Global Pulse

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  • Footage of Tibet floods isn’t being shown in China – and we know little about victims there

    Footage of Tibet floods isn’t being shown in China – and we know little about victims there

    Dramatic surveillance footage capturing a catastrophic flash flood tearing through Gyirong Port, a key border crossing between Nepal and Tibet Autonomous Region of China, has circulated widely across global social media and international news outlets—yet it remains almost entirely inaccessible to audiences inside China, according to a new Reuters report.

    The torrential flood, which struck earlier this week, has already claimed hundreds of lives, with hundreds more still unaccounted for as of Friday. But inside China’s strictly censored online ecosystem, searches for information about the disaster and related user-generated content are heavily restricted. As of Thursday, China’s national state-run flagship news bulletin had only aired a single still image of the event, with minimal additional context.

    While Beijing has launched a large-scale search and rescue operation deploying hundreds of emergency responders, and President Xi Jinping personally chaired an emergency coordination meeting to direct response efforts, the stark contrast between global access to on-the-ground footage and the controlled information environment inside China has thrown the country’s online censorship framework into sharp relief.

    China’s administration of Tibet has long been marked by strict information controls. Beijing asserts full sovereignty over the region, which it annexed in the 1950s, and has repeatedly cracked down on anti-government protests, while facing widespread international accusations of severe human rights violations against the Tibetan Buddhist population. Chinese authorities have designated the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama as a separatist, and the region’s name itself is a heavily monitored term for Chinese online censors. These long-standing sensitivities have shaped the government’s response to the disaster, observers say.

    State media has published incremental updates confirming the rising death toll, ongoing rescue work, and risks posed by a newly formed barrier lake at risk of catastrophic overflow. But beyond official statements highlighting rescue operations, little additional information has been released. No firsthand survivor accounts from the affected areas in Tibet have been made public, and no user-posted footage of the disaster or its aftermath has been allowed to remain online. Anxious families of missing people inside the region have also not spoken publicly, and contacting residents in the area remains extraordinarily difficult even in non-disaster times. One veteran foreign correspondent with experience covering North Korea noted that reaching interview subjects in Pyongyang is often easier than connecting to people in Lhasa, Tibet’s capital.

    The information gap was thrown into stark relief Thursday evening, when China’s main state broadcaster led its flagship evening news segment not with the Himalayan flood disaster, but with the launch of a new collection of President Xi Jinping’s political writings. Foreign journalists are barred from traveling to Tibet without prior official approval, leaving international reporters with a narrow window to gather information before content is scrubbed from online platforms and local voices are silenced. Most external reporting has therefore had to rely exclusively on official state media dispatches, which have focused heavily on the dramatic efforts of rescue teams scaling cliffs and crossing raging rivers to reach hard-hit communities, with no details on the number of people saved or the full extent of damage.

    Analysts emphasize that Beijing is not indifferent to the disaster: Premier Li Qiang, China’s second-highest ranking leader, was rapidly dispatched to the region to oversee debris removal and response efforts, an unusually quick visit for a top official following a major crisis. Instead, the muted, controlled public narrative is rooted in the Chinese Communist Party’s overriding priority of maintaining social stability, the report notes.

    Party leadership fears that a large-scale, unregulated public discussion of the disaster could stoke public discontent over the response or perceived lack of pre-disaster mitigation, observers say. There are also additional concerns that the tragedy could become a organizing point for dissent, particularly in a region where Buddhist religious identity remains a core part of community life. While large-scale public protests have not occurred in Tibet for years, Tibetan exile groups have repeatedly raised alarms over expanding Beijing control, including new education policies that critics say erode the influence of monasteries and Buddhist cultural practice.

    Within hours of the flood striking, local party authorities issued an internal notice calling on grassroots party members to lead relief efforts, provide psychological support to affected residents, and prioritize maintaining social order and public confidence in disaster zones. The notice explicitly states that members who perform well will receive rewards, while those who fail to meet expectations will face disciplinary action. Rights activists report that Tibetan residents can face detention or arrest for speaking to foreign journalists or posting online content that deviates from the official government narrative, a restriction that has left ethnic Tibetans living outside the region unable to confirm the safety of family members trapped in the disaster zone.

    The International Campaign for Tibet, an advocacy group, has acknowledged the critical work of on-the-ground first responders, but has accused Beijing of systematically removing user-generated videos and firsthand accounts of the disaster from domestic social platforms. The organization has called on Chinese authorities to release full, verifiable information about the scale of casualties and damage.

    Beijing has long rejected accusations of human rights violations in Tibet, pointing to massive infrastructure and economic investments that have grown the region’s tourism sector and integrated it more closely with China’s national economy. Even so, most Chinese citizens residing outside Tibet currently have little access to accurate, detailed information about the flood disaster unfolding in the Himalayan border region.

  • Smotrich announces plan to judaise Negev and Galilee

    Smotrich announces plan to judaise Negev and Galilee

    Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, leader of the Religious Zionism party, has announced a sweeping new policy plan to advance the judaisation of Israel’s northern Galilee and southern Negev (called Naqab in Arabic), announcing he will replicate the aggressive settlement expansion policies he has implemented in the occupied West Bank across these two regions.

    Smotrich first unveiled the plan in a post on the social platform X on Thursday, framing the initiative as a continuation of what he calls a “revolution” in West Bank settlement policy. Over the past four years, Smotrich has overwritten planning protocols, seized large swathes of Palestinian territory in the occupied West Bank, and authorized dozens of new illegal settlements and outposts – actions that have been widely condemned by the international community as de facto annexation of Palestinian land.

