will continue in official circles.

    For many Singaporeans, the film is more than entertainment — it is a window into a fading cultural heritage. Wu, who attended the original screening, pointed to a Teochew coming-of-age ritual featured in the film called “leaving the garden,” which was held for her when she turned 15 but was omitted for her niece’s 15th birthday last year, an example of how cultural traditions tied to dialect are disappearing alongside the language itself.

    While a growing number of young Singaporeans have begun pursuing connection to their ancestral roots in recent years — taking dialect classes, organizing trips to ancestral hometowns in China, and seeking out community dialect events — academics warn this grassroots interest is not enough to reverse the long-term decline of dialect use. “Young people who are learning them now … You can learn it like a foreign language and learn it for fun. But if no-one is speaking it in daily life, you’re not going to be able to retain it,” said Tan Ying Ying, an associate professor at Nanyang Technological University specializing in dialect studies. She described the public uproar over *Dear You* as “perhaps like grieving a loss” for a cultural heritage that is slowly fading from daily life in Singapore.

  • Two Republicans flip votes, blocking Iran war powers resolution

    Two Republicans flip votes, blocking Iran war powers resolution

    In a dramatic late-night reversal that capped a day of intense White House pressure and partisan friction, two Senate Republicans who had previously backed a measure calling for a withdrawal of U.S. forces from the ongoing conflict in Iran flipped their votes Wednesday, bowing to aggressive public and private berating from former President Donald Trump. Trump had lashed out at GOP lawmakers who supported the earlier resolution, branding them “losers” who were offering what he called “aid and comfort to the enemy.”

    Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who was reported to have engaged in a shouting match with Trump over the Iran policy during a closed-door GOP lunch earlier the same day, ultimately joined nearly all other Senate Republicans in opposing the war powers resolution pushed by Democrats. Just one day prior, Cassidy had backed a separate, non-binding symbolic measure that called for the removal of U.S. troops from the Iran conflict. The second Republican, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, also switched his position, moving to vote “present” after direct urging from the president.

    The hastily scheduled late vote was organized explicitly by Senate Republican leaders to placate Trump, who had publicly fumed over the initial symbolic resolution that passed the upper chamber earlier in the week. Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, the lead Democratic sponsor of the resolution that Republicans successfully blocked Wednesday, called the entire process nothing more than an effort to appease what he described as Trump’s “temper tantrum.”

    Kaine argued that after both chambers of Congress, when previously led by Republican majorities, took the historic step of voting to affirm that any expanded war against Iran would be illegal without explicit congressional authorization, Trump traveled to the Capitol to intimidate Republican senators who had upheld their constitutional oaths of office. Kaine emphasized that Wednesday’s flipped votes do not erase Congress’s formal stated position that further military action against Iran cannot proceed without a formal congressional vote of approval.

    Following the successful block of the resolution, Trump celebrated the outcome in a late-night post on his personal social media platform. He thanked top Senate Republican leaders and specifically highlighted the vote reversals by Cassidy and Paul as a key victory. Notably, Cassidy, who lost his re-election bid last month, had publicly stated just hours before the vote that he would not be bullied by the administration. After flipping his position, he said the White House had provided him with a thorough national security briefing on Iran that addressed many of his core concerns. Multiple reports indicate Trump called Cassidy a “lunatic” during their private confrontation at Wednesday’s lunch.

    Wednesday’s vote unfolded against the backdrop of fragile diplomatic negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, aimed at reaching a peaceful resolution to the conflict that Trump launched in late February. The military campaign has killed thousands of Iranians, disrupted global economic activity, and driven up consumer prices across the United States.

    Earlier on Wednesday, the White House formally submitted a request to Congress for an $87.6 billion emergency supplemental funding package, nearly $70 billion of which would go toward covering operational military costs incurred during the Iran war.

