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  • AP Exclusive: Nvidia’s Jensen Huang says society needs ‘new social norms’ in the age of AI

    AP Exclusive: Nvidia’s Jensen Huang says society needs ‘new social norms’ in the age of AI

    SHERMAN, Texas — As the leader of the firm that ignited the global artificial intelligence boom, Nvidia Chief Executive Jensen Huang laid out a comprehensive vision for AI’s integration into modern life Tuesday during an exclusive interview with the Associated Press, arguing that widespread embrace of the transformative technology will deliver broad societal benefits while calling for deliberate adaptation to new norms and targeted regulation.

    Huang, whose company’s explosive growth fueled by AI demand has pushed its market capitalization past $5 trillion to make it the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, has long voiced unbridled optimism about AI’s ability to reshape economies and accelerate scientific discovery. But as public anxiety grows over the technology’s potential harms — from mass layoffs to existential safety risks — the industry’s most prominent executive has stepped forward to address critics, pushing back against fears while acknowledging the need for proactive change.

    “We need to create new social norms,” Huang said during the interview. “I would advocate that everybody use AI. Just go engage it.”

    His remarks come at a moment when AI has become a contentious political flashpoint across the United States. Communities have pushed back against plans to build new AI-focused data centers over environmental and infrastructure concerns, while workers across sectors worry that rapid adoption will leave millions jobless without adequate social safety nets. These growing concerns have eroded public support for the technology even as the U.S. faces intensifying AI competition with China — a race Huang says the U.S. can only win by maintaining an open, globally engaged approach to AI development.

    Huang pushed back against narratives that AI will leave non-technical workers behind, noting that the technology has already narrowed the digital divide by enabling people without coding or software development skills to complete complex tasks ranging from website design and dense document analysis to cutting-edge scientific research and home renovation planning.

    Drawing a historical parallel to the introduction of automobiles, Huang argued society will adapt to AI just as it adjusted to the new technology of a century ago. “Cars were once portrayed as killing children, but the world changed its norms by having sidewalks and crosswalks and stopping kids from playing in the streets,” he explained, framing current anxiety as a natural part of integrating a transformative new technology.

    On the topic of regulation, Huang acknowledged that targeted government oversight and baseline safety standards are necessary, stressing that national security must remain a top priority for a technology that has been a key driver of recent U.S. stock market gains and economic growth.

    He voiced skepticism over a recent cross-ideology proposal that would have the U.S. government take equity stakes in AI companies to ensure the public broadly shares in the sector’s windfall profits, an idea floated by former and current President Donald Trump, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, and even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Huang noted that American companies already deliver broad benefits to the public through multiple channels: “Their success benefits the stock price, of which many Americans are investors in. It generates taxes, which helps many Americans. It creates a lot of jobs.” He added that growth in the AI sector also lifts profits for connected industries including energy, construction and hardware manufacturing, meaning Americans already hold a natural stake in AI firms’ success across the economy.

    Huang addressed the Trump administration’s recent shift toward stricter AI regulation, including new export controls on Anthropic’s latest AI models that forced the company to suspend public access to the tools, and a new executive order requiring voluntary government screening of high-impact AI models before release. He agreed that national security must be the top priority for all emerging technologies, but called for clear, targeted policy: “you have to be very specific about the risk that you’re concerned about, before setting up policies for export controls.”

    This is not Huang’s first run-in with AI export controls: during the Biden administration, Nvidia pushed back against restrictions on chip sales to China, rejecting the argument that a ban would protect U.S. AI advantages. Huang warned at the time that broad restrictions would undermine the development of a global U.S.-led AI ecosystem, as China would respond by accelerating development of its own advanced chips.

    Huang also identified energy supply as one of the most critical vulnerabilities for U.S. AI development, noting that AI training and inference data centers require massive amounts of electricity that risks straining the national power grid and raising household utility costs. “The United States is woefully behind in energy production,” he said. “We just suffocated energy production for too long.” Without expanded energy output, he warned, the U.S. will struggle to capitalize on its leading position in AI chips, models and infrastructure. Huang complimented Trump’s policy of expanding domestic fossil fuel production, declining to comment on Trump’s rejection of large-scale solar and wind energy development.

    The interview took place during a visit to Sherman, Texas, for the expansion of a Coherent factory building new laser systems that transmit data between chips, a technology that could cut AI power consumption by as much as 50%.

    Huang’s close public friendship with Trump has drawn criticism from Democrats, and Huang shed new light on how the relationship began. The pair first connected last year, when Huang was in South Florida to accept the Edison Achievement Award for his work on AI, and Trump invited him and his wife Lori to dinner at his Mar-a-Lago private club. “He was incredibly engaging, incredibly charismatic, conversational, asked a lot of questions,” Huang recalled of the meeting. “From the moment that I met him, the only thing that he’s ever talked to me about is creating more jobs, reindustrializing the United States, protecting national security, winning.” Huang added that Trump often calls him unexpectedly to discuss policy around these priorities, and arranged for Huang to be picked up by Air Force One in Alaska during Trump’s recent state visit to China.

    Sen. Elizabeth Warren was among the Democratic critics who attacked Huang for declining to testify before a Senate panel while attending the high-profile Mar-a-Lago dinner, which reportedly had a $1 million per person admission price. Huang pushed back on the political criticism, noting that he supports presidential success regardless of party affiliation: “We could differ with politics, but we should want him to succeed. Because when President Trump succeeds, our country succeeds.”

    Huang also reaffirmed that AI’s long-term impact will be overwhelmingly positive, arguing that full engagement with the technology rather than fear-driven restriction will position the U.S. to lead the world in delivering shared growth and progress.

