Global Pulse

标签： Asia

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  • Asian shares edge higher after Wall Street climb, even as Brent oil keeps rising

    Asian shares edge higher after Wall Street climb, even as Brent oil keeps rising

    Global equity markets kicked off mid-week with broad upward momentum across Asia on Wednesday, as a tech-fueled rally on Wall Street carried over into regional trading, even as mounting geopolitical tensions push crude oil prices to multi-month highs and stoke fresh inflation concerns.

    The upward trend across most Asian benchmarks got an early boost from positive trade data out of Japan, where government figures showed both imports and exports recorded year-over-year increases last month. A sharp depreciation of the Japanese yen has inflated the converted value of dollar-denominated trade flows, pushing the country’s benchmark Nikkei 225 up 1.9% to close at 67,511.12. Elsewhere in the region, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4% to settle at 8,830.60, while South Korea’s Kospi notched an impressive 4.6% jump to reach 7,061.36. Mainland China’s Shanghai Composite edged up nearly 0.5% to 3,882.95, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng bucked the regional upward trend to dip 0.7% to 24,947.30.

    The bullish momentum in Asian markets traces directly to a strong rally on Wall Street a day earlier, where artificial intelligence-linked stocks led broad gains after steep sell-offs the prior week. For a second consecutive trading session, semiconductor manufacturers and other tech firms positioned to benefit from the global AI boom led the market upswing. The S&P 500 climbed 0.9%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 385 points, or 0.7%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 1.3%.

    AI stocks have been the most volatile segment of global markets in recent weeks: after a months-long rally driven by explosive growth in AI investment and demand for AI-focused semiconductors and data center infrastructure, the sector pulled back sharply last week on concerns that valuations had risen too far, too fast. On Tuesday, however, the sector bounced back strongly. Micron Technology led the rebound, jumping 12.2% following its 13.3% drop the prior week, adding to a 1.9% gain from the prior session. Nvidia added 2%, and the two chipmaking giants were the single largest contributors to the S&P 500’s overall gain.

    All market gains have come despite growing pressure from rising crude oil prices, which have climbed amid escalating military tensions between the United States and Iran. In early Wednesday energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 85 cents to $85.19 per barrel, while international benchmark Brent crude climbed $1.04 to hit $92.05 per barrel, crossing the $91 threshold that has stoked new inflation worries among traders.

    For major oil-importing economies like Japan, the combination of a depreciating domestic currency and spiking crude prices creates a dual economic shock. “Oil makes the situation more difficult because Japan imports most of its energy. A weaker yen and higher crude prices arrive together like two waves hitting the same seawall,” explained Stephen Innes, an analyst and former professional trader.

    In currency markets, the U.S. dollar held steady at 163.14 Japanese yen on Wednesday, while the euro inched slightly higher to $1.1406 from $1.1404.

    The run-up in oil prices comes at a particularly sensitive moment for global monetary policy, as it threatens to reverse recent declines in headline inflation that had raised hopes that central banks could begin rolling back tight interest rate policies. Persistently higher energy costs could force the U.S. Federal Reserve and other major central banks to keep interest rates elevated, or even implement additional hikes, which would slow global economic growth and put downward pressure on equity and asset prices.

  • Nearly 100 US troops injured by Iran strikes, Pentagon says

    Nearly 100 US troops injured by Iran strikes, Pentagon says

    A sharp escalation in hostilities between the United States and Iran has left nearly 100 American service members with injuries and four confirmed dead, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed Monday, ending hours of public denial and pushing back against accusations that the Defense Department intentionally hid casualty data from the public. The announcement comes amid a fifth consecutive week of cross-border strikes after the collapse of a 60-day ceasefire brokered by Pakistan in June, raising fears of a full-scale ground conflict in the Middle East.

    The current cycle of violence began when Iran launched retaliatory drone and missile attacks against US military facilities across four Gulf nations — Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, and Kuwait — in response to nightly American airstrikes on Iranian targets. Hours before Parnell’s Monday confirmation of injuries, the Pentagon had publicly dismissed a bombshell New York Times report claiming the agency concealed dozens of troop casualties as “baseless” and “malicious” falsehoods.

    “This is the most transparent Department of Defense in American history,” Parnell told reporters Monday. “We challenge the so-called journalists who wrote these lies — one of whom was recently subpoenaed for violating federal criminal law — to stop their smears against the finest fighting force on Earth.” Notably, the Pentagon’s official public casualty database still listed zero US troops killed or wounded in action for July as of Monday morning, before the department issued a corrected update.

    The corrected disclosure reveals three US Army soldiers were killed over the weekend in a ballistic missile strike on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan: 19-year-old Private Isabella Gonzales from Carrollton, Texas; 25-year-old Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan from Ewa Beach, Hawaii; and a third service member who remains provisionally listed as missing. Separately at Iraq’s Erbil Air Base, 30-year-old Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton from Fayetteville, North Carolina, was killed while another was wounded during a controlled detonation of an incoming Iranian attack drone.

