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  • War in the Middle East: latest developments

    War in the Middle East: latest developments

    The long-simmering conflict across the Middle East entered a sharp new phase of escalation on Sunday, as multiple interconnected fronts saw rapidly shifting developments that threaten to drag more global powers into open confrontation. The most consequential shift came early Sunday, when former U.S. President Donald Trump announced he had ordered the U.S. Navy to implement a full naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical chokepoints for global oil supplies. The order came just after talks mediated by Pakistan between U.S. and Iranian delegations collapsed, ending a brief fragile ceasefire between the two powers that had held for less than two weeks.

    In response to the blockade announcement, Iran’s top leadership has issued a firm rejection of U.S. pressure, saying the country will never bow to foreign coercion. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker who led the Iranian negotiating delegation to the Pakistan talks, delivered the defiant message in comments carried by multiple Iranian state news outlets. “If they fight, we will fight, and if they come forward with logic, we will deal with logic,” Ghalibaf said. “We will not bow to any threats, let them test our will once again so that we can teach them a bigger lesson.” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards reinforced that stance, confirming that Iranian security forces maintain full operational control over the Strait, and warned that any hostile misstep by foreign powers would trap aggressors in a “deadly vortex” with devastating consequences.

    Along the Israel-Hezbollah front in southern Lebanon, Israeli military operations continued unabated Sunday, with a series of sustained airstrikes hitting targets across the region. Lebanese authorities reported that at least five people were killed in the latest strikes, pushing the total death toll from the conflict on Lebanese territory to more than 2,055. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said his government remains focused on ending the fighting and securing key concessions to stabilize the country. “We will continue to work to stop this war, to ensure the Israeli withdrawal from all our lands, the return of all the prisoners, to rebuild our destroyed villages and towns, and the safe return of the displaced,” Salam said.

    Visiting Israeli troops deployed in southern Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that the immediate cross-border threat his country faced has been neutralized. He confirmed that Israeli operations will continue, however, including in the newly established security zone inside Lebanese territory. “Israeli forces have eliminated the threat of an invasion by Hezbollah militants,” Netanyahu said in a video statement released by his office, adding that “the war continues, including within the security zone in Lebanon.” Israel has repeatedly maintained that the broader regional ceasefire agreement does not apply to its operations targeting Hezbollah, which is backed financially and militarily by Iran.

    A new point of international tension emerged Sunday when the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) issued a statement condemning Israeli military actions against its peacekeeping mission. The statement confirmed that an Israeli tank twice rammed UNIFIL vehicles in southern Lebanon, where active combat between Israeli forces and Hezbollah has been ongoing for weeks. Additionally, Israeli soldiers blocked a key road in the town of Bayada that provides the only access to multiple UNIFIL positions, hampering the peacekeeping force’s ability to operate.

    Beyond the Strait of Hormuz and Lebanese fronts, the escalation has spilled over into other regional states. Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry announced it had summoned Iraq’s top ambassador to deliver a formal complaint over drone attacks launched from Iraqi territory, marking the second such complaint in days after the U.S. issued a similar protest. In Kuwait, authorities announced the arrest of 24 people, including five former lawmakers, as part of an investigation into alleged financing of terrorist entities. Kuwait and other Gulf Cooperation Council states have cracked down on individuals and organizations suspected of ties to Iran since Tehran launched attacks on Gulf targets.

    On Iran’s home front, the country’s judiciary-affiliated Legal Medicine Organization released the highest official death toll from the ongoing war with the U.S. and Israel to date, with head Abbas Masjedi confirming that 3,375 Iranians have been killed. Agence France-Presse, which reported the figure, noted that it cannot independently verify casualty numbers or access strike sites in Iran due to official government reporting restrictions.

    International actors have already begun moving to push for de-escalation. Pakistan, which mediated the collapsed weekend talks between the U.S. and Iran, has issued a public plea to uphold the two-week ceasefire that Washington and Tehran initially agreed to. Russian President Vladimir Putin also extended an offer of diplomatic mediation to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, with the Kremlin confirming Sunday that Putin stands ready to facilitate new peace efforts. In a separate move that expands the conflict’s global reach, Trump issued a new threat to China during an interview with Fox News, saying the U.S. will impose 50 percent tariffs on all Chinese goods imported into the country if Beijing provides military assistance to Iran.

  • De Zerbi suffers debut defeat as Spurs crisis deepens, City rampant

    De Zerbi suffers debut defeat as Spurs crisis deepens, City rampant

    The 2024-25 English Premier League season delivered another dramatic weekend of results that reshaped both the title race and the relegation battle, with two high-stakes stories dominating the headlines. For Tottenham Hotspur, what was meant to be a fresh start under new manager Roberto De Zerbi instead turned into another gut-wrenching setback that leaves their 48-year-long stretch in the top flight hanging by a thread.

