Global Pulse

标签： Oceania

大洋洲

  • Trump orders Lake Ontario to be renamed ‘Lake America’

    Trump orders Lake Ontario to be renamed ‘Lake America’

    In a provocative escalation of the ongoing trade conflict between the United States and Canada, former US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that would unilaterally rename the shared border body of water Lake Ontario to “Lake America,” drawing an immediate and firm rejection from Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The unprecedented diplomatic gambit comes just days after high-stakes bilateral trade negotiations collapsed at the eleventh hour, leading the two longstanding North American allies to impose matching retaliatory tariffs on each other’s goods.

    Speaking to reporters at the White House during the signing ceremony, the 80-year-old Republican confirmed the name change would take effect immediately. When pressed by an Agence France-Presse reporter on why he chose to target a close ally rather than traditional US adversaries over the dispute, Trump dismissed Canadian officials as “nasty people” who had “treated us very badly.” Visual aids behind the president in the Oval Office underscored the gesture: two maps, one overwriting the lake’s historic name with “Lake America” in bold red text, and another bearing the slogan “Making the Great Lakes Even Greater.”

    As the smallest of the five Great Lakes by surface area, Lake Ontario straddles the US-Canada border, touching the Canadian province of Ontario and the US state of New York. Trump’s order mirrors a similar unilateral action he took in January 2025, when he renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America” — a change that Mexico has also refused to recognize. The executive order directs the US Department of the Interior to update all official geographic naming records within 30 days and mandate that all federal agencies adopt the new name, justifying the move on the grounds that the lake’s deepest section lies within US territory, giving the United States “claim to most of the Lake’s volume.”

    Carney, a former central banker for both Canada and the United Kingdom, quickly pushed back against the order in a public post on X, noting that the name “Lake Ontario” has persisted for 400 years — predating the founding of both the United States and Canada, and deriving from an Indigenous term meaning “the lake is beautiful, the lake is big.” “We know that America is changing,” Carney wrote. “Canadians also know that naming reality means calling it Lake Ontario — then, now and always.” Carney’s recent defiant stance against Trump has earned widespread approval from Canadian voters, after he declared earlier this week that Ottawa was “at war” following what he framed as unfair economic attacks from the US.

    The name change dispute is not an isolated incident: throughout his second presidential term, Trump has repeatedly angered close US allies with outlandish territorial and naming claims. He has previously suggested Canada should become the 51st US state, laid a public claim to Greenland (an autonomous territory of NATO member Denmark), and claimed he would annex Venezuela as a US state after American forces captured former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. In recent days, he has also announced plans to claim the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway between Iran and Oman, as US territory amid the ongoing active conflict with Iran.

    Trump’s latest provocation comes as he faces plummeting domestic approval ratings tied to the ongoing Iran war and widespread economic struggles at home, with critical midterm congressional elections scheduled for November. The president hinted that the Lake Ontario renaming could just be the start of a broader effort, suggesting he may also move to rename the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans that border the United States. “We have a gulf and we have a lake. Now all we need is an ocean,” Trump said. “So, maybe we’ll have to change the name of the Atlantic and/or the Pacific. Maybe we’ll change them both.” The president added that the renaming idea was one he had pondered for years, after confirming earlier this week that he was giving the proposal serious consideration and releasing a TikTok video Wednesday confirming he would move forward with the order.

  • ‘It fuels me’: Bulldogs defender hits back at critics over achilles heel tag

    ‘It fuels me’: Bulldogs defender hits back at critics over achilles heel tag

    As the Western Bulldogs prepare for a high-stakes Friday night clash against Collingwood, one of their key defensive players is turning widespread outside criticism into a powerful source of motivation. For seasons, the Bulldogs’ back six has been labeled the soft underbelly of their premiership campaign — a persistent narrative that doesn’t sit right with young defender James O’Donnell, and his refusal to back down from that critique is exactly why he has become one of head coach Luke Beveridge’s most admired players.