    Parnell wrote in a post on X that future updates to casualty figures will be posted to the Defense Casualty Analysis System, the official platform that tracks service member deaths, wounds, illnesses, and injuries for Congress and the US president. He emphasized that the vast majority of the nearly 100 injured troops only suffered minor concussions, and 96 percent have already returned to active duty.

    Accusations of casualty cover-ups by the Pentagon during the long-running conflict with Iran are not new, according to reporting from The Intercept, which has documented a pattern of underreporting of harm to US troops for years. The current escalation follows the collapse of the 60-day ceasefire that went into effect after the signing of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding between the two sides in June.

    Tehran has issued a stark warning to Washington, saying it is prepared to confront any American ground invasion, with Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei stating that the country’s leadership is “counting down the minutes to welcome” any invading US forces. Baghaei added that the terms of the Pakistan-brokered June interim deal are “completely clear,” leaving Washington with no excuse for its violation of the agreement. US Central Command confirmed Monday that it has carried out nine straight nights of airstrikes on Iranian targets following the weekend deaths of US troops.

    In its early Monday post on X, the US military said the latest round of strikes targeted “Iranian military command centers, air defense and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites and communications networks.” The statement added that the new wave of attacks is intended to “further diminish Iran’s ability to attack commercial vessels and civilian mariners transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” a critical global chokepoint for oil trade.

    US President Donald Trump told reporters Monday that the “very hard” strikes were launched “in honor” of the four fallen American service members. “We hit them very hard again tonight, and we did that in honor of… three great patriots,” Trump said, referring to the three confirmed fatalities in Jordan. He claimed that Iran “has been very, very badly damaged. They’ve lost everything almost – militarily… They’ve got some missiles, some drones, some manufacturing ability, not much.” When asked about the fallen troops, Trump said “we feel very badly,” adding that the troops died fighting to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.

    Also on Monday, Iranian state media reported that US strikes hit multiple sites in Bushehr, the southern port city that hosts Iran’s only operational civilian nuclear power plant. “A few minutes ago, several locations in Bushehr city were hit by [the] American enemy’s projectiles,” Bushehr Governor Mohammad Mozaffari confirmed, noting that authorities are still assessing the scope of damage from the attack. On Sunday, Tehran called on the International Atomic Energy Agency to condemn a separate US attack on the under-construction Darkhovin nuclear plant in southwestern Iran. Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation called the strike “a clear violation of international law.”

  • Michelin-starred restaurateur faces jail for using ants as dessert garnish

    Michelin-starred restaurateur faces jail for using ants as dessert garnish

    A high-profile food safety case is making headlines in South Korea, where the owner of an elite two-Michelin-starred Seoul restaurant is facing steep legal penalties after being charged with serving unapproved ants as a gourmet dessert topping. Local media outlets have confirmed that state prosecutors are pushing for a 12-month prison sentence and a 20 million Korean won (equivalent to roughly $13,510) fine against the unnamed eatery owner, whose menu included ant-topped sorbet that violates the country’s strict food safety regulations. Under South Korean law, only 10 specific insect species are cleared for human consumption – a list that includes grasshoppers, locusts, and two-spotted crickets, but excludes all ant varieties. The case first came to the attention of food safety regulators after Ministry of Food and Drug Safety officials stumbled across customer reviews posted online, paired with photos of restaurant dishes visibly sprinkled with whole ants. Subsequent investigations by authorities have revealed that over a four-year period, the restaurant imported approximately 49,000 ants from suppliers based in the United States and Thailand to incorporate into multiple menu items. Most notably, testing from South Korean health regulators found that the ants used by the restaurant contained dangerously high levels of heavy metals – as much as 55 times the concentration allowed for commercially sold edible insects, local newspaper The Chosun Daily reported. In court, the restaurant owner has mounted a defense pushing for leniency, acknowledging that ants did appear on the menu but arguing their use was extremely limited. The ants only featured as a topping for sorbet in the restaurant’s 15-course tasting menu, he explained, and all guests were explicitly notified that they could request an alternative topping if they preferred not to eat ants. The owner further noted that roughly 40% of diners opted out of the ant topping entirely, receiving fermented vinegar or edible flowers instead, and that using ants as a gourmet ingredient is common practice at high-end restaurants in other countries including Australia, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. South Korea’s formal approval process for edible insects weighs multiple key criteria before clearing an insect species for commercial use, including potential food safety hazards, inherent toxicity, nutritional value, and the ability to breed and process the insects consistently under hygienic conditions. While the case has not named the specific restaurant or its owner, there are only 10 two-Michelin-starred restaurants across South Korea, all of which are based in Seoul. For context, the Michelin Guide’s globally recognized rating system awards up to three stars to restaurants based on rigorous assessment of ingredient quality, flavor consistency, technical cooking skill, and the chef’s unique creative vision. Two stars, the rating held by the restaurant at the center of this case, indicate the establishment serves “excellent cooking” that is “worth a detour” per Michelin’s official criteria. It is worth noting that ants have a long history as a traditional food source across many global cultures, valued as a delicacy in multiple regions of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Weaver ants and their eggs are a common ingredient in traditional Thai and Cambodian cuisine, for example, and queen ants are considered a luxury ingredient on par with caviar in parts of Colombia. Now, the Seoul court hearing the case is scheduled to issue its final verdict on September 2, with the outcome expected to set a clear precedent for how South Korean regulators handle unconventional gourmet ingredients that fall outside of existing approved food frameworks.