    Under the new framework, Smotrich says he will scale this same model up dramatically across the Negev and Galilee, two regions that are already home to the vast majority of Israel’s Palestinian citizen population. The plan’s core targets are clear: to bring 1 million additional Jewish residents to the two regions, build 40 entirely new communities, establish dozens of new agricultural farms, expand existing Jewish localities, and create hundreds of thousands of new housing units designated exclusively for Jewish settlers.

    The far-right minister also explicitly pledged to scrap existing planning provisions for Arab communities, claiming these schemes have “seized land reserves” and pose a threat to Jewish settlement in the regions. “After the revolution in Judea and Samaria,” Smotrich stated, referring to the West Bank by its religious Jewish name, “it’s now the turn of the Negev and Galilee. Yes, we are judaising.”

    Looking ahead to Israel’s upcoming national elections, Smotrich announced that his party will demand full control over two of Israel’s most powerful national land planning agencies if it joins the next governing coalition. He made clear that bureaucratic procedures and opposing voices will be pushed aside to speed up the establishment of new agricultural settlements: “We are going to trample over procedures and people in order to allow the farms to be established.” The plan also calls for purging what Smotrich labels “anti-Zionist and post-Zionist elements” from the country’s land institutions, and cancelling existing policies that he claims “are strangling the Jewish communities” in the regions.

    Smotrich’s plan is structured around three core pillars: land, population, and security. It explicitly argues that “a land that we do not hold, Arabs will hold,” framing the policy as a zero-sum effort that advances Jewish settlement at the direct expense of existing Palestinian communities. On security, the plan calls for a harsh crackdown on criminal networks in Palestinian communities, with the stated goal of “dismantling the armed Arab autonomy.”

    This push for judaisation comes against a backdrop of surging violent crime in Palestinian communities inside Israel that has followed current Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government taking power in 2022. As of this year, 161 Palestinian residents of Israel have already been killed in crime-related violence, marking a dramatic escalation that Palestinian leaders attribute to systemic government neglect of Arab community safety. Most recently, a young Palestinian man was shot and killed in a crime-linked incident in Jaffa on the same night Smotrich announced his new plan.

    While Smotrich’s plan marks a dramatic escalation of settlement efforts, the push to judaise the Negev and Galilee is not a new development in Israeli policy. Successive Israeli governments have pursued the same goal for decades, most notably in 1976, when the Yitzhak Rabin administration’s Galilee judaisation plan sparked mass protests among Palestinian communities in northern Israel. The Israeli military’s violent crackdown on those protests left six Palestinian demonstrators dead on March 30 1976, a date that has been commemorated annually by Palestinians around the world as Land Day ever since.

    Judaisation of these regions has already been a central policy priority for Netanyahu’s current far-right government, with Smotrich’s party colleague Orit Strook – who serves as Israel’s Settlement Minister – leading ongoing efforts in this area. Earlier this month, Strook claimed that one of her greatest policy achievements had been “halting the Islamic conquest of the Galilee,” and under her leadership, the Settlement Ministry has allocated millions of shekels in public funding to incentivize Jewish relocation to the Negev and Galilee.

    According to 2023 official Israeli data, roughly 740,000 Palestinian residents live in the Galilee, where they make up around half of the total population. In the Negev, official counts put the Palestinian population at around 200,000, but independent estimates put the actual figure closer to 300,000, as the Israeli government refuses to recognize dozens of unregistered Bedouin villages in the region, meaning their residents are excluded from official population counts. Overall, Palestinians make up roughly 30 percent of the Negev’s total population.

    Palestinian political leaders inside Israel have harshly condemned the plan, framing it as a explicitly racist effort to enforce apartheid-style demographic engineering. Yousef Jabareen, head of the left-wing Hadash party and leader of the newly formed Palestinian Joint List, called the initiative “racist minister Smotrich’s plan to judaise the Negev and Galilee is essentially an apartheid plan.” He added, “Arab citizens will not accept the status of second-class or third-class citizens,” and vowed that Palestinian political factions would work to defeat the plan through electoral and political action in the upcoming elections.

  • Cairo accused of ‘punishment by proxy’ after British-Egyptian woman arrested over sister’s activism

    Cairo accused of ‘punishment by proxy’ after British-Egyptian woman arrested over sister’s activism

    A growing international outcry has emerged over the detention of a British-Egyptian mother in Egypt, with her legal team confirming the arrest is a politically motivated tactic to silence her dissident sister living abroad. Forty-five-year-old Eman el-Shazly, a resident of Birmingham with four children, was taken into custody by Egyptian security forces on August 16 during a routine visit to the country.

    According to her legal representation, the arrest was not carried out over any alleged wrongdoing by Eman herself. Instead, authorities targeted her to pressure her sibling, Mona el-Shazly, a UK-based government critic who has spent years speaking out against corruption under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s administration. Mona operates a popular YouTube channel with more than 130,000 subscribers and maintains an active presence on X, where much of her commentary focuses on systemic corruption within Egypt’s security apparatus and public utility sectors—two areas where the country’s powerful, opaque military holds extensive commercial stakes.

    This pattern of targeting relatives of dissidents is not an isolated incident for the el-Shazly family. Eman’s two brothers, Hassan and Eid, were already held in pretrial detention for nearly three years on charges commonly leveled against opponents of the Sisi regime: spreading false information that threatens state security and promoting ideologies linked to terrorist groups on social media. The pair were rearrested by Egyptian authorities just this past May, and Eman has now been formally added to the same legal case that holds her brothers.

    At the time of her arrest, Eman had been in Egypt for roughly two months, staying to care for her elderly, ailing mother. Two days after her detainment, Egypt’s Supreme State Security Prosecution ruled to extend her pretrial detention for 15 days as investigations proceed. She now faces the threat of long-term confinement in Egypt’s widely criticized prison system, where international human rights organizations have documented consistent abuses including systemic torture, deliberate medical neglect, and degrading inhumane treatment.