    In an interview ahead of the Collingwood match, O’Donnell opened up about leaning into the doubt surrounding his defensive unit, explaining that the negative chatter pushes him to perform better. “To be honest, I kind of like it. It fuels me a bit,” he said. “It is, at times, a narrative that is a little bit… I don’t think it’s completely correct. There’s definitely been areas in our game we needed to lift, and I feel like we made a lot of ground this year. Statistically speaking, we’re a pretty solid back six. Again, it’s just fuel and something I don’t shy away from. It’s definitely been nice to prove all those doubters wrong.”

    Data from the final third of the 2026 AFL season backs up O’Donnell’s confidence. After a shaky start to the year that saw the Bulldogs leak goals at an alarming rate, the defensive unit has turned its performance around dramatically. What was once a clear weakness now matches the output of the club’s top-tier attack, pushing the Bulldogs into the league’s top six when it comes to defensive efficiency without possession. The backline has also racked up wins in critical individual matchups against some of the league’s most dangerous forward lines, outperforming many pundits’ expectations.

    For O’Donnell, this underdog identity is core to who the Western Bulldogs are as a club, rooted in their blue-collar reputation that has defined the western Melbourne franchise for decades. “We don’t really talk about (the external noise) too much, it’s quite process driven,” he explained. “It sounds cliche, but that’s what it is: week-to-week, what we want to go after, different teams show different looks. But for me, I personally think as well, I’m sure the other boys if you ask them would probably feel similar. I think that’s us as a club in general as well: (we’re) doubted, but when our backs are against the wall we hopefully stand up. I love that side of it.”

    Ahead of Friday’s game, O’Donnell is expected to shoulder the heavy responsibility of marking Collingwood star forward Dan McStay, a task he and the Bulldogs’ backline are already gearing up to meet.

    Beveridge has openly admitted O’Donnell is one of his favorite players, and the coach’s praise for the young defender highlights just how far O’Donnell has come since switching his focus from professional cricket to elite AFL. “He’s a stand-up lad, isn’t he? He’s a ripper,” Beveridge said. “I know coaches aren’t allowed to play favourites, but I just admire how he’s come on, for a young fella who turned his mind to playing this game in a serious sense from cricket.”

    Beveridge even compared O’Donnell’s famous long kicking to that of Carlton club legend Val Perovic, who was renowned across the league for his powerful distance kicks. “I made the comment to the players a while ago, he’s a thumping kick, you know? I reckon it started with Val Perovic, remember Val Perovic? Val had a thumping leg, he could kick it a mile. Mainly at Carlton, I think, when he would roost it, the whole crowd would go ‘oof’, like that. Now when there’s a highlight and Jimmy O’Donnell kicks the ball, the whole lecture theatre, the players go ‘oof’. He’s our Val Perovic now. Jimmy has been outstanding, and Buku Khamis has been tremendous. I think that backline, the composition now is probably in a place where it’s favourable.”

    The respect and admiration between player and coach is fully mutual. O’Donnell says he owes much of his growth and confidence to Beveridge, who gave him an early opportunity in the Bulldogs’ senior side and has trusted him with critical responsibilities from the start of his AFL career. “Bevo and I have a great relationship, I am very lucky to have Bevo as my coach,” O’Donnell said. “I think about how I started and how he, I guess, gave me the opportunity so early in my Bulldogs career. The trust he’s given me and the responsibility, he’s probably given me more belief than I ever had in myself – especially at the start. That as a starting point, we’ve just got a great relationship in that sense, but from a backline and role point of view, he’s super clear. He knows what he needs from me and I try to provide that every week – I love playing for him.”

  • Trump says Russia is ‘not going to attack’ NATO territory

    Trump says Russia is ‘not going to attack’ NATO territory

    In comments made from the Oval Office on Thursday, sitting U.S. President Donald Trump pushed back against widespread media coverage of growing Washington-based anxiety over potential Russian military aggression against European NATO member states, stating outright that Russian President Vladimir Putin has no plans to attack territory belonging to the alliance.

