Global Pulse

标签： Asia

亚洲

  • Border, peace, democracy: Myanmar president’s India visit is closely watched

    Border, peace, democracy: Myanmar president’s India visit is closely watched

    In a high-stakes diplomatic meeting that has drawn widespread international attention, Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing held official talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Monday, kicking off a five-day official visit focused on advancing bilateral cooperation across critical sectors ranging from trade and cross-border connectivity to border security and defense cooperation. This meeting marks a historic milestone: it is Min Aung Hlaing’s first foreign trip since he was sworn in as president in April 2026, following a military-backed election that sparked global criticism, and comes five years after the 2021 military coup that plunged Myanmar into a protracted civil conflict. Regional and global powers are closely watching the visit to gauge how key regional players will engage with Myanmar’s military-led administration amid ongoing domestic unrest.

    Geography has long bound the fates of India and Myanmar together: the two neighbors share a 1,643-kilometer land border, and political and security developments in Myanmar have direct and immediate impacts on India, particularly its vulnerable northeastern states, where local security, cross-border migration and informal trade are deeply interconnected with events across the border. The current crisis in Myanmar traces back to February 2021, when Min Aung Hlaing, then serving as commander-in-chief of the Myanmar Armed Forces, ousted the democratically elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, just weeks after her National League for Democracy secured a landslide victory in general elections. The military takeover triggered mass nationwide pro-democracy protests that quickly escalated into an organized armed resistance movement, igniting a civil conflict that has killed more than 10,000 people, displaced millions more, and left large swathes of Myanmar outside the control of the military government. The violence has spilled across the border into India, with thousands of refugees, most from Myanmar’s persecuted Chin ethnic minority, fleeing to the Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur to escape the fighting.

    Between December 2025 and January 2026, the military-backed government held a national election, which resulted in an overwhelming victory for pro-military parties. The vote was heavily criticized by the international community, as major opposition parties were barred from running, and millions of voters in conflict-affected regions were unable to cast ballots. Following the election, a military-dominated parliament elected Min Aung Hlaing to the presidency in April 2026. Myanmar’s authorities frame the election as a critical step toward a return to civilian rule, but opposition groups, Western governments and independent international observers have rejected the vote as unfair, arguing it does nothing to loosen the military’s stranglehold on power. Despite this, Min Aung Hlaing has maintained that the election was free and transparent. Before this post-inauguration visit to India, Min Aung Hlaing had traveled to China and Russia for diplomatic meetings in the period between the 2021 coup and his presidential election. The last official visit by an Indian prime minister to Myanmar took place in 2017.

    In a press briefing following the meeting, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri confirmed that the talks between Modi and Min Aung Hlaing covered the full scope of Myanmar’s domestic political situation, alongside bilateral priorities. Misri noted that Prime Minister Modi raised broad concerns about democratic progress in Myanmar, and the two leaders also discussed the case of Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under strict house arrest five years after the coup. Misri reaffirmed India’s long-standing position: Delhi remains committed to supporting lasting peace and an inclusive political dialogue that brings all of Myanmar’s stakeholders to the table, arguing that sustained diplomatic engagement, rather than international disengagement, is the only viable path to meaningful progress.

    A joint statement published by Myanmar’s state-run *Global New Light of Myanmar* newspaper outlined that both sides emphasized the urgent need to prevent the misuse of border territory for activities that threaten either nation’s security interests. Min Aung Hlaing reaffirmed Myanmar’s formal assurance that it would not allow its territory to be used to launch operations against India, while Modi reaffirmed India’s unwavering support for Myanmar’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

    The Myanmar leader arrived in India on May 30, and kicked off his visit with a trip to the sacred Buddhist site of Bodh Gaya, where he offered prayers at the Mahabodhi Temple, the site revered as the place where Buddha attained enlightenment. After the official talks in New Delhi, Min Aung Hlaing traveled to Mumbai to meet with Indian business leaders, with the goal of attracting new foreign investment and expanding bilateral trade between the two nations.

    Regional analysts widely view the visit as a landmark moment for Myanmar’s military leadership, which has sought to expand its diplomatic engagement after years of international isolation and criticism following the 2021 coup. Rajiv Bhatia, a former Indian ambassador to Myanmar, told reporters that the meeting represents a major diplomatic win for Nay Pyi Taw, as it grants formal validation to Min Aung Hlaing’s presidency from the world’s largest democracy. Gautam Mukhopadhaya, another former Indian ambassador to Myanmar, added that the visit is part of Min Aung Hlaing’s broader strategy to build greater regional and international legitimacy as a newly elected head of state.

    For India, the meeting underscores a long-standing strategic calculation: India’s core national interests in Myanmar outweigh any concerns about the character of the country’s military-led government. Analysts outline that India has three primary strategic priorities in its relationship with Myanmar: maintaining stability along its sensitive northeastern border, advancing its Act East Policy aimed at deepening economic and security ties with Southeast Asia, and balancing the growing influence of China in the country. Myanmar holds a unique place in India’s regional strategy: it is the only member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that shares a land border with India, making it a critical gateway for Indian engagement with the bloc. Bhatia notes that the visit could have a positive ripple effect across ASEAN, as member states work to develop a unified approach to the ongoing Myanmar crisis.