    The Sisi government has a well-documented history of targeting family members of exiled and overseas-based critics, using detained relatives as leverage to silence dissent beyond Egypt’s borders. Despite pressure from her family to step back from her activism and remove her critical videos, Mona el-Shazly has refused to back down. Speaking to The Guardian, she emphasized that she has broken no laws and committed no transgressions, noting that the situation has already left 11 children in the family without parental care. “It is a horrible situation, but the Egyptian government will not stop if I appear weak. The government is close to collapsing,” she stated.

    Back in the UK, Eman’s husband Zeesharn Moustapha has launched a public fundraising campaign to cover the family’s rapidly rising legal fees as they fight to secure her release. Moustapha said the entire family remains “deeply concerned about her safety and wellbeing” amid the lack of regular access to Eman.

    Earlier this year, the British government publicly acknowledged that the Sisi regime regularly engages in what it calls “punishment by proxy,” targeting the relatives of overseas-based critics to silence opposition. Human Rights Watch has also confirmed that the regime has increasingly ramped up this tactic of intimidating dissidents through their family members. British diplomatic officials have formally requested consular access to Eman, a standard right under international diplomatic conventions, but Egyptian authorities have not yet granted the request.

  • How Pieter-Steph du Toit proved Rassie Erasmus wrong on the way to 100 Springbok tests

    How Pieter-Steph du Toit proved Rassie Erasmus wrong on the way to 100 Springbok tests

    In 2018, when newly appointed South Africa rugby head coach Rassie Erasmus first crossed paths with Pieter-Steph du Toit, the veteran Springbok forward did not match what Erasmus expected. By that point, du Toit had already earned five years of international caps and claimed a South African domestic Player of the Year award, but the pair had never collaborated or met before. Erasmus’s initial assessment was harsh: he criticized du Toit for missing too many tackles, carrying the ball with poor upright form, and misread his laid-back demeanor as a lack of competitive drive. At best, Erasmus pegged him as nothing more than a useful utility option for the bench.

    Today, that early assessment stands as one of the most notable misjudgments in modern rugby. “I have never been as wrong about a player as I was with Pieter-Steph, and I have never been as pleased to be so wrong,” Erasmus told SA Rugby magazine ahead of du Toit’s historic 100th test match, which takes place this Saturday against New Zealand at Cape Town. When Erasmus took the reins of the Springboks in 2018, the program was reeling from two consecutive underwhelming seasons, and his mandate was simple: rebuild the side and restore the national team’s reputation as one of the most feared forces in global rugby. It took just two training sessions for him to completely reverse his opinion of du Toit.

    What Erasmus discovered defied every initial assumption. Du Toit showed relentless commitment to the Springbok jersey, unmatched tactical understanding of the game, consistent on-field contributions, and an eagerness to learn and push his own limits. He was always the first player on the training pitch and the last to leave, and staff regularly had to force him to take scheduled rest days. Pairing that relentless work ethic were innate on-field instincts, a willingness to put in the unglamorous “dirty work” that wins matches, an ability to break through defensive lines to gain critical territory, and bone-rattling tackles that disrupt opposition attacks and punish ball carriers.

    The turning point that cemented du Toit’s place in Erasmus’s starting lineup came in September 2018, almost exactly a year after the Springboks suffered a demoralizing 57-0 defeat to New Zealand in Auckland. South Africa claimed a historic victory on New Zealand soil – their first in nine years – and du Toit delivered a career-defining performance, making 24 tackles over the full 80 minutes. Post-match cameras captured the forward overcome with tears, a moment that still stands as one of the most memorable in recent Springbok history. Today, the idea of leaving du Toit out of the matchday 23 is unthinkable for Erasmus. Even the Springboks’ famous “Bomb Squad” reserve forward pack, which regularly replaces starting forwards early in matches, will sub captain Siya Kolisi before they even consider pulling du Toit, who is legendary for his unrivaled fitness and endurance. He rarely comes off the pitch before the final whistle.

    Du Toit’s journey to 100 caps has been defined by hardship and perseverance that stretches back to his childhood and his family’s deep rugby roots. Raised on the wine and olive farm outside Cape Town that his grandfather – legendary 1960s Springbok prop Piet “Spiere” (which translates to “Muscles” in Afrikaans) du Toit – bought in the 1950s and which remains in the family today, du Toit dreamed of being a great Springbok from a young age, raised on stories and mementos of his grandfather’s iconic career.

    But his path to this historic milestone has been anything but smooth. Multiple serious injuries delayed his march to 100 tests: a cracked sternum, repeated shoulder injuries, and two ACL reconstructions – the second of which used a hamstring tendon donated by his father to speed up his recovery ahead of the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England. His World Cup debut ended in humiliation, as the Springboks suffered their infamous “Miracle of Brighton” loss to Japan, with du Toit among the players criticized for being deployed out of position.

    His most harrowing injury came in 2020, just months after he led South Africa to the 2019 World Cup title and claimed the World Rugby Player of the Year award. A thigh hematoma developed into acute compartment syndrome, a dangerous buildup of internal pressure that required emergency surgery the same night. Surgeons made a 40-centimeter cut along his thigh, and when nerve function failed to improve after the procedure, doctors even discussed the possibility of amputation. Only after du Toit lost 10 kilograms was a fourth successful operation possible to close the wound and save his leg.

    Through every setback, du Toit’s relentless drive to improve never faded. In the 2019 World Cup final victory over England, he made 20 tackles and immediately sought out forwards coach Matt Proudfoot after the final whistle to ask what he could do better. “He’s a no-nonsense guy who doesn’t seek validation,” Proudfoot said of du Toit. “He just wants to know what he’s got to do. He doesn’t say much but the group listens. He just puts it out there. Being a Springbok matters to him.”