    Trump’s public remarks came just 48 hours after Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe made an unannounced, surprise visit to Moscow for closed-door talks with Russian officials. Multiple U.S. media outlets have reported that the core purpose of Ratcliffe’s unscheduled trip was to deliver a formal warning to the Kremlin against any offensive move against the NATO alliance.

    When pressed by reporters on whether Putin had personally committed to avoiding attacks on NATO territory during previous conversations, Trump told assembled journalists: “I’ve had good talks with him. He’s not going to be attacking a NATO territory.”

    When reporters followed up asking to confirm reports that Ratcliffe had delivered an official warning to Russian leadership during his Moscow visit, Trump declined to offer any details, saying: “I don’t want to comment on that, but they’re not going to attack.”

    Beyond the discussion of NATO security, Trump also downplayed calls for punitive measures against Russia over its ongoing trade ties with Iran, a longstanding Russian ally. His administration had previously announced what it termed an “economic D-Day” that would impose sweeping new sanctions on Tehran if the Iranian government refused to reopen the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz to international commercial shipping. Addressing Russia’s role in the region amid the standoff, Trump noted: “So far, I think Russia’s behaved quite well, having to do with the Strait of Hormuz.”

  • Russia dismisses as ‘scare stories’ US reports about attacking NATO

    Russia dismisses as ‘scare stories’ US reports about attacking NATO

    In the wake of an uncommon high-level meeting between CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Russian intelligence officials in Moscow, the Kremlin has moved quickly to dismiss widespread US media reports that suggested Russia was preparing a potential limited strike against a NATO member as baseless “scare stories”. Senior officials from both the US and the European Union have echoed this dismissal, casting significant doubt on the intelligence assessments that sparked the initial media reports.

    Two major US outlets, The Wall Street Journal and CBS News, first broke the story last week, citing unnamed intelligence sources who claimed Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow specifically to warn Russian leadership against any attempt to test the transatlantic alliance. The Journal’s reporting went further, claiming US intelligence assessments suggested President Vladimir Putin could order a “limited assault” on NATO territory within the next few years.

    During his daily press briefing on Thursday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov pushed back firmly against these claims. “A lot of such scare stories are being published right now. Of course, they have nothing to do with reality,” Peskov told reporters. He also reaffirmed Russia’s long-stated position on its ongoing military operation in Ukraine, noting that Moscow still prefers to reach its goals through diplomatic channels but will continue its campaign if peaceful options remain unavailable. Peskov also criticized Western European backers of Kyiv, saying Russia is confronting increasingly aggressive policy stances from European capitals. To date, Russia has repeatedly rejected Ukrainian calls for direct face-to-face peace talks between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, instead demanding Kyiv withdraw its forces from the contested eastern Donbas region as a precondition for negotiations.

    The pushback against the NATO attack claims extended beyond the Kremlin, with senior Western leaders also downplaying the risk. Former US President Donald Trump, who was asked about the reports, said he had held constructive discussions with Putin and insisted the Russian leader had no plans to target NATO territory. In Brussels, a senior anonymous EU official added that European intelligence services have not detected any preparations for a Russian attack on a NATO member, and that the bloc’s long-standing risk assessment has not changed.

    Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin also downplayed the significance of the meeting with Ratcliffe, confirming the gathering took place but framing it as nothing out of the ordinary. “Yes, the meeting did take place, but there is nothing unusual about it,” Naryshkin told Russia’s state-run TASS news agency, adding that the two sides only discussed standard intelligence agency matters that he described as “quite a delicate and special matter”.

    CBS News further reported that beyond the NATO speculation, the talks also covered the ongoing conflict around Iran, with Ratcliffe issuing a warning that new US sanctions would be imposed if the Strait of Hormuz remained closed to commercial shipping traffic. Trump, however, pushed back on this framing, describing the Moscow meeting as “very sort of semi-routine” and saying the core focus was on ending the war in Ukraine, not NATO or Iran. The White House has not yet responded to multiple requests for comment from Agence France-Presse on the meeting.