  • West Indies beats New Zealand by 2 wickets in the 5th ODI; New Zealand takes the series 3-2

    West Indies beats New Zealand by 2 wickets in the 5th ODI; New Zealand takes the series 3-2

    BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — In a gripping fifth and final One Day International that capped a back-and-forth five-match series, Shimron Hetmyer delivered a cool-headed late-innings performance to notch an unbeaten 69 and lift the West Indies to a two-wicket win over New Zealand on Tuesday. Despite the hosts closing out the series with a victory, New Zealand retained the upper hand across the contest, clinching the series 3-2 after consistent results through the earlier fixtures. New Zealand’s comeback run followed an opening-match seven-wicket win for the West Indies, with the visiting side securing victories in Game 2 by five wickets, Game 3 by six wickets, and Game 4 to lock in the series lead.

    A striking statistical quirk defined the entire five-match series: every single game was won by the team batting second. On Tuesday, that trend held firm, as the West Indies chased down New Zealand’s first-innings total of 268-9 to reach 269-8, with 15 overs still remaining when they crossed the winning line. Hetmyer’s fifth ODI half-century was anchored by a critical 95-run fifth-wicket partnership with Sherfane Rutherford, who contributed a polished 61 of his own. The pair built on a solid 59-run third-wicket foundation established by Shai Hope (39) and Keacy Carty (20), putting the West Indies on track for a seemingly comfortable victory for much of the chase.

    But the match quickly turned into a seesaw battle that shifted momentum multiple times in the final overs. When Rutherford was dismissed with the West Indies at 218-5, the side still needed 41 runs to win with just under 10 overs left to bat. Gudakesh Motie followed back to the pavilion three overs later at 239-6, putting New Zealand back in contention. The visiting side came close to sealing a sweep of the final two matches when fast bowler Jacob Duffy knocked out Matthew Forde and Alzarri Joseph on consecutive deliveries in the 45th over, leaving the West Indies still needing 21 runs to win with just two wickets in hand.

    In an unexpected tactical call that would later shape the match outcome, New Zealand captain Mitchell Santner pulled left-arm spinner Jayden Lennox from the attack, despite Lennox having claimed 3 wickets for just 35 runs across his nine overs. That decision opened the door for Hetmyer, who struck two decisive sixes off Duffy in the 47th over, swinging the momentum firmly back to the West Indies to see them cross the finish line with more than two overs to spare.

    For his standout performance across the entire series, Lennox earned player of the series honors after finishing with 14 total wickets at an exceptional average of 13.6. Reflecting on his match-winning knock after the game, Hetmyer said he prioritized team success over personal milestones. “I wasn’t really thinking about getting a half-century to be honest, I was just thinking about how … I can make sure the team crosses the line,” Hetmyer said. “Every time a new batter came out I was just like ‘make sure you’re there at the end.’ I’m just happy that I could be there to make sure we crossed the line.”

    New Zealand’s first innings had appeared set to produce a much larger match-winning total, with the side reaching 181-3 in the 35th over and 230-5 with just five overs remaining. Top-order contributions from Will Young (56), Tom Latham (69) and Nick Kelly (64) drove the visitors’ scoring pace, but the side failed to capitalize on their strong position in the closing overs. Tight, disciplined bowling from the West Indies, particularly from Alzarri Joseph who finished with 2 wickets for 38 runs from his full 10 overs, restricted New Zealand to a manageable final total of 268-9.

    The West Indies got off to a blistering start in their run chase, scoring at a pace of more than eight runs per over through the first five overs. The home side suffered an early double setback, however, losing opening batters Ackeem Auguste and Justin Greaves off five consecutive deliveries. Even with the early wickets, the West Indies maintained a scoring rate of more than seven runs per over after 10 overs, as Hope and Carty kept the chase on track.

    New Zealand’s spin attack began to ramp up the pressure as the innings progressed. Carty was held to a long string of dot balls, and after the West Indies reached 118-2, both Carty and Hope fell within three overs of each other. Hope misjudged a loose delivery from Lennox, attempting to hit it over the leg side boundary only to pull it straight to Kristian Clarke at midwicket, just off the fence. Carty, growing frustrated with being pinned down by spin, finally slashed across a straight delivery from Lennox that hit his middle stump, ending his innings.

    Rutherford stepped into the breach to revive the West Indies innings, and quickly formed a productive connection with Hetmyer, who had set out from the moment he walked to the crease to be the batter that finished the chase. The pair’s match-winning stand brought the host across the line, closing out an action-packed series that ultimately ended in New Zealand’s favor.

  • After an extremely rare pregnancy, an Australian woman gives birth to identical quadruplet girls

    After an extremely rare pregnancy, an Australian woman gives birth to identical quadruplet girls

    In an unprecedented medical event for Australia, 34-year-old Jenitar Sau Na’amoana has safely given birth to four identical quadruplet girls, a natural conception that experts call a one-in-15-million statistical anomaly.