    The talks also come amid intensifying great power competition between India and China in the Indo-Pacific, with Myanmar emerging as a key strategic battleground. Myanmar provides China with direct access to the Bay of Bengal, allowing Beijing to reduce its reliance on the Strait of Malacca for critical trade and energy supplies. Mukhopadhaya notes that since 2017, China has steadily expanded its influence in Myanmar and has become increasingly open about its support for the country’s military leadership, in pursuit of its own strategic and economic goals.

    Min Aung Hlaing’s visit to India also takes place against a shifting backdrop of Myanmar’s relations with Western nations. After the 2021 coup, the United States and many of its allies imposed sweeping economic sanctions on Myanmar’s military leadership. But according to Mukhopadhaya, the second Trump administration has shown little interest in engaging with Myanmar, and has suspended most foreign assistance to the country, including funding for Myanmar refugees and pro-democracy opposition groups. Bhatia added that the Quad security grouping — made up of the United States, India, Japan and Australia — shares a common goal of restoring stability to Myanmar, creating an opening for engagement with the country’s new leadership.

    The ongoing civil conflict has already reshaped the security dynamic along the India-Myanmar border. In recent months, the Myanmar military has regained ground from resistance forces in the country’s eastern and northern regions, and has increasingly focused its attention on securing its western border with India. Mukhopadhaya argues that it is highly likely the Myanmar government will seek greater security cooperation with India to crack down on anti-military resistance groups operating near the border. Ultimately, Bhatia noted, India’s core goal is to see a stable, unified Myanmar emerge from the conflict, and a Myanmar that maintains its strategic independence amid great power competition. “Clearly, a more independent Myanmar is what India is looking for,” Bhatia added.

  • China cracks down on ‘ghost kitchens’ in food delivery apps

    China cracks down on ‘ghost kitchens’ in food delivery apps

    China has rolled out new regulatory measures targeting unlicensed “ghost kitchens” — unregulated takeaway-only operations that lack physical storefronts — following a high-profile food safety scandal that exposed widespread industry misconduct. The new rules, which entered into force on Monday, require all food delivery platforms to verify that every listed merchant matches a registered physical operating location, and mandate vendors to clearly disclose if they do not offer on-site dine-in services.

    The crackdown traces its origins back to a consumer complaint filed in Beijing last year. A local customer received a poorly made cake decorated with non-edible flowers from an online merchant, prompting an official investigation that uncovered a large-scale illegal operation. Officials discovered the cake chain listed nearly 380 store locations across major Chinese delivery platforms, but operated zero physical outlets, and used falsified business licenses to pass platform reviews. Further probes found the chain outsourced all orders to a third-party order-matching platform that awarded jobs to the lowest-bidding unvetted vendors, with more than 3.6 million cake orders processed across two matching platforms.

    A subsequent national inspection uncovered 67,000 unregistered ghost shops across seven of China’s largest food delivery platforms. State news agency Xinhua reported that these illegal operations and third-party intermediaries had formed a collusive illegal supply chain, with major delivery platforms turning a blind eye to violations to retain market share. One unnamed platform employee admitted to regulators that overly strict merchant reviews would push business to competing platforms, highlighting the cut-throat competition that has long defined China’s food delivery sector.

    The hyper-competitive market has already drawn regulatory scrutiny in recent years. A destructive price war between major platforms in 2024 prompted government warnings over the “race to the bottom” that not only compromised food safety, but also pushed delivery riders to accept extremely tight delivery deadlines for meager pay. In April 2025, China’s State Administration for Market Regulation imposed a total 3.6 billion yuan ($530 million) fine on seven leading e-commerce platforms including Taobao, JD.com, Meituan and Pinduoduo, with most penalties tied to illegal ghost kitchen operations.

    As the nationwide crackdown intensifies, regulators and industry players have rolled out new targeted measures to improve transparency. In the eastern city of Hangzhou, more than 20 registered takeaway vendors have installed live-streaming “transparent kitchen” systems that allow customers to watch food preparation in real time. In neighboring Anhui province, authorities have partnered with major platforms including Meituan, Taobao and JD.com on a new enforcement agreement that uses artificial intelligence to monitor kitchen operations, and offers financial rewards to delivery riders who report unlicensed ghost kitchens.

    This latest regulatory push marks the most comprehensive effort to date to clean up China’s $100-billion-plus food delivery sector, addressing longstanding consumer concerns over unregulated food preparation and unsafe operating practices.

  • Steampunk festival creates an unlikely capital for Victorian style and sci-fi oddity in New Zealand

    Steampunk festival creates an unlikely capital for Victorian style and sci-fi oddity in New Zealand

    Nestled along the coast of New Zealand’s South Island, the quiet rural town of Ōamaru — population 14,000, plus a colony of 3,000 endangered native penguins — transforms every year into a bustling, fantastical parallel world where Victorian-era steam power meets imaginative science fiction, for one of the world’s most beloved steampunk festivals.