    De Zerbi, the highly regarded former Brighton & Hove Albion and Olympique de Marseille boss, was appointed at the end of last month as Tottenham’s third manager of the campaign. The Italian was brought in as a last-ditch hire to pull the club out of a freefall that has them staring down the barrel of relegation – a scenario that would go down as one of the biggest shocks in English football history, given Tottenham’s status as the ninth-wealthiest club in the world per Deloitte’s latest football finance rankings. His first test came on the road against a stubborn Sunderland side, but the new manager could not spark an immediate turnaround.

    The only goal of the game came in the 60th minute, when Nordi Mukiele’s shot took a massive deflection off Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven, looping the ball over goalkeeper and into the net. Tottenham threw bodies forward in the final half-hour in search of an equalizer, but their attacks repeatedly broke down, and the scoreline held. The result leaves Tottenham stuck in the relegation zone, still winless in Premier League play since December. They now sit two points behind 17th-place West Ham United, with just six matches remaining to claw their way out of the drop.

    After the final whistle, De Zerbi pinpointed the root of his side’s struggles as a deep crisis of confidence, not a lack of technical quality. “I can be a big brother, father, they don’t need a coach,” he told the BBC. “They don’t need to improve football. They can play better and they will play better once we reach a different level of confidence.”

    At the opposite end of the table, Manchester City sent a clear warning to league leaders Arsenal, putting on a dominant second-half display to secure a 3-0 away win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The result comes 24 hours after Arsenal suffered a surprise 2-1 home defeat to Bournemouth, opening the door for Pep Guardiola’s side to cut the Gunners’ lead at the top of the table to just six points – with City holding one game in hand, and a decisive head-to-head clash against Arsenal scheduled for next weekend at the Etihad Stadium.

    City, who saw their streak of five consecutive Premier League titles ended by Liverpool last season, made full use of Arsenal’s slip-up, turning a slow, cagey first half into a rout after the break. Young midfielder Nico O’Reilly opened the scoring with a header from a precise Rayan Cherki cross, before defender Marc Guehi doubled City’s advantage in the 57th minute, finishing off a perfectly weighted through ball from Cherki. Jeremy Doku put the result beyond doubt late on, drilling a shot past Chelsea’s goalkeeper after the Blues turned the ball over in their own defensive third.

    The result keeps City on track for a domestic treble this season: they have already lifted the League Cup, and are set to face Championship side Southampton in the FA Cup semi-finals. Speaking ahead of next week’s title decider against Arsenal, Guardiola stressed his full respect for the league leaders, who have led the table for most of the campaign. “They have been the best team in this country, in Europe, so far,” he told Sky Sports. “Beating Arsenal once (in the League Cup final) is so difficult, imagine beating them twice in a few weeks. We have to rest. I would like to say to my fans — respect Arsenal a lot, they are an extraordinary team. Come to join us from minute one because the players will do the maximum.”

    For Chelsea, the defeat marks their third consecutive Premier League loss, leaving them stuck in sixth place in the table. They now sit four points behind fifth-place Liverpool in the tight race for Champions League qualification next season.

    Other key results in the relegation and European races saw Nottingham Forest, one of Tottenham’s fellow relegation rivals, hold fourth-place Aston Villa to a 1-1 draw at the City Ground. Villa, who are also chasing a Champions League spot, took an early lead through an own goal from Forest defender Murillo, but Neco Williams equalized for the home side. The result leaves Forest one point above West Ham, outside the relegation zone by the thinnest of margins. At Selhurst Park, Crystal Palace scored two late goals, including a stoppage-time penalty from Jean-Philippe Mateta, to come from behind and beat Newcastle United 2-1.

  • Delays mar voting as crisis-hit Peru picks ninth president in decade

    Delays mar voting as crisis-hit Peru picks ninth president in decade

    On a scorching Sunday across Peru, long-delayed presidential and legislative elections kicked off, wrapping the Andean nation’s latest desperate bid to escape a decade of nonstop political chaos that has seen nine heads of state ousted or imprisoned. Nearly 27 million eligible voters, stretching from the Amazon rainforest lowlands to the high peaks of the Andes, cast ballots on an unprecedented half-meter-long ballot paper listing a record 35 presidential candidates from across the ideological spectrum.

    What was meant to be a routine democratic process quickly descended into public frustration, with dozens of polling stations in metropolitan Lima remaining shuttered hours after opening. Furious would-be voters queued for up to four hours under unforgiving equatorial sun, with many raising accusations of electoral fraud following a brutal, acrimonious campaign season. Peru’s national electoral commission quickly pinned the blame on a contracted logistics supplier that failed to deliver critical voting materials on time, and extended voting hours by one hour to accommodate disrupted voters.

    Decades of systemic corruption and backroom politicking have left most Peruvians deeply disillusioned with the country’s ruling political class. Public anger runs so deep that the nation has even built a purpose-built prison to house former presidents convicted of corruption. For many ordinary Peruvians, this election represents a last chance to turn the tide of rising crime, economic instability and political dysfunction that has eroded quality of life nationwide. “The people can’t take it anymore,” said Rosenda Lopez, a 47-year-old textile vendor in Lima. “I hope someone is elected who works for the community. The community needs it. They are killing us.”