    Ratcliffe’s visit marks one of the highest-level trips by a US official to Russia since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The last serving CIA director to travel to Moscow was William Burns, who visited in November 2021 to warn Putin against launching an invasion. Three months after that meeting, the Kremlin launched its offensive, which has grown into the largest European conflict since World War II. Beyond diplomatic discussions, the CIA has also worked with Russia on high-profile prisoner swap deals, including a major exchange completed in mid-2024.

    Currently, the conflict remains locked in a grinding stalemate four and a half years after it began. Widespread use of long-range drones on both sides of the front line has largely eliminated the possibility of swift, large-scale territorial advances, leaving neither side able to secure a decisive advantage. Putin has faced growing domestic and international pressure in recent months, as increasing Ukrainian drone strikes deep inside Russian territory have caused mounting casualties and economic damage.

  • Alleged 9/11 mastermind to go on trial in June 2028

    Alleged 9/11 mastermind to go on trial in June 2028

    Nearly 27 years after the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil, the long-running legal saga of the alleged architect of the September 11, 2001 attacks has hit a new milestone: a confirmed trial date. A U.S. court official announced Thursday that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, will appear before a U.S. military court at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba starting June 5, 2028, alongside three co-accused plotters: Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi.

    The timeline marks a delay from the prosecution’s requested January 2027 start date, after the presiding military judge ruled additional time was required to resolve lingering pretrial disputes. This procedural hold-up is just the latest in a string of delays that have stretched on for nearly two decades, as the case has been bogged down by legal, political and ethical debates surrounding the defendants’ detention.

    Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, widely known by the initials KSM, was once a top lieutenant to Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. He was captured during a raid in Pakistan in March 2003, and spent three years held in secret CIA black site facilities before being transferred to the notorious Guantanamo Bay military prison in 2006. A trained engineer who studied at a U.S. university, Mohammed has openly claimed he planned the 9/11 attacks “from A to Z”, and has also admitted involvement in numerous other anti-U.S. plots, including the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center that killed six people, and the 2002 beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl.

    The 9/11 attacks remain the deadliest terrorist act in modern U.S. history: 19 al-Qaeda hijackers crashed four commercial passenger planes, two into New York’s Twin Towers, one into the Pentagon outside Washington D.C., and a fourth into a rural field in Pennsylvania, leaving 2,977 victims dead.

    The most recent major push toward a trial collapsed in 2023, when a proposed plea deal that would have spared the four defendants the death penalty was withdrawn after intense public backlash from family members of 9/11 victims. For years, the central legal battle in the case has centered on whether the defendants can receive a fair trial, after it was confirmed they were subjected to systematic torture by CIA interrogators while in secret custody. Evidence obtained through torture is inadmissible in U.S. legal proceedings, creating a major legal hurdle that has slowed the case for decades.

    The Guantanamo Bay detention facility was opened by the U.S. government in the wake of the 9/11 attacks to hold militants captured during the global War on Terror. The base’s isolated location outside the continental United States was intentionally chosen to prevent detainees from claiming full constitutional rights under U.S. domestic law. At its peak, the facility held roughly 800 prisoners, but most have since been transferred to other countries for detention or release, leaving only a small fraction of the original detainee population still in custody today.

  • ‘Butcher of Bosnia’ Ratko Mladic dead: Serbian state media

    ‘Butcher of Bosnia’ Ratko Mladic dead: Serbian state media

    Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military commander infamously known as the “Butcher of Bosnia” for orchestrating the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, has passed away, Serbia’s state-owned broadcaster RTS confirmed Thursday. The 80-year-old (or 81, per tribunal records) had been in failing health for months, suffering multiple strokes, while serving a life sentence at a United Nations detention facility in The Hague.