    This year marked the event’s 17th iteration, drawing thousands of enthusiasts from across New Zealand and around the globe to embrace the genre’s core ethos: the stranger, the better. For four days, the town’s perfectly preserved 19th-century Victorian harbor street becomes a playground for eccentric personas, handcrafted costumes, and one-of-a-kind creative traditions built around the steampunk movement.

    Unlike rigid historical reenactment, steampunk re-imagines the Victorian era, blending its signature aesthetics and steam-based mechanics with modern sci-fi creativity to build a world where the industrial revolution never ended and imagination sets the only limit. The movement also prioritizes do-it-yourself craft and sustainable upcycling: enthusiasts spend months honing sewing, metalworking, and hat-trimming skills to build custom outfits that match their invented alter egos.

    Many attendees lead ordinary lives as bricklayers, engineers, farmers, and artists the rest of the year, and many describe themselves as shy in daily life. But at the festival, they step into entirely new identities. For festival regular Juliet Thorn, who attends as the charismatic Lady Sarsaparilla Ovabyte alongside her partner Greg “Captain Bob McSpoon” Thorn, the experience is transformative. “The first time you dress up and go out in public is really scary and then people get such a buzz out of it,” she explained. “It’s so cool that you take on a different personality.”

    Over nearly two decades, the festival has spawned its own unique set of quirky sporting events and community traditions. Hundreds of attendees pack into historic community halls to compete in unconventional contests, from speed cookie-dunking (where the goal is to dunk, then eat a soggy cookie faster than any competitor) to theatrical parasol dueling, judged just as much on style as speed. One of the most popular events is teapot racing, created by local enthusiast Ross McKay, now known by his steampunk persona Captain Roscoe Dangerfield. In the contest, participants navigate remote-controlled vehicles fitted with teapots through a tricky obstacle course, much to the delight of cheering crowds. McKay, a retired banker and self-described history geek and sci-fi nerd, originally thought steampunk was just “a bunch of weirdos” when he first saw photos, but quickly fell in love with the community. He has since brought teapot racing to steampunk events around the world, joking that “it’s lots of fun and the judges will take bribes.”

    This small South Island town was an unlikely pick to become the self-proclaimed steampunk capital of the world. For decades, Ōamaru was little more than a rest stop for travelers driving between the larger cities of Christchurch and Dunedin, overshadowed by the dramatic Lord of the Rings-era film locations that draw tourists to nearby regions. What put Ōamaru on the global steampunk map is its architectural quirk: a fully intact Victorian-era commercial street built from pale local stone, a leftover from the 1800s when Ōamaru was a bustling export hub shipping New Zealand meat, wool, and grain to Britain. Today, those historic buildings serve as the perfect immersive backdrop for the festival, which coexists peacefully with the town’s separate, historically accurate Victorian celebration held later in the year.

    Unlike the rigid social hierarchies of the actual 19th century, steampunk rewrites Victorian social norms to create an inclusive, equal-opportunity community. “Women, unlike in Victorian times, can be anything,” explained Iain Clark, the festival’s co-founder, who goes by the steampunk name Agent Darling. “We have female engineers, captains of industry, captains of airships, adventurers, explorers, scientists.” There are no hard rules for costumes or personas: attendees regularly bring multiple outfits to swap over the four-day event, and no concept is too wild to turn heads. Over the course of the festival, a Star Wars stormtrooper might wander past a group of costumed “wolves,” while first-time attendees jump straight into the fun, no experience required.

    For long-time guests, the community’s radical acceptance and celebration of creativity is what keeps them coming back. “You can be creative and you can be somebody else and no one cares,” said John Syben, attending his fourth festival. His partner Chris Sinclair noted that the pair have grown bolder with their costumes every year, adding: “There’s always someone who’s more nuts than you.” For countless steampunks, the small New Zealand festival has become more than an event — it’s their tribe.

  • Trump says troops turned back from Beirut after Netanyahu call

    Trump says troops turned back from Beirut after Netanyahu call

    On Monday, a fresh wave of diplomatic and military upheaval roiled the Middle East, as Iran paused indirect negotiations with the United States in response to Israel’s intensifying military campaign in Lebanon – just hours before former President Donald Trump announced unexpected claims of a de-escalation between Israeli forces and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

    The escalation traces back to joint military strikes launched by Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against Iran in late February. Since that offensive began, Iranian officials and independent global analysts have repeatedly charged that Israeli leadership is intentionally working to sabotage any diplomatic path toward a lasting regional ceasefire.

    Iran’s state-owned Tasnim News Agency, which has close ties to the country’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), confirmed the suspension of mediated talks on Monday. In its official announcement, the outlet noted that a full ceasefire across all fronts, including Lebanon, had been a core precondition for continuing negotiations. With Israeli attacks ongoing across Lebanese territory, that precondition had been fully violated, prompting Tehran’s negotiating team to pause all talks and draft exchanges through third-party intermediaries.

