Author: Admin

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced Friday that they carried out an attack on a U.S. special operations command center located at al-Tanf in Syria. The strike, according to Iranian state media, was described as retaliation for the killing of Iranian soldiers in the city of Iranshahr.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm the claim. As of the time of the report, neither the Syrian government nor the U.S. military had issued any statement in response.

It is worth noting that the U.S. military announced in February that it had finished withdrawing from the al-Tanf base, which sits at the point where the borders of Syria, Jordan, and Iraq meet.

Syria has been working to keep itself out of the broader regional conflict that has drawn in neighboring countries. Lebanon has seen fighting between Hezbollah and Israeli forces, while Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq have carried out drone and rocket attacks.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa stated in March that his country intended to remain neutral unless it was directly attacked. Speaking at an event hosted by the Chatham House think tank in London, Sharaa said: “Unless Syria is targeted by any party, Syria will remain outside any conflict.”

In addition to the strike claim, the Revolutionary Guards stated that Iran maintains full control over the Strait of Hormuz. They warned, according to state media, that no oil or gas would be allowed to pass through the waterway for as long as U.S. attacks continue.

LONDON (AP) — Andy Burnham’s journey to the top of British politics has been defined by equal parts persistence and bold decision-making.

Ten years ago, Burnham walked away from a two-decade career climbing the Labour Party ranks in London to head north and seek the position of mayor of Greater Manchester. Just one month ago, he secured a seat in Parliament through a high-stakes special election. This Monday, he will be sworn in as Britain’s 59th prime minister.

The rapid collapse of Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government after only two years in power has thrust the 56-year-old Burnham into the country’s highest office — without a national electoral mandate and with limited experience at that level. He will step through the door of No. 10 Downing Street carrying enormous public expectations and serious questions about whether he can meet them.

“A whole range of people across the Labour movement and in the country have projected onto Andy Burnham their hopes and their fantasies about how the country should be run and what Labour should stand for and what Andy Burnham stands for,” said Joshi Herrmann, founder of Manchester news site The Mill, who has reported on Burnham for years.

“He has got lots of people’s hopes up,” Herrmann added.

Though Burnham built his political reputation in Manchester, he was actually born in Liverpool and raised in a commuter village nestled between those two rival cities in northwest England.

His father worked as an engineer for British Telecom and his mother served as a receptionist. He grew up in a tight-knit Catholic household. Burnham has described himself as “not particularly religious,” but he has credited Catholic values and the center-left Labour Party with shaping his commitment to social justice.

Burnham and his brothers were the first in their family to attend university — and it was Cambridge, one of England’s oldest and most prestigious schools.

“He needed a lot of persuading to apply because he felt that as a working-class boy, going off to Cambridge wasn’t for him,” said Stephen Harrington, Burnham’s former English teacher at St. Aelred’s Catholic High School, in remarks to the BBC. “He didn’t believe in himself. But he did it, and the rest is history.”

Burnham has spoken openly about feeling like an outsider at Cambridge, where many of his fellow students came from wealthy backgrounds and elite private schools in southern England. He earned a degree in English and met his future wife, Dutch fellow student Marie-France Van Heel, now a marketing executive. The two wed in 2000 and have three children — a son and two daughters.

Following graduation, Burnham worked as a journalist at trade publications before transitioning into a role as a researcher and adviser to Labour politicians.

He won a seat in Parliament in 2001, representing the Manchester-area constituency of Leigh, and steadily moved up through government under Labour Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Between 2007 and 2010, he held three Cabinet positions under Brown: chief secretary to the Treasury, culture secretary, and health secretary.

A pivotal moment in his political life came in 2009, when he was heckled while attending a memorial for the 1989 Hillsborough Stadium disaster — a tragedy in which 97 Liverpool soccer fans were crushed to death. For years, bereaved families had fought to challenge a false police account that blamed unruly fans for the catastrophe.

Burnham became a fierce advocate for those families, helping push for a new inquest, a formal apology, and legislation requiring public officials to be truthful about disasters regardless of the reputational consequences.

After Labour fell from power in 2010, Burnham ran for the party’s leadership that year and again in 2015, falling short both times. In 2017, with Labour at a low point nationally, he left Parliament to pursue the Greater Manchester mayoral race.

The mayoral role suited him well. He demonstrated a talent for coalition-building, an eye for political opportunity, and a strong streak of practicality. His governing style earned the label “Manchesterism” — a form of business-friendly socialism that seeks to blend private and public investment in areas like transportation, housing, and infrastructure.

Manchester, once a cornerstone of Britain’s industrial era and widely considered the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, had long suffered from the decline of British manufacturing. Under Burnham’s leadership, the city experienced a resurgence, with new high-rise developments rising on former industrial land. He was particularly praised for consolidating the region’s fragmented public transit system under public control and improving its performance.

He traded in formal suits for jeans and dark T-shirts, talked openly about his love of bands like Oasis, The Smiths, and New Order, and spent his free time playing soccer or competing in DJ battles spinning 1990s music.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Burnham publicly clashed with Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson, accusing him of taking a “London-centric” approach that unfairly penalized cities in the north. That confrontation earned him the nickname King of the North — a nod to the television series “Game of Thrones” that reflected both his regional advocacy and his broader political ambitions.

Burnham has described his time in national government as “unfinished business,” and his opportunity came when Starmer was pressured to resign by Labour colleagues worried about the party’s declining popularity.

To re-enter Parliament, Burnham needed a seat. A sitting Labour lawmaker agreed to step down, triggering a special election in the Manchester-area district of Makerfield. Burnham won decisively against the candidate from the anti-immigration party Reform UK, reinforcing his image as an electable figure.

When the contest to choose a new Labour leader opened, Burnham ran unopposed.

He has pledged to deliver “a new politics based on unity and hope” and “an economy that works for everybody,” regardless of where people live. A central part of his agenda involves expanding the powers of regional leaders, and he has announced plans to establish a satellite prime minister’s office — a “No. 10 North” — in Manchester.

Herrmann said Burnham’s greatest assets include a gift for compelling storytelling and a sense of empathy that sets him apart from most politicians. He also credited the incoming prime minister with holding “a set of principles about trying to make the country fairer, trying to bring people out of poverty, that he really does believe in.”

Critics, however, argue that Burnham’s policy platform lacks specifics — particularly around how he intends to fund his promises. He will also inherit many of the same challenges that undermined Starmer, including a sluggish economy, strained public services, and a persistent cost-of-living crisis. His background offers little preparation for foreign policy matters, from the ongoing war in Ukraine to navigating relations with U.S. President Donald Trump.

And governing a nation of 70 million people is a vastly different undertaking than leading a region of 3 million.

Still, Sacha Lord, a Manchester music entrepreneur who served as Burnham’s adviser on the nighttime economy, pushed back on any notion that the new prime minister is too soft for the job.

“He’s not scared of locking horns with people,” Lord said. “Everybody thinks Andy’s this nice, cheeky-chappy guy. But trust me, when he wants something … he tends to get it.”

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — American airstrikes carried out Friday appear to have caused the collapse of a tower at Iran’s Chabahar port, a facility located along the Gulf of Oman that serves as a critical trade gateway for Afghanistan.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted surveillance imagery appearing to show the tower coming down. The footage had already been circulating on social media through activist channels before Hegseth shared it publicly.

Chabahar port has been struck multiple times by U.S. forces. Iranian state media confirmed that a third wave of strikes had hit the location, though officials did not immediately address reports of the tower’s collapse.

Iranian authorities characterized the tower as a structure used to monitor commercial vessel traffic entering the port. However, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard is also known to maintain a presence at ports throughout the country.

DUBAI — Iran announced Friday that it carried out new strikes against U.S. facilities in the Gulf, following a sixth consecutive night of American military operations targeting Iranian military infrastructure, marking the breakdown of a ceasefire agreement reached just last month.

The U.S. military confirmed it had completed another round of strikes aimed at weakening Iran’s military capabilities, with targets including areas on Qeshm Island and near Bandar Abbas — the location of Iran’s largest port and major navy and Revolutionary Guards installations.

“U.S. forces, including fighter jets, aerial drones, and warships, launched precision munitions that hit dozens of Iranian military targets such as coastal surveillance and air defense sites, military logistics infrastructure, and maritime capabilities,” U.S. Central Command said in an official statement.