  • Is China sleepwalking down Japan’s zombie economy path?

    Is China sleepwalking down Japan’s zombie economy path?

    Decades after Japan’s 1990 asset bubble collapse left a legacy of unprofitable “zombie” firms propped up by cheap bank lending, mounting economic data suggests China could be walking down a very similar path after its 2021 real estate slowdown. While broad comparisons between 1990s Japan and 2020s China often overlook critical structural differences between the two economies, experts say the pattern of debt evergreening that dragged Japan into decades of stagnation is now visible in China’s financial system.

    The case of Japan’s Daiei, once the nation’s top retail giant, illustrates how the zombie company cycle plays out. After the bubble burst, Daiei slipped into sustained unprofitability, but Japanese major banks including UFJ kept the firm afloat with repeated below-market-rate loans. This practice, dubbed “evergreening”, let banks avoid classifying outstanding debt as non-performing (NPL), hiding bad assets from regulators and the public to meet capital requirements and avoid public backlash. Eventually acquired by rival Aeon, Daiei’s brand is set to be fully phased out in the coming years, decades after it first became insolvent.

    A landmark 2008 paper by economists Caballero, Hoshi, and Kashyap found that this widespread evergreening dragged down Japan’s entire economy for decades. When the bubble burst, hundreds of profitable firms across construction, retail, and trade became unprofitable. Rather than force these firms into bankruptcy and accept their own losses, banks extended new cheap loans to let unprofitable firms pay off old debt, reclassifying bad debt as performing. This locked up scarce capital, labor, and other resources in unproductive firms, blocking healthy new companies from accessing the resources they needed to grow. Even with government backing to keep lending alive, the misallocation of resources left Japan stuck in long-term productivity stagnation.

    Japanese policymakers chose this path for clear sociopolitical reasons: at the time, the country had a strong norm of lifetime job security, and widespread corporate failures would have thrown millions out of work, raising the risk of social unrest. Bank bailouts were also deeply unpopular, so regulators chose regulatory forbearance and capital injections for banks rather than forcing them to clean up their balance sheets by cutting off zombie borrowers.

    Today, China faces a similar post-bubble moment. After the 2021 correction in its overheated real estate sector, the country has seen a broad economic slowdown that is deeper than official figures indicate, and a sharp rise in the share of loss-making firms across real estate-linked sectors. Multiple independent analyses show signs of widespread debt evergreening that mirror 1990s Japan.

    Data from the Rhodium Group shows that despite a rising share of unprofitable firms since 2021, the official share of non-performing loans has actually fallen. A 2025 audit from China’s National Audit Office found that 16 out of 43 audited Chinese banks had actual non-performing loan levels double their officially reported figures. Loan rollovers to avoid NPL classification are pervasive, with the Chinese financial system acting as a shock absorber to keep unprofitable firms afloat and prevent widespread defaults. Rhodium Group data also shows the share of bank loans issued below benchmark interest rates has risen sharply since 2021, even as benchmark rates have fallen, and analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas confirms that a growing share of Chinese firms, particularly in real estate, do not earn enough to cover their loan interest payments.

    Critics argue that unlike market-based Japan, China’s state-directed banking system can avoid the downsides of zombie lending, since bad debt is effectively backed by the central government, which can order banks to keep lending indefinitely. But analysts point out this does not solve the core resource misallocation problem that hurt Japan, and China’s own government already took similar actions to Japan’s in the wake of the bust: supporting banks and encouraging them to keep lending to unprofitable firms to avoid unrest.

    Even if the government can avoid a financial crisis, zombie firms still lock up critical resources that healthy firms could use. They compete for skilled labor, raw materials, land, and energy, driving up costs and crowding out innovative new entrants. For example, 1990s Japan’s Daiei was able to underprice new competitors thanks to cheap bank loans, blocking retail sector innovation for decades. In China today, this dynamic may be driving widespread industrial involution: after the real estate slowdown, the Chinese government directed banks to increase lending to manufacturing and green tech sectors as part of its industrial policy strategy. While many of these firms are efficient and globally competitive, as much as 30% of listed firms in high-priority sectors including electric vehicles, solar panels, and batteries are zombies that cannot service their debt, kept alive by loan rollovers and local government subsidies to preserve jobs and tax revenue. These unprofitable firms cut prices to below production cost to hold market share, crushing profit margins across the entire sector for even the most efficient competitors.

    While this flood of cheap exports has helped China gain global market share in key industrial sectors, it comes at a long-term cost to domestic productivity growth. Over time, persistent resource misallocation could erode China’s long-term competitiveness, rather than strengthen it. The practice may also be adding to fiscal risks: just as Japan’s zombie lending left the country with unsustainable government debt that is now causing currency weakness and inflation, China’s evergreening practice pushes the cost of unproductive firms onto taxpayers and domestic bondholders, creating long-term fiscal pressures that the government will eventually have to address.

    In an update addressing reader questions about geopolitical differences between Japan and China, author Noah Smith notes that China’s government shares Japan’s core motivation for zombie lending: fear of social unrest from widespread unemployment, which has remained a top policy priority in China after the end of rapid growth. While China’s goal of reshaping global supply chains means it will continue to support unprofitable firms in strategic sectors, this will only deepen the productivity trap over time. Ultimately, while many structural differences separate the two economies, the parallel of zombie lending and debt evergreening is clear — and so far, China’s government appears to be stepping into the same long-term trap that stunted Japan’s growth for decades.