    Du Toit himself acknowledges he is far more comfortable leading by example than delivering rousing speeches. “I’m a strong believer in actions speak louder than words,” he said. “The way you perform on the field or the way you live your life must tell your story, ‘Okay, these are the morals of this guy.’ And if you can do that, nothing has to be said.”

    That said, one unscripted, emotional speech from du Toit became a defining moment of South Africa’s 2023 World Cup title run. Trailing England 12-6 at halftime of the Paris semifinal, Erasmus left the changing room to an eerie silence. Du Toit stood up and asked his teammates point-blank – with plenty of profanity – whether they were scared or ready to fight. When the speech was featured in *Chasing the Sun 2*, the documentary covering South Africa’s championship run, du Toit worried his raw language would set a bad example for young fans. But any concerns about his reputation were erased weeks later, when he delivered a masterclass in the final against New Zealand, making a staggering 28 tackles without a single miss and being named Man of the Match on the way to a second world title. Then-head coach Jacques Nienaber joked at the time, “If there’s a white plastic bag that blows over the pitch, he’d probably chase that down as well.”

    This Saturday, du Toit will write another chapter in Springbok history as he becomes the 11th player in the program’s history to earn 100 test caps, and the sixth to reach that milestone under Erasmus’s tenure as either head coach or director of rugby. For a player once written off as a bench utility, the milestone is a testament to perseverance, grit, and the power of quiet dedication.

  • 97-year-old woman rescued after Nepali floods looked like ‘a warrior’

    97-year-old woman rescued after Nepali floods looked like ‘a warrior’

    In the wake of devastating flash floods that swept through Nepal, a remarkable story of survival has captured public attention: 97-year-old Guna Maya Bohara emerged alive after being trapped by the rushing floodwaters, and was successfully pulled to safety in an extraordinary rescue operation that relied on heavy construction equipment.

    Local rescue teams responding to the flood disaster faced challenging terrain and fast-moving water that complicated evacuation efforts for trapped residents. When crews located Bohara, who had been cut off by the sudden surge of floodwater, they made the unconventional call to use an excavator to reach her isolated position. The heavy machinery allowed rescuers to navigate the waterlogged, debris-strewn landscape and extract the elderly woman without serious injury.

    Witnesses and first responders described the elderly survivor as displaying remarkable grit throughout the ordeal, with many noting she bore the quiet steadfastness of a warrior in the face of life-threatening disaster. Her survival against the odds has become a symbol of resilience for communities reeling from the damage caused by the sudden flash floods, which have become an increasingly frequent extreme weather event in the Himalayan nation in recent years.

  • Pakistan’s new mediation push revives hopes for US-Iran climbdown

    Pakistan’s new mediation push revives hopes for US-Iran climbdown

    For weeks, long-simmering tensions between the United States and Iran have raised the risk of full-scale escalation, leaving regional powers scrambling to keep diplomatic channels open. Among these actors, Pakistan’s sustained diplomatic outreach has reignited a long-debated question: is Islamabad merely a passive messenger carrying demands between Washington and Tehran, or has it emerged as an independent, credible mediator with the access and standing to de-escalate tensions? Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir’s August 24 visit to Tehran, the latest step in a months-long cross-branch diplomatic effort led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Pakistan’s top military command, offers strong evidence for the latter.

    Islamabad has maintained open, formal channels with both capitals throughout the conflict, with a core mandate to narrow ideological gaps, prevent violent escalation, and preserve a viable pathway to a negotiated ceasefire and long-term settlement. Prior to Munir’s Tehran trip, Reuters reported that former US President Donald Trump spoke with the Pakistani military chief and asked Islamabad to leverage its close ties with Iran to encourage Tehran to return to the negotiating table. But framing the visit as nothing more than a mission carried out on Washington’s behalf overlooks the broader strategic context of Pakistan’s months-long engagement. Pakistan’s Foreign Office has explicitly rejected labeling Munir as a US envoy, framing the trip as a natural continuation of Islamabad’s independent mediatory efforts.

    This framing is supported by the two-way nature of Pakistan’s diplomatic work. Diplomatic sources based in Washington confirm that Islamabad does not only deliver US proposals to Iranian leadership; it also relays Tehran’s counterproposals back to Washington, paired with independent, contextual assessments from Pakistani diplomats. This level of proactive analysis and engagement goes far beyond basic message delivery, indicating a deliberate effort to bridge gaps and find common ground between the two adversarial parties.

    Pakistan’s role as a mediator in the conflict predates Munir’s most recent diplomatic mission by months. The most tangible outcome of this sustained engagement came in June, when the United States and Iran signed the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, with Pakistan serving as the official mediator and signing witness to the deal. The agreement established a temporary cessation of military operations, guaranteed unimpeded commercial passage through the Strait of Hormuz, and laid out a formal framework for future negotiations on a broader, permanent settlement. Shortly after the MoU was signed, follow-up talks were held in Switzerland with delegates from Iran, the US, and co-mediators Pakistan and Qatar in attendance.

    While the original agreement later frayed amid overlapping disputes over sanctions implementation, compliance with ceasefire terms, and navigation rules in the Strait of Hormuz, it remains the only formal negotiated framework produced since the latest round of conflict erupted. This existing diplomatic foundation gives Pakistan far more credibility than a casual informal messenger: it provides a pre-built architecture that can be revived to restart stalled talks.

    Against this backdrop, Pakistan’s current diplomatic push is less about building a new negotiating process from scratch, and more about shoring up and revitalizing the existing framework established by the Islamabad MoU. Munir’s visit to Tehran fits squarely into this strategy. Accompanied by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Munir held meetings with senior political and security leaders across Iran’s government. Discussions centered on de-escalation, resuming formal negotiations, stabilizing navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, and building a path toward a permanent end to hostilities.