    Mladic’s death closes a dark chapter in post-World War II European history, marking the end of a decades-long journey to accountability for one of the continent’s worst atrocities. As the military leader of Bosnian Serb forces during the 1992–1995 Bosnian War, which grew out of the violent collapse of communist Yugoslavia, Mladic stood at the center of a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing aimed at carving out an ethnically pure “Greater Serbia” from Bosnian territory. The war ultimately claimed an estimated 100,000 lives and displaced more than 2.2 million people.

    The most horrific act of Mladic’s command came in July 1995, when his forces overran Srebrenica, a small town designated a UN-protected safe haven for Bosnian Muslim civilians. Over the course of days, Mladic’s troops systematically separated 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys from their families, marched them into remote forested areas, and executed them en masse. Contemporary footage captured Mladic appearing to offer sweets to Srebrenica’s children moments before women and children were forcibly bused out of the enclave, while the men were led away to their deaths. To cover up the massacre, perpetrators buried victims in mass graves, later exhuming and reburying bodies across multiple sites to destroy evidence of the slaughter. The few survivors escaped to share harrowing accounts of systematic murder, torture, and sexual violence committed by Bosnian Serb forces.

    The road to Mladic’s conviction stretched nearly two decades. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) first indicted Mladic for war crimes and genocide in November 1995, shortly after the Srebrenica massacre. Though removed from his military post, Mladic evaded capture for 16 years, initially living a comfortable lifestyle shielded by sympathizers within Serbia’s military establishment, where he remains venerated by many Serbs as a nationalist hero even today. After the fall of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, pressure on Mladic grew, and he was finally arrested in Serbia in May 2011 and extradited to The Hague to stand trial.

    Throughout his trial and subsequent appeal process, Mladic repeatedly maintained his innocence, launching angry tirades against judges and dismissing the tribunal as a tool of Western powers aligned against Serbia. He framed himself as a victim of NATO aggression, casting his actions as necessary to protect the Serb people. In 2017, the tribunal found him guilty on all counts of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, sentencing him to life in prison. The conviction was upheld on appeal in 2021. The tribunal described Mladic’s crimes as “amongst the most heinous known to humankind,” while former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein labeled Mladic the “epitome of evil.”

    In his final months, Mladic’s legal team and Serbian officials repeatedly petitioned for his release on humanitarian grounds, citing his terminal, untreatable health condition and limited life expectancy. His lawyers argued that continued detention served no legitimate purpose and amounted to inhumane treatment, but the tribunal rejected all appeals for early release. Mladic’s death leaves unresolved the deep divisions that persist over the legacy of the Bosnian War: while survivors and the international community recognize Mladic as a perpetrator of genocide, a large segment of Serbian society continues to view him as a patriotic leader defending Serb interests.

  • After US settlement, EU says Meta must ‘protect our kids too’

    After US settlement, EU says Meta must ‘protect our kids too’

    In the wake of a groundbreaking multi-state settlement that forces Meta to implement sweeping new restrictions on teenage use of its Facebook and Instagram platforms, the European Union has issued a clear call for the tech giant to extend equivalent child safety protections to young users across the bloc.

    Last month, the European Commission already ruled that Meta violated the bloc’s Digital Services Act (DSA) — a landmark regulatory framework designed to curb harmful practices by large technology companies operating in the EU’s 27 member states. At that time, regulators ordered the company to draft concrete proposals to reduce risks to minors using its platforms.

    European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters Thursday that EU regulators have held new discussions with Meta following the U.S. settlement, which Brussels has monitored “very closely.” “The ball is in Meta’s court,” Regnier said. “Meta knows what we are expecting from them. Now it is for the company to offer these commitments in the European Union to protect our kids here too.”

    Regnier confirmed that EU investigators are probing Meta over the same harmful design features that were the focus of the U.S. legal action, and regulators are pushing to secure “at least equally good protection for our kids here in the European Union.” Specific demands from Brussels include mandatory, built-in screen time management tools and robust, default parental controls for minor accounts.

