标签： Oceania

Six months into the center-right presidency of Rodrigo Paz, the Andean nation of Bolivia remains roiled by mass anti-government demonstrations driven by deep public anger over widespread economic hardship. On Tuesday, the country’s lower congressional chamber took the controversial step of approving the repeal of a 2020 regulation designed to limit executive power to impose states of emergency and crack down on street protests, voting by a more than two-thirds majority to clear the way for Paz to deploy military forces across protest hotspots. The regulation, which required congressional pre-approval for any state of emergency and barred presidents from deploying the military for crowd control, was originally drafted by a socialist-led legislature in the wake of 2019’s deadly unrest that killed 36 people and forced longtime socialist leader Evo Morales from office. The repeal passed the Senate in an accelerated vote last week, and moved through the lower chamber in just seven days using an expedited process that bypasses standard legislative procedures. The vote leaves the government free to declare a national state of emergency, restrict core civil liberties including freedom of movement and freedom of assembly, and bring uniformed soldiers into the streets to counter ongoing demonstrations that have paralyzed the capital of La Paz. What began as a series of targeted trade union actions in early May, focused on demands for higher wages, consistent fuel access and more competent economic stewardship, has rapidly expanded into a broad national movement calling for Paz’s immediate resignation. Protesters have blocked all major entry routes to La Paz, forcing most retail businesses to close their doors over fears of escalating violence, and left the capital facing critical shortages of food, medicine and fuel. In recent weeks, Paz has taken a series of small, symbolic steps to defuse public anger ahead of the congressional vote: most notably, he announced Monday a 50% cut to his own presidential salary, which currently stands at roughly 24,000 Bolivian bolivianos (about $3,500) per month. While this salary is among the lowest for any sitting Latin American head of state, 2024 International Labor Organization data shows it is roughly eight times the monthly income of the average Bolivian worker. The move has done little to quiet the growing revolt against Paz’s policies, which the president argues are necessary to pull Bolivia out of its worst economic crisis in decades. Opposition lawmakers and human rights advocates have harshly condemned the congressional vote, warning it sets the stage for widespread human rights abuses and will only escalate tensions rather than resolve the crisis. Opposition legislator Sonia Sinani argued the repeal would do nothing but “pour gasoline on the flames” of already intense public anger, while colleague Alejandro Reyes compared the new expanded executive power to a “strait jacket” on civil society. The Paz administration, for its part, has framed the unrest as a deliberate attempt to overthrow the country’s democratic order, and has accused former president Morales—who is currently in hiding to avoid arrest on trafficking charges he strongly denies—of secretly orchestrating the current wave of protests to seize back power.

A young man accused of delivering a fatal one-punch assault that killed a high-profile Australian Labor Party strategist has formally rejected a manslaughter charge and will proceed to a public trial in Western Australia’s highest court.

Brodie Dewar, 20, entered a not guilty plea during a preliminary hearing held Tuesday at the Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court, responding directly to the magistrate’s reading of the charge with a clear “Not guilty, Your Honour.” The charge alleges Dewar unlawfully killed 36-year-old Tim Picton in an incident that unfolded on the night of December 27 last year outside a popular nightclub in Perth’s Northbridge entertainment district, under circumstances that do not meet the legal threshold for murder.

According to court documents and official accounts, the altercation left Picton with severe head injuries. He was rushed to a local hospital immediately after the attack, where medical teams placed him in an induced coma in an effort to treat his trauma. Despite extensive medical intervention, Picton succumbed to his injuries several weeks after the incident.

During Tuesday’s preliminary hearing, Dewar’s defense lawyer Simon Watters confirmed the defense team was prepared to move the case forward to trial in the Western Australian Supreme Court. Magistrates granted the request to commit the defendant to the higher court, scheduling Dewar’s first formal appearance in the Supreme Court for August 24.

Before his death, Picton had built a significant reputation within Australian Labor circles, with a resume spanning multiple state branches of the party. A former president of South Australian Young Labor, he went on to work as a staffer for federal Labor Members of Parliament Amanda Rishworth and Don Farrell, and also held a role on the staff of former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews before relocating to Western Australia. He was the younger brother of current South Australian State Development Minister Chris Picton, and political observers widely credit him with playing a pivotal behind-the-scenes role in former WA Premier Mark McGowan’s landslide election victory in 2021, a win that delivered Labor a historic majority in the state’s parliament.