Iran has responded by firing missiles and drones at American military bases in neighboring countries, including an air base in Jordan. In the early morning hours of Friday, Iran’s military announced it had struck U.S. facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait. In the Qatari capital of Doha, witnesses reported hearing multiple explosion-like blasts, and that country’s Ministry of the Interior confirmed a child was wounded by shrapnel.

Iranian state media reported that five bridges were struck in the latest wave of U.S. attacks, along with the train station in the coastal city of Bandar Khamir and Iranshahr Airport in southeastern Iran. Seven people were killed in the bridge strikes in Bandar Khamir, a port city in southern Iran, according to state news agency IRNA. Those reports could not be independently confirmed by Reuters.

SHIPPING THROUGH HORMUZ HALTED AGAIN

The ongoing military exchange has once again brought traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to a near standstill. The strait is considered the world’s most critical shipping corridor for oil and gas, and the disruption has pushed global energy prices higher. Tehran has reinstated its blockade of the strait, while Washington reimposed a blockade of Iranian ports beginning Wednesday.

Iran has also signaled it may encourage its Houthi allies in Yemen to shut down another major waterway — the Bab al-Mandeb at the entrance to the Red Sea — if the U.S. continues striking Iranian infrastructure, according to sources who spoke with Reuters.

Last week, Iran attacked ships traveling through a corridor in the strait. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday that U.S. President Donald Trump would not “sit by and allow these active acts of terrorism to take place in the strait without ensuring Iran pays consequences for that.” She also noted, however, that the president was “always open to diplomacy at the very same time.”

Iranian sources told Reuters that Tehran’s goal is to assert control over the strait, though Iran does not want the situation to escalate to the point of collapsing June’s memorandum of understanding — an agreement it views as largely favorable to its interests.

Inside Iran, the renewed bombing campaign has left residents on edge. “Living with this fear that war could start again is very exhausting. You cannot live like this… Personally, I want diplomacy to prevail,” said Mahlegha, 46, a government employee speaking to Reuters from Tehran.

IRAN’S DEMANDS OVER THE STRAIT

Iran is demanding that all vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz travel along a route close to its coastline, and plans to begin collecting passage fees once a 60-day negotiation window established in last month’s memorandum expires. The U.S. has urged ships to take an alternate southern route along the Omani coast instead.

American forces said their airstrikes along the Iranian coastline are intended to undermine Iran’s ability to dominate the strait. However, Iranian Army spokesperson Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia pushed back Thursday, saying the effort would fail because Iran has the capability to strike the strait from anywhere within its territory.

President Trump has not ruled out deploying ground forces, including a potential move to seize Kharg Island, where Iran’s primary oil export terminal is located. He has also repeated threats to target Iranian power plants and bridges in the coming week if Tehran does not return to the negotiating table.

North Korea’s state-run media fired back at South Korea on Friday, labeling the country a “puppet” after its navy played a central role in a large-scale maritime exercise organized by the United States, warning that both Seoul and Washington would be held accountable for any “unpredictable escalation” that might follow.

The remarks from the North Korean state media outlet KCNA came in response to last week’s Rim of the Pacific Exercise, known as RIMPAC, held in Hawaii. It marked the first time South Korea’s naval forces took the lead role among participating maritime units in the exercise’s history.

RIMPAC is recognized as the largest international maritime exercise in the world and takes place every two years. This year’s event drew participation from roughly 30 nations, among them Japan, Canada, and Australia, according to the RIMPAC website.

KCNA stated that “the South Korean puppet forces took part as a main component” during a period when “military collusion is becoming increasingly overt,” a reference to the deepening military cooperation between South Korea and Japan, as well as Seoul’s growing relationship with NATO.

This is the first time in approximately one year and three months that North Korea has used the word “puppet” to describe South Korea. The last time was following an April 2025 incident in which a fuel tank and gun pods fell from a South Korean air force aircraft during a training exercise, landing in a mountainous area of Gangwon Province.

North Korea’s state outlet also argued that RIMPAC was far more than a “routine drill against a hypothetical adversary,” characterizing it instead as a show of military force by the U.S. and its allies directed at nations throughout the Indo-Pacific.

“All these facts point to which forces are truly shaking the foundation of world peace and security and they foreshadow the possibility of unwanted situations occurring on the Korean Peninsula and in the region if not anticipated,” KCNA stated.

The outlet went on to criticize a joint U.S.-South Korean Marine Corps exercise, saying the air drill simulated “deep infiltration into enemy rear areas” launched from the U.S. Navy vessel USS Essex.

The sharp rhetoric comes at a time when North Korea has been publicly showcasing its own efforts to strengthen its naval capabilities. Earlier this month, KCNA reported that leader Kim Jong Un watched the launch of a strategic cruise missile and observed weapons system tests aboard the newly built 5,000-ton destroyer Kang Kon.

SHANGHAI — Chinese President Xi Jinping took center stage at the opening of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on Friday, calling for an approach to artificial intelligence that keeps people at its core.

In his keynote address at the conference, known as WAIC, Xi stressed the importance of a “people-centred” philosophy when it comes to developing AI technology.

Beyond domestic priorities, Xi also turned his attention to the global stage, highlighting China’s intention to ensure that developing nations are not left behind in the AI revolution. He warned that unequal access to AI resources could lead to what he described as “new historical injustices.”

To help prevent that outcome, Xi announced that China plans to work alongside a range of international organizations and partner nations — including those from Africa, Latin America, Asia, and BRICS member countries — to expand AI-related opportunities for developing economies.

The U.S. military confirmed late Thursday evening that it had wrapped up its most recent wave of attacks on Iran, carried out under orders from President Donald Trump — the sixth night in a row that American forces have struck the country.

U.S. Central Command released a statement detailing the operation: “U.S. forces, including fighter jets, aerial drones, and warships, launched precision munitions that hit dozens of Iranian military targets such as coastal surveillance and air defense sites, military logistics infrastructure, and maritime capabilities.”

Thursday’s strikes included hits on Qeshm Island and areas near Bandar Abbas — the location of Iran’s largest port and major navy and Revolutionary Guards installations — both situated along the Strait of Hormuz.

Iranian media outlets reported additional U.S. strikes Thursday night on three bridges and a train station in the coastal city of Bandar Khamir, as well as a missile strike on Iranshahr Airport in southeastern Iran. Reuters was not immediately able to confirm those reports independently.

Iran responded by launching missiles and drones at U.S. military bases in neighboring countries, including a recently expanded air base in Jordan. Iran claimed that base was used in a U.S. attack on an Iranian children’s cancer hospital on Wednesday night.

President Trump this week repeated his threats to target Iranian energy infrastructure and warned that bridges could be hit as early as next week. Those kinds of threats have drawn scrutiny from legal experts, who earlier this year said such attacks could potentially constitute war crimes under international law. The 1949 Geneva Conventions prohibit attacks on sites considered essential to civilian life.

Trump faced widespread international condemnation back in April after threatening to destroy Iran’s entire civilization, before eventually agreeing to a ceasefire with Tehran.

The current conflict traces back to February 28, when the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran. Iran responded with strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host American military bases. Since then, U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks on Lebanon have killed thousands of people and displaced millions more.

The ongoing war has also pushed oil prices higher and sent shockwaves through global financial markets.

Qatar’s defense ministry announced Friday that its armed forces successfully stopped an incoming missile attack, while the country’s interior ministry followed up by declaring the security threat over.

Witnesses in Doha, Qatar’s capital city, reported hearing several loud booms before a government security alert was pushed out to mobile phones across the country.

Neither ministry identified who was responsible for launching the attack.

The incident comes as Iran has escalated its attacks against Gulf nations in response to U.S. strikes on Iranian territory, with Iran targeting military installations in the region that are used by American forces.

Australia took a strong diplomatic step on Friday, summoning the Lao ambassador to Canberra to express its anger over how Laos is handling criminal charges related to the deaths of two young Australian travelers who were poisoned by contaminated alcohol.

Holly Bowles and Bianca Jones, both 19 years old, lost their lives in 2024 after drinking methanol-laced alcohol in Vang Vieng, a town in Laos that draws large numbers of international backpackers. The town is located roughly a two-hour drive north of the Lao capital, Vientiane.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong made clear that her government has not stayed silent on the matter. “We have consistently made clear our expectations that charges should reflect the gravity of the tragedy that claimed the lives of Holly and Bianca in November 2024,” she said in an official statement.