    Iran’s presidential office described the talks as highly productive, noting that the visit delivered significant diplomatic breakthroughs whose outcomes will be made public in the coming weeks. Iranian officials have also publicly acknowledged Pakistan’s constructive efforts to facilitate dialogue and reduce tensions. This mutual recognition is critical: effective mediation requires that the mediator is seen as legitimate and unbiased by both adversarial sides, a bar Islamabad has been able to clear so far.

    To be clear, Pakistan’s recent outreach has not yet delivered a comprehensive, final settlement to the US-Iran conflict, and no major breakthrough has been announced. But Tehran’s positive assessment of Pakistan’s engagement, alongside its continued willingness to treat the Islamabad MoU as a viable foundation for renewed diplomacy, has strengthened Islamabad’s position as a trusted bridge between the two sides. Tehran’s willingness to restart talks remains conditional: Iranian officials insist that Washington must address what Tehran characterizes as violations of the original June agreement before the framework can be fully restored. Even so, the ongoing relevance of the MoU confirms that Pakistan began its mediatory work long before Washington’s most recent request for assistance, and its efforts are rooted in independent strategic priorities.

    Munir’s unique access to Iran’s top security establishment further underscores Pakistan’s unique value as a mediator. One of his key meetings during the Tehran visit was with General Mohsen Rezaei, the Supreme Leader’s representative on Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. This level of access to Iran’s core security decision-makers gives Islamabad a rare ability to assess whether both Iran’s civilian leadership and security establishment are prepared to support renewed diplomatic talks.

    Pakistan also has clear, self-interested strategic reasons to prevent a prolonged full-scale conflict between the US and Iran. Instability around the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints, threatens global energy markets and Pakistani maritime commerce. Open conflict along Iran’s border with Pakistan would create severe domestic security pressures for Islamabad, while a sustained US-Iran confrontation would complicate Pakistan’s diplomatic and economic relationships across the Gulf region. For Pakistan, mediation is therefore not just a goodwill gesture: it is a direct investment in its own national security and economic stability. While Washington clearly benefits from Pakistan’s access to Tehran, passing proposals between two adversarial parties that lack direct diplomatic ties is a core function of any legitimate mediation. The more important test of Pakistan’s credibility is whether it maintains independent access to both sides and helps shape a negotiating process, rather than simply parroting one party’s demands. Islamabad’s recent diplomatic track record indicates that it is meeting this test.

    The Strait of Hormuz offers the clearest immediate opportunity to test whether renewed diplomacy can deliver tangible results. Any disruption to shipping through the strait impacts Gulf oil producers, major Asian energy importers, and the entire global economy. Even if the broader political dispute between the US and Iran remains unresolved, progress on stabilizing commercial navigation through the waterway could serve as a critical early confidence-building measure to reset relations.

    Recent diplomatic efforts by Oman have already yielded incremental progress on this file. Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi’s recent visit to Tehran produced an agreement on a phased approach to de-escalation, including a temporary safe navigation corridor, mine clearance operations, real-time information sharing between parties, and improved maritime traffic management, with ongoing technical talks working toward a permanent arrangement. Omani and Pakistani diplomatic initiatives are not competing tracks for negotiation: Oman can lead work on practical on-the-ground arrangements for Hormuz navigation, while Pakistan’s unique access to both Washington and Tehran can support the broader political agreements needed to make those practical arrangements permanent. A localized maritime agreement can reduce an immediate source of military confrontation, while a revived Islamabad framework can address broader sticking points including sanctions relief, mutual military restraint, and reciprocal compliance with deal terms. Together, these parallel tracks offer a viable path away from military pressure and toward incremental, sustainable de-escalation.

    Fundamental disagreements between the US and Iran remain unresolved. Tehran has not publicly committed to making unilateral concessions to restart talks, while Washington continues to rely on harsh economic sanctions and military posturing as leverage against the Iranian government. Unconfirmed reports of a potential US proposal offering limited sanctions relief in exchange for Iranian concessions on Hormuz navigation and regional security have not yet resulted in a publicly confirmed agreement, meaning incremental progress should not be misinterpreted as a final breakthrough.

    Pakistan cannot force Washington or Tehran to accept a deal, nor can Munir resolve the deep structural disagreements that have kept the two countries in conflict for decades. The ultimate success of any mediation effort depends on both sides concluding that a negotiated settlement delivers greater benefits than continued military and economic coercion. Instead, Pakistan’s unique diplomatic value lies in its ability to keep communication lines open when direct engagement between the two parties becomes impossible due to mutual distrust. Islamabad remained engaged in quiet diplomacy even after the original June MoU fell apart, and has maintained consistent contacts with both sides as tensions escalated over recent months.

    That consistent, sustained engagement is what makes Munir’s latest Tehran visit so significant. Far from being a one-off mission carried out on Washington’s behalf, it is part of a broader, independent Pakistani strategy to preserve open communication, revive the Islamabad framework, reduce tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, and create the conditions for a lasting negotiated settlement. In doing so, Pakistan has preserved a strategically critical asset: a functioning, trusted communication channel between two adversaries whose deep mutual distrust repeatedly pushes them toward open conflict.

    If the latest round of talks delivers tangible progress toward de-escalation, Pakistan’s legacy will not be that it sided with either Washington or Tehran. Instead, it will have proven that it can speak credibly to both, and help turn early signs of willingness to compromise into a sustainable, long-term diplomatic process that delivers regional stability.

  • Israel to expel Palestinians in Gaza over kites flown by children

    Israel to expel Palestinians in Gaza over kites flown by children

    In a sharp escalation of tensions along the Gaza-Israel border, the Israeli government has formally ordered its military to forcibly remove Palestinian residents from Gaza Strip neighborhoods where children fly kites and release balloons, Israeli broadcaster Channel 13 revealed in a Thursday report.

    Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz made the announcement during a closed-door meeting with top military leadership, including Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir. Katz stated that the public deadline Israel had set following recent kite and balloon incursions into southern Israel’s Negev region had passed, warning that any future airborne launches from Gaza would face harsh retaliation.

    Notably, Katz framed every single launch as an intentional act of terrorism — a classification that contradicts the Israeli military’s own assessment just one week prior, which concluded the kites posed no meaningful threat to Israeli civilian life. Per Katz’s order, the Israeli military will target all parties connected to the launches, from organizers to participants, and he confirmed the new directive comes directly from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    “From now on, every launch will be met with a forceful response against those responsible, the organisers and the perpetrators,” Katz said. “The Israeli military will act with all necessary means, including evacuating the population from an area or neighbourhood from which launches are carried out, in order to deal with the centres of terrorism.” Katz added that Israel would not permit Hamas or any other Palestinian group to threaten Israeli communities adjacent to the Gaza Strip, stressing that “whoever does so will pay a heavy price.”

    Border tensions over kite flying have built gradually in recent months, with Israeli media documenting a steady rise in the number of Palestinian kites drifting across the heavily fortified boundary. Israeli national newspaper Israel Hayom reported Thursday that Israel’s security apparatus holds Hamas responsible for the increase, claiming the group’s actions stem from frustration over ongoing deadly Israeli military operations in the blockaded enclave.

    Last week, Israeli outlet Haaretz reported that four kites had been recovered in border communities, prompting local residents to push the Israeli military for aggressive action. “This is how it started before 7 October,” one local Israeli community council stated last week, adding that residents “will not accept a policy of containment when it comes to our security.” Ori Epstein, head of the Sha’ar HaNegev Regional Council, echoed that sentiment Sunday, arguing that even a single kite crossing the border demands a military response. “When there’s no response, the message that gets conveyed to the other side is that it’s allowed to continue,” Epstein said.

    Following sustained public pressure from border residents, the Israeli military has already ramped up operations: Channel 13 confirmed that Zamir ordered an increase in targeted assassination strikes across the Gaza earlier this week. Prime Minister Netanyahu reaffirmed the hardline stance during a Monday meeting with Zamir, stating that “Israel will not allow Hamas or any other party in the Gaza Strip to return to threatening our communities and undermining our citizens’ sense of security.” Netanyahu warned Hamas that if kite launches do not cease, the Israeli military will target those responsible and forcibly evacuate all residents from launch zones.

    As Israeli threats intensified, local Gaza non-governmental organizations, working in coordination with Hamas, have publicly urged Palestinian parents to prevent their children from flying kites in border areas. “We are working tirelessly on the ground and doing everything possible to stop this practice,” the organizations said in a public statement, noting that the urgent appeal is intended to protect the lives of innocent Palestinian children.

    The new Israeli policy has drawn sharp condemnation from Palestinian leaders. This week alone, Israeli strikes across Gaza have already killed multiple Palestinian civilians, including non-combatants. Senior Hamas official Basem Naim criticized the Israeli position as an absurd contradiction, pointing out that “in a surreal paradox, a nuclear state that practises terrorism daily, charged with committing genocide in Gaza, mobilises and issues orders to deal forcefully with paper kites coming out of Gaza.” Naim emphasized that the kites are being flown by children, not armed combatants.

  • ‘A very frightening time’: US terror tag endangers UK Palestine Action activists, critics say

    ‘A very frightening time’: US terror tag endangers UK Palestine Action activists, critics say

    A recent decision by the United States government to label UK-based pro-Palestine advocacy group Palestine Action as a transnational terrorist organization has triggered widespread alarm among campaigners, who warn the move will expose UK-linked activists to elevated risks of intrusive surveillance and potential exclusion from the global financial system.

    The announcement came via an official statement published on the US Treasury Department’s website, which rolled out a new package of sanctions targeting what it calls “Violent Far-Left Terrorist Networks”. Alongside Palestine Action, the sanctions also target Masar Badil, a Palestinian movement pushing for a revolutionary alternative path to secure Palestinian rights and self-determination, as well as Italian tech collective Autistici/Inventati. The US claims the collective provides specialized digital infrastructure, tools and services to Antifa cells and other violent far-left extremist groups, including a designated foreign terrorist organization.

    US officials emphasized that the designation complements the UK government’s 2024 decision to ban Palestine Action under domestic terrorism law, a ruling that is currently scheduled to face a legal challenge at the UK Supreme Court this November.

    For activists directly connected to the group, the new sanctions have already created profound uncertainty and fear. Max Geller, a former Palestine Action member and US citizen who resides in the UK, told independent outlet Middle East Eye that he now faces deep anxiety over his financial security and ability to travel. “I have American bank accounts, I don’t know if I’m going to suddenly be de-banked or if every single one of my Paypal transactions with my friends are going to be scrutinised,” Geller said. With elderly parents based in the US, Geller added that the ban could even block family visits, noting “Suddenly going back home has become a very stressful and scary prospect. No one knows what this means yet. They don’t use these laws on American citizens, so no one really knows what it means for people like me.”

    Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, described the US economic sanctions as an additional layer of repression stacked on top of the UK’s domestic proscription, one that will make daily life far harder for hundreds of linked activists. “There is so much reliance in the Western world on these institutions that you don’t think about how intertwined they are with the US financial system until you’re at the opposite end of their repression,” Ammori told Middle East Eye. Beyond financial exclusion, Ammori warned the designation amplifies the risk of expanded surveillance through intelligence sharing arrangements between the US and UK governments. “It puts people at more of a risk. The US are known for trying to quash who they perceive as enemies of the American empire, and we are now firmly in their sights,” she said.