Fresh tensions have surged at the United Nations after nearly 50 countries signed a joint statement Tuesday condemning what they call unacceptable threats from Moscow against foreign diplomatic missions based in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv. The unprecedented rebuke comes one day after Russia issued an explicit call for Washington to evacuate its Kyiv embassy, warning of impending “systematic strikes” across the Ukrainian capital. Similar evacuation warnings were extended to other diplomatic missions operating in the city.

Delivered to the UN assembly by Ukrainian representative Andriy Melnyk, the joint statement made clear that the signatories would not normalize Russian actions against diplomatic infrastructure. “We also condemn recent threats by Russia to diplomatic institutions and embassies in Kyiv. This is something which we cannot accept,” Melnyk told the gathered body. The list of signatories includes a broad coalition of European nations, Japan, South Korea, and other countries, with the United States notably absent from the official signatory list.

The public condemnation follows a devastating weekend barrage of Russian drone and missile attacks across Kyiv that left four civilians dead and sparked widespread destruction to residential and public infrastructure. Among the weapons deployed in the strikes was Russia’s new Oreshnik hypersonic missile, a system Moscow confirms can travel at up to 10 times the speed of sound and is designed to carry nuclear warheads.

The weekend Russian escalation came in direct retaliation for what Moscow claims was a Ukrainian drone attack on a vocational college and dormitory in Starobilsk, a city in the Luhansk region currently under Russian occupation. Russian officials say the alleged Ukrainian strike killed 21 people, prompting President Vladimir Putin to order a direct military response against Ukrainian targets.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres used an address to the UN Security Council to voice deep alarm over the escalating violence. Guterres noted that Russia announced its systematic strike campaign in Kyiv targeting Ukrainian defense facilities, government decision-making hubs, and military command posts in response to the Starobilsk incident. “Now more than ever it is imperative to avoid any escalation of a conflict that has already exacted a devastating toll on civilians and that risks making the search for peace even more distant,” Guterres warned.

For more than two centuries, the White House South Lawn has stood as the backdrop for some of the most consequential moments in American political history—from Richard Nixon’s 1974 farewell departure after the Watergate scandal to the iconic 1993 Oslo Accord handshake between Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Now, the iconic green space is undergoing an unprecedented transformation: U.S. President Donald Trump is constructing a full-scale Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) cage fighting arena on the grounds, set to host a major event on his 80th birthday, June 14, which also coincides with the U.S. national holiday Flag Day.

AFP correspondents on site documented construction crews using heavy cranes to position massive metal arches for the event’s signature eight-sided Octagon ring on Tuesday. The spectacle, branded “UFC Freedom 250” to tie into this summer’s 250th anniversary of U.S. independence, will feature a six-fight card headlined by a lightweight championship bout between top competitors Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje, as first announced by the UFC in March.

In remarks earlier this month from the Oval Office, surrounded by four of the event’s scheduled fighters, Trump framed the gathering as a one-of-a-kind historic occasion. “We’re having a big fight. It’s never going to happen again, never happened before,” he said, while displaying a concept rendering of the Octagon ring set against the White House facade, flanked by spectator seating. The president, a lifelong UFC fan with longstanding ties to the promotion, outlined that 4,500 attendees will be able to watch the fights directly on the South Lawn, with an additional 100,000 people expected to view the event for free on large outdoor screens just outside the White House perimeter.

Political observers have widely noted that the event is strategically targeted at UFC’s core demographic of young men, a key voting bloc in the 2024 U.S. presidential election that Trump has actively courted through his repeated appearances at UFC events, where he regularly receives rock-star level receptions from crowds. This is not the first dramatic alteration Trump has made to White House grounds during his tenure: he has already paved over portions of the iconic Rose Garden and demolished the entire East Wing to construct a $400 million presidential ballroom, a permanent change that drew criticism from historical preservation groups.

The plan has sparked significant controversy from the outset, with critics raising questions over both the extravagant cost and the decision to host a commercial combat sports event on one of the nation’s most revered public historical sites. The UFC’s parent company initially confirmed in February that staging the event would cost a minimum of $60 million, though organizers project they will recover roughly half of that sum through corporate sponsorships and other revenue streams. White House officials have pushed back against claims of public funding, telling AFP that “no taxpayer money is being used” and that the entire cost is being covered directly by the UFC.

Even some of Trump’s own allies and supporters have questioned the timing of the spectacle. With the U.S. currently engaged in active conflict with Iran that has driven sharp increases in global oil prices and elevated domestic cost of living for American households, the multi-million dollar event has drawn accusations of being out of touch with public struggles. Popular podcaster Joe Rogan, who hosted Trump for a high-profile interview ahead of the 2024 election, commented in March that holding a major fight event at the White House amid an ongoing war felt “weird.”