    Democratic lawmakers across the chamber have uniformly rejected the funding request, framing it as a waste of critical taxpayer resources that could be directed toward domestic priorities. Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said in a statement that the tens of billions in military spending requested by the Trump administration could instead be used to shore up American healthcare, provide food assistance to hungry children, and ease the financial burden working families face covering basic daily needs. Boyle added that Trump is forcing American taxpayers to continue paying for a reckless, unnecessary war that has pushed gas and consumer goods prices sharply higher, put U.S. military personnel in unnecessary danger, and done nothing to improve security in the Middle East.

    Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the top Democratic appropriator in the Senate, said she would refuse to rubber-stamp tens of billions more in funding for what she called a disastrous, unnecessary war of choice. She argued that the president tells the American public there is insufficient funding for core domestic priorities like healthcare, affordable housing, and childcare, while simultaneously claiming there should be unlimited taxpayer money for an unpopular war most Americans do not support.

  • Archbishop of Canterbury vows to help Palestinians achieve ‘freedom you deserve’

    Archbishop of Canterbury vows to help Palestinians achieve ‘freedom you deserve’

    During a high-profile visit to the occupied West Bank, the head of the Church of England, Archbishop Dame Sarah Mullally, has publicly committed to using her influential position to advocate for the peace and freedom that Palestinians are inherently owed, while framing the daily acts of persistence amid occupation as powerful examples of “faithful resistance”.

    Mullally delivered these remarks in a sermon this past Sunday at St Peter’s Anglican Church, located in Birzeit, a Palestinian Christian community in the West Bank. She told gathered worshippers that this quiet, faithful resistance does not always take dramatic forms: it can be seen in the everyday efforts of parents who navigate the complex, restrictive network of Israeli checkpoints every day just to earn a living to support their households, or to get their children to school to build a better future. It is also visible, she added, in the simple act of congregating week after week in this church to share communion together.

    “All these acts of faithful resistance point to our hope in Jesus Christ and reflect your ongoing struggle for freedom and dignity,” Mullally told the congregation. She acknowledged the profound gap in experience between her own life and the reality of Palestinians under occupation, noting that she takes for granted basic privileges that are out of reach for most people living in the territory: the ability to cross borders and checkpoints without obstruction, to gather freely with neighboring communities, and to travel to Jerusalem without restriction.

    “I will use my role as archbishop to seek the peace you desire and the freedom you deserve,” she stated. Mullally also emphasized that the global Christian community has not forgotten Palestinian people, adding: “The church is called to rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep. The church stands with you in your right to live in freedom and dignity.”

    As part of her regional tour, which also included stops in Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem alongside Hosam Naoum, the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, Mullally met with 26-year-old Palestinian Christian woman Layan Nasir, who has been detained by Israeli authorities three times over the past five years. After being welcomed by Nasir’s family in their home, Mullally said she would hold the family in her prayers, and ask for divine blessing and healing for Layan following what she described as the terrible trauma of her imprisonment. She also extended her prayers to all people held in what she called unjust detention across Palestine, Israel, and the entire globe.

    Mullally noted that the core purpose of her visit was to create space to listen directly to the experiences of local communities, to hear both their hopes and their anxieties, their moments of joy and the enormous challenges they face daily, and to join them in praying for justice and peace that can bring healing to both people and the land.

    This visit comes amid growing concern from senior Church of England leaders over the deteriorating situation in the occupied Palestinian territories. Last year, four senior bishops from the church called on the British government to take immediate action to address escalating Israeli settler violence, warning that the ongoing aggression is eroding Palestinian life and putting the long-standing Christian presence in the Holy Land at severe risk. In their statement, the bishops highlighted that as the war in Gaza continues, conditions in the West Bank have deteriorated rapidly, with rising levels of settler violence and intimidation—including direct attacks on land and church properties in Taybeh, another Christian-majority West Bank town.