    Over the past 10 years, Peru’s homicide rate has more than doubled, while reported annual extortion cases have skyrocketed from just 3,200 to more than 26,500. In response to widespread public anxiety over insecurity, candidates have leaned into increasingly hardline policy proposals: from ordering the extrajudicial killing of gang hitmen to mass deportations of irregular migrants, to detaining offenders in remote jungle jails surrounded by snakes.

    Pre-election opinion polls have been split, with conservative candidates leading the field amid a broader regional shift toward right-wing populist governments aligned with former U.S. President Donald Trump. No candidate has managed to poll above 15% support, far below the 50% majority required to win an outright victory, making a June runoff election all but certain. Alongside the presidency, voters are selecting a new 130-seat Congress, a body that has been central to the removal of every recent Peruvian president.

    The nominal frontrunner in the race is Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, who died in 2024 while serving a 16-year prison sentence for crimes against humanity, bribery and embezzlement. This marks Fujimori’s fourth run for the presidency, and she has leaned heavily on public nostalgia for her father’s authoritarian, tough-on-crime rule to court voters. In a pre-election interview, she outlined plans to restore public order within her first 100 days in office by deploying the military to manage overcrowded, violence-plagued prisons, strengthen border controls and deport all undocumented migrants. She also vowed to build a united conservative bloc with aligned right-wing leaders across the Americas, from the United States to neighboring Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Bolivia. “I believe that time and history are giving my father the place he deserves,” Fujimori said of her father’s controversial legacy.

    Fujimori faces a surprise late surge from 80-year-old former Lima mayor Ricardo Belmont, who has built a massive grassroots following on the social media platform TikTok, drawing cross-ideological support from voters fed up with establishment politics. “He’s collecting votes from left to right, like Pac-Man,” explained Patricia Zarate, a political analyst with the Institute of Peruvian Studies. Other notable candidates include conservative television comedian Carlos Alvarez and far-right former mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, who has openly promised to “hunt” Venezuelan migrants and has rebranded himself with the nickname “Porky” after the iconic cartoon pig.

    Incumbent President Jose Maria Balcazar, who has held office for less than two months, is constitutionally barred from seeking re-election. Voting is compulsory for all eligible Peruvians, and polls were scheduled to close at 6 p.m. local time (2300 GMT), one hour later than originally planned to offset opening delays. Sociologist David Sulmont noted that the fragmented field and widespread voter anger reflects a “major disconnect” between the Peruvian electorate and the policy offerings of the country’s political elite, a rift that has fueled the decade-long cycle of political collapse that this election aims to end. Many voters share the sentiment of 60-year-old shopkeeper Anita Medrano, who says she will not back any traditional or establishment candidate: “They already had their chance.”

  • PM to visit Brunei, Malaysia in fuel and fertiliser blitz

    PM to visit Brunei, Malaysia in fuel and fertiliser blitz

    Against a backdrop of mounting global energy market volatility and disrupted supply chains stemming from Middle East tensions, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has launched a targeted diplomatic push across Southeast Asia, moving straight from a recent stop in Singapore to visits with two key regional energy exporters: Brunei and Malaysia. This mission centers on a single urgent priority: locking in formal supply guarantees to shore up Australia’s heavily import-reliant fuel and fertiliser sectors, which face growing risks of disruption.

    Australia’s national supply chains are uniquely exposed to global oil market shocks: the country relies on foreign imports for roughly 90% of its total fuel demand, leaving domestic energy prices and availability entirely dependent on the performance and export commitments of overseas refineries navigating the ongoing global oil crisis. For Australia’s agricultural sector, the vulnerability runs even deeper for critical inputs: around 60% of the country’s urea supplies, the nitrogen-based fertiliser that forms the backbone of most large-scale farming operations, are sourced from Middle Eastern producers. These imports have already faced significant cuts after heightened tensions effectively slowed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s busiest chokepoint for global oil and fertiliser trade.

    Brunei, a small sultanate rich in hydrocarbon reserves that already holds a key role in Australian supply chains, accounts for 9% of Australia’s total diesel imports and 11% of its urea imports. During his meeting with Brunei’s long-time ruler Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah scheduled for mid-next week, Albanese will push for formal, public guarantees that Brunei will maintain steady export flows of both commodities to Australia regardless of wider global disruption.

    Malaysia, another major energy and fertiliser producer, is Australia’s third-largest supplier of refined fuel and contributes 10% of the country’s total urea imports. Albanese will seek the same binding supply assurances from Malaysian leaders during his visit, according to pre-trip comments the Prime Minister delivered on Sunday.

    “Engaging with critical regional partners such as Brunei Darussalam and Malaysia will help ensure Australia’s energy supply remains secure during times of uncertainty,” Albanese said. “We are taking every step to reinforce relationships and engage with key partners to keep our fuel supply flowing. My government is continuing to take every practical action to shield Australians from the impact of the war in the Middle East.”

