Global Pulse

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  • UK trade minister hopes Britain will rejoin EU ‘in my lifetime’

    UK trade minister hopes Britain will rejoin EU ‘in my lifetime’

    Almost a decade after the United Kingdom’s narrow 2016 vote to leave the European Union, the long-dormant debate over Brexit has exploded back into British political life, with a senior cabinet minister adding his voice to growing calls for the country to ultimately rejoin the bloc.

    Speaking to Agence France-Presse during a visit to the European Parliament in Strasbourg for talks with legislators on strengthening post-Brexit bilateral ties, British Trade Secretary Chris Bryant made the unprecedented remark that he hopes to see Britain readmitted as a full EU member during his lifetime. The 64-year-old minister, who admitted that his “heart broke on the night of the Brexit vote”, went further than Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s current official stance. Starmer, whose Labour Party has sought to carve out a middle ground on the issue, has pushed for incremental alignment with the EU but has stopped short of backing a new membership application or a return to the European single market.

    Bryant’s comments came on the heels of a high-profile call from outgoing Health Secretary Wes Streeting, one of Starmer’s potential successors as Labour leader, who publicly backed rejoining over the weekend. The dual statements have thrown the divisive Brexit issue back to the center of British politics at a moment of severe instability for Starmer’s government. Fresh off of disappointing local election results for Labour earlier this month, dozens of the party’s Members of Parliament have publicly called on Starmer to step down, creating open leadership turmoil just two years into Labour’s current term of office.

    In his interview, Bryant did not shy away from the economic costs of Brexit, which he argued have created massive headwinds for the UK. Pointing to official data showing that more than 16,000 British firms have ceased exporting to the European single market since the split, he described Brexit as “an own goal for us”. While the Labour government has prioritized expanding trade partnerships with third countries ranging from South Korea to Turkey to Switzerland, Bryant emphasized that the EU still accounts for 47 percent of the UK’s total trade — a volume no other combination of partners can match. “That’s what we need to get right,” he added.

    The minister also acknowledged that any path to rejoining remains a long-term prospect, conceding, “We’re not going to be doing that this summer.” But he rejected the idea that the current domestic political upheaval would derail the UK’s gradual push for a reset of relations with Brussels. Confident in the long-term trajectory, Bryant noted that Labour’s current parliamentary mandate runs through 2029, and argued that any future Labour government — whether led by Starmer or a successor — would prioritize deeper integration with the EU.

    Pro-EU forces have gained new momentum in recent months amid shifting global dynamics. As former US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy has injected deep uncertainty into long-standing transatlantic alliances, pressure has grown for the UK to rebuild closer institutional ties with the EU. London and Brussels are already scheduled to hold their second bilateral summit this coming summer, building on the May 2025 meeting that delivered tangible progress: a new agreement to deepen defense and security cooperation, and a rollback of post-Brexit frictions on food trade.

    Not surprisingly, the new calls for rejoining have already drawn fierce pushback from prominent Brexit supporters. Nigel Farage, the face of the 2016 Leave campaign and now leader of the hard-right, anti-immigration Reform UK party, has already attacked Streeting’s comments, accusing him of seeking to “drag” the country back into the EU against the 2016 result. The reemergence of the Brexit issue sets the stage for a bitter new domestic political fight that could reshape the trajectory of UK-EU relations for years to come.

  • Race to find vaccines, treatments for Ebola strain behind outbreak

    Race to find vaccines, treatments for Ebola strain behind outbreak

    A rapidly worsening outbreak of a little-known Ebola strain in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has triggered an urgent global push among scientists to develop and deploy effective countermeasures that can curb the death toll and bring the crisis under control. As of this week, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that more than 130 people have already lost their lives to the outbreak, prompting the United States to issue a level 4 travel advisory warning all American citizens against visiting the affected regions.

    This marks the 17th Ebola outbreak recorded in the DRC, but only the third caused by the Bundibugyo strain – a variant for which no vaccines or therapeutic treatments have yet won formal regulatory approval. While no licensed options currently exist, researchers have spent years developing a number of candidate products that have yet to undergo human testing, creating a pipeline of potential solutions that could be accelerated if sufficient support is secured.

