Global Pulse

标签： Asia

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  • Pakistan delivers weapons to Libya’s Haftar as part of Saudi-financed deal, sources say

    Pakistan delivers weapons to Libya’s Haftar as part of Saudi-financed deal, sources say

    New unreported arms shipments from Pakistan to the eastern Libyan administration led by military strongman Khalifa Haftar have been carried out earlier this year, with financing and facilitation from Saudi Arabia, multiple Western and Arab officials with direct knowledge of the matter have confirmed to Middle East Eye.

    One official who was present at Benghazi’s main airport during the offloading process confirmed that at least five Pakistani cargo jets carrying military hardware arrived and were unloaded in March. A second senior official verified the shipments occurred, but declined to share details on the specific types of weapons transferred. This delivery marks the first confirmed execution of a massive $4 billion arms framework between Pakistan and Haftar’s government, a deal that was first reported by Reuters after a December visit to Benghazi by Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir.

    Haftar, 82, accompanied by his son Saddam Haftar — widely viewed as his likely political successor — made a rare official trip to Islamabad in early February, where the pair held meetings with Munir and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The Arab official confirmed that the full terms of the March weapons shipments were finalized during this high-level visit.

    This delivery comes at a moment of growing uncertainty for Pakistan’s broader arms export agenda across Africa, just after another major Pakistani arms deal with Sudan’s transitional government collapsed earlier this month when Saudi Arabia withdrew its pledged financing for the purchase.

    According to regional and Western diplomatic sources, the new deal is part of a deliberate Saudi push to expand its influence in eastern Libya and displace the long-standing dominance the United Arab Emirates has held over Haftar and his political bloc. One senior Arab official called the deal an explicit outreach strategy, stating: “This deal was done to pull Haftar away from the UAE. Saudi Arabia is using honey, and saying ‘we can sponsor you’.” A Libyan source familiar with Haftar’s inner circle expressed skepticism about the success of this gambit, noting that the Haftar family retains extensive business holdings and assets in the Emirates.

    Beyond shifting influence dynamics in Libya, the deal also ties to Saudi regional priorities in the ongoing Sudan conflict. Western and Arab officials confirm Riyadh is pressing Haftar to block illegal cross-border weapons flows from southeastern Libya to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group fighting Sudan’s military government. The deal is also structured to buy Haftar’s cooperation with ongoing efforts to integrate his eastern military forces with the military wing of the internationally recognized Tripoli-based government under Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh. In March, forces from both sides participated in joint training exercises during the U.S.-led Flintlock military drill, and a joint military coordination committee has already been established to advance integration. As one Western official put it: “There is a sense that Saudi Arabia is buying Haftar’s cooperation with new supplies. The integration of Libya’s military is against the UAE’s interest vis-a-vis Sudan.”

    The Saudi-UAE rift that underpins this new initiative has deepened rapidly over the past year, despite the two countries’ long history as Gulf allies. Both nations joined forces to intervene in Yemen’s civil war and backed Haftar’s failed 2019 offensive to seize full control of Tripoli, but their alignment collapsed after the outbreak of Sudan’s 2023 civil war. Tensions flared after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman lobbied former U.S. President Donald Trump to oppose the UAE’s open support for the RSF. Rifts escalated further in December, when Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes against UAE-aligned militia groups in Yemen.

    While the two sides have attempted to contain open conflict, with bin Salman sending a February letter to UAE National Security Advisor Tahnoon bin Zayed that outlined Riyadh’s grievances and called for mediation, recent regional shifts have only deepened divisions. The outbreak of the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict sparked speculation that Gulf powers would put aside differences to present a unified front, but the war has instead widened the gap between the two: Saudi Arabia has sought to balance U.S. requests for military access with public calls for a negotiated end to tensions, while the UAE has taken a hardline hawkish stance against Iran and has publicly expressed frustration with U.S.-led direct talks with Tehran — talks that Pakistan has helped facilitate.

    Libya has remained split into two competing administrative blocs since 2014, and a United Nations arms embargo imposed on the country has been routinely violated by outside powers seeking to advance their own regional interests. Middle East Eye reached out to the Saudi and Pakistani embassies in Washington D.C. for official comment on the arms shipment, but received no response prior to publication.