    Legal and civil liberties campaigners say the far-reaching nature of the US sanctions puts thousands of UK-based supporters at risk of severe consequences. Tim Crosland, a former government lawyer and co-founder of London-based advocacy group Defend our Juries, pointed out that more than 2,700 people have already been arrested in the UK under the 2000 Terrorism Act for supporting Palestine Action. He questioned what the new US designation means for this group: “Are they now in danger of having their bank accounts closed and not being able to operate within the financial system?” Crosland noted that the sanctions already cut off financial access for high-profile critics, pointing to the case of UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine Francesca Albanese, who was sanctioned by the US during the Trump administration last year and has since been locked out of routine financial transactions after calling for the International Criminal Court to prosecute Israeli officials and US company executives accused of complicity in human rights abuses in Palestinian territories.

    “Does that apply to people who’ve held up signs saying ‘I support Palestine Action’? Will the British government give the US the personal data of the people who’ve done that? Because they haven’t got the data unless somebody gives it to them,” Crosland added.

    The US announcement came just days after new details emerged of a pending terrorism-connected case against seven Palestine Action activists accused of vandalizing former US president Donald Trump’s golf resort in Turnberry, Scotland. In March 2025, the activists are alleged to have broken into the property, dug up sections of the golf course and spray-painted “Gaza is not 4 sale” on the clubhouse. All seven face charges of malicious damage aggravated by a terrorist connection, a designation that can result in longer prison sentences and continued terrorist monitoring for decades after release.

    Raza Husain KC, who represented Ammori in a judicial review of the UK’s proscription last November, noted that then UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer held two phone calls with Trump shortly after the incident, on March 10 and 30. Declassified UK reported that the British government has so far refused to confirm or deny whether the two leaders discussed Palestine Action during those conversations. Around the same time, Trump’s son Eric met with Scottish First Minister John Swinney, and a Freedom of Information disclosure showed Swinney “noted with concern the recent incident at the Trump Turnberry property, condemning the damage caused by vandalism and offered reassurance that the relevant authorities would continue to take the incident seriously”. Trump later took to his Truth Social platform to label the activists “terrorists” who had committed “serious damage” — language that echoed the wording of the UK’s 2000 Terrorism Act — and said they would “hopefully be treated harshly”. Ammori argued that the wording makes clear the proscription was discussed: “What emboldened him to use those words after speaking to Starmer? It must have been discussed.”

    In recent months, British courts have already begun applying terrorist designations to Palestine Action activists convicted only of property damage, a move that legal experts call unprecedented in UK history. In June 2025, four Palestine Action defendants were sentenced as terrorists in connection with a 2024 raid on an Elbit Systems factory near Bristol. Crucially, the jurors that convicted them of general criminal charges were never informed that prosecutors would seek a terrorist designation, which was determined by the presiding judge during a separate sentencing hearing. This marked the first time British courts applied a terrorist label to direct action protesters who had not been convicted of terrorist offences or intentional violence. In a separate case, Judge Phillip Parry initially announced he would consider applying a terrorist connection to five activists who vandalized a Barclays Bank branch in Lancashire, but Judge Altham rejected the designation at a recent hearing, ruling the damage caused was not substantial enough to warrant the label.

    The US designation of Palestine Action adds the group to the Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) list, a regime created just days after the 9/11 attacks in 2001 via then-President George W. Bush’s Executive Order 13224. The first target of the list was the Holy Land Foundation, the largest Muslim charity operating in the US at the time, which resulted in five Palestinian-American men being sentenced to between 15 and 65 years in prison on charges of funding Hamas-linked groups. Notably, no court ever presented evidence linking the men to violent activity.

    In its official statement, the US Treasury Department claimed “The United States does not sanction persons for engaging in political speech or other constitutionally protected activities.” But Geller says the designation places Palestine Action in the same legal category as extremist groups like Boko Haram and al-Qaeda, and warns it signals a broader crackdown on dissent. “It seems to be a harbinger for where things are headed. A lot of people might soon find themselves in this position,” he said.

    The US action aligns with a broader administration-wide push to crack down on left-wing activist groups under the framing of countering a global “resurgence of far-left political terrorism”. The latest sanctions build on a November 2024 executive order signed by Trump that designated the loose anti-fascist network Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization. In June 2025, a Texas court sentenced anti-ICE protesters accused of Antifa ties to up to 100 years in prison, a verdict widely seen as a test case for the national crackdown on left-wing activism. In July, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted an international summit focused on countering what he called “a deliberate, ideologically motivated strategy to destabilize free societies by violently targeting our political and economic systems”.

    Many campaigners have questioned the timing of the US announcement, which comes just weeks after the UK Supreme Court granted Ammori permission to challenge the British government’s proscription of Palestine Action. “Is the Trump administration worried that Palestine Action might prevail at the European Court of Human Rights or in the British Supreme Court?” Geller asked.

    The designation also comes shortly after Spanish police arrested US citizen and left-wing humanitarian financier James “Fergie” Chambers at the request of US extradition authorities. Chambers has acknowledged participating in a Palestine Action protest and covering legal fees for some group members, and his lawyers confirm he has donated roughly $1 million to humanitarian projects in Gaza. Ammori revealed that the US submitted its indictment against Chambers on the exact same day the Treasury Department announced the Palestine Action sanctions. Geller argues the timing is no coincidence: “It feels like it’s truly only being done as a PR stunt to build a groundswell of public support for either extraditing Fergie or preempting another Palestine Action legal victory.”

    Middle East Eye, which originally reported this story, provides independent coverage of the Middle East, North Africa and global affairs.