    Albanese’s mission comes amid growing uncertainty about Malaysia’s export commitments. Last month, Malaysia’s embassy in Australia issued a warning that the country would prioritize meeting its own domestic energy demand before fulfilling export contracts, a statement that immediately sparked widespread fears that Malaysia could curb outbound shipments of fuel and urea to Australia. Those concerns were amplified just days later when reports emerged that multiple pre-scheduled fuel shipments from Malaysia to Australia had been abruptly canceled.

    Unlike many other diplomatic outreach efforts, Canberra enters this trip with notable trade leverage to incentivize cooperation from both hosts. Australia is the primary supplier of food and agricultural goods to Brunei, while for Malaysia, Australia holds an even more critical role: it supplies 95% of Malaysia’s total imported natural gas, giving Australia significant reciprocal trading power to negotiate favorable supply commitments.

    This current leg of Albanese’s Southeast Asian diplomatic blitz follows a successful stop in Singapore last week, where the Prime Minister secured a public pledge from Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to maintain steady fuel exports to Australia. However, Wong attached a key caveat to the commitment: Singapore’s ability to keep shipments flowing would be dependent on the continuation of stable upstream supply through global oil markets, a reminder that even secured commitments remain vulnerable to wider regional tensions.

  • US-Iran talks fail to find deal but Gulf truce holds for now

    US-Iran talks fail to find deal but Gulf truce holds for now

    High-stakes negotiations between the United States and Iran aimed at ending the months-long Middle East conflict concluded without a binding agreement on Sunday, though the temporary ceasefire that has calmed the region for two weeks has so far held, keeping immediate hopes for de-escalation alive. The talks, hosted in Islamabad, Pakistan, marked the highest-level direct engagement between the two nations since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, bringing senior delegations from both sides to the table after weeks of open warfare that shook global energy markets.

    US Vice President JD Vance departed Pakistan following the 21-hour marathon meeting, carrying with him Washington’s self-described “final and best offer” for a peace settlement. “We leave here with a very simple proposal,” Vance told reporters. “We’ll see if the Iranians accept it.” In response, Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf noted that Tehran’s negotiating team had put forward “constructive initiatives” during the round, but ultimately the American side failed to earn the trust of Iranian negotiators.

    The breakdown of the talks has stoked widespread international anxiety: a resumption of full-scale hostilities could send global energy prices soaring once again and cause further damage to critical Gulf shipping lanes and oil and gas infrastructure. Even so, there were small signs of incremental progress on energy stability over the weekend. Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry announced that its key east-west oil pipeline, damaged in earlier strikes during the conflict, has been fully restored to service. Qatar’s transport ministry also moved to lift a subset of restrictions on Gulf shipping, easing some of the supply chain disruptions that have rippled across global markets since the war began in late February.

    As the host of the negotiations, Pakistan has committed to continuing its role as a neutral mediator. Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar emphasized the urgency of upholding the existing truce, saying “It is imperative that the parties continue to uphold their commitment to ceasefire.”

    According to a report from Axios, citing an anonymous source briefed on the closed-door negotiations, core sticking points that derailed the deal included Iran’s demand for full control over the Strait of Hormuz and its refusal to dismantle its existing enriched uranium stockpile. The strategic waterway carries roughly one-fifth of the world’s daily oil supplies, and Iran closed the strait to most commercial traffic after the war began, a move that sent crude prices spiking immediately.

    International reaction to the failed talks has been measured. UK Health Minister Wes Streeting, speaking on behalf of the British government, told Sky News that while the outcome was disappointing, diplomatic efforts remain worth pursuing. “That doesn’t mean there isn’t merit in continuing to try,” Streeting said.

    The current conflict erupted on February 28, when the United States and Israel launched a coordinated strike on Iranian targets that killed Iran’s long-serving supreme leader Ali Khamenei. Tehran responded with retaliatory attacks, plunging the entire region into open conflict and sending shockwaves through the global economy. Before the Islamabad talks, Washington ramped up pressure on Tehran by announcing it had deployed minesweeping warships through the Strait of Hormuz to clear the waterway. On Saturday, the US military confirmed two Navy warships had completed the transit to begin mine clearing operations, framing the move as an effort to secure a “safe pathway” for commercial tankers.

    Iranian military officials have rejected the US account, denying any American warships entered Iranian territorial waters in the strait and threatening a full military response if any US vessels enter the waterway. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Naval Command clarified that the promise of safe passage during the two-week ceasefire only extends to “civilian vessels under specific conditions.”

    Deep mistrust has defined the negotiations from the start, with decades of hostility between the two nations compounded by the sudden outbreak of war in late February. Notably, the US delegation included Jared Kushner, former President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and Steve Witkoff, a New York real estate developer with longstanding personal ties to Trump. The pair had been in secret negotiations with Iranian officials in early February, just weeks before the US-Israeli strike that began the war.

    Tehran’s core demands for a final peace deal include the full unfreezing of Iranian assets blocked by international sanctions, an end to Israel’s ongoing military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon, and a resolution of the dispute over control of the Strait of Hormuz. Throughout the conflict, Iran has used its control of the strait to exert global economic leverage, driving up fuel prices in the United States and piling political pressure on the Trump administration.

    A separate complicating factor to regional peace is the ongoing violence in Lebanon, where Israeli forces have continued their offensive against Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed armed movement, despite the broader Gulf ceasefire. Israeli officials have explicitly stated the truce does not apply to Lebanon, where the Israeli military has launched both air strikes and a ground incursion in response to ongoing rocket fire from Hezbollah.

    On Saturday, Lebanese health authorities reported that 18 people were killed in new Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon, pushing the total death toll from Israeli operations in the country past 2,000 since the war began. Israeli-Palestinian talks focused on reaching a separate peace deal for Lebanon are scheduled to begin next week in Washington. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday that he aims to secure a peace agreement with Lebanon that “will last for generations,” though Israel has ruled out a temporary ceasefire with Hezbollah, choosing instead to continue military pressure on Lebanon’s fragile central government.

  • Ukraine, Russia trade mass Easter truce breach barbs

    Ukraine, Russia trade mass Easter truce breach barbs

    As the Ukraine-Russia conflict stretched into its fifth year, the Orthodox Easter holiday ceasefire that had raised faint hopes of a temporary lull instead dissolved into a barrage of mutual accusations of thousands of violations from both warring parties on Sunday.

    The 32-hour truce, which ran from Saturday afternoon through Sunday end-of-day per Kremlin scheduling, emerged after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky first proposed a halt to hostilities, followed by an official order for the ceasefire from Russian President Vladimir Putin four days prior. This marked the second consecutive year the two sides agreed to an Easter truce, only to see the agreement fall apart almost immediately amid denials and counter-claims. Last year’s identical holiday ceasefire also ended with both sides trading accusations of widespread breaches.

    By 7 a.m. local time on April 12, the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff reported it had documented 2,299 separate violations along the 1,200-kilometer front line. In a public Facebook post, the military broke down the alleged breaches: 28 enemy infantry assaults, 479 artillery shelling incidents, 747 strikes conducted by attack drones, and 1,045 strikes from FPV (first-person view) drones. Despite the staggering count of violations, Ukrainian officials did note one tangible benefit of the truce: there were no reported long-range Shahed drone attacks, guided aerial bombings, or large-scale missile strikes, which have become near-nightly occurrences for Ukrainian communities in recent months.

    Local Ukrainian frontline commanders echoed this mixed assessment. In Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine, Lieutenant Colonel Vasyl Kobziak of the 33rd Mechanised Brigade told AFP that conditions in his sector were “rather calm” Sunday morning, even as he acknowledged the truce was never fully respected. The temporary lull in heavy fighting still allowed his troops to gather for an outdoor Easter Sunday mass in the cold forest, where priests followed Orthodox tradition to bless traditional Easter food baskets and painted eggs. “Our comrades have the chance, as you can see, to have their Easter baskets blessed and to feel the warmth and joy of this holiday,” Kobziak said.

    Russia’s defense ministry pushed back immediately with its own set of accusations, claiming Kyiv had committed nearly 2,000 ceasefire breaches in the period between 4 p.m. and 8 a.m. Moscow time on April 12. In a post on the state-affiliated MAX platform, the ministry claimed Ukrainian forces had fired artillery and tank rounds 258 times, launched 1,329 FPV drone strikes, and dropped various types of munitions on 375 separate occasions, most via drone. The statement added that Ukraine launched three nighttime raids on Russian positions and four attempted advances along the front, all of which Russian forces successfully thwarted.

    Outside of the front lines, Russian regional officials also reported alleged truce violations. In Russia’s Kursk region, which shares a border with Ukraine, Governor Alexander Khinshtein claimed a Ukrainian drone attacked a gas station in the town of Lgov, leaving three people injured including an infant.

    In a Saturday evening address, Zelensky used the moment to call for an extended ceasefire, noting that any further progress on a longer halt to hostilities now depended on Moscow. “The ball is in Russia’s court,” he emphasized.

    The collapse of the Easter truce comes as broader peace negotiations remain deadlocked, months after multiple rounds of U.S.-brokered talks failed to narrow gaps between the two sides. The conflict, which began with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has become Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II, leaving hundreds of thousands dead and forcing more than 14 million people to flee their homes.

    Negotiations have stalled even further following the outbreak of conflict in the Middle East, which has shifted U.S. diplomatic and security attention away from Ukraine. Even before the Middle East crisis, however, progress on a lasting peace deal remained glacial, blocked by intractable disagreements over territorial claims. Ukraine has proposed freezing existing front lines to end active hostilities, a proposal Russia has flatly rejected. Moscow continues to demand full control over Ukraine’s entire Donetsk region, nearly half of which remains under Kyiv’s control — a non-negotiable demand for Ukrainian leadership.

    Recent territorial gains for Russia have been incremental, coming at the cost of massive Russian manpower losses, according to independent analysis. The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports that Ukrainian forces have made small incremental pushbacks in southeastern Ukraine, and Russian advances have slowed sharply since late 2025. Currently, Russian forces occupy just over 19 percent of Ukraine’s total territory, almost all of which was seized in the opening weeks of the 2022 invasion.

  • Australian teenager Gout faster than Bolt at 18

    Australian teenager Gout faster than Bolt at 18

    Sprinting has a new rising star to watch, after 18-year-old Australian talent Gout Gout delivered a historic performance at the Australian national athletics championships on Sunday, clocking a time that would have earned him a bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

    Competing on home soil in Sydney, the Queensland-based teenager crossed the 200m finish line in an extraordinary 19.67 seconds, a result that not only secured him the national title but also rewrote the official world under-20 record books. This marked the first time Gout has broken the 20-second barrier with a wind-legal result, after recording a wind-assisted 19.84 seconds during the 2025 season. His new personal best is also the fastest 200m time posted by any sprinter globally in 2026 so far.

    Sunday’s result pushes Gout ahead of one of the sport’s most iconic legends: Usain Bolt, the Jamaican eight-time Olympic gold medalist who held the previous best 200m time by a teenage athlete. Back in 2004, a 17-year-old Bolt ran 19.93 seconds to set a world junior record, and he never improved on that teenage mark before going on to dominate senior sprinting and set multiple senior world records that still stand today.

    Prior to Sunday’s race, the official world under-20 record belonged to American sprinter Erriyon Knighton, who ran 19.69 seconds in June 2022. While Knighton notched an even faster 19.49 seconds that same year, that result was never ratified as an official under-20 world record by global athletics governing bodies, leaving Gout’s 19.67 second run as the new officially recognized top mark for athletes under 20 years old.

    Gout’s rise through the sprinting ranks has been rapid: he first turned heads in 2024 as a 16-year-old, when he set a new Australian national senior record of 20.06 seconds, the fastest 200m ever run by a 16-year-old globally. Even more impressive than Gout’s historic win on Sunday was the depth of Australian sprinting on display: second-place finisher Aidan Murphy also broke the 20-second barrier, clocking 19.88 seconds to finish well clear of the old record mark.

    Born in Queensland to parents who migrated from South Sudan, Gout spoke to reporters after the race about the milestone, expressing both relief and excitement for what comes next. “This is what I’ve been waiting for,” he said. “We have such incredible athletes in Australia and me being able to race these athletes, we push each other to the limits. Two Australians sub-20. I mean, this is amazing. There’s a big weight off my shoulders knowing I ran it legally, and I have the speed and my body to run times like that. So, it definitely feels great, and ready for more.”

    Looking ahead, Gout has already confirmed his competitive plans for the coming months: he will skip the 2026 Commonwealth Games, which open in Glasgow on July 23, to prioritize preparation for the World Under-20 Athletics Championships, scheduled to take place in Oregon in early August.

  • ‘I’ve not seen at all from this group’: Jason Ryles says fans were entitled to boo his team after their defence fell apart at home

    ‘I’ve not seen at all from this group’: Jason Ryles says fans were entitled to boo his team after their defence fell apart at home

    The 2024 NRL season has quickly turned into a nightmare for the Parramatta Eels, who collapsed to a humiliating 52-10 defeat at the hands of the Gold Coast Titans on Sunday, leaving their home fans furious and their already crippled injury roster even further depleted. When the final siren blared at CommBank Stadium, thousands of blue-and-gold supporters voiced their anger by booing the team off the pitch – a reaction head coach Jason Ryles acknowledged was fully justified after one of the most underwhelming performances of his tenure.

    Gold Coast’s fast-paced backline tore through Parramatta’s defense with alarming ease all afternoon, pushing the Eels’ total points conceded through the first six rounds of the season to 226 – the worst defensive record of any side in the NRL this year. The lopsided result drops Parramatta to 16th place on the competition ladder, with little to show for their first six weeks of play beyond mounting frustration and a growing list of sidelined stars.

    Compounding the devastating loss were two new head knock injuries, to forwards Sam Tuivaiti and Kelma Tuilagi, that will force both players to miss the Eels’ upcoming clash against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs under the league’s concussion protocols. The club is already reeling from a rash of season-ending injuries to key rotation players J’maine Hopgood, Matt Doorey and Bailey Simonsson, while key playmaking duo Jonah Pezet and Isaiah Iongi remain sidelined for several more weeks with their own injuries. Veteran prop Junior Paulo is also currently managing a nagging knee injury that has limited his availability.

    Ryles, who has led the Eels for 18 months, refused to use the extensive injury list as an excuse for the lackluster performance, saying the most disappointing part of the defeat was the absence of competitive fight he had seen just a week prior. “Last week against the Tigers I saw some fight that I’d never seen before, and then this week I didn’t see it,” Ryles told reporters post-match. “It’s certainly a challenge whenever you lose a third of your roster, that always puts pressure on performances. But at the same time, it creates opportunity. I’m not going to blame the injuries – every team goes through these rough patches over a season, but when you get your opportunity, you need to take it.”

    The coach added that the team’s leadership would quickly investigate what led to the lack of intensity and poor decision-making that defined the loss, emphasizing that any new players called up to the first-grade side must understand the high standard required to compete at the NRL level. He also ruled out throwing unready young junior players into the line-up just to fill gaps, noting that doing so could risk long-term harm to their development. “I won’t throw youngsters in just for the sake of it to potentially jeopardise their future when they’re not ready for first grade,” he explained.

    Titans’ 52-point haul marked the second-highest single-game score in the club’s NRL history, capping off a dominant day that left Parramatta’s captain Mitch Moses struggling to explain the collapse. “I don’t really have many answers for you, to be honest,” Moses told reporters. “We haven’t really started well pretty much the whole year, so our start is a big reason for it. We’ve been losing our start every single game probably this year, and then when you look up at the scoreboard you’re down by 18, 20 and chasing your tail. It doesn’t make it easy. I don’t think our attack was really good today either, so it didn’t really help.”

    As the Eels turn their attention to next week’s match against Canterbury, the club faces urgent questions about how to reverse their early-season form slump and rebuild intensity after a defeat that has left their fanbase and playing group deeply demoralized.

  • Hungarians vote in closely watched election with Orban’s rule on line

    Hungarians vote in closely watched election with Orban’s rule on line

    On a high-stakes Sunday morning, polling stations opened across Hungary for a parliamentary election that stands as one of the most consequential political moments in modern European history, with the 16-year incumbency of nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban — the European Union’s longest-serving leader and self-described “thorn in Brussels’ side” — hanging in the balance.

    With opinion polls consistently placing opposition challenger Peter Magyar’s pro-European Tisza Party ahead of Orban’s ruling Fidesz party, the outcome of the vote has drawn intense international scrutiny from capitals across the continent and beyond. The race has been marked by bitter mutual accusations of foreign interference, dueling endorsements from high-profile American figures, and deep public division over Hungary’s future direction between alignment with the EU and continued closeness to Russia.

    Orban, 62, is vying for an unprecedented fifth consecutive term in office, during which he has reshaped Hungary into what he terms an “illiberal democracy.” Mirroring the rhetorical framing of former U.S. President Donald Trump — who has publicly thrown his full support behind Orban’s campaign — the incumbent has framed mass migration and progressive “woke” values as existential threats to Western civilization. He has centered his campaign on hardline rhetoric against neighboring Ukraine, which is currently defending itself against full-scale Russian invasion, portraying Kyiv as hostile to Hungarian interests. In the lead-up to voting, he also reiterated pledges to expand his crackdown on independent civil society groups, critical media, and opposition political figures.

    Long-simmering tensions between Orban’s government and EU institutions have boiled over in recent years, with Brussels freezing billions of euros in allocated cohesion funding over allegations that Orban has eroded judicial independence, cracked down on political dissent, and undermined the rule of law. U.S. Vice President JD Vance traveled to Budapest earlier this week to hold a rally in support of Orban, where he echoed the prime minister’s attacks on what he called overreach by Brussels bureaucrats. Trump, for his part, has promised to bring American economic leverage to Hungary if Fidesz secures another term.

    Magyar, a 45-year-old former insider within Orban’s government who only emerged as a political force two years ago, has built a rapidly growing movement on promises of a complete “system change” that would return Hungary to full democratic alignment with the European Union. Despite an electoral system widely acknowledged to be structurally skewed in favor of Fidesz, and a backdrop of years of economic stagnation that has left many Hungarian households struggling, Magyar has managed to galvanize widespread discontent with Orban’s rule. He has campaigned on pledges to root out systemic corruption — an issue where Transparency International ranks Hungary as tied with Bulgaria for the worst performance in the EU — and improve access to public services for working Hungarians.

    Outside polling stations on Sunday, voters from across the political spectrum expressed the historic weight of the moment, with many describing the election as a once-in-a-generation choice for the country’s future. “Now is our last chance to choose finally east or west. Do we want to be a normal democracy or turn back east with no point of return?” 18-year-old first-time voter David Banhegyi told AFP after casting his ballot for Tisza in a residential district of Budapest.

    Edit Csillaghegyi, a 58-year-old shop worker who also supported the opposition, cited corruption as her core motivation for ousting Orban. “I have one main problem with this government, what it did, the robbing,” she said.

    But for Orban’s supporters, the incumbent remains a bulwark against outside interference in Hungary’s domestic affairs. “It is so important for us that Viktor Orban stays in power,” said Maria Toth, a 31-year-old stay-at-home mother of two, after casting her ballot. “I feel Hungary is under siege from so many directions and big powers like Brussels are trying to dictate how we live. If he loses, I worry for my children’s future.”

    Andrea Szabo, a senior research fellow at ELTE University’s Centre for Social Sciences, framed the election as a defining turning point for Hungarian democracy. “If Fidesz wins now, that will clearly mean… a shift towards authoritarianism,” she told AFP. “This is the last moment in which this process can be halted, and the pendulum can swing back in a democratic direction.”

    Polling opened at 6:00 am local time (0400 GMT) and is scheduled to close at 7:00 pm local time. Analysts are projecting a record national turnout of roughly 75 percent, which would surpass the previous high of just over 70 percent set in 2002. The National Election Office has noted that while preliminary partial results will be released shortly after polls close, a final official winner may not be declared until next Saturday if the race remains extremely tight.

    In the weeks leading up to voting, the campaign has been roiled by a steady stream of leaks, accusations, and counter-accusations. Recorded phone conversations between Orban and his foreign minister, leaked to the public, triggered alarm across the EU over the pair’s close ongoing ties to the Kremlin. Multiple independent reports have documented an active covert Russian disinformation campaign designed to boost Orban’s chances of re-election, while a recent investigative documentary has alleged that Fidesz and its coalition partners are engaging in widespread vote-buying operations in rural Hungarian districts. Both Orban and the opposition have traded claims of foreign meddling: the opposition has raised concerns about Russian and American interference to benefit Fidesz, while Orban has accused the opposition of colluding with foreign intelligence services and plotting to destabilize the election through chaos.

  • Remember the Titans: Gold Coast heap more misery on the battered Eels as star fullback puts on attacking show

    Remember the Titans: Gold Coast heap more misery on the battered Eels as star fullback puts on attacking show

    In a dominant NRL round six matchup at CommBank Stadium on Sunday, the Gold Coast Titans delivered one of the most impressive performances of the young season, crushing the Parramatta Eels 52-10 to extend the home side’s losing streak and secure a rare victory on Sydney turf. The lopsided win, which marked the Titans’ second-highest single-game score in NRL history, was anchored by a career-defining 80-minute display from young fullback Keano Kini, putting to rest any lingering debate over the club’s starting role at the position.

    When interim Titans coach Josh Hannay took charge of the side earlier this season, he openly anointed Kini as his first-choice fullback, turning down calls to shift incumbent Jayden Campbell into the starting 1 spot. On Sunday, the pint-sized speedster turned that vote of confidence into a stat line that would look more at home in a video game than a professional rugby league matchup. Kini played a pivotal role in the Titans’ opening four tries, setting up all three of the side’s first-half tries and breaking the game open within the opening quarter. His most memorable play came on a brilliant spin pass that sent AJ Brimson over the line for a try, before he broke away on a 70-metre run off an Eels kick to set up rookie winger Sialetili Faeamani, pushing the Titans’ lead to 18-0 after just 15 minutes of play. Early in the second half, he burst through Parramatta’s soft middle defence to set up Campbell for another try. By full time, Kini finished the match with 226 running metres, four try assists, three line breaks and nine tackle busts, a performance the official NRL social media team described as unstoppable.

    Kini was far from the only Titans playmaker to produce a standout attacking display. Winger Jojo Fifita pounced on a loose Eels pass to spark a blistering 85-metre counterattack, linking up with Phil Sami to finish the long-range try that left the crowd stunned. Campbell later put the final cherry on top of the result when he intercepted an errant Parramatta pass to score another late Titans try, capping off a day where everything went right for the Gold Coast side.

    For the Parramatta Eels, the result marks yet another devastating low point in a disastrous start to the 2026 season. The Eels slumped to second-last on the ladder after six rounds, after conceding nine tries and missing a staggering 43 tackles against a Titans side that had struggled for attacking momentum heading into the round. Parramatta’s defensive woes have become the worst in the entire competition this season, with the club already conceding 226 points across the opening six weeks. On Sunday, both the edge and middle defensive lines were repeatedly exposed by Gold Coast’s dynamic attack, leaving head coach Jason Ryles with major questions to answer. Ryles will particularly be frustrated by the ease with which Cooper Bai barged over from close range for a second-half try, one of many soft tries the Eels conceded on the day.

    Parramatta’s attack was little better on Sunday. The side’s only first points came from a try that appeared to come off a clear forward pass, and by the time the Titans hit the 50-point mark late in the match, the home fans at CommBank Stadium voiced their anger with a raucous chorus of boos that rang out across the ground.

    Making matters far worse for the Eels is a worsening injury crisis that has gutted the club’s playing squad ahead of their upcoming fixture. Powerhouse forwards Sam Tuivaiti and Kelma Tuilagi both suffered head knocks during Sunday’s match and will be forced to miss next week’s game, joining a growing list of sidelined stars. The club is already missing starting lock J’maine Hopgood, edge forward Matt Doorey and winger Bailey Simonsson for the entire 2026 season, while Isaiah Iongi and Jonah Pezet are among other key players currently sidelined with injury. Tuivaiti’s injury came just 10 minutes after he came onto the field as a reserve, when his head collided with Arama Hau’s hip while making a tackle, and he was ruled out of the rest of the match immediately after the incident.