  • Iran top diplomat says country may rejoin Islamabad peace talks

    Iran top diplomat says country may rejoin Islamabad peace talks

    As a fragile two-week ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. enters its final 48 hours ahead of a Wednesday evening expiration, Tehran remains undecided on whether to participate in a new round of peace negotiations scheduled this week in Islamabad, with top Iranian officials slamming the Trump administration for untrustworthy behavior and maximalist negotiating demands that derailed the previous talks.

    Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei clarified Monday during a regular press briefing that no final decision has been reached on Iranian attendance at the proposed new talks. The earlier round of negotiations held in the Pakistani capital ended without any breakthrough to de-escalate the conflict that the Trump administration and its Israeli ally launched in late February.

    Baghaei highlighted a stark contradiction between Washington’s public claims of diplomatic readiness and its recent aggressive actions, pointing specifically to a U.S. military operation over the weekend that seized an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman. Such moves, he argued, offer no indication of the U.S. being serious about pursuing a constructive diplomatic path.

    Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian echoed these criticisms in a social media post published Monday, calling out what he framed as contradictory and unconstructive signals coming from U.S. officials. Pezeshkian emphasized that upholding commitments is the foundational requirement for any meaningful dialogue, noting that Iran holds deep, history-rooted mistrust of the U.S. government stemming from decades of past aggression against the country. “They seek Iran’s surrender,” Pezeshkian wrote of Trump administration officials. “Iranians do not submit to force.”

    Pezeshkian’s remarks came as U.S. President Donald Trump issued stark new threats to resume large-scale bombing operations if no peace deal is reached before the ceasefire expires. The ongoing conflict has already killed more than 3,300 Iranians and displaced millions of civilians. When asked what would happen if talks fail, Trump told PBS News: “Lots of bombs start going off.”

    This threat followed an even more extreme warning from Trump: that if Iranian leaders reject his administration’s terms for ending the war, the U.S. will destroy every power plant and bridge across Iran. Legal experts have widely condemned these threats as violations of international law, which explicitly protects civilian infrastructure from intentional attack, noting that the threats themselves qualify as war crimes regardless of whether they are carried out.

    Beyond the military standoff, the conflict has sparked growing internal friction within the Trump administration over skyrocketing U.S. gasoline prices. On Monday, Trump publicly contradicted his own Energy Secretary Chris Wright, a former fracking industry executive, who suggested over the weekend that U.S. gas prices might not drop below $3 per gallon until 2027.

    Wright made the projection during a CNN interview Sunday, when asked when consumers could expect significant price relief after the national average jumped above $4 per gallon following the outbreak of the war. Responding to Wright’s comments in a Monday interview with The Hill, Trump called the energy secretary’s projection “totally wrong” and insisted gas prices would plummet immediately as soon as the conflict ends.

    However, independent energy and economic analysts, as well as major reporting from The New York Times, contradict Trump’s optimistic claim. The Times reported Monday that the global economic impact of Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz — which has cut off roughly 20 percent of the world’s global oil supply — is only just beginning to hit global markets, and disruptions will persist for months or even years even if a peace deal is reached quickly.

    East Asia is currently bearing the brunt of supply shortages caused by the strait’s closure, but the ripple effects are expected to spread across every major global economy if the waterway remains blocked. Even if a peace deal is signed immediately, the Times reports that the global economy will face months of canceled air travel, soaring food prices, paused factory production, delayed supply chains, and empty shelves for a wide range of consumer and critical goods, from plastic products and instant noodles to microchips, vaccines, medical equipment, and cosmetics. The outlet added that even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens fully tomorrow, it could take years for oil and gas production and shipping to rebound to pre-conflict levels.

    Bob McNally, founder and president of energy consulting firm Rapidan Energy Group, confirmed this assessment in comments to Newsweek published Monday. “It is likely we will feel the effects of energy disruptions through the end of the year,” McNally explained. “Even if the conflict and disruptions were to end today, the ripple effects would be felt for many months. Just restarting Gulf production and flows would take three to four months. Repairing damage to facilities could take longer.”

    Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, also warned that U.S. consumers face continued financial strain in the coming months. In a Sunday social media post, Zandi wrote: “It doesn’t look like gasoline prices will return to pre-war levels anytime soon. That’s even if the war ends soon, which looks iffy, to say the least. And this abstracts from what Americans will need to shell out for higher prices on everything from groceries to airfares in the coming weeks and months. The financial pain caused by the war and its fallout on consumer spending and the economy is set to intensify.”