    Na’amoana, who already shares four children with her husband Jorthan, never planned an expanded family — the couple was stunned when prenatal tests confirmed she carried four identical fetuses, all developed from a single fertilized egg that spontaneously split into four embryos. The delivery took place last week at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) in Queensland, marking the first recorded case of naturally conceived identical quadruplets in Australian history.

    Maternal-fetal medicine specialist Dr. Alexa Bendall, who led Na’amoana’s care team, called the case medically extraordinary. While the general odds of spontaneous quadruplet conception hover at roughly 1 in 700,000 worldwide, the subset of identical quadruplets from one fertilized egg is far rarer, with odds estimated at 1 in 15 million. The vast majority of higher-order multiple pregnancies today result from fertility assistance treatments, making this all-natural conception even more unusual.

    Multiple pregnancies carry inherently elevated health risks for both birthing parent and fetuses, particularly when multiple fetuses share a single placenta — a common trait in identical multiple births. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, people carrying multiple fetuses face far higher risks of preterm delivery, miscarriage, and congenital abnormalities than those carrying single fetuses. To mitigate these risks, RBWH assembled a large specialized care team that began closely monitoring Na’amoana starting at just 10 weeks gestation. By 25 weeks, she was admitted as an inpatient to receive around-the-clock observation to track the development of the four fetuses. On July 14, Na’amoana delivered the four girls via planned cesarean section at 28 weeks and four days gestation.

    In a post-delivery statement, Dr. Bendall emphasized just how positive the outcome has been for the family. “The fact that we’ve got four beautiful, healthy babies born at 28 weeks and four days is incredible,” she said. While Na’amoana experienced some mild blood loss during delivery, Bendall noted the amount was well within expected ranges for a quadruplet birth, and the mother is now recovering well.

    All four infants are currently being cared for in RBWH’s neonatal intensive care unit, where they are progressing steadily. In a touching gesture to the care team, the couple named their daughters Emily, Harriet, Catherine, and Alexa — with the youngest named in honor of Dr. Bendall. The specialist called the tribute deeply moving, saying she feels privileged to have supported the family through their unprecedented journey.

    “From an academic perspective, it’s really interesting,” Bendall said of the case. “But also from a human perspective, to be able to be part of the family’s journey and come out with four beautiful babies and a healthy mum is very precious.”

    This reporting from the Associated Press Health and Science Department was supported by funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, with the AP retaining full editorial control over all content.

  • Japan’s exports and imports grow as yen weakens

    Japan’s exports and imports grow as yen weakens

    TOKYO — Japan logged a second straight monthly trade deficit in June, new government data released Wednesday confirmed, with skyrocketing global oil prices and persistent currency weakness combining to push the nation’s import bill sharply higher. The Ministry of Finance’s preliminary figures put the June deficit at 406.9 billion Japanese yen, equal to roughly $2.5 billion. This marks a sharp reversal from June 2023, when Japan recorded a 122 billion yen trade surplus.

    While exports have maintained solid momentum, growing faster than many economists projected, import gains have outpaced them by a wide margin. Preliminary data shows exports climbed 19% year-over-year in June to hit 10.9 trillion yen, with strong demand for Japanese semiconductors leading the growth expansion. Exports increased across key trading partners, including both the United States and China, the nation’s two largest commercial markets. Imports, by contrast, rose 25% year-over-year to 11.3 trillion yen, outstripping export gains by six percentage points.

    The sustained weakness of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar has amplified shifts in both import and export values. Most global energy and commodity shipments are priced in dollars, so a weaker yen raises the domestic cost of imported goods while making Japanese exports more price-competitive in global markets. Over the past 12 months, the yen has depreciated significantly, with the U.S. dollar trading around 163 yen in recent sessions, up from roughly 140 yen a year earlier.

    Japan relies almost entirely on imported oil to meet its domestic energy demand, and prolonged geopolitical disruption has upended traditional supply chains for the commodity. For decades, the majority of Japan’s oil imports traveled through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global chokepoint for energy shipping. Ongoing tensions in the region have severely disrupted vessel traffic through the strait, forcing Japanese importers to pivot to new supply sources. Wednesday’s data illustrates this shift: Japanese oil imports from the United States surged nearly 500% compared to June 2023 as importers seek alternative supplies.

    Global crude oil prices have also swung dramatically since the start of the year. Brent crude, the global benchmark, traded around $60 per barrel in January, before spiking to a peak of $114 per barrel amid supply disruptions. While prices have pulled back from that high point, they have stabilized at much higher levels than seen at the start of 2024, with Brent recently trading around $90 per barrel.

    Looking at the first half of the 2024 fiscal year as a whole, Japan’s cumulative trade picture also shows a deficit. Total exports from January to June rose nearly 14% year-over-year to 60.6 trillion yen, while total imports climbed nearly 11% to 61.9 trillion yen, resulting in an overall cumulative deficit of approximately 1 trillion yen for the half-year period.

    The trade data comes as Japan’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, leads an administration pursuing aggressive economic stimulus policies designed to boost long-term growth, with targeted public spending on artificial intelligence, defense, and robotics sectors. However, recent public opinion polls indicate that the prime minister’s previously high approval ratings among Japanese voters have started to decline amid ongoing economic pressures.