    The WHO has already begun reviewing all available candidates, including Ervebo, a widely deployed vaccine that targets the more common Zaire Ebola strain, which has been used successfully in multiple previous outbreaks. Thomas Geisbert, a virologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston who contributed to the development of Ervebo, has already designed a single-dose vaccine modeled on Ervebo that targets Bundibugyo. Preclinical research in non-human primates has shown the candidate provides robust protection against the strain. However, Geisbert explained that moving from preclinical research to mass manufacturing of doses for human use is a time-consuming and costly process, and major pharmaceutical companies have long had little financial incentive to invest in the product.

    “ There hasn’t been an incentive for big pharma to jump in, because it’s not a money-maker, ” Geisbert told Agence France-Presse (AFP). He added that his research on the Bundibugyo candidate was first published back in 2013, and the project has sat dormant ever since – a pattern that mirrors his earlier work on what eventually became Ervebo. First published in 2005, Ervebo only garnered serious attention and investment during the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak, which killed more than 11,300 people and became the largest Ebola outbreak in recorded history. After that outbreak began, U.S. pharmaceutical firm MSD (known as Merck in North America) was able to produce the first clinical doses in roughly nine months, and trials later confirmed the vaccine is 84% effective against the Zaire strain. Geisbert said he is optimistic that a similar accelerated timeline could produce usable doses of the Bundibugyo candidate in as little as six to seven months, if a pharmaceutical partner steps forward quickly. A spokesperson for MSD told AFP that independent data on Ervebo’s effectiveness against non-Zaire strains such as Bundibugyo remains limited, with no human data collected to date.

    As the DRC outbreak expanded this week, a new potential candidate entered the conversation: a multi-strain mRNA vaccine developed by a team of Chinese researchers, whose findings were published in the *Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences* (PNAS) on Monday. The candidate leverages the mRNA platform that was widely refined and scaled during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is designed to target the three most common Ebola strains, including Bundibugyo. While Connor Bamford, a virologist at Queen’s University Belfast, praised the research effort, he noted that mRNA vaccines remain costly to produce and require strict cold-chain storage – two factors that could severely limit their deployment in low-resource regions like rural DRC. Geisbert added that the new mRNA candidate has only been tested in mice so far, and positive results in mouse models frequently fail to translate to larger animals, let alone human populations.

    Another team of researchers at the University of Oxford is also working to advance a candidate, partnering with the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume, to ready a viral vector vaccine named ChAdOx1 BDBV for deployment as quickly as possible. “ We are working through the logistics at pace, ” Teresa Lambe, head of vaccine immunology at the Oxford Vaccine Group, told AFP, though she noted that no precise timeline for rollout is available yet.

    Beyond vaccines, researchers are also moving quickly to launch clinical trials for two experimental therapeutic treatments for Bundibugyo, under a trial sponsored by the WHO. Amanda Rojek, an Oxford researcher working on the trial, told *Nature* this week that the team is working around the clock to launch the trials as soon as possible, adding that the infrastructure and planning needed are already in place. One of the treatments being considered is remdesivir, a broad-spectrum antiviral developed by U.S. firm Gilead Sciences that has already undergone human testing for the Zaire Ebola strain, though it has never been tested for Bundibugyo. Even so, Geisbert said that in vitro lab testing his team conducted found remdesivir is actually more effective against Bundibugyo than it is against Zaire. The second candidate is MBP134, a monoclonal antibody developed by Mapp Biopharmaceutical that is specifically designed to target multiple Ebola species, including Bundibugyo. Geisbert, who has also tested MBP134 in preclinical research, called the drug “ fantastic, ” noting that it effectively protected non-human primates from death even when administered after infection had already set in. Any clinical trials in affected regions will require formal approval from both the DRC and Ugandan governments before they can begin.