  • South Korean police seek to arrest K-pop mogul behind BTS

    South Korean police seek to arrest K-pop mogul behind BTS

    In a major development that has sent shockwaves through the global K-pop industry, South Korean law enforcement announced Tuesday it is moving to arrest Bang Si-Hyuk, the legendary music mogul and chairman of HYBE, the entertainment agency behind global supergroup BTS. The push for arrest comes as investigators expand a probe into claims that Bang unlawfully amassed more than $100 million through a fraudulent investor scheme.

    The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency has formally confirmed it has asked prosecutors to seek a court-issued arrest warrant for Bang. As of Tuesday afternoon, representatives for HYBE had not issued any immediate response to media requests for comment on the case.

    Bang has been the subject of an ongoing investigation since last November, centered on allegations dating back to 2019. Prosecutors and police claim Bang intentionally misled early investors in HYBE, falsely telling stakeholders the company had no intention of launching an initial public offering (IPO). This misrepresentation allegedly induced investors to sell their stakes to a private equity firm at a discounted rate, just months before HYBE went public in one of the biggest stock debuts in South Korea’s history.

    Investigators believe the private equity fund struck an undisclosed side deal with Bang, granting him an estimated 200 billion won (equal to roughly $136 million) in exchange for the manipulated share transfer. The agreement also reportedly guaranteed Bang 30% of all profits generated from post-IPO stock sales by the fund.

    Beyond his connection to BTS, Bang holds unparalleled influence across the K-pop ecosystem. He founded HYBE in 2005 under its original name Big Hit Entertainment, building the label from a small startup into a global entertainment giant that manages some of the industry’s biggest modern acts, including Seventeen, Le Sserafim, and newcomer Katseye. He is widely credited with driving K-pop’s mainstream global breakthrough over the past decade, thanks largely to BTS’s unprecedented international success.

    The legal controversy comes at a critical juncture for HYBE and BTS, creating a significant public relations challenge for the company. BTS, which went on a nearly four-year hiatus to allow all members to complete South Korea’s mandatory military service, just launched a highly anticipated global comeback tour. Last month, the group drew tens of thousands of fans from across the world to a free opening comeback concert in Seoul, followed by sold-out shows in Goyang, South Korea and Tokyo, Japan. The tour is set to expand to North America later this month, kicking off with a scheduled performance in Tampa, Florida.

  • US will provide dollar loan to UAE if economy is jolted by war on Iran, US official says

    US will provide dollar loan to UAE if economy is jolted by war on Iran, US official says