  • US appeals court overturns ruling requiring release of pro-Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi

    US appeals court overturns ruling requiring release of pro-Palestinian activist Mohsen Mahdawi

    On Tuesday, a federal appeals court in the United States reversed a lower court’s 2025 order that had required the Trump administration to release Palestinian-American permanent resident Mohsen Mahdawi from immigration detention, delivering a significant blow to free speech advocates and supporters of Palestinian rights.

    While the ruling does not explicitly mandate that law enforcement re-arrest Mahdawi, legal analysts warn it establishes a troubling precedent that will narrow pathways for Green Card holders to secure release from immigration detention when challenging their incarceration through claims of violated First Amendment rights.

    Mahdawi, 35, was a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs when he was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. His detention came directly after he joined campus protests condemning Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, which the original reporting describes as genocide. The activist, who holds U.S. permanent resident status, was apprehended by ICE in mid-April of last year, while he was attending a routine interview to process his application for U.S. citizenship in Vermont.

    Following his detention, Vermont-based U.S. District Judge Geoffrey Crawford granted Mahdawi release on bond, ruling that as a permanent legal resident, he was entitled to the same First Amendment free speech protections extended to U.S. citizens. But the Manhattan-headquartered Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that ruling this week, holding that Crawford lacked legal jurisdiction over the matter — arguing the case should have been adjudicated exclusively in immigration court.

    A Palestinian born in a refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Mahdawi relocated to the U.S. a decade ago. In 2023, he co-founded Columbia University’s Palestinian Student Union alongside Mahmoud Khalil, a high-profile leader in the national pro-Palestinian student movement who has also been targeted by the Trump administration. Tuesday’s appeals court decision aligns with a nearly identical ruling issued by another U.S. appeals court earlier this year, which also found the lower court judge that granted Khalil release from detention lacked jurisdiction to hear his case. Like Mahdawi, Khalil is also a Green Card holder.

    Notably, neither case has resulted in a formal ruling on the substance of the two activists’ First Amendment claims. But taken together, the dual jurisdiction rulings create a new legal barrier that will make it far more difficult for non-citizens held in immigration detention to challenge their imprisonment on the grounds that their detention violates their constitutional free speech rights.

    In July, Khalil filed a federal lawsuit against senior Trump administration officials, as well as conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation and pro-Israel advocacy groups Betar and Canary Mission. The suit seeks financial damages for what it alleges is an unlawful conspiracy targeting pro-Palestinian activists. It claims Khalil’s targeting was motivated by explicit anti-Palestinian bias, and that private anti-Palestinian organizations colluded with senior administration officials to target Khalil and other advocates for Palestinian human rights.

  • ‘This will be your legacy’: Aoun seeks financing for Lebanon, pressure on Israel

    ‘This will be your legacy’: Aoun seeks financing for Lebanon, pressure on Israel

    On a historic Tuesday at the White House, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun sat down for his first face-to-face meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, marking the first Oval Office gathering between leaders of the two nations in 16 years. Aoun, who took office just two weeks before Trump’s 2025 inauguration, had long waited for this high-stakes diplomatic opportunity, with the last Lebanese president to visit the Oval Office being Michel Sleiman alongside former U.S. President Barack Obama in 2009.

    Opening the press availability with diplomatic grace, Aoun addressed Trump in English, saying, “Been looking forward to this visit for a very long time, meeting such a great president like yourself.” The remark drew a lighthearted response from Trump, who joked, “See, he knows how to get to me. Now he can have anything he wants.”

    Behind the cordial opening exchanges lay stark, urgent priorities that Aoun brought to the table. Lebanon’s new president arrived in Washington seeking three core outcomes: consistent, committed U.S. diplomatic engagement that increases pressure on Israel to end its occupation of southern Lebanon, expanded military financing for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), and substantial international support for reconstructing the war-ravaged southern region of the country. What Aoun left with, however, was far more modest: a White House announcement that U.S. commercial airlines would be permitted to resume direct flights to Lebanon, a service that has been suspended for 40 years.

    The ban on direct U.S. flights was first imposed by the Ronald Reagan administration in 1985, after Hezbollah operatives hijacked TWA Flight 847 to demand the release of Lebanese citizens held in Israeli custody. In a post on his social media platform TruthSocial, Trump wrote, “I am hereby directing my Administration to allow all US airline carriers to fly directly to Lebanon so that Americans can easily visit this beautiful land.”

    Regional analysts note that even this limited concession carries some upside for Lebanon. “It’s a win [for Aoun] if it’s easier for people to travel to Lebanon in a safe fashion,” Anthony Wanis-St John, a conflict resolution professor at American University in Washington D.C., told Middle East Eye. Still, the practical benefit of restored flights remains contingent on broader stability: until open hostilities between Lebanon and Israel end, American tourists are unlikely to visit in significant numbers.

    Like every Arab leader who has met with Trump at the Oval Office over the past 18 months, Aoun has stressed that only Trump holds the unique leverage to curb Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon. Aoun made his long-term goal clear to reporters, stating, “The ultimate objective [is] ending the state of hostility between Lebanon and Israel forever.” He added, turning to Trump, “I think, Mr President, this will be your legacy.”