  • Sarfaraz denies knowing about Pakistan threat to end tour

    Sarfaraz denies knowing about Pakistan threat to end tour

    A diplomatic and sporting controversy has overshadowed the second Test between Pakistan and England at Lord’s, after reports emerged that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) threatened to abandon the ongoing three-match tour over a planned Sky Sports interview with the imprisoned former Pakistani prime minister and cricket legend Imran Khan’s two sons.

    The interview, featuring Suleiman and Kasim Khan, aired during the lunch break on the opening day of the Lord’s Test. In the sit-down conversation hosted by former England captain Michael Atherton, the pair raised urgent concerns about the prison treatment and personal security of their 73-year-old father, while also criticizing the British government’s public response to his detention. Imran Khan, who led Pakistan to its historic 1992 Cricket World Cup victory and served as the country’s prime minister from 2018 to 2022, has been held in prison since 2023 on corruption charges he has repeatedly and vehemently denied.

    According to insider sources, the PCB warned the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) that it would call off the Lord’s Test and the remaining matches of the tour if the interview went ahead. Despite receiving a pre-broadcast complaint about the segment, Sky Sports went ahead and aired a edited version of the conversation. Pakistani public broadcaster PTV, which holds domestic rights to the tour and uses Sky’s broadcast footage, opted to cut the interview from its domestic transmission.

    In the wake of the incident, Pakistan’s head coach Sarfaraz Ahmed has claimed he and the full national squad had no advance knowledge of the PCB’s threat. Speaking to reporters at the close of play on day two, the former Pakistan wicketkeeper dismissed any suggestion that the team considered refusing to return to the field after lunch for the afternoon session.

    “I don’t know anything. I’m just focusing on the match,” Sarfaraz said. “You’re talking about the interview? We don’t know about the interview. All are OK. We were having lunch at that time.”

    The ECB confirmed it sought official guidance from the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office amid rising tensions over the broadcast. Ultimately, the Pakistan side did return to the pitch after the lunch break, and the Test has proceeded without further disruption through the end of day two. As of the close of play on day two, England held a 261-run first innings lead, moving to 81 for three in their second innings. Sky Sports also confirmed it received no additional formal complaints regarding the interview after broadcast.

    Notably, this incident marks a rare high-profile moment of off-field tension in recent cricket relations between the two nations. After a 17-year hiatus in England tours to Pakistan driven by widespread security concerns, this will be the fourth separate England tour to Pakistan in four years, when the side travels to the country in October for a tri-series against Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

    The controversy also echoes an unprecedented incident from 2006, when a Test between the two sides at The Oval was abandoned after Pakistan refused to return to the field following tea on day four, in protest at a ball-tampering accusation from match officials. That match ended with Pakistan being forfeited — the only instance of a Test match forfeiture in the 147-year history of international Test cricket.

    The PCB is currently led by chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who also holds the official position of Pakistan’s interior minister.

  • Virginia family with 4 relatives missing in the Nepal-China floods pleads for more rescue help

    Virginia family with 4 relatives missing in the Nepal-China floods pleads for more rescue help

    Days after catastrophic flash floods tore through the Nepal-China Himalayan border region, dozens of North American relatives of missing trekkers join thousands of grieving families worldwide clinging to fragile hope that their loved ones could still be found alive.

    Among those waiting for answers is 27-year-old Mukti Patel, who has gathered with close friends and remaining family at her parents’ home in Richmond, Virginia, since learning the devastating news. Five members of her extended family are among the missing: her 56-year-old father Umesh Kumar, her 32-year-old sister Akanksha Patel, Akanksha’s 32-year-old husband Ishan, and Ishan’s 59-year-old mother Shilpa. The four had joined a 14-day organized trek run by Himalayan Glacier Adventure and Travel Company, a firm with a U.S. office in Baltimore. The entire group of 40 guests and 7 tour guides on the excursion has been unaccounted for since the flood hit.

    Patel recounted that the final contact the family had with the trekking group came on Wednesday, the day the flood struck, when the domestic team called to wish Ishan a happy 32nd birthday. The group was staying in a local hotel near the flood zone that was completely swept away by the surging waters, but Patel refuses to give up on their survival. “I shouldn’t talk in past tense yet,” she said Friday while sharing memories of her loved ones. “We don’t know anything.”

    She described her sister Akanksha, a psychiatrist who dedicated her career to dismantling stigma around mental illness, as a kind and guiding force in her life. “Everything I’ve done in life has been off the blueprint of my sister. There’s no ounce of meanness in her.” Her father Umesh, a long-time adventure enthusiast who had dreamed of making the Himalayan trek for decades, is known for his generous spirit and volunteered to support COVID-19 pandemic victims during the public health crisis. Ishan, an orthopedic surgeon, brought constant joy to his wife’s life, Patel added. The four missing relatives hold dual citizenship between North American nations: Umesh and Akanksha are Canadian citizens, while Ishan and Shilpa hold both Canadian and U.S. passports.

    As of the latest update, more than 2,000 people remain listed as missing following the disaster, which has already confirmed hundreds of fatalities. The U.S. State Department reports that approximately 90 American citizens are among those unaccounted for. Rescuers are still working to extract survivors from layers of mud and debris left by the flood, but progress has been slow and difficult in the hard-hit mountainous region.

    Sanket Pandey, managing director of the tour company organizing the trek, told reporters that during a recent Zoom call with family members of the missing trekkers, many asked if they could travel to the disaster site to support search efforts, and questioned whether any of their loved ones could be trapped in surviving air pockets in collapsed structures. “It’s really difficult to have nothing,” Pandey said of the ongoing uncertainty for waiting families.

    Patel has issued a call for greater international support to speed up rescue and recovery operations in the affected region, as waiting families continue to hold out hope, however thin, that their loved ones will be brought home safely. “I want my family to come home,” she said.