  • Praise for inspirational boy who saved family from drowning

    Praise for inspirational boy who saved family from drowning

    A 13-year-old Australian teenager whose quick thinking and incredible grit saved his family after a terrifying ocean incident has received high honors from Ireland’s top political leadership during a recent meeting. Austin Appelbee, who swam miles through open water to summon rescuers when his family was swept out to sea off Australia’s West Coast, sat down with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin on Tuesday.

    Martin took to social media platform X to share his reaction after the meeting, saying he considered it a profound privilege to meet the young teen. Calling Austin a truly exceptional young person, Martin highlighted that the teen displayed remarkable courage at the exact moment his family depended on him most. “Austin’s story is a vital reminder of the importance of water safety for all outdoor enthusiasts, and his bravery stands as an inspiration to people of every age across the world,” Martin added.

    The near-tragedy that brought Austin international attention unfolded on January 30, when Austin, his mother Joanne – a native of Ireland’s County Monaghan – his 12-year-old brother Beau and 8-year-old sister Grace were out paddleboarding when a current pulled the entire group far out into open water. Trapped in a dangerous situation that stretched on for 10 long hours, Joanne instructed her eldest son to make the treacherous journey back to shore to call for emergency help.

    Though Austin initially set out in a kayak, the small vessel capsized in rough conditions, forcing the 13-year-old to swim the final 4 kilometers (nearly 2.5 miles) to reach safety. Speaking to the BBC shortly after the rescue, Austin downplayed his heroism, saying he simply did what any family member would do. “I didn’t think I was a hero – I just did what I had to do,” he explained at the time. “I was only thinking about my mum, Beau and Grace. I was also thinking about my friends and my girlfriend – I have a really good bunch of people around me.”

    Two weeks before his meeting with Martin, the entire Appelbee family traveled back to Ireland for an emotional surprise family reunion, and even appeared as guests on Ireland’s iconic RTÉ talk show *The Late Late Show*. During the interview, Joanne opened up about the sheer terror of the experience, sharing that every parent’s worst fear raced through her mind while they were trapped at sea. “It’s every mother’s nightmare,” she told the audience.

    Austin’s heroism has been widely celebrated across Ireland in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Monaghan County Council held a formal civic reception in his honor, with council chair Cllr PJ O’Hanlon saying the entire local government was deeply honored to recognize Austin’s incredible display of courage. “Austin’s actions were nothing short of heroic and his bravery serves as an inspiration to us all,” O’Hanlon noted.

    Irish acting President Catherine Connolly also recognized the teen’s courage, sending a personal letter of commendation that praised his immense bravery. In the letter, Connolly wrote that Austin’s story of courage has spread across the globe, and has become a source of both inspiration and national pride for Irish communities everywhere who have learned of his actions.

  • Drone attack kills 28 at market in southern Sudan

    Drone attack kills 28 at market in southern Sudan

    On a routine Tuesday in the Sudanese town of Ghubaysh, a drone attack tore through a crowded public market in West Kordofan, leaving 28 civilians dead and 23 others injured, according to medical sources and witness accounts shared with Agence France-Presse. The strike ranks among the deadliest attacks on non-combatants since Sudan’s brutal civil war entered its fourth year in April 2025.

    Ghubaysh falls under the control of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the paramilitary group that has been locked in a devastating power struggle with Sudan’s regular military since April 2023. Local medical personnel confirmed that all casualties, both dead and wounded, were transported to the town’s main hospital for treatment immediately after the attack.

    Witnesses painted a harrowing picture of sudden, indiscriminate destruction in the town’s central commercial hub, where thousands of local residents rely on daily trade for food and essential goods. Two witnesses confirmed that a drone hit a popular packed restaurant within the market, and both laid blame for the attack at the feet of the Sudanese military. A third witness described a possible two-stage strike pattern: an initial blast targeting an RSF vehicle that killed three people, followed seconds later by a second explosion that hit the crowded restaurant.