  • Smotrich cancels Hebron Protocol, ending Palestinian control in occupied city

    Smotrich cancels Hebron Protocol, ending Palestinian control in occupied city

    On a Monday earlier this year, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich made a provocative announcement that sent shockwaves across the occupied West Bank: the decades-old Hebron Agreements, a core component of the 1990s Oslo Accords peace framework, are formally canceled. The move immediately strips the Palestinian-administered Hebron Municipality of all its legal authority over construction and urban planning across large swathes of the occupied city, transferring full control to the Israeli state.

    Speaking at an inauguration ceremony for a new illegal Israeli settlement outpost in the southern Mount Hebron region, Smotrich framed the cancellation as a long-overdue correction, claiming that for decades, planning powers for Jewish settlements in Hebron had absurdly rested with what he called Hebron’s “terror municipality.” The policy change was not a spontaneous announcement: following months of advocacy led by Smotrich, Israel’s security cabinet approved the measure in principle back in February, and the country’s Higher Planning Council — the governing body that oversees all construction in occupied West Bank territories — gave the decision final approval on the same night of Smotrich’s public announcement.

    The Hebron Protocol, originally signed in 1997 by then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and late Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat as an extension of the Oslo Accords, established a split governance structure for the contested city. The larger H1 zone, covering roughly 80% of Hebron’s total territory, was placed under the full civil control of the Palestinian Authority. The smaller H2 zone, which encompasses Hebron’s historic Old City, the revered Ibrahimi Mosque (a site holy to both Muslims and Jews), and multiple southern residential neighborhoods, was designated to remain under exclusive Israeli military control, while the Palestinian municipality retained planning and construction jurisdiction for Palestinian communities and holy sites within the zone.

    Smotrich’s cancellation of the protocol erases that long-standing arrangement, meaning even planning and development projects at the Ibrahimi Mosque now fall outside Palestinian municipal jurisdiction. The site has already been a decades-long flashpoint of tension: shortly after the protocol was signed, illegal Israeli settlers seized control of roughly half of the mosque compound, and the site remains a top target for settler takeover efforts.

    Earlier this year, the Israeli military had already begun rolling back Palestinian control of the holy site, issuing a 15-day entry ban that barred the mosque’s director Mu’taz Abu Sneineh and its head custodian Hammam Abu Murkhiya from accessing the compound. Local observers have widely interpreted this sequence of moves as a deliberate effort to shift full control of the Ibrahimi Mosque from the Palestinian Hebron Municipality to the settler religious council of the nearby illegal Kiryat Arba settlement.

    For more than 25 years, Israel has enforced a tight closure on the roughly one-square-kilometer area surrounding the Ibrahimi Mosque, installing more than 120 permanent checkpoints and access gates to restrict Palestinian movement. The closed zone is home to approximately 7,000 Palestinian residents, alongside multiple established illegal Israeli settlement outposts.

    In recent months, Israeli forces have ramped up military operations across occupied Hebron, carrying out frequent raids on Palestinian residential neighborhoods, imposing multi-day consecutive curfews, blocking Palestinian access to work and commercial spaces, and deploying military vehicles and bulldozers to seal off neighborhood entrances. During these curfews, high-profile Israeli far-right officials regularly enter the occupied city under heavy military protection. Just one week before Smotrich’s announcement, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir led a heavily guarded military convoy through Hebron’s streets in a deliberate show of force.

    Local Palestinian residents say the string of recent escalations and the cancellation of the Hebron Protocol are part of a clear, long-term strategy: to expand illegal Israeli settlement outposts across Hebron, connect isolated outposts into contiguous blocs of Israeli control, and permanently entrench a dominant settler presence across the entire southern occupied West Bank.

    The controversial move comes as Smotrich faces potential international legal consequences for his actions in the occupied territories. Independent outlet Middle East Eye has confirmed that prosecutors at the International Criminal Court based in The Hague submitted an application for an arrest warrant for Smotrich back in April. The warrant application charges Smotrich with multiple crimes under international law, including forced displacement classified as a crime against humanity and war crime, the transfer of Israel’s own civilian population into occupied territory — a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention classified as a war crime — and charges of persecution and apartheid as crimes against humanity.

  • World Cup 2026: Iran’s spirited display against New Zealand eases tensions among divided supporters

    World Cup 2026: Iran’s spirited display against New Zealand eases tensions among divided supporters

    For decades, Iran’s national football squad, popularly known as Team Melli, stood as one of the rare unifying forces cutting across Iran’s deep political, social and generational divides. From the 1998 World Cup upset over the United States that sent entire cities of Iranians at home and abroad into street celebrations to tournament runs that drew cross-spectrum backing from both government supporters and opposition figures, the national side once united Iranians of all backgrounds for 90 minutes of sport.

    That historic unity began to fray as political polarization seeped into global football, most dramatically at the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Just weeks before that tournament erupted nationwide protests across Iran following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in morality police custody, sparked by anger over the country’s mandatory hijab laws. When Iran took the pitch against England in their opening group match, players refused to sing the official national anthem in a gesture of solidarity with protesters, but the anthem was still loudly booed by anti-government fans in the stands. For many diaspora Iranians who had previously set political disagreements aside to support the team, this moment permanently changed their relationship with the squad.

    In the years that followed that fracturing tournament, Iran has undergone profound upheaval: crippling economic sanctions have gutted household incomes, ongoing political unrest has reshaped daily life, and a February 2024 joint US-Israel strike that killed senior Iranian officials also claimed the lives of 168 schoolchildren and teachers in the southern city of Minab. Ahead of this year’s global tournament preparations, the Iranian Football Federation made a gesture of mourning: dedicating the team’s campaign to the children killed in Minab, requiring players to wear lapel pins marked with the number 168 in official photos, and holding portraits of the victims and children’s schoolbags during pre-match national anthem ceremonies for warm-up friendlies.