Wong also announced she plans to personally raise Australia’s concerns with her Lao counterpart at an upcoming meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers in Manila next week.

The two Australians were not the only victims. Four additional tourists — two Danish nationals, one American, and one British citizen — also died after consuming the same contaminated alcohol.

According to the Australian Broadcasting Corp, which did not name its sources, Lao officials may be looking to charge those allegedly responsible under two offenses that together carry a maximum of one year in prison and a fine of up to A$1,600, which is roughly $1,120 in U.S. dollars. The families of the victims were described as “furious” over the potential charges and have called on the Australian government to step in.

Laos’ embassy in Canberra had not responded to a request for comment at the time of this report.

Methanol is a highly toxic substance used in industrial settings as a solvent, pesticide, and alternative fuel. It is not safe for human consumption and can be deadly even in small amounts.

U.S. aviation safety officials announced Thursday that they are now heading the investigation into a frightening incident aboard a Ryanair flight departing Greece, during which a window broke loose and partially pulled a passenger out of the aircraft before others were able to bring him back inside.

The National Transportation Safety Board said that after reviewing the aircraft’s flight path more carefully, investigators concluded the event took place within Greek airspace — not over the Republic of North Macedonia as they had originally thought.

Under international aviation rules, Greece’s Hellenic Air and Rail Safety Investigation Authority was permitted to transfer control of the investigation to the NTSB. The U.S. federal agency confirmed it accepted the handover and is now directing the probe, with Greek authorities participating in a supporting role.

The alarming event unfolded on July 10 aboard a morning flight departing the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki and bound for Memmingen, near Munich. The flight was operated by Malta Air, a subsidiary of Ryanair, which is Europe’s largest budget airline.

The passenger involved, a 61-year-old man whose name was not released, sustained neck and shoulder injuries along with friction burns, according to a Greek hospital official. It was unclear as of Thursday whether he was still receiving hospital care.

The NTSB had previously stated it was informed the flight turned around due to “a right engine issue and cabin decompression.” Ryanair has not publicly commented on the engine issue. When contacted by email about the matter, the airline repeated its earlier statement, which only referenced the window coming loose as the reason the plane returned to Thessaloniki.

Passengers who spoke to Greek media described hearing a loud bang, followed by oxygen masks dropping from above and the plane beginning to lose altitude. Short videos recorded inside the cabin and shared by Radio Thessaloniki showed passengers with oxygen masks on after the cabin lost pressure. One clip appeared to show the blown-out window, with a nearby passenger wearing a mask. A third video, seemingly recorded after the plane had landed, showed emergency responders working in the aisle.

Shye Gilad, a former airline captain who now teaches at Georgetown University’s business school, explained that a window blowing out would trigger rapid decompression — a sudden drop in cabin pressure that can produce a brief but intense suction effect near the opening before conditions stabilize.

“The seat belt can help in those first few seconds. It’s a difference maker and people should keep their seat belts fastened at all times,” Gilad said. He added that incidents like this are “very rare” because “it takes a lot to breach a cabin.”

Flight data shows the aircraft — a Boeing 737-800 that was delivered new to Ryanair in 2008 — had been climbing through 15,000 feet (4,570 meters) approximately six minutes after takeoff before rapidly descending to around 6,000 feet (1,830 meters). Flight-tracking service Flightradar24 reported the plane held at the lower altitude for about 30 minutes to burn off fuel before returning to Thessaloniki roughly an hour after it had originally departed.

Ryanair stated in its public comments that one passenger requested and received medical attention after the plane landed, and that a replacement aircraft was later arranged to carry passengers on to Germany.

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s parliament was poised to pass legislation Friday that could threaten the survival of its 1,500-year-old imperial institution by cementing a rule that only men may serve as emperor — a move drawing sharp criticism as the royal family continues to shrink and age.

Emperor Naruhito’s 24-year-old daughter, Princess Aiko, enjoys widespread public support and many Japanese citizens would like to see her succeed her father. However, because she is a woman, she is disqualified under the male-only succession rule. That rule directs the line of succession to the emperor’s younger brother and then to his 19-year-old nephew, Prince Hisahito. After Hisahito, the next in line is the emperor’s 90-year-old uncle.

Hisahito is the first male royal baby born in four decades — a reflection of just how male-scarce the imperial family has become. Of the 16 adults currently in the imperial family, with no children among them, only five are men.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and fellow conservatives argue that the male bloodline is “the only source of the emperor’s authority and legitimacy,” a position that forms the foundation of the upcoming legislation.

Under the Imperial House Law, while an emperor’s mother may be a commoner — as is true with the current emperor — only boys born to men of royal blood can be heirs to the throne.

The legislation parliament was expected to approve Friday revises the long-standing law to reinforce that bloodline principle. It would allow the adoption of distant male relatives from former royal branches to father future heirs. The measures would also permit princesses to retain their royal status if they choose to marry commoners.

“It’s a declaration to prevent female monarchs … and to defend the male-lineage at all costs,” said Hideya Kawanishi, a monarchy expert at Nagoya University. “They cannot say it’s male chauvinism, so they call it tradition.”

Japan has had eight female monarchs throughout its history. The most recent was Empress Gosakuramachi, who reigned from 1762 to 1770.

The requirement for paternal male succession was first written into law in the 1890 Imperial House Law, during a period when Japan was promoting patriarchal social structures. That framework was largely preserved in the current 1947 version of the law.

The Friday proposal has sparked public protests from Japanese citizens who believe the government’s push is designed to block Princess Aiko from ever ruling and to entrench discrimination against women.

“It’s very ironic that the first female prime minister herself is the leading proponent of the obsession with male-succession,” wrote prominent feminist scholar Chizuko Ueno in a recent piece, referring to Takaichi.

Ueno also argued the new measures “treat male royals as stallions and put female royals under pressure as ‘childbearing machines’ to produce male offspring.”

After Aiko’s birth, her mother Empress Masako — a Harvard-educated former diplomat and commoner — developed a stress-induced mental health condition, reportedly stemming from criticism over her failure to produce a male heir.

Former Imperial Household Agency chief Shingo Haketa recently told Kyodo News that the monarchy’s future after Hisahito is “extremely unstable,” a consequence of the male-only succession rules and the tradition of dismissing princesses who marry commoners.

Historians note that the male-only system is no longer workable in modern Japan, which is already grappling with a rapidly aging and shrinking population. Historically, the system functioned because concubines produced roughly half of all emperors — a practice that continued until about a century ago, when it ended under Naruhito’s great-grandfather, Emperor Taisho.

A government proposal in 2005 would have allowed female monarchs, but it was abandoned after Prince Hisahito was born.

Naruhito’s two male heirs are his 60-year-old brother, Crown Prince Akishino, who is only six years younger than the emperor and has reportedly indicated he would be too old to serve, and Hisahito, Akishino’s 19-year-old son. Third in line is Naruhito’s uncle, Prince Hitachi, who is 90 years old.

The more contentious of the two proposed measures would allow unmarried male descendants — aged 15 or older — of distant imperial relatives to be adopted into the royal family, but only if they come from the paternal line.

Imperial Household Agency official Yoshimi Ogata told a recent parliamentary session that 51 members from 11 branch families gave up their royal status in 1947, largely to reduce the postwar financial burden on the monarchy. Ogata noted these individuals are at least 36 generations removed from Emperor Naruhito, having branched off from a shared male-line ancestor roughly 600 years ago.

Many see the government’s efforts as extreme. “Who wants the son of an adoptee who nobody knows to be emperor instead of Aiko?” asked Yoshinori Kobayashi, a cartoonist who has been campaigning for Aiko’s succession.

There are also practical concerns about whether former royals would even want to return to what is described as “an enclave without human rights” — a highly regimented lifestyle in which royals have no say over their careers or where they live.

“I wonder if anyone would raise a hand,” said 81-year-old Asahiro Kuni, whose family gave up its royal status when he was just 3 years old, in comments to TBS television. “I imagine many people, by age 15, have some idea about their future. It’s cruel to tell them … to change the course of their life.”

Kuni, who built a career as an engineer at a major Japanese company, said he would advise his own family to decline if the palace came calling. “You are asked to sacrifice your life for the happiness of the people. I can’t tell my family to choose such a difficult life.” He has also expressed support for female monarchs in other Japanese media interviews.

Princess Aiko, known for her warm smile, enthusiasm, and quick wit, remains a favorite with the public.