    Just earlier this year, the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, shared his own firsthand experience of occupation during a visit to the region, recounting that he was stopped at checkpoints and intimidated by armed militias who barred him from visiting Palestinian families in the West Bank. “It was sobering for me to see this wall for real on my visit to the Holy Land, and we were stopped at various checkpoints and intimidated by Israeli militias who told us that we couldn’t visit Palestinian families in the occupied West Bank,” Cottrell said.

    The warnings from Church of England leaders align with recent alerts from Palestinian church affairs officials. Just last month, a delegation from Palestine’s Higher Presidential Committee for Church Affairs told European Union officials that long-standing Israeli policies pose an existential threat to the centuries-old Palestinian Christian community in the Holy Land.

  • Drones and decomposing babies: What’s in UN report on Israel’s genocide of Palestinian children

    Drones and decomposing babies: What’s in UN report on Israel’s genocide of Palestinian children

    The United Nations’ leading independent investigative body focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict released a landmark 88-page report this week, concluding that Israeli security forces have systematically and deliberately targeted Palestinian children as a central component of alleged genocide in the Gaza Strip. The inquiry, conducted by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, documents widespread harm against children across Gaza and the occupied West Bank dating from October 7, 2023, stretching past the October 2025 ceasefire.

    Srinivasan Muralidhar, chair of the commission and an experienced Indian jurist, stated that the weight of collected evidence irrefutably confirms that Palestinian children have been intentionally targeted and killed by Israeli forces. Muralidhar emphasized that violations have persisted despite the ceasefire agreement, noting that Israel continues to disregard both the truce terms and its obligations under international law to protect Palestinian civilian children.

    This latest report builds on the commission’s earlier finding that Israel bears responsibility for genocide in Gaza, detailing two distinct pathways through which children have been targeted. The first involves direct strikes using precision weaponry, including military quadcopters and sniper rifles. The second is an indirect, systemic campaign to destroy the basic conditions required for children to survive.

    The inquiry’s compiled casualty data underscores the scale of child harm: between the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack and October 7, 2025, Israeli military operations killed at least 20,179 children and injured an additional 44,143 across Gaza. These figures account for 30% of all total fatalities and 26% of all injuries recorded during the period. Children under the age of five made up at least 5,031 of those killed, including 1,029 infants under one year old and approximately 420 newborns. The commission estimates an additional 5,160 children remain trapped and buried under rubble from Israeli strikes, and notes that the true death toll is almost certainly higher, as many deaths have gone unrecorded amid the breakdown of civil governance and health infrastructure.

    Investigators documented a repeated pattern of intentional targeting of children with precision weapons, collecting testimony from 17 Gaza-based medical practitioners who described treating large numbers of children with single gunshot wounds to the head and upper torso, inflicted by Israeli snipers or drone operators. One doctor told the commission that the consistent pattern of injuries indicated Israeli soldiers were engaging in what amounted to “deliberate shooting teenage boys in a game of target practice.” Forensic analysis of 15 of these cases confirmed that 12 of the victims suffered single gunshot wounds consistent with the accounts of intentional targeting.

    The report includes detailed accounts of multiple specific, verified cases of deliberate child targeting. On January 29, 2024, Israeli forces from the 401st Brigade, 162nd Division shot and killed five-year-old Hind Rajab in the Tal al-Hawa neighborhood of Gaza City, alongside six of her family members. When two Palestinian Red Crescent paramedics traveled to the area to rescue the child, Israeli forces shelled their ambulance, killing both first responders. The commission concluded Israeli forces deliberately shot the family and intentionally obstructed the medical rescue mission.

    Less than a week earlier, on January 24, 2024, Israeli soldiers from the 98th Division operating in Khan Younis shot and killed a 15-year-old boy who had exited his family’s home carrying a white flag after receiving an Israeli evacuation order. When the boy’s 20-year-old brother ran to his aid, soldiers shot him as well. The commission ruled the shooting was deliberate.