    EU regulators have long flagged risks to children from specific Meta platform features, including infinite scrolling functionality, algorithmically-driven highly personalized content feeds that promote compulsive use, and automatic video playback. Regulators issued a nearly identical warning to rival short-form video platform TikTok back in February.

    Meta has publicly stated that it disputes the EU’s DSA violation finding, but has committed to engage “constructively” with regulators to address their concerns. If the company fails to meet the bloc’s demands, EU rules allow regulators to impose fines of up to 6% of Meta’s total global annual revenue, a penalty that could run into billions of dollars.

    The U.S. settlement, which resolved a years-long landmark lawsuit brought by a coalition of U.S. states in California, requires Meta to pay up to $16.7 billion in damages and implement a far-reaching set of new safety rules for underage users. These include an automatic block on platform access during nighttime hours and a default daily cumulative usage cap of two hours across all of Meta’s apps. The agreement marks the strictest set of child safety obligations Meta has ever agreed to, coming after years of sustained criticism from parents, child health experts and policymakers over the impact of social media on adolescent mental health and development.

    Parallel to its ongoing DSA investigation, the EU is also considering broader age restrictions on social media access, a move driven by multiple member states that want to follow Australia’s lead on strict child online protection rules. Last month, an expert panel convened by the EU presented its recommendations to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Von der Leyen is scheduled to outline proposed new restrictions in a major policy speech on September 16, with a formal draft legislative proposal expected before the end of the year.

    The panel, which includes doctors, academic researchers, youth representatives and parents, recommended a complete ban on screen use for infants and toddlers. For children under 12, the panel advised that only age-appropriate social media platforms should be allowed, all under direct adult supervision. For adolescents aged 13 to 18, the panel recommended gradually expanding autonomous access only to platforms that have already implemented mandatory core child safety features.

    “This is not about whether children can access social media. It is about whether and when social media can access our children,” von der Leyen said last month, emphasizing that the burden of proof falls to technology companies to “prove that their services do no harm.”

  • ‘Butcher of Bosnia’ Ratko Mladic dead: Serbian state media

    ‘Butcher of Bosnia’ Ratko Mladic dead: Serbian state media

    Ratko Mladic, the former top military commander of Bosnian Serb forces whose role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre earned him the notorious moniker the “Butcher of Bosnia”, has passed away, Serbia’s state-owned public broadcaster RTS announced on Thursday. The 80-year-old had been serving a full life sentence at a United Nations detention facility in The Hague, Netherlands, after being convicted of genocide, multiple war crimes, and crimes against humanity for his central role in orchestrating the Srebrenica slaughter — the worst episode of mass killing Europe has witnessed since the conclusion of World War II.

    In the months leading up to his death, Mladic had experienced multiple strokes that left his health in severe decline. Serbian government officials and members of Mladic’s family had repeatedly submitted formal requests to the international tribunal in The Hague, calling for his compassionate release on medical grounds. All of these appeals were ultimately rejected by judicial authorities, who ruled that Mladic should serve out his full sentence behind bars.

    Mladic stood as one third of a brutal power bloc that drove ethnic violence through the Balkans during the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. The political wing of the faction was led by Slobodan Milosevic, the former president of Yugoslavia, and Radovan Karadzic, the founder and former leader of the unrecognized Bosnian Serb state. When communism collapsed across Eastern Europe, the former Yugoslavia fractured along ethnic lines, plunging the region into a devastating four-year war between 1992 and 1995. By the time the conflict ended, official casualty counts put the total death toll at roughly 100,000, with an additional 2.2 million people forced to flee their homes and become displaced persons.

    No atrocity during the conflict gained more global infamy than the Srebrenica massacre. In July 1995, Mladic’s Serb forces swept into Srebrenica, a small town in eastern Bosnia that had been formally designated a UN-protected safe haven for vulnerable Bosnian Muslim civilians. Over the course of several days, Mladic’s troops systematically rounded up and executed more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys, burying their remains in mass unmarked graves across the surrounding countryside. For decades after the massacre, forensic teams have continued to recover and identify remains from these mass graves, providing long-awaited closure to surviving family members.