    The conflict that has ravaged southern Lebanon dates back to October 8, 2023, when Hezbollah launched rocket attacks on Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Since Israel launched its counteroffensive and occupied large swathes of southern Lebanon in March 2025, more than 4,300 Lebanese people have been killed.

    In a surprising shift from longstanding U.S. policy, Trump acknowledged Hezbollah’s outsized influence in Lebanese politics and its critical role in any future peace framework, telling reporters, “I would speak to Hezbollah. I speak to everybody. If the president wanted me to speak to Hezbollah – you know he’s lived with Hezbollah for a long time – if the president wanted me to speak to Hezbollah, I would.” However, Aoun’s visit was rooted in a core goal: affirming that the Lebanese state is the sole legitimate authority in the country, making it extremely unlikely he would approve such a meeting. Hezbollah has been classified as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government since 1997.

    When pressed on concerns raised by Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri that armed confrontation between the LAF and Hezbollah could spark a new Lebanese civil war, Aoun pushed back on the idea of widespread division. Aoun noted that Berri, leader of the Amal Movement, a Shia political party aligned with Hezbollah, is originally from southern Lebanon and has watched the region’s destruction firsthand. “He really wants to see the end of this war,” Aoun said. “He’s actually supporting what we are doing, but we need to be careful. His position as a speaker and as a leader of the Shia community, we have to understand how critical is his position.” Aoun also emphasized that the current negotiation framework falls under the constitutional prerogative of the presidency and does not require parliamentary endorsement.

    In the lead-up to the meeting, U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa hinted that Aoun would not leave Washington empty-handed. But after the nearly two-hour meeting, Massad Boulos, Trump’s senior advisor on Arab and Middle Eastern Affairs and a member of the Trump family through marriage, told reporters that the main outcome of the meeting was advancing implementation of the June 26 U.S.-brokered framework for southern Lebanon. Pilot zone operations for the agreement launched just one day before the meeting, in the southern Lebanese villages of Froun, Srifa, and Zawtar Al-Gharbiya, overseen by an international military coordination group.

    The core premise of the pilot zones is straightforward: as Israeli forces redeploy out of the area, the LAF will move in to take control and implement disarmament of Hezbollah fighters. But Trump clarified on Tuesday that this is not a full Israeli withdrawal, saying Israeli troops are only “in the process of redeploying to other sections” of southern Lebanon.

    That distinction has led many regional analysts to dismiss the pilot plan as a largely symbolic step that fails to address Lebanon’s core demand for full sovereignty. “In other words, the implication is Israel is staying on Lebanese territory,” said Khalil Jahshan, executive director of the Arab Center Washington DC. “It doesn’t solve the issue of sovereignty for Lebanon. It doesn’t solve the issue of foreign occupation for Lebanon. It does not offer the Lebanese government any potential to kind of go back to Hezbollah and say, ‘See, it’s working partially – a small area, but it’s working.’ So it’s basically a small step to nowhere.”

    Wanis-St John added that ongoing Israeli violence and occupation in the south is ironically boosting Hezbollah’s popular support among Lebanese, even as the group faces growing backlash over the enormous human cost of the conflict. “While Hezbollah is losing popularity on its own accord among the Lebanese because of the high cost of death and displacement, the Israelis go and make them more popular by staying and being extremely violent,” he explained.

    When asked what leverage the U.S. holds to push Hezbollah to comply with the disarmament framework, Boulos hinted at continued punitive action, referencing existing sanctions imposed by the U.S. Treasury Department on entities linked to the group. “There are always options,” he said. “It’s going to take time. This is not easy. Nobody believes for a second that this is going to be an easy task in any way. But we are determined – President Trump is absolutely determined – to see this through. He is the president of peace, as we all know.”

    Aaron David Miller, a veteran U.S. Middle East negotiator who served in both Republican and Democratic administrations, wrote on social media ahead of the meeting that unless Aoun could secure a massive expansion of U.S. training, weapons, and intelligence support for the LAF, any agreement would amount to little more than political performance. In line with that speculation, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the Trump administration is considering a new program to vet and train elite LAF units specifically to counter Hezbollah’s well-entrenched and heavily armed fighters.

    Many analysts argue the U.S. is currently pursuing a waiting game tied to Israel’s upcoming legislative elections, scheduled for the end of October. “What the US is trying to do is keep the process alive somehow until the Israeli elections take place, and there is a government – this government or a new one – that can deliver,” Jahshan explained. “In the interim, Lebanon has no choice under its current leadership but to put up with what are essentially promises. Undeliverable promises.” Wanis-St John echoed this analysis, noting, “This is definitely tied to Israeli political and electoral cycles.”

    Boulos pushed back on this characterization when questioned by reporters, insisting, “There is no direct link. The agreement is an agreement that is going to be implemented step by step. It’s not a question of specific dates that are cast in stone. There is a verification mechanism. We have to give it a chance. It has to work and it’s going to work.”