    Sudanese legal advocacy organization Emergency Lawyers noted that the strike hit a critical market that serves as the primary source of food and basic supplies for thousands of civilian households in the area. A spokesperson for the Sudanese military quickly issued a denial of responsibility, stating that the armed forces only conduct targeted strikes against legitimate military objectives, such as enemy vehicles and weapons storage facilities. An alliance aligned with the RSF issued a formal condemnation of the attack, accusing the military of carrying out a systematic campaign of intentional strikes against civilians and civilian infrastructure, a clear violation of international humanitarian law.

    Tuesday’s fatal attack comes as drone warfare has emerged as an increasingly dominant tactic in Sudan’s expanding conflict, with both the RSF and the military routinely deploying unmanned aerial strikes across widening front lines. United Nations data shows that between January and April 2025 alone, drone strikes accounted for at least 880 civilian deaths – more than 80 percent of all conflict-related civilian fatalities recorded in that period.

    Fighting has escalated sharply in recent months across southern Kordofan and the southeastern state of Blue Nile, a shift that followed the RSF’s capture of El-Fasher last October. El-Fasher was the Sudanese military’s last major stronghold in the western Darfur region, and its fall opened the door for expanded operations across central Sudan.

    The broader Kordofan region holds major strategic and economic importance: it holds significant oil deposits, large swathes of arable agricultural land, and hosts the RSF’s most powerful paramilitary allies. It also acts as a critical geographic link connecting the RSF’s established strongholds in Darfur to the army-controlled eastern half of the country. The RSF already holds full control of West Kordofan, and has been pushing eastward for months in an attempt to seize Sudan’s central supply corridor. The military has mounted a fierce counteroffensive, breaking RSF sieges on two key cities in South Kordofan and working to cut off the RSF’s critical supply lines connecting their forces to Darfur.

    Now in its fourth year, the conflict has already claimed the lives of tens of thousands of Sudanese people and forced more than 11 million to flee their homes, creating what the United Nations has labeled one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes on the globe today. Compounding the crisis, Sudan is currently facing the world’s largest acute hunger emergency: a UN-backed food security monitor, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), estimates that nearly 20 million Sudanese – roughly two out of every five people in the country – are currently experiencing severe acute food insecurity.

    Just last week, the UN issued a stark warning that without immediate, large-scale international intervention, the already catastrophic crisis could spiral into an even greater human tragedy. Famine was officially declared last year in both El-Fasher and Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan. The IPC has further warned that 14 additional areas across Darfur and South Kordofan face imminent famine risk if fighting continues to escalate, access to food, medical care and clean water keeps deteriorating, and mass civilian displacement accelerates.

    Since October 2024, more than 300,000 people have fled frontline combat zones including El-Fasher, parts of Kordofan and Blue Nile, according to UN figures. As the war grinds on with no diplomatic breakthrough or clear military resolution in sight, the human cost of the conflict continues to climb at an alarming rate.

  • Kentucky primary vote tests Trump’s grip on Republican base

    Kentucky primary vote tests Trump’s grip on Republican base

    On a primary election day across multiple U.S. states, all eyes are fixed on Kentucky, where a high-stakes House contest has emerged as the most significant recent measure of former President Donald Trump’s unchallenged influence over the modern Republican Party. The battle pits seven-term incumbent Thomas Massie, a self-described libertarian and one of the few congressional Republicans willing to break publicly with Trump, against Trump-endorsed challenger Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy SEAL and local farmer.

    Trump has pulled out all the stops to oust Massie, launching a months-long personal attack campaign that has seen the former president label the incumbent a disloyal “moron,” “nut job,” and “major sleazebag.” Speaking to reporters shortly after polls opened Tuesday, Trump doubled down on his criticism, claiming Massie is not a true Republican or libertarian and repeatedly mislabeling him a “Dumb-ocrat” to mock his occasional breaks from the party line.

    What makes the contest particularly notable is that Massie maintains a pro-Trump voting record by almost any measure: he has aligned with Trump’s positions roughly 90 percent of the time during the former president’s second term, a statistic Massie has highlighted repeatedly throughout his campaign. Massie frames the race not as a challenge to Trump, but as a test of whether the Republican Party still has space for independent thinking among its elected officials. “Most of the people voting for me support President Trump like I do,” Massie told Fox News amid Trump’s latest round of attacks.

    The incumbent has earned Trump’s wrath for a series of high-profile breaks with the party, including his opposition to U.S. military intervention in Iran and Venezuela, public criticism of large-scale aid packages to Israel, resistance to some elements of Trump’s policy agenda, and his support for releasing sealed documents connected to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

    The race has also made history as the most expensive House primary contest in U.S. history, with total ad spending surpassing $32 million. A large share of that spending has come from pro-Israel groups that have mobilized to defeat Massie over his critical stance on aid to the country.

    A notable controversy emerged ahead of voting day when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made an in-person campaign appearance for Gallrein in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District on Monday. Federal law bars federal employees from engaging in partisan political activity while on official duty, but Hegseth’s office clarified he was acting in a personal capacity and no taxpayer money was used for the trip. Trump later confirmed that Hegseth traveled to Kentucky just hours before the U.S. was on the cusp of launching a new military strike against Iran, an operation that was ultimately postponed.

    The Kentucky contest follows a string of recent victories for Trump-aligned candidates over party dissidents: last week, Trump-backed challengers defeated Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy—who voted to convict Trump during his 2021 impeachment trial after the Capitol riot—who failed even to advance to a runoff, while Trump allies defeated resistant state lawmakers in Indiana who pushed back against his redistricting priorities.

    While Kentucky dominates national attention, primary contests are unfolding across multiple states Tuesday. In Georgia, voters are selecting nominees for U.S. Senate and governor, but the most closely watched races are for the state’s supreme court, where Democrats have mounted an unprecedented effort to unseat two incumbent justices. Former President Barack Obama and other top Democratic figures have endorsed the challengers, a race that carries outsize importance in the key swing state. No incumbent Georgia supreme court justice has lost a reelection bid in more than 100 years, making the contests a critical bellwether for Democratic momentum ahead of November’s general midterm elections.

  • Alcaraz withdraws from Wimbledon with wrist injury

    Alcaraz withdraws from Wimbledon with wrist injury

    World No. 2 men’s tennis star Carlos Alcaraz has delivered a major blow to Wimbledon fans, officially announcing his withdrawal from the 2025 Grand Slam tournament on Tuesday, just weeks before the iconic grass-court event is set to kick off. The 23-year-old Spaniard, who already withdrew from the 2025 Roland Garros as the defending two-time champion, confirmed that his ongoing recovery from a wrist injury has not progressed enough to allow him to compete.

    Alcaraz first sustained the injury during his first-round match at the Barcelona Open earlier this spring. The issue forced him to pull out of consecutive ATP tour stops in Madrid and Rome, before he confirmed he would miss the clay-court Grand Slam in Paris. Now, the injury has ruled him out of two of the most prestigious events on the tennis calendar: the Queen’s Club Championships and Wimbledon.

    “My recovery is going well and I’m feeling much better, but unfortunately I’m still not ready to play, I am obliged to withdraw from both Queen’s and Wimbledon,” Alcaraz said in a statement released Tuesday. “These are two really special tournaments for me and I’ll miss them a lot. We’ll keep working to come back as soon as possible.”

    The withdrawal ends Alcaraz’s bid to reclaim the Wimbledon title he won in 2023. Last year, he fell just short of defending his crown, losing a tight final to current world No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy. Alcaraz’s absence also pauses one of the most exciting young rivalries in men’s tennis, as the pair have traded major titles and top rankings over the past two years. With Alcaraz out, Sinner solidifies his position as the overwhelming favorite to claim both the 2025 Roland Garros and Wimbledon titles.

    Despite the disappointing withdrawal, 2025 has still been a career-defining season for Alcaraz so far. In January, he became the youngest man in tennis history to complete a career Grand Slam after claiming his first Australian Open title. He also picked up a tournament win in Doha earlier this year, holding an impressive 22-3 win-loss record across the season to date. This Wimbledon withdrawal marks only the third Grand Slam Alcaraz has missed since he made his main draw Grand Slam debut at the 2021 Australian Open.

  • Trump shows off site of new $400-mn ballroom

    Trump shows off site of new $400-mn ballroom

    On May 19, 2026, U.S. President Donald Trump led reporters on a tour of the active construction site for his proposed new White House ballroom, a massive project that has already become a central flashpoint in the lead-up to November’s critical midterm congressional elections. Against a constant backdrop of clanging hammers, buzzing saws and the hum of construction work, the former real estate magnate leaned into his comfort zone as he walked journalists through the cavernous concrete excavation that will form the base of the 400 million dollar development.

    Standing beside bright yellow safety railings at the edge of the construction pit, Trump framed the initiative as a contribution to the nation. “This is a gift to the United States of America,” he stated, emphasizing that the construction costs are drawn from his personal funds and contributions from private donors, and carry no tax burden for the project itself. As he laid out details of the planned development, Trump highlighted the unconventional multi-functional design of the building: the ballroom itself will sit above six underground levels that he says will house secure military facilities, classified research laboratories and a fully operational on-site hospital. He described the above-ground ballroom as a protective barrier for the sensitive infrastructure below, noting that the reinforced roof would deflect unauthorized drone incursions, and that the building’s layout would offer strategic advantages for security snipers.

    The property developer’s signature enthusiasm for design was on full display as he outlined the building’s architectural inspiration: one facade will draw from classical ancient Greek styling, while a second will reflect the grandeur of ancient Roman architecture. Initially estimated to cost $200 million, the project’s price tag has doubled since it was first proposed, a shift that has added to growing scrutiny. Trump has repeatedly maintained that all construction costs are covered by private donations from his wealthy supporters and a range of corporate contributors, but his political opponents have pushed back hard on the project, particularly over a proposed $1 billion taxpayer-funded security allocation tied to the development.

    Critics argue that the extravagant ballroom, paired with broader infrastructure refurbishments across Washington D.C., reveals a damaging lack of awareness of economic hardship facing American households. Amid soaring cost of living driven by the ongoing Iran war, the project has landed as tone-deaf to widespread voter anger over stagnant wages and rising prices for everyday goods. Critics also point to a recent controversial comment from Trump, who said last week that “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation” when it comes to the Iran conflict, noting his priority is blocking Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.

    With less than six months remaining until the midterm elections that will determine which party holds control of both chambers of Congress, Democrats have seized on both the ballroom project and Trump’s recent comment to frame the incumbent president as out of touch with working American needs. The opposition has made the controversy a core line of attack against congressional Republican candidates as they fight to flip control of the legislature.

  • Projected economic growth in NSW slashed by 1.5 per cent as Treasurer blames inflation, war in Iran

    Projected economic growth in NSW slashed by 1.5 per cent as Treasurer blames inflation, war in Iran

    Australia’s most populous and economically active state, New South Wales (NSW), has issued a sharp downward revision to its upcoming financial year economic growth projections, citing cascading risks from the escalating conflict in the Middle East as a key destabilizing factor, NSW Treasurer Daniel Mookhey confirmed Wednesday during an address to the Sydney-based McKell Institute.

    Previously projected to expand by 2.5% in the 2026-2027 financial year in forecasts published last December, the state’s economy is now expected to grow by just 1%, Mookhey revealed. The unexpected downgrade, released four weeks ahead of the official June state budget as an extraordinary pre-budget transparency measure, marks one of the clearest indicators of how Middle East tensions between the US, Israel and Iran are rippling through to the Australian economy.

    Mookhey emphasized that the impact of the conflict on global energy markets will be persistent, even if hostilities de-escalate immediately. “Even if the war in the Middle East ended today, petrol prices are not falling tomorrow. Oil markets will take time to normalise – if they ever do,” he told the audience.

    The slowdown is projected to hit NSW harder than any other Australian state, Mookhey explained, a gap driven largely by the state’s higher average mortgage sizes that leave households more exposed to elevated Reserve Bank of Australia interest rates. Higher inflation has forced central bank rate hikes to cool demand, which in turn has dragged down household consumption across the country. But in NSW, the burden is far heavier: the average working family taking out a new mortgage in the state borrows roughly $873,000, compared to just $677,000 for comparable households in Victoria, Australia’s second-largest state – a 28% difference. “That is why NSW fares better when interest rates fall. And fares worse when they rise,” Mookhey said.

    Beyond economic headwinds, the treasurer waded into growing state political tensions around climate policy, as the incumbent Labor government prepares for upcoming state elections early next year, where right-wing populist party One Nation is gaining traction. One Nation, led by Pauline Hanson, recently claimed the federal NSW seat of Farrer earlier this month and turned in strong results in the South Australian state election, signaling growing electoral support for the party in the region.

    Mookhey attacked the opposition for shifting alignment on net-zero policy, arguing that the federal Liberal Party has aligned with One Nation to oppose NSW’s legally binding net-zero emissions targets. The state Liberal-National coalition already faced a bitter internal split on the issue late last year, when then-opposition leader Mark Speakman reaffirmed the party’s commitment to net-zero, prompting a rupture with the rural NSW Nationals. Current opposition leader Kellie Sloane, who took over the role late last year, has faced mounting pressure from the increasingly right-leaning federal branch of the party to reverse the net-zero commitment.

    “I have no idea if the NSW Liberal Party agrees with the Federal Liberal Party, which agrees with the One Nation Party,” Mookhey said. “The Member for Vaucluse (Ms Sloane) could end this uncertainty by declaring whether she is for or against the state’s legislated net zero targets. To campaign against NSW’s net-zero targets is to campaign for a NSW recession.”

    Despite the sharp growth downgrade, Mookhey stressed that the state is well-positioned to avoid a full recession, pointing to the ongoing renewable energy investment boom driven by NSW’s early adoption of net-zero as an economic development strategy. The state is currently host to a large pipeline of renewable energy construction projects, paired with extensive upgrades to transmission infrastructure and grid connections that will drive sustained activity and investment through the slowdown. “NSW is home to this investment boom because NSW is (and was) the first state to truly have grasped that reaching net zero is a sound economic strategy,” he added.

  • Ukraine war widow buries her daughters killed by Russia

    Ukraine war widow buries her daughters killed by Russia

    Five days after a devastating Russian missile strike reduced her Kyiv apartment block to rubble, Tetiana Yakovlieva laid her two daughters to rest on Tuesday, adding another devastating chapter to the human cost of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that began in February 2022.

    Yakovlieva already knew the pain of war: her husband had volunteered to fight for Ukraine shortly after the 2022 invasion and died in combat three years prior. When the Kh-101 cruise missile struck her family’s nine-story building in a leafy Kyiv neighborhood last week, she waited for hours alongside rescue teams, clinging to the faint hope that her 12-year-old daughter Vira and 17-year-old daughter Liubava would be pulled alive from the debris. When the dust settled, that hope faded, and the grim work of recovering the girls’ bodies began.

    “It’s so painful — these words won’t mean anything to you until you feel it yourself,” Yakovlieva told local reporters at the strike site, still reeling from shock amid the rubble of her home.

    By Tuesday, the mother, ashen-faced and hunched in grief, stood before two closed coffins inside Kyiv’s gold-domed Saint Michael’s Orthodox Cathedral, where a priest led a funeral mass for the girls. Surrounded by mourners dressed in black, many weeping, clutching flowers, and leaning on one another for support, the priest acknowledged that no words could ease the weight of losing children so young.

    “No words of compassion can ease this pain of loss, this burden of great suffering, when one must bury young people,” he told the gathered crowd. “This is a tragedy not only for your family, it is a tragedy for our entire Ukrainian state today.”

    As the service unfolded, air raid sirens warning of new Russian attacks echoed across Kyiv, a constant reminder of the ongoing violence that claimed the sisters’ lives. The girls are among 24 civilians killed in the early Thursday strike, which marked the deadliest Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital so far this year, part of a massive barrage that included 56 missiles and 675 combat drones launched at targets across Ukraine.

    Ukrainian Interior Minister Igor Klymenko confirmed the strike that killed the sisters was almost certainly carried out by a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile, which detonated on the building’s ground floor. The blast buckled the apartment block’s foundations, causing a progressive collapse that crushed multiple floors above. Ukrainian defense analysts estimate each of these missiles costs the Russian government approximately $1.2 million.

    Reporters from Agence France-Presse who visited the strike site in the immediate aftermath saw emergency workers pulling dead and wounded survivors from the rubble on stretchers, while bystanders — including classmates of the two sisters — waited anxiously for word of missing loved ones.

    At the funeral, mourners who knew the girls spoke of the senseless cruelty of their deaths. “It’s hard to say anything when children are killed. Especially children when they were sleeping. It’s barbarity,” Natalia, a woman whose own son was killed alongside Yakovlieva’s husband, told AFP. Olga, an art teacher who taught 12-year-old Vira to draw, remembered both sisters as talented, outgoing young women, describing their deaths as “an inexpressible pain.”

    In the hours after the mass strike, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to social media to condemn the attack, saying Russia “deliberately destroys lives” and calling on Kyiv’s international allies to increase pressure on Moscow to bring an end to the full-scale invasion. “It is Ukraine that is defending Europe and the world so that such strikes, in which children are killed, do not spread further,” he added.

    The Kremlin has repeatedly claimed that its forces only target military infrastructure in Ukraine and denies intentionally striking civilian targets. But the deaths of Vira and Liubava bring the official confirmed number of Ukrainian children killed since the 2022 invasion to at least 704, according to Ukrainian police data. Thousands more children have been wounded or remain missing in the three years of war.

    Before the procession carried the girls’ coffins to the cemetery for burial, the priest reminded mourners that the sisters’ names, Vira and Liubava, translate to “faith” and “love” in Ukrainian. He told the gathered crowd the girls were now in a place beyond the reach of conflict. “In a place where there is no war, no pain, no grief, no suffering, no sighing, but eternal blessed life,” he said.

  • France says G7 finance talks ‘frank, sometimes difficult’

    France says G7 finance talks ‘frank, sometimes difficult’

    Against a backdrop of escalating geopolitical tension and mounting economic instability, finance leaders from the Group of Seven major global economies wrapped up two days of talks in Paris on Tuesday, leaving French officials acknowledging that negotiations were marked by candid, at times strained, exchanges before the bloc agreed to a unified statement reaffirming commitment to multilateral collaboration.\n\nRoland Lescure, France’s finance minister, told reporters following the closed-door meetings that delegates engaged in open, unvarnished discussions to craft both immediate and long-term policy responses to pressing global economic challenges, with the core goal of safeguarding broad-based economic stability. The gathering included top finance officials from all G7 members, among them United States Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.\n\nDespite the friction in talks, the G7’s final official communique reaffirmed the bloc’s core pledge to work together through multilateral frameworks to counter growing risks threatening the interconnected global economy. The document framed current global conditions as a series of overlapping, complex challenges that demand coordinated policy action, pointing specifically to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East as a key driver of heightened economic uncertainty.\n\nIn the communique, G7 leaders noted that the Middle Eastern conflict has amplified existing risks to both global growth and persistent inflation, with cascading disruptions hitting critical global supply chains. The statement specifically called out acute pressures on energy, food, and fertilizer supply networks — disruptions that disproportionately harm low-income and vulnerable developing economies that rely heavily on global imports.\n\nOne of the most pressing geopolitical economic issues addressed was the persistent disruption to global shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical strategic waterway that carries roughly a fifth of the world’s daily oil trade. Since the escalation of regional conflict, Iran has implemented an effective blockade that has severely restricted shipping traffic through the strait. The G7 statement called for an immediate end to the disruption, urging a “swift return to free and safe transit” for all commercial vessels.\n\nThis week’s meeting in the French capital was held as France holds the rotating G7 presidency, and it served as a key preparatory step for the group’s full head-of-state summit scheduled for June 2025. That higher-level gathering will be hosted at the Alpine lakeside resort of Evian, with French President Emmanuel Macron set to chair the proceedings, and U.S. President Donald Trump expected to attend in person.