    When the team scheduled pre-tournament friendlies in the United States, long-standing visa restrictions imposed by the US government on Iranian teams created immediate barriers. Two planned matches in Los Angeles, a city home to more than 700,000 Iranian-Americans and a major hub of anti-Islamic Republic sentiment, were thrown into chaos when US officials forced the team to relocate its training camp to Tijuana, Mexico. Even when the team arrived in Inglewood for a high-profile friendly against New Zealand at SoFi Stadium, political tensions continued to overshadow preparations. FIFA, which controls all stadium access and rules for World Cup-related events, revoked the Iranian Football Federation’s allocated 8 percent of stadium tickets at the last minute, a decision the federation blamed squarely on US political interference. Bans on pre-revolutionary Lion and Sun flags and political protest symbols inside the stadium were also enforced, despite a legal challenge from local community activists that was ultimately dismissed.

    Heading into kickoff, few could predict how the crowd would react. Anti-government voices dominated public discourse online and in regional media, and a small protest greeted the team upon its arrival in LA. But inside the 70,000-seat stadium, the energy defied expectations. When the national anthem played, cheers from pro-Team Melli fans easily outnumbered boos. Every attacking move from the Iranian side drew loud, unified encouragement. When New Zealand scored an early opening goal, a hush fell over pro-Iranian sections – but that tension turned to eruption when fullback Ramin Rezaeian slotted home an equalizer in the 32nd minute.

    The connection between the squad and the crowd only grew stronger in the second half. After New Zealand retook the lead, supporters launched a steady chant of “Iran, Iran” that lifted the team, and striker Mohammad Mohebi leveled the score once again with a well-placed header off Rezaeian’s cross. Though the match ultimately ended in a 2-2 draw with no late winner for Team Melli, the moment carried enormous symbolic weight. After four years of deep polarization, political upheaval, and global tensions that have split Iranian communities abroad, a spirited, competitive performance on US soil won over the majority of fans in attendance.

    For fans like Hossein Alizadeh, a 40-year-old supporter who traveled from Toronto to attend the match, the outcome was more than just a draw. “Team Melli is an institution that belongs to all Iranians, no matter what their political beliefs are,” he said ahead of kickoff. “I want them to do well and bring back that love people used to share for the national team.” The team will get another chance to build on this moment when it faces off against Belgium in southern California on Sunday.

  • Rights groups call for a halt of AI tech use in the military

    Rights groups call for a halt of AI tech use in the military

    A broad coalition of more than 100 global human rights organizations and technology activists has issued an urgent warning about the accelerating integration of artificial intelligence into military operations, pointing to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as a catastrophic and dangerous precedent for the future of warfare. The joint statement, signed by prominent groups including Amnesty International, Access Now and the Stop Killer Robots Campaign, warns that expanding AI’s role in end-to-end military kill chains carries severe risks of escalating civilian casualties and eroding mechanisms for holding perpetrators of violence accountable for human rights violations.

    The coalition specifically highlights the widespread deployment of AI-powered targeting systems by the Israeli military during its ongoing operations in Gaza, where more than 73,000 Palestinians have been confirmed killed, with thousands more still trapped and presumed dead beneath the rubble of destroyed residential and infrastructure sites. Three AI tools in particular — named Lavender, Gospel, and Where’s Daddy — have been leveraged to generate air strike targeting lists, drawing on massive Israeli mass surveillance datasets collected on Palestinian residents of Gaza. Rights groups argue that this AI-driven targeting process, which selects targets with little to no active human oversight, is a key contributing factor to the unprecedented scale of death and displacement in the territory.

    “The adoption of AI targeting systems in this campaign follows the example of the Israeli government’s weaponisation of data analysis and machine learning tools, powered by mass surveillance, in its genocidal attacks on Gaza,” the statement reads. “By diluting human responsibility for life-and-death decisions, Israel’s use of systems such as Lavender, Gospel, and Where’s Daddy may contribute to the obfuscation of international crimes behind a veneer of perceived algorithmic objectivity while also obfuscating accountability.”

    The coalition has issued a clear call to action for global technology companies to immediately end all provision of AI and related technical support to the Israeli military and other state armed forces, warning that unregulated deployment risks normalizing and accelerating the proliferation of AI-powered tools of war. In recent years, many of the world’s largest technology firms have deepened their institutional ties to military establishments, particularly the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). OpenAI has publicly confirmed it provides AI services to the DoD, while Google holds a DoD contract to “develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges across warfighting and enterprise domains.” Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have also all secured contracts to provide cloud data storage, processing capacity, and other core enterprise infrastructure to support the DoD’s warfighting programs.

    These corporate military partnerships have triggered significant internal backlash from technology workers, who fear they are being forced to participate in projects that enable human rights abuses. Last month, hundreds of employees at Google DeepMind’s UK artificial intelligence division voted overwhelmingly to unionize, driven by growing concerns over the company’s technology being used by the U.S. for military action against Iran and by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza. UK-based DeepMind staff formally requested that Google management recognize the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Unite the Union as their official workplace representatives, a move organizers say marks the first unionization drive at a major global frontier AI research lab. In the internal vote among CWU members at DeepMind, 98 percent of participants supported the unionization push. Beyond union representation, DeepMind workers are demanding an end to the use of Google AI by Israel and the U.S. military, the restoration of a previously scrapped corporate commitment not to develop AI-powered weapons or surveillance tools, the creation of an independent ethics oversight body to review high-risk projects, and formal legal protection for workers who refuse to participate in projects on moral grounds.