    Mladic evaded capture for more than 16 years after the end of the Bosnian war, living in hiding in Serbia before he was finally arrested by Serbian security forces in 2011. He was extradited immediately to The Hague to face trial before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and was found guilty on all counts in 2017. His final appeal to overturn the conviction was rejected by the UN appeals court in 2021, which upheld his life sentence.

  • Taiwan lawmakers approve $7.6 bn drone budget as China threat grows

    Taiwan lawmakers approve $7.6 bn drone budget as China threat grows

    Against a backdrop of rising cross-strait tensions and growing international pressure to bolster asymmetric defense capabilities, Taiwan’s legislative body has greenlit a $7.6 billion budget to develop and manufacture domestically produced drones, a move central to the island’s efforts to counter mounting military threats from mainland China.

    For years, Taiwan has steadily expanded its military investment, prioritizing the growth of a domestic defense industry that can produce critical equipment and ammunition locally rather than relying exclusively on foreign imports. This push comes as China continues to claim the self-governing island as an inalienable part of its territory and has repeatedly threatened to take control of it by force if necessary.

    The approved budget proposal, backed by the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), advanced through parliament after the administration of President Lai Ching-te saw its original drone spending plan rejected. President Lai’s administration had sought to allocate NT$210 billion ($6.6 billion) in a special five-year budget overseen by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense, aiming to build a domestic drone output capacity sufficient to repel a potential Chinese incursion. The original plan covered development of multiple drone variants, including coastal surveillance models, attack drones, and surface drones.

    Negotiations over drone spending have been marked by repeated clashes between Lai’s ruling government and opposition blocs, which hold a legislative majority. Disagreements centered on total funding amounts, budget structuring, and allocation timelines. The KMT, which advocates for closer economic and political ties with mainland China, joined the TPP to put forward an alternative plan totaling NT$240 billion ($7.6 billion) spread over six years integrated into the regular annual budget process. After initially holding firm to an annual spending cap of NT$40 billion, the KMT compromised to introduce flexible spending allowances and agreed to let the defense ministry lead the drone procurement and development process.

    When pressed by reporters on whether he would sign the opposition-drafted legislation, Premier Cho Jung-tai, head of Taiwan’s executive Cabinet, emphasized that national security remained his top priority. “What I care about is whether the legislation meets the nation’s needs — whether it aligns with our indigenous defense strategy and the various requirements for developing our drone and unmanned vehicle industries,” Cho stated, adding that officials would conduct a careful review based on national security and broader national interests.

    KMT lawmaker Hsu Chiao-hsin framed the budget as a critical step to growing Taiwan’s domestic defense industrial base ahead of the vote, noting that Taiwan “must genuinely encourage localisation and domestic production” to mature the sector. She added that the policy prioritized supporting established local manufacturers that operate outside of Chinese supply chains, guarantee robust cybersecurity standards, and sustain consistent long-term growth.

    The approval of the drone budget comes amid growing pressure from the United States, which has repeatedly called on Taiwan to ramp up its defense spending and domestic arms production to deter Chinese aggression. In recent weeks, U.S. calls for swift passage of the drone legislation grew increasingly urgent: during a visit to Taipei last month, U.S. Republican Representative Young Kim stressed that “time is short” for Taiwan to build up its drone capabilities. Pointing to ongoing combat in Ukraine and the Middle East, Kim noted that “the wars over Ukraine and Iran show that Taiwan needs to buy and build drones at a huge scale.”

    Taiwan currently relies heavily on U.S. arms sales to maintain its defense deterrent, and Washington has repeatedly pushed the island to take greater financial and industrial ownership of its own security. Lessons from the war in Ukraine have reshaped Taiwan’s defense planning, with military leaders concluding that small, agile systems such as drones are a critical asymmetric advantage against a far larger and better-resourced Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

    The approval caps a period of extended legislative wrangling over national budgets: Taiwan’s 2026 general annual budget passed earlier this month after a record-setting delay, while the 2027 general budget has already been finalized. President Lai’s administration has proposed a record NT$1.1 trillion defense budget for 2027, which would push defense spending above 3% of Taiwan’s total GDP, marking the highest share of output allocated to national defense in decades.