    Amid ongoing financial volatility spurred by the US-Israeli war on Iran, a top White House economic advisor has confirmed that Washington stands ready to offer financial support to the United Arab Emirates should the Gulf ally require economic stabilization. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett made the commitment in comments to CNBC on Monday, noting that the UAE has served as a critical partner in the regional military campaign.”The UAE has been an incredibly valuable ally throughout this effort, and I’m sure the treasury secretary will make every effort to help them out, should that be necessary,” Hassett stated. He also added that former President Donald Trump had characterized diplomatic efforts to end the conflict as moving forward at a promising pace.Hassett’s comments came in direct response to a Wall Street Journal report revealing that UAE Central Bank Governor Khaled Mohamed Balama privately raised the prospect of a US dollar currency-swap line with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Reserve officials during a closed-door meeting the prior week. While Hassett noted that a currency-swap arrangement would likely not be necessary to stabilize the Emirati economy, he reaffirmed Washington’s willingness to extend support if conditions worsen.To contextualize the proposal, currency swaps are bilateral agreements between central banks that allow participating institutions to access foreign currency at more favorable rates during periods of market stress. For global central banks, access to US dollars via swaps is particularly critical, as the greenback remains the world’s primary reserve currency, used widely for international debt repayment and import purchases. The Emirati dirham has long been pegged to the US dollar at a fixed exchange rate, making stable access to greenbacks a core priority for Emirati monetary policy. Per the WSJ’s reporting, the UAE’s inquiry was framed as preliminary and precautionary, not an immediate request for aid.The remarks have already stirred internal backlash within pro-Trump conservative circles, with prominent right-wing commentator Steve Bannon lambasting the potential aid during an episode of his *War Room* podcast Monday. Bannon launched an angry tirade against the proposal, framing it as an unfair burden on working-class American citizens while wealthy Emirati elites and global influencers benefit from the arrangement. “What are you doing you stupid working American? Paying for it,” Bannon said. “You’re not in that club. You’re just a working stiff out there to defend these scum.”Behind the precautionary request lies a subtle signal from Abu Dhabi: if the US fails to buffer the UAE from the economic fallout of the war, the Gulf state could shift oil trading and other key international transactions away from the US dollar to the Chinese yuan or other alternative currencies. For decades, the UAE and other major Gulf oil producers have priced their crude exports exclusively in US dollars, creating the global petrodollar system that generates consistent demand for greenbacks and supports the dollar’s status as the world’s dominant reserve currency. Petrodollar revenues are routinely reinvested into US Treasury bonds, domestic stocks, and other dollar-denominated assets, cementing the currency’s global position.Some geopolitical analysts have warned that the war on Iran could accelerate a global shift away from the petrodollar system, as Gulf states increasingly distance themselves from Washington’s regional policy and Iran already encourages energy trade settled in yuan. Yet experts who spoke with Middle East Eye note that the US dollar will almost certainly remain the dominant currency for Gulf oil exports for the foreseeable future, even amid the instability caused by the ongoing conflict.The US has deployed currency swap lines as emergency economic lifelines multiple times in recent decades, most notably during the 2008 global financial crisis and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, when the Federal Reserve extended access to the program to central banks across Europe, Latin America, and other regions. Even so, the UAE’s inquiry has caught many independent analysts off guard: the country is one of the wealthiest nations in the Middle East, with massive sovereign reserves anchored by its consistent oil export revenues. The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the UAE’s largest sovereign wealth fund, holds approximately $1 trillion in global assets, while the country’s central bank holds an estimated $270 billion in foreign currency reserves.Brad Setser, a former US Treasury economist and current fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, called the UAE’s request “slightly strange” given the country’s substantial existing financial buffers. Setser added that the Trump administration is unlikely to approve the swap line request, arguing that it runs counter to the administration’s signature “America First” policy framework. “There isn’t anything obviously ‘America first’ about a financial lifeline to one of the richest oil sheikdoms (if not the richest) just so it doesn’t have to borrow in the market [or] sell assets,” Setser explained. At the same time, he acknowledged that the request highlights a core tension: “[it is] clear that parts of the UAE aren’t happy about being asked to absorb the full financial costs of Trump’s bombing campaign.”As the closest Gulf ally to Israel, the UAE has faced sustained retaliation from Iran, including thousands of ballistic missile and drone attacks targeting Emirati infrastructure. The ongoing conflict has severely damaged Dubai’s core luxury tourism sector, once one of the emirate’s largest economic drivers, and slowed critical oil export volumes to a fraction of pre-war levels.While some neighboring Gulf states have pushed for diplomatic negotiation to de-escalate tensions with Iran, the UAE has taken a firmly hawkish stance, publicly supporting the continuation of US military action. Analysts attribute this position to the UAE’s heavy dependence on the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic chokepoint through which nearly a fifth of global oil supplies pass each day, as well as elite opposition to allowing Iran to expand its regional influence across the Gulf.

  • Japan approves scrapping a ban on lethal weapons exports in a change of its postwar pacifist policy

    Japan approves scrapping a ban on lethal weapons exports in a change of its postwar pacifist policy

    In a landmark shift that upends seven decades of postwar pacifist governance, Japan’s Cabinet led by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi gave formal approval Tuesday to eliminate long-standing restrictions on lethal weapons exports, clearing the last regulatory barriers for the country to expand its international arms trade.

  • New Zealand Prime Minister Luxon survives party leadership vote months before election

    New Zealand Prime Minister Luxon survives party leadership vote months before election

    WELLINGTON, New Zealand — In a dramatic move to end swirling speculation about his political future, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced Tuesday he has emerged victorious from a secret confidence vote held by his own National Party caucus. The leadership challenge was triggered by weeks of sliding poll ratings for the center-right party, which fueled widespread rumors that Luxon could be removed from his post months ahead of the country’s scheduled general election.

    The confidence ballot was held during an extended meeting of National Party parliamentarians at Wellington’s Parliament House. Originally scheduled as a routine one-hour caucus gathering, the meeting stretched to two and a half hours as lawmakers debated Luxon’s leadership. Speaking to reporters after the closed-door session, Luxon confirmed he had personally called for the confidence vote to put an end to persistent media speculation about internal unrest within the party.