  • Photos prove London event marketed illegal Israeli settlement properties

    Photos prove London event marketed illegal Israeli settlement properties

    A contentious real estate exhibition hosted at a UK synagogue has ignited widespread legal and political scrutiny, after new documentation revealed multiple Israeli firms openly advertised residential properties in illegal Israeli settlements across occupied Palestinian territory. The Great Israeli Real Estate Event, held Sunday at London’s Edgware United Synagogue, is now the subject of three separate official probes following the release of promotional materials obtained by Middle East Eye (MEE).

    Within 24 hours of the event closing, UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed that government ministers had formally requested the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) launch an urgent investigation into the exhibition’s activities. This official action came after MEE published first-hand evidence of the illegal settlement advertising on Monday.

    The same day, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), a London-based legal advocacy group focused on Palestinian rights, submitted a formal complaint to the Charity Commission for England and Wales, the UK’s official charity regulator. The complaint targets Edgware United Synagogue itself, a registered charity, for its decision to host the event. The ICJP stated it holds irrefutable documented proof that multiple participating exhibitors marketed residential properties located exclusively in Israeli settlements built illegally on occupied Palestinian land, and is calling for an immediate regulatory compliance case to be opened against the synagogue and its trustees. In the complaint, the group argues that hosting an event that promotes illegal settlement property amounts to a clear violation of the institution’s legal obligations as a registered UK charity.

    The promotional materials published by MEE name multiple high-profile Israeli real estate developers and agencies that advertised in illegal settlements. One exhibitor, developer Harey Zahav, promoted two separate West Bank settlements: Kfar Eldad, located south of Bethlehem, and Teneh Omarim, situated near Hebron — both established illegally in occupied territory. Leading Israeli agency Tivuch Shelly marketed a new residential development in Ma’ale Adumim, a large illegal settlement in the central West Bank, touting the project’s proximity to Jerusalem and its established English-speaking expat community in its brochure. Jerusalem Real Estate (JRE) featured projects in French Hill and Ramat Eshkol, two illegal settlements in occupied East Jerusalem, positioning the neighborhoods as desirable locations for foreign property buyers. Another firm, Africa Israel, which has a long track record of development work in illegal settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem, advertised a residential project in West Jerusalem’s Katomon neighborhood at the event.

    The controversy reached the UK Parliament on Tuesday, where Green Party Member of Parliament Ellie Chowns pressed the government on its inaction ahead of the event. Chowns told lawmakers that officials were notified of the event and its planned promotion of illegal settlement property the week before it took place, but no preventive action was taken. “How is it that this government fails even to prevent the marketing of illegal property in this country and still fails to take action?” Chowns asked in parliamentary questioning.

    In response, Foreign Secretary Cooper reaffirmed the UK government’s clear stance: no commercial entities should engage in marketing or trade related to illegal settlements, and such activity is particularly unacceptable when it occurs on UK soil. She confirmed that the Minister for the Middle East and North Africa, alongside officials from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, had directly raised the issue with the ASA, and requested the regulator conduct an urgent review to ensure all applicable laws, regulations and guidance are enforced if evidence of illegal advertising is confirmed.

    ICJP Public Affairs Officer Orlaith Roe emphasized the stakes of the situation for UK charity regulation. “If charities can use their premises and resources to host events connected to illegal settlement activity without scrutiny or consequence, public trust in charity regulation is seriously undermined,” Roe said. She called on both the Charity Commission to launch an urgent probe and the UK government to match its public commitment to upholding international law with concrete action. In addition to its complaint to the Charity Commission, the ICJP has also shared its full set of photographic evidence of the illegal advertisements with London’s Metropolitan Police Service.

    In the lead-up to the event, organizers dismissed allegations that they would feature settlement property, telling Jewish News that “all exhibitors, without exception, will provide information about properties and projects within the Green Line,” the 1949 armistice line that marks Israel’s pre-1967 border. Organizers went further, claiming the allegations were “motivated by anti-Israeli and terrorist supporters, seeking only excuses to attack Jews in general and the State of Israel in particular.”

    As of Tuesday, MEE has reached out to the Charity Commission, Metropolitan Police, event organizers, and Edgware United Synagogue for comment on the controversy. None of the parties contacted had issued a public response as of publication. Last week, the UK government had already announced it would explicitly issue formal guidance advising UK businesses against all economic and financial activity linked to illegal Israeli settlements.

  • Hundreds of cats stolen for food in Vietnam rescued by police, welfare group says

    Hundreds of cats stolen for food in Vietnam rescued by police, welfare group says

    A major crackdown on an organized cat trafficking operation in southern Vietnam has resulted in the rescue of more than 400 cats bound for the commercial meat trade, the arrest of nine suspects, and the joyful reunion of more than 40 stolen pets with their heartbroken owners, animal welfare organization Humane World for Animals Vietnam has confirmed.

    The operation unfolded last week when law enforcement teams executed coordinated raids on multiple storage facilities across Tay Ninh Province and Ho Chi Minh City, following a weeks-long investigation into a rising wave of reported pet disappearances across the region. According to official statements from Ho Chi Minh City Police’s official newspaper, the group dismantled in the raids was a dedicated criminal network focused exclusively on stealing and collecting domestic cats for illegal sale to meat traders.