Five unmarried princesses — including Aiko and her popular 31-year-old cousin Kako — could be affected by the other key revision to the Imperial House Law. That change would allow them to keep their royal status and continue carrying out official duties after marrying commoners, though their spouses and children would not be recognized as royals.

Aiko’s older cousin Mako gave up her royal title and relocated to New York following her marriage to a college boyfriend — a commoner who now works as a lawyer. That decision was widely interpreted as her effort to escape the constraints of imperial life.

Scholar Ueno has called the system inhumane and is urging the remaining princesses to follow Mako’s lead and leave while they have the chance.

Kawanishi warned that Hisahito, any future adoptees, and their wives will face immense pressure to produce male heirs.

“The emperor is a symbolic figure, and I don’t see why women cannot serve in the role,” said 78-year-old Junichiro Tsujimaru, a sushi chain founder.

Also 78, Yoshio Iwase argued that Aiko, as the emperor’s own daughter, is the rightful successor. “I think it’s fine because there used to be female emperors in the past,” he said.

There is concern that the government’s actions could undermine the legacy of former Emperor Akihito, whose reign was marked by efforts to make amends for the suffering caused during World War II, which was fought in his father’s name. Akihito, who stepped down in 2019, also worked to make the historically distant monarchy more accessible to ordinary people — a path his son Naruhito and his family have continued to follow.

Akihito is reported to support Aiko’s succession. While he avoided directly addressing the 2005 government proposal, he commented that female royals play a vital role in the monarchy and that the institution exists to serve the happiness of the people — a statement widely interpreted as backing for female monarchs.

In June, Naruhito himself expressed hope that discussions about the measures would reach a conclusion that “will gain understanding of the people” — a carefully worded remark that palace observers interpreted as a subtle signal of his own reservations.

When Estonia’s Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur headed to this month’s NATO summit in Ankara, he disclosed to reporters at home that several hundred American troops who had been stationed in the Baltic nation since winter had been quietly withdrawn — and there was no clear timeline for their return.

At the Ankara summit, representatives from the Baltic states and Poland wore badges identifying themselves as members of the so-called “five percent club” — the only NATO nations to have already met the defense spending goal established at last year’s alliance meeting in The Hague. Those nations had believed that reaching that benchmark would guarantee continued U.S. military support.

Despite what observers described as some of the most assertive behavior yet from U.S. President Donald Trump at a major international gathering, NATO leaders — including Secretary General Mark Rutte — declared the summit a success. They pointed to new defense agreements, increased European spending commitments, and what they called an “ironclad” pledge of mutual defense.

However, many of those commitments — among them a nine-nation defense financing arrangement led by Canada and a long-range missile strike consortium involving a dozen countries valued at $50 billion — are expected to take years before they become operational.

Publicly, even leaders skeptical of Trump, such as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, credited the U.S. president for pressuring NATO members to boost their defense budgets.

Yet on the ground this summer, the reality looks different. The U.S. has drawn back forces from some of the most exposed areas in Eastern Europe at a time when concern is growing that a Kremlin increasingly embarrassed by Ukraine’s long-range drone and missile strikes deep inside Russian territory could be tempted to strike back against NATO neighbors.

An analysis of European news coverage by AI monitoring and predictive analytics firm Omniforecaster estimates an 18% probability of a deadly clash between Russia and a NATO member nation before the end of 2026 — a level of risk significant enough to put governments on alert, especially as Washington quietly reduces its troop presence in the region.

At the annual Chatham House conference last week, former UK Armed Forces Minister Al Carns said the current strategic environment was the most dangerous since the Cuban missile crisis of 1962.

Even so, most analysts and government officials believe Russia is more likely to keep pressing its campaign of so-called “hybrid warfare” — covert disruption and sabotage — rather than launching direct military action.

The risk of unintended escalation, though, extends beyond Europe. The U.S. appears increasingly entangled in tensions in the Gulf region, with Trump suggesting in Ankara that he could order further strikes against Iran’s core infrastructure — a prospect that has alarmed U.S. allies in the Gulf who worry they could face the worst of Iran’s retaliation.

In the Middle East, the U.S. began pulling personnel from forward operating bases in mid-January as a precautionary move amid rising tensions with Iran. Most analysts doubt the U.S. will again station significant numbers of non-air defense troops or equipment in countries such as Qatar or Kuwait, following a complete withdrawal from Syria and a reduction in Iraq.

In some instances, operations have been relocated back to the United States — including most coordination work previously conducted by the Coalition Air Operations Centre at Qatar’s Al Udeid air base. In other cases, the U.S. has chosen to station aircraft and drones in locations it considers more secure, such as Jordan, Israel, Turkey, and parts of mainland Europe.

UNCERTAINTY AND NERVES

Foreign officials widely believe that decision-making in Washington has become so concentrated around Trump and his closest advisers that future moves of this nature could happen with little or no advance notice.

As recently as May, Estonia’s Pevkur had been telling local media that “U.S. forces are in Estonia and will remain there,” though he conceded that “nothing can be ruled out” given the unpredictability of recent U.S. policy decisions.

He has since acknowledged that the number of American troops in Estonia has fallen to fewer than 100 — roughly one-sixth of the level from last winter, when a contingent of U.S. tanks was stationed in the country’s southern region.

Senior U.S. military commanders in Europe told him that another detachment could arrive later in the summer — but Pevkur noted that even that possibility may be subject to an ongoing policy review.

According to Baltic, Polish, and U.S. defense officials, the Baltic troop reductions were a direct result of the Trump administration’s surprise decision last month to cancel a long-scheduled deployment of approximately 5,000 troops to Poland — a move that caught the Polish government off guard and left some soldiers literally about to board flights to Europe before being turned around.

That cancellation had a cascading effect on troop movements through the Baltic states. Around 1,000 U.S. troops reportedly departed Lithuania in June and were not replaced.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby have both repeatedly emphasized the need to focus U.S. military resources on countering a rising China, promoting what they call “NATO 3.0” — a vision in which European nations shoulder far more responsibility for their own defense.

But uncertainty is also spreading in the Pacific. Most traditional U.S. allies in the region — including Japan, Australia, South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines — are growing increasingly anxious that the long-term trajectory may point toward at least a partial American military withdrawal from that part of the world as well.

Some Ukrainian commentators have speculated that the U.S. pullback from the Baltic states may be intended to appease Russia. Certain pro-Kremlin voices, and occasionally Russian President Vladimir Putin himself, have called for U.S. and broader NATO troop withdrawals from Eastern Europe as part of any eventual peace settlement in Ukraine.

BASING QUESTIONS

But there is another possible explanation: that the U.S. is positioning itself so that, if conflict does break out in Eastern Europe and NATO territory comes under attack, fewer American troops will be directly in harm’s way.

That would represent a significant change in U.S. military strategy — and one that may not be clearly telegraphed ahead of time. In Washington, some voices — including the Defense Priorities think-tank, which has long advocated for reducing the U.S. military footprint abroad — have argued for years that American forces should avoid exposed positions overseas, pulling back not only from the Middle East and Europe but also from vulnerable Pacific locations.

Those include the Japanese island of Okinawa and U.S. installations on Guam, which some military strategists argue would be highly vulnerable to Chinese attack in the event of a conflict.

Advocates of this approach argue that where U.S. forces are deployed, they should be highly mobile units equipped with long-range missile systems such as ATACMS, capable of threatening both Chinese naval vessels and the Chinese mainland. Some of those systems were used for the first time in U.S.-led military exercises in Japan and the Philippines earlier this summer.

Concerns about the long-term reliability of U.S. commitments are already pushing allies in both Europe and the Pacific to deepen coordination among themselves — including on weapons procurement — though that effort has drawn pushback from some U.S. officials.

Pentagon policy chief Colby wrote this week that without U.S. involvement, such allied efforts would simply squander resources. “The simple fact of the matter is that no alternative country or countries can compete with the U.S. defence industrial base either in quantity or quality,” he wrote.

Last week, the head of the German air force, Holger Neumann, told Politico that Europe does need to buy more American weapons. “Developing our own capabilities takes time,” he said. “Right now, we do not have time.”

German officials believe the threat environment will peak in 2029, though some fear it could arrive sooner. Either way, those who had counted on the presence of U.S. troops as a deterrent “tripwire” may find themselves disappointed.

LONDON — Andy Burnham, widely known by his nickname the ‘King of the North,’ is poised to officially take the helm of Britain’s ruling Labour Party on Friday, placing him just days away from becoming the country’s next prime minister.

