Global Pulse

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  • ‘We will never bow our head’: Iran’s president strikes defiant tone in UN speech

    ‘We will never bow our head’: Iran’s president strikes defiant tone in UN speech

    Delivering his first address to the United Nations General Assembly just 24 hours after U.S. President Donald Trump issued a brutal threat to “annihilate” the Islamic Republic, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian delivered a defiant yet diplomatic message on Wednesday: Tehran will never capitulate to American pressure, but remains open to negotiated de-escalation.

    Speaking directly to Trump, Pezeshkian emphasized that escalating sanctions, coercive pressure and intimidation tactics would only strengthen Iranian resolve. “The resistance of the Iranian people will only increase in the face of sanctions, increased pressure, increased bullying. We will never bow our head or bend at the knee,” he told the assembled global delegation. To open his address, Pezeshkian held up a portrait of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader, who was assassinated in the opening strikes of the joint U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran launched last February amid stalled nuclear negotiations.

    He also displayed graphic photographs of Iranian children killed in U.S. airstrikes, alongside images of their graves. One attack on an elementary school in Minab left at least 150 people dead, roughly 120 of whom were children. A second strike, which dispersed thousands of lethal tungsten pellets, targeted a sports complex in the southern Iranian city of Lamerd. Earlier this month, a United Nations fact-finding mission concluded there were “reasonable grounds” to classify these strikes as war crimes, findings that underpinned Pezeshkian’s critique of U.S. and Israeli military action.

    The conflict that began in February has dragged on for months, with two successive ceasefire agreements collapsing, and drawn in regional actors from Arab Gulf states to Yemen and Lebanon, raising fears of a full regional escalation.

    Pezeshkian pushed back against long-standing U.S. claims that Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism, arguing that the label is a cynical misrepresentation by the actors that initiated the current war. “Those who are terrorists, and train and protect terrorists, describe us as such. We have only defended ourselves. We are not terrorists. America and Israel attacked us,” he said. He added that Iran has not launched an offensive attack against any other sovereign state in more than two centuries, yet remains branded a rogue actor by Western powers.

    Addressing the core nuclear dispute that the Trump administration has cited as a key justification for war, Pezeshkian reaffirmed Iran’s long-held position that Tehran has no interest in developing a nuclear weapon, but will not abandon its right to peaceful civilian nuclear technology. He pointedly noted the contradiction in U.S. framing: the Trump administration has claimed Iran is close to building a nuclear bomb, even as it boasts that it destroyed Iran’s entire nuclear program in 2025 pre-war strikes.

    “Iran does not accept for nuclear technology to be at the exclusive disposal of some,” Pezeshkian said. “We will not bow our head and give up the right that is inherently ours. We say it clearly: no nuclear weapons and no limitations to peaceful nuclear technology.” He also called out what he framed as blatant hypocrisy from the U.S. and Israel, noting that the international community allows Israel to maintain an open secret nuclear arsenal while forcing unprecedented inspections and restrictions on Iran’s peaceful program. “Atomic and nuclear bombs are in the hands of the Israeli regime, but the inspectors are requested to come to Iran. The nuclear weapon is in Israel, but the inspectors are in Iran. Israel kills, but Iran is subject to sanctions. They kill. We are sanctioned. We are punished,” he said.

    The Trump administration has also pointed to Iran’s ballistic missile program as a core threat to justify military action. In response, Pezeshkian said Iran has every right to maintain a robust defensive military capability to deter potential attacks, noting that its military posture is never aimed at regional hegemony. “Iran must be powerful, so as to avoid being threatened. We do not wish to use our power for hegemony,” he said. “Our defensive systems have been built so that no one can think that the bombing of Iranian cities can go unanswered.”

    Pezeshkian also pushed back against U.S. claims that widespread domestic protests earlier this year justified the invasion, arguing that the unrest was orchestrated by Washington and Tel Aviv to undermine Iranian stability, while the overwhelming majority of Iranians support the Islamic Republic. “The people of Iran have been in the street demonstrating in support of their homeland,” he said, adding that pro-government supporters had stood guard against “equipped, armed and trained by America and Israel to cause insecurity in our country.”

    The UNGA address comes alongside behind-the-scenes diplomatic engagement: U.S. and Iranian officials held talks on the sidelines of the General Assembly Tuesday, a meeting Iranian state media framed as direct negotiations, a characterization that Trump appeared to confirm before the U.S. later walked it back to describe the engagement as indirect.

    As part of new diplomatic proposals, Iran has submitted updated preconditions to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global energy chokepoint that has become a major flashpoint in the conflict, with both Washington and Tehran imposing rival blockades on the waterway. A senior Iranian official told Agence France-Presse that Tehran’s terms have hardened, now requiring the immediate release of $24 billion in Iranian funds frozen by Western sanctions and an end to Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen, a key Iranian ally.

    The most recent ceasefire extension, agreed by Iran and the U.S. in June, collapsed over the summer in large part over disputes surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has pushed to impose tolls on commercial shipping passing through the waterway. Pezeshkian defended Iran’s position on the strait, arguing that it is unreasonable to allow foreign powers to benefit from the waterway while using it as a tool to pressure Iran. “In the Strait of Hormuz, we can’t let some have free access and gain their interests from a waterway, while at the same time using that waterway to impose their aggressions upon us… to forbid us access to our own waterways,” he said.

    Iranian reprisals for the U.S.-Israeli attacks have fallen disproportionately on U.S. Arab Gulf allies, stoking regional pressure for a new diplomatic approach. Earlier this week, both Qatar and the United Arab Emirates called for renewed engagement with Iran and the negotiation of a new regional security framework to end the ongoing conflict.

  • Indians are discovering the thrill of shopping without paying

    Indians are discovering the thrill of shopping without paying

    In an age of endless on-demand digital consumption, two young Indian software developers have built a viral online experiment that cuts to the core of modern consumer psychology: a fake food delivery platform that never actually sends a single meal to your door.

    Created by 26-year-olds Purvansh Parmar and Anshul Sharma from Udaipur, Rajasthan, FoodNeverComes brands itself as the world’s first ‘dopamine kitchen’, and has already drawn more than 2.7 million unique visitors since launching in June. The platform mimics the full experience of ordering takeout: users browse 22 simulated local kitchens, scroll through 327 photo-ready dishes spanning everything from butter chicken to bibimbap, add selections to their digital cart, watch the order total rise, and complete a fully functional simulated checkout. They even get a live delivery tracker showing a rider en route, followed by an AI-generated phone call claiming the driver can’t find their address. But the entire exchange is staged — no food is ever cooked, packed, or dispatched. The site’s blunt slogan sums up its premise: ‘The food never comes — but the dopamine does.’

    FoodNeverComes is far from a one-off gimmick. It is part of a fast-growing new category of online platforms dubbed ‘dopamine sites’: digital spaces that replicate the full ritual of consumer activity without any actual purchase, delivery, or consumption. The trend first emerged in South Korea before spreading globally, spawning a wave of copycat projects that cover everything from fake retail shopping on platforms like Dopamine Shop and Fakehaul to simulated vacation planning. The core insight driving these sites is a simple question that cuts through modern consumer culture: what do we actually get pleasure from when we shop or order online — the product itself, or the process of getting it?

    The idea for the platform grew out of the founders’ own personal experiences with impulsive digital consumption. The pair, who met while studying computer science and now run AI product development firm NeuroX AI, noticed a common pattern in their own habits and those of people around them: filling online shopping carts with desired items, only to abandon the order without checking out. Sharma regularly browsed electronics, adding dozens of devices to his cart before closing the tab without buying. Parmar watched his mother do the same with household goods, adding items to her cart with a promise to ‘order later’ that never came. For Parmar himself, the pattern played out repeatedly on food delivery apps: during a two-month work project in Mumbai, he spent between 5,000 and 10,000 rupees per week on spontaneous takeout orders, often for treats like Belgian waffles, ice cream, and even a large jar of sour cream he had no use for and ended up giving away. That experience led him to a key realization: ‘perhaps the real craving was not always for the food, but for the ritual of ordering it.’