    During the searches, officers recovered 404 live cats and approximately 80 deceased felines that had been preserved on ice ahead of distribution to markets. The suspects, who have been in custody since the raids, confessed to operating the illegal ring for three years, trapping and collecting cats across multiple provinces in southern Vietnam. Investigators say the group regularly moved stolen felines to secret holding facilities, selling bulk batches to meat traders every two to three days in unlicensed transactions that violate Vietnamese animal trade regulations.

    While cat and dog meat consumption remains legal in Vietnam, all vendors are required to hold official permits proving the legal origin of their animals, a requirement this criminal ring never met. By Tuesday, Humane World for Animals confirmed that more than 40 of the rescued cats that could be identified had already been returned to their original owners. The organization commended local law enforcement for what it called “decisive action that has saved the lives of so many animals,” though it also confirmed that a number of the rescued cats died after being rescued, due to poor conditions they endured while held by the traffickers.

    Humane World for Animals is currently supporting the ongoing investigation by providing food, medical care, and other essential supplies for the hundreds of surviving cats that remain in police custody as evidence. Local police have extended an open call to all residents who have had pet cats go missing in recent months to come forward to file reports and assist with identifying the recovered animals, as the investigation into the full scope of the trafficking network continues.

    According to data from Humane World for Animals, an estimated one million cats and five million dogs are stolen, trafficked, and slaughtered for meat across Vietnam each year. The organization notes that most of these animals are stolen household pets: thieves typically use poisoned bait, tasers, and iron pincers to capture dogs, while cats are most often caught with hidden spring-loaded snares placed in residential neighborhoods.

  • From Gaza to Bogota: The election that could reshape Colombia’s relationship with Israel

    From Gaza to Bogota: The election that could reshape Colombia’s relationship with Israel

    Colombia heads to the polls this Sunday for a high-stakes presidential runoff that will not only shape the country’s domestic future but also reverberate across global geopolitics, particularly when it comes to the ongoing crisis in Gaza. The race pits two candidates with starkly opposing visions against one another: left-wing senator and lifelong human rights advocate Ivan Cepeda, who is tasked with carrying forward the progressive agenda of incumbent President Gustavo Petro, and right-wing populist lawyer and businessman Abelardo de la Espriella, a Trump-endorsed candidate who campaigned on a hardline platform to “rebuild the miracle homeland.”

    De la Espriella claimed a narrow lead in the first round of voting held on May 31, securing 43.7 percent of the vote compared to Cepeda’s 40.9 percent, setting the stage for one of the most consequential elections in modern Colombian history. Core domestic issues driving voter turnout include the country’s decades-long unresolved internal armed conflict, entrenched systemic political corruption, and mounting economic and environmental challenges. But unlike many previous elections, the future of Colombia’s relationship with Israel has also emerged as a defining dividing line between the two candidates.

    Since October 2023, Latin America’s left-leaning “pink wave” has sparked a region-wide groundswell of pro-Palestine solidarity, and no country has taken a harder public stance against Israel’s actions in Gaza than Colombia. Under Petro’s leadership, Bogota has recalled its ambassador to Israel, suspended arms sales, halted coal exports, severed full diplomatic ties, and co-founded the Hague Group, a multilateral coalition advancing international legal action against Israel over its conduct in Gaza.

    “It is difficult to overstate the significance of Colombia’s stance internationally,” noted Francesca Emanuele, senior international policy associate at the Centre for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), speaking to Middle East Eye. “Colombia helped create political space for other governments to take stronger positions on Gaza and contributed to the growing international isolation of the Netanyahu government.”

    Yet the future of this bold pro-Palestine policy remains far from guaranteed. Recent election shifts in Chile, Bolivia and Honduras have shown that pro-solidarity stances can be reversed if right-wing candidates take power, making Colombia’s runoff a critical test of the region’s commitment to Palestinian rights. To help voters understand where each candidate stands on the issue, BDS Colombia has developed a digital monitoring tool called the Sionistometro, which tracks formal and informal ties between candidates and Israeli-affiliated groups and institutions.

    The tool’s analysis found Cepeda has no documented economic or political connections to Zionist-aligned companies, organizations, or the Israeli state itself. The candidate has publicly pledged to “decisively oppose the genocide” in Gaza and has voiced full support for Petro’s landmark policy shifts. Still, BDS Colombia notes that Cepeda has not yet released any new independent policy proposals of his own to advance the current government’s stance, a silence that the group calls concerning, particularly as Colombia retains some residual arms, trade, and cultural ties with Israel. Adopting a more low-profile approach, with his campaign centered on ending Colombia’s long-running internal conflict, political analysts do not expect Cepeda to match Petro’s level of global activism on the issue.

    “I don’t think he is likely to be as active on the global stage as Petro,” said Alexander Main, CEPR’s director of international policy, speaking to Middle East Eye. “He is in the shadow of Petro, and that makes it hard for him to distinguish himself.”

    De la Espriella, by contrast, has positioned his pro-Israel stance as a core pillar of his national security agenda. During a December 2024 meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, de la Espriella emphasized “the urgent need for Colombia to strengthen its ties of friendship and cooperation with Israel.” According to BDS Colombia’s analysis, the candidate maintains formal political and social ties to the Confederation of Jewish Communities of Colombia, a prominent Zionist organization in the country.

    Most recently, de la Espriella outlined a plan to “renew” a “strategic alliance” with both the United States and Israel, including expanded exchange of counterterrorism technology, advanced weapons, drones and artificial intelligence to target domestic criminal groups in Colombia. “A collaboration with Israel would allow these resources to be applied directly to combating criminal structures within the national territory,” his plan reads.