    Additional cases include an April 12, 2024 strike by an Israeli quadcopter operator on a 10-day-old infant who was being breastfed by his mother inside a shelter tent in the Nuseirat refugee camp. The commission confirmed the operator had a clear, unobstructed view of the interior of the tent before opening fire; the baby survived but now experiences permanent seizures. On August 24, 2024, another quadcopter operator shot a four-year-old girl in the head while she ate with her family in a Khan Younis tent. She survived but was left permanently paralyzed on her left side, with the inquiry confirming she was deliberately targeted. Even after the October 2025 ceasefire, the commission documented more than 100 additional child killings and hundreds of injuries in the weeks immediately following the truce. One high-profile post-ceasefire case involved two brothers, ages nine and 10, who were killed by a drone strike from the Israeli Kfir Brigade while gathering firewood for their wheelchair-using father near Bani Suheila in southern Gaza. Israel claimed the boys were armed suspects crossing a newly established Israeli demarcation line inside Gaza known as the “yellow line,” but the commission dismissed the claim as baseless: the boys were more than 300 meters from Israeli positions, were visibly children engaged in collecting firewood, and the drone operator had an unobstructed view before firing.

    Beyond Gaza, the inquiry documented widespread child targeting in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. Between October 7, 2023, and October 20, 2025, Israeli forces killed 213 Palestinian children in the West Bank, with investigators confirming a systemic pattern of labeling boys as “terrorists” or “future terrorists” to justify targeting. One case details the January 25, 2025 killing of a two-year-old girl, shot in the back of the head by soldiers from the Menashe Brigade while the child ate dinner with her family in southern Jenin. She is the youngest child killed in the West Bank since the start of the current conflict. Another case records the January 28, 2025 shooting of a 10-year-old boy by soldiers from the Ephraim Brigade during a raid on his family’s home in Tulkarm. CCTV footage confirmed the boy was unarmed; Israeli forces delayed an ambulance transporting him to care for 30 minutes, and one soldier openly told the boy’s father, “I am the one who shot your son. God willing, he will die.” The child succumbed to his injuries on February 7, 2025.

    The report also documents widespread violence against children carried out by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. Between January and June 2025 alone, settlers carried out more than 1,000 attacks across 230 Palestinian communities. Specific incidents include the April 2025 knife-point abduction of two siblings under five years old who were playing outside their home; settlers dragged the children to an olive grove and tied them to a tree. In August 2024, armed settlers abducted two 15-year-old boys who were herding cattle, beat them, sexually assaulted them, and fractured one boy’s leg, with one settler urinating on the victim.

    Mistreatment of detained Palestinian children is another core finding of the report. Since October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have detained more than 1,655 children in the West Bank, 600 of whom were arrested in 2025 alone. As of December 31, 2025, 51% of all detained children are held under administrative detention—imprisonment without charge or trial—the highest share ever recorded. The commission collected consistent testimony of abuse: children are beaten, blindfolded, forced into painful stress positions on sharp gravel, terrorized by attack dogs from the moment of arrest, and denied food, water, and medical care by prison authorities. Multiple accounts confirm systemic sexual violence against detained boys, including rape by prison guards. One 17-year-old boy from Ramallah died in March 2025 at Megiddo Prison; Israeli authorities had been aware of his head trauma, severe malnutrition, and weight loss since December 2024 but failed to provide any medical care. A post-mortem confirmed he died from prolonged, severe starvation, with the commission ruling his death amounts to the war crimes of torture, inhuman treatment, and wilful killing, and that Israeli prison authorities are directly responsible.