    In an official statement published by the IRGC-affiliated outlet, the corps warned that any crossing of Iran’s red lines in Lebanon and Gaza constitutes a direct act of war that threatens Iranian national security and the broader Islamic Resistance movement. In response to ongoing violations, the statement confirmed Iran would carry out defensive operations via unconventional tactics, open new military fronts, and maintain its current leverage over the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical global chokepoints for energy trade.

    Tehran has already leveraged this leverage in response to the US-Israeli offensive, restricting commercial vessel traffic through the strait – a key transit route for global fossil fuel and fertilizer shipments. As international oil prices have spiked sharply in response to the supply chain disruption, Trump imposed a US naval blockade of Iran, a measure he has continued to uphold even after a tentative April ceasefire agreement that Israel initially argued did not apply to military operations in Lebanon.

    Shortly after news of Iran’s negotiation suspension broke, Trump spoke to NBC News, saying he had not received official notification of Tehran’s decision, but downplayed the development, saying “I think it’s fine if they’re done talking.” He added that “they’re better negotiators than they are fighters, but they haven’t informed us of that,” and stressed that the US would not immediately launch a new round of widespread bombing.

    Trump’s comments came just days after his administration launched new targeted strikes against Iranian assets over the weekend, which were followed by Iranian retaliatory attacks on US military installations across the Middle East. The president reaffirmed that the US naval blockade would remain in place, adding: “If they don’t want to talk, that’s OK with me. I think it’s fine. I don’t particularly want to talk either. We talk too much.”

    Less than a day after those remarks, however, Trump posted a correction and new announcement on his Truth Social platform, stating he had held what he called a “very productive call” with Netanyahu. In the post, he claimed “there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back.” He added that he had also held indirect talks with Hezbollah representatives through a third party, and that the group had agreed to a full ceasefire: “That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel.” Within 15 minutes of that post, Trump added a follow-up note confirming that talks with the Islamic Republic of Iran were “continuing, at a rapid pace.”

    While Iran’s top leadership had not formally confirmed the suspension of talks as of Monday evening, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi issued a clear warning on social media, stating that the existing ceasefire between Iran and the US unequivocally applies to all fronts, including Lebanon. “Its violation on one front is a violation of the ceasefire on all fronts,” he wrote, adding that the US and Israel bear full responsibility for any consequences that stem from the breach.

    Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator and Parliament Speaker, echoed that stance, arguing that the ongoing US naval blockade and the escalation of what he called “war crimes” in Lebanon by the “genocidal Zionist regime” are clear proof the US has failed to uphold its ceasefire commitments. “Every choice has a price, and the bill comes due. It will all fall into place,” he said.

    Independent regional analysts have framed Iran’s actions as a clear response to Israel’s escalating campaign, with a consistent red line linking Lebanese security to the future of broader diplomacy. “The Iranian message is increasingly clear: no Lebanon ceasefire, no broader framework, and potentially no talks at all,” explained Sina Toossi, senior nonresident fellow at the Washington-based Center for International Policy. Toossi noted that negotiations have fallen into a damaging cycle: “progress, escalation, backtracking.” Many Iranian leadership suspect Trump is intentionally seeking to push down global oil prices ahead of potential further military expansion, while Israel is working to completely derail diplomacy by turning southern Lebanon into a second Gaza, he added.

    The tactics Israel is deploying in Lebanon mirror the “Gaza playbook,” Toossi argued, including widespread scorched-earth operations, mass forced displacement of civilian populations, and what he characterized as ethnic cleansing of the small neighboring country.

    Other analysts have echoed this comparison, pointing to the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, where Israel faces widespread global accusations of perpetrating genocide against the besieged Palestinian population. Assal Rad, a fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC, criticized mainstream media coverage of Israel’s Lebanon escalation, noting that just as the phrase “targeting Hamas” is used to justify widespread destruction in Gaza, labeling areas “Hezbollah-controlled” is used to justify flattening entire civilian neighborhoods in Lebanon. “This isn’t journalism, it’s stenography,” she said, sharing publicly available satellite imagery that shows widespread destruction of residential infrastructure across southern Lebanon. “This is what Israel’s total destruction of southern Lebanon looks like, deliberately destroying people’s homes so they have nothing to return to.”

    Mohamad Safa, who resigned earlier this year as a United Nations representative for the nongovernmental organization Patriotic Vision Association, issued a blunt accusation Monday: “Israel is committing another genocide in real time in Lebanon with complete impunity.”

    Former US Department of Defense advisor Jasmine El-Gamal, who now leads global consulting firm Averos Strategies, noted that the current crisis in Lebanon highlights a long-building conflict of interest between the US and Israel. “Early in the Iran war, I warned that US and Israeli interests would inevitably diverge and that President Trump would have to make a choice: to actually put America first, or to continue to allow Netanyahu to threaten our interests,” El-Gamal said early Monday. “Lebanon is the epitome of this choice.”