    Like other right-wing candidates across Latin America in recent elections, de la Espriella’s pro-Israel stance is heavily shaped by efforts to court the country’s fast-growing conservative evangelical voter base, where Christian Zionist theology, advanced by groups like the Israel Allies Foundation and Philos Latino, has become increasingly influential. His pledge to relocate the Colombian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem mirrors a move first made by Trump for evangelical voters in 2018, a clear signal of his ideological alignment with U.S. conservative politics.

    De la Espriella also has deep established ties to the South Florida Republican political establishment, with confirmed connections to pro-Israel Congressmembers Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos A Gimenez, both of whom have publicly supported Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and received campaign funding from major pro-Israel lobbying groups, according to data from TrackAIPAC.

    Main argues that de la Espriella’s platform embodies the shared ideological core of the new Latin American right: “a hyper pro-US vision, extreme security policy, a common war on narco-terror, and common adoration for Israel, or what it represents. De La Espriella is adopting that whole mantle.”

    The ties between Israel and Colombian politics run far deeper than this election cycle, and are deeply intertwined with the darkest chapters of the country’s recent history. During the peak of Colombia’s decades-long armed conflict between successive governments and left-wing guerrilla groups including the FARC and the ELN, Israeli weapons, military training, and security cooperation were deeply embedded within Colombian state security forces during a period marked by widespread extrajudicial killings and human rights abuses, Emanuele explained.

    The human cost of that history is personal for Cepeda: his father was murdered by state-sponsored paramilitaries in August 1994, as part of a systematic extermination campaign against the Patriotic Union, a left-wing political party co-founded by the FARC and the Colombian Communist Party. Nearly 6,000 Patriotic Union members were killed in the campaign carried out by state actors and allied paramilitary groups, a atrocity that the Inter-American Court of Human Rights formally ruled Colombia responsible for in a landmark 2023 decision. For decades after his father’s death, Cepeda has dedicated his political career to documenting these crimes, supporting victims, and demanding accountability, and has served as a lead facilitator for peace talks between the Colombian government, the FARC, and the ELN.

    By contrast, de la Espriella has a well-documented history of providing legal defense for political figures accused of collaborating with right-wing paramilitary groups. In 2005, he founded the Foundation for Peace Initiatives, which provided a public platform for former paramilitary commanders at university events and lobbied to block extradition requests for accused paramilitary leaders. Most recently, on June 11, 2026, Cepeda filed a formal criminal complaint against de la Espriella over his alleged ties to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a far-right paramilitary coalition that has been linked to retired Israeli colonel and mercenary Yair Klein, who trained AUC fighters in the 1980s.

    “One day, the army and government of Israel will ask forgiveness from us for what their men did on our land,” Petro wrote in October 2023. “We do not support genocides.”

    Under Petro’s leadership, Colombia’s stance on Gaza extended far beyond symbolic condemnation, with concrete policy changes that have directly impacted Israel’s economy and military. In August 2024, Petro signed a decree banning all coal exports to Israel, and a year later he signed an even stricter order banning all thermal coal exports without exception, including honoring existing contracts. The policy shift has already had a dramatic impact: between October 2023 and August 2024, Colombia supplied 51 percent of Israel’s total thermal coal imports, which Israel relies on to power illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and fuel its military operations in Gaza. That share dropped to 34 percent in July 2025, and fell to just 6 percent by March 2026. South Africa, another lead critic of Israel’s actions at the International Court of Justice and co-founder of the Hague Group, has since replaced Colombia as Israel’s top thermal coal supplier.

    Two of the largest mining companies operating in Colombia, U.S.-based Drummond and Anglo-Swiss multinational Glencore, were the primary suppliers of Colombian coal to Israel. Glencore, which operates the massive El Cerrejon mine in La Guajira, has recently been embroiled in controversy after an investigation by Raya Revista found that union representatives at the mine allege company leadership pressured workers to attend campaign events and vote for de la Espriella to protect their mining jobs. Even after Colombia halted coal exports to Israel, Glencore’s ongoing mining operations in La Guajira and Cesar continue to displace and harm Indigenous communities including the Yukpa and Wayuu peoples, sparking a wave of international solidarity protests that have spread from Bogota to London and Johannesburg.

    For many Colombians, the connection between the struggle for Palestinian rights and their own fight for justice against state violence and displacement is not a new one. “From Guajira to Gaza, territory is the material and spiritual base of the people,” explained Javier Marin, a sociologist with Colombian human rights advocacy group Asociacion Minga. Pointing to overlapping patterns of territorial dispossession and systematic human rights violations, Marin noted “we share the same historical condition as the Palestinian people.”

    “Palestine has been at the centre of popular movements in Colombia for a long time,” Marin told Middle East Eye. For the past three years, that grassroots solidarity has been reflected in official Colombian government policy—but after Sunday’s election, that policy’s future hangs in the balance.

  • Leaked remarks about South Korea star Son Heung-min spark backlash at World Cup camp

    Leaked remarks about South Korea star Son Heung-min spark backlash at World Cup camp

    As South Korea’s men’s national football team gears up for a critical Group A World Cup match against host-nation Mexico in Guadalajara on Thursday, the squad’s pre-game preparations have been thrown off balance by a public feud between players and members of South Korea’s domestic press. The conflict erupted after disparaging on-camera remarks targeting team captain Son Heung-min were leaked to the public, sparking widespread outrage and a collective boycott of unofficial media interactions by the South Korean roster.