    The report also details the systematic destruction of Gaza’s child-serving infrastructure, including hospitals and schools. All three of Gaza’s major pediatric hospitals were attacked and forced to close within the first two months of hostilities. Before October 2023, Gaza operated 178 incubators across eight neonatal intensive care units; Israeli attacks and the ongoing siege reduced that number to just 54 by November 2024, forcing medical staff to place three or four infants in a single incubator. At Al-Nasr Paediatric Hospital, Israeli forces cut power, gave staff just 30 minutes to evacuate, and blocked evacuation efforts for remaining patients. When a ceasefire allowed investigators access weeks later, four dead babies were found decomposing in the neonatal unit, still connected to non-functional life support machines. At least 15 newborns died of preventable hypothermia between December 2024 and February 2025, a direct result of the conditions created by the Israeli siege. Israel’s blockade and attacks on reproductive healthcare have pushed miscarriage rates up by as much as 300% since October 2023, and by October 2024, Gaza women were three times more likely to die in childbirth than before the war. As of March 2026, 70% of all newborns in Gaza are premature or underweight.

    In the education sector, Israeli forces hit 459 of Gaza’s 564 school buildings between October 2023 and October 2025, with more than 97% of all schools suffering damage or complete destruction. More than 668,000 school-age Gaza children have missed three full academic years and been locked out of formal education. The inquiry documented multiple cases of Israeli soldiers filming themselves during controlled demolitions of schools and posting the footage online. In one video, a soldier can be heard saying, “In my childhood, I’ve always dreamed of blowing up my school. Today I’m blowing up a school. Wow.” In another, a soldier mocks Palestinian students, saying they will “not be engineers any more.” The commission confirmed the 252nd Division carried out deliberate demolitions of at least two UN-run schools in Beit Hanoun in November 2023, and that Israeli forces have seized dozens of other schools to use as military bases, weapons storage, and barracks.

    Systemic starvation of children has been another key tactic, the report finds. By October 2025, UNICEF had recorded 151 child deaths from malnutrition caused by Israel’s siege and blockade, with July 2025 seeing 24 children under five die from starvation-related causes. The blockade also derailed a planned fourth round of polio vaccinations for 600,000 Gaza children scheduled for April 2025, allowing polio to re-emerge in Gaza in August 2024, 25 years after the disease was eradicated from the territory.

    Investigators also documented a widespread pattern of dehumanization of Palestinian children, with at least 35 instances of Israeli soldiers filming themselves destroying or mocking children’s toys, schoolwork, and personal belongings in wrecked Palestinian homes, schools, and public spaces, then posting the footage to social media. The commission concluded these are not isolated incidents, but reflect an institutionalized culture of dehumanization across Israeli military units, with no disciplinary action taken by commanders against soldiers responsible for the acts.

    In its final conclusions, the commission ruled that there are reasonable grounds to confirm Israeli authorities and security forces have continued to commit genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in Gaza, and war crimes in the West Bank. On the charge of genocide, the inquiry notes that the deliberate targeting of children is a key piece of evidence establishing genocidal intent: as the bearers of Palestinian biological and social continuity, targeting children is a deliberate strategy to destroy the Palestinian people as a group. The commission named specific Israeli military units responsible for documented killings, urged the International Criminal Court to prioritize crimes against children in its ongoing investigation into the situation, and called for full accountability for all commanders bearing responsibility for the violations. Israel did not respond to any of the commission’s 13 requests for information or access to Israeli territory for the investigation.

  • China-US youth pickleball tournament builds cross-cultural ties

    China-US youth pickleball tournament builds cross-cultural ties

    On Tuesday, a landmark people-to-people exchange event between China and the United States, the 2026 China-US Youth Pickleball Friendship Tournament, was officially held at the University of International Business and Economics in the Chinese capital, Beijing. The on-court competition brought together two distinct groups of young participants: student members of a study tour delegation originating from Iowa, the United States, and teenage athletes from Shijiazhuang Foreign Language School, located in North China’s Hebei Province.

    Organizers of the friendly competition note that the event was designed around a far more ambitious goal than simply crowning a winning team. By bringing young people from the two countries together through the fast-growing, accessible sport of pickleball, the tournament seeks to build a new, informal bridge for cross-cultural connection and dialogue. The initiative focuses on nurturing the next generation of advocates and informal ambassadors for lasting China-US friendship, with the ultimate aim of making a tangible, positive contribution to the long-term development of bilateral relations between the two nations.