    The meeting also included a small, awkward unscripted moment: during the press availability, Trump referenced his Middle East envoy Tom Barrack, noting Barrack is of Lebanese descent, but failed to mention Boulos, who is married to Trump’s youngest daughter Tiffany, even after Aoun gestured to Boulos to draw him to Trump’s attention. Boulos was present in the Oval Office for the meeting but did not receive a public shoutout from the U.S. president.

  • Khan faces historic removal vote as critics warn ICC process has been politicised

    Khan faces historic removal vote as critics warn ICC process has been politicised

    In an unprecedented development for the International Criminal Court (ICC), the court’s 123 member states will convene, The Assembly of States Parties (ASP), the court’s governing body, will hold a secret ballot on Friday at United Nations Headquarters in New York, to decide whether to remove Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan from office over unproven allegations of professional and sexual misconduct. This vote marks the first time in the ICC’s 24-year history that member states have been asked to remove a sitting chief prosecutor from their post, a moment that threatens to shake the foundation of the world’s preeminent international war crimes tribunal.

    To pass the motion to dismiss Khan, an absolute majority of 63 votes is required. But even before ballots are cast, the process has been mired in controversy over procedural unfairness and widespread claims of political manipulation. Khan’s legal team has already sounded the alarm that they have been completely barred from participating in Friday’s session, denied the basic right to mount a formal defense of their client ahead of the vote. In a public statement released Tuesday, attorneys Tayab Ali and Sareta Ashraph condemned ASP President for shutting down every formal avenue through which they could address the full assembly, and for pressuring all member states to refuse informal meetings with the legal team.

    “The right under the rules to address you on the substantive decision of misconduct has been flatly denied to us,” the statement read. “We know of no court or tribunal in any proper and fair legal system that bars a person facing the gravest professional sanction from being heard.” The result of the secret ballot is expected to be announced publicly by the end of Friday.

    The vote centers on disputed findings released by the ASP Bureau last month, which concluded Khan engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship with a female staff member in his office, identified by CNN as “Sarah”, citing an unacceptable power imbalance between the prosecutor and the complainant. But the Bureau’s findings directly contradict earlier legal and investigative conclusions, and they even diverge from the core of the complainant’s own account. Sarah has publicly stood by her allegation of non-consensual sexual conduct, while Khan has repeatedly and categorically denied any sexual relationship ever took place.

    The allegations first triggered an external investigation conducted by the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), which also examined three separate claims that Khan retaliated against ICC staff who raised concerns. After the OIOS compiled its evidence, a three-judge independent panel was tasked with reviewing the probe’s findings to determine if misconduct had been proven under the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard required by court rules. In March, the panel delivered a unanimous ruling: the OIOS investigation failed to establish any misconduct or breach of duty by Khan. The ASP Bureau has also declined to uphold any misconduct findings related to the retaliation claims.

    Despite this independent judicial clearing, a majority of ASP Bureau members voted to disregard the panel’s conclusion and move forward with dismissal proceedings, suspending Khan and referring the matter to the full membership for a final vote. Critics have widely panned this decision as proof the entire process has been politicized, a charge that has gained further traction after the Bureau altered long-standing voting rules specifically for this case.

    Originally, removal proceedings required a two-stage vote: members would first vote on whether misconduct was proven, then vote separately on whether removal was justified. The Bureau changed the process to a single up-or-down vote on a combined motion that both accepts the Bureau’s finding of serious misconduct and approves Khan’s immediate dismissal. Khan’s legal team has decried this mid-process rule change as fundamentally unlawful and unfair, noting that altering procedures to the disadvantage of an individual facing professional ruin without advanced notice violates basic standards of due process.

    Political context has only deepened concerns about the politicization of the process. The disciplinary proceedings against Khan were initiated shortly after he made the landmark decision two years ago to seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three senior Hamas leaders, over alleged war crimes committed during the ongoing Gaza conflict that began in October 2023. Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued extraordinary open threats to “dismantle the ICC brick by brick” if the court continued its work on the Palestine investigation, and the U.S. has already imposed sanctions on most ICC judges and prosecutors including Khan over the Palestine and Afghanistan investigations.

    Over 160 Palestinian civil society and human rights organizations released a joint statement last week arguing that the disciplinary process against Khan “has been reduced to a political referendum following the national interests of individual States Parties.” Former European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has also openly criticized the ASP, saying the body is holding a “political vote” to oust Khan despite the judicial panel’s unanimous finding clearing him of all wrongdoing. Borrell emphasized that the campaign against Khan is part of a broader global offensive targeting the ICC’s independence, directly tied to U.S. and other powers’ opposition to the arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders.

    A full timeline of the allegations also undermines claims that Khan rushed the arrest warrant application to distract from the misconduct claims. Multiple independent reports have confirmed that the decision to move forward with the warrants was made six weeks before the allegations against Khan were first made public in May 2024, and the official application was submitted after the first internal ICC investigation into the claims had already been opened and closed due to the complainant’s refusal to cooperate with the court’s own oversight body. The allegations resurfaced publicly in October 2024, leading to a second internal investigation that again closed when the complainant declined to participate, prompting the ASP to commission the external OIOS probe.