  • Asian shares mostly slip as latest fighting undermines the US-Iran ceasefire.

    Asian shares mostly slip as latest fighting undermines the US-Iran ceasefire.

    Global financial markets faced fresh downward pressure on Tuesday, driven by the resurgence of armed conflict between the United States and Iran that has undermined a recently brokered ceasefire and stoked new fears over energy supply disruptions.

    Most major Asian equity benchmarks ended the trading day in negative territory as investors pulled back from risk assets amid escalating geopolitical tension. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 1.6% to close at 65,833.49, while South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.7% to settle at 8,642.82. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 also shed 0.4% to reach 8,692.20, and China’s Shanghai Composite posted a minor dip of less than 0.1% to close at 4,056.56. In a rare bright spot for the region, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index bucked the downward trend to gain 1.2%, finishing at 25,698.75. U.S. futures also moved lower in early Asian trading, extending the risk-off sentiment across global markets.

    The downturn in Asia comes on the heels of a record-setting session on Wall Street Monday, when U.S. equities notched new all-time closing highs. The broad S&P 500 added 0.3% to close at 7,599.96, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1% to finish at 51,078.88, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite climbed 0.4% to end the day at 27,086.81. Chipmaking giant Nvidia led market gains, jumping 6.2% after CEO Jensen Huang unveiled a slate of new product updates at an industry conference. As the world’s largest publicly traded company by market capitalization, Nvidia’s performance exerts an outsize influence on overall U.S. market movements. In the U.S. bond market, the 10-year Treasury yield ticked up to 4.46% by the end of trading Monday, up slightly from 4.45% late Friday, after briefly touching a high of 4.52% during the session.

    Geopolitical volatility has sent energy prices swinging in recent sessions, with crude oil remaining far elevated from pre-war levels. After rising in overnight trading Monday, benchmark U.S. crude lost 39 cents to trade at $91.77 per barrel in early Asian trading Tuesday. Brent crude, the global pricing benchmark for oil, fell 28 cents to $94.70 per barrel. Even with this minor pullback, both benchmarks remain well above the roughly $70 per barrel price seen before the outbreak of the current conflict. Higher oil prices have already hit U.S. companies with high fuel costs: United Airlines shares fell 2.6% Monday, while Alaska Air Group dropped 3.3%.

    Analysts warn that the current energy market squeeze is spreading beyond crude oil inventories to the refined fuels that power everyday economic activity. “Crude shortages have already forced refiners across Asia and Europe to aggressively reduce runs,” said market analyst Stephen Innes. “The result is that the squeeze is no longer confined to crude inventories. It is spreading into the fuels that actually power economies: gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, LPG, and naphtha.”

    Much of the future trajectory of global energy prices and inflation hinges on whether the U.S. and Iran can reach a lasting agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint through which a large share of global oil supplies pass from the Persian Gulf. A reopening would resume normal oil deliveries and ease upward inflationary pressure on global markets. Japan, which imports nearly all of its oil needs, has so far avoided extreme price spikes for gas and other energy products by releasing national petroleum reserves, but the long-term impact of sustained high prices remains uncertain.

    The latest escalation in tensions comes after a series of tit-for-tat strikes over the weekend. On Monday, the U.S. announced it had bombed Iranian radar and drone sites after Tehran shot down an American drone. Iran also claimed it launched missile strikes targeting U.S. soldiers stationed in Kuwait, a strike U.S. officials said they successfully intercepted. While U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to de-escalate hostilities following his conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and mediated communications with the Lebanese militant group, the renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran has erased early hopes of a broad regional ceasefire.

    In currency markets, the U.S. dollar posted a minor gain against the Japanese yen, rising to 159.70 yen from 159.66 yen. The euro held steady, remaining unchanged at $1.1631.

  • Israel’s Lebanon campaign: the risks of repeating failed lessons

    Israel’s Lebanon campaign: the risks of repeating failed lessons

    When Israel launched its campaign amid the ongoing war with Iran, the Netanyahu administration articulated two tightly linked strategic objectives: collapse the Islamic Republic of Iran, and eliminate the decades-long threat posed by Hezbollah to Israeli security. For 44 years, the Lebanese Shiite militia has remained a persistent menace along Israel’s northern border, and Israeli policymakers reasoned that cutting off Hezbollah’s core Iranian patron would force the group to collapse. Past efforts to disarm Hezbollah via direct military strikes and internationally backed disarmament initiatives had both fallen short, leaving this two-pronged strategy as the government’s preferred path forward.

  • Steph Curry signs with Chinese brand Li-Ning after Under Armour split

    Steph Curry signs with Chinese brand Li-Ning after Under Armour split

    After wrapping up a 12-year collaborative tenure with American athletic apparel giant Under Armour, NBA legend Stephen Curry has announced a groundbreaking new endorsement partnership with Chinese sportswear leader Li-Ning, marking the first collaboration between the 38-year-old Golden State Warriors star and an Asian brand.
    Curry, who exited his contract with Under Armour in 2025, entered the open market for a new retail partner to back his signature line of basketball footwear and athletic apparel. The new deal with Li-Ning will see both parties co-develop innovative new product lines, plus roll out a dedicated network of Curry Brand retail locations across both the United States and China. Full financial terms of the agreement have not been made public as of the announcement.
    For Li-Ning, the signing of one of the most recognizable athletes in global basketball represents a landmark milestone in the brand’s years-long push to build a major presence in international markets, aligned with the expansion strategies of other leading Chinese sportswear manufacturers such as Anta. As it stands, Li-Ning already operates more than 7,000 retail locations across Asia, and Curry noted in a statement posted to his business platform Thirty Ink that the partnership will accelerate Li-Ning’s consumer penetration in the highly competitive U.S. market.
    Curry’s career endorsement trajectory traces back to early partnerships with Nike early in his NBA tenure, before he moved to Under Armour in 2013. He now joins a growing cohort of top NBA talent that have signed on with Chinese sportswear brands: Dwyane Wade and Jimmy Butler already hold endorsement deals with Li-Ning, while Klay Thompson and Kyrie Irving are partnered with Anta.
    Anta, another major Chinese player that began as an original equipment manufacturer for international brands, has led Chinese sportswear’s global expansion through high-profile acquisitions, including the rights to Fila and a recent majority stake purchase in Puma, with a public commitment to growing the German brand’s footprint across mainland China.
    In recent years, Western athletic brands have prioritized breaking into China’s massive consumer market, but they have faced steep headwinds: local manufacturers have carved out large market shares by offering quality products at more accessible price points, and uneven domestic spending has slowed overall consumer demand in the region in recent quarters.
    For Curry’s own brand, the partnership unlocks far more room for global expansion beyond basketball, extending into golf and other lifestyle segments. “We have plans to launch Curry Brand stores together in China and the U.S., as we look to build on the success that Li-Ning has already established, with even more growth,” Curry said in his statement.
    Widely considered one of the greatest shooters in NBA history, a four-time NBA champion, and a globally recognizable cultural figure, Curry’s addition to Li-Ning’s roster is expected to dramatically boost the brand’s credibility and visibility in Western markets, while giving Curry’s namesake brand access to China’s massive, underpenetrated consumer base.

  • Trump says he ‘had a very good call with Hezbollah’ to end ‘shooting’ in Lebanon

    Trump says he ‘had a very good call with Hezbollah’ to end ‘shooting’ in Lebanon

    On a chaotic Monday marked by shifting military threats and diplomatic posturing, former President Donald Trump announced that backchannel negotiations had produced a tentative agreement for a ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, even as top officials from both Israel and key Hezbollah figures pushed back on the details of the deal. The announcement came hours after Israeli military authorities renewed forced evacuation orders for residents of Beirut’s southern suburbs, triggering a fresh wave of civilian displacement and stoking widespread fears of an imminent full-scale assault on the densely populated capital district known as Dahieh.

    In a post to his Truth Social platform, Trump laid out his version of the agreement, saying he had held two separate sets of talks to broker the truce: first with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and second, through intermediaries, with Hezbollah leadership. “I had a very productive call with Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, of Israel, and there will be no Troops going to Beirut, and any Troops that are on their way, have already been turned back,” Trump wrote. “Likewise, through highly placed Representatives, I had a very good call with Hezbollah, and they agreed that all shooting will stop – That Israel will not attack them, and they will not attack Israel.”

    When Middle East Eye reached out to the White House press office to request clarification on which US official had spoken with Hezbollah as part of the backchannel, officials declined to comment beyond confirming that no additional information would be added to Trump’s public Truth Social post.

    In the hours following Trump’s announcement, key Lebanese and Israeli leaders offered conflicting accounts that undermined the claim of a finalized ceasefire. Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah released a statement Monday confirming the group’s support for a full, nationwide ceasefire across all of Lebanon, which he said must be followed by a full withdrawal of Israeli military forces from all occupied Lebanese territory. Fadlallah explicitly rejected any proposal for a partial truce that would spare Beirut from Israeli airstrikes in exchange for Hezbollah halting attacks on northern Israel, a framework that aligned closely with the deal Trump described.

    Shortly after Fadlallah’s statement, the Lebanese presidency issued a confirmation that Hezbollah had agreed to a US-brokered proposal for a mutual halt to attacks across all of Lebanese territory. But Netanyahu immediately pushed back, asserting that Israel’s core policy toward Hezbollah remained unaltered. “I spoke with President Trump and told him that if Hezbollah does not cease attacking our cities and citizens—Israel will attack terror targets in Beirut. This stance of ours remains unchanged,” Netanyahu wrote on his X account, adding that the Israel Defense Forces would continue all planned operations in southern Lebanon as planned.

    Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz reinforced this hardline posture, issuing a fresh warning Monday that “there will be no calm in Beirut” if Hezbollah continues its attacks on Israeli troops and communities in northern Israel. That warning triggered a new exodus of residents from Beirut’s southern suburbs, just days after many had returned to their homes following previous rounds of evacuation orders. Since Hezbollah launched cross-border attacks against Israel in October 2023 in support of its ally Hamas, Israeli military operations have killed more than 3,200 people across Lebanon. The 2024 November ceasefire brokered by the Biden administration has already been violated by Israeli forces more than 1,000 times, and the broader US-Israeli campaign against Iran that launched in late February has only intensified Israeli pressure on Lebanon, with Jerusalem demanding the full disarmament of Hezbollah.

    Monday’s diplomatic chaos also unfolded against the backdrop of ongoing US-led negotiations between Israeli and Lebanese officials, a process that launched earlier this year with military-to-military talks hosted by the Pentagon last Friday. US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby led the meeting, which the Pentagon described as the opening of a “security track” to support ongoing political negotiations between the two sides. “The delegations engaged in productive, military-to-military talks focused on building practical frameworks for regional security and stability,” a Pentagon statement read, adding that outcomes from the security track would inform political talks led by the US State Department set to reconvene this week as the third round of such negotiations.

    This diplomatic process began in late April, when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted direct talks between Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors in Washington, with a second, longer round of discussions held last month. The meetings marked the first high-level face-to-face engagement between the two countries in four decades, though Hezbollah has not been included in the talks: the US designated the group a foreign terrorist organization in 1997. Founded in 1982 to oppose Israeli occupation of Lebanon, Hezbollah remains the most powerful military actor in the country and holds representation in Lebanon’s parliament. Rubio has framed the negotiations as more than just a bid for a temporary ceasefire, saying they aim to resolve decades of destabilization caused by Hezbollah’s influence. “This is a lot more than just about that. This is about bringing a permanent end to 20 or 30 years of Hezbollah’s influence in this part of the world and the – not just the damage that it’s inflicted on Israel – [but] the damage that it’s inflicted on the Lebanese people,” Rubio told reporters in April.

    Many regional policy experts have expressed skepticism about the prospects for these talks to end the violence. “It’s certainly a good thing that the conversation took place, and it’s a good thing that the United States agreed to host it, even though it was…at a low level, purely exploratory,” Steven Simon, a former National Security Council official in the Clinton administration, told Middle East Eye earlier this year. “It’s really difficult to see how these talks will alter the course of combat operations, which are what shape the diplomatic environment and the diplomatic possibilities.”

    Monday also brought fresh friction around ongoing talks between the US and Iran, which has provided training and support to Hezbollah since the group’s founding and remains its closest strategic partner. After Iranian state news agency Tasnim, which has close ties to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reported that Iran had suspended all talks with US mediators to protest Israel’s escalating attacks in Lebanon, Trump quickly pushed back on the claim in another Truth Social post. “Talks are continuing, at a rapid pace, with the Islamic Republic of Iran. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” he wrote. According to Tasnim’s report, Iran suspended negotiations because Israeli violations of the ceasefire in Lebanon violated a core precondition for talks, and Tehran is demanding an immediate end to all Israeli military operations in both Gaza and Lebanon. The report also warned that Iran and its allied militias are prepared to block the Strait of Hormuz and open new front lines of conflict at the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea if the Israeli offensive continues.

  • Iran halts talks with US, says it will close Bab el-Mandeb Strait: Report

    Iran halts talks with US, says it will close Bab el-Mandeb Strait: Report

    In a sharp escalation of regional tensions, Iran has paused all indirect negotiations with the United States mediated by third parties, in direct response to Israel’s intensifying military strikes across Lebanon, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency announced Monday. The outlet, which maintains close ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), outlined the reasoning behind the decision, noting that a stable ceasefire in Lebanon had been a core precondition for continued talks. With Israeli attacks breaking the truce on that front and across multiple regional theaters, all mediated dialogue and document exchanges have been suspended indefinitely.

    Tasnim emphasized that Iran’s non-negotiable demand remains an immediate, full halt to all Israeli military operations across both Gaza and Lebanon. The statement also carried a stark warning: should hostilities continue, Iran and its regional allied factions have finalized plans to fully close the Strait of Hormuz — through which roughly 20% of the world’s daily oil supplies pass — and activate pressure points along other critical global shipping lanes, most notably the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.

    This threat to blockade the Bab el-Mandeb Strait marks a clear ratcheting up of Iran’s strategy to disrupt global economic activity, aiming to pressure Washington into making concessions on regional policy. The impact was felt immediately in global energy markets: oil prices, which had steadily fallen over the past month amid growing optimism that a diplomatic deal could be reached, surged sharply in trading on Monday. Brent Crude, the global benchmark for oil pricing, jumped 6.7% to settle at $97.28 per barrel by mid-trading.

    Monday’s announcement follows a series of escalating confrontations over the weekend. U.S. Central Command confirmed it had launched new targeted strikes on Iranian assets, just after Kuwait reported that missile and drone attacks targeting U.S. personnel stationed on its territory had been carried out in retaliation for prior U.S. actions. The fragile April ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran has been teetering on collapse for weeks, following a series of breaches on both sides. Just on Friday, former U.S. President Donald Trump said he would lift a U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz only if Iran surrendered its entire stockpile of enriched uranium and agreed to never impose shipping tolls in the waterway — terms Tehran immediately rejected.

    Over recent weeks, Israel has steadily ramped up its ground and air operations in Lebanon, turning the small Mediterranean country into a central flashpoint in indirect U.S.-Iran negotiations. Diplomatic records from April, reported by Middle East Eye, show that Saudi Arabia had pushed the U.S. to prioritize a ceasefire in Lebanon as a foundation for sustaining talks with Iran, a move that ultimately led to the fragile April truce. Despite that truce being formalized, Israel has continued to carry out regular strikes on its northern neighbor and push ground forces deeper into Lebanese territory.

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also publicly confirmed that Israeli forces will seize additional territory in the Gaza Strip, a direct violation of the October ceasefire brokered by the United States. Since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attacks on Israel and the subsequent Israeli military campaign in Gaza, Iran-aligned Houthi forces based in Yemen have launched attacks on commercial shipping transiting the Hormuz waterway, a move the group says is in solidarity with blockaded Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Notably, the Houthi’s Ansar Allah administration operates with a large degree of independence from Tehran, and has so far avoided formally entering the U.S.-Israeli conflict against Iran.

    The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a particularly critical strategic chokepoint: it is the primary shipping outlet for Saudi Arabia’s oil exports via the kingdom’s East-West Pipeline, which connects Gulf oil production fields directly to the Red Sea export terminal of Yanbu. Closure of this strait would not only disrupt global energy supplies but also raise shipping costs dramatically for global trade between Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

  • Canada is failing the Jewish community and Jews are being targeted, Prime Minister Carney says

    Canada is failing the Jewish community and Jews are being targeted, Prime Minister Carney says

    TORONTO – In a stark and urgent address delivered at Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple on Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has sounded the alarm that Canada’s social contract is failing Jewish Canadians, who are facing increasingly brutal, targeted attacks driven by rampant antisemitism across the country.

    Carney emphasized that current levels of anti-Jewish hate have not been witnessed at any point since the end of World War II, painting a grim picture of the state of religious tolerance in the nation. Data shared by the prime minister underscores the severity of the crisis: while Jewish Canadians make up just 1% of the country’s total population, more than two-thirds of all religion-motivated hate crimes committed in Canada last year were directed at members of this community.

    “The horror and shame are global. Our actions must be local. They start with clearly admitting that Canada’s civic compact is failing Jewish Canadians,” Carney stated during the address.

    The prime minister detailed the escalating and violent nature of antisemitic attacks occurring across Canadian regions. Perpetrators have carried out brazen acts including firing bullets at Jewish educational institutions, throwing firebombs at Jewish synagogues, and launching assaults on Jewish community centers. Beyond physical violence, Carney noted that antisemitic harassment has pushed Jewish business owners to face targeted boycotts and attacks on their livelihoods, and has driven Jewish students away from shared public spaces on Canadian university campuses.

    While Carney acknowledged that rising antisemitism is a shared crisis plaguing other Western nations including the United States, Europe and Australia, he stressed that the situation in Canada carries unique characteristics, is exceptionally severe, and requires tailored, targeted policy intervention. Global monitoring organizations have recorded a dramatic spike in antisemitic incidents worldwide since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, a surge that has impacted Canada as heavily as many other nations.

    In response to the growing threat, Carney outlined concrete steps his administration has already taken and plans to implement in the coming months. Over the past year, the federal government has introduced new legislation designed to crack down on antisemitism and all other forms of targeted hatred. The prime minister also confirmed a $75 million Canadian dollar investment – equivalent to approximately $54 million U.S. dollars – that will go toward upgrading security infrastructure and hiring additional security personnel at faith-based institutions across the country, with a focus on protecting Jewish community sites.

    “It pains me that we had to commit $75 million to this, any dollar to this,” Carney said, expressing regret that public funds need to be diverted to protect communities from targeted hate.

    To build a long-term, evidence-based strategy to counter antisemitism, Carney announced the launch of a new Ministerial Advisory Council on Rights, Equality and Inclusion. This special body will be tasked with conducting a comprehensive review to map the nature, full scale and root causes of antisemitism in Canada. Following the council’s assessment, targeted investments in public education, hate prevention and community safety initiatives will be rolled out, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

    Carney took the opportunity to clarify the scope of upcoming policy measures, emphasizing that new interventions will not infringe on fundamental Canadian rights. “I want to be clear about what these potential measures are, and what they are not. They are not curtailments of freedom of expression. They are not constraints on legitimate criticism of any government on any subject anywhere,” he said.

    Instead, the prime minister framed the actions as a defense of fundamental public values: “They are the basic standards we owe one another, in our shared public institutions, to ensure that no Canadian community is driven from those institutions by hatred.”

    Ahead of Carney’s address, Noah Shack, CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, reiterated that the Canadian federal government needs to go further to reinforce Jewish community security and systematically root out systemic hate, a call that the new policy package directly answers.