A specially convened party conference on Friday will serve as the formal occasion for Burnham’s election as Labour leader — a step widely regarded as a formality given the overwhelming backing he has already received from the party’s lawmakers. He is expected to replace Keir Starmer as Britain’s leader when Monday arrives, at which point attention will quickly turn to who he selects for his cabinet and what direction he plans to take the government.

Burnham, 56, earned his ‘King of the North’ reputation through years of fiercely advocating for the Greater Manchester region’s interests during his time as its mayor. He returned to parliament last month after winning a seat in Makerfield, kicking off the four-week process that will culminate in his installation as prime minister and the departure of Starmer, whose widespread unpopularity ultimately turned his own lawmakers against him.

A Major Shift of Power Away from London

Since returning to parliament, Burnham has laid out portions of his domestic vision, centering on what he describes as the ‘biggest rebalancing of power’ away from London and toward Britain’s various regions. He argues this approach will chip away at inequality and address the frustration felt by so-called ‘left-behind communities’ — areas that have increasingly thrown their support behind Reform UK.

It was precisely this strategy for countering Reform’s rise that persuaded Labour lawmakers to back him. Many feared losing their seats to the populist party led by veteran Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage, which has sat atop opinion polls for several months heading into the next national election, due no later than 2029.

Reform’s momentum has shown some signs of slowing in recent weeks, however, following Farage’s acceptance of money from wealthy donors — a development that could hand Burnham an opportunity to rebuild Labour’s standing with voters.

Still, time is not on his side. With a general election at most three years away, Burnham faces pressure to move quickly on his promises, many of which are built around longer-term thinking.

Nigel Wilcock, executive director at the Institute of Economic Development — an independent organization representing professionals in the economic development field — noted that Burnham has spent years championing a different model for economic growth. However, Wilcock cautioned: “The challenge is turning that vision into a reality.”

China can keep its economy stable this year by moving faster on already-approved national infrastructure investments, according to economists and one government adviser — a strategy that makes sweeping fiscal stimulus less likely.

Beijing is looking to offset an unexpected broad drop in investment, which figures released Wednesday showed has weighed on economic growth this year. At the same time, authorities are keeping a tight grip on how local governments spend money.

The investment decline stems in part from local officials now facing stricter oversight of how they spend capital. Central authorities have pointed to wasteful infrastructure projects, industrial overcapacity, and manufacturers engaging in price wars as consequences of looser spending in the past.

“The single biggest factor behind the current cooling of China’s economy was local governments,” said Li Daokui, an economics professor at Tsinghua University, speaking at an economic forum on Saturday. “They are now under pressure to repay debt,” he added.

Speeding up nationally directed infrastructure projects could help soften the impact of tighter local budgets. According to state media, Beijing plans to spend 7 trillion yuan — roughly $1 trillion — this year on improvements and new construction across water networks, logistics systems, underground pipelines, power grids, telecommunications, and computing infrastructure. Changjiang Securities estimates that such spending could reach 26.9 trillion yuan over a five-year span.

Economists caution, however, that this effort amounts to a fine-tuning of the same investment-driven growth model China has relied on for years — not the shift toward consumer spending that trading partners have long pushed for. The goal, they say, is to reduce waste and excess industrial capacity.

Policymakers are counting on centrally championed projects and investment in high-tech industries to create jobs and improve productivity, breaking a pattern over the past decade in which investment produced more debt than economic gains.

“China is now putting everything behind technology to raise productivity,” said Dan Wang, China director at Eurasia Group. “That is the only way out, and also the best way out.”

One government adviser expressed cautious optimism about investing in computing infrastructure, but raised concerns that expanding water networks into areas with shrinking populations could waste resources. “Frankly, I think this kind of large-scale investment makes little economic sense, and it’s bound to become another cycle of borrowing to repay old debts,” the adviser said, asking not to be identified given the sensitivity of the topic.

“Some policy advisers, including myself, think the money should be spent on people, rather than poured again into inefficient, or even useless, fixed-asset investment and infrastructure,” the adviser continued.

Data show China’s fixed-asset investment fell 5.7% compared to a year earlier in the first six months of 2026. Infrastructure investment dropped 2.4%, manufacturing declined 1.2%, and real estate — which has been in a serious slump since 2021 — plummeted 18%.

Local government spending has dropped from around 41% of GDP a few years ago to roughly 35%, with capital expenditure falling more sharply than payroll or other operating costs, according to estimates from Tsinghua’s Li.

Reuters calculations indicate local governments issued 2.07 trillion yuan in special bonds during the first half of the year — 47% of the quota set by Beijing, compared with 49% during the same period in 2025.

The adviser said a Politburo meeting expected at the end of July — a top decision-making body within the Communist Party — could push local governments to move faster on projects and allow them to “moderately frontload” their fourth-quarter debt allowance into the third quarter. Still, the adviser doubted that projects unable to cover their own financing costs would receive the green light.

Goldman Sachs economist Lisheng Wang said the Politburo might increase its language around easing policy, but that “significant, broad-based stimulus” appeared unlikely. Beijing would probably “draw on remaining fiscal buffers quickly to stabilise investment and growth,” he said.

A civil servant in a northwestern province of China said no new projects have been launched in the region this year, aside from some necessary renovations of older housing and routine utilities maintenance. “There are still some small-scale repair and maintenance projects, but large-scale development and construction projects have basically disappeared,” the official said.

Beyond raising standards for project approvals, Beijing has also issued a list of practices that local officials are prohibited from carrying out. That list has not been made public, but analysts believe it likely covers unauthorized tax and fee rebates, discounted land and electricity rates, and subsidies directed at individual companies rather than entire sectors.

These restrictions on local governments place greater responsibility on Beijing itself to fund the investment needed to hit annual growth targets. “The central government itself carries very little debt — less than 30% of GDP — and it holds a large amount of commercial assets that could be monetised,” said Tsinghua’s Li.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board announced Thursday that it will take the lead in investigating last week’s alarming mid-flight incident involving a Ryanair Boeing 737 over Greece, after Greek authorities handed the agency that responsibility.

The incident occurred on July 10, shortly after the aircraft departed from Thessaloniki, Greece, bound for Germany. A piece of the plane’s engine broke away and struck a window, shattering it. The resulting loss of cabin pressure forced the crew to make an emergency landing.

A passenger identified as Serbian national Ljubisa Karovic was partially pulled through the broken window during the incident. Other passengers grabbed hold of him and kept him from being fully ejected. Karovic was injured and taken to a hospital.

The episode drew comparisons to two earlier incidents involving Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 NG aircraft in 2016 and 2018. During the 2018 incident, a passenger died after being partially sucked out of a window that had been damaged by a broken fan blade.

However, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford cautioned against drawing direct parallels. Speaking to Reuters, Bedford said: “I don’t think the early indications are that (the recent Ryanair problem) mimics what the Southwest incident was.”

Following the 2018 Southwest incident, the NTSB urged Boeing to redesign the fan cowl structure on its 737 NG aircraft. The FAA followed up with an airworthiness directive in 2023, setting a completion deadline of 2028. Southwest Airlines said Thursday it has already finished the required work on roughly 80% of its affected planes and is on pace to beat the July 2028 deadline.

Bedford said the new Ryanair investigation is prompting the FAA to take a fresh look at how it handled the fallout from the 2018 crash. “Did we miss something? Way too early to tell — but we can’t take it off the board yet,” he said.

Ryanair equips all of its Boeing 737 NG planes with CFM56 engines produced by CFM International. The 737 NG is the generation of the aircraft that came before the current MAX model.

The Philippine government has strongly condemned China Daily, a state-run Chinese media outlet, for publishing an AI-generated video that portrayed Filipinos as monkeys — calling the imagery “racist,” “offensive, distressing and unacceptable,” and drawing a firm line against what it described as dehumanizing propaganda.

Manila formally demanded the removal of the video, which was posted to China Daily’s Facebook account on July 10. The Chinese Embassy in Manila had not responded to requests for comment at the time of this report.

The video depicted a monkey dressed in Filipino clothing being directed by arms representing the United States and Japan, instructing it on what to sing. After being called “stupid,” the monkey pulled out lyrics referencing the “South China Sea arbitration award” before being thrown into the ocean and hit by a water cannon from a vessel.