    If the motion to dismiss Khan passes, the removal would take effect immediately, and new elections for chief prosecutor would be scheduled shortly after. Khan has already confirmed he will appeal any dismissal ruling to the International Labour Organization’s Administrative Tribunal, the independent body that handles employment appeals for ICC staff.

    Elected as the third ICC chief prosecutor in the court’s history in February 2021, Khan has pursued an unusually broad agenda during his tenure, opening investigations and pursuing arrest warrants against sitting and former heads of state including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, Myanmar’s junta leadership, and Taliban officials in Afghanistan, in addition to the warrants he is pursuing for Israeli and Hamas leaders. Now, both Khan’s personal future and the institutional independence of the ICC hang in the balance, as member nations prepare to cast a vote that could reshape the court’s legacy for decades to come.

  • Tokyo urges men to wear shorts to work, but women say it’s ‘leg hair harassment’

    Tokyo urges men to wear shorts to work, but women say it’s ‘leg hair harassment’

    As Japan grapples with one of its most punishing summer heatwaves in recent history, a bold workplace policy from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has split public opinion: encouraging male office workers to trade tailored suit trousers for casual shorts to beat soaring temperatures.

    First conceptualized by current Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike back in 2005 during her tenure as Japan’s Environment Minister, the Cool Biz initiative has evolved into a decades-long annual summer tradition. Koike originally launched the national program to cut energy consumption by prompting workers to adopt lighter, cooler attire, starting with short-sleeve shirts instead of formal long sleeves. After the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disrupted national energy supplies, the initiative expanded into Super Cool Biz, which relaxed dress codes further to cut power use across workplaces and households. This April, Koike’s administration rolled out the latest iteration: *Tokyo Cool Biz*, which explicitly allows and encourages men to wear shorts in office settings to cope with extreme heat.

    Nearly four months after the policy launched, public reaction has been deeply divided. Proponents argue that looser dress rules make long workdays in sweltering conditions far more comfortable, boosting productivity and reducing heat-related health risks. But critics have raised pointed concerns about gender inequity: many note that women are still widely expected to wear opaque tights if they show any leg at work, placing an unfair comfort and compliance burden on female employees that men do not face. The policy has also sparked an unexpected cultural conversation around “sunehara” — a newly coined online term translating to “leg hair harassment” — that describes the discomfort many women feel when forced to view unshaven male legs in shared office spaces.

    Officials behind the initiative emphasize that its core goal is expanding choice, not mandating a specific wardrobe. “We want to give people more options in the severe heat, not tell them what to wear,” Noboru Watanabe, an environmental official with the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, told the BBC. “There should be no issue as long as the work attire is not offensive to anyone.”

    Still, polling reflects the sharp divide in public opinion. A June survey conducted by Gorilla Clinic, a Japanese aesthetic medical provider, found that 53.5% of respondents opposed allowing shorts in summer workplaces, while 46.5% supported the new recommendation. For opponents of both genders, the top concerns centered on exposed body hair and body insecurities. The clinic noted that women responded to the survey in far higher numbers than men, indicating that female workers are disproportionately resistant to the shift to casual office shorts.

    The policy has even created unexpected demand for aesthetic services. Akifumi Funatsu, Gorilla Clinic’s director, reports a sharp uptick in male clients seeking laser leg hair removal. What was once a purely cosmetic choice has become framed as a matter of workplace social etiquette, Funatsu explained, as many men internalize the widespread expectation that women prefer men to have minimal leg hair, and want to avoid making colleagues uncomfortable.

    While the shorts policy has dominated public conversation around this year’s Cool Biz, it comes amid far more serious heat-related challenges facing Japan. Like much of the world, Japan has recorded record-breaking high temperatures in recent months, compounded by soaring global energy prices driven by Middle Eastern geopolitical instability. The Japan Meteorological Agency has even introduced a new term, *kokusho-bi*, or “brutally hot day,” to alert the public when temperatures exceed 40°C, in a push to raise awareness of deadly heat risks.

    Official data underscores the severity of the threat: between July 6 and 12, seven people died from heatstroke and 4,580 were hospitalized across the country, according to Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency. Beyond encouraging basic precautions like regular hydration and adjusted air conditioner use, Japanese residents have turned to a growing market of heat-fighting gadgets, from fan-embedded clothing and disposable cooling towels to heat-blocking umbrellas and portable handheld fans, all of which have sold out at many retailers nationwide.

    Disaster reduction experts stress that proactive preparation is key to avoiding heat illness. Researchers with the Japan Academic Network for Disaster Reduction note that the human body requires several weeks to build heat acclimatization, so the best time to start preventive measures is during the country’s rainy season, before peak summer heat sets in. They add that Japan’s uniquely high humidity makes heat even more dangerous, as it slows sweat evaporation and undermines the body’s natural ability to cool itself.

    While casual workplace attire has slowly gained traction in Japan over recent years — particularly in startups and tech firms — this year’s Tokyo government recommendation has normalized the shift for traditional industries. For many Japanese workers, adapting to hotter summers means not just changing what they wear to the office, but navigating new social expectations around professional appearance in a warming climate.