    The controversy traces back to an open training session held on June 7, just days before South Korea kicked off its 2026 World Cup campaign with a tense 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic. During the session, unidentified South Korean media personnel were caught on camera mocking 33-year-old Son for his mandatory military service status, according to footage captured by JTBC, South Korea’s official broadcast rights holder for the tournament. The clip was subsequently leaked to the public, triggering a fierce backlash across South Korean social media platforms.

    Unlike most able-bodied South Korean men, Son secured an exemption from the country’s required 21-month mandatory military service after helping South Korea claim a gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games. In line with regulatory requirements, the Tottenham Hotspur turned Los Angeles FC forward has since completed all mandated alternative service obligations, including a three-week basic military training course in 2020 and required community service work.

    In a formal statement released on Monday, the Korea Football Association (KFA) acknowledged the damage caused by the incident, saying it regretted “the inappropriate remarks made by some media personnel during the national football team’s training at the Guadalajara base camp.” The governing body added that the comments have left “great shock and disappointment” rippling through the entire national team squad. The KFA also committed to taking action to prevent similar incidents moving forward, noting that it “will continue to prioritize the protection of the squad and strive to create a healthy media environment.”

    Local South Korean media reports indicate that in response to the incident, all South Korean national team players have refused to engage with domestic reporters outside of pre-scheduled, mandatory official World Cup media commitments. Multiple pre-arranged one-on-one and group interviews with players have already been canceled amid the standoff. The KFA did not provide an immediate additional comment when contacted by the Associated Press for further details on the boycott and ongoing dispute.

    On the pitch, Son’s performance in South Korea’s opening win against the Czech Republic drew mixed attention, as the star forward missed multiple scoring chances despite the team’s eventual 2-1 result, with goals from Hwang In-beom and Oh Hyeon-gyu securing all three points in Guadalajara. All eyes will now be on Son and the unsettled South Korean squad as they take the pitch against Mexico on Thursday evening local time for their second Group A match, with the controversy off the field adding an extra layer of tension to a critical World Cup fixture.

  • New Zealand recalls Nicholls to replace the retired Williamson for 2nd test at The Oval

    New Zealand recalls Nicholls to replace the retired Williamson for 2nd test at The Oval

    LONDON — Just 24 hours before New Zealand kicks off its second Test match against England at the iconic Oval, the Black Caps have announced a last-minute squad shakeup: experienced batter Henry Nicholls is returning to the Test side to fill the void left by the sudden retirement of all-time leading run-scorer Kane Williamson.

    Nicholls’ path back to international Test cricket has been anything but conventional. The 58-Test veteran has not appeared in the longest format of the game for two and a half years, with his only two Test outings in that stretch coming on Zimbabwe’s soil last year, where he delivered a standout unbeaten 150 in the series’ second match. Across his entire Test career, Nicholls has notched 10 centuries, a solid track record that highlights his pedigree at the top level. Most recently, he featured in one-day internationals against Bangladesh this past April, posting scores of 68, 13 and 4 across three innings.

    Black Caps captain Tom Latham confirmed the selection switch on Tuesday, explaining that Nicholls earned his recall through devastatingly consistent form in domestic first-class cricket. Playing for Canterbury in New Zealand’s top domestic first-class competition, the Plunket Shield, Nicholls finished as the competition’s leading run-getter, posting a Bradman-esque average of 96.66 across 11 innings — numbers that could not be ignored by the national selectors.

    “He’s been out of the national squad for a couple of years now but has certainly forced his way back into the squad through weight of runs at domestic level,” Latham told reporters ahead of the Test. For most of his international career, Nicholls has batted in the middle order at positions four or five, but Latham noted his domestic experience also includes extended time in the number three spot — a role he is expected to fill in Williamson’s absence. “I think the good thing with Henry is he’s always been able to adapt to situations. This is a really exciting opportunity for him to do something new in test cricket,” Latham added.

    Williamson, New Zealand’s most beloved batter and former captain, shocked the cricket world last Friday when he announced his immediate retirement from all forms of international cricket. Initially, the squad called in Will Young as a replacement, with Young arriving in England on Sunday, but selectors ultimately opted for Nicholls after underwhelming domestic and ODI form from Young.

    Latham opened up about the team’s reaction to Williamson’s retirement, saying the squad was deeply disappointed to lose their legend but not caught off guard by the decision. Williamson had already scaled back his international commitments over the past two years as he navigated form and fitness challenges. “For him to acknowledge that he’s not quite right, or he can’t necessarily give that 100% is testament to the player he is, but also the person he is as well, that he’s going to give someone else an opportunity to do that,” Latham said.

    The captain added that the entire squad is grateful for the time they got to play alongside one of the game’s greats. “We’re obviously gutted not to have him, but we also acknowledge what he’s done over his career. He told the guys a few days after that first test and it was an emotional time. I’m certainly like that, I’ve been fortunate enough to play most of my career with Kane. What he’s given to this group, what he’s given to individuals, that legacy will certainly live on.”

    Beyond the batting reshuffle, Latham confirmed that fast bowler Matt Henry will undergo a late fitness test on Tuesday to assess his availability for the Test. Henry suffered back spasms on the opening day of the first Test at Lord’s, which severely limited his impact in the match. New Zealand ultimately fell to an 115-run defeat at Lord’s, a match played on a pitch that was officially rated “unsatisfactory” by the International Cricket Council. Latham said the side has put the disappointing result behind them already, noting that the uneven playing surface had an outsize impact on the game’s outcome.

    “We did a lot of things right at Lord’s. The surface sort of dictated things a little bit,” Latham said. “We’re in a really good place and just because one game didn’t go our way it doesn’t mean you need to reinvent the wheel.”