Philippine Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro was swift and blunt in his response, calling the material “contemptible propaganda” and “a disgrace to any State that claims to exercise responsible regional leadership.” He argued the video revealed “the weakness of a government that resorts to racism, threats, and manufactured hatred because it has utterly failed to defend its ridiculous claims through reason, evidence, or law.”

Teodoro went further, saying: “This mockery of the lawful 2016 Arbitral Award and the video’s glorification of violence against the Filipino people and soldiers expose the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of China’s propaganda machine.”

The video’s release on July 10 was not coincidental — it came as the Philippines was holding events marking the 10th anniversary of a major international arbitration ruling that struck down China’s broad territorial claims in the South China Sea. Beijing has consistently refused to recognize that ruling.

“The recent spate of schizophrenic behaviour of the Chinese Communist Party is too clear to disregard or to ignore. This latest act of dehumanization further reveals them as neither a secure and confident actor nor a trustworthy neighbour,” Teodoro added in his statement.

The Philippine foreign ministry also weighed in, stating: “We draw a firm line at the depiction of Filipinos as monkeys in the 10 July 2026 video, which is deeply offensive, distressing, and unacceptable.”

This latest diplomatic flashpoint comes amid ongoing friction between the Philippines and China over the South China Sea, which has included repeated confrontations between vessels at sea, aggressive actions by Chinese ships, Beijing imposing sanctions on Secretary Teodoro, and a dispute over a floating barrier China installed at the entrance to the contested Scarborough Shoal — which was later removed following protests from the Philippines.

At least 13 people lost their lives on Thursday as both Russian and Ukrainian forces carried out strikes against civilian areas in towns and cities, many situated along the front lines of a war now in its fifth year, local officials reported.

In Ukraine’s southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, a Russian guided bomb attack claimed three lives and left 15 others wounded, according to regional governor Ivan Fedorov, who posted the update on Telegram. Video footage from Reuters TV captured firefighters battling the aftermath of fires while rescue crews picked through the wreckage of destroyed buildings. The city has faced an uptick in attacks in recent weeks.

The Black Sea port city of Odesa, another location that has repeatedly drawn Russian strikes, was hit by Russian missiles that killed two people, injured six more, and caused damage to civilian infrastructure.

Near the city of Kharkiv, close to the Russian border, a Russian drone strike took one life, according to national emergency services. Earlier that same day, a separate drone attack near the city of Kupiansk, located farther to the east, killed three people.

In the Donetsk region — the central focus of much of the fighting along the approximately 1,200-kilometer (775-mile) front line — the regional governor reported that one person was killed and five were injured near Kramatorsk, one of what officials have described as “fortress towns” where Ukrainian defenses have been strengthened.

Across the border inside Russia, officials in Belgorod Region reported that one person died after Ukrainian forces shelled a settlement near the border.

Additionally, Denis Pushilin, the Moscow-appointed leader of the Russian-controlled portions of the Donetsk region, stated that one person was killed in territory held by Russian forces.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the accounts provided by either side.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim declared Wednesday that his government will immediately expel any Israeli citizens discovered within the country’s borders, as federal investigators look into allegations that Israelis holding dual passports have been living inside a technology-focused community in the Johor region.

Speaking directly to reporters, Anwar made his government’s position clear: “We will not allow it. If there are Israeli nationals, since we do not recognize Israel, they will be deported immediately.”

The controversy revolves around a group called Network School — a co-living community designed for startup founders and digital nomads. The project was created by former Coinbase executive Balaji Srinivasan and is situated within the China-backed Forest City development, a man-made island located across the Johor Strait from Singapore.

The community first attracted public attention after a promotional video began circulating widely online. In the video, residents describe their home as “a man-made island near Singapore,” while Srinivasan declares, “We’re building Silicon Valley outside Silicon Valley.”

The video also sparked sharp criticism on social media. One user summed up the reaction this way: “Sounds like a cult, definitely operates like a cult, recruits like a cult.”

Following the online backlash, the Johor state government formally requested a federal investigation into both the activities taking place at the community and the nationalities of those residing there.

Malaysia’s Immigration Department subsequently reported that agents had checked 266 foreign nationals from 40 different countries at the location. Officials said all individuals inspected were carrying valid travel documents, but emphasized that a broader investigation into the identities and activities of those involved is still underway.

Beyond the deportation order, Anwar directed authorities to scrutinize the project’s business operations, including its licensing, housing arrangements, and how the land is being used. He warned that any rule violations would be met with what he called “firm action without compromise.”

Malaysia has long maintained that Israeli passport holders are barred from entering the country without explicit government permission, as the two nations have no diplomatic ties. Officials acknowledged that individuals holding citizenship in more than one country could potentially enter Malaysia using a passport from a different nation, bypassing the restriction.

Anwar reaffirmed that his administration will not back down on either national security matters or its political stance regarding Israel. The prime minister has consistently supported the Palestinian cause and has maintained open communication with Hamas since the conflict in Gaza intensified.

Israeli authorities have taken senior members of the Health Work Committees, known as HWC, into custody. Israel classified the organization as a terrorist group in 2020, citing its alleged connections to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or PFLP.

The detentions coincide with a report from Channel 12 on Thursday indicating that the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, recently foiled several alleged plots aimed at the country’s political and security leadership. The broadcaster also reported that the agency dismantled a number of social media operations believed to have been run by foreign actors seeking to sway Israeli public opinion.

One of the networks identified in the operation was a Telegram channel called Bnei Eretz, which reportedly posed as an Israeli platform while actually being controlled by what Channel 12 called a “hostile foreign actor.” Israeli security officials, according to the report, anticipate these types of campaigns will grow more frequent as the country approaches its next legislative elections, with outside actors looking to exploit existing political divisions and social tensions.

The arrest of HWC officials drew a sharp response from NGO Monitor founder and president Prof. Gerald M. Steinberg, who said the detentions underscore what he characterized as the group’s deep-rooted ties to the PFLP.

Steinberg pointed out that despite Israel’s 2020 terrorist designation, HWC has continued to operate in the West Bank. He noted that multiple senior staff members — including the organization’s former general director, a former fundraiser, and at least three individuals who held financial roles — have been convicted on terror-related charges.

Steinberg also took aim at European governments that have continued providing financial support to HWC, specifically naming Belgium as a donor country even after Israel’s designation of the group.

“This is yet another example of how terror groups like the PFLP repeatedly exploit the NGO facade,” Steinberg said. “We call on donor states to immediately halt any remaining funding to HWC based on its leaders’ ongoing ties with the PFLP.”

Channel 12 did not reveal the identity of the foreign actor allegedly behind the influence campaigns, nor did it provide further details about the alleged terror plots or the specifics of the HWC arrests.

Despite renewed military conflict between the United States and Iran, the White House stated Thursday that Washington remains willing to pursue a diplomatic resolution, saying Tehran has signaled it still wants to strike a deal.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed reporters on the matter, explaining that the administration is simultaneously maintaining diplomatic channels and responding to Iranian military provocations.

“The president will hold them accountable when they turn their back on the words that they state to the United States. But he is always open to diplomacy at the very same time,” Leavitt told reporters.

Leavitt further noted that Iran has directly communicated its interest in continuing negotiations with the Trump administration.

“They have expressed they still want to make a deal to the president. We’re talking to them, but again, the president is not going to allow them to fire on ships in the Strait without paying a consequence for that,” she said.

The White House comments come as armed conflict between the two nations has flared up again following the collapse of ceasefire talks. Those negotiations had centered on a memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the war, but ultimately reached a standstill.

Prior to ordering military strikes against Iran, President Trump announced on Truth Social that the ceasefire had ended. He has also issued warnings that the U.S. military campaign could be broadened to target Iranian power plants and bridges if Iran does not return to the negotiating table.

Leavitt’s briefing came the day after President Trump publicly thanked Iran for freeing a U.S. citizen who had been held in detention since December 2024. That release was widely seen as a potential diplomatic opening, even amid the escalating hostilities between the two countries.

The United States launched a new series of strikes against Iranian military targets, hitting sites in and around Tehran as well as Semnan province — a region that houses Iran’s ballistic missile manufacturing facilities and its space program.

In response, Iran claimed it fired missiles and drones at American military assets located in Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain, while also renewing threats directed at the Strait of Hormuz.

Early Thursday morning, US Central Command, known as CENTCOM, announced that American forces deployed precision weapons to strike a range of targets, including command centers, air defense systems, missile installations, drone facilities, and coastal surveillance sites in Bandar Abbas. The military stated the goal of the operation was to diminish Iran’s capacity to threaten commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Officials also noted that an earlier round of strikes — lasting roughly 90 minutes — had targeted coastal defense infrastructure and cruise missile sites on Tunb Island.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, or IRGC, claimed responsibility for launching ballistic missiles at a US air base in Jordan, saying it was a direct response to what they characterized as an American strike near a children’s cancer hospital inside Iran. The IRGC also said it conducted drone attacks against US bases and facilities in both Kuwait and Bahrain. Iranian state television reported that the military struck radar systems, a Patriot air defense battery, and fuel storage areas at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, as well as US military facilities at Isa Air Base in Bahrain. None of those claims have been independently confirmed. Jordan’s military, however, did confirm that it intercepted eight Iranian missiles that had been fired toward the country.

Separately, a spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya military headquarters declared that Tehran considers any US interference in the Strait of Hormuz a “red line.” Responding to President Donald Trump’s warning that the US would consider striking civilian infrastructure if Iran refuses to agree to a ceasefire, the spokesperson stated, “If the recent threats he made are carried out, including attacking Iran’s infrastructure, all infrastructure in the region will be destroyed by the powerful attacks of Iranian forces.”

On Wednesday evening, President Donald Trump told attendees at a security conference in Pennsylvania that “The Iranians will be defeated soon.” He also blamed former President Barack Obama for the current conflict, accusing him of “turning his back on Israel and turning to Iran — that’s why we’re in this situation today.”

Fiji moved to deepen its relationship with Israel on Tuesday with the official launch of the 65th Israel Allies Caucus, as government leaders expressed hope that the move would inspire other nations across the Pacific to follow suit.

A diverse group of lawmakers, diplomats, government officials, faith leaders, and international representatives convened at Fiji’s parliament in Suva to formally create a new parliamentary body aimed at strengthening the bond between Fiji and Israel. The event was followed by a Jerusalem Summit dinner, co-hosted with the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ), where regional leaders explored the diplomatic, economic, and faith-driven dimensions of Fiji’s decision.

Deputy Prime Minister Viliame Gavoka chairs the newly established caucus, which is expected to advance pro-Israel legislation, work to combat antisemitism, and build greater cooperation between the two nations based on what organizers describe as shared democratic and biblical values.

Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka, whose remarks at the event were obtained by The Media Line, spoke passionately about the significance of the occasion. “The establishment of the Fiji Israel Allies Caucus is the most welcome development in the history of the Fiji-Israel relationship,” he said. Rabuka also noted that he was present not simply in his role as prime minister, but “as a member of the caucus,” underscoring his personal investment in the new alliance.

The gathering drew a notable lineup of attendees, including Israeli Ambassador Maya Yaron, Israel Allies Foundation (IAF) President Josh Reinstein, ICEJ Senior Vice President David Parsons, Australian Member of Parliament Andrew Wallace, and diplomatic representatives from Samoa, the Marshall Islands, Vanuatu, Micronesia, and Papua New Guinea.

The Jerusalem Summit portion of the evening highlighted Fiji’s decision to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem as a potential blueprint for other Pacific nations weighing similar steps. Organizers contended that recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital carries both diplomatic advantages and reflects religious values that have historically connected many Pacific Island nations to Israel.

Reinstein called the caucus launch and the summit “a defining moment for the Pacific,” praising Fiji for showing “courageous leadership by standing with Israel and recognizing Jerusalem as its eternal capital.” He said the summit was meant not only to honor Fiji’s actions but also to highlight “the profound strategic, economic, and spiritual blessings that come from aligning with Israel.”

Reinstein further described the effort as “faith-based diplomacy in action,” bringing partners together around “truth, security, and shared values for a better future across the region.” He added that through its embassy relocation and the creation of the caucus, “Fiji has fulfilled its prophetic calling to lead a new wave of support for Israel from nations of the ends of the earth.”

David Parsons, Senior Vice President and spokesman for the ICEJ, also viewed the day’s events as both politically and spiritually meaningful. He called it “a momentous day for Fiji-Israel relations” and praised Fiji’s leaders for showing “wisdom and discernment in a time of moral confusion and compromise among so many other world leaders concerning Israel.”

Parsons framed the caucus as an expression of deeper spiritual conviction, stating, “The Lord is building Zion and Fiji is rightly aligning with His redemptive purposes in restoring Jerusalem and the Land of Israel to the Jewish people.”

The IAF operates a worldwide network of more than 1,600 legislators connected through parliamentary caucuses that champion faith-based diplomacy in support of Israel. With Fiji now becoming its 65th caucus globally, the organization is looking to Fiji’s example as a catalyst for broader engagement from Pacific Island nations.

The 9th OIC Ministerial Conference on Women came to a close Monday in Islamabad, with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation calling on its member nations to bolster women’s roles in politics, the economy, education, and broader society.

Among the most striking elements of the conference’s final document, known as the Islamabad Declaration, was a pointed reference to Afghanistan. The declaration expressed serious concern about ongoing restrictions on girls’ schooling and women’s ability to work, characterizing those restrictions as contrary to Islamic values. It called for the elimination of educational and professional barriers so that Afghan women and girls can participate fully and equally in public life.

The declaration also reaffirmed the OIC’s wider commitment to advancing women’s social, economic, and political standing across the Muslim world. It stated that “the empowerment of women and girls is essential to the progress, resilience and prosperity of OIC societies,” and described investments in women’s education, skills, leadership, protection, and economic participation as “an investment in the future of the Ummah.”

The conference, held under the theme “Socio-Economic and Political Empowerment of Women in the OIC Countries: Challenges and Way Forward,” drew more than 190 delegates and participants — among them ministers, senior government officials, and representatives from all 57 OIC member states. Discussions centered on women’s education, economic involvement, social inclusion, and empowerment within an Islamic framework.

OIC Assistant Secretary-General Tarig Ali Bakheet, delivering remarks on behalf of OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha, stressed that lifting up women must be treated as a top priority requiring dedicated resources and genuine political will. He cautioned that passing conference resolutions is not enough, emphasizing that real change depends on sustained cooperation, adequate funding, and firm political commitment.

Pakistan’s federal minister for law, justice and human rights, Azam Nazeer Tarar, took on the chairmanship of the conference and reaffirmed his country’s dedication to advancing women’s empowerment across the Muslim world through joint action. He told attendees that women’s empowerment is “not only a social imperative but also an economic necessity, a governance priority and a cornerstone of sustainable development.”

Women’s Development Organization Executive Director Sarah Al-Shoura spoke about her organization’s work to build cooperation among member states and promote policies that expand women’s access to education, economic opportunity, and leadership positions.

One of the conference’s most notable moments was the attendance of a Syrian delegation led by Syria’s minister of social affairs and labour, Hind Kabawat. Her presence marked Syria’s first participation in the OIC Ministerial Conference on Women in 14 years, following a lengthy period of isolation. Kabawat described Syria’s involvement as an important step toward rebuilding the country’s international engagement. The Syrian Arab News Agency quoted her as saying that Syria’s participation offers a valuable opportunity for expanded cooperation and the sharing of expertise with other attending nations.

The gathering took place against a backdrop of ongoing concern over women’s rights in several Muslim-majority countries. Since the Taliban reclaimed power in Afghanistan in August 2021, women and girls there have faced sweeping restrictions — including bans on secondary and higher education, severe limits on employment, and travel rules requiring a male guardian.

Although Afghanistan received an invitation to attend the conference, no official Taliban government delegation showed up. A small number of Afghan women living in exile did attend, but only in their personal capacities rather than as official representatives.

When The Media Line reached out to Taliban chief spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid for comment on Afghanistan’s decision to skip the conference and on the state of women’s rights in the country, he did not address those questions directly. Instead, Mujahid said, “Islam has made it obligatory to ensure women’s rights, including inheritance, marriage, protection from forced marriage, and dignity and honor in society.” He claimed that Afghan women had long been denied those rights and asserted that since returning to power, the Islamic Emirate had restored them, adding that it remained committed to upholding all rights prescribed for Muslim women under Islamic Sharia.

Pakistani officials kept the situation facing Afghan women front and center throughout the conference. Pakistan’s minister of state for law and justice, Aqeel Malik, called the circumstances confronting women and girls in Afghanistan “an alarming” test of the Muslim world’s collective conscience. In an interview with Saudi-based Arab News, Malik said, “You really need to see the plight of those girls in Afghanistan because they are banned from attending schools and classes. This is an alarming situation.” He argued that the OIC should leverage its collective diplomatic influence to push for meaningful change.

Tahmina Safi, a former judge of the Afghan Supreme Court, told The Media Line that Islam grants women and men equal fundamental rights — including dignity, education, property, inheritance, financial independence, and the right to consent in marriage, employment, and public participation. She noted that while the Taliban claim their policies are rooted in Sharia, many prominent Muslim scholars believe the group’s treatment of women runs counter to Islamic teachings and established principles of Islamic jurisprudence.

Safi further argued that the Taliban’s documented record of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, and systematic repression — as recorded by the United Nations — cannot be squared with Islamic principles. “Unfortunately,” she said, “the Taliban have no female officials capable of representing the rights, interests, and perspectives of Afghan women who believe in the equal rights granted to them by Islam at conferences dedicated to women’s rights in Islam.”

Safi also noted that OIC member states, including Pakistan, do not recognize the Taliban as Afghanistan’s legitimate rulers. “Inviting them to participate in such meetings indirectly signals the OIC’s support for the Taliban,” she added. She suggested that the OIC should instead engage directly with Afghan women scholars, judges, diplomats, and civil society leaders living in exile, and that a willing OIC member state could help establish a legitimate Afghan representative office in exile while supporting an inclusive Afghan-led political process.

Nazifa Jalali, a Norway-based Afghan Muslim scholar and director of Dialogue Hub for Common Ground, told The Media Line that “it is essential to distinguish between Islam and the policies of the Taliban.” She pointed out that throughout Islamic history, women have served as scholars, educators, business leaders, and active participants in public life. Under Taliban rule, she argued, women and girls have been systematically stripped of education, employment, freedom of movement, and other basic rights.

Jalali noted that UN experts, the European Union, and international human rights advocates have described the situation in Afghanistan as gender apartheid — a term reflecting systematic and institutionalized discrimination. She added that women who have peacefully demanded their rights have faced arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture, intimidation, and violent crackdowns, with documented cases showing Taliban forces using lethal force against protesters and civilians.

Jalali emphasized that OIC member states, prominent Islamic scholars, and religious institutions have repeatedly urged the Taliban to restore girls’ education, women’s right to work, and their full participation in society — demonstrating, she said, that the Taliban’s interpretation is neither universally accepted nor representative of Islam. She concluded that the international community, including the OIC, has both a moral and political responsibility to continue standing up for Afghan women, and that doing so aligns with Islam’s core values of justice, human dignity, and the pursuit of knowledge.

Dure Shawar, a prominent female entrepreneur from Lahore who attended the OIC summit, described the Islamabad conference as a meaningful opportunity to deepen cooperation on women’s empowerment throughout the Muslim world. She argued that economic empowerment forms the foundation of genuine inclusion, saying that women with greater access to education, vocational training, financing, and business opportunities are better positioned to drive economic growth and social progress.

Shawar maintained that the Islamabad Declaration should be seen as the starting point of a long-term effort rather than a finished product, stressing that its real value would depend on whether member states turn their pledges into concrete reforms that remove barriers for women entrepreneurs, professionals, and future leaders. She added that stronger collaboration among OIC countries could open new doors for women-led businesses through investment partnerships, regional trade, and knowledge sharing, and that sustained political commitment could make the conference a landmark moment for women’s empowerment across the Muslim world.

Even as military strikes between the United States and Iran grow more intense over the Strait of Hormuz, the door to a diplomatic resolution has not fully closed.

Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry pushed back Thursday against reports that it had stepped away from its role as a mediator between Washington and Tehran. Pakistan had brokered an initial ceasefire agreement last month, but that deal has since broken down.

“Let me dispel the impression that Pakistan has done hands up, and this is not the case,” ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi told reporters at a news conference. He added that the two sides eventually “will have to come to the negotiating table to settle all outstanding issues.”

Senior officials from both countries have also signaled they haven’t abandoned the idea of talks. In a podcast interview with Joe Rogan that aired Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration is “not going to bomb and bomb and bomb” and acknowledged that “you’ve got to actually be willing to talk and to try to figure out the problem.”

“We’re going to try to use our military force as one of the many tools that we have to solve the problem,” Vance said, calling diplomacy “another tool.”

Regional officials, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the ongoing negotiations, said mediators from Pakistan, Qatar, and Egypt have been working to restart talks. Those officials noted that neither side has formally notified Pakistan that it is withdrawing from or terminating the initial ceasefire agreement.

Those behind-the-scenes efforts have been overshadowed by a sharp escalation in fighting. The U.S. military on Thursday launched strikes deeper inside Iran and fired on a vessel it accused of attempting to break through its naval blockade of Iranian ports. Iran responded by firing missiles and drones at American allies in the region and warned that future attacks could target “all the infrastructure in the region.”

Naysan Rafati, a senior Iran analyst at the Washington-based International Crisis Group, described the current moment as delicate and potentially pivotal, saying it “leaves open the possibility of moving up the escalation ladder.”

Andrabi, Pakistan’s foreign ministry spokesperson, acknowledged that mediating between the two countries has grown significantly harder, but maintained that peace efforts are still alive.

“It can be put on the backburner, but it stays,” he said, adding that “whenever the parties exhaust the logic of escalation, the formula for peace is there.”

Regional officials involved in the mediation said work to salvage a deal continued this week. They acknowledged that the 60-day negotiating window outlined in the interim agreement has stalled, but said mediators are pushing both sides to return to talks.

The central dispute involves control of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical energy shipping route that represents Tehran’s strongest bargaining chip. The language in the interim deal is ambiguous — Iran claims authority over how ships transit the strait, while the U.S. maintains the waterway should be open to free passage and has explored an alternate shipping route along Oman’s coastline.

In his interview with Rogan, Vance suggested diplomacy may ultimately be the only real path forward. “I’m very frustrated by the Americans and frankly by people in other countries who are like, ‘You cannot negotiate with the Iranians,’” he said. “Well, then what is your proposal to get people to stop shooting at ships in the Strait of Hormuz?”

The conflict reignited over Iran’s refusal to allow oil tankers and other commercial ships to pass freely through the strait — a route through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil normally flows. Iran has been attacking commercial vessels that ignored its rules, disrupting global energy markets and pushing up prices in a way that could create political headaches for Republicans ahead of November’s midterm elections.

When reporters have asked Trump in recent days whether he remains open to negotiations, he has repeated threats that Iran coming back to the table is the only way to prevent U.S. strikes on civilian infrastructure such as bridges and power plants. However, Trump said he would not set a specific deadline.

“I don’t like giving deadlines, but they pretty much know, they know the story,” Trump said Wednesday in Pennsylvania. “They better behave.”

Shortly before Trump’s remarks, Iran’s parliament speaker and lead negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said Iran is not declaring the interim deal void. But he made clear that Iran’s commitment to the agreement depends on the United States following through on its obligations. If Washington fails to do so, he argued, Iran would have no reason to remain bound by it.

The original June 17 agreement called for a permanent end to hostilities, a reopening of the strait, and launched a 60-day negotiating clock aimed at reaching a final deal on Iran’s nuclear program and other unresolved issues.

Qalibaf also indicated that Iran does not intend to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed indefinitely. He said Tehran’s goal is to maintain what he called “Iranian arrangements” governing navigation through the waterway while allowing maximum safe passage of commercial shipping under those rules.

To counter Iran’s attacks on shipping, Trump has ramped up military strikes and reinstated a Navy blockade of Iranian ports to apply economic pressure.

However, Bradley Bowman, a former Army helicopter pilot and scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank, said it would be unrealistic to expect the U.S. to wipe out Iran’s missile and drone capabilities anytime soon.

“Unfortunately, Iran only needs to hit a ship every now and then to create serious problems and dilemmas for insurers and ship captains and reduce the flow of traffic in the strait,” Bowman said. “That reduced flow exerts significant economic and political pressure on Washington, especially as midterm elections approach. Iran understands the leverage it now has — and so does Trump.”

Bowman and other experts also question whether more strikes and economic pressure will actually bring Iran back to the table. Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and senior defense adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, put it bluntly: “We’re doing things that have not affected Iranian behavior in the past. So why would it affect Iranian behavior now?”