    “The past week has been dominated by constant media speculation about my position as leader,” Luxon told reporters. “I called this vote to lay that speculation to rest once and for all.” The prime minister declined to release the exact breakdown of votes, nor would he confirm whether the result was unanimous, before leaving without taking questions from the press.

    Luxon, a former airline chief executive who entered Parliament in 2020 and has led the National Party since 2021, has governed New Zealand as head of a right-wing coalition government since the 2023 general election. The country’s next national election is set for November 7 this year, putting the leadership vote roughly six months before voters head to the polls.

    Recent polling had made discussion of a leadership challenge unavoidable, even as ousting a sitting prime minister mid-term remains an extremely rare occurrence in New Zealand’s modern political history. The most recent 1News-Verian poll showed a notable slump in support for both Luxon personally and the National Party, projecting that if an election were held immediately, the right-wing bloc led by National would trail the left-wing opposition bloc headed by the Labour Party.

    Luxon pinned the spread of rumors about internal party division on media coverage, saying he would not continue to engage with unsubstantiated speculation. “If the media want to keep focusing on speculation and rumor, I am not going to engage,” he said. New Zealand’s recent political history has seen two prime ministers — National’s John Key and Labour’s Jacinda Ardern — voluntarily step down from the role, but no sitting prime minister has been forced out by their own party in modern times.

  • First National Reading Week launched

    First National Reading Week launched

    China’s journey to cultivate a national reading culture reached a new milestone this week, as the fifth National Conference on Reading opened in Nanchang, the capital of east China’s Jiangxi Province, on Monday. The three-day gathering also formally inaugurates the country’s first-ever National Reading Week, a nationwide initiative designed to embed regular reading into public life and strengthen cultural development across the nation.

    Attendees of the conference emphasized that reading forms the foundational bedrock of cultural advancement, and called for scaled-up efforts to popularize reading and build a society that values literary engagement. They underlined that expanding nationwide reading programs is a critical component of China’s broader push to build itself into a leading cultural power. Li Shulei, member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote address.

    The establishment of National Reading Week follows a national regulation released by the State Council that entered into force on February 1 this year, which formalized the designation of the fourth week of April annually as the national event. The regulation’s core goals are to lift the intellectual, moral, scientific, and cultural standards of the Chinese public, and to boost overall social civility. The inaugural week will feature hundreds of localized events across the country aimed at sparking public enthusiasm for reading.

    To align with the launch of National Reading Week, the Nanchang conference has organized a diverse lineup of targeted forums tailored to different demographic groups and sectors, covering topics including youth reading, family and parent-child reading, public library services, rural reading expansion, reading for senior citizens, reading rights protection, and the fast-growing digital reading sector.

    One of the standout attractions of this year’s conference is a comprehensive showcase of Jiangxi’s deep-rooted traditional cultural heritage. A major exhibition focused on ancient Chinese academy culture offers visitors an immersive experience, recreating the lively scholarly atmosphere of iconic Jiangxi institutions such as the centuries-old Bailudong Academy, one of the most famous centers of learning in imperial China. Other special cultural activities include an exhibition of classical works from the Jiangxi School of Poetry and the Tengwang Pavilion Book Fair, held at the city’s iconic historic landmark. Ahead of the conference, students dressed in traditional Chinese costumes gathered in front of Tengwang Pavilion to recite *Preface to the Pavilion of Prince Teng*, the celebrated 7th-century literary classic by Tang Dynasty poet Wang Bo.

    Two key industry reports released at the conference reveal encouraging trends in Chinese reading habits. The 23rd National Reading Survey found that 82.3 percent of Chinese adults reported reading regularly in 2025. On average, each adult read 8.39 combined paper and digital books last year, representing a steady increase from 2024 figures. Among minors aged 0 to 17, 86.7 percent engaged in book reading, and 75.9 percent participated in digital reading — both metrics also saw year-on-year growth.

    The separate National Digital Reading Report added further context to the sector’s rapid expansion. By the end of 2025, the total number of digital reading works available in China hit 70.5592 million, an 11.87 percent increase from 2024, pointing to a robust and growing supply of digital content. Exports of Chinese digital content also saw strong growth, with the total number of digital works released overseas — including translated Chinese works, original foreign-language content from Chinese creators, and exported e-books — reaching 949,200, a 17.42 percent rise year-on-year. The total number of digital reading users in China reached 689 million in 2025, marking a 2.95 percent annual increase.