UFC CEO Dana White pushed back against criticism of the event in a Time magazine interview published Tuesday, rejecting claims that the gathering is a politically motivated campaign stunt. “You can make anything political if you want to,” White said. “This is basically me spending a shit-load of money to celebrate the 250th birthday of America, with America and the rest of the world.”

Tight security arrangements are already in place for the open-air event, coming on the heels of a string of recent security incidents targeting Trump. Just this past Saturday, the U.S. Secret Service fatally shot a gunman who opened fire near the White House grounds, and an alleged assassination attempt was foiled at the White House Correspondents Dinner held at a Washington D.C. hotel in April.

Just five days before he marks his 80th birthday, sitting U.S. President Donald Trump underwent his scheduled annual medical examination on Tuesday at Walter Reed Military Medical Center, reigniting long-running public and political discussion about the state of the commander-in-chief’s physical and mental health.

As the oldest person ever inaugurated to the U.S. presidency, Trump has repeatedly positioned his own perceived vitality as a point of contrast against his Democratic predecessor Joe Biden, frequently claiming superior physical and mental fitness on the campaign trail and in public appearances. However, this latest check-up comes amid renewed public speculation over Trump’s well-being, sparked by recent visible bruising on his right hand and multiple observations of apparent drowsiness during high-stakes official meetings.

This exam marks Trump’s third formal physical assessment since he returned to the White House for his second term in January 2025. He completed a scheduled annual check in April 2025, followed by an unannounced after-hours visit to Walter Reed that October, which the White House later classified as a second “annual” physical – a move that drew criticism and fresh questions from political observers and transparency advocates about the consistency of the administration’s health disclosures.

Criticism over the lack of full transparency around Trump’s personal health has followed him throughout his political career, and that pattern has held during his second term. While the White House has confirmed it plans to release limited details about Tuesday’s exam later in the day, the administration retains full discretion over how much clinical information it makes public.

An Agence France-Presse reporter embedded with the presidential motorcade confirmed Trump arrived at the Bethesda, Maryland, medical facility, located roughly 10 miles outside Washington D.C., at approximately 8:50 a.m. local time (12:50 GMT). Per the president’s publicly released daily schedule, he is set to return to the White House for a 1:30 p.m. (17:30 GMT) policy briefing where the ongoing conflict in Iran will be the top agenda item.

Trump’s 80th birthday, scheduled for June 14, will coincide with a high-profile Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) bouts hosted on the White House South Lawn, an event expected to draw thousands of invited spectators. The president has long leaned into public boasts about his personal health, repeatedly claiming he is far more physically fit than prior Oval Office occupants despite his well-documented preference for fast food and publicly disclosed higher-than-average body weight.

“I feel the same as I did 50 years ago,” Trump told attendees at an Oval Office event earlier this month, adding with characteristic dry humor, “Maybe junk food is good.” The president is widely known for his public fondness for beef burgers, well-done steaks, and Diet Coke, a diet that has long been noted by health commentators as inconsistent with standard cardiovascular wellness guidance.

Public discussion of Trump’s health first ramped up last summer, when the White House officially confirmed that Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency after observations of persistent swelling in his lower legs. The common vascular condition, caused by faulty valves in leg veins that allow blood to pool in lower extremities, causes symptoms including swelling, muscle cramping, and visible skin discoloration.

More recently, Trump has repeatedly appeared in public with unexplained bruising on his right hand, which makeup artists have regularly attempted to cover during televised appearances. He also developed a visible neck rash during one widely watched Oval Office address last year. Administration officials have attributed the hand bruising to daily low-dose aspirin Trump takes as part of a standard preventive cardiovascular care regimen.

Following his unannounced October 2025 visit to Walter Reed, Trump told reporters that an MRI conducted during the appointment confirmed his cardiovascular health was “excellent.” His personal physician, U.S. Navy Captain Sean Barbabella, released a public letter after that visit claiming Trump’s “cardiac age” was calculated to be roughly 14 years younger than his actual chronological age at the time.

The subject of presidential age and fitness has dominated U.S. political discourse for the better part of a decade, and gained renewed attention during the 2024 general election cycle. Then-incumbent Joe Biden, who was 81 years old at the time, was forced to suspend his re-election campaign following a widely panned debate performance against Trump that stoked widespread public concern over his cognitive fitness. Biden previously held the title of oldest inaugurated U.S. president, a record he lost when Trump was sworn in for his second term at age 78. Trump still holds the record as the third oldest person to be inaugurated as president, a mark he set when he first took office at age 70 in 2017.