  • Norway’s King Harald, 89, in ‘extremely serious’ condition

    Norway’s King Harald, 89, in ‘extremely serious’ condition

    Oslo, Norway – Norway’s 89-year-old monarch King Harald V, who has been hospitalized for a blood disorder, has seen a sharp decline in his health and is now classified as being in “extremely serious” condition, the Norwegian Royal Palace confirmed in an official statement released Thursday.

    Following the announcement of the king’s worsening health, Queen Sonja and 53-year-old Crown Prince Haakon – who has served as regent during Harald’s ongoing illness – have scrapped all upcoming public royal engagements. Local Norwegian media reports confirm both senior royals are currently at the king’s bedside at Oslo’s main hospital, with photos captured by press outlets showing Queen Sonja, Haakon, and his wife Crown Princess Mette-Marit arriving at the medical facility earlier this week.

    King Harald, who is currently the oldest reigning monarch in Europe, first entered Oslo University Hospital on August 17 to receive treatment for haemolytic anaemia, a chronic blood condition marked by the premature breakdown of red blood cells that often causes persistent fatigue and difficulty breathing. He was initially admitted after experiencing dangerous fluid retention triggered by cortisone treatment for the condition. By Sunday, palace officials shared that the king had developed a bacterial blood infection and was receiving antibiotics, noting that he had shown initial positive responses to the intervention. No further specific clinical details have been released alongside Thursday’s update on his severe decline.

    Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store told Agence France-Presse he was deeply shaken by the updated health news. “I stand together with the entire country as we now send our warmest thoughts to the king and the rest of the royal family,” Store said. “I am confident that the king is being well taken care of, and that he is receiving good and compassionate treatment.”

    In response to the announcement, Norway’s national body of bishops cut short an official study visit to Rome, where they had been meeting with newly elected Pope Leo XIV, and arranged for immediate return to Norway on Thursday, according to local Christian publication Vart Land.

    Harald V ascended to the Norwegian throne following the death of his father King Olav V in 1991. In recent years, the monarch has faced a string of chronic health issues: he received a pacemaker to regulate cardiac function and has gradually reduced his public official schedule, but he has repeatedly rejected calls for abdication, noting that he took a lifelong oath of service to the Norwegian people before parliament.

    This year has already been marked by repeated health scares for the royal household: in February, Harald was hospitalized during a private vacation in Tenerife for an infection and severe dehydration, while Queen Sonja was briefly admitted for cardiac-related concerns in May. The current decline in the king’s health comes amid an unusually turbulent year for the entire Norwegian royal family, which has faced multiple public controversies in recent months.

    Crown Princess Mette-Marit has faced sustained public scrutiny over her documented links to disgraced late American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Court documents released in the United States earlier this year exposed years of regular, at times intimate correspondence between Mette-Marit and Epstein that ran from 2011 to 2014 – years after Epstein had already completed his conviction for sex offenses. Now 53, Mette-Marit lives with a severe chronic lung disease and underwent a life-saving lung transplant just last month.

    Adding to the royal family’s public pressures, Mette-Marit’s son from her first relationship, Marius Borg Hoiby, is currently at the center of a high-profile legal case. In June, he was sentenced to four years in prison after being convicted on two counts of rape and 32 additional criminal charges, including repeated violent assault against a former romantic partner. He has since filed an appeal against the verdict, which is still pending.

    Despite the string of controversies and health challenges that have hit the royal household this year, the institution remains broadly popular among the Norwegian public, a level of support widely attributed to King Harald’s reputation as a unifying national figure known for his unassuming, modest personal lifestyle that aligns with Norwegian cultural values.