    The conference also brought together prominent figures from across the cultural and literary sectors to share their perspectives on reading. At a special event focused on “red classic” literature organized by the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, veteran pingshu (Chinese traditional storytelling) performing artist Liu Lanfang, who has 67 years of experience in the art form, shared her lifelong love of reading. Even now, Liu spends several hours daily reading on her mobile device, and noted, “One should always read. Reading expands knowledge, and that’s how people can keep improving.”

    At a separate children’s book sharing event held alongside the conference, popular children’s storyteller Wang Kai, widely known as Uncle Kai, highlighted the unique importance of reading for young people growing up in the age of artificial intelligence. “In the AI era, we need a broader perspective on reading,” Wang said. “Children need a solid foundation of common knowledge, and the best way to gain that is through reading.”

  • US-Iran ceasefire talks remain on shaky ground

    US-Iran ceasefire talks remain on shaky ground

    As a fragile two-week ceasefire between the United States and Iran is set to expire this Wednesday, plans for a second round of peace negotiations in Islamabad, Pakistan remain clouded in uncertainty after a recent maritime confrontation reignited tensions between the two long-time adversaries.

    The Associated Press, citing two unnamed Pakistani officials, reported Monday that Iranian authorities have signaled willingness to dispatch a delegation to the upcoming talks, though details remain undisclosed for security reasons. The officials warned that the negotiation schedule is still fluid and called on media outlets to avoid unfounded speculation. US President Donald Trump announced Sunday that Washington’s negotiating team would arrive in Islamabad on Monday to meet with Iranian representatives, but Iranian officials have not issued a direct confirmation of Trump’s statement.

    Escalating tensions in recent days have thrown the diplomatic process into doubt. Last week, the US imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports, and on Sunday Trump confirmed that a US Navy guided-missile destroyer intercepted and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship near the Strait of Hormuz after the vessel allegedly attempted to evade the blockade. This marked the first confirmed interception since the blockade was implemented.

    Iran condemned the seizure as an act of “armed piracy” and launched retaliatory drone strikes on US military vessels in the region. Esmail Baghaei, spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, accused Washington of acting in bad faith on the diplomatic track, noting that the blockade and ship seizure constitute blatant violations of the existing 14-day ceasefire agreement. While Baghaei stated Iran has no “immediate plans” to proceed with new talks, he did not explicitly rule out future diplomatic engagement.

    Pakistan, which is serving as the neutral host for the negotiations, has already stepped up preparatory work. On Monday, Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi held separate meetings with Iranian Ambassador Reza Amiri Moghaddam and US Charge d’Affaires Natalie Baker in Islamabad to brief both sides on logistical arrangements for the talks. Naqvi was part of a Pakistani delegation that traveled to Tehran last week to advance the peace initiative. A statement from the Pakistani interior ministry confirmed that all parties reaffirmed their commitment to pursuing a lasting peaceful resolution through diplomatic dialogue to ease regional tensions. To safeguard the negotiating venue and participants, Pakistan has deployed nearly 20,000 security personnel drawn from national police, paramilitary forces and the regular army, and placed the entire capital city of Islamabad on high security alert.

    Alongside the maritime confrontation, the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz has already sent shockwaves through global energy markets. On Monday, international oil prices rose more than 5% amid disrupted shipping activity through the strategic waterway, which carries roughly a fifth of global oil supplies. Benchmark Brent crude traded around $95 per barrel, representing a more than 30% price increase since late February when the current conflict between the US and Iran began.

    Iran’s First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Aref emphasized the critical importance of regional security for global energy markets in a social media post Monday. “The security of the Strait of Hormuz is not free. The choice is clear: either a free oil market for all, or the risk of significant costs for everyone,” Aref wrote, adding that stable global fuel prices can only be guaranteed by a permanent end to all economic and military pressure on Iran and its regional allies.

    Beyond the Strait of Hormuz dispute, the Iranian nuclear program remains a core sticking point between the two sides. Last week, Trump stated that Washington is seeking a deal that would see Iran remove all of its enriched uranium stockpiles from the country. CNN, citing unnamed informed sources, reported that the US has offered to unfreeze $20 billion in Iranian overseas assets in exchange for Tehran handing over its entire enriched uranium reserve. However, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh has already rejected the proposal as “impossible.”