    Parmar and Sharma argue that over time, the routine of ordering food becomes tied to the small rush of dopamine the act produces. What starts as a response to genuine hunger eventually becomes a go-to coping mechanism for boredom, stress, or habit — even when there is no physical need for food. ‘Sometimes you’re not hungry at all. You’re bored or busy, and then you realise that ordering food makes you feel good. You start associating the act of ordering with that dopamine hit. Eventually, it’s not just the food you want,’ Parmar explains.

    Leading behavioral scientists and neuroscientists say the concept aligns with decades of research into how the brain processes reward and desire. Ravi Dhar, director of the Yale Center for Customer Insights, describes this experience as ‘anticipatory utility’ — the distinct pleasure that comes from looking forward to a desired experience. This anticipatory pleasure is often strongest for items that spark the imagination, from new shoes to a vacation to a restaurant meal, because the anticipation itself becomes a core part of the overall experience. In many cases, Dhar notes, the anticipation can be more enjoyable than actually owning or consuming the item: ‘The thrill is in the chase.’ Once the item is obtained and the tension of waiting is resolved, psychological arousal quickly fades.

    Contrary to popular online framing that casts dopamine as simply the brain’s ‘pleasure chemical’, modern neuroscience draws a clear line between the desire to obtain something and the pleasure of having it. University of Michigan neuroscientist Kent Berridge, who developed the influential theory of separate ‘wanting’ and ‘liking’ brain processes, explains that dopamine primarily drives the motivation to pursue a reward — not the experience of pleasure that comes after getting it. This system, which Berridge calls ‘incentive salience’, can be triggered by tempting online products even when the eventual pleasure of ownership is minimal. ‘Some situations can trigger wanting by itself,’ Berridge says. ‘We can pursue something intensely even when the eventual pleasure is weak — or, in more everyday terms, want something more than we ultimately like it.’

    Stanford University addiction psychiatrist and *Dopamine Nation* author Dr. Anna Lembke echoes this distinction, noting that framing dopamine as a pleasure chemical is a major oversimplification: ‘Dopamine is the molecule that says “get more of” or “do more of”, but it doesn’t necessarily equate to pleasure.’ She also points to the powerful role of ritual in reinforcing desire: the familiar routines that lead up to a reward can become reinforcing on their own, just as the pre-use rituals of drug addiction often become as meaningful to the user as the drug itself. ‘Anticipation of reward can be as reinforcing as the reward itself,’ she explains.

    When it comes to whether repeatedly ordering imaginary food can actually satisfy a real craving, experts are divided. Berridge says the ritual could certainly produce a dopamine rush and activate the brain’s wanting system, but he expects the novelty of the experience to fade quickly, and would be surprised if most users return for more than a handful of orders. Dhar, however, is more open to the idea that simulated consumption can act as a healthy release valve for unmet consumer desires: ‘While we still need more empirical data to know if simulated shopping can satisfy a consumer urge, evidence from simulated consumption in gaming shows it can be highly effective,’ he says.

    Others warn of a potential downside: the ritual of fake ordering could simply reinforce the same impulsive consumer habits it aims to address. Lembke notes that research is still ongoing, and the impact will likely vary from person to person, but she suspects that over time, these sites could end up ‘reinforcing the same addictive neural networks they are trying to simulate.’ That said, she sees one key silver lining: users who seek out these platforms have already acknowledged on some level that they struggle with impulsive consumption, and that acknowledgment is the first critical step toward making change.

    Sharma himself has experienced the dynamic firsthand. When his smartphone screen cracked, he spent a full week comparing replacement screens on Amazon, adding multiple options to his cart before eventually repairing his original handset and never buying a new one. ‘I enjoyed the process of research and putting the phones in the cart,’ he says. ‘Eventually I didn’t buy a phone.’ Now he catches himself doing the same thing on food delivery apps when he feels anxious, filling his cart with dishes and never checking out — which led him to recognize his own pattern of impulsive browsing.

    Beyond food, the founders have expanded their concept of simulated consumption to travel with a second platform: TripNeverLeaves. The site lets users plan an entire dream vacation, from choosing a destination and picking a flight seat to booking a hotel and selecting activities, before taking them on a virtual flight that never actually leaves the runway. So far, the site has drawn more than 100,000 visitors, demonstrating broad interest in the concept across different consumer activities. The FoodNeverComes blog also explores the deeper psychological side of the project, covering topics from food delivery addiction and the psychology of the abandoned shopping cart to the guilt that often follows impulsive ordering.

    Lembke notes that younger users may be particularly susceptible to the reinforcing effects of these digital platforms, because the prefrontal cortex — the region of the brain that acts as a ‘brake’ on impulsive desire — does not fully finish developing until early adulthood. ‘In childhood and early adolescence, the front lobe… is not yet fully connected to the emotion centres of the brain. Hence, teens are more likely to take risks without appreciating the negative consequences, and more likely to get addicted to reinforcing substances and behaviours, once exposed,’ she explains.

    For now, Parmar and Sharma say their projects are not intended to generate revenue. They plan to keep both platforms free for all users, and eventually share anonymized visitor data with neuroscientists and psychologists to support further research into consumer behavior. What started as a lighthearted joke about overordering takeout has grown into a provocative social experiment that poses a fundamental question about modern consumer culture: when so much of the thrill of consumption comes from the anticipation before we get what we want, do we actually need to buy the thing at all?

  • Polanski makes his mark as Labour candidate fails to attend election hustings

    Polanski makes his mark as Labour candidate fails to attend election hustings

    On a Tuesday evening, just a five-minute stroll from London’s King’s Cross train station, Green Party leader Zack Polanski stepped confidently into a local art gallery to address a candidate hustings organized by the Camden Muslim Network. What should have been a routine campaign event, however, quickly became a flashpoint: Polanski’s main competitor, Labour’s Sagal Abdi-Wali, was nowhere to be found.

    The absence immediately triggered widespread speculation and frustration among attendees and local political observers. A former Labour councillor, who knows Abdi-Wali personally, told reporters he was not shocked by her no-show. Echoing his wife’s criticism that the candidate “just does whatever the bosses tell her. She can’t do policy”, the pair suggested Abdi-Wali had avoided the event out of fear of facing tough, unscripted questions from voters. Mahad, a local resident, Somali heritage pro-Palestine campaigner, echoed that sentiment, arguing the Labour candidate likely skipped the hustings to dodge scrutiny of her stance on the Israel-Palestine conflict, a top issue for many voters in the diverse constituency.

    Event organizers, who founded the Camden Muslim Network in 2024, confirmed the Labour camp cited a conflicting prior commitment as the official reason for Abdi-Wali’s absence. But for many gathered at the gallery, this explanation fell flat. By definition, hustings are designed to let voters meet candidates, hear their policy platforms, and hold them accountable for their positions — a core function of democratic elections that was undermined by the high-profile absence.

    A senior Green Party source framed the no-show as a disrespectful snub to local voters. “This was an open opportunity to discuss every issue that matters to residents here, from the ongoing conflict in Gaza and broader Middle East tensions to the pressing local problems that affect people every single day,” the source said. “You would think Labour would have at least had the courtesy and respect to explain its position on these critical issues to the people who will be voting.” Multiple requests for comment from Abdi-Wali from Middle East Eye went unanswered.

    The contest itself was triggered by an unusual political turn of events: after Andy Burnham won a by-election for Makerfield and took his seat in Westminster, incoming Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigned his parliamentary seat for Holborn and St Pancras, opening up the decades-long Labour stronghold. The Camden Muslim Network, a group that openly identifies as pro-Palestine, previously supported independent pro-Palestine candidate Andrew Feinstein in the 2024 general election, where Feinstein took more than 7,000 votes and drastically cut Starmer’s majority before the former Labour leader retained the seat.

    Today, the by-election carries outsized stakes for both major contenders. For the Labour Party, the race is a critical political temperature check: it will test whether the party under new Prime Minister Andy Burnham can win back the left-wing pro-Palestine voters who abandoned Labour during Starmer’s tenure. If Labour holds the seat, insiders suggest Burnham will be emboldened to call a snap general election to solidify his mandate. For the Green Party, the contest is make-or-break for its growing national momentum. The party has surged in polling since Polanski took leadership, scored a surprise win in the Gorton and Denton by-election earlier this year, and outperformed Reform UK in taking disaffected votes from Labour during May’s local elections. Polanski’s high-profile challenge here is widely credited as a contributing factor to Starmer’s political downfall that cleared the way for Burnham.

    But a loss would deal a severe blow to the party’s momentum, while a victory would confirm the Greens’ ability to unseat Labour even in its traditional strongholds, and cement their position as a powerful left-wing bloc capable of shaping national political discourse. Senior Green sources say they are quietly optimistic, pointing to a robust ground campaign and positive feedback from voters on doorsteps. Recent policy moves from Burnham’s government, including new comprehensive sanctions on Israeli settlements, have won praise from pro-Palestine groups, but many local voters remain unconvinced.

    Holborn and St Pancras is home to roughly 110,000 residents, a deeply diverse constituency mixing affluent neighborhoods and working-class communities, with a disproportionately young population including a large student body, and around one in five voters identifying as Muslim. This demographic makeup, once a reliable advantage for Labour, has increasingly shifted toward the Greens in recent years as voters abandon the party over policy failures on both local and international issues.

    Mahad, the local pro-Palestine campaigner, summed up the sentiment of many disaffected lifelong Labour voters: the change in prime minister has brought “better rhetoric”, but has not fixed deep-rooted problems with the local Labour Party. “Labour locally have been pretty bad,” he said. “They’ve been terrible on housing, terrible on homelessness.” He described Polanski as charismatic and a consistent supporter of Palestinian rights.

    Diana Foster, founding director of the People’s Museum in Somers Town that preserves the area’s working-class heritage, said she shared the view that Abdi-Wali skipped the event because she was “too scared to be put on the spot”. Foster and her friend Esther, another lifelong Labour voter now considering the Greens, both identified housing as the top local issue, and said the Greens are far more aligned with their concerns. While Foster acknowledged Abdi-Wali’s deep local roots — pointing out that Polanski, a London Assembly member, is not originally from the constituency — she said the lack of change under new party leadership has pushed her away from Labour.

    Abdi-Wali, a Somali child refugee who rose to become leader of Camden Council, has a compelling personal story of success in local politics and community organizing. Earlier this month, she was the target of a racist social media attack from Reform UK politician Zia Yusuf, who questioned her suitability for office based on her place of birth, remarks that were widely condemned by Labour MPs. In recent comments to the New Statesman, Abdi-Wali pushed back against criticism, promising voters: “I will never be just another Labour backbencher… I will be someone who’s a local, committed, dedicated public servant, which I don’t think any of the other people on the ballot can be.” Despite this, Abdi-Wali, a known Starmer ally, remains deeply unpopular with local pro-Palestine activists, who point to Camden Council’s ongoing refusal to divest from companies accused of complicity in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Many ethnic minority voters who have backed Labour for decades say they are now prepared to switch to the Greens over the issue.

    Polanski has drawn both mockery and praise for an unusual campaign tactic: he has released campaign videos in multiple foreign languages, including Urdu, French, and Bangla, to connect with the constituency’s diverse communities. While some online critics have mocked his pronunciation and noted few residents list Urdu as a first language, other political observers have praised the effort to reach underrepresented voters. A former Labour councillor called the move “excellent” and a refreshing break from standard campaign practices.

    On the night of the hustings, only two national party candidates showed up: Polanski and Liberal Democrat Patrick Stillman, who represents the party’s local moderate base in the constituency’s northern affluent neighborhoods. Invitations were also extended to Conservative, Reform UK, and Workers Party candidate George Galloway, who is currently in South Africa, but all declined or were absent. Most voters at the event see the contest as a straight head-to-head between Labour and the Greens, though some worry a small share of votes for Galloway among older Muslim voters could split the left-wing vote and harm Polanski’s chances.

    Much of the hustings discussion focused on bread-and-butter local issues, from parking access to the ongoing housing and homelessness crises. Polanski demonstrated detailed knowledge of local concerns, and consistently tied local problems to national inequality, calling on the Burnham government “to tax multi-millionaires and billionaires a small amount to make sure that we’re putting that money into our communities”.

    When the conversation turned to foreign policy, Polanski took a hard line against the current Labour government’s approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Condemning the government’s decision to continue arms sales to Israel as “deeply cynical”, he called for full economic, trade, and cultural boycotts, divestment, and sanctions against Israel until the end of military operations in Gaza. “We need a full boycott divestment sanctions on goods and not just some services, but all services until Israel stops killing innocent people and stops the genocide,” he said. On the question of nuclear proliferation, Polanski said no country should possess nuclear weapons, pushing back against the idea that candidates should avoid discussing foreign policy at local events.

    “It’s important that we elect MPs in Parliament who will not warmonger, but who speak for peace and democracy and diplomacy,” Polanski said. “And what we see over and over again is voices like mine or anti-war voices get ridiculed, or the media try and present us as if we’re some sort of threat or danger. I think the threat or the danger are MPs who take money off the arms trade companies and then in parliament whip up things into storms as opposed to talking about peace and diplomacy, which is ultimately what we need to be pushing for.”

    Stillman, for his part, argued for a more targeted approach to sanctions that prioritized keeping diplomatic channels open, and he joined Polanski in criticizing Labour for Abdi-Wali’s absence. Both candidates received warm applause from the 60-person audience, which drew a mix of ages and ethnicities from across the constituency.

    Political analysts speculate that Labour’s decision to avoid the event may be a deliberate strategy: with the seat safely in Labour hands for decades, the party may be prioritizing avoiding missteps or viral controversies over engaging with skeptical voters. It is, as many observers note, Labour’s seat to lose, and the Greens have mounted the most serious challenge the constituency has seen in generations. With polling day set for 8 October, and both party conferences scheduled to take place before voting, much remains uncertain, and the outcome could reshape British politics for years to come.

  • AI superpower ambitions take centre stage as Trump and Xi meet

    AI superpower ambitions take centre stage as Trump and Xi meet

    As the United States and China prepare for a high-stakes meeting between their respective leaders, few topics promise to shape the future of global technology as profoundly as the intensifying race for artificial intelligence supremacy. From investment strategies to regulatory frameworks, the two global AI powers have carved out distinct paths in their pursuit of leadership, with outcomes that will reverberate across every sector of the global economy.

    U.S. President Donald Trump has left no ambiguity about his administration’s stance: the race for AI dominance is a zero-sum contest, and China is the clear primary competitor. “Whoever wins AI, WINS!” Trump has declared, dismissing warnings about existential risks posed by unregulated advanced AI development as nothing more than a “hoax.” While Chinese President Xi Jinping has not employed the same blunt rhetoric, analysts agree Beijing shares the view that AI is a core pillar of 21st century national power.

    “China very much sees it as a race, they very much think China should be the leading force in AI – they see AI as a power maximiser,” explains Rebecca Arcesati, a China technology analyst at the Mercator Institute for China Studies. For more than a decade, AI has anchored Beijing’s long-term technological development strategy, regardless of how prominently it is featured in public remarks from top leadership.

    In contrast to Washington’s framing of great power competition, China’s foreign ministry has pushed back against what it calls “narratives of threat” and zero-sum confrontation, arguing that collaborative global governance is the only way to ensure AI delivers benefits to all nations. Still, when Trump and Xi sit down for bilateral talks this week, AI will top the bilateral agenda, with implications for every region of the world.

    Both nations indisputably lead global AI development, but measuring which holds an edge depends entirely on how success is defined. U.S. private firms currently dominate the development of frontier large language models: the top-performing systems on most independent industry benchmarks come from American companies including OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic. That said, the gap is narrowing far faster than many analysts predicted a half-decade ago. Data from Stanford University researchers shows that in 2025, a model developed by Chinese AI startup DeepSeek briefly matched the performance of the world’s leading U.S. model, and as of March 2026, Anthropic’s top system held only a 2.7% performance lead over its closest Chinese competitor.

    A large part of Washington’s current lead stems from the massive amounts of private capital flowing into leading AI labs, which are burning through billions of dollars to build the massive computing infrastructure required to train next-generation frontier models. The AI boom has also driven a U.S. stock market surge, with a significant share of recent U.S. economic expansion tied to the explosive growth and projected long-term profitability of leading AI companies – a key factor behind Trump’s framing of AI leadership as central to national success.

    A major headwind for China’s AI sector has been sweeping U.S. export restrictions that ban American firms from selling the advanced cutting-edge microchips required for training large frontier models to Chinese entities. Despite these barriers, both nations continue to roll out new, more capable AI models at a pace of roughly one per month, and there remains no clear consensus on what “winning” the AI race would actually look like, or if a formal finish line even exists.

    Unlike the U.S. focus on closed, proprietary frontier models, China’s AI industry has prioritized the development of open-weight models – systems that can be freely downloaded and modified by third-party developers, similar to open-source software. This approach has allowed Chinese AI firms to rapidly close the performance gap: independent benchmarks show China’s top open-weight models trail the leading U.S. proprietary systems by only a few months in performance. Standout models such as Moonshot AI’s Kimi K3 have gained popularity both inside China and among global developers, thanks to their near-frontier performance paired with free accessibility and customizability.

    Lizzi Lee, a China analyst at the Asia Society Policy Institute, notes that Beijing’s core strategic focus is not on winning a symbolic race for the single most powerful model, but on widespread deployment of AI across the entire domestic economy. “AI isn’t the moon landing,” Lee argues. “The U.S. may lead at the frontier, while China could still gain enormous economic and geopolitical leverage by making capable AI cheap, open and ubiquitous.”

    China also holds key structural advantages that are often overlooked in debates about model performance. AI training and deployment is extremely energy-intensive, and Chinese AI firms can access the large volumes of low-cost electricity required to run AI workloads far more cheaply than their U.S. competitors, Arcesati told the BBC World Service’s *Tech Life*. That cost advantage translates into sustained, long-term benefits for the country’s AI sector.

    In AI-enabled robotics, a field many experts predict will transform global manufacturing and supply chains over the coming decade, China already holds a clear global lead. The International Federation of Robotics estimates that China is home to more than two million industrial robots, more than any other nation, making it the world’s largest robot manufacturer. Chatham House data adds that China also accounts for more than 90% of global humanoid robot shipments in the first half of 2026.

    Analysts say Chinese AI developers have demonstrated remarkable innovation despite the constraints of U.S. chip export controls. “Chinese AI developers have showed ‘remarkable resilience and innovation’ in spite of the shortage of advanced American chips,” notes Lian Jye Su, a senior analyst at tech research firm Omdia. U.S. officials and industry leaders have alleged that some Chinese developers close the performance gap through model distillation, a technique that allows smaller models to learn from the output of more advanced proprietary platforms, a claim Beijing rejects. In response to such allegations, China’s foreign ministry says its AI development is driven by a vision of “extensive consultation and joint contribution for shared benefit.”

    Beyond competing development strategies, the U.S. and China also hold starkly different approaches to AI safety and regulation. While leading AI voices in the West have warned that unregulated advanced AI could pose existential risks to humanity, Chinese researchers and policymakers have prioritized addressing other risks, including misuse of the technology and potential AI-enabled cyber conflict.

    For his part, Trump has argued that the U.S. already has sufficient regulatory guardrails in place, joking that the only guardrail AI needs is a “high IQ” president. “We’re leading now over China by a lot, and everyone else, and we’re going to keep it that way,” Trump said in remarks ahead of the summit. “We’re not going to stifle the growth of something that will be bigger than the industrial revolution.” Jayant Dave, an information security officer at global cybersecurity firm Check Point Software Technologies, explains that Washington has deliberately prioritized innovation over strict regulation in order to preserve the U.S. lead over China.

    Beijing has taken a markedly different, more centrally coordinated approach. Xi has repeatedly urged Chinese regulators to maintain close oversight of AI risks, requiring that the technology remain permanently under human control. Dave notes that China moved faster than most Western nations to introduce binding and non-binding guidance for data usage and algorithmic transparency, addressing many core public concerns early on. Jonathan Sim, an AI ethics lecturer at the National University of Singapore, adds that China’s framework of non-legally binding guidelines sets clear expectations for developers while still leaving room for iterative innovation.

    Despite repeated calls for global cooperation on AI governance, there remains little shared understanding between the two powers about the nature of AI risks, making tangible progress on joint safety measures unlikely. The two nations successfully built cooperative frameworks to manage nuclear risks during the Cold War, but that cooperation relied on a shared understanding of the threat – a consensus that does not exist for AI today. Dave explains that “Washington worries about capability escaping control. Beijing worries about capability threatening domestic stability,” creating fundamentally different risk priorities.

    Trump has already rejected calls from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other U.S. industry leaders for a coordinated global slowdown of advanced AI development, arguing that such a pause would only allow Chinese developers to close the performance gap. Still, there are small signs of incremental progress ahead of the summit: U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng have already held preliminary talks to establish a bilateral notification mechanism for major, high-risk AI incidents.

    Leia Wang, a policy analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, notes that while Trump’s recent public rhetoric on China has grown more antagonistic, the fact that AI is formally on the summit agenda is a positive early step. Wang warns that allowing an unhealthy, all-or-nothing “race narrative” to escalate could deepen rivalry and increase the risk of miscalculation in one of the world’s most consequential technology sectors.

  • Lebanon’s army asks for $3bn to meet demands but international support limited

    Lebanon’s army asks for $3bn to meet demands but international support limited

    Almost 24 months have passed since the November 2024 ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel, and the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) are confronting a widening chasm between the sweeping security and territorial responsibilities the international community has placed on their shoulders and the tangible financial and material support pledged to back those efforts. As the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) prepares to wrap up its mandate at the end of 2026, the LAF has been directed to expand Lebanese state control across the entire country, starting with the strategically critical territory south of the Litani River, and absorb all of the security duties currently carried out by the UN peacekeeping mission.

    Senior Lebanese government and military officials speaking exclusively to Middle East Eye confirm that a French-led initiative to rally global backing for the LAF has so far failed to deliver meaningful concrete assistance. A preparatory coordination gathering hosted in Paris on September 17 brought together delegations from 17 nations to discuss support for both the LAF and Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces, alongside planning for post-UNIFIL governance in southern Lebanon. Yet according to a high-ranking Lebanese government source with direct knowledge of the closed-door talks, the meeting yielded no major financial commitments and no set timeline for a full donor conference that would unlock large-scale funding.

    “Frankly, nothing actually happened,” the source told MEE. The only tangible contribution to date has come from Jordan, the source added, though the LAF delegation that attended the talks characterized the Jordanian aid package as relatively modest. A separate senior LAF official echoed that assessment, telling MEE the meeting delivered “nothing real” to address the force’s pressing needs.

    This gap between the LAF’s documented requirements and donor willingness to deliver has grown increasingly urgent as global powers pressure Lebanon to extend state authority and consolidate all weapons under official state institutions, rather than allowing armed groups like Hezbollah to maintain independent military capabilities. Verified internal LAF documents reviewed by MEE show the force estimates its short- and medium-term operational and transformation needs will cost roughly $3 billion to implement.

    That $3 billion price tag is outlined in a 21-page strategic presentation the LAF prepared for an earlier preparatory conference held in Cairo in February 2026, which lays out a comprehensive five-year institutional modernization and expansion plan for the force. The document details a military grappling with overlapping political, financial, security and operational pressures simultaneously. Key risks identified include Lebanon’s ongoing nationwide economic collapse, a shrinking annual defense budget, overreliance on foreign aid, declining donor contributions, persistent cross-border hostilities, terrorist threats, and the destabilizing consequences of a drawdown of international presence in the country.

    The presentation also highlights deepening personnel and operational readiness challenges, including eroded real salaries amid soaring inflation, a growing exodus of skilled service members, difficulties retaining top talent, rising cyber threats, coordinated information warfare campaigns, and a continuously expanding list of mandated missions. The LAF is currently tasked with border security, counterterrorism operations, disarmament of non-state armed groups, internal security patrols, and humanitarian disaster response, creating what the document terms a crisis of “mission overstretch.”

    The plan is structured around four core strategic pillars: consolidating state security and border control, restructuring and modernizing the LAF’s force structure, strengthening national resilience and crisis response capacity, and upgrading human resources and personnel support. The short- and medium-term priorities place special focus on southern Lebanon, where the LAF aims to establish full stability, take over the security responsibilities currently held by UNIFIL, strengthen border management, and ultimately assume full border defense duties once the UN mission concludes.

    The plan also calls for expanded border control along Lebanon’s lengthy frontier with Syria and a transition of maritime security responsibilities currently held by UNIFIL’s Maritime Task Force. Broken down by budget line, the $3 billion request allocates roughly $1.09 billion to boost combat readiness, $654 million for critical new military capabilities, $364 million for adjusted salaries and retention incentives, $334 million to absorb duties from UNIFIL’s Maritime Task Force, $193 million to extend border control infrastructure along the Syrian border, and $150 million to stand up full border defense operations after UNIFIL’s mandate expires.

    Personnel crises are particularly acute: the document places current operational readiness at just 75% of the full readiness required to meet all mandated missions, and draws a direct link between stagnant military salaries and Lebanon’s skyrocketing cost of living, which has left many service members struggling to support their families. The presentation also makes explicit that the LAF’s institutional mission cannot be separated from Lebanon’s ongoing political struggle over the ownership of weapons, listing the “monopoly of arms” as a core strategic objective and explicitly calling for all use of military force to be restricted exclusively to official state institutions.

    This goal, and the parallel reality of Hezbollah’s large, independent arsenal, has become a central sticking point in international discussions over aid to Lebanon. While participants at the February Cairo meeting publicly reaffirmed their commitment to mobilize financial and technical support to help the Lebanese state extend its control across all national territory, with Egypt’s foreign ministry noting the end goal is to enable the state to establish an exclusive monopoly on weapons, the LAF’s presentation makes clear that achieving this objective requires a far better resourced and more capable force. The core argument is that the LAF cannot be expected to take on expanded territorial and security responsibilities without the personnel, funding, infrastructure, and capabilities needed to execute those duties effectively.

    Pressure on the LAF has grown steadily since the 2024 ceasefire, which stipulated that the LAF would deploy across southern Lebanon alongside the withdrawal of Israeli forces, and that only official Lebanese state personnel would be permitted to carry weapons south of the Litani River. In August 2025, Lebanon’s cabinet formally tasked the LAF with implementing a national plan to extend state authority and restrict weapons access exclusively to official institutions. By January 2026, the LAF announced it had completed the first phase of this plan in the South Litani Sector, though it explicitly excluded areas still remaining under Israeli occupation from this assessment.

    The force also noted that unexploded ordnance, unaddressed cross-border tunnels, and persistent Israeli military activity that restricts access to key areas have slowed progress on completing the mission. The first phase was framed as a meaningful step forward, but not the completion of the LAF’s broader national mandate. The next, far larger phase of the mission will require extending state control north of the Litani and eventually across the entire country, a goal that demands massive additional resources at a moment when major international donors are increasingly questioning whether the Lebanese state and its military are willing to confront Hezbollah over its independent weapons stockpiles.

    The February Cairo meeting was initially intended to pave the way for a high-level donor conference in Paris the following month, with the European Union already signaling it was prepared to commit €100 million primarily for logistical equipment for the LAF. However, on March 1, 2026, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and French President Emmanuel Macron announced the Paris conference would be postponed, citing that the preconditions required for a productive meeting were no longer in place. The next day, Hezbollah launched a new round of rocket attacks targeting Israel, prompting the Lebanese government to ban all unauthorized military and security activity by non-state actors including Hezbollah, and direct the LAF to begin implementing disarmament measures north of the Litani.

    This resumption of hostilities completely reshaped the political and security context the donor conference was meant to operate in, leaving the LAF tasked with even more urgent responsibilities while its international support mechanism remained on hold. September’s Paris meeting was organized to restart the stalled donor process.

    France has long sought to maintain a central diplomatic and political role in Lebanon, and has led planning to prepare for a stable post-UNIFIL environment. Jordan has also taken on a more active role, with the senior Lebanese government source noting Amman is increasingly concerned about the regional spillover of Lebanese instability, particularly amid ongoing tensions in Syria and the West Bank.

    Public messaging from Paris following the September meeting was far more positive than the private assessments offered by Lebanese officials. Macron framed the gathering as a step to strengthen Lebanese sovereignty and enable the Lebanese state to guarantee its own security, while Aoun expressed satisfaction with the discussions and repeated his call for expanded international support for the LAF and Lebanese security forces. The United States also participated in the meeting, with US Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa describing the gathering as a useful opportunity to coordinate global backing for the LAF.

    Despite this upbeat public framing, the senior Lebanese government source confirmed “the meeting did not result in a commitment to provide the army with the resources it has requested,” and “there was also no agreed timetable for the full donor conference.” The source noted that the participation of major global powers including the United States and Saudi Arabia was one of the only clear positive outcomes, but added that “there was no immediate financial pledge and no framework for when the main conference would take place.”

    The senior LAF source offered a matching analysis: “France wants to preserve a significant role in Lebanon and genuinely wants to support the army, but countries with greater financial capacity remain reluctant.” According to the senior Lebanese government source, Saudi Arabia remains hesitant to commit large-scale funding because it believes the LAF has not yet fulfilled all expected obligations regarding addressing Hezbollah’s weapons status. Washington shares similar concerns, the source added, and is also currently distracted by other pressing regional priorities.

    This deadlock has left the LAF facing an intractable dilemma. The international community is demanding the force expand its presence, secure all of Lebanon’s borders, prepare for UNIFIL’s departure, and establish the state’s exclusive authority over all weapons. The LAF’s own internal assessment confirms achieving these goals requires $3 billion in new funding and a sweeping institutional transformation. But major powers capable of providing that level of support are increasingly tying assistance to broader political demands that have yet to be met.

    For France, the issue is as much about preserving long-standing French influence in Lebanon as it is about avoiding a dangerous security vacuum in southern Lebanon once UNIFIL withdraws. For Lebanon, the stakes center on whether the LAF can build the capacity required to implement a policy that has placed the force at the heart of the country’s ongoing internal confrontation over Hezbollah’s arms. For Washington and Riyadh, Lebanese officials say, the core question is whether additional funding will actually deliver the political and security outcomes the two powers are seeking.

    The LAF’s February Cairo presentation anticipated many of these hurdles. It did not merely request new equipment, vehicles, and salary support from donors; it laid out a full five-year institutional transformation plan, with an estimated price tag of $3 billion for the initial phases. Seven months after that formal request was submitted, the international coordination process has yet to deliver a matching commitment. With UNIFIL’s mandate set to expire at the end of 2026, the gap between the responsibilities assigned to the LAF and the financial support global powers are willing to provide has become impossible to ignore.

  • ‘We’ll always be here’: Activists target Erdogan in US over LGBTQ+ crackdown

    ‘We’ll always be here’: Activists target Erdogan in US over LGBTQ+ crackdown

    During Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s high-profile visit to the United States to address the United Nations General Assembly, LGBTQ+ rights activists have launched a high-visibility rebuke of his administration’s sweeping crackdown on queer communities and their allies, taking over digital billboards in one of the world’s most iconic public spaces. The action, organized by the Turkish advocacy group March 19 Platform, fills the New York Times Square billboards with a defiant message: “we’ll always be here”, paired with a portrait of Zeki Muren, a cultural figure beloved across Turkey since the 1950s who remains an enduring queer icon for his flamboyant persona and gender-nonconforming style, despite never publicly confirming his sexuality. In an official statement outlining the action, the group explained that Muren’s image, framed by rainbow colors, serves as a deliberate act of public visibility at a moment when LGBTQ+ people and human rights defenders in Turkey face escalating state repression. The March 19 Platform takes its name from the date of the 2025 arrest of prominent opposition Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, linking the crackdown on queer communities to a broader pattern of political repression under Erdogan’s government. The provocative public protest comes in the wake of a sweeping nationwide wave of detentions, raids and legal actions targeting LGBTQ+ groups, their staff, supporters and ordinary queer citizens across Turkey. In recent weeks alone, Turkish law enforcement has raided hundreds of individuals and civil society organizations, imposed blocks on hundreds of social media accounts and independent websites, and secured formal arrest warrants for more than 80 people who remain in pre-trial detention. Those detained have been hit with a slate of controversial charges, ranging from “obscenity” and “assisting prostitution” to alleged “financial links to foreign groups”, framing the crackdown as part of the government’s stated mission to protect traditional Turkish family values. During his address to the UN General Assembly on September 24, Erdogan amplified this narrative, listing “global gender-neutralisation policies” alongside major global threats including Islamophobia, unregulated artificial intelligence and global food insecurity. He characterized these policies as a deliberate “siege” targeting children and the foundational institution of the family, telling the assembly: “We can break the siege only by protecting the family consisting of women and men. Turkey will continue to take initiatives in protecting families and children, in spite of attacks from certain lobby groups.” While same-sex relations have never been criminalized in Turkey, and social attitudes toward sexual orientation and gender identity vary widely across the country, Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has steadily ramped up rhetorical and legal targeting of the LGBTQ+ community over the past decade. Earlier this year, Erdogan officially designated the period starting in 2026 as the national “Decade of the Family”, framing the initiative as a defense of traditional social structures. The ongoing nationwide crackdown has even been branded the “My Family is Safe” operation by Turkish authorities. In a move that has drawn criticism from international human rights groups, social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has complied with requests from Turkish authorities to block the accounts of dozens of prominent civil society and media organizations. Among the blocked accounts are Amnesty International Turkey, left-wing independent outlet Evrensel, the peace advocacy group Academics for Peace, the Media and Law Studies Association, CETAD (the Sexual Education, Treatment and Research Association, which provides life-saving support to people living with HIV), and the Psychiatric Association of Turkey. One of the highest-profile targets of the crackdown is Kaos GL, Turkey’s most prominent and long-standing LGBTQ+ civil rights organization. The Ankara Chief Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that 21 people linked to the group have been arrested as part of an ongoing national investigation. In an interview with independent outlet Middle East Eye last week, Kaos GL editor-in-chief Yildiz Tar said the scale of the current repression is unprecedented in his experience of activism. Tar explained that roughly half of those arrested are professional journalists and LGBTQ+ rights campaigners, while the other half are ordinary citizens taken during raids on queer-owned bars, community cafes and private homes. “This is a new level of oppression toward LGBTQ activism and existence – and the government is trying to get people to say LGBTQ people are trying to destroy the family,” Tar said. He added that the government’s narrative deliberately distracts from the actual threats facing Turkish families: “The real threat to the family is poverty, lack of social policies, the threat is femicide, and they are trying to cover that lack of policies by demonising LGBTQ people.”

  • Eritreans planning ‘revolution’ in Tel Aviv warehouse: Haaretz report

    Eritreans planning ‘revolution’ in Tel Aviv warehouse: Haaretz report

    A new organized Eritrean opposition movement targeting the long-standing government of President Isaias Afwerki has set up one of its key international coordination hubs in a southern Tel Aviv warehouse, according to an exclusive investigative report from Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

    Calling itself Brigade Nhamedu, the group says it is building a unified global political structure to mobilize the large community of Eritrean exiles scattered across the world, with the end goal of returning to Eritrea to dislodge Afwerki’s administration. The movement recently held a global vote that brought together Eritrean diaspora communities across 17 countries to select a 51-member international governing council. Approximately 1,300 Eritreans based in Israel cast their ballots last month in the central Israeli city of Nes Ziona, as part of that electoral process. Since the council’s formation, it has held weekly virtual and in-person sessions to map out strategy, covering everything from fundraising and diplomatic outreach to plans for establishing a forward operating base in neighboring Ethiopia and maintaining secure communication with dissident activists inside Eritrea, the report confirms.

    Brigade Nhamedu is headed by veteran Eritrean dissident Beyene Gerezgiher, who operates out of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, with specialized departments covering finance, diplomatic engagement, community organizing, and military planning already structured within the movement. “Behind us are masses of people ready to fight for their country,” Gerezgiher told Haaretz in an interview, adding that the movement already has embedded sources inside Eritrea, including among senior civilian government and military officials. Haaretz noted that it could not independently verify this claim of insider access. Gerezgiher also emphasized broad public discontent within Eritrea, stating “We know the masses are waiting for us, especially in Asmara,” Eritrea’s capital city.

    The emergence of this organized opposition base on Israeli soil comes amid a sharp downward spiral in diplomatic relations between Asmara and Tel Aviv. The two countries established formal diplomatic ties immediately after Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 – the same year that Afwerki was evacuated to Israel for life-saving medical treatment after contracting severe cerebral malaria. But relations have cooled steadily over the decades, culminating in Israel’s decision to close its embassy in Asmara in 2022.

    In an interview with Middle East Eye earlier this month, Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh clarified that Asmara had deliberately chosen to cut formal ties with Israel. “We decided we didn’t want their [Israeli] embassy here,” Saleh said. “We are not antagonistic to Israel, but we just decided we didn’t want any relations.” He also questioned Israel’s expanding strategic ambitions in the Horn of Africa, particularly its growing security and economic partnership with the breakaway region of Somaliland. “We have to ask why Israel is running to control the Horn of Africa. Why do they need a base in Somaliland?” he asked. A separate anonymous senior Eritrean official told Middle East Eye that Asmara rejected a 2016 request from the United Arab Emirates to build a shared Israeli-Emirati military facility on an island in Eritrea’s Dahlak Archipelago.

    Afwerki, now 82 years old, has held uninterrupted power in Eritrea since independence in 1993. The country has not held a national election in nearly three decades, its post-independence constitution has never been enacted, and all independent domestic media outlets have been shut down by the government. The regime’s policy of indefinite compulsory national service is widely documented as the primary driver of mass emigration, with an estimated two million Eritreans now living as refugees or asylum seekers outside their home country. Brigade Nhamedu’s core organizing strategy centers on uniting these fragmented diaspora communities into a cohesive political force capable of challenging the Asmara government.

    Two Eritrean exiles who have built new lives in Israel lead the movement’s operations in the country: Atakliti Abraham Michael and Mulue Sultan. Michael told Haaretz that his dissident activism has already had devastating personal costs for his family, who remained in Eritrea after he fled. One of his sons was imprisoned for two years before successfully escaping Eritrea, he said, while his 14-year-old youngest son remains in state detention and is set to be conscripted into the military once his sentence is completed. “First of all, I’m fighting to get back to my children,” Michael said. “We have our national story, but each person also has his own personal story.” Sultan, who arrived in Israel as an asylum seeker in 2008, added that even Eritreans who have established stable lives abroad overwhelmingly hope to return home once the political situation changes. “No one wants to be a refugee forever, everyone wants to go home,” he said.

    Brigade Nhamedu rose to global prominence following a wave of violent confrontations between pro-government and opposition Eritrean communities across multiple countries over the past two years. In September 2023, large-scale clashes broke out in Tel Aviv around a pro-government event organized by the Eritrean embassy. A May 2025 United Nations report cited by Haaretz records that at least nine Eritreans, from both the pro- and anti-government camps, have been killed in violent clashes within Israel since that incident.

    Dawit Teferi, Brigade Nhamedu’s Washington-based finance director, said the movement did not anticipate the outbreak of violence and regrets the loss of life. He added, however, that the clashes exposed the depth of political anger among Eritreans abroad and accelerated efforts to build a formal, structured opposition movement. Teferi has already traveled to Washington to court support from members of the U.S. Congress and senior Biden administration officials, arguing that the U.S., Israel, and Gulf Arab states all have clear strategic interests in backing a new friendly government in the strategically located Red Sea nation.

    Gerezgiher acknowledged that informal outreach to Western and regional powers has not yet resulted in official recognition for the movement, and stressed that Brigade Nhamedu cannot achieve its goals without sustained international backing. He confirmed that the movement has not yet recruited a armed fighting force, but is actively preparing for a moment when it can enter Eritrea to confront the government. “We’re ready for the right moment,” he said. “And I think we’re close to it. Very close.”

  • Watch: How toxic smog from wildfires is making Indonesians sick

    Watch: How toxic smog from wildfires is making Indonesians sick

    Indonesia is currently grappling with a public health emergency sparked by toxic smog drifting from raging seasonal wildfires, new data shows. Since the start of August, nearly 175,000 people across the archipelago have developed respiratory illnesses linked directly to exposure to the hazardous air pollution.

    The annual wildfire crisis, which is often amplified by dry El Niño weather conditions and uncontrolled land clearing for agricultural expansion, has sent plumes of fine particulate matter and toxic chemicals billowing across populated regions of the country. Unlike regular air pollution, wildfire smog carries a concentrated mix of carcinogens and irritants that penetrate deep into the lungs and bloodstream, worsening pre-existing conditions and triggering acute illness even among otherwise healthy people.

    Local health authorities have deployed mobile clinics to hard-hit areas to treat affected residents, but ongoing poor air quality continues to drive new cases daily. The crisis has also renewed calls for more coordinated national and regional action to address the root causes of recurrent wildfires, as climate change continues to exacerbate dry conditions that turn land clearing accidents into out-of-control blazes.

    The public health impact extends beyond immediate respiratory issues, with researchers warning that long-term exposure to this level of toxic smog can lead to chronic cardiovascular problems, impaired child development and increased mortality risk for vulnerable groups including the elderly and immunocompromised.

  • Gaza students return to makeshift schools after three years of genocide

    Gaza students return to makeshift schools after three years of genocide

    Three years of violent conflict have robbed nearly an entire generation of Palestinian children in Gaza of consistent, formal education — but for 13-year-old Akram Helles, the first day of the 2026 school year marked a long-awaited return to learning. On a sweltering September morning, the seventh-grader squeezed onto a thin foam mattress alongside dozens of classmates inside a white makeshift tent, the new campus of Gaza Municipality Preparatory School in Gaza City’s western Rimal neighborhood. At the front of the canvas structure, a single large whiteboard leans against the tent pole, with one small wooden chair set aside for their teacher. Temperatures inside climb to oppressive heights, and all students sit directly on the packed dirt ground, but none of that dims Helles’ excitement to be back in a classroom after years of interrupted schooling.\n\nAkram’s father, 38-year-old Mohammad Helles, told Middle East Eye that the family still can barely believe their son has finally accessed structured in-person learning after everything they have survived. Since the outbreak of full-scale conflict in 20023, Akram and his two siblings spent extended periods completely out of school, he explained. Remote online learning was unworkable for most families, and private schooling was completely out of reach, leaving the children trapped in educational limbo for years.\n\nAkram’s story is far from unique. According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), roughly 700,000 Gaza students have been locked out of formal education since the conflict began. When the 2026 school year launched last Sunday, approximately 500,000 children were able to return to in-person learning for the first time in three years: 350,000 enrolled in public school programs, and another 150,000 joined facilities run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).\n\nBut the learning environments these children have returned to bear almost no resemblance to the schools they attended before the war. UNICEF data confirms that 98 percent of all schools across the Gaza Strip have sustained damage from Israeli military operations, with 80 percent hit directly by strikes. Most of the few surviving school buildings have been converted into emergency shelters for the hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians, leaving no space for regular classes.\n\nWorking in partnership with UNICEF, UNRWA and other international organizations, Gaza’s Ministry of Education has established a limited number of temporary learning spaces in displacement shelters and plastic tent campuses across the territory. Nearly all of these makeshift facilities lack basic necessities: there are almost no desks, chairs, or core infrastructure to support normal school operations.\n\nEven with these temporary spaces set up, access remains out of reach for thousands of children. The Helles family endured a long, frustrating process before they were able to secure enrollment for Akram and his siblings at a learning site near their displacement camp. Mohammad Helles explained that the family prioritized a local campus for a devastating reason: with the constant threat of sudden bombardment, they refuse to send children to schools far from home, and widespread transport collapse means even if they wanted to travel, distant schools are inaccessible.\n\nSecuring a spot is only the first hurdle. Helles, who lost his permanent job when the war began and now earns a meager income helping his brother run a small street stall, says he cannot afford even basic school supplies for his three children. Market prices for essential goods have skyrocketed amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis, and he has only been able to purchase the absolute bare minimum, forgoing extra clothing and non-essential supplies that most students take for granted.\n\nThe fragmented, under-resourced nature of Gaza’s 2026 school year extends far beyond a lack of supplies. To stretch limited classroom space as far as possible, the Ministry of Education introduced a rotational attendance system: boys attend classes three days a week (Saturdays, Mondays, Wednesdays), while girls attend on alternate days (Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays). Each school day is split into three separate shifts to cram as many students as possible into the limited available space.\n\nWhile the Helles children secured spots in free public education, hundreds of other families remain locked out entirely. Forty-three-year-old Osama Ayta has spent weeks searching for placements for his 8-year-old daughter Maria and 11-year-old son Thaer, with no luck. There is no free public school within safe distance of his current home, and sending the children long distances is unthinkable: roads are unsafe, social conditions remain unstable, and he lives in constant fear of harm coming to his children far from his side. Private schools, which have begun to reopen in limited numbers since the January 2025 ceasefire, charge tuition fees that Ayta, who has no steady source of income, cannot possibly pay. He has temporarily placed his children in a free informal learning center, but conditions there are dire, with no functional facilities, and he continues to search for a safer, more stable option.\n\nThe struggles of families like the Aytas lay bare the full scale of Gaza’s unfolding education crisis as the territory launches its first full formal school year since 2023. Wafa Maqat, 57-year-old principal of Gaza Municipality Preparatory School, told Middle East Eye that demand for placement far outstrips available capacity, and the daily challenges of running classes are almost overwhelming. \n\n“ We have very large numbers of students and overcrowded classrooms, while there is barely any school furniture. At our school, for example, there are no tables, chairs or cupboards,” Maqat said.\n\nOfficial Ministry of Education data confirms that only 208 government schools have been able to reopen for the 2026 year — less than a third of the 624 schools that would be required to accommodate all enrolled students. The ministry says it is working with international partners to build more temporary learning spaces to ease the shortage, but progress has been slow amid ongoing resource constraints.\n\nMaqat’s own school offers a stark snapshot of the systemic strain. The campus accommodates more than 350 students per shift, for a total enrollment of more than 2,100 children — and it only has four working bathrooms. “The sanitation situation is extremely difficult. There are too many students for four bathrooms, and there is not enough water. We are constantly facing water shortages,” Maqat explained. The school also lacks a dedicated drinking water tank, exacerbating the broader water crisis that has left displaced Gaza families in desperate straits.\n\nBeyond the current challenges of sweltering heat and overcrowding, schools operating out of tents are already bracing for the coming winter season. “In winter, we face major problems, whether it is the darkness inside the tents because there is no electricity, or rainwater flooding the floors. This forces students to get up from their mattresses and attend lessons standing,” Maqat said.\n\nThese harsh conditions make it far harder for educators to address the massive learning gap that has opened up after three years of missed school. “We are expected at this stage to make up for lost educational skills and bridge the gap. But the reality forces us to deal with basic survival problems on many levels simultaneously,” Maqat added. The Ministry of Education also cites widespread shortages of stationery and whiteboards, plus drastically low compensation for teachers, as additional barriers to rebuilding Gaza’s shattered education system.\n\nAs education officials struggle to address the crisis, families like the Aytas continue their daily fight to secure safe, consistent learning for their children. “After everything my children have lost in skills over the past years, we simply cannot afford to let them lose any more,” Ayta said. “I will keep searching until I ensure my children receive an education.”

  • No peace with Israel ‘if rights of Syrians are usurped’, Sharaa says

    No peace with Israel ‘if rights of Syrians are usurped’, Sharaa says

    Speaking at an Atlantic Council event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City this Tuesday, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa laid out a clear, non-negotiable condition for any future diplomatic engagement with Israel: an end to ongoing air strikes, incursions, and the illegal occupation of Syrian territory, most notably the Golan Heights — his place of birth.

    Al-Sharaa, who led Syrian rebel factions to seize Damascus and oust long-time former president Bashar al-Assad last December, emphasized that Israel has escalated its aggressive actions against Syria since the collapse of the old regime. Speaking through a translator, he noted that Israeli forces have seized additional Syrian territory in the months following December 8, 2024, and continue to carry out cross-border incursions, arrests, and bombing raids across multiple regions of the country. Despite these ongoing hostilities, he confirmed that Syria remains committed to pursuing diplomatic resolution through dialogue and negotiation, and has already sought mediation from countries deemed friendly to Israel, including the United States — though progress has been fraught with obstacles.

    “The Israelis will often reach 90 percent of a security agreement with Syria before suddenly withdrawing for different reasons,” al-Sharaa told attendees. He stressed that no formal peace talks can move forward until Syrian sovereignty and the rights of the Syrian people are fully respected, stating firmly: “We cannot talk about peace if the rights of Syrians are usurped.”

    The Golan Heights, a strategic plateau captured by Israel from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War, remains a core point of contention. While the United Nations universally recognizes the Golan as occupied Syrian territory, then-U.S. President Donald Trump unilaterally recognized Israeli sovereignty over the region in 2018, a long-sought policy win for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Al-Sharaa recalled a lighthearted but pointed exchange he had with Trump during a 2024 White House visit, when he joked: “Why don’t you give New Jersey to the Israelis? You don’t own Golan Heights to give it to them, but you own New Jersey, and I believe that New Jersey is full of Democrats, and they are not voting for Trump. So it will be good to give it to the Israelis.” The quip drew laughter from the audience, but al-Sharaa backed it with a serious call for an independent international committee to examine territorial claims and counter the constant framing of negotiations around Israel’s perceived security needs alone. Al-Sharaa emphasized: “There is no discussion about those territories and to whom they belong.”

    Turning to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon, which has escalated dramatically since Hezbollah launched rocket attacks in support of Hamas in October 2023, al-Sharaa addressed Trump’s earlier proposal that Syrian forces assist in disarming Hezbollah as part of a broader Israel-Lebanon peace deal — an idea widely seen as unfeasible given post-war Syria’s fragile stability and Hezbollah’s long-standing support for al-Assad during the civil war. Al-Sharaa instead outlined a more measured approach: Syria will work to empower the Lebanese government to strengthen its state institutions, ensure all weapons operate under official Lebanese state authority, and support improvements to Lebanon’s struggling economy and civil society to address long-running instability that was exacerbated by the former Assad regime’s actions. “So we are engaging [on] a best mechanism for political reform,” he added.

    The discussion, moderated by veteran Middle East negotiator Brett McGurk — a former Biden White House official with a long history of U.S. Middle East policy across four U.S. administrations, and a known hawkish pro-Israel, pro-intervention stance — quickly turned to questions about al-Sharaa’s controversial past. Less than two years ago, the U.S. State Department labeled him a top terrorist with a $10 million bounty on his head, when he operated under the nom de guerre Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, leader of the al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham. McGurk opened the questioning by referencing the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks, and pressed al-Sharaa to renounce a 2013 pledge of allegiance to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, one of the primary masterminds of the 9/11 attacks.

    Al-Sharaa pushed back on the line of questioning, noting: “9/11, I had nothing to do with that at the time. I was 13 years old.” When pressed again to renounce the past pledge, he responded that the region’s historical context must be acknowledged: “There are so many questions that are part of the past now, so maybe we need to update ourselves. I don’t believe that it is appropriate time to discuss things that happened 25 years ago. I was at a different age, and the conditions in the region were different, and they were pushing a lot of young people to go into that direction because of the pressure in that region.”

    Al-Sharaa, who spent six years in a U.S. prison in Iraq after joining anti-coalition militias following the 2003 U.S. invasion, framed his current leadership as a break from his earlier years, centered on removing the decades-long injustice of Assad family rule. “Lifting that injustice is a noble act that any person will be honoured to do,” he told McGurk.

    Addressing a 2024 ISIS attack on a joint U.S.-Syrian convoy that killed two American soldiers and a civilian interpreter, al-Sharaa acknowledged that Syria is still in the early stages of building a new national security infrastructure after the civil war. He explained that simultaneously working to dismantle rogue militias, bring all weapons under state control, and vet and recruit personnel for a new national army has created growing pains that can lead to unforeseen security incidents, noting that similar attacks have targeted other groups beyond U.S. personnel.

    When McGurk asked whether al-Sharaa would welcome a large-scale return of U.S. troops to Syria to train the new national army, the Syrian president reaffirmed his commitment to full Syrian sovereignty and the 2019 withdrawal of U.S. forces ordered by Trump, which he said proceeded smoothly and without the security vacuum many predicted. “The withdrawal was very safe, and the region remained calm. No problems happened because of that vacuum, and the Syrian state and Syrian forces took control over the area, and [Kurdish forces] in the northeast were integrated [into Syria’s military],” he said. “Emptying Syria from foreign bases… that is a good approach.”

    This principle applies to all foreign military presences, including Russia, al-Sharaa confirmed. Where Russia once operated 170 military bases across Syria, that number has now been reduced to just two, both of which will only be used for training the newly formed Syrian military.

    On the topic of governing Syria’s diverse mosaic of ethnic and religious groups, al-Sharaa said his transitional government will build on existing legal frameworks to expand devolved power to local governorates as the country prepares for a new presidential election within three years, and a full constitutional rewrite within the five-year transition period. “There are wide powers for the governorates in the election of the municipal councils,” he explained. “The People’s Assembly is going to appoint a committee that is going to review the different laws in Syria, and another committee that will start drafting the constitution. And I believe that will be completed before the end of the five years [transition period].” When asked, al-Sharaa did not rule out running for president in the upcoming election.

    Al-Sharaa is scheduled to deliver an address to the full United Nations General Assembly later this week, after making history last year as the first Syrian leader to speak from the UN podium in 60 years.