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  • Trump threatens to invade Iran, torpedoing Swiss peace talks

    Trump threatens to invade Iran, torpedoing Swiss peace talks

    A fresh round of U.S.-Iran peace negotiations in Switzerland has collapsed abruptly after former President Donald Trump issued a series of unprecedented, incendiary threats against Iran, prompting the Iranian negotiating team to walk out of the talks and demand a formal apology before they will return to the table.

    The crisis unfolded after Iran announced it would re-close the Strait of Hormuz — a strategic global oil chokepoint critical to international energy markets — over an intensified Israeli military assault on southern Lebanon that violates an existing ceasefire memorandum of understanding (MOU) covering all regional fronts. In a public tirade Sunday, Trump issued a cascade of threats: he warned Iran would cease to exist as a sovereign state if it followed through on closing the strait, explicitly threatened to assassinate Iranian negotiators, and for the first time publicly pledged a full U.S. military invasion to occupy the entire country.

    According to Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst, who reported on Trump’s comments, the U.S. leader told Iranian negotiators that if they closed the strait — a move Iran first announced Saturday — “you won’t even make it back to their f***ing country,” a threat widely interpreted as a reference to targeted assassinations of Iranian officials that have already occurred during the early phases of the ongoing conflict.

    Multiple international outlets confirm that the threats directly violated the first clause of the negotiated MOU governing the talks. In response, Iranian negotiators filed a formal complaint with Pakistani and Qatari mediators, who have been facilitating the closed-door discussions at a Swiss mountain resort, before leaving the venue immediately.

    In a blunt response to the threats, Iran’s chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf dismissed Trump’s rhetoric as empty, stating that his delegation does not take American threats seriously. This pattern of escalatory rhetoric followed by no action is nothing new: over recent months, Trump has repeatedly issued extreme threats to wipe out Iran’s entire civilization and destroy the country to pressure Tehran into making concessions, yet has never followed through on the warnings even as Iran has maintained its negotiating position.

    “Don’t they think that if their threats had worked, they wouldn’t have ended up in today’s desperate situation?” Ghalibaf asked. He added that the U.S. would be “better be more careful with their statements,” noting that “our armed forces are ready to respond in a different way. No matter what they say, we are the ones who act.”

    While the Iranian delegation has left the negotiation venue, indirect talks continue through participating mediators. According to Lebanese outlet Al Mayadeen, the Iranian team has set two non-negotiable conditions for returning to the table: a formal apology from Trump for his threats, and a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory. The Israeli government, for its part, is reportedly considering limited withdrawals from parts of southern Lebanon’s buffer zone, per senior Israeli sources cited by Channel 12, and the officials added that Washington has not pressured Israel for a full pullout.

    Sunday’s outburst marks a sharp, sudden reversal from just one week prior, when Trump signaled a major shift by acknowledging Iran’s sovereign right to enrich uranium for civilian nuclear energy, a key longstanding Iranian demand that the U.S. has previously rejected. Analysts say the sudden escalation was triggered by comments from Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who reaffirmed that Iran would never surrender its right to enrichment and predicted the U.S. would ultimately be forced to accept this position. In response, Trump reportedly warned Pezeshkian to “watch his mouth” and “shape up,” threatening a full U.S. takeover of remaining Iranian territory if he did not comply.

    This latest threat of full occupation stands in stark contradiction to Trump’s own recent comments, in which he acknowledged that extending the war would trigger a major U.S. economic catastrophe, and even acknowledged that limited ground operations — such as a proposed mission to seize Iranian uranium facilities — would be too costly in lives and resources to be justified. The ongoing war with Iran is already deeply unpopular with the U.S. public, even without the deployment of American ground troops: recent polling shows a majority of Republican voters oppose deploying ground troops to escalate the conflict, and senior U.S. military leaders have already shelved plans to seize strategic Iranian sites including Kharg Island out of fear of massive American casualties.

    In another controversial remark, Trump told Yingst that the U.S. could position itself as the “guardian angel” of the Strait of Hormuz, collecting tolls from commercial shipping and seizing oil from exporting nations that use the waterway. He offered no details on how the U.S. would secure control of the strait to enact this plan.

    Iran’s decision to threaten closing the strait came in direct response to Israel’s deepened occupation and intensified bombing of southern Lebanon, actions that violate the MOU’s ceasefire provisions. Ending Israel’s occupation of southern Lebanon is a non-negotiable red line for Tehran in the peace talks: the Israeli campaign has killed more than 4,000 people and displaced over 1.2 million Lebanese civilians from their homes in the region.

    Off the record, Trump has privately acknowledged that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is deliberately using the Lebanon campaign to sabotage the ceasefire and drag the U.S. into a full-scale regional war. In his conversation with Yingst, Trump acknowledged he was “disappointed Israel can’t put Hezbollah away,” adding that Israel “can’t do anything without knocking buildings down.” He also noted he is close to granting Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, former leader of al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, permission to lead operations against Hezbollah.

    Even as Trump has publicly and privately criticized Israel’s actions and accused Netanyahu of undermining peace efforts, he has taken no concrete action to force Israel to comply with the terms of the ceasefire MOU. Analysts warn that this contradictory approach from the White House puts the entire peace process at severe risk.

    “The mixed messages coming out of the White House are going to make it much harder to end the war, and could in fact spark further conflict,” noted Jeet Heer, a staff writer at *The Nation*.

    Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, described Israel’s ongoing military escalations as “an existential threat” to the U.S.-Iran peace process. He told ABC News that Iran’s threat to close the strait ahead of the Geneva talks was intended to signal how seriously Tehran views its demand for an Israeli withdrawal, clarifying the stakes for all parties.

    “Israel would prefer for this war to continue until you have a complete defeat of the Iranians, which, of course, is not in the cards,” Parsi explained. “The Israelis sold this war to Trump as a quick, easy fix to the region’s problems that would take no more than four days, and they were dead wrong. Now, Trump is recognizing that U.S. interests necessitate that he pull out of this war and strikes this deal, but the Israelis are trying to sabotage it because they are afraid they’re going to be left out, that the balance in the region is going to shift against their interests. They’re willing to essentially jeopardize their relationship with the United States over this.”

  • ‘China Shock’ seen as cover of protectionism

    ‘China Shock’ seen as cover of protectionism

    As Western rhetoric around the so-called “China Shock 2.0” gains increasing traction ahead and during the recent G7 summit, global trade experts have pushed back against the narrative, arguing it is little more than a deliberate political construct designed to shield Western protectionist trade policies, rather than an evidence-based economic analysis.

    The rehashed “China Shock” framing, experts warn, carries severe risks for the global economy: it threatens to erode the post-WWII multilateral trading system, fragment cross-border supply chains, and drive up production and consumer costs worldwide. Instead of viewing China’s steady industrial and technological advancement through a hostile lens, major Western economies should embrace collaborative engagement, they say, to harness China’s unparalleled production capacity for shared global growth.

    The debate reignited during the three-day G7 summit, which concluded last Wednesday. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen opened the line of criticism, first implying without naming a specific country that “some countries produce too much and do not consume enough”, framing this dynamic as an increasingly dangerous threat to global economic stability. She later explicitly targeted China, calling China’s persistent trade surplus with the European Union “unsustainable”.

    Von der Leyen’s remarks align with the growing “China Shock 2.0” narrative that has circulated in Western policy circles in recent months. Last month, the London-based Centre for European Reform think tank published a report claiming a new wave of Chinese competition is sending disruptive shocks through global goods markets, and many Western outlets amplified this narrative during the G7 summit to justify new trade restrictions targeting China.

    Jian Junbo, director of the Center for China-Europe Relations at Fudan University’s Institute of International Studies, explained that the entire “China Shock” framework centers on unsubstantiated claims about imbalanced trade, with a specific focus on China’s manufacturing goods surplus with Western economies.

    Sun Chenghao, head of the US-Europe Program at Tsinghua University’s Center for International Security and Strategy, noted that the current wave of hype around “China Shock 2.0” is fundamentally a political project, not an economic assessment. “It layers together Western anxieties over eroding industrial competitiveness, the rising costs of the green energy transition, and broader great power strategic competition with China, before reframing all these domestic issues as a Chinese ‘security threat’ for public consumption,” Sun explained.

    The original “China Shock” thesis was first coined by Western economists in the 2000s, arguing that China’s export boom after joining the World Trade Organization displaced millions of manufacturing jobs in the United States and disrupted Western labor markets. Sun pointed out that the core logic of the updated 2.0 version has not shifted: both iterations blame China for internal economic challenges that Western economies have failed to address themselves, from uneven industrial restructuring to widening income inequality to mounting competitive pressure in advanced technology sectors.

    Tu Xinquan, dean of the China Institute for WTO Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, echoed this assessment. He emphasized that what Western commentators label a “China Shock” is simply the natural outcome of market competition and the dynamics of comparative advantage in global trade. “For decades, developed countries grew accustomed to holding unchallenged technological dominance,” Tu noted. “Now that they face a legitimate, competitive market rival, they are quick to abandon the free market principles they have spent decades promoting to the rest of the world.”

    Contrary to the narrative that frames China’s industrial upgrading as a global threat, experts argue that China’s progress has been a net benefit to the global economy, bringing affordable high-tech goods to markets around the world, boosting aggregate productivity, and improving consumer welfare on a global scale.

    James Pethokoukis, a senior fellow at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute, laid out this positive dynamic in a December article published on the think tank’s website. Pethokoukis acknowledged that China’s rapid economic growth has reduced the United States’ relative share of global GDP, but noted that it has delivered tangible benefits to American consumers by lowering the cost of a vast range of goods and cutting input costs for American manufacturers. The U.S. economy as a whole is “absolutely richer” from trade with China, he concluded, even if its global relative share has shrunk.

    Tu further explained that China’s massive, integrated production base, paired with intense domestic competition that drives efficiency, allows Chinese manufacturers to deliver high-technology goods at drastically lower prices than international competitors, a dynamic that benefits consumers and businesses worldwide. This impact is particularly visible in the global renewable energy sector, where Chinese solar panels, wind turbines, and electric vehicles have driven down costs dramatically, accelerating the global clean energy transition.

    Official Chinese trade data underscores this impact: Chinese renewable energy products are exported to more than 200 countries and regions worldwide, and Chinese manufacturing innovation has cut global solar power generation costs by more than 80 percent and wind power costs by more than 60 percent over the past two decades.

    Sun warned that the Western push to frame normal industrial competition as a security threat carries long-term risks for the global economy. Over time, he said, this pan-securitization of trade will push up global production costs, reduce consumer welfare, fragment interconnected supply chains, and further erode the WTO-centered multilateral trading system that has underpinned global growth for decades.

    Against this backdrop, trade and international relations experts are calling for a more rational, objective approach to China’s economic development, urging Western policymakers to pursue collaborative trade frameworks that drive shared global prosperity, rather than erecting new barriers.

    Jian, from Fudan University, argued that what Western commentators call a “shock” is nothing more than normal market competition, which is inherently healthy for global market growth and prosperity. Blocking legitimate competition, he said, would only hold back overall economic development. “In this context, it is crucial to view this competition rationally and objectively, embracing a market-oriented mindset and promoting self-growth through cooperation with competitors,” Jian noted.

  • Three dead in Philippines high school shooting over bullying ‘grudge’

    Three dead in Philippines high school shooting over bullying ‘grudge’

    A devastating targeted attack at a central Philippine high school has left three students dead and seven others injured after two teenage boys opened fire inside a classroom, in what law enforcement officials describe as an extremely rare school shooting for the Southeast Asian nation. The incident, which unfolded at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, has prompted urgent national calls for stronger gun safety practices at home and improved student welfare monitoring in schools, after investigators confirmed the attack was driven by a long-held grudge over persistent bullying.

    The two suspects, aged 14 and 15, carried out the attack with two illegally accessed firearms: a .38 caliber revolver and a 9mm pistol that was registered to a police officer, who is a relative of one of the teenagers and has since been taken into custody for failing to secure her weapon. Following the shooting, one suspect was arrested at the scene within minutes, while the second turned himself in to authorities a short time later.

    Colonel Allen Rae Co, national spokesperson for the Philippine National Police, told reporters on Monday that the teen perpetrators walked directly into the classroom without warning and opened fire immediately. As of the earliest stages of the investigation, it remains unclear whether the pair’s intended targets were actually present in the room at the time of the attack. Of the seven injured people, three suffered direct gunshot wounds, while four were hurt during the panicked evacuation that followed the start of the shooting.

    A key emerging detail from the investigation has raised serious questions about whether the attack could have been prevented. Co confirmed that investigators discovered violent social media content posted by one of the suspects, showing the teen firing a gun in advance of the attack. He described these posts as clear warning signs, or “red flags,” that were overlooked by people around the teens.

    “This is very obviously red flags… we’re not putting blame on anybody, but if anybody was able to monitor these red flags, this could have been prevented,” Co told reporters.

    Gun violence remains a persistent challenge across the Philippines, but targeted shootings at schools are exceptionally uncommon. Local law enforcement confirmed this is the first recorded school shooting in Tacloban City in modern history. The tragedy has sparked outrage from victims’ families, who are demanding accountability for how the teenagers gained access to deadly weapons.

    Jennelyn Badoria, the mother of a 15-year-old student killed in the attack, told Agence France-Presse that anyone who allowed the minors to access the firearms must face legal consequences. “I’m asking that the gun owners be charged, because the guns wouldn’t have ended up in the children’s hands if it weren’t for them,” Badoria said in an interview outside the school campus.

    Local police officials have echoed that call, urging all Filipino households that own firearms to take greater responsibility for securing their weapons. Evalyn Diaz, a representative of Tacloban City Police, urged parents “to be more responsible, hide their firearms, make sure those are properly hidden, talk to their children” about the dangers of unsecured weapons.

    National leaders and education authorities have responded to the tragedy with statements of grief and a commitment to systemic review. Claire Castro, spokesperson for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., said the president had been deeply “saddened by what happened” and acknowledged that the attack would spark profound grief and fear among all affected families. The Philippine Department of Education released a statement expressing “deep concern” and calling for national prayer for the victims and their families.

    Working alongside national police, the education ministry has launched a full review of national school safety protocols, anti-bullying policies, and student mental health and behavioral monitoring systems, to identify gaps that allowed this attack to occur.

    Philippine national police data shows that overall gun violence across the country has declined steadily in recent years, with just under 5,000 recorded gun-related incidents nationwide in 2024. Tacloban City, located on Leyte Island in the central Visayas region roughly one hour’s flight from the national capital Manila, is home to roughly 250,000 people. The city is still recovering from the devastation of Super Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, which killed more than 6,000 people across the region and pushed thousands of households into deeper poverty.

  • Former South Korean justice minister gets 25-year prison term for role in martial law imposition

    Former South Korean justice minister gets 25-year prison term for role in martial law imposition

    In a landmark ruling that closes another key chapter in South Korea’s post-2024 political upheaval, a Seoul district court handed down a 25-year prison sentence Monday to former justice minister Park Sung-jae, finding him guilty of actively aiding ousted president Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived, unlawful 2024 declaration of martial law.

    The Seoul Central District Court confirmed that Park occupied a central coordinating role in Yoon’s bid to consolidate power, which unfolded after the president imposed martial law on December 3, 2024 amid a years-long political deadlock with liberal lawmakers who controlled the National Assembly. Court documents outline that Park ordered officials within his ministry to evaluate available detention space at national correctional facilities, a step explicitly taken to prepare for mass arrests of opposition political figures. He also directed state prosecution staff to deploy to Yoon’s ad-hoc martial law command center to back its operational work, and ordered immigration agencies to be on standby to implement immediate travel bans for targeted individuals, the court ruled.

    Yoon’s attempt to impose martial law collapsed within six hours, after opposition lawmakers breached a military blockade set up outside the National Assembly building and passed an emergency vote to invalidate the decree. The vote forced Yoon’s own cabinet to reverse the order, setting off a rapid chain of political consequences that ended Yoon’s presidency. Park was the top justice official in Yoon’s administration at the time of the attempted power grab.

    In delivering the verdict, presiding Judge Lee Jin-ganto emphasized that Park had violated his core constitutional duty to uphold South Korea’s democratic legal framework by aligning with Yoon’s authoritarian push. “By participating in this plan to undermine the nation’s elected legislature, Park abandoned every obligation he owed to the South Korean people and the rule of law,” Judge Lee noted in the ruling.

    Park has consistently denied all charges against him, arguing he was only fulfilling routine responsibilities required during what was framed as a national emergency. As of Monday, his legal team had not yet announced whether they would file an appeal against the conviction and sentence.

    This ruling adds to a string of convictions for senior members of Yoon’s ousted administration connected to the 2024 martial law incident. Yoon himself was impeached by the National Assembly on December 14, 2024, formally removed from office by the Constitutional Court in April 2025, and taken into custody in July that same year. He has already been sentenced to life in prison on charges of rebellion stemming from the martial law declaration, and received a separate 30-year sentence for orchestrating unauthorized drone flights over Pyongyang, North Korea, in October 2024. Prosecutors argue the drone incursion was deliberately planned to stoke inter-Korea tensions and create a pretext for imposing martial law domestically. Yoon has filed appeals against both of his convictions.

    Other senior officials have already been sentenced for their roles in the scheme. Former Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyun was handed two concurrent 30-year prison terms: one for his central role in mobilizing military forces to enforce martial law and target opposition politicians, and a second for his involvement in the North Korea drone plot. Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who was initially sentenced to 23 years in prison for helping secure formal cabinet approval for Yoon’s martial law decree to grant it procedural legitimacy, saw his sentence reduced to 15 years on appeal.

  • Protest led by India’s ‘cockroach party’ enters its third day

    Protest led by India’s ‘cockroach party’ enters its third day

    Three consecutive days of sustained protests have unfolded in India’s capital New Delhi, as hundreds of students, young working professionals and job-seeking candidates rally to call for the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The unrest follows a major paper leak scandal that has upended one of India’s most high-stakes competitive medical entrance examinations.

    Organizing the demonstration at Delhi’s iconic protest venue Jantar Mantar is the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), a grassroots political collective that has rapidly gained viral online traction for its sharp, satirical commentary on mainstream Indian politics. Taking aim at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) through its name, the group, which uses a cockroach as its official mascot, has centered its activism on pushing for greater transparency and accountability across India’s education system.

    The current wave of protests is rooted in the NEET-UG controversy. The entrance exam for undergraduate medical programs was thrown into chaos earlier this year after widespread allegations of a question paper leak, triggering massive public anger from thousands of aspirants and their families. In response to the outrage, Indian authorities annulled the original exam results and ordered a full re-examination for millions of candidates.

    On Sunday, those millions of candidates returned to testing centers across the country to sit for the new exam, held under stringent enhanced security protocols including mandatory biometric identity verification. The National Testing Agency (NTA), the government body tasked with administering NEET-UG, released a statement shortly after the re-test concluded claiming the exam had proceeded without major incident and that no new allegations of paper leaks had been received.

    Yet for protesters gathered in central Delhi, the re-examination has done little to resolve the deeper issues at the heart of the controversy. Many demonstrators argue that the scandal is not an isolated incident, but evidence of systemic failure that has let down millions of young students across the country, and that top officials must be held accountable for the breakdown.

    “We are here for accountability,” CJP founder Abhijeet Dipke told assembled supporters at the protest site on Sunday, issuing a call for more people across India to join the movement. Dipke, a student at Boston University currently based in India, launched the CJP’s first protest at Jantar Mantar earlier this month before traveling to other Indian cities to expand the movement. Since its launch, the collective has seen steadily growing online engagement and has organized coordinated demonstrations in multiple regions across the country.

    The sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar officially began on June 19, after Delhi Police granted a permit for the demonstration that expired at 5:00 PM local time on June 20. When the permit expired, hundreds of protesters refused to vacate the site, vowing to continue their demonstration until Pradhan steps down from his post.

    Over the weekend, demonstrators camped out on sidewalks on mattresses, blocked local roads, and endured rising Delhi temperatures as they sang protest songs, debated the need for broad education reform, and received food and water from volunteer supporters. Organizers have accused Delhi Police of deliberately cutting power to the site and restricting access to clean water and public restrooms after the protest permit expired, though they later confirmed basic services had been restored. Delhi Police has not yet issued any public response to these allegations.

    The protest has drawn widespread support from members of the public who have no direct connection to the NEET-UG exam, reflecting broader frustration over systemic issues in India’s education and employment sectors. “I came because I believe they are doing the right thing,” said Jyoti Thakur, a 23-year-old storekeeper based in Delhi. “The path to a better society is through a better education system.”

    Gaurav Jain, a 39-year-old lawyer who spent one night at the protest camp, echoed that sentiment, saying he joined the movement over his own concerns about systemic lack of accountability, and is calling for a far more transparent and responsible education governance structure.

    To date, neither India’s Education Ministry nor the ruling BJP has issued a public response to the demands for Pradhan’s resignation. The BBC has reached out to both institutions for comment, and has not yet received a reply.

    The CJP itself emerged just last month, born from a public backlash against comments made by India’s Chief Justice Surya Kant that went viral online. During a recent court hearing, Kant compared some unemployed young people in India to “cockroaches” and “parasites”, remarks that critics condemned as dehumanizing to an entire generation of young people grappling with widespread youth unemployment.

    While the Chief Justice later clarified that his comments were directed at people who use fake educational degrees to secure work, not unemployed young people as a whole, the damage had already been done, and the backlash quickly spread across Indian social media. Within days, Dipke launched an online movement around the hashtag #MainBhiCockroach, which translates to “I too am a cockroach”. The movement quickly gained traction, drawing tens of thousands of direct supporters, earning backing from opposition political figures, and amassing more than 22 million followers on Instagram alone.

  • Taiwan begins 5-day military drill with tanks patrolling streets

    Taiwan begins 5-day military drill with tanks patrolling streets

    TAIPEI, Taiwan – Against a backdrop of persistent cross-strait military tension, Taiwan launched a five-day intensive Immediate Combat Readiness Exercise on Monday, focused on sharpening the island’s ability to respond to potential sudden military aggression from mainland China. The drill got underway with visible activity across Taoyuan, the city that hosts Taiwan’s busiest international gateway, Taoyuan International Airport. Visual evidence from the exercise shows main battle tanks maneuvering along public urban streets and major highways, as armored detachments from the Army’s 269th Infantry Brigade carried out combat readiness patrols through the morning hours.

    Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense announced the drills in a public statement released Sunday afternoon, outlining that the training is structured around realistic, real-world scenarios, with core priorities placed on “real-time response, live-fire operations, and on-site tactical execution.” Per Taiwan’s semi-official Central News Agency, the exercise series is specifically designed to simulate the strategic period immediately preceding an enemy’s large-scale amphibious assault. Looking ahead, the exercise framework also leaves room for unscheduled, ad-hoc drill sessions that will test Taiwan’s military’s ability to adapt in real time to ongoing Chinese military activities near the island.

    The drills come as China continues its steady pattern of so-called “grey-zone” military pressure against Taiwan, a set of aggressive actions that stop short of full-scale direct conflict. These tactics range from sustained naval patrols near Taiwan’s territorial waters to repeated drone incursions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone. In the 24-hour period from Sunday to Monday morning alone, Taiwan’s defense ministry confirmed that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) deployed 23 aircraft toward the Taiwan area, alongside seven PLA Navy vessels and five additional Chinese government ships.这种持续的常态压力已经成为 daily reality: Chinese military aircraft, drones, and naval vessels conduct operations near the island on a near-daily basis.

    This drill is the latest in a series of regular readiness exercises Taiwan has held to upgrade its defense capabilities, as the island faces unrelenting military pressure from Beijing. China claims the self-governing island of Taiwan as an inalienable part of its sovereign territory, and has repeatedly refused to rule out the use of military force to achieve unification. Earlier this June, Taiwan held another major exercise that marked the first time the island has conducted live rocket fire drills toward waters off the coast of mainland China as part of its training.

    The report was filed by Wu reporting from Bangkok, Associated Press.

  • Former East Timor president and independence fighter Francisco Guterres dies at 71

    Former East Timor president and independence fighter Francisco Guterres dies at 71

    DILI, East Timor – The Southeast Asian nation of Timor Leste (East Timor) is mourning the passing of one of its most revered founding figures: Francisco Guterres, the former president and central leader of the country’s decades-long fight for independence, has died at the age of 71.

    Widely recognized by his nom de guerre “Lu Olo”, Guterres passed away on Sunday at Malaysia’s Prince Court Medical Centre, where he had been receiving treatment in an intensive care unit. The announcement of his death was shared via the late leader’s official Facebook page by his family, who did not immediately release details on the specific cause of death.

    Guterres’s five-decade public career was inextricably tied to the story of Timor Leste’s path to becoming the world’s youngest sovereign nation in 2002. His single term as president from 2017 to 2022 marked the final chapter of a lifelong commitment to securing freedom and democratic governance for his people.

    In a message of condolence shared with Guterres’s family and the people of East Timor, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim paid tribute to the leader’s unwavering dedication. “Throughout his life, he remained committed to the freedom of his people and the building of a democratic nation,” Ibrahim wrote.

    Fretilin, the revolutionary political party Guterres led for many years, described his passing as a “profound loss” for all who worked toward the vision of a free, democratic and sovereign Timor Leste. The party highlighted Guterres’s enduring legacy of commitment to the independence movement, as well as his lifelong work to advance national unity, constructive political dialogue, peace and domestic stability across his decades in public life.

    Born September 7, 1954, in Ossu, a town in what was then Portuguese Timor’s Viqueque District, Guterres rose to prominence as a core leader of the armed and political resistance during Indonesia’s 24-year occupation of East Timor, which ran from 1975 to 1999. As a senior Fretilin figure, he played an indispensable role in the country’s transition to sovereignty after the 1999 UN-backed independence referendum that set Timor Leste on the path to statehood.

    In 2001, Guterres served as president of the Timorese Constituent Assembly, where he oversaw the drafting of the new nation’s foundational constitution. When East Timor formally gained independence in 2002, he became the national parliament’s first speaker. After falling short in several earlier presidential campaigns, Guterres finally won election to the nation’s highest office in 2017. He lost his 2022 re-election bid to current President Jose Ramos-Horta, a longtime comrade from the independence struggle.

    Guterres is survived by his wife, Cidalia Lopes Nobre Mouzinho Guterres, and their children. Details of his funeral arrangements are expected to be announced to the public in the coming days.

  • Australia and Canada sign a $1.75B deal to build long-range radar in Canada

    Australia and Canada sign a $1.75B deal to build long-range radar in Canada

    CANBERRA, Australia — In a landmark move that deepens bilateral defense ties and cements Australia’s growing footprint in the global defense export market, Australian and Canadian defense officials signed a AUD 1.75 billion agreement on Monday to deliver an Australian-engineered over-the-horizon long-range radar system to Canada. This marks the largest defense export deal in Australia’s history.

    The first phase of the pact was signed by Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles and Canadian Secretary of State for Defense Procurement Stephen Fuhr. The radar network will provide critical early warning coverage stretching from the Canada-U.S. border all the way into the Arctic, a region that has grown in strategic importance amid shifting global geopolitics.

    Speaking to reporters at Australian Parliament House, Marles emphasized that the agreement transforms the two nations into core development partners for the cutting-edge over-the-horizon radar technology. “This brings a truly strategic dimension to the defense and industrial partnership between Australia and Canada,” Marles said.

    Fuhr echoed the sentiment, pointing to the long-standing aligned interests of the two middle powers, both members of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance alongside the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. “For generations, our two nations have stood shoulder-to-shoulder on global security matters,” Fuhr noted during the joint press appearance. “As the world adapts to new strategic and economic realities, there is no stronger partner for Canada to collaborate with on critical defense capabilities than Australia.”

    The deal had been in the works since Mark Carney took office as Canadian Prime Minister last year, when he announced Canada would select the Australian radar design over competing American technology. Earlier this year, Carney made the first visit to Australia by a sitting Canadian prime minister in 12 years. During that trip, Carney and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese formalized a commitment to expand cross-border collaboration across three key strategic sectors: defense technology, artificial intelligence and critical minerals supply chains.

    BAE Systems Australia, which will support the joint development and deployment of the Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar, confirmed its role in a public statement. The Australian over-the-horizon system is the product of more than 40 years of iterative research and development. Unlike conventional radar systems, which cannot detect objects beyond the curve of the Earth, the Australian technology refracts high-frequency electromagnetic waves off the ionosphere, allowing it to identify distant threats and objects that are invisible to standard radar setups.

    Prior to this agreement, Australia’s largest defense export was a $700 million deal reached in 2024 to supply 100 locally manufactured Boxer heavy weapon carrier vehicles to Germany. The new radar deal more than doubles that record, signaling Australia’s emergence as a competitive global exporter of advanced defense technology.

  • Egypt’s Mo Salah adds to list of accolades in World Cup against New Zealand

    Egypt’s Mo Salah adds to list of accolades in World Cup against New Zealand

    VANCOUVER, British Columbia — As Mohamed Salah’s next professional club move remains one of the most talked-about unanswered questions in global soccer, the Egyptian forward is steadily cementing his status as a legend for his home nation, delivering a historic performance to lift Egypt to its first ever FIFA World Cup victory in a 3-1 defeat of New Zealand on Sunday night.

    During the match, Salah notched his 68th international goal for Egypt, putting him just one strike away from breaking the Pharaohs’ all-time senior scoring record, which is currently held by his own national team manager Hossam Hassan. The 34-year-old captain’s 67th-minute go-ahead goal also marked his third career World Cup goal, extending his lead as the top World Cup goal scorer in Egyptian history — he previously scored two at the 2018 tournament in Russia.

    Salah’s club career has reached a turning point in recent weeks: after nine seasons with England’s Liverpool FC, where he claimed two Premier League titles and became the top foreign goal scorer in the league’s history, a dip in 2023-24 form and reported internal tensions led him to opt to end his contract a year early. His impending departure from Anfield has triggered widespread speculation across global soccer about where the star striker will sign next, with no official announcement made as of yet.

    Despite a slow start to Sunday’s match, where he missed a first-half free kick wide of the post and watched New Zealand jump out to an early lead, Salah turned the game around in the second half. In the 67th minute, he connected with a well-placed pass from Mostafa Ziko, slipping the ball past a New Zealand defender and goalkeeper Max Crocombe to put Egypt up 2-1. He wasn’t finished adding to his impact: just 15 minutes later, he notched his second assist of the match to set up Egypt’s closing goal, adding to the assist he earned in the Pharaohs’ opening 1-1 draw with Belgium earlier in the tournament.

    Sunday’s win marked the first ever World Cup match victory for Egypt in the nation’s decades-long history of participation in the tournament. “What happened today is history for us as Egyptians,” Salah said after the match. “We see a lot of teams win games, but for us as Egyptian, it doesn’t happen often, first time in history.”

    New Zealand captain Chris Wood acknowledged Salah’s outsize impact on the match, noting that the forward’s quality requires constant attention from opposing defenses: “He’s a good player. You have to keep an eye on him.”

    Long before this World Cup kicked off, Salah had already secured his place in African qualifying history. He scored nine goals in 10 qualifying matches to secure Egypt’s spot in the tournament, making him the all-time top goal scorer in African FIFA World Cup qualifying history. Egypt manager Hossam Hassan, whose record Salah is on the cusp of breaking, praised the captain’s performance, saying “Salah worked hard on the pitch. I am sure we are going to see more from him.”

    Analysts and club scouts widely expect a wave of contract offers to come for Salah following his strong start to this World Cup, which has reminded the global soccer community of his elite ability even as he enters the latter stages of his career. Fans across the world will have to wait just a bit longer to learn where the star will continue his club career, but for now, he’s focused on writing new history for Egypt on the world’s biggest soccer stage.

  • Asian shares are mixed and US futures fall as Iran talks make progress

    Asian shares are mixed and US futures fall as Iran talks make progress

    HONG KONG – Global financial markets kicked off the trading week with divergent performance across Asian equities on Monday, as conflicting tailwinds from the booming global artificial intelligence sector and tentative progress in U.S.-Iran negotiations shaped investor sentiment.

    Markets in Northeast Asia led regional gains, powered by a widespread rally in AI-linked assets that pushed Japan’s benchmark index to a new intraday all-time record. The Nikkei 225 closed 1.6% higher at 72,364.82, after touching an unprecedented peak of 72,831.73 during morning trading. SoftBank Group, the Japanese multinational investment giant with extensive exposure to AI startups and emerging technology, climbed 2.4% by closing bell, while leading chip equipment manufacturer Tokyo Electron gained 2.3% to extend its 2024 rally.

    South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index also notched a solid gain, rising 0.4% to 9,084.37 to hold near its own all-time high. The advance was again led by AI-linked semiconductors, with top memory chip producer SK Hynix surging 4.7% on sustained demand expectations for AI server components. Across the Taiwan Strait, the Taiex index rallied 2.8%, while India’s Sensex added a more moderate 0.6% to close in positive territory.

    Despite the strong upward momentum across much of Northeast and South Asia, some market analysts have sounded a note of caution. “We’re seeing another strong market today,” noted Neil Newman, managing director and head of strategy at Astris Advisory Japan. He warned that from a valuation perspective, the Japanese market is “probably getting a little stretched” at current levels, particularly against the backdrop of escalating geopolitical instability in the Middle East.

    Regional performance was far from uniform. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index dropped 1% to 23,690.86, while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped a modest 0.1% to 8,822.80. Mainland China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite bucked the downward trend for major East Asian emerging markets, edging 0.2% higher to close at 4,098.01.

    The biggest macro market mover of the day was newfound optimism around U.S.-Iran negotiations aimed at ending ongoing hostilities, which pulled global oil prices lower. International benchmark Brent crude fell 1.4% to trade at $79.42 per barrel on Monday, down sharply from levels seen earlier this year amid regional conflict. Before the outbreak of hostilities in late February, Brent traded at roughly $70 per barrel.

    High-level diplomatic talks between U.S. and Iranian negotiators wrapped up in Switzerland early Monday, with lower-level technical discussions scheduled to continue through the rest of the week. While Tehran claimed it had shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global chokepoint that carries roughly a fifth of the world’s daily oil and gas trade, over the weekend, U.S. officials confirmed that commercial shipping traffic through the waterway continued uninterrupted.

    Even with the tentative progress toward a diplomatic resolution, commodity analysts warn that the path to a permanent peace deal remains fraught with risk. “Moving towards a more permanent deal will be challenging, with very real risks of a flare-up in hostilities,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a client note released Monday.

    Across the Atlantic, U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower opening on Wall Street as investors turned their attention to upcoming inflation data that will shape Federal Reserve monetary policy expectations. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis is set to release May’s personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price index – the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge – this Thursday, with investors parsing the data for clues about the timing of potential interest rate cuts.

    In currency markets, the U.S. dollar appreciated slightly against the Japanese yen, rising to 161.68 yen from 161.22 yen in Friday trading. The euro edged lower to $1.1454, down from $1.1473 at last week’s close.

    Associated Press senior producer Mayuko Ono in Tokyo contributed reporting to this article.