    Many regional analysts warn that a sweeping, quick resolution to the decades-long conflict is out of reach. Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told Al Jazeera that military force cannot permanently reopen the Strait of Hormuz or resolve US concerns over Iran’s nuclear activities. “The idea of a grand bargain in the short term is impossible to achieve,” Vatanka said. “The best you can do is reach some kind of an agreement of a basic framework. And then you have to go and quickly build on it. It will take at least months, if not years.”

    As of Monday, Iran has also released its first official death toll from the conflict that began on February 28. Iran’s forensic chief confirmed that at least 3,375 people have been killed since hostilities broke out, offering the most comprehensive public casualty count to date.

  • Renewable energies overtook global electricity demand last year, led by solar growth in China, India

    Renewable energies overtook global electricity demand last year, led by solar growth in China, India

    A landmark 2025 analysis from global energy think tank Ember has revealed a defining turning point in the world’s transition away from fossil fuels: for the first time in modern history, clean renewable energy sources accounted for more than one-third of the entire global electricity mix, and expanded fast enough to fully outpace total growth in worldwide electricity demand.

    Released after midnight London time on Tuesday, Ember’s report draws on aggregated electricity data from 215 countries, with verified 2025 data from 91 nations covering 93% of global electricity demand. According to the analysis, total clean power generation expanded by 887 terawatt-hours (TWh) in 2025, easily exceeding the 849 TWh rise in overall global electricity demand. When aggregated across solar, wind, hydropower and other zero-emission sources, total renewable generation hit 10,730 TWh last year, pushing its global market share to 33.8% – a historic first. In a parallel milestone, coal-fired power generation dropped enough to push its share of global electricity below one-third for the first time in modern history, falling 0.6 percentage points to 32.9% at 10,630 TWh.

    Record-breaking solar expansion, concentrated in China and India, was the single biggest driver of this shift. Solar generation grew 30% globally in 2025, enough to meet 75% of the entire net rise in global electricity demand on its own. When combined with wind power, the two renewable sources covered 99% of 2025’s new electricity demand. Last year also marked the first time solar overtook wind power in total global generation, and Ember projects both wind and solar will overtake nuclear generation in 2026.

    Parallel to the solar boom, global battery storage capacity expanded 46% in 2025, spurred by a 45% drop in battery costs. The think tank estimates that 2025’s new battery storage capacity is enough to shift 14% of the year’s new solar generation from peak midday output to other hours of the day, solving a key challenge of solar energy’s intermittent nature.

    For the first time this century, both China and India – the world’s two most populous nations and historically the largest growth markets for fossil fuel power – saw absolute declines in fossil fuel generation in 2025. China cut fossil generation by 0.9% (56 TWh), while India reduced fossil output by 3.3% (also 56 TWh). China led the global solar boom, accounting for more than half of all new solar capacity and generation added worldwide last year, and also contributed the largest share of global wind growth, adding 138 TWh of new wind generation. India posted record increases in both solar and wind generation alongside strong hydropower output, with slower-than-average demand growth reversing years of post-pandemic fossil fuel expansion.

    Across other major markets, the U.S. added 85 TWh of new solar generation and Europe added 60 TWh, despite small increases in U.S. fossil generation driven by the Trump administration’s policy push to expand coal, oil and gas production and roll back support for renewables. Even with policy headwinds in the U.S. and global energy market volatility exacerbated by the U.S.-Iran war, the global energy transition continues to advance, the report confirms.

    Fossil fuel generation overall stalled in 2025, falling by 0.2% or 38 TWh – one of only a handful of times this century that fossil output has not increased year-over-year. Nicolas Fulghum, senior data analyst at Ember and lead author of the report, noted that the 2025 results mark a stark break from decades of past trends. “We’re coming from a period over the last few decades where new electricity demand growth meant growth in fossil generation,” Fulghum explained. “We’re now moving into a world where that’s no longer the case.”

    While the historic milestones are cause for cautious optimism, Fulghum emphasized that the transition is still in its early stages. “Milestones like renewables overtaking coal mark an occasion, but they don’t tell us everything about the story in the power sector,” he said. The biggest shift from 10 or 15 years ago, he added, is that government pledges to build out renewables are now far more credible than they once were. Looking ahead, Fulghum argued that clean energy is now positioned to structurally meet growing demand from electrification trends, including the expansion of electric vehicles, heat pumps and industrial electrification. “Despite the accelerated growth and electricity demand that comes with added electric vehicle build out, of heat pumps, industrial sector electrification, clean power will be able to structurally meet that increase in demand going into the next few years, before then bending the curve and reducing the amount of fossil generation we’re using,” he said. “And that is a stark departure from the last few decades.”

    Alexis Abramson, dean of the Columbia University Climate School who was not involved in the study, noted that current volatile oil prices driven by the U.S.-Iran war have reinforced the national security case for accelerating renewable adoption. “As we’re seeing the cost of oil be incredibly volatile right now because of the war, I think more and more people are looking to that national security argument as a reason to think about how we electrify more and how we’re able to take advantage of additional solar and wind, which does not rely on other countries,” she said.

    Abramson called the 2025 results an important milestone for global climate action. “We’ve really crossed this important threshold that clean energy now can meet rising demand economically and at the same time really help address national security concerns,” she said. “The next challenge is really turning that into a steady decline of fossil fuel use as well. So it’s a great step in the right direction.”

    The report arrives as the world grapples with accelerating climate change driven by decades of fossil fuel combustion to power economic growth, population expansion and rising electrification. The findings offer cautious optimism that the global energy transition is now moving past the planning stage and delivering measurable, structural change to the world’s power sector.

  • Israeli strike kills 80-year-old Palestinian academic and former hijacker in Lebanon

    Israeli strike kills 80-year-old Palestinian academic and former hijacker in Lebanon

    An 80-year-old Palestinian academic and prominent activist, whose participation in one of the earliest recorded female-led plane hijacking attempts made her a notable figure in the Palestinian national movement, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern Lebanese coastal city of Tyre, Lebanon’s official state news agency has confirmed. The strike that claimed Maha Abu Khalil’s life occurred shortly before midnight on April 17, just hours ahead of the implementation of a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanese armed groups. The deadly attack also left at least 13 other people dead, 35 more injured, and 15 individuals still unaccounted for as of the latest updates.

    Abu Khalil was a founding member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a leftist political and military movement established in the wake of the 1967 Six-Day War. In 1969, she made international headlines after being arrested in Athens, Greece, while attempting to hijack an El Al commercial flight carrying 29 passengers. Contemporary reporting from The New York Times published that December documents that 22-year-old Abu Khalil, who was working as a schoolteacher at the time, alongside two co-defendants, pleaded not guilty to charges of unlawful possession of explosives, but openly acknowledged their plan to seize the aircraft. The hijacking attempt was designed to pressure global powers into securing the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Though the attempt failed, Abu Khalil was ultimately released from Greek custody in a prisoner exchange months after her arrest.

    Following her release, Abu Khalil built a decades-long career as an academic, community organizer and social worker based in Lebanon, according to statements from the PFLP. In an official memorial statement, the group honored Abu Khalil, framing her death as a profound loss to a movement centered on “feminism, patriotism, and humanitarianism.” “Maha Abu Khalil will remain present in the national memory and in the record of women fighters who gave their lives for freedom, justice, and human dignity,” the statement read.

    Founded by George Habash in 1967, the PFLP was established as a explicitly Marxist-Leninist political movement modeled after successful anti-imperialist struggles led by figures such as Che Guevara in Latin America and the National Liberation Front in Vietnam. While the group’s regional prominence has waned in recent decades, overshadowed by the rise of Islamist organizations including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, it remains active in the blockaded Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank, with its armed wing continuing to carry out periodic targeted attacks against Israeli military personnel.

    Even after the formal ceasefire agreement went into force last Friday, Israel has continued systematic demolition of civilian residential and infrastructure across southern Lebanon, according to a new investigation published by Israeli independent newspaper Haaretz. The targeted destruction is concentrated south of the so-called “yellow line,” a demarcation drawn by Israel approximately 20 kilometers south of the Litani River. Under the terms of the current ceasefire agreement, Israeli military forces are prohibited from crossing this boundary.

    Unnamed military and political sources told Haaretz that a core goal of the ongoing demolition campaign is to create a permanent buffer zone by preventing Lebanese civilian residents from returning to their homes in border areas adjacent to Israel. The report also added that the Israeli military is using advanced digital tools, including purpose-built statistical tracking systems, to systematically map and measure the scale of destruction across every